Thinking Plants and Thoughtful Gardeners

04/05/2011, by No comments yet

I’m no Michael Pollan, but I have read his books. And while I cannot speak in the depth he does about seeds, the nature of plants, and the West’s increased reliance on hybridized seeds, I can speak to my own experience.

I’ve had vegetable gardens in Costa Rica from time to time, but I’ve usually given up. One year I asked a gardener of ours to control the weeds in my plot for me. He sprayed it with gramasone, a herbicide so toxic it blisters the earth bare for about three years, making it look as though it had been napalmed. Other years rain has beaten the ground and washed away all the seeds before they had a chance to sprout, and, of course, there are the bugs. And, if none of those things get the plants, there is always the humidity and blistering sun. When I was successful we ate wonderful green beans, spinach, and chards.

Until this year I’ve been a dutiful western gardener who planted seeds in tidy rows, grouped by their own kind. I tend to be a fairly linear person anyway and, like a friend of mine, am forced to draw a curved line in the ground of any garden design I make least the yard looks like a series of lap pools.

This year we have been growing heritage vegetables in my new and covered garden plot (the beds are rectangular; I couldn’t help myself). The errant gramasone gardener is gone, replaced by a compost bin and hand tools, and the rain is no longer enemy number one. I am still fighting the urge to plant like kinds with like kinds and am now making the garden more varied. There are tomatoes planted with basil, chard planted with spinach and bok choy, and arugula planted everywhere. Caramelized pear, roasted pecan and arugula salad is pure heaven.

I have not had to use pesticides and have had only minimal invasions of bugs. I do use a natural pepper spray that seems to deter the little buggers. It makes me cough when I use it, so I can only imagine their little lungs when they encounter it. The jungle is vast and there are lots of other choices. Go there, you guys.

But the most interesting thing that has happened is in the compost bin. Because Costa Rica is not a country that uses hybridized seeds, although that may change with the new trade agreement with the USA. Once you buy a squash or a cucumber or a tomato, you own the seeds to those plants. If you compost, rather than fling your wet garbage into the trash, they tend to germinate in the bin, volunteering when the compost is spread on the garden or around trees and shrubs. We now have a squash plant around almost every fruit tree on the place.

While the the volunteers are not spectacularly productive, they make up for it in heartiness. Unlike the packaged hybrid zucchinis I planted in the past, none of these vines have wilted in direct sun or molded in the humidity. In fact, they are robust and produce at about the pace that two households can consume. We even have a butternut squash plant that suddenly appeared in the vegetable garden. As though it knew it took up too much space, it “planted” itself on the edge of a raised bed and spilled out onto the lawn where it has produced two spectacular fruits for us. Because the butternut was so considerate, it has become a favorite of mine and I tend it, making sure it has enough water and food. Michael Pollan writes about plants being smart. I think this butternut squash is genius.

Of Quipus and Libraries

14/04/2011, by 3 comments

I read a fascinating article the other day in my local English newspaper, The Tico Times. According to the story, for the past five years writer José León Sánchez, and philologist Ahiza Vega have been studying the regional written and spoken languages of several native tribes in Costa Rica during the colonial period. It was tough going. Then they stumbled upon the ‘Rosetta Stone,’ as Vega has called it.

Hidden away, deep in the archives of the US Library of Congress, is a book, ignored (we can only surmise) since the nineteenth century. On Indian Tribes and Languages of Costa Rica, written by U.S. researcher William Gabb in 1875, is not only a treatise on the tribes of Talamanca, but it may be the key to unlocking a mystery, because Gabb apparently asked a friend from Talamanca to translate his book––complete with a glossary––using a quipu.

Quipus (shown in the picture above, courtesy of The Tico Times), sometimes called talking knots, are recording devices the Inca and Aztec Indians used. They were made of spun Alpaca, llama, or cotton threads, and knots. The elaborate knots have been thought to be physical representations of numbers or history, no one knows for sure, because no one has been able to translate them before. According to the Tico Times article, “[quipus] require significant craftsmanship and skill, because each knot represents an idea. With many knots – or ideas – strung together, the resulting quipus were used to provide Inca emperors and other tribal leaders with vital information about the local population, water issues and military affairs.”

History shows that the Spanish destroyed the majority of Incan quipus because tribes used them to communicate with each other behind the conquistador’s backs. Now there are only a few left. Today only about 600 Inca quipus survive. Of those, only 15 or 20 were ever transcribed as Spanish documents, but no correlation has been found between a surviving quipu and a transcribed one.

Until now.

The hope is that with Gabb’s book, the translated quipu, and the glossary, now researchers might have a chance to crack the code and that the other 600 might be translated. What history will we discover? It will be interesting to see if they can do it, and, it will be interesting to see what the Incas had on their minds way back then.

 

Feeling a Bit Apocalyptic

17/03/2011, by 4 comments

(Spoiler: this post may contain hyperbole.)

