‘Raise Your Voice’ Archives
Magic Stone
By Peter Molenaar Apart from the smooth “water stones” deposited by the last glacier was a jagged chunk of glassy black obsidian fused to a layer of grainy brown basalt. Evidently, some billion years ago, there had been a torrential rain in conjunction with volcanic activity. It is the southward path of Portland Avenue which leads ultimately to Pond Dakota Mission Park, and the high ground overlooking the Minnesota River Valley. From this vantage, herds of woolly mammoths once pondered the water bursting eastward from Lake Agassiz. Then came the ancient peoples who paused at the spring fed streams, springs which are familiar to me. Later, the Iowa-Oto people occupied and mingled before they too were displaced (and mingled) by the Dakota”¦ Does the GREAT SPIRIT animate all things? Electrons spin clouds around the nucleus, at about one-tenth the speed of light. I am afraid. (more…)
“Democracy” and Bees
My butternut squash plants have commenced to flower and set their early fruit. Like all curcubits (squash, melons, cucumbers, gourds, pumpkins) they are monecious, meaning the male and female aspects are embodied in one plant. However, the flowers themselves are not hermaphroditic. The male and female blooms are separate. The males reveal in morning, only to fade before the day is done. By then bees will have gathered the pollen, and the sperm contained within. Nectar laden females flower the following day, blossoms adorning the miniature fruits with their ovaries and eggs. Joyous bees appear positively ecstatic! But what? Market forces, the profit motive, and corporate domination are killing off our bees. I have in hand two letters from Susan Allen, my state representative. She writes: “Thank you for contacting me to share your support for Governor Dayton”'s proposal for a minimum 50-foot buffer strip along waterways”¦to help increase water quality in our [...]
Cut Worms And Radishes
By Peter Molenaar “Cut worms” are members of the largest family in the Lepidoptera, i.e., they are larvae of a moth. It was not a rabbit which murdered your tender young tomato, it was the devil incarnate. Behold the innocent one, plump and curled in the form of a C beneath the severed plant. What role in nature did its ancestors play? What Karmic consequences might ensue should you destroy it? In this matter, I choose to honor my Christian grandmother. Straighten the “worm” between thumbs and forefingers, meditate briefly, then pop it in two. On the other hand, experienced gardeners will follow mitigating steps: 1.) weed and rake the garden clean before turning the soil in late autumn, 2.) turn the soil again come spring, 3.) plant a trap crop. Who can eat a hundred radishes? Plant them in April, weeks before setting out expensive transplants. A few fallen radishes will reveal the whereabouts”¦ Hmmm”¦philosophical [...]
