It seems that we walk similar paths. Blue collar from Maine, not Idaho. I too teach in Iowa. I also returned to my roots and started furniture-making, gardening, landscaping, and built a fence this summer. I also find the hard work invigorating, as my middle class neighbors cannot understand why I'd cut firewood entirely by hand as they watch for hours in amazement like I'm a zoo animal.
Some advice. What do you plan to do to keep bunnies out of the garden? Standard cattle panel openings are too large and let small ones through. Over here, I long 1' high strips of rabbit fence and used exterior ties to hold it in place.
This project will continue in the spring with some rodent proofing. Not the first priority before winter, since the only thing planted is garlic. I'm thinking I'll add 4' of chicken wire around the inside, 3' above ground and at least 1' buried. A hawk patrols our field, so I've not seen many rabbits around, but there are two fat groundhogs that cause me some concern. They are said to be rabies carriers and could wreak as much havoc as deer, so some of this strategizing is ongoing. I do realize that prevention is better than allowing them a taste of the garden and then trying to keep them out!
I began skilled pursuits such as furniture making and gardening to bring something under my control. That is, the daily life of being an academic--at an open institution where the pay is the lowest and the student needs the greatest--is so much out of my hands. Despite all this education and expertise, the vagaries of the student body and institutional structures drive my work life, and are out of my hands. But the tools are in hand, and my mistakes in craft are genuinely my own. And I can see the work I create, as opposed to casting it in the void of time, hoping that some student will flower in the future in a place far from here.
I also enjoy introducing my young children to skilled labor and the natural world. My sons gleefully help me water the garden every day--we've been in drought conditions for years--and get to know the pace of nature.
Speaking of, I've found that garlic is an interesting addition to flower beds, as it discourages them from eating my deer resistant flowers as badly as they would otherwise.
Well said, Jason. Especially love this: “But the tools are in hand, and my mistakes in craft are genuinely my own. And I can see the work I create, as opposed to casting it in the void of time, hoping that some student will flower in the future in a place far from here.” Exactly right. Gardening gave me ballast long before I left higher ed, which is why it still anchors me. Nice to balance the abstract with the concrete.
What a beautiful setting for your garden. I built my garden w posts and fence in a similar fashion and my satisfaction was immense. Really love that Berry was your companion- as much as your son.
I think a sharp spade should be just right for postgoles. Because you get to your depthbreathe a little and at the narrow tip should be just enough to put a limited little 6 inches of cement . They say no bucket sized Crete because the posts will rot. Funny ironic that Coverdale is the unreliable type of narrator. If anything normally silly happened in his stalking of his prize, his wishing to be a Percy Bysshe of giant body size, who could relaxe into the work instead of letting his sexiness get in the way, and whole chapters of that book would be a resource for you in your farming. Book should be coread w a woman. Coverdale makes the decision not to be lonely, and then seems swamped by his need for status cues. In that way the book can be a thought experiment about the real cognitive bias toward always having thoughts to confess. Kaufmann Anomalisa is a puppet play on the same plot points and is too dark for me. There is a nuanced different definition of tragedy in Blythesdale if you felt for that writer. Different? Than Mailers saying: deathblows and rapine make for tragedy, as versus melodrama.
I suppose I'll see how the posts hold up. I couldn't get deeper than 43 inches with the post hole digger, and my posts are 12' long, so 6 inches of concrete wouldn't have held them straight. Most of them are 9' above ground. They're in quite solidly now, and I think our field drains reasonably well, especially with prairie plants to absorb some moisture, so fingers crossed.
Interesting musings on Hawthorne. I'd have to hear a little more about this to know quite what you mean: "Coverdale makes the decision not to be lonely, and then seems swamped by his need for status cues. In that way the book can be a thought experiment about the real cognitive bias toward always having thoughts to confess." As a writer, I suppose my bias is always to find words for thoughts. Did you mean something else? More suffering in silence? :)
It is that Hawthorne was continuing from this very progressive, to us, position in Scarlet letter in that book. Coverdale is a truer portrait in chauvanism than I can look straight on. And your quote would show it, he was writing because of getting out onto the land, it's the book. But we slip the irony because there isn't enough in that book.
Ah, I follow now. Yes, Coverdale is quite a separate conversation. I find Hawthorne elusive. I wouldn't call him a thoroughgoing misogynist, as his "scribbling women" comment has made him out to be. But certainly there is a strong undercurrent of that even in works that seem designed to expose it, such as "The Birthmark" and "Rappaccini's Daughter." Perhaps you'd be willing to tell me more about your background by email? dolezaljosh@gmail.com
Nov 22, 2022·edited Nov 22, 2022Liked by Joshua Doležal
“simple bodily weariness … can in itself be one of the pleasures of work.” So true.
