Edges Like Sea Glass

By Leah LaRocco

Leah

Yosemite: Yosemite Falls and Sentinel Dome

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The use of seasons as an analogy for what we experience in life is a weary one, worn out from centuries of use by humanity to describe the phases of our lives that ebb and flow.  Relationships, families, jobs, the paths we travel on all have seasons.  The most dramatic seasonal changes that I perceptibly take notice of each year are winter turning to spring and summer turning to fall.  The changes from spring to summer and fall to winter are less visually profound, so they happen unconsciously.  My wardrobe is the main indicator of the subtler seasonal changes, a t-shirt taken out of a drawer, a down coat out of a closet.  In our city/suburban lives, seasons are easily overlooked unless intentionally observed.  In nature though, seasons are as vivid as a rainbow against a dark grey sky.

I have now seen Great Smoky Mountains National Park in all seasons.  Each one is strikingly different.  There is no mistaking the icy fronds of Fraser firs in winter, the bursting forth of formerly quiet streams in spring, the vibrant blooms of flame azaleas and rhododendrons in summer, and the autumnal golds, reds, and oranges of deciduous forests in October.  Every month holds a new experience in the varied landscapes of the mountains once tread upon by pioneers and loggers who struggled to tame the land.

Yosemite is no exception.  The last time I was there, Yosemite falls looked like this.

This time its form was as perfect as one could hope for, upper cascading into lower, misting the rocks at its lowest depth while continuing down streams leading to meadows.

We arrived early at the falls to avoid the major crowds and then headed over to the Upper Yosemite Falls trail to Columbia Rock.  We weren’t planning to hike all the way up to upper falls, but wanted to snag some good views of the valley.  The trail begins at the edge of Camp 4 and heads up numerous switchbacks through dense forest with butterflies called California Sisters, whose host plant is the canyon live oak.

The trail is sandy and rocky, so utmost caution is required on the way down.  The higher we climbed the more the valley opened up to us.

When we reached Columbia Rock, the tiny overlook area was already crowded so we headed back down to a small offshoot we’d seen just below to relax and take pictures.

The vastness of Yosemite is difficult for the mind to grasp.  As we stood over the expanse of the valley where we slept below the pines each night, I had the same feeling as when I stand beside the water at home.  Smallness.  The fragility of humanity in perspective to the greatness of the monoliths, the power of the rivers, and the depths carved by glaciers.

I didn’t know it at the time, but we were watching falcons fly through the skies as they dove into the valley below.  My favorite picture from this whole trip is the one where I accidentally captured a falcon in flight.  We saw the birds on several occasions, some flying in pairs in perfect tandem before diving so fast that we lost sight of them as they plummeted.

We hiked back down to Camp 4 and refilled our water.  I noticed a memorial in the shade of an immense rock called the Columbia Boulder.  When we got back home I was able to look up some information on Raffi Bedayn.  What an incredible person.  Another hidden treasure we never might have seen if we hadn’t needed water.

We headed back to lower Yosemite Falls for some misty refreshment and to soak our aching feet in the icy stream at the bottom.

After feeling somewhat revived Alicia, Rob, and I decided we wanted to keep hiking, so we headed up to Sentinel Dome.  On the way there we passed Tunnel View just as the sun was playing color games at the base of Bridalveil Fall.

Sentinel Done was a destination for Alicia and I back in September, but we missed a turn-off in the trail coming from Glacier Point, so we never actually reached the dome and walked way past it.  This was a redemption hike for us, and I’m so glad we did the extra couple of miles.  The trail to Sentinel Dome is unimpressive, sandy, boring…about the most exciting thing to see are the tiny lizards darting over sun-warmed rocks.  When we walked up to the back of the dome, again the signage was nonexistent so we weren’t quite sure how to proceed.  To the right, you cross a road and keep going around the side of the dome till you eventually come to a place where you can climb up to the top.  While this was a steep climb, it was by no means treacherous.  There was still snow up there, but the rock was dry and we easily made it to the top.

When we crested the dome, I stood there in shock and eventually cried because the scope of breathtaking beauty that exists on top of that oddly shaped rock is something I want to remember forever.  Half Dome’s side faces Sentinel, the snow covered Sierras provide a grand backdrop, Yosemite Falls is on display in full view, and El Capitan looms in the distance on the other side.  It’s the most majestic 360 degree view anyone could hope for.

