MLT Newsletter
December, 1991
RAMBLINGS FROM THE LAND TRUST FARM
by Jon Towne, farm co-manager
I've noticed a couple of things since I "quit" full-time farming
and took up nursing "studenting." One, is that I have turned into
a blob of jelly from the lack of exercise. The other is that I
have been developing some massive extensor and flexor muscles in my
right forearm from the writing and documentation required in this
particular field. Consequently, I haven't been faithful about
writing letters, let alone land trust newsletter updates. So this
is part one in an effort to bring the MLT membership up to date with
what is happening on the farm.
Beginning in zone I, the house was reroofed last summer. I also did
some repair work on the picture window in the living room.
Completing these two jobs will enable us to do a couple of painting and
remodeling projects in the living room and upstairs.
The zone I garden has been very productive. We use it for both
intensive and early vegetables and fruits—early potatoes,
strawberries (interplanted with currants), rhubarb, and others. It
supplies all these while our extensive semicircular garden (by the pond
in zone II) provides sweet corn, winter potatoes, tomatoes, melons,
pumpkins and squash. This year, I added a row of ten blueberries
at the lower, wetter end which were interplanted with tomatoes.
Also in this garden, my son Shannon and I planted a couple short rows
of nuts and other tree seeds.
Much of our house garden is surrounded by black raspberries. They
haven't worked out real well as they are too rampant and use a lot of
water. Red raspberries are better in zone I. similarly, planting
brambles around a peach appears to have hurt the tree; better watering
would facilitate this double cropping. (Notice that I am sticking
in a few of my more notable bloopers for everyone's edification.)
At the garden's edge there are also currants, gooseberries,
serviceberries, chestnuts, an apricot, and American plums (which are
worthless). A row of spruce and pine complete the windbreak. Also
in this garden—towards the southwest corner—is a 12 foot
Kentucky Coffee Tree. This tree, which is a single stem without
branches, takes honors for growth—about seven feet this year with
over an inch of secondary growth. This tree is characterized by
casting thin shade and by being late in leafing out which along with
being deep rooted should minimize competition with the vegetable
understory while adding nitrogen and organic matter. This tree is
reputed to be a fly repellent (!?!?!).
Also in zone -I are two hardy kiwis (Issai). They flowered and
bore fruit this year but the fruit dropped in midsummer probably due to
the dry conditions and their young age.
The filberts did fairly well this year, although the nuts were
small. The cherry dogwoods (Cornus mas) had fruit for the first
time. You have to pick them when they are falling as that is when
they are sweet. There seems to be variations between
trees—we have guite a few of them in various locations. I've read
that selected varieties can have plum-sized fruit in their native
Soviet Union. Dogwoods are valuable because they can produce well
in light shade. Next to the two dogwoods in zone I is my pet
"Seguoiadndron gigantua," still an infant at eight feet tall and three
inches in diameter. If anyone would like cuttings to root, let me
know. To conclude my zone I ramblings is the case of the
"heartnut" that was planted to partially replace the giant American elm
at the front of the house. It bore for the first time—five
beautiful butternuts. (This says something about my need for accurate nursery records.)
Another change in myself is that I take fewer walks in the woods.
This is probably an ill-effect of "growing up." But it may also
mean that I can now take exploratory journeys in areas closer to
home--permaculture provides a kind of "controlled wildness" were
something new lurks just beyond the next oak sapling, or filbert bush,
or at the edge of the pond.
Next time, we will continue our exploration to zone II and beyond.
REVIEW
by Ken Dahlberg
The week before Thanksgiving I was fortunate to have attended a
"Multimedia Ecological Installation" entitled "Threshold Dreaming"
prepared by Heather Maclntyre as her Bachelor of Fine Arts graduation
presentation. The presentation was in the Multi-Media Room in the
Dalton Center at Western Michigan University. When you walked
into the darkened room, you were struck by the brightly-lit circle of
wheatgrass in the center. This circle-about a foot off the floor
and some thirty feet in diameter-had a two-level perimeter of
brown--one of woven twigs and one of woven dried grass. The
wheatgrass, embraced by this "field edge," was about six inches
tall (Heather said that it had continued to grow during the week
long exhibition). Then there appeared the gentle reading of
poems-with the voices alternating (male and female), followed by a
second reading with the genders switched. The lights raised and
dimmed according to the text, adding to the mood evoked. It
offered a wonderful blending of thought, voice, poetry, and vision.
Heather has been kind enough to share the poems with us. Enjoy.
Threshold Dreaming by Heather Maclntyre
Formation
That first summer was magical. I was born that summer. I
shed off years of darkness and fear. I began to cycle with the
moon and as I planted my bare feet in the earth I grew upwards. I
watered myself. I gathered sticks, stones and pods. I read
leaves. I touched the sky. The seed was released that now
forms the dream.
History
When I was small I made shelter. I gathered things from
nature and formed them into dwellings. I created secret spaces of
my own to view the world from. In those days a leaf was a
precious object. It could be at once a plate, a sunshade, and a
poem.