Things are looking bleak for the human race. Dire warnings from Al Gore have largely fallen on deaf ears and right-wing Republicans seem bent on steaming ahead spewing carbon into the atmosphere, burning as many fossil fuels as possible, gutting regulatory agencies, and generally acting irresponsible.

There are also fringe groups convinced the world will end in 2014 on 21 December 2012 because the Mayan calendar ends that year. I think they might have it down to a particular month, but the year itself is close enough for discomfort. And let’s be clear, a good segment of the Christian population is going by the Good Book, banking on the apocalypse for their final salvation, so there’s really not a large segment clamoring for restraint. Those are my friends and relatives and judging by the all the madness I think we’re outnumbered.

With the threatened meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plants in Japan (SIX of them in a row!), we are racing toward self-destruction at an unprecedented rate. The earth may be ready to be rid of us, too. I have this theory, based on a comment my father once made, “Final proof that there is intelligent life in the rest of the Universe? They have not contacted us.” My theory is that we were dumped on earth by those very beings—a bit like criminals sent to Australia— and they put those huge spheres, Easter Island statues, and perhaps the pyramids as warning symbols to any space craft that ventures too close to earth. STAY AWAY. Locos live here!

I watch the news coverage because I can’t pull my eyes away, so my days are bombarded by idiot humans fighting each other in Africa, corporate minions trying, without much success I might add, to contain a power source whose half-life is longer than most people.The arrogance to think we can control it!

Man makes his plans and the gods laugh.

I ache for the people of Japan and am sorry their culture has bowed to corporations now calling the shots when it comes to their public safety. Note to self: the Republicans are close to accomplishing the same thing in the United States by gutting the EPA and its ability to regulate. They are fond of saying that businesses feel an “uncertainty” with the current state of affairs under the Obama administration. Judging from the compassionate response of BP during the Gulf oil spill we are due to experience what the Japanese are dealing with on a unprecedented level soon.

Time for the wake up call, but I think it’s falling on the deaf, too filled with hate or greed or ignorance to care.

I prepare for the End.

Justice of a Sort

08/03/2011, by No comments yet

The president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, announced yesterday she hoped the International Court at the Hague would move rapidly to resolve the border conflict between Costa Rica and Nicaragua on the Rio San Juan. I wanted to laugh out loud. How hypocritical of her, and of Costa Rica. But, let me backtrack.

In October of 2010 the Costa Rican government discovered Nicaragua dredging the river separating the two countries. No crime there as Nicaragua was awarded the river in a previous fracas with Costa Rica, and has every right to support it.  But Costa Rica also claimed Nicaragua dumped the dredge material on Costa Rican soil and then chopped down a swath of jungle to clandestinely establish a new channel across Costa Rican territory. The two countries have traded barbs ever since.

In November, according to the daily La Nacion, Costa Rica deployed “camouflaged and armed police” to the scene while the two sides attempted communication through diplomacy. The paper was full of who said this or that. Then Nicaragua’s foreign minister lashed out in missive to Costa Rica’s counterpart demanding Costa Rica quit violating Nicaragua’s dominion. He went on to cite continued invasion by “Costa Rican armed forces.” Costa Rica’s government shot back reminding Nicaragua that Costa Rica disbanded their military more than 60 years ago. There followed a bitter exchange of words everyone regretted and were later forced to withdraw.

It has gone on and on resembling some tragicomedy of Shakespearean scope. There have been quotes and misquotes. Accusations and rebuttals. There was even a squabble about whether Google Maps could be used as evidence. Finally, Costa Rica appealed to The Hague.

Now, the reason I feel Chinchilla’s demand for a rapid resolution to the tawdry affair hypocritical is that many of us who live in this fountain of democracy called Costa Rica can attest to a legal system here that resembles something out of Dickens’ Bleak House.

A U.S. attorney, and longtime resident, recently talked about the failing of the legal system here with  A.M Costa Rica. He admonishes that Costa Rica’s legal system is “in the 19th and not 21st century.” He goes on to recommend that the entire system be computerized. “That costs money, but not doing it costs even more money… both for clients and for the courts.” The system is not geared to move cases along with due speed. What time lines exist are often violated without penalty, and many judges do not push cases as rapidly as they ought. Some not at all. He says, sanctions for undue delay or frivolous lawsuits are “pathetically nonexistent or inadequate.” The result— and I can verify— “is uncertainty for the client, the attorneys and the court, with undue delays causing hardship.” Cases take years, if not decades, in Costa Rica. Cases that would normally be finalized within a year in the U.S.

Our case is a miniature version of the scrum at the Rio San Juan. We live in an area where land grabs and squatting are practically a national pastime, and our case has languished in the courts of Limón since 2006. There have been several attempts at a trial, cancelled once by the judge, once by the defendant’s lawyer because he was “sick.” Both happened right after La Navidad, Christmas, a notorious vacation centered around drink and partying. Once a case is suspended it rotates to the back of the line pushing the trial date back six months or more.