Heading back on Glacier Point Road we passed a traffic jam because there was a huge black bear in a meadow right near the tree line.  This is a terrible picture because I zoomed in a lot and he was moving around, but he was my first brown black bear!

Half Dome bids us good day and good night…

Yosemite: Mirror Lake, El Capitan Meadow & Bridalveil Fall

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If someone had told me I would go to Yosemite twice in the span of a year, I would have thought them overly optimistic.  But thank goodness for friends who love to travel because last September, I went with Alicia and we scouted the place out.  Along for the ride this time were my husband Rob, and friends Solomon, Aidan, and Myra.  The two trips could not have been more different.  In September, California was struggling through a long drought.  Yosemite Falls was dry as a bone and the other waterfalls and streams in the park were at their lowest, some with just wisps of water blowing in the valley winds.  We were also able to travel up Tioga Road to Tuolomne Meadows and spend some time at Tenaya Lake.  In June, however, the tune of the wilderness had changed to one of rushing waters and birdsong, with wildflowers bursting, rivers sprawling out into campgrounds and meadows, and bears munching their way through grasses.  Toiga Road was closed due to the continued plowing of a record snowfall year.

We flew into Oakland, rented a car and drove to Yosemite where we stayed in the North Pines campground.  We had snagged a reservation in an RV-only site, and while I was initially apprehensive about this, the site worked out just fine for tents.  It was a postage stamp of a campsite and we were pretty much on top of our neighbors, but it didn’t matter one bit.  We had made it to Yosemite.  Since we got there later in the afternoon, we pitched our tents and headed over to the Village store to pick up some provisions.  They have everything you could possibly need in the way of food.  For this trip I had packed a lot of dehydrated meals, some which I’d cooked myself and others like Mountain House.  I’d also brought enough bars, jerky, and packs of nuts for all of our day hikes.  The nice thing about the Village Store is they sell cold beer individually, have regulation firewood, and lots of meat options if you prefer not to keep a cooler at your site since space is limited in the bear locker.

The next morning we headed out to Mirror Lake and Happy Isles, a short walk from the North Pines Campground.  This is one of the easiest hikes in the park and is usually choked with people, so early is best. While I wanted to crush every hard trail in the valley, Rob and I were still recovering from a rough 23 mile weekend in the Smokies, which is less than we’d normally do.  Rough because the trails we did were mostly downhill and my body took a beating.  My hips were still sore and I had two heel blisters on each foot, one which was starting to feel painful and possibly infected.  Starting off on the easy trails gave me some time to recover while still getting out. The last time I was at Mirror Lake the ground was dry and we walked across the sand, around the grasses to  the other side.  This time, we could see perfect mirror images of the rocks above.  We continued on the trail to the rock fall below Half Dome, but opted not to go much further since hikers coming back were saying there was a swift stream crossing with nothing beyond it.  Along with the swarms of mosquitoes on this trail, we saw a pair of western tanagers, which are striking yellow birds that have a red head, plus a deer and some steller’s jays.

That same day we decided to take it easy and acclimate to the elevation, so we headed into the valley on the shuttle system and went to the visitors center, then headed to the El Capitan Meadow to see climbers and enjoy the perfect weather.  It’s nearly impossible to see climbers on El Cap with the naked eye.  Being the largest granite monolith in the world and standing as tall as three Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other, it’s hard to get perspective on how massive the wall is until you see a human attempting to scale it.  I brought binoculars with me and we were able to view different groups of climbers on the various routes.  As rangers set up telescopes and prepared to answer onlookers’ questions, we also watched the climbers through Solo’s badass camera setup.  The week before we stood in this spot, Alex Honnold had achieved the first free solo climb of El Cap (as in he didn’t use a rope).  National Geographic is making a documentary about it and I am freaking excited to see it.  If you’re interested in climbing or want to get a better appreciation for Yosemite’s history Valley Uprising on Netflix is a must-see.

We stopped at Bridalveil Fall on the way back.  This waterfall never dries up, but it does does get down to the point were it merely blows mist off the cliff.  This time around, she was waving in the wind and soaking everyone gathered at her feet.

The rushing river below…

That night, Alicia and Myra were arriving late, so we headed out with Solo to get some night shots.  It’s always fun to have a photographer along.  He inspired us to see some different perspectives on the landscapes looming around us. That night we sat next to a river that had a view of Half Dome and another rock face to the right of us.  We could see climbers on both with their headlamps scanning the walls as some of them were descending.  The most enviable of all positions were the climbers camping on the sheer face of Half Dome just underneath the top of the dome.  We saw shooting stars and  listened to the constant roar of the stream, anxious to continue on its way, helping us send our worries about work and home along with it.

