On behalf of all fiber crafters out there, please let me add that in addition to meat gardens, there are beautiful fiber gardens out there. Particularly those hardy farmers who continue to raise heritage breeds. There is a ton of beautiful yarn out there, but like our produce, most folks have no idea where it comes from. But you get so much more than just yarn when your yarn comes labeled with the name of the animal that your beautiful fiber came from.
I should warn you though, it is a bit of a gateway drug. I started with just yarn, but quickly moved onto roving (washed and carded fiber for spinning) to raw fiber (fleeces right off the animal) because there truly is magic in knitting yarn that you started working with when it was a mere fleece.
I have lived and loved in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, PA. (Joe Flaherty inserted references to Squirrel Hill in SCTV.) It is a very real place, and the home of the Tree of Life Synagogue.
Dad with Tomato is as fine a portrait as any Rembrandt. He has just bitten the Tomato, and the Tomato has bitten him back, with all the sweetness and tartness a good HomeGrown Garden Tomato can bite. This is the essense of symbiosis, Earth with Sky, Gardener with Garden, -
I also grew up with parents who were dedicated gardeners, despite the fact that I grew up in a city-- Washington, DC. But we had a big backyard, which was half full of a garden all the years of my childhood. I also loved watching them work, and picking warm tomatoes right off the vine to eat like apples, but resented entirely any calls to help. What a little asshole.
They also butchered whole animals in our basement, having fairly recently returned from a decade of living in East Africa where buying whole animals and gathering as a community to butcher and parcel it up was just kind of what you did.
I didn't really garden myself until my 30s. My ex-husband and I had an organic farm, where we mostly raised meat for the farmers market-- sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, and pigs over the course of the years. And late in that process I had a large garden which was a great joy for all the back-breaking labor involved. I'll never forget the first year when I started it and took advantage of the large compost pile that had been seasoning next to the barn for some years. It was also one where we composted our animals, so the compost that got hauled out to the garden in the tractor bucket was full of animal bones. My oldest kid, then 6 or 7, delighted in picking through it all and making macabre piles of the bones at the corners of the plot. He would cry out in triumph every time he found a really big one.
Now I live in town and my house fills almost the whole lot, but I've got some raised beds in the small southeast corner that gets near to consistent sun. The best crop, and one that is so low-maintenance as to be manageable even with the traveling and the crazy hours Nick, is garlic. So you don't have to wait for your dad to send you some. Just pop the cloves in in the fall, cover the bed with heavy straw mulch and you're done! If you plant hardneck varieties you'll get scapes, too, which make the most delicious pesto.
As for chickens and coyotes, I'd suggest a chicken house with an entirely fenced yard. That should protect them from the coyotes as well as any raptors that may fly over and around the canyon. I'm sure you could build one. Depending on how hilly your lot is, you could make it mobile, which allows you to not have just one part of your yard wiped out, and gives them fresh forage periodically. A fancy chicken tractor, as they're called.
This is a great topic going into Spring! I'm so glad you listed some other authors who have inspired you. Reading/listening to your work got me into Wendell Berry, and I have found Think Little to be a quick, easy introduction. Braiding Sweetgrass helps me get back in touch with nature. The pandemic and the world at large has left me feeling pretty disconnected from my fellow humans. I've been listening to lectures by Alan Watts, which I find surprisingly hilarious and timely even though they were recorded over half a century ago. I appreciate these Donkey Thoughts, and look forward to the continued dialogue :)
Some folks consider dandelions to be worthless... but some of us farmer folk from Cornville Maine, searched for many in the spring to eat in salads, dress up an egg salad sandwiches and of course, steamed with a vinegar dressing.... Ayuh, a virtue is not yet known.... like it.
.......not a question, but a shameless request from a neighbor in Shorewood........how neat it would be if you'd teach a woodworking class or something like that if you had the time when back home........I have a clan of fans who remind me whenever I pick them up from MCHS that "Mr. Offerman grew up here.
It is so cool to have a person I admire name other authors that I love. John McPhee writes about things I never knew interested me. Aldo’s book is amazing. What about “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance “? “Friday” from Robert Heinlein? “The Shack”? …….the list goes on but my wine addled mind is blank now….. Fair winds …..
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question Nick, gave me quite a tickle when I saw the e-mail. I'm looking forward to reading the books you recommended, yours included.
Here's another question for you: I saw you in a photo with the one and only Dr. Frankenfurter (the picture was made of gum by Pat Riot I believe). What kind of impact, if any, did the Rocky Horror Picture Show have on you and was there a costume present that shocked you.
Thanks so much for the thoughtful and delightful answer! Hope to see some garden updates from you in the coming months! Here in Pittsburgh, I'll be trying to grow the "three sisters" as described in Braiding Sweetgrass as well as some new (to me) varieties of heirloom tomatoes.
On behalf of all fiber crafters out there, please let me add that in addition to meat gardens, there are beautiful fiber gardens out there. Particularly those hardy farmers who continue to raise heritage breeds. There is a ton of beautiful yarn out there, but like our produce, most folks have no idea where it comes from. But you get so much more than just yarn when your yarn comes labeled with the name of the animal that your beautiful fiber came from.
I should warn you though, it is a bit of a gateway drug. I started with just yarn, but quickly moved onto roving (washed and carded fiber for spinning) to raw fiber (fleeces right off the animal) because there truly is magic in knitting yarn that you started working with when it was a mere fleece.
