How to grow dwarf peppers

Buy regular pepper plant sprouts early in the spring.
Green, yellow, red.

Buy a bunch of tomato plants, too.
Roma, cherry, Big Boy.

Plant the pepper plants very close to the tomato plants.
A few inches, a foot at most.

Wait.

The tomato plants will grow large and bushy.
They will hog the light, forcing the pepper plants to cower and cringe.
The resulting peppers will be undernourished, puny, shrunken.

We haven't picked any yet, so we don't know if they will be all the sweeter for having suffered so, or bitter. But they are kind of cute.

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Here is one of Brautigan's earliest published poems, from the series printed on seed packets and bound together as "Please Plant This Book."

Shasta Daisy
I pray that in thirty-two years
passing that flowers and vegetables
will water the Twenty-First Cent-
ury with their voices telling that
they were once a book turned by
loving hands into life.

Kiko!

Here's a video of Brazilian percussionist Kiko Freitas playing on a song called "Vento Bravo" with the group Nosso Trio. Kiko's solo begins at about the 5:30 mark. Be patient -- it's worth it.



Enjoy!

I especially like how he changes his left hand grip seamlessly. The glasses remind me of Joe Morello.

Something Else That's Been Bugging Me

New link on the right side: Issa's Untidy Hut, which is a sister blog of the Lilliput Review. I added it mostly because its proprietor recently posted a short clip of a movie featuring Richard Brautigan and two of my other favorite writers: Jim Harrison and Tom McGuane. At one time, these guys were the backbone of the Montana literary Mafia. Check it out.

A new video from Drummers World will be posted here this weekend. A fantastic Latin/Fusion drum solo from a young man in Brazil who reminds me of Joe Morello. I just gotta get to the right computer to make the 'embed video' feature work.

The Twins start a three-game series in Cleveland tonight at the regressively-named Progressive Field. Jacobs Field was a nice name and lent itself to a clever diminutive form: "The Jake." What kind of nickname can be fashioned from Progressive Field? "The Prof?" "The Pro?" Don't bother.

If you happen to be in or around Northfield on election day this November, don't forget to stop by a polling place (there are many to choose from) and write in Brendon Etter's name for mayor. His write-in campaign is off to a rousing start, with dozens of slogans, a lawsuit or two, intriguing proposals, and preemptive apologies. Local politics have been quite entertaining in recent years, but not in a good way. Etter's candidacy changes that.

To Drill or Not to Drill: What Would Brautigan Say?

So drill already.

Why postpone the inevitable?

If we drill for oil as much as we can possibly drill in as many places as we can think of, there are really only two scenarios.

1. We will quickly exhaust the earth’s supply of oil and then be forced to scramble to find other sources of energy (or find ways to survive without).

2. We will discover that there is an almost limitless supply of oil and we needn’t worry quite so much about it.

The second is highly unlikely, but what’s the problem? Suck the planet dry. It will still take a generation or three to determine with any certainty what massive exploration and drilling have actually done to the supply of oil. If our successors are smart (not a given, but not a bad bet), they will have figured out some options that are safer, cleaner, and more fun.

I believe that Rep. Michelle Bachman is almost certainly insane, living in some kind of fantasy world. But I agree with her on aggressive oil exploration. She’s wrong about the effect on gas prices – more domestic production won’t bring prices down. But why not drill now instead of fighting about it for decades? And for every barrel of crude extracted from the earth, the oil company should pay $50.00 into an alternative energy development fund run by a consortium of prestigious universities. Like the Manhattan Project.

Call it the Cheney-Gore Center for Energy Independence. Hell, put it in Texas, if that would buy some Republican votes.

Yeah, there are some environmental concerns, what with pipelines and tankers and refineries and such. But that’s why we have the EPA, eh?

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For some perspective on time and nature, here’s a verse from Richard Brautigan. (First published in “Lay the Marble Tea” 1959)

Yes, the Fish Music
A trout-colored wind blows
through my eyes, through my fingers,
and I remember how the trout
used to hide from the dinosaurs
when they came to drink at the river.
The trout hid in subways, castles
and automobiles. They waited patiently
for the dinosaurs to go away.

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NOTE: The illustration at the top of this post is of permafrost/tundra in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Though the ground is frozen to a depth of several feet to several hundred feet, the surface does respond to temperature changes. The thin polygonal plates develop over some years of freezing and thawing. The colors and patterns are beautiful.

The Pots of June

Here are a few pieces -- three of about fifteen -- that came out of the kiln last month. These are experiments, as nearly all of my stuff is. Playing around with colored slips, engobes, and underglazes.

Mostly the results were good. Some will be available for sale later this summer at the Northfield Arts Guild shop.

Some may become wedding gifts (our oldest son has reached the age when many of his friends are getting married, which naturally makes us feel a little old).

Some may end up as Christmas gifts, especially since older sister (a master organizer, which is a good thing) has decided that gifts in this year's annual family exchange will be hand-made.

A bargain at any price!

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[NOTE: It would be nice if these pictures lined up neatly on the left and the text flowed neatly on the right. Alas, I give up trying get Blogger to do what I want it to do.]

[NOTE: If you click on these pictures, they get freakishly large.]

Brautigan's friend's garden

Our comically tiny vegetable garden has produced a few tomatoes and a puny pepper, some weeks away from maturity. It is such a pitiful sight, I'm embarassed to be seen watering it. Perhaps we'll do better next year, having learned a little (he said, with the unjustified optimism of Jim Leyland or Trey Hilleman).

Here's a Brautigan verse that seems appropriate.

From "Rommel Drives on Deep Into Egypt:"

My Concern for Your Tomato Plants
I stare at your tomato plants.
You're not, I'm not pleased with the way
they are growing.
I try to think of ways to help them.
I study them. What do I know about tomatoes?
"Perhaps some nitrate," I suggest.
But I don’t know anything and now I've taken
to gossiping about them. I'm as shameless
as their lack of growing.

Depth Chart: The ghost of Michael Cuddyer

Michael Cuddyer tells Denard Span to
get back in the dugout.
And stay there.

Checked the official Twins site today looking for trade rumors, although the official site is the last place I'd really expect to find such rumors.

I'm thinking that Boof's days as a Twin should be numbered, but I don't think any other club would jump at the chance to acquire Mr. Bonser.

Just bouncing more or less randomly around the Twins site, I looked at the depth chart. Michael Cuddyer isn't listed anywhere. Not in right field (his regular starting position), not as a backup third- or first-baseman. And not on the disabled list. Michael, where are you? Who'd we get for Michael? What did Micheal do to anger the manager or the front office?

His omission from the on-line depth chart is obviously inadvertent, but that got me to thinking -- Cuddyer might be very good trade bait. Mr. Span has certainly impressed since being called up to replace the injured Cuddyer. Kubel and Young could split time in left; Gomez is pretty solid (at least defensively) in center; Span looks good in right. Monroe is a serviceable veteran backup.

So, what could we get for Cuddyer?

Don't get me wrong, I like the guy, and I'm not saying he should be traded. It's just fun to speculate, especially during the all-star break. Cuddyer for Beltre, straight up?