Into Every Garden A Little Rain Must Fall

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Don’t ever let anyone tell you a plant won’t break your heart.  You know how sometimes therapists recommend starting with a plant for people who are getting over a bad relationship or trying to move on?  I think they do that to be cruel.  Because plants will break you.  You will pour your heart and soul into them, fill yourself with hope that they will thrive, and just like that they’re dead and you’re alone.  The thought is that if you can keep a plant alive, you’re ready for a relationship again, but that is crap.  Get a cat.  If you can make a cat love you, you’re ready for a relationship.

I love posting pictures of my vegetable garden online.  It’s fun to show the harvest we get and then have people over the house to cook meals for them with the food we grew.  But there is an ugly side to gardening that every person who’s gotten their hands dirty has experienced.  Sometimes there are circumstances beyond your control that cause things to go awry.  While it’s great to show the happy successes of the garden each year, I think it’s also important to acknowledge the utter failures and frustrations that sometimes go along with the effort of planting.

This year in middle Tennessee the rain has been relentless.  Monsoon levels of rain have poured onto our little garden.  While this might sound like a good thing in summer when water from the sky can be hard to come by, the principle of “everything in moderation” definitely applies here.  The humidity has been off the charts, and with days and days of downpours (long ones and short ones) that have lasted for weeks/months, my plants have stuck their middle finger high in the air and said, “F this!!!”

After being away on a trip, I came home last night to a graveyard.  Rob tried to warn me how bad it was after all the rain, but I thought, “How bad can it be?” Rotten cucumbers that didn’t even have a chance to mature.  Peppers on the ground that literally fell off the plant because they rotted off.  Basil that had dropped all its leaves (Why???  Why did you let go?!).  Tomatoes covered in blight valiantly trying to hang on.  And squash that has succumbed to vine borer.  I planted the squash later this year after getting some advice from a farmer that planting later helps avoid vine borer.  Liar.  I have not had a worse year of planting and it broke my heart to see so much effort drowned out by relentless rainy days.

You haven’t lived until a rotten cucumber has fallen through your fingers…

These look lovely!  Yay, pepper success!

Nooooo!!!!  WHY??????

It looks like a war zone in there…tomato juice everywhere, skin barely hanging on, guts splayed all over the ground. I’ll never be the same.

The thing I have noticed in my garden over the years is that some stuff works and some stuff doesn’t.  And every year is different.  Something that worked great one year might fail miserably the next.  It’s enough to make a person want to throw in the towel and stomp around in the dirt, but this morning, I rolled up my sleeves, put on my big girl sunhat and got down to business.  I pulled up all the old beans that were finished, all the rotting cucumbers, all the leafless basil, and most of the weeds that were slowly creeping into every available free space.  As for the tomatoes, I’m going to let them ripen and harvest as many as I can before I pull them out.

The beauty of plants is that they can be grown again.  I planted some Purple Hyacinth Beans since the hummingbirds love the flowers.  Then I planted a different variety of cucumbers that worked well last year.  This year I tried a burpless variety and could not have had worse luck with them.  I am also re-starting basil, zinnias, and 18 more Martino’s Roma tomatoes under the grow light to see if I can have a second crop that might survive.  The weather here is very warm through September so it could work.  Again, it’s all an experiment.  The flowers in the garden have been thriving with the extra rain, so I’m going to throw some color out there and enjoy the beauty even if it can’t feed us.  Sometimes that’s all we can do, take the good with the bad, and know that the sun will keep on shining.

Seed Starting 101: The Dirt On Getting Stuff To Grow Indoors

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Every year, January rolls around and as I’m recovering from the holidays I get a bright, shiny gift in the mail….my Baker Creek Heirloom Seed catalog.  This book is so gorgeously printed that it causes a person to wonder how on earth they can afford to print such a quality piece of marketing material by just selling seeds. I mean….

