Martha, thanks for the plug. And you’re in good company; many writers find it a challenge to get jump-started.  Sounds as if the steam’s building, but the train isn’t quite ready to pull out of the station. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never found a way to hurry that stage along. Seems things need to percolate however long they need to percolate.

I find that as long as we keep ourselves open by creating the space and time to be present to what’s percolating, we’ll eventually be able to get it down on paper. To help get ideas organized, consider carrying around a little notebook, so you can jot down ideas as they come to you. I also find that working from a loose outline helps. Often, just doing those two things is enough to get me over the initial hump of getting started.

BUT, avoidance/procrastination is a horse of a different color. If procrastination is part of your difficulty, are you creating the space (however small) and giving yourself the time (however short) to be with your thoughts and writing each and every day?  H. Jackson Brown sums it up perfectly for me: “Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backward, or sideways.”

I think of sitting down to write the same way I think about sitting down to meditate. For as many years as I’ve been meditating, I still have to force myself to make a time because it seems like an interruption to my day. And after I sit down, I have to fight to get myself settled down, because I really don’t want to bother shifting gears. And then I have to switch from feeling that I’ve put  myself in a time-out to allowing myself to plug into meditation’s creative/healing flow. When I’m finally able to get past all that and get to the actual meditating, it’s then that I remember why I like to meditate so much. Writing often feels like the same process.

Even when I’m “too busy,” even when it feels more like a punishment rather than a reward to make myself sit at the computer, I do it. Because, plain and simple, that’s how you create the habit. And eventually the habit creates the groove that becomes the expressway to your creativity, and the ideas and words will start flowing. It also helps that I allow myself the flexibility to work on several projects at once, so if I’m stuck on one, I can usually find the energy or interest to work on one of the others.

In a nutshell, to overcome procrastination and develop the writing habit:

• Start with an inviting work space, free of clutter and distractions. (No music, TV, or social networking for example. )
• Pick a time that you will commit to writing every day. (First thing in the morning works best for me.) And then sit down at that time every day, even if you only stare out the window to start.
• Keep a notebook handy for new ideas, and learn how to create working outlines for works-in-progress.
• No matter what, spend a minimum of one hour a day writing. (Doesn’t matter what you write, or how many words you write–even if you have no ideas and wind up retyping another author’s writing whom you’d like to emulate.)
• If you don’t have the juice to write new pages, use that hour to edit and improve old pages.
• Consider joining a writing group for support and useful feedback.

Perhaps Nike said it best: Just do it!

Good luck, and let me know how your project goes.

Anyone else out there have any tips or suggestions to share on how to avoid procrastination?

Once the sun came up, this is what we saw this morning.

There are actually five, all total, though it’s hard to see the fifth one. Two families of three and two.

Pretty scene, isn’t it?

And I’m glad my bumper crop of grapes is not going to waste.

Yep, I watched as they plowed through my back fence, sauntered through the back yard, and right over to my little grape vines to help themselves to the extras.

Pretty as they are, and as bucolic a scene as they paint, they bring deer ticks with them. Deer ticks are the carriers of Lyme Disease. We don’t need any more Lyme Disease around here. And what you can’t see from these photos is that they’re only about a meter away from the dog fence.

Because Graidy is ridiculously near-sighted, and the deer were down wind, he hadn’t caught on to their presence. Time to point out that we had company.

Since these deer know they have a safe haven on our 10-acre sanctuary, they needed a little encouragement to high-tail it. As you can see — we’re still at low tails here.

After a little more encouragement, the mama turns to look to see if we mean it.

We mean it. And off they finally go.

Now I’ve got to go find where they broke through the fence and repair it. Until the next time…

Life in the country.

Huh? you say.  Are you asking me how old in dog years I am?

No, it’s not a sneaky way to calculate your age. Rather, it’s a very important question in a list of questions that need to be asked to ascertain what kind of dog would make a good match for you.

Before I explain, let me first give Suzanne Clothier credit for framing the question in this way. What she means is:  How many dogs have you lived with over your life?

Why does that matter?

Because it’s a pretty good indicator of how much dog experience you’ve had, and therefore how much dog you can probably handle.

For instance, I’ve lived with 20 dogs so far. That makes me 20 dogs old. One could safely assume from that number that I’d have a fair amount of dog experience, as opposed to someone who is only two dogs old. And they’d be right. And that I’d have less experience than someone who is 200 dogs old. And they’d be right again. Perhaps.

Huh? you say again.

While knowing how many dogs old you are can tell a lot, it won’t give the full picture. In order to get that, we’d have to ask how many breeds old you are.

You see, as much as it matters how many dogs you’ve lived with, it also matters what kinds of breeds they’ve been. Because not all breeds are created equal, and not all dogs within the same breed are created equal. What that means is that while each breed type has overarching characteristics and personality traits, within each breed there can be significant variations.

