Netzingers -- Explicit coquina que est optima medicina.

It was a busy day in the garden, despite a morning devoted to Thanksgiving potluck for church.  When we were coming out of Fern's house after dropping off her meal, Diana circled the large Nopale bush in the front yard of the complex.  A pad had fallen off, and before we could scoop it up, the owner came out and offered up the berries and some pads.  So we ended up with a loose pad, a branch, and a whole stem with a single root dangling down. 

The nopale pads we planted along the driveway, filling in a gap between the fig tree and the horseradish.  It was a dream fulfilled for Diana, who loved the large plant and drooled over it every time we went past it.  

The fruit I am planning to singe with a Sterno campsite burner we bought after the big ice storm.  I am pretty sure you need the prickles off before you stick it in your mouth.  

Originally we had planned to dig some holes for the coming shipment from Starks, so I set out to dig another hole for an Sharpblue blueberry on the southwest side of the house.  This is a boggy spot where the other blueberries grow the best.  

Then after that I drilled out a good size (4 gallons maybe) hole behind the the propane tank where a Issai hardy kiwi will go.  What I am thinking as the kiwi grows out I can clear the hedgerow for a trellis, running east to west.  I expect the plant, if it survives our strange winter weather, to range maybe 20-30 feet. 

I started clearing out a good-sized spot behind the tank, and whacked out a good bit of forsythia and honeysuckle, the twin demons of American gardens gone wild.  Machetes and mattocks were the order of the day.  I also moved a stake from a failed red raspberry planting to where one had come up again after getting squished under the falling pine tree.  

I came home today frustrated from a hard day at work and decided to clear out the hickory tree behind the house.  After all, I figured, there was still plenty of light left, and I had thoroughly mapped out the cut.  This was to be the "practice tree" to prepare for taking out the bigger broken trees in front of the house.

 The cabling went fine, and the wedge cut - where I had gotten stuck on previous jobs- was really clean.  I was able to lean the tree over nicely with the winch and we were fairly confident that it would fall away from the house.

 Then I made the mistake of angling the toppling cut.  When the tree started to go, it skidded on the stump and fell down on the opposite side of the stump from me.  Thankfully, the tree did not come down straight at me, but it did pivot and fall toward me.  Diana started yelling and I looked up and saw it coming and ran, but it came down fast - close enough for the branches to sweep me off my feet and send me tumbling. 

I bounced up and immediately started yelling "I'm all right, I'm all right," and Diana was next to me, trembling with tears.  Amazingly, all I came away with was a couple of scratches on my forehead from the hardhat headband, a twig stuck behind my ear like a carpenter carrying a pencil, and a mystery tear in my pants.  

The chainsaw bar guide was crunched, but the engine was running, so I picked it up and switched it off.  These darn hickory trees have a habit of crunching up the bars.  Even the small tree was far heavier and far harder than I had realized.  

I felt nothing until I was getting ready to go back into the house.  The day's work was done.  I summed up the experience in three words: "Thank You Jesus."  

A lesson was learned.  I would never again pick up a chainsaw in anger.

We'vr been banging away day and night to get our perennial crops planted before the spring rains stop.  Yesterday, I dug homes for a Chojuro Asian pear tree and three Nanking cherry bushes.

The overall quality of plants from Stark, Shumway, Vernon Barnes, and Gardens Alive.  Vendors I wouldn't buy from again are Walnut Ridge and Burgess (aka DirectGardening.com).  The plants from Stark have been exceptionally healthy and vigorous.  Also, the blueberries from Wayside are blooming on their first spring in the ground.  The jury is still out on Summerstone.

The National Weather Service has issued a freeze watch for Sunday and Monday night.  Let's all hope it's not the same thing that happened two years ago, when a late season frost devastated fruit crops and trimmed farmer's incomes.  God knows that's the last thing hungry rural folks need in these hard times.

 So get out that plastic sheeting and feed sacks and start covering those tender shoots.  If you have any tender plants such as squash or tomato outside, drag them back indoors if your can.  Frost protection methods are discussed in this article.

There is nothing like the sound of rain falling after you have planted 60 feet of millet.  I love the softness of the Ozark spring, that rises up out of the damp ground to meet the warming rays of the sunrise, turning into sheets of rain and curtains of fog in the coolest times of the night.

The redbud are blooming and the little green leaves are up and out all over.  Daylillies are going strong and the leaves are poking out of our new pear trees out on the front lawn.

