The Fat of the Land
John Steinbeck’s winsome main characters, George and Lenny, from Of Mice and Men, were often inclined to day-dreaming about their future when they would get a little stake together, buy a parcel of property and become independent farmers in the post depression Southwest.
Their conversation would always end up with the mentally challenged Lenny declaring, “. . . and we’d live off the fat ‘a the land. . .”
Since becoming “locavores” we’ve taken an enhanced interest in the abundance we find on our 40 acre parcel near Dresser. The land was largely undeveloped when we bought it in 1999. We built a solar/geothermal log home in 2000 and since then, we’ve developed several small garden plots for vegetables and flowers. And we’ve found numerous other sources that have contributed to our “eat local” quest.
In the next few days, we’ll be recounting some of the ways we’ve learned to “live off the fat ‘a the land.” Today’s episode is . . .
The Asparagus Project
Several years ago Cindy ordered materials and instructions to construct an asparagus patch. The materials consisted of 50 crowns of Jersey Supreme asparagus roots and the instructions consisted of a number of back-breaking exercises we undertook with trepidation.
In essence, we were required to take a sun-soaked 15’ x 30’ area, dig deep into the soil (“stop just before you get to China”), plant the 50 crowns, water abundantly, wait until shoots appear and add more soil, fill the furrows when the fern grows through the soil, weed meticulously, fertilize, keep the deer away, watch for asparagus beetles, then wait three years. This is our third year and we had a decent harvest this spring – probably 20 to 30 servings.
In the process of preparing the asparagus bed, we ran into several problems, not the least of which was the discovery of traprock boulders just below the surface of the ground. This wasn’t a particular surprise since the topography of our land features large expanses of the beautiful grey/blue basalt rock known locally as traprock. Apparently the traprock is a result of the volcanos that roamed the land eons ago. In this area, the traprock is most spectacularly evident on the banks of the St. Croix River. But it can extend down four miles below the surface.
Side note: We became painfully aware of the depth of the rock when we dug our well. The well-drillers went down 13 feet before they hit traprock. Then 380 feet later they declared our well was finished. Since there are faults and seams in the traprock, water seeps into our well and we have what is essentially a 600 gallon reservoir when it fills – which it does slowly but surely. By the way, the water is delicious. Must be the filtering effect of the traprock.
Back to the asparagus patch. After working around the traprock boulders, we eventually tilled the soil to a depth of one foot, laid down the plants and then built a little fence around the patch to discourage the varmints.
The actual maintenance of the patch is relatively simple – control the weeds with mulch and provide water when nature refuses to.
One interesting note: During the peak of the spring harvesting season, I went into the patch and picked every spear that was 8” or longer. Thirty-six hours later, I went back and found some spears which were almost 20” long – 12” of growth in 36 hours.
Next episode on “The Fat of the Land” – “The Strawberry Saga”