For example, I’ve lived with dogs from each breed category (herding, sporting, working, toy, etc.) with the exception of the non-sporting group. I’ve also lived with a few different breeds from within each of those categories. For instance, from the herding breeds, I’ve shared my life with 4 Shelties, 2 German Shepherds, 1 Border Collie, 1 English Shepherd, and 2 Australian Shepherds.

So even though I’m 20 dogs old, I’m also 13 breeds old. If the person who’s 200 dogs old is only one breed old (say a breeder of Labs), then I would be considered older in dog experience because I’m more familiar with a larger number of breeds.

While people who are several dogs old aren’t likely to be looking for help selecting their next dog, it’s still very telling to find out how many breeds old they are, and whether they’ll be staying within those breeds.

That’s because, in truth, people are most likely to get into trouble when they switch breeds. Specifically, when they switch from a relatively easy breed to a more challenging breed with which they have no previous experience. I’m speaking from both observation and personal experience.

Even though I was 10 breeds old by the time I got Kiera, they’d all been breeds I’d had multiple experience with. When I switched to Australian Shepherds, even though they were herding dogs, they were unlike any other herding dogs I’d had before. The learning curve was steep.

To help shorten your learning curve, here are the important things to remember in selecting your next dog:

If you’re young in dog years, it’s a great idea to seek out the advice of someone more experienced to help you select your perfect partner. You’ll be glad you did.

Even if you’re old in dog years, but you’re young in breed years and you’re thinking of switching to a new breed, it’s incredibly valuable to spend time visiting with and talking to others who live with that breed. You’ll be glad you did.

And then, armed with all that insight and experience, it’s a lot easier to go find that special dog waiting for you. You’ll be glad you did.

So then, how many dogs old and breeds old are you? Which breeds have you enjoyed the most? What breeds have presented your longest learning curves?

As I review the different veggies that provided bounties or busts, I plan for what seeds I’ll keep and plant again, and what varieties I probably won’t add back in. In part, this decision is always aided by my annual garden experiment.

Every year, I conduct a garden experiment with all the rigors of a research scientist–sort of… (You can look here and here to read about my last couple of experiments.)

For this year’s experiment, I decided to test the difference between pole and bush beans. I’ve been reading forever that pole beans are better-tasting and easier to harvest than bush beans. Having always grown bush beans, and after having paged through my Fedco catalog to read the same review yet again, I finally decided to conduct my own growing and tasting test.

To make the experiment valid, I set about finding a pole and bush bean of the same variety. Growing different varieties would be about as worth-while as comparing cooking pumpkins with carving pumpkins — taste, texture, and size would not be comparable. Kentucky Wonder was available in both, so I went with that.

Here’s what Fedco catalog has to say about Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans:  Also known as Old Homestead. “Of all the climbing kinds, we do not believe there is a better one than Kentucky Wonder; it is an old variety with solid meaty pods, 7-9″ long, that are stringless when young, and when cooked no bean is better. It is enormously productive, the pods hanging in great clusters from top to bottom of the pole.” The nutty flavor makes them outstanding for freezing. Pick regularly to maintain quality and production.

Because of their vining habit, they need some kind of upright support. Some people make tipis out of bamboo or sticks, others set them along a fence, and still others pair them with sunflowers. I used a fence.

Kentucky Wonder Bush Beans do not require trellising. Strong bush vines hold pods off the ground. Pods are the same flattened shape as the pole, with 6-7″ long, medium green pods. They’re ready to pick in about 57 days versus the pole bean’s average of 65 days. They yield well and require the least amount of work. Unlike Pole Beans, they are determinate, which means they grow to a certain size, blossom, produce the fruit and then stop growing.  Because Bush Beans’ harvest will only last about 2 weeks, you can enjoy more if you make small individual plantings every 10 days or so.

I have to say, the pole beans were easier to harvest, produced longer, and in my side-by-side taste test, the pole beans won hands down. They were considerably more tender and flavorful. Looks like I’ll be sticking with pole beans from here on in.

What discoveries did you make in your garden this year?

Seeing these two faces at the door as I drive by is the pits. I hate it! I don’t know how mothers who have to leave their children in daycare do it.

After all, garlic seems a slightly peculiar item to grow when they’re so plentiful and cheap at the grocery store. And even more peculiar to fall in love with. I’m not ashamed to admit it. I get a bigger kick out of growing my garlic than nearly all my other plants put together — and that’s saying something.

Maybe it’s because they are such strikingly graceful plants with their swan-like scapes. Maybe it’s because you throw them into the ground in early October and then you pretty much let them do their thing until you harvest them all at once in late July. How much simpler does it get?

Or maybe it’s because I grow the sweetest, most delicious garlic anyone has ever tasted. Friends and family fight over the bulbs I have to give away. (Actually, I don’t grow the sweetest garlic; my dirt does — but we’ll get to that later.)