 There are still thousands of cubic yards of debris piled up around Salem from the ice storm.  Lots of folks are grumbling about the surcharges on their electric bills, but I for one think the NAEC workers are nothing short of heroic.  It all seems so long ago, when the historic storm plunged us back into the cold and darkness, yet the sun shines in new places and the woodpeckers are ecstatic in their newfound bounties.

Yesterday we planted five persimmon trees behind our house.  The new row of trees neatly finished up where the two native persimmons stand.  We did that in between the downpour and the sleeting rain.  Today,  we planted two dewerry in between a couple of shrubs out front.  The dewberries, and persimmons, and a few more items, came from Vernon Barnes (931-668-8576).  Barnes is a family-run business with great customer service and wonderful plants.

We also planted common sage (one out by the drive, one near the garage) and Egyptian multiplying onions  out back in the hazelnut bed.  These were in the garage window and put on a lot of healthy roots over the winter.

Out in the south plot, over by our side street, I planted two rows of Proso millet (R. H. Shumway's). I am eager about getting some grains in the ground, especially drought-tolerant ones like millet, sorghum, and millet.  If the folks in Mali can live on millet, it is worth a shot here in Arkansas. We had mulched the back plot for overwintering, and it really helped in getting the ground ready for cultivation and planting.  Underneath the pine needles and thatch, the ground was moist and rich, with the remaining weeds too weak to seriously hang onto their roots.  I had only reckoned on getting one row done, but it was easy enough to do two.

Superior Sewing opened a new factory in town.  I went to the May 16th dedication ceremony and saw Govenor Beebe deliver a rousing and hopeful address.  Mark Odom, President of Superior Sewing, spoke, and Salem Mayor Gary Clayton spoke as well.

I put in an application there, and heard that they weren't hiring for a few weeks. It took a bit of research, but Cindy at KSAR was able to get me their phone number.  For reference, Superior Sewing is at 870 895 5334.

My cat Momo died the other day.  He had wandered off on move-in day, and when I got him back he wasn't the same.  He never adjusted to the big move, and the other day he passed on.

He was a good cat.  He was a good mouser.  He was a hell-raiser.  What more could you ask for?

Tonight I finally got parts of the old home network back together. I am here alone in Salem, so it has been pretty slow going on the unpacking front. I eat, I sleep, I work some remotely, but mostly I clean out and unpack.

The cold and snowy weather makes the isolation more acute. On the radio, farmers are complaining that the fields are covered and I can sympathize with them. If it were clear, I could at least get out and shake the chill out of my bones, and check out the neighborhood. Even the simplest things become problematic in twenty-degree weather with eight inches of snow: walking the dog, taking the trash out, getting out and socializing.

Finally some familiar things are appearing: the cookbooks, the wireless router, the rubber spatulas. After the trauma of losing two cats - Sir Guy ran out the front door and vanished over the horizon, while the next day Momo wandered out the back door into the woods - it is good to get back the familiar rythms. The breadmaker runs on Saturday morning, so that is primed with timer set, out of good old habit. This is the new home, where new habits will develop and become old in their own time.

The kitchen continues to soak up the boxes.  We are inveterate foodies, and it shows in the outlandish amount of packing for food, gadgets, and equipment. 

We go out in the morning to pick up some Indian take-out at Baghyra's Kitchen in Wyndmoor, right up the road a piece.  The taster and I pick put lentil soup, veg samosas and lentil cakes, baby okra in tomato sauce, and cocnut vegetable curry.  I pick out some dal sauce and the taster fancied the tomato chutney, which turned out to nicely hot with chiles and cool with cilantro at the same time.  The garlic naan was less than impressive, doughy and overly starchy.  A thinner loaf, a harder flour, and a hotter bake would help that recipe, I think.  Everything else was uniformly good, with heat levels varying according to the dish.  If I wasn't saying goodbye to the friendly and engaging Baghyra I would certainly make time to shop there again.

We stopped a Silverstone to book our overnight stay at the Bed and Breakfast, meeting the wonderfully elegant Yolanda to reserve our room.  The proprietess, with a rich Eastern European accent and manners to match, had started her business to cater to nearby learning institute visitors.  The place certainly looks charming and we are looking forward to a relaxing night before I hit the road.

From there we went to the Balck Olive, which was closed.  Diana persisted in getting Caroline to let us in despite the interviewers who were writing an article about the Black Olive, it's anonymous sponsors, and mission to nourish and educate the Mount Airy neighborhood.  Caroline was a buyer for Whole Foods, and shared her experiences starting the Black Olive when I asked if it was hard to start up an operation like that.   And then we paid for our tofu ice cream and organic snack foods, before heading back to Bitar's.