A friend recommended this company to me several years ago and I’ve never looked back.  Forget the tepid, boring, lifeless varieties sold in ugly cardboard displays at big box stores.  When I get seeds from Baker Creek, I feel like I’m taking part in a tradition that dates back to ancient methods of farming.  I am getting an untainted heirloom product that has been lovingly preserved for generations because of its flavor, hardiness, profundity, and sheer beauty as a plant.  Most years, I’ve spent less than $30 on seeds.  Considering the amount of produce that comes out of our plot, this is an absolute steal!  If I sound a little nuts in the head, it’s because I’ve spent years of my life in the dirt from when I was an awkward wee lass selling tomatoes on the side of the road up to this point where I sweat my arse off in the southern heat of summer, trying to coax food from a clay-hardened ground.

Here in Nashville we have a saying, “It all begins with a song.”  Here in my yard I say, “It all begins with a seed.”  The first year I tried growing from seed was a dismal failure.  I got all my little cell packs, planted tomato seeds in them and put them in our laundry room which has big windows and lots of natural light.  The seeds sprouted, then they kept getting longer and longer, but the leaves weren’t growing, then they sort of rotted off right at the soil line and just died on me.  I felt like a total failure as a gardener and bought starter plants that year.  To be clear, there is nothing wrong with buying starter plants, however, they do carry risks.  Many starter plants come from other parts of the country than where you live, and especially with tomatoes, they are susceptible to carrying blight which will totally ruin your crop and spread like wildfire if not immediately addressed.  Some starter plants come pre treated with pesticides which kill bees and other beneficial insects that would otherwise help your plants flourish.  And sometimes they are mislabeled, so that lovely mild pepper you thought you were planting is actually a hellfire, rip your throat out, bastion of flame that will burn your molten eyes right out of your head.  I speak from experience.

What I love about growing from seed is that the world becomes your oyster in terms of varieties available to you (except oysters are gross, snot on a shell basically, so just use that as a metaphor and know that I don’t actually eat them).  Every year I grow squash and beans I’ve never seen anywhere else, except in this garden.  I grow tomatoes that cannot be purchased from local farmers or supermarkets.  And even flower varieties I would never think to plant because they are annuals have found a home in my flower beds because they are so different and pretty.  You just never know!  So after that first failed attempt at growing from seed I realized that the single most important factor to starting anything indoors is light.  A sunny window might seem like enough light, but odds are your plants will end up leggy with long thin strands of stems they can’t stand on.

LIGHT

I purchased a grow light from Amazon and have never looked back.  The Purple Reign light can fit two full flats underneath it, so what I do is I start some and then move them outdoors once leaves are established so I have room for plants like tomatoes and peppers that need constant light and warmth.  I have it set up on a timer and leave the light on for 14 hours per day.  At this rate, it takes about 4-6 weeks for my tomatoes to reach a stage of health and readiness for the outdoors.  I don’t plant anything outside or leave anything out overnight until the temperatures stay above 50 degrees.  Typically, I keep the grow light about 2 inches above the plants.  As they get taller, you raise the light up so the leaves don’t burn on the bulbs.  If the light is kept too high above the plants, the seedlings will grow taller in an effort to reach it which could result in leggy, weak stems.

SOIL

As far as what to plant the seeds in, I use an organic seed starting soil that you can purchase anywhere.  The reason I use this and not regular potting soil is that seed starter tends to be more sterile.  Potting soil has a tendency to develop fungus gnats which are a total pain.  If you notice small gnats flying around your seedlings, create a diluted mixture with a drop of Dawn and some water to make a mild soapy wash.  Water the plants with that and it should take care of the problem.  This will not harm your seedlings.  Seed starting soil is very light, so when you first try to water it, it’ll float on top of the water and really piss you off and make you want to throw things.  What I like to do is use a spray bottle to wet the tops of the soil and then I water everything from below by adding water to the trays as needed.  The spray bottle is gentler when the seeds are just sprouting and will keep you from drowning the seedlings with a watering can.  Once they’ve popped out of the soil I think it’s better to water from below so the stems don’t rot off at the soil line (this is mostly a tomato issue called damping off, which I think is a disgusting name.  Imagine using that in conversation.  “Oh, how are you today?”  “Man, not so great, I’ve got a bad case of damping off.”).