No matter the reason, I suppose.  Joy is joy in whatever form we find it. And I’d like to share some of that joy with you.

If you think you’d like to try your hand at growing great garlic, the following tutorial should give you enough info to get started.

CHOOSING GARLIC SEED

There are two types of garlic; each offering many varieties. If you live in zone 6 or higher, you’ll want to consider one of the soft­neck artichoke types (these are the ones most often found in grocery stores). These have a higher yield and a more domesticated flavor. They can also be woven into braids. For those of us in living in zone 5 and lower, we get to select from the hardneck varieties. I’m partial to the Rocambole variety. Because Rocambole is a stiff­neck type, it can’t be braided. The bulbs may have a purplish cast and are known for their excellent flavor.

PLANTING GARLIC

While there are two ways to plant garlic: planting cloves from the bulb (one-season harvest) or planting bulbils from the scape (two-season harvest), I’m going to talk about cloves, since most people don’t want to wait two years to get their garlic. In upstate NY, we plant from end of September into mid-October (or about four weeks before you get regular ground freezes). You want to plant early enough for the roots to begin to form but not so early that the top growth will emerge. But don’t overly worry about it; garlic is a very forgiving plant.

Readying the Soil: After I harvest the summer’s garlic, I loosen the soil (with the help of Andrew), add plenty of compost, and work it in so it will have time to do its magic before I plant the bulbs for next year.

Planting cloves:   Pick your largest and most evenly shaped bulbs to save for seed. Just before planting, break apart your seed garlic bulbs into cloves.  Pick the largest and firmest cloves to plant. These will yield larger bulbs than planting with the smaller cloves. (Save the smaller cloves for cooking.)

The end of the clove attached to the bulb is the flat root end. The pointier end is the top part of the clove. You’re going to plant each clove with the root-end down.

Push each clove into the soil about two inches deep, about six inches apart, in rows about 18-inch apart. In general, the larger the clove you plant, the larger the bulb of garlic you’ll get.  Once the bulbs are planted, mulch with a thick layer of straw. This helps even out soil temperatures, protect the garlic from hard winter freezes, and helps to prevent the garlic from getting heaved out of the ground from freeze-thaw cycles.  You can remove the mulch in the spring.

STORAGE

Garlic bulbs should not be stored in the refrigerator. The cool temps and humidity cause sprouting. Garlic keeps best between 60/­70 degrees, or at room temperature, in a well­-ventilated container. Good garlic should keep for months. Bulbs that show softening of any of the cloves should be used immediately or discarded.

HARVESTING GARLIC

Once the scapes (the curly­cue tops of the garlic plants) appear in late June, you have a choice to make: to break scape or not break scape. If left to mature, they will straighten up and form heads of mini­bulbs called bulbils. You can use these as you would miniature garlic cloves, you can chop and freeze for later use, or you can save them to plant in the fall. Most people choose to break the scapes just after they form the curlycue to force all the growing energy down into the bulb. After my Garden Experiment of 2007, I always break scape, but I wait until their stems get woody. Then there’s less shock to the plant.

You’ll know when your garlic is ready to harvest by watching the leaves. Here in Upstate NY, they begin to die (turn yellow) in early July . Harvesting is done when the ratio of green to yellow leaves is about 60/40, usually by mid to end of July. Because each leave represents one layer of “paper” wrapping of the garlic, if you let too many leaves die before harvest, you’ll not have enough paper layers left for your garlic to store well.  Once pulled, your garlic plants need to be “cured” before they can be stored.

Curing and Cleaning Garlic

Leaving the garlic plants intact with roots on, carefully remove most of the dirt from the roots (garlic bruises easily so be careful). Many people tie up their garlic into bunches of five and dry from the eaves of a barn or storage shed.  Since I have neither, I dry my garlic loose on screen doors that I lay on top of sawhorses. At any rate, they need to get a couple of weeks of good air circulation out of direct light with an average temp of around 70-75 degrees.

When the wrappers are dry (very white and papery) your garlic is ready to be cleaned and stored. Cut off the stalks leaving about an inch of stem, and trim roots to about 1/4 inch. Remove any dirty outer layers of wrappers(carefully) and brush loose any remaining dirt from the roots. Store your gourmet garlic in mesh or onion bags, paper sacks, or in shallow layers on trays or boxes. Store  in a cool, dry, area, but avoid refrigerating homegrown garlic to prevent premature sprouting. Don’t store bruised or damaged bulbs with the others, instead eat them first. Your delicious and health-filled garlic should last you for several months!

Bon appetite!

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Growing Great Garlic by Ron Engeland contains all the information you’ll ever need to grow fantastic garlic!

So she started the nightly ritual of calling out while banging on Finn’s food can. Within minutes, he always appears.

But this night, still no Finn after several minutes of banging and calling.