For more information, please check out the Livestock Conservancy’s Shave ‘em to Save ‘em program https://livestockconservancy.org/get-involved/shave-em-to-save-em/.
p.s. Please take Nick’s reading list seriously. I did and am better for the reading.
Build yourself some Leopold benches to go with those planters. Small and mobile. Perfect for listening to the wind and watching gardens grow.
I have lived and loved in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, PA. (Joe Flaherty inserted references to Squirrel Hill in SCTV.) It is a very real place, and the home of the Tree of Life Synagogue.
Dad with Tomato is as fine a portrait as any Rembrandt. He has just bitten the Tomato, and the Tomato has bitten him back, with all the sweetness and tartness a good HomeGrown Garden Tomato can bite. This is the essense of symbiosis, Earth with Sky, Gardener with Garden, -
Dad with Tomato.
I also grew up with parents who were dedicated gardeners, despite the fact that I grew up in a city-- Washington, DC. But we had a big backyard, which was half full of a garden all the years of my childhood. I also loved watching them work, and picking warm tomatoes right off the vine to eat like apples, but resented entirely any calls to help. What a little asshole.
They also butchered whole animals in our basement, having fairly recently returned from a decade of living in East Africa where buying whole animals and gathering as a community to butcher and parcel it up was just kind of what you did.
I didn't really garden myself until my 30s. My ex-husband and I had an organic farm, where we mostly raised meat for the farmers market-- sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, and pigs over the course of the years. And late in that process I had a large garden which was a great joy for all the back-breaking labor involved. I'll never forget the first year when I started it and took advantage of the large compost pile that had been seasoning next to the barn for some years. It was also one where we composted our animals, so the compost that got hauled out to the garden in the tractor bucket was full of animal bones. My oldest kid, then 6 or 7, delighted in picking through it all and making macabre piles of the bones at the corners of the plot. He would cry out in triumph every time he found a really big one.
Now I live in town and my house fills almost the whole lot, but I've got some raised beds in the small southeast corner that gets near to consistent sun. The best crop, and one that is so low-maintenance as to be manageable even with the traveling and the crazy hours Nick, is garlic. So you don't have to wait for your dad to send you some. Just pop the cloves in in the fall, cover the bed with heavy straw mulch and you're done! If you plant hardneck varieties you'll get scapes, too, which make the most delicious pesto.
As for chickens and coyotes, I'd suggest a chicken house with an entirely fenced yard. That should protect them from the coyotes as well as any raptors that may fly over and around the canyon. I'm sure you could build one. Depending on how hilly your lot is, you could make it mobile, which allows you to not have just one part of your yard wiped out, and gives them fresh forage periodically. A fancy chicken tractor, as they're called.
This is a great topic going into Spring! I'm so glad you listed some other authors who have inspired you. Reading/listening to your work got me into Wendell Berry, and I have found Think Little to be a quick, easy introduction. Braiding Sweetgrass helps me get back in touch with nature. The pandemic and the world at large has left me feeling pretty disconnected from my fellow humans. I've been listening to lectures by Alan Watts, which I find surprisingly hilarious and timely even though they were recorded over half a century ago. I appreciate these Donkey Thoughts, and look forward to the continued dialogue :)
Some folks consider dandelions to be worthless... but some of us farmer folk from Cornville Maine, searched for many in the spring to eat in salads, dress up an egg salad sandwiches and of course, steamed with a vinegar dressing.... Ayuh, a virtue is not yet known.... like it.
Hi Nick! I am very much enjoying all your donkey thoughts, thanks for sharing them.
As you appear to be an avid lifelong learner, what are some skills/hobbies that you wish had and/or will be embarking to learn next?
Best,
Amanda (Albany, NY)
Hi Nick, love your work.
Are there any plans for you to tour the UK again as a humourist or other talks in the near future?
Thanks
Gareth (Liverpool UK)
Nick,
.......not a question, but a shameless request from a neighbor in Shorewood........how neat it would be if you'd teach a woodworking class or something like that if you had the time when back home........I have a clan of fans who remind me whenever I pick them up from MCHS that "Mr. Offerman grew up here.
Thank you,
Amy
It is so cool to have a person I admire name other authors that I love. John McPhee writes about things I never knew interested me. Aldo’s book is amazing. What about “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance “? “Friday” from Robert Heinlein? “The Shack”? …….the list goes on but my wine addled mind is blank now….. Fair winds …..
Hello!
Full disclosure; I’m an LA weirdo. My question is: were you able to keep any of your cool office props from Parks & Recreation?
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question Nick, gave me quite a tickle when I saw the e-mail. I'm looking forward to reading the books you recommended, yours included.
Here's another question for you: I saw you in a photo with the one and only Dr. Frankenfurter (the picture was made of gum by Pat Riot I believe). What kind of impact, if any, did the Rocky Horror Picture Show have on you and was there a costume present that shocked you.
Greetings from a Canadian in the Swiss farmlands.
Jason
Thanks so much for the thoughtful and delightful answer! Hope to see some garden updates from you in the coming months! Here in Pittsburgh, I'll be trying to grow the "three sisters" as described in Braiding Sweetgrass as well as some new (to me) varieties of heirloom tomatoes.