So, I had to laugh when I read in the paper today that the Hague has instituted medida cautelares, a restraining order, against both Nicaragua and Costa Rica. They are to refrain from sending police or troops into the area until the case is settled. This, I might add, is as far as we have gotten in our case.

The Hague said the trial could be “a number of years from now.” See how that feels, Costa Rica!

New Book Review- Stolen World

04/03/2011, by No comments yet

My review of Stolen World: A Tale of Reptiles, Smugglers, and Skullduggery by Jennie Erin Smith is up at the Internet Review of Books.  I loved this book. It’s full of larger-than-life personalities involved in under-the-table activities.

“With a cast of characters straight out of a Carl Hiaasen or Elmore Leonard novel, Jennie Erin Smith takes her readers on a wild ride into the world of reptile trafficking. And, yes, much of her new book, STOLEN WORLD: A TALE OF REPTILES, SMUGGLERS, AND SKULLDUGGERY,  takes place in Florida, and it’s all true.”  To read the rest of the review click here.

Apparently some other reviewers have hinted they don’t entirely believe in the veracity of the book. According to Smith, in a discussion on her facebook page, a few reviewers have suggested that she “embellished” it. They warn, at the very least, that her book be read with a skeptical eye because of her sources. To me, this is a bit like saying that Woodward and Bernstein’s Watergate stories should be questioned because of their sources. Perhaps those reviewers live in a world where they don’t bump up against the sorts of shady people in her book.

I happen to live in a place where cads and misanthropes far outnumber your regular citizenry. Maybe it’s because this Caribbean coastline is a tropical playground, maybe because cads and misanthropes always look for the easiest way to survive— make a living seems a bit of a stretch—think no central heating needed. Really, no house needed. Whatever the reason, they are here. So, I have no trouble believing her book is true.

I also note that Stolen World was published by Crown publishing. As she says in her rebuttal there were three sets of legal teams that went over the material, sometimes insisting on changes, or pseudonyms, because of legal issues. Surely the reviewers were aware of this. Or, as Smith put it:    “… I do think they would have to be aware that any nonfic book would have serious legal vetting/review when the sources involved are 1. alive, 2. named, and 3. feisty as all hell.

 

In Solidarity, but Tired

19/02/2011, by 2 comments

It’s spring in Costa  Rica, and I think my head needs a good cleaning. There seems to be more clutter in there than needed. I’ve been caught up in our seemingly endless law case (into Limón numerous times, to the courthouse for this and that, a failed attempt at the trial itself, and a meeting with our lawyer), books that need a review written (got that done yesterday), and various and sundry other things (those, whatever they are, are still pending). And the unsettling news from the United States. I’m thinking of turning the TV off and canceling all electronic newspapers. I guess we really can’t call them “papers” anymore, maybe news “feeds” is a better term, and I’m overstuffed.

It’s the news from the US that has me the most upset. It’s no surprise what the GOP and the Astroturf Tea Party is up to, it’s just that I’ve seen it my whole life, and I’m tired of fighting them at every turn.

This whole union busting thing in Wisconsin has me worried for the future of the American worker. Right now, as you probably know, there are thousands of teachers, nurses, and other public employee union members protesting and fighting for their very survival on the steps of the legislature in Madison, Wisconsin. Many of the demands the governor and the Republican leaders want are, if not palatable, at least acceptable to the union members. They have agreed to pay into their health care and to take a pay cut, but that’s not enough for Governor Scott Walker. He wants to strip them of the right to collective bargaining. Why would he want that?

Well, because if he, Karl Rove, and the Koch brothers can break the unions and their ability to organize and give to Democratic causes, there will be no competition for the money in the next election. The Citizens United decision already opened up Big Money for the Republicans in 2008, and the Koch brothers and the Chamber of Commerce flooded the coffers of right-wing candidates across the country. Now, it seems, they are bent on destroying the liberal-leaning unions and stripping the middle class of any collective power it has left.

It is a sad day in America, but the Right has fought to take complete control since the country was founded, and they have certainly worked tirelessly to obliterate any safeguards that Franklin Delano Roosevelt enacted for poor people. The part I find the most ironic (or is that moronic) is that the very people who are supporting these powers will ultimately be hurt by them.

I know that eventually things will come into the open. Perhaps it will become public knowledge that Clarence Thomas should have recused himself from the Citizens United case because he was involved with the Koch brothers. Maybe people will find out that the father of two Republican legislators from Wisconsin is the head of the State Police, a public employee union exempt from Gov. Walker’s red pencil. Maybe. But, if there is no decent education in the country it will be all that much easier to manipulate an ignorant population.

As I said, I think my head needs a good cleaning, but I’m not sure what to use to get it done. I will go for a walk and  meditate on my solidarity with the union workers in Wisconsin.