Nest
This is a path that leads to a room which is our house; the house we
dream of, the house we sleep in when we're dreaming. This bed in
our room of trees and leaves is the center, the place of love and
nurturing where dreams are born and grow and rest and remain secret
waiting for the season of safety for secrets and the moment (huge and
glowing) to enter the land and be seen. The strongest vision
floats in front of me now—it is the essence of the dream, the
core of emotion and spirit. This is the time when trees cradle me
and soil rises up to meet my feet and leaves form nests to contain my
thoughts. I am threshold dreaming. We are on the edge of
the future.
Transcendence
I want to dig. To take a shovel and dig soil. Dig
for days and days and touch earth with my body, my soul. I want
to form earth, to surround myself with it. To create an earthship
for our journey through this world and into the next. Living
within the earth with warm soil, massive and safe around us; wall,
floor, path. We are on the path to completion. We are on
the path to wholeness. When we grow our own food we will grow
ourselves. We shall become fibers of grass and leaf and
seed. Our bodies transformed to perfect balance of sinew and
surface. We take in light, absorb energy of sun, moon, water,
soil. We grow towards the sky and take root deep in the
earth. We bloom. We return to the earth that creates us daily.
We are renewed in its spirit.
Escape
Everywhere toxins, poisons. Components of institution, grid, bureaucracy—centralized urban hurry. Illusions of
efficiency. Escape, we will escape to begin to heal our bodies
and the land. To give back. To reconnect with our
souls. We will germinate in soil. We will embrace life.
Worship
When we build, we build in tribute to the land. I tribute
to that piece of big sky, that section of stars, that portion of
magic. As we scoop each handful of soil and collect each harvest,
we will worship. Each day in balance with the earth is
worship. We shall form the chambers of our temple from this earth
and each action of building, planting and gathering shall be a
prayer. We are wholly sustained by this soil, this sky and water
and wind and these trees. Our life-force is fed by the pure energy of
the land.
Wheatgrass
On the first night the seeds swelled in water. Through dim 4 am
light I tended them, dreaming and watching; seeing clearly their future
shining and green. Together we drained them when morning came
blowing cold through the bathroom window. For us today soil is
not free. We drove many miles and exchanged money for a heavy
load. As winter came upon us, we shoveled soil into the
darkness. I turned my face to the first winter sky and it smelled
to me of promise and new life. At the moment when the earth was
pulling back, drawing
in, and preparing for another long wait, another deep stillness, I was
reaching outwards, expecting life and light and strong seeds bursting
into tall and knowing green.
A BRIEF REVIEW
by Earl Phillips
I received a copy of the Summer, 1991 (Vol. 7, no. 1) of Green Letter.
I had heard of the Green Movement and was anxious to read about its
activities. I was very disappointed in the publication, which I
read in its entirety. The illustrations smacked of the occult and
the articles were depressing, negative, one-sided, confusing and
disorganized. The overuse of unexplained acronyms turned me off.
It appeared that the periodical was designed solely for radical,
intellectual snobs. I found few, if any, redeeming qualities.
Moreover, I passed the publication along to several friends and
colleagues and they generally concurred with my impressions.
I appreciate the effort made to address the social and environmental
disasters in our world. If a more balanced approach was taken-
with possible alternatives presented and some scattering of
positiveness--the Green Letter
would be more compelling. Then, if it were marketed more
professionally, it would attract the attention it probably deserves.
NOTICES
MLT Board Member, Ken Dahlberg is a recipient of the 1991
Distinguished Faculty Scholar Awards from Western Michigan
University. The award is the university's highest faculty honor.
Ken has been invited to give a presentation at the Distinguished
Faculty Scholar Colloquim. He will address "Universities Facing the 21st Century: Transition or Obsolescence?" on January 28, 1992 at 4 P.M. in the Red Room of the Bernhard
Student Center. Congratulations Ken.
Members of the Kalamazoo Area Coalition for Peace and Justice have a
cable access program running several times throughout the winter.
"Our Earth/Peace or Pieces" presents "Targeting for Nuclear War."
The program runs at 6 P.M. on Kalamazoo Cable Access channel 30 on
De.cember 15th and 22nd, and January 5th, 12th, and 26th.
The next MLT board meeting will be on Sunday, January 19, 1992, at 3
P.M. at the home of Ken Dahlberg. Following the meeting will be a
potluck and there will be plenty of good conversation throughout.
Funny thing, as the years go by, the conversation at these gatherings
gets more lively and entertaining, and tangential. As always, all
are welcome.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the MLT newsletter over
the past year. Thoughts, comments, poems, suggestions, essays,
threats, personal updates, and book reviews are always welcome.
The newsletter goes out to folks throughout the midwest, over to the
east coast, a couple of households down south, and one is even sent up
into eastern Ontario. In the coming year I ould like to thicken
it up a bit, so send your literary contributions. My efforts to shake
articles out of this membership is kind of like pulling teeth.
But, that's alright. As my grandfather would occasionally mutter,
"If you don't have anything to say, don't say anything." Happy
holidays.
--Michael Phillips, editor
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