Beautiful job. I hope it brings you much joy!
I put tennis racket tape on the handles of my post hole digger. We had to dig several holes when we fenced our raspberry field. We used 8-10” diameter posts set on a slant (45 degree) with electric fencing in between. The field is almost an acre, give or take. The deer can’t visually navigate a slanted fence so they stay outside and look in. We learned that technique from a farmer friend in New Zealand. Yours is much prettier!
I'm familiar with that kind of fence, which I think would be the only option for a larger area. A farmer friend in Iowa uses that method, but she has about two acres of vegetables to protect.
This fence -- this design -- was necessary in part because of our HOA rules. Materials need to match our house (cedar shingles and siding) and look nice from the road. I didn't ask, but I think a more utilitarian set of posts and the typical spool of wire fencing would have been denied by the HOA. I'm glad you think it looks nice! The original design includes a trellis, which I chose not to add, partly because gate is built into a slope, and an uneven trellis wouldn't look great. But I have enough lumber to run the trellis along the back, where it wouldn't create extra shade. So that might be a finishing touch at some point.
Any suggestions for what I might plant to climb that back row of the fence? I'd wondered if I could get some hibiscus to grow that high. I'm not really into home brewing, but I guess hops could be pretty, too?
Nov 22, 2022·edited Nov 22, 2022Liked by Joshua Doležal
Gotta love HOAs. Many, many moons ago, I decorated my babies room in primary colors and the HOA told me I needed to remove the curtains in the window. They disapproved because there was a red stripe in the curtain, we weren’t supposed to have red curtains where they could be seen from the street.
What to plant? Do you want to eat from or look at that back row?
My answer: Why raspberries of course! Encore variety from Nourse farms. They taste the best.
When people would ask us that at the farmer’s market we would ask them what they liked to eat. Grapes are fun to look at, so are blackberries (chester or triple crown also Nourse farm), espaliered fruit trees are also fun. I have a Chicago fig tree which is interesting. A guy from the ag college at Purdue sent us goldenberry seeds (Peruvian groundcherry) to try, they were fun, but goldie ground cherries (annual) were taller and prettier.
Hollyhocks will attract bees and is a fun backdrop to a garden.
We trialed hops, you need a lot to do anything with, they are interesting to look at.
It seems that we walk similar paths. Blue collar from Maine, not Idaho. I too teach in Iowa. I also returned to my roots and started furniture-making, gardening, landscaping, and built a fence this summer. I also find the hard work invigorating, as my middle class neighbors cannot understand why I'd cut firewood entirely by hand as they watch for hours in amazement like I'm a zoo animal.
Some advice. What do you plan to do to keep bunnies out of the garden? Standard cattle panel openings are too large and let small ones through. Over here, I long 1' high strips of rabbit fence and used exterior ties to hold it in place.
This project will continue in the spring with some rodent proofing. Not the first priority before winter, since the only thing planted is garlic. I'm thinking I'll add 4' of chicken wire around the inside, 3' above ground and at least 1' buried. A hawk patrols our field, so I've not seen many rabbits around, but there are two fat groundhogs that cause me some concern. They are said to be rabies carriers and could wreak as much havoc as deer, so some of this strategizing is ongoing. I do realize that prevention is better than allowing them a taste of the garden and then trying to keep them out!
To respond to the larger topic ...
I began skilled pursuits such as furniture making and gardening to bring something under my control. That is, the daily life of being an academic--at an open institution where the pay is the lowest and the student needs the greatest--is so much out of my hands. Despite all this education and expertise, the vagaries of the student body and institutional structures drive my work life, and are out of my hands. But the tools are in hand, and my mistakes in craft are genuinely my own. And I can see the work I create, as opposed to casting it in the void of time, hoping that some student will flower in the future in a place far from here.
I also enjoy introducing my young children to skilled labor and the natural world. My sons gleefully help me water the garden every day--we've been in drought conditions for years--and get to know the pace of nature.
Speaking of, I've found that garlic is an interesting addition to flower beds, as it discourages them from eating my deer resistant flowers as badly as they would otherwise.
Well said, Jason. Especially love this: “But the tools are in hand, and my mistakes in craft are genuinely my own. And I can see the work I create, as opposed to casting it in the void of time, hoping that some student will flower in the future in a place far from here.” Exactly right. Gardening gave me ballast long before I left higher ed, which is why it still anchors me. Nice to balance the abstract with the concrete.
What a beautiful setting for your garden. I built my garden w posts and fence in a similar fashion and my satisfaction was immense. Really love that Berry was your companion- as much as your son.
Thanks, Jan! It's been a fairly all-consuming project. Gardening will be a little less relentless :)
I think a sharp spade should be just right for postgoles. Because you get to your depthbreathe a little and at the narrow tip should be just enough to put a limited little 6 inches of cement . They say no bucket sized Crete because the posts will rot. Funny ironic that Coverdale is the unreliable type of narrator. If anything normally silly happened in his stalking of his prize, his wishing to be a Percy Bysshe of giant body size, who could relaxe into the work instead of letting his sexiness get in the way, and whole chapters of that book would be a resource for you in your farming. Book should be coread w a woman. Coverdale makes the decision not to be lonely, and then seems swamped by his need for status cues. In that way the book can be a thought experiment about the real cognitive bias toward always having thoughts to confess. Kaufmann Anomalisa is a puppet play on the same plot points and is too dark for me. There is a nuanced different definition of tragedy in Blythesdale if you felt for that writer. Different? Than Mailers saying: deathblows and rapine make for tragedy, as versus melodrama.
I suppose I'll see how the posts hold up. I couldn't get deeper than 43 inches with the post hole digger, and my posts are 12' long, so 6 inches of concrete wouldn't have held them straight. Most of them are 9' above ground. They're in quite solidly now, and I think our field drains reasonably well, especially with prairie plants to absorb some moisture, so fingers crossed.
Interesting musings on Hawthorne. I'd have to hear a little more about this to know quite what you mean: "Coverdale makes the decision not to be lonely, and then seems swamped by his need for status cues. In that way the book can be a thought experiment about the real cognitive bias toward always having thoughts to confess." As a writer, I suppose my bias is always to find words for thoughts. Did you mean something else? More suffering in silence? :)
It is that Hawthorne was continuing from this very progressive, to us, position in Scarlet letter in that book. Coverdale is a truer portrait in chauvanism than I can look straight on. And your quote would show it, he was writing because of getting out onto the land, it's the book. But we slip the irony because there isn't enough in that book.
Ah, I follow now. Yes, Coverdale is quite a separate conversation. I find Hawthorne elusive. I wouldn't call him a thoroughgoing misogynist, as his "scribbling women" comment has made him out to be. But certainly there is a strong undercurrent of that even in works that seem designed to expose it, such as "The Birthmark" and "Rappaccini's Daughter." Perhaps you'd be willing to tell me more about your background by email? dolezaljosh@gmail.com
“simple bodily weariness … can in itself be one of the pleasures of work.” So true.
Beautiful job. I hope it brings you much joy!
I put tennis racket tape on the handles of my post hole digger. We had to dig several holes when we fenced our raspberry field. We used 8-10” diameter posts set on a slant (45 degree) with electric fencing in between. The field is almost an acre, give or take. The deer can’t visually navigate a slanted fence so they stay outside and look in. We learned that technique from a farmer friend in New Zealand. Yours is much prettier!
I'm familiar with that kind of fence, which I think would be the only option for a larger area. A farmer friend in Iowa uses that method, but she has about two acres of vegetables to protect.
This fence -- this design -- was necessary in part because of our HOA rules. Materials need to match our house (cedar shingles and siding) and look nice from the road. I didn't ask, but I think a more utilitarian set of posts and the typical spool of wire fencing would have been denied by the HOA. I'm glad you think it looks nice! The original design includes a trellis, which I chose not to add, partly because gate is built into a slope, and an uneven trellis wouldn't look great. But I have enough lumber to run the trellis along the back, where it wouldn't create extra shade. So that might be a finishing touch at some point.
Any suggestions for what I might plant to climb that back row of the fence? I'd wondered if I could get some hibiscus to grow that high. I'm not really into home brewing, but I guess hops could be pretty, too?
Gotta love HOAs. Many, many moons ago, I decorated my babies room in primary colors and the HOA told me I needed to remove the curtains in the window. They disapproved because there was a red stripe in the curtain, we weren’t supposed to have red curtains where they could be seen from the street.
What to plant? Do you want to eat from or look at that back row?
My answer: Why raspberries of course! Encore variety from Nourse farms. They taste the best.
When people would ask us that at the farmer’s market we would ask them what they liked to eat. Grapes are fun to look at, so are blackberries (chester or triple crown also Nourse farm), espaliered fruit trees are also fun. I have a Chicago fig tree which is interesting. A guy from the ag college at Purdue sent us goldenberry seeds (Peruvian groundcherry) to try, they were fun, but goldie ground cherries (annual) were taller and prettier.
Hollyhocks will attract bees and is a fun backdrop to a garden.
We trialed hops, you need a lot to do anything with, they are interesting to look at.