Tuesday, April 5, 2011

HOW I WISH

Last weekend I took a vegetable gardening class which is an extension class of UC Davis.  I thought I’d been taking an Organic Gardening class, but with all of the weather we’ve been having here this past month, classes have moved up a bit by about two weeks.

When I arrived at the Memorial Building, where the classes were to take place, many Harley Davidson motorcycle people were there.  None to be afraid of with their long hair, mustaches, leather pants and sparkly Harley’s.  They were holding a barbecue for some reason.  At the end of our class, however, loud, pounding music had started and glad class had ended.

The class itself was quite full.  There were about 50 people with an array of pastries, anything from cheese cake, cupcakes, cookies, homemade banana bread, veggie platters, etc. which lined two long fold out tables.  They put on a good spread and they were very organized.

The speaker was a Master Gardener who mostly talked about his plot of land.  He showed photos of his garden and vegetables.  He briefly talked about what kind of irrigation system he used, what veggies grow the best in his area, which was about 3,000 feet, and what would grow well in other people’s elevations.  There was also another Master Gardener there who put in her two cents worth of comments, more like fifty cents worth of comments, but good and enlightening knowledge.

Because I was told to get to the class early, which I did, I sat at a table that was not too far from the screen and a little to the left.  As I chose a place to sit, since I had a big choice, two men were sitting to my right.  They were a gay couple who lived together down the hill and had a quarter acre they were ready to plant.   One of them had already turned the soil and mixed in steer manure, so they were ready to go.

The class itself was just a dusting of what I already knew from reading many books and my brief vegetable gardening, both in the ground and in containers.

Next weekend is the class I want to know more about which is the Organic Gardening class.  I hope they go more in depth as to what kind of soils and fertilizers to use as well as how to get rid of vermins naturally without using poisons or traps.

Critters, both big and small were discussed in the class and one of the guys sitting next to me said that a fenced in piece of property is a must.  Between the deer, bears, gofers, mice and birds, along with all of the small crawly creatures, there’s a lot to be reckoned with here.  Much more than just birds, rabbits and coyotes in southern California.  Although my vegetable garden at my ranch was fully fenced in my backyard, I still got snakes and crawly creatures.

So when will the day come when I will be settled with my own little piece of land to play in?  When will the day come when I won’t have my ranch hanging over my head waiting to be sold?  Oh, how I wish and wish and wish until I get so frustrated it hurts.

Next week my listing will be expired from the realtor I have it listed with and I will be switching agents.  I’m hoping a Century 21 office down there will be able to sell it.  I sold a condo I owned many years ago in only about six weeks with them, while I was listed with another broker in the area before I listed with them.  The only reason I listed with this Coldwell Banker office is because the person next door sold their ranch with them.  But low and behold he turned out to be a dud.

So I continue to wish and wish and wish and wish over and over and over again for my life to be settled again.

1 comment:

Blue Shoe Farm said...

Our garden classes were delayed, too, due to the weather. My apples haven't even bloomed yet, I jsut had them pruned last week. Hope you learned some good stuff, are you going to garden on your balcony?