Monkey Monday: More about Nepal (eek?) and my garden (yay!) in fall (sigh.) 1 October 2007 8:06 am
Posted by Tracy in : garden, nepal, seasonality, travel , trackbackSo like I confessed last Monkey Monday, I’m going to Nepal in October. Next, I mean, this month. Holy cats. The trip is just barely over a week away. Eek. But enough with the freaking out for now; I will distract myself with details. I leave October 9 from Eugene, fly to Los Angeles, where I meet up with my brother for the looooooooong flight to Bangkok (it arrives October 11, because we lose a whole day thanks to time change). In Bangkok we meet up with the rest of our party to fly to Kathmandu. The van Cort contingency is in Nepal for 3 1/2 weeks of the adventure; we’re bailing out before the really hardcore part of the trip, which involves even more climbing and such. We scheduled a little baby 2-day layover in Bangkok on the way back, and I’ll be back in Eugene on November 6. I plan to post our itinerary, such as I know it, as automated TracyFood posts for while I’m gone (I’d post maps but Nepal is sort of a big gray blank on the obvious website). I’m pretty well stocked up on notebooks, but still don’t know what I’m doing about a camera (opportunities to recharge being sort of few and far between on trek and all). Okay, freaking out again a little; time for a distraction!
It occurs to me that I have a lot of gardening to get done between now and when I leave on this trip. Last year I took down my tomato plants the day after Halloween, for the Day of the Dead, and it was an amazing little ritual, one I’m going to miss this year, which is sort of sad.
I wrote that last paragraph on Friday, and it was such a bummer that I had to go play outside until I felt better. Taking down bean poles was a bit of a bummer, and the fact that it was raining didn’t help. Today there’s a good chance of rain as well, but I have garlic and fava beans I want to get in the ground before it gets any colder, so here’s hoping I don’t have to suck it up and get too wet. Also I’m thinking I might try a little trench composting: this year I sort of dug paths and used that dirt to build up the rows I planted in, and I figure I can fill in at least some of the holes with the contents of my awesome compost pile, which in turn will clear up a space for all the plants I’m clearing out and taking down, to get them composting for next year. I love so many things about my garden, even in the cold rain, and up there in the top ten list just behind green beans and tomatoes are its constant quiet reminders that life just goes on and on and on.
Hey, what’s up with fall crashing down on the Pacific Northwest SO HARD this year? I know, the equinox was over a week ago and all, and I’m never really ready for the end of the summer, but dang. This week’s recipes will be all about keeping warm with comfort food.
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Autumn hit like someone at Weather Control simply turned a switch. The sidewalk on Prescott is covered with the spiky green scrota that dropped from the horse chestnut trees in last week’s rainstorm.
NEPAL! I am so excited for your trip, girl, really. This is going to be awesome.
Had kumera (South Pacific sweet potato) and carrot soup tonight, with lots of garlic, ginger and chili. Perfect for a rainy windy spring night.