Worried, Cait ran back in the house asking for help. She took the front of the house, and I took the back by the woods, both of us banging and calling. Hurrying, neither of us thought to grab a flashlight.

A few more minutes passed, when I saw the shadow of Cait start jogging down our road. I yelled out to her to see if she’d found Finn.

She called back, saying that she saw his eyes glowing in the dark and was in hot pursuit.

Great, I thought, as I started walking back to the house. That was until I felt something rubbing against my legs. I nearly jumped out of my skin! I looked down to find the wayward Finn doing figure eights around my legs.

That meant that whatever Cait was chasing was… not Finn. Not wanting to scare her, and definitely not wanting her to catch whatever she was tailing, I hurried to the road and called her back.

I saw that she’d made it to the turn in the road. I could see her trotting and stopping, trotting and stopping, as the glowing eyes trotted and stopped to look back.

Annoyed that my presence might jinx her near capture of what she thought was Finn, she shushed me and told me to stay back.

At that point, I told her I had Finn in my arms and she should return to me immediately.

Even in the dark, I could see her do a double-take. Aided by a burst of adrenalin, she seemed to cover the quarter mile between us in one gigantic leap.

As she held on to me to help steady her weak knees, she said with nervous laughter, “Yup that’s me. Just chasing any pair of random eyes down the road. My version of “Ma slapped a bear.”

What she was referring to was a scene in one of the Little House on the Prairie books. Pa is off hunting, so Ma has to tend to the evening chores by herself. She walks out to the field where they keep their cow, and slaps the cow’s rear to get it to move away from the gate so she can open it. Only what she finds out is that the cow is not the cow, but a black bear!

As we walked back to the house, she asked what I thought she might have been chasing.

Around our parts, there aren’t any bears (thankfully) but we do have plenty of coyotes, foxes, raccoons, opossums, woodchucks, and any number of other cat-sized critters that it could have been. I answered, “From the eyes and the gait, my money’s on a young coyote. They’re one of the few animals I know of that will stop and turn to look back like that.”

Cait, still nervously laughing, said, “It’d be kinda fun to have a little coyote as a pet.” Then I watched her throw a cautious glance over her shoulder to make sure the coyote wasn’t thinking the same thing.

Life in the country. Gotta love it!

That said, I’m not what you’d call a natural cat lover. And Finn and I have had our moments–   Yep, that’s his handiwork.

But I really do love him.  So much so, that I built this fence in part for him so he could be a “safe” outdoor cat.  Since we got him, that has been his deepest wish.  How do I know?  You’d only have to listen to him “cack” at the door for hours on end to understand.

All was well for several months.  Until he finally figured out how to deal with the floppy wire at the top of the fence line.

We’ve had to resign ourselves to the fact that his life and his destiny are his own now.  Though we do make sure that he’s always in for the night before dark.  We don’t want to tempt the fates anymore than we already are.  And with all the night-time predators around here, that would be tempting indeed. Once the sun comes up, he’s rearin’ to face a new day.

Yes, if anyone were to ask him, I’ve no doubt our Finny boy would tell you that his life is might fine!

It seems every so many years, it’s just something I need to do — go spend time in a natural landscape that speaks to me. That’s partly because I live in a landscape that I would not choose, if I had a choice — Upstate New York, in the Adirondacks.

It’s not that there’s not lots to love about the area. It’s just that I do best with lots of big open space. And lots of sky. And hardly any trees.

Because trees, you see, where I live in the Adirondacks, close in space and

create walls

and tunnels

and corridors

and barricades to broad sweeping views

and… well you get the idea. There are so many trees where I live that I have to admit that at times I find it downright claustrophobic.

Where I’m going, there aren’t enough trees to create walls

or tunnels

or corridors

and broad sweeping views are the order of the day.

So where is it exactly that I’m going?

Where my soul feels at home. On the plains.

In what landscape to you feel most at home?

The tools have gotten more sophisticated over the years. Being the tech geek that I am, I had one of the first home computers when they came out in the early 80’s. Back when they were still big, clunky machines that often crashed just for the heck of it. Back before the internet was widely available, when research still meant a trip to the library. Back when printing out a manuscript meant tearing each piece of paper, page by page, off one long perforated ream, after the painfully slow dot-matrix printer had finally stopped clattering.

I’ve progressed through the years all the way up to my current lightweight wireless laptop, which I love. I can take it anywhere and have all my projects with me. I no longer need to make trips to the library for research because the internet has placed the knowledge of the world at my fingertips. I have a laser printer that spits out pages faster than I can catch them.

I’m sure when the next latest and greatest appears, I’ll move on to that. But no matter what that next latest and greatest might be, I’ll start the way I’ve always started. I’ll take out my favorite pen, open my father’s writing kit, sit by a sunny window, and put pen to paper. Some things just can’t be improved upon.