The Red Queen Theory Revised

One of my favorite evolutionary theories is the "Red Queen Theory". This was an evolutionary theory proposed in 1973 by Leigh Van Valen (great name), in which he realized that, "For an evolutionary system, continuing development is needed just in order to maintain its fitness relative to the systems it is co-evolving with". The title of the theory comes from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass when the Red Queen said, "It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."

The last few days on the farm The Red Queen has been breathing down my neck. I try very hard to feel the farm vibe and tend to things as they come up, but lately I am feeling as though the competitors are co-evolving faster than me! I just got a handle on sap beetles attacking the Cascade Berries, when I discovered that the Buckley Giant apple in the orchard is suffering from "Bitter Pit".

Even just the name "bitter pit" eludes to how one feels after you see more than half the apples on a tree fail the grade for market. The thing that slayed me was that one of the causes for bitter pit is vigorous pruning the year before, which I had no control over and only learned about after I fantastically pruned the tree again this year. And oh yeah, I am only talking about one tree in the orchard, remember the mention a few posts ago about the 71 trees we have?

Here is where the running as fast as I can part comes in. I know that we have more apples than we all will know what to do with, it is just so hard to "lose" a tree, or miss a needed picking of berries to keep ahead of the pest, or to catch that zucchini and pick it before it becomes the size of a baseball bat. My struggle today is letting go of the expectation of perfection. Maybe tomorrow I will make applesauce, jam, and zucchini bread with my "rejects".

How to Get Rich Without Turning a Profit

So the peaches are definitely in, and picked, and peeled, and frozen, and canned, and eaten. What a complete surprise to get about a bushel of peaches from our few trees (five) and even after we balked at pruning them or doing any other kind of maintenance.

The last two days Gus and Freja have attended camp at Huckleberry Kids and I used the time to can, pickle, jam, or bake everything I could get my hands on. (the pickled purple cabbage from the garden was my favorite) This morning I picked more blackberries in the hopes that we will end up with enough to attempt a batch of wine along with grape wine this fall. Raspberries are just starting to ripen, and it is such a treat to have them after all the other berries we enjoyed so far.

This morning I walked the orchard to pick up ground falls and nearly blew a gasket when I found the second pear tree that has been completely ravaged by something not human. The first tree was bad enough, a strong open tree with about ten big pears, all half-eaten, still hanging from their stems. If you looked at the tree from just the right angle it looked like we had some good fruit going, until you walked around to the other side to see that each pear was a hollow shell! I quietly plucked off the skeletons and chalked it up to the necessary payment to the "garbage collectors" in this neck of the orchard. Now a second tree has been pillaged and the worst thing about it is that there was only one pear on the tree to begin with! When I found it this morning it looked like an Asian chef attempted fruit carving on the poor specimen, or that a cartoon firecracker blew out one side of the pear.
I instantly started to think of ways to thwart future attacks, because (for those of you who have not yet visited we have more than a few trees) I have put way to many hours into coddling this orchard to have some free-loaders blow it all to Valhalla. Is is wrong to want to camp out in the orchard with a bb gun, or wire a few of the most vulnerable trees with low voltage?

Then I caught myself and started adding up the cost of various ways to keep pests away, and was reminded of the $20 homegrown tomato. We are trying so hard to produce enough food to feed us and others, as if it is a money saver/money maker. Who am I kidding? We have spent about a hundred dollars in seeds and starts along this year, not to mention soil amendments, tools, pest traps, and plenty of sugar, vinegar, and pectin for all the things that come out of the garden. I guess I need to reframe my expectations away from "saving/making money" to "owning" a lifestyle change. I am no longer the city mouse curious about life outside of the neat borders of metropolis. I am the country mouse, like it some days, and maybe not so much others. We are so at peace out here (even if you do see me chasing down racoons with a shovel) and feel so much more connected to each other than we did in the city. Gus asked today if he could stay at camp after it was time to go home. I told him that I was sorry, but we had other chores to do. He smiled and said, "Then lets get going!" and that is just what we did.

A Petition for More Hours in the Day

There just never seems to be enough time to enjoy all the moments in the day. Today we begrudgingly left Cousins Camp 2008 up on Whidbey Island, rode home with kids napping on ferries. Arrived back at the farm to visit with the girls, pick a LOT of peaches, collect the daily offerings from the garden (raspberries, zucchinis, beans, herbs, and logan and cascade berries, and cabbages), and give everything and everyone a good drink of water. Then it was back home to the rental for dinner while watching a bit of olympics and then bed for the G and F. I am just tired typing it all! Here are a few pics of us out and about doing our thing: