For as much as I like to read I’ve never been a big follower of the comic pages in the newspaper. As a teenager I liked Brenda Starr Reporter and off and on over the years I’ve read Doonesbury.
But I never miss the Peanuts strip. Even after its creator, Charles M. Schulz, died in 2000, newspapers continued to run old strips……and I continue to read them faithfully.
Who is your favorite Peanuts character? Charlie Brown, the loser, who tangles with kite-eating trees and said, “I only dread one day at a time.”? Perhaps you can relate to loud-mouthed, selfish, crabby Lucy? Or Linus, the sweet-natured, bespectacled one who is never without his blanket and believes in the Great Pumpkin?
Hands down, my favorite character is Snoopy. He’s wonderful whether he’s dancing “The Beagle,” imitating a fierce vulture or playing the World War I flying ace. And how can you not love a dog that lost everything when his dog house burned….but then resolutely replaced his ruined Van Gogh with a Wyeth?
While Charlie Brown can’t win on the baseball diamond or with the little red-haired girl, he has always been Snoopy’s devoted owner. Several strips hang on the bulletin board of the Northwoods Bird Dogs’ kennel office that my husband, Jerry, and I run. One in particular we can relate to:
Charlie Brown can’t sleep on a cold night because he’s worried about Snoopy. So he hauls a sleeping bag out to Snoopy that is so huge it hangs off the roof of his dog house and drags onto the ground. But Charlie Brown can then sleep well knowing Snoopy is warm.
As a horticulturist, though, two strips last week particularly caught my eye. Charlie Brown is cautioning Snoopy about poisonous plants and is reading a list of “plants which are dangerous for you to eat, Snoopy.” It’s quite a list:
Snoopy doesn’t appear too concerned. In the last frame, he’s thinking, “It’s been a long time since the gang and I used to sit around eating monkshood roots.”
Steve Aitken is the editor of Fine Gardening magazine. As a huge fan, both have been written about elsewhere on this blog.
When I ranted recently about the purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), I failed to include some pithy comments by Aitken who wrote about them in his editorial in the August 2010 issue of Fine Gardening.
Why are they called “purple coneflowers” when, clearly the flowers are pink.
We could call these plants “echinaceas,” something that those who insists on “all Latin, all the time” would strongly encourage. Echinacea is one of the prettier-sounding botanical names, as if it could have been the name of a Greek maiden Zeus tried to beguile. Calling these plants by their genus also saves us from the awkward common names of some of the cultivars—‘White Swan’ purple coneflower, for example.
In the July 2010 issue of the British magazine Country Living, I spotted small gingham rugs in red, blue and green. They were bright and cheerful and darling.
“These jolly gingham designs sit perfectly by the back door, or take advantage of their super-absorbent qualities to catch spills and splashes from the hob and sink.”
Wait. What’s a hob? To quote Joe Soucheray, a radio guy who is mayor of the mythical town of Garage Logic in the mythical Gumption County, “You learn more here by accident than elsewhere by design.”
According to my dictionary (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language) a hob is “A shelf or projection at the back or side of the inside of a fireplace, for keeping things warm.” But the colloquial meaning is the burners on a stove.
Imagine an English kitchen with a beautiful cream-colored Aga stove, in front of which is a blue-and-white-checked gingham mat. How jolly indeed.
Does it seem like once you notice something particular, you see it everywhere?
I've long been a fan of On The Street, a photo essay in The New York Times' Sunday Styles section. Bill Cunningham has the enviable job of tooting all over New York City photographing fashion trends. One week he'll capture images of 40 people wearing huge, drapey scarves and another week he'll find everyone in puffy, white down jackets. Recently Cunningham was on the trail for Lady Gaga look-alikes and shot 36 photographs of teenagers in goofy outfits.
I feel a bit like Cunningham but instead of "Gaga Garb," I'm seeing gingham.
The down-home, classic gingham has gone haute. Gingham dresses, lampshades, plates and pillows were pictured in the Trend Alert department of Elle Decor (July/August 2010). I saw more gingham in a French magazine and gingham ribbon in another. Vogue (July 2010) chimed in with its feature of Marion Cotillard modeling a gingham vintage bikini.
I couldn't get away from gingham! My husband, Jerry, and I took a few days off and stayed in our favorite summer cabin at Burntside Lodge just outside Ely, Minnesota. Lonnie LaMontagne has exquisite taste and the simple but beautifully furnished rooms had gingham curtains—burgundy in the main room and black-and-white checked in the bedroom.
Well, it was high time to add a little gingham to my decor. I tied a fresh bow of blue-and-white checked ribbon around the neck of the Black Dog--my official welcome sign.
Beginning Sunday, June 20, and continuing for three days, the Star Tribune published an in-depth series, "Losing Our Lakes," by Jim Spencer and Tom Meersman. The articles should be required reading for any Minnesotan—whether you own lakeshore or not.
The legacy of this state, quite simply, is our lakes. Sure, we have loons and lady's slippers, the Vikings and the Twins and 3M, Medtronic and Target, but lakes are special. They are deeply important for recreational, cultural, spiritual and economic reasons.
Highlights from the series:
"Since 2005, land-use boards in Cass and Crow Wing counties allowed hundreds of home builders to break rules aimed at preserving the state's most valuable natural resource, according to a Star Tribune review of thousands of pages of building records. Altogether, those boards approved nearly nine of every 10 requests to deviate from development standards.
"Environmentalists and econominists...fear that uncontrolled development will permanently taint Minnesota's vaunted sky-blue waters.
"State officials have put 1,205 lakes on a list of 'impaired' water bodies, which means pollution levels have reached critical levels.
"Regulators developed new standards at the request of the Legislature because decades-old rules could not keep pace with construction activity on and around the state's lakes.
"Regulators cited a number of problems with the state's lakes: more invasive species, failing sewer treatment systems and shoreline development that creates more pollution. In addition regulators said huge dock platforms turn public waters into private patios.
"Federal law requires public waters to be clean enough for swimming and fishing, and state governments are supposed to figure out how to rehabilitate all lakes and rivers that don't meet federal stands for excessive nutrients, bacteria and other pollutants. But there are no deadlines for improvements, and no penalties for inaction.
"Voters probably expected a lot more from cleanup efforts when they approved a constitutional amendment in 2008 that provides about $75 million a year to restore impaired waters, test water quality, protect drinking water and fund other water-related programs.
"In the 1990s, the EPA proposed new rules to strengthen the program and require 'reasonable assurance' that cleanup efforts would take place once studies were done. National farm groups sued, Congress slapped a moratorium on the effort and the agency withdrew the rules in 2001.
"On Minnesota's most popular vacation lakes, nutrients draining off fertilized lawns pollute the water. The drainage increases erosion and breeds algae that can smother native plants and take away places for fish to eat and spawn. Some people buy lawn mowers called weed rollers for lake bottoms. They chop down both invasive and crucial native weeds, causing more problems. Sand blankets that form man-made beaches cover natural vegetation along the shoreline. Giant, illegal dock platforms turn public waters into private patios.
"Not long ago, Shoutz (state conservation officer, Cary Shoutz) ticketed a contractor who poured several tons of rock into 25 feet of water to create a personal fishing hole for his client. Shoutz said the contractor paid a $150 ticket, knowing the state could not afford to dredge the rocks from the lake.
For other reading about this issue, please see two previous entries: Essays: Of cabins and lakes, January 23, 2010 Smart & Sustainable: Protecting lakeshore, March 13, 2008
For many years, I quickly leafed through most of the beginning pages of magazines, pages that included the editorial, letters to the editor and the contributing writers and photographers. Boring. I was in a hurry to get to good stuff like features and photos.
Now, though, those are some the liveliest and preferred pages, especially when the editor is an excellent writer with a dry, keen wit.
Let me introduce Steve Aitken.
First of all, Aitken edits Fine Gardening, my favorite gardening magazine. The story mix, concern for accuracy and educational content that are so evident have to be due to Aitken.
Plus, I even like his photograph. He's a middle-aged, average-looking guy. He has kindly eyes and a bemused expression. He's wearing a rumpled oxford shirt under a dorky, argyle sweater vest. (Who wears sweater vests these days?)
Finally, and this is the litmus test, Aitken is the kind of gardener who would be fun to meet over a couple of tall, cold beverages.
In a recent editorial titled "Good gardening excuses," Aitken starts with a white lie about why he doesn't grow lavender: "I just don't have the drainage." He continues: "Though not necessarily true, the answer was good because it left my companion with the impression that I knew something about lavenders and my garden."€
His final paragraph is wonderful. "Nothing is as refreshing as a gardener admitting, 'That's a weed' or 'I killed it'...Even the greatest of gardeners screws up from time to time. It's nothing to be ashamed of--it's just gardening."
The New York Times August 16, 2009 by Verlyn Klinkenborg
Mr. Klinkenborg captures perfectly the rapturous feeling of reading a good book.
A good book is a good book whatever the weather or temperature.
The book I want is a vortex. When I lower my eyes to it, I'm sucked deep into a place more plausible than the one that surrounds me. When I look up, I want the actual life around me to look strange and original…
Nothing "about" a book can tell whether this will be true love. Only the book itself can say. For the first few pages, my reading feels provisional, probing, just as it always does. But soon that feeling dissipates. The traces of uncertainty vanish. So, somehow, does the ink on the page, and I realize that I'm looking through the book as if it were translucent. This remains, after a lifetime of reading, a mystery and a joy.
12 things he can't live without Town & Country by Samuel Cochran
9. Trays. They give order and clarity to clutter.
I agree and have several trays around the house. One is in the bathroom and confines lotion, shaving cream, perfume and myriad hair products. Another tray holds a nice assortment of liquor bottles on our dry bar. I also have a few reserved for plants. (See the Finally... section of Let there be light below.)
12. Juxtaposition. high/low; shiny/matte; refined/crude; grand/humble; modern/ancient. It is the essence of chic.
Redd is an interior decorator but his sentiment applies to all areas of design and style. A favorite pair of well-worn, faded blue jeans is fabulous worn with a simple white tee, blazer and sparkly sandals. For gardeners, a delicate maidenhair fern looks treschic when placed in a heavy-duty, black iron urn.
As gardeners, we often see the larger forms of life that live in or on our garden soil–beetles, worms, millipedes–and we accept on faith that there are other critters down there. Understanding the mystery of these others behooves us if we are to help them live and feed our plants.
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The number of organisms that exist in good soil is mind-boggling. When high-school students visit our farm, I hold up a single handful of soil and tell them, "There are more living organisms in this than there are people in the world!"
A soil food web begins and ends with plants. Plant roots exude secretions into the soil that attract and feed beneficial bacteria and fungi. These organisms compete for this food source and are in turn eaten by protozoa and nematodes. The excretions of all these creatures, and the nutrients therein, are made available to the plant roots. More nutrients are released when they die or are consumed and digested by other soil inhabitants. Larger forms of soil life, such as springtails and beetles, also feed on the results of this activity. When they die or are eaten, even more nutrients are released in plant-available form.
We can disrupt this natural cycle by applying chemical pesticides or by roto-tilling. We can also help by providing raw materials in the form of good compost. Use a tool called a broad fork to loosen and aerate your soil, apply a couple of inches of good compost and aerated compost tea, and your plants will flourish beyond your wildest expectations.
National Geographic October 2009 Redwoods: The Super Trees by Joel K. Bourne, Jr.
I loved this comprehensive, thoughtful, long (35 pages!) feature on a fascinating and amazing plant–the redwood (Sequoia sempervirens). These trees can live 2,000 years and grow to 379 feet in height.
The story chronicles the trek that Mike Fay, a Wildlife Conservation Society biologist and National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence, took in 2007 when he walked the length of the redwood's range. It details the history of the redwood forestry industry and its key players: Pacific Lumber Company, Humboldt Redwood Company, Mendocino Redwood Company and Green Diamond Resource Company. And it presents several innovative ideas.
They can grow to be the tallest trees on Earth. They can produce lumber, support jobs, safeguard clear waters, and provide refuge for countless forest species.
If we let them.
…
Perhaps the most amazing thing about redwoods is their ability to produce sprouts whenever the cambium–the living tissue just beneath the bark–is exposed to light. If the top breaks off or a limb gets sheared or the tree gets cut by a logger, a new branch will sprout from the wound and grow like crazy. Throughout the forest you can find tremendous stumps with cluster of second-generation trees, often called fairy rings, around their bases. These trees are all clones of the parent, and their DNA could be thousands of years old.
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…a tree's annual rate of wood production increases with age for at least 1,500 years. More important, the older it gets, the more high-quality, rot-resistant heartwood it puts on.
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After walking through every kind of managed forest and talking to foresters on all sides of the issue, Mike Fay is convinced there's a better way: Grow bigger trees, which can maximize wood production while providing good habitat. "You've got to start thinking about this as an ecosystem," he says. "All these plantations might as well be growing corn. But if you want clean water, salmon, wildlife, and high-quality lumber, you've got to have a forest."
.....
Some call this ecological forestry, in which the forest is managed to provided wildlife habitat and clean rivers as well as forestry jobs and wood products.
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Which means that along with high-quality wood, carbon storage, clean water, and wildlife habitat, ecological forestry can bring back another benefit for which redwoods are justly famous: utter awe.
The New York Times September 24, 2009 The Grass Is Greener at Harvard by Anne Raver
There is an underground revolution spreading across Harvard University this fall. It's occurring under the soil and involves fungi, bacteria, microbes and roots, which are now fed with compost and compost tea rather than pesticides and synthetic nitrogen.
The results have so astounded university administrators that what started as a one-acre pilot project in Harvard Yard has spread organic practices through 25 acres on the campus.
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The organically grown grass on campus is now green from the microbes that feed the soil, eliminating the use of synthetic nitrogen, the base of most commercial fertilizers. No herbicides or pesticides are used, either. Roots reach eight inches into soil that was once so compacted the trees planted in it were dying.
The New York Times August 9, 2009 You Say Tomato, I Say Agricultural Disaster by Dan Barber
The 2009 gardening season saw an explosion of new gardeners who innocently and unfortunately helped spread a killer breakout of late blight that basically obliterated the tomato crop in the Northeast.
According to plant pathologists, this killer round of blight began with a widespread infiltration of the disease in tomato starter plants. Large retailers like Home Depot, Kmart, Lower's and Wal-Mart bought starter plants from industrial breeding operations in the South and distributed them throughout the Northeast. Once those infected starter plants arrived at the stores, they were purchase and planted, transferring their pathogens like tiny Trojan horses into backyard and community gardens.
There's another lesson for the home gardener. When you start a garden, no matter how small, you become part of an agricultural network that binds you to other farmers and gardeners….As we begin to grow more of our own food, we need to reacquaint ourselves with plant pathology and understand that what we grow, and how we grow it, affects everyone else.
For as much as I like to read I’ve never been a big follower of the comic pages in the newspaper. As a teenager I liked Brenda Starr Reporter and off and on over the years I’ve read Doonesbury. 