CONTAINERS

Many seed starting kits come with these tiny plastic black cells and I think these things are crap because they are way to small to house the roots of most plants.  Your seedlings will need to be transplanted before they’re even ready to go outside.  Tomatoes have very deep roots and squash must not be root bound before being planted outside, so I got these 3 1/2 in square pots at a garden supply store for $0.30 apiece (you could order them online too) and I can fit 18 of them in a tray.  I put one tomato per pot, one squash plant per pot, and then for herbs and flowers I just drop a bunch of seeds in there and have a cluster in each pot.  For peppers, I find they work great in 4-6 cell containers because they grow slower and the plants stay small.  I also put my cucumbers in 6 cell containers.  Most of my containers are ones I have saved over the years from plants I bought at garden centers, so they are all reused.  If you buy berries at the store, the plastic containers they come in are excellent because they have drainage holes built in the bottom.  I also don’t prefer peat pots because first of all, the harvesting of peat moss is bad for the environment and screws up a lot of marshy habitats.  Secondly, I’ve seen the peat pots develop mold and need to be peeled off anyway before the seedling is planted in the ground, which totally defeats the purpose of planing in a peat pot…I digress.  This is just personal preference.

AIR/SUN

Once you notice that your seedlings are beginning to look hardy and have strong stems, you can begin what is called hardening off.  This is when you take them outside for a portion of the day to let them get natural sunlight and air movement that will strengthen the stems.  You have to be careful about this though because sometimes direct, hot sunlight can burn the leaves on a tender seedling.  For things like squash or cucumbers, you should be totally fine to put in direct sun (make sure they are watered so they won’t dry out).  For plants like tomatoes or certain more delicate herbs, some shade under an umbrella will suffice until the plants are strong enough to handle full sun.  Also, don’t accidentally put them outside when a torrential downpour is in the forecast or you will hate yourself.

DIRECT SOWING

There are certain plants that you can absolutely start right in the ground and do not need to start inside ahead of time.  Examples are squash, cucumbers, herbs like basil, parsley, cilantro, dill, beans, and leafy greens like spinach and lettuce.  Many of these will sprout in 7-10 days and absolutely take off once they’re established.  I have chosen to start my squash and cukes ahead of time because I have vine borer and cucumber beetles in this region of the country.  I find that giving the plants a head start strengthens them against these pests for a little longer and actually lets me harvest a fair amount before the squash plant needs to be pulled.  A farmer recently told me that way to avoid vine borer is to plant AFTER their season is done, which is around the beginning of June.  I am going to try this for this season and report back.  Vine borer in the South have two rounds, so if I plant in between, maybe I will get less damage.  We shall see.

TRANSPLANTING

OK, so you’ve grown these plants from tiny little seeds and they seem so fragile, pathetic really, like a strong gust of wind could blow them to smithereens, or a feisty mockingbird could have its way and decimate an entire row of tomatoes just by tweeting at them.  Once I’ve figured out the layout of the garden and where I want the plants to go, I bring out only the ones that are ready to go into the ground, so the others don’t wilt in the sun.  For tomatoes, I add crushed eggshells to the hole before planting them because it’s a natural way to add calcium to the ground, which in turn can help keep skins from splitting later on. You can save eggshells in a Ziplock in the fridge or pulse them in a food processor to get them fine enough.  I also put a small ring of newspaper around the neck of each seedling which will protect it from cutworms.  Cutworms are brown caterpillars that chew the stems of seedlings and kill a plant before it’s even had a chance to start.  Tomatoes can also be planted rather deep if the stems are leggy because roots will grow off of the stem.

For squash and cucumbers, I am very careful not to break their stems because they snap a bit easier.  I don’t believe in making mounds for squash or cukes, it just seems unnecessary.  Plant the soil line of the seedling even with the soil line of the ground.  For others, like herbs, just plant as you would any flower that you bought at a nursery.  I love grouping herbs like basil as opposed to separating and planting single plants here and there.  Keep in mind when you first plant the seedlings, they will look wilty for a bit and you might think they’re going to keel over and die.  Keep an eye on them, water them, but don’t over water them (no helicopter parenting), and they will perk up once new roots start growing.  Here are a couple of pics from last year.  The first one is right after the seedlings were planted and they look sad.  Then they perked up…

So that is what I do.  A lot of this is personal preference and there are so many other ways to successfully grow seeds indoors, although I do think a light is a necessity regardless.  Some things have worked better for me than others, and this year I’m really happy with what’s coming up so far.  It’s ALWAYS an experiment.  Every year is different.  The weather can make or break the season.  Too much rain, stuff rots.  Too little rain, stuff dries out.  Sometimes one variety is a total fail in your area, but another variety of the same thing could become your new favorite that you’ll plant year after year.  It just depends!!!  Please feel free to comment with tips and tricks that have worked for you.  I’m always learning and love to hear what other gardeners have discovered in their own plots.  Happy planting!!!

 

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