In episode 103 of the Weird Studies podcast, J.F. and Phil consider the Tower card of the Tarot. As they have throughout the series, they especially refer to the anonymously written Meditations on the Tarot.

As with virtually every other episode, the whole thing is worth your time. But here I just want to note their discussion of gardening as an act of co-creation. Organic gardening, that is. As they note, modern chemical gardening and farming is, in fact, a stubborn imposition of human will on the natural world. But organic methods are a cooperation between human intention and nature’s ability.

Gardening in such a way is an act of trust, or faith. The human sows a seed according to their intention, but the fruition is a matter of hope based in the prior demonstrated vitality of the soil. The fruition may not come—but that is often because the human has made some error in judgment. The co-creative relationship may need to be adjusted on the human side, but faith in the living Earth is never misplaced.

OFA has an article on what to add to your soil in the spring. Here’s what we do. Three of our five raised beds have no contact with the soil so they need a bit more help. For those, we:

  • use a garden mix from our local landscape company to fill them almost back to the top;
  • bring them all the way to the top with purchased compost;
  • fill in around plants with castings from our little worm farm.

For the areas where we plant directly in the ground, we first:

  • put down cardboard to kill the grass and weeds, and
  • cover that with mulch.

Once those areas are established, we simply add a fresh layer of compost every year. It seems to be working–there are worms active all over those areas, just beneath the surface.

I seem to have found myself in a terminological drift. Green Man’s Grotto originally referred to the notch behind the garage, bounded by the fence. This was the first area we planted outside the two original raised beds. While it’s not literally cave-like, the name made a certain sense. But now I find myself referring to the whole backyard as Green Man’s Grotto, which is nothing at all like a cave. This will have to be corrected.

Woodland crocus is always the first flower in our yard—and this year it’s even earlier. According to Seek, I first recorded it on Feb 22 last year. They’re just gorgeous little things.

Small purple flowers with orange and yellow filaments

We (mostly Rachel!) made a decent dent in this weekend’s project. It’ll take at least one more round to dig out the … oh I don’t know … ten remaining tons of rock and landscape fabric.

How it looked last summer versus current state:

So one of our projects is to rip out (almost) all of the landscaping on the south side of the house and replace it with flowers and food. I was planning to start helping Rachel this afternoon (I was job working this morning) but then came out and she already had a great deal of it done! She said “buy a girl a pair of coveralls and there’s no telling what she’ll do.” ❤️ But don’t worry, there’s still plenty of work left for me to share in. 😄

The second trimming of the tree. For the next few days the tree will be another food source for the birds as the remaining needles drop as mulch for Green Man’s Grotto.

A green Christmas tree decorated with wheels of bird seed and standing in the back yard.

Folks, Rachel found the bullfrog that lives in our pond eating a bird as big as the frog itself. I’ll spare you the picture. I had no idea they’d eat anything that big. We have now named her Nessie.

About to do some herbal tea taste testing. Anise hyssop, spearmint, chocolate mint, peppermint, lavender, chamomile, marigold, sacred basil, lemon verbena.

Another way to support the local bee population: plant enough basil that you can allow some to bloom and go to seed. The bees (around here anyway) go nuts for it.

We’ve seen a monarch butterfly several days this week and yesterday spotted a yellow swallowtail butterfly. Rachel also found a swallowtail caterpillar this week in addition to the four monarch caterpillars.

If you’re looking for a plant to attract bees, you might try Joe Pye Weed. It’s not spectacular; rather, it’s homely in the best sense. For the past few weeks, I’ve seen honeybees, bumblebees, and other bee species all over it.

Plant with green stems and leaves and light purple, wispy blooms

Rachel found four monarch caterpillars on the swamp milkweed this morning–and there was much rejoicing.

Rachel is already planning for 2024. This will more than fill out the backyard, a.k.a., Green Man’s Grotto. Then we’ll start working on the little strips of yard on each side of the house. In a few years, we and the beings living here will have transformed this tiny city lot into an island of life.

Come and get it. Inspired by Rhyd Wildermuth:

Gardening is only a political act now because of all the political acts and regimes that have made it impossible for many. In fact, though, gardening is ultimately anti-political: being able to feed yourself, your friends, and your neighbors is exactly what the political order is hoping you won’t remember you can do.