Tchi - cho - hac - ki - An ancient cultivated land
Posted by Paul Tobin on Saturday, May 8, 2010
Permalink Reply by Sheena Marie Heinitz 1 hour ago
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The Beginnings of the Garden
Day one on the ancients land: We have decided to be experimental with the garden beds doing a mixture of turning the soil in order to bring up minerals from aged soil, a biodynamic concept, and using the permaculture idea of building soil by sheet mulching. So on our first day together in the garden we expanded one of the outer beds paths by digging out the sod and laying down some cardboard. We used soil form the sod by shaking out the soil onto the bed and using the rest if the green mulch for future use by starting a compost pile with the sod and scraps of vegetation from last years crop. The native garden of the three sisters was prepared also by clearing away last seasons remnants and racking out the mole holes.
Day Two: Continued work on outer bed. Adding cardboard, searching for cardboard and adding wood chips to path. Also starting sheet mulch by laying down manure followed by cardboard then hay. We wet down the cardboard to make it more manageable. On the outside of the bed we’re going to planting comfrey as a dynamic accumulator, blocking out grass growth into bed and building nutrients in the soil. We discussed discovering other bio-accumulators to add more variety to the garden.
Day Three: Weeding and digging another path along the other outer most bed. Discussing: bedstraw as a friend or foe in the garden, decidin
Send Message
Delete
The Beginnings of the Garden
Day one on the ancients land: We have decided to be experimental with the garden beds doing a mixture of turning the soil in order to bring up minerals from aged soil, a biodynamic concept, and using the permaculture idea of building soil by sheet mulching. So on our first day together in the garden we expanded one of the outer beds paths by digging out the sod and laying down some cardboard. We used soil form the sod by shaking out the soil onto the bed and using the rest if the green mulch for future use by starting a compost pile with the sod and scraps of vegetation from last years crop. The native garden of the three sisters was prepared also by clearing away last seasons remnants and racking out the mole holes.
Day Two: Continued work on outer bed. Adding cardboard, searching for cardboard and adding wood chips to path. Also starting sheet mulch by laying down manure followed by cardboard then hay. We wet down the cardboard to make it more manageable. On the outside of the bed we’re going to planting comfrey as a dynamic accumulator, blocking out grass growth into bed and building nutrients in the soil. We discussed discovering other bio-accumulators to add more variety to the garden.
Day Three: Weeding and digging another path along the other outer most bed. Discussing: bedstraw as a friend or foe in the garden, decidin
I am ( Arrun Nah ne nay wah ) or ( Shunktochu Ska ) Buddy, Paba or Bopa ,Dad, Uncle Buddy - you know me as Paul. I have lived in the valley of the the river that runs both ways ( Mohkinatuck ). I was born in a place called ( Napitamack ) our peoples' fields by the once great Wegwaseek ,the people of the yellow birch. Across the river was Wehawken and the Palisades that stretch from Hobokan (pipe) to Tapan. They were created by a lava flow 500 million years ago .They were on the west side of the river so I always used them and the river as a directional reference point.To the south was Mahataha, a stony island that still retains a semblance of its ancient name. To the south of that island lies the great ocean and to the east is the long water where the Quenepeack, the long water people lived. In my youth I lived near a place called Tuckahoe ( Indian cradle board or jack-in-the-pulpit). My days were spent roaming the streams, swamps, fields and creeks. I knew where the fish were, where to get worms to catch them, where the blackberries were, and the wild apples, the garlic, mints and clovers, where the springs were to drink from, and all the paths that led to any place of interest. Even going to school, I used these paths instead of using the sidewalks and streets. I knew where the deer were, and the raccoons, muskrats, rabbits, foxes, pheasants, ducks, where the owls slept and where to go where I couldn't be found. We traveled on all of these waterways with makeshift boats and rafts and we were all good swimmers and had no fear of the adventure. My mother introduced me to those things as if they were my relatives and I thank her for that. Years later I would travel as the eagle flies, ninety miles up the river to Poughkeepsie (a safe harbor). With the eyes of an eagle I would look to the west and see the beautiful Shawangunk mountains (the hills that go south). The home of the Wanganarangonks (the good people that live by the mountains that go south). Flying over those mountains and looking to the northwest you would see the place where the earth touches the sky. Nestled between two mountains is a place called Moonhaw (woodchuck) the place where I now make my home. The Maltby creek, which is behind our house, starts up on Friday mountain where it bubbles up from the ground. The water is so sweet that I sometimes lick it off my mustache. The Maltby runs into the Bushkill creek, that runs into the Ashokan, that is fed by the Esopus and runs back into the Esopus to the river that runs both ways and then into the ocean, and returns in the form of rain to begin the cycle all over again. As we hover on the wings of an eagle, looking three hundred sixty degrees, we see the Adirondacks, the Tacconic hills, the Berkshires, the Green mountains, the Ramapo hills, the lakes, rivers and streams sparkling like jewels, and we are in awe of the majestic beauty. This is my home. Ancestral landscape - Thomas O'Leary, born in Cork, Ireland in the late 1840's, comes on a fishing boat with his cousins, the Adams, and with his parents and siblings during the potato famine. They landed in Baltimore. He was a drummer boy in the civil war, after which he moved to Brooklyn, New York and had three children - Gertrude, John and Catherine. My grandmother Catherine, born in the late 1800's, married Fred Webb from Tarrytown. His ancestors had been here pre-revolutionary war. They had three children - one died as an infant, one - my mother Inez, and one - my uncle Fred. My mother has three children - Maryann - named after my grandfather's mother, Paul - named after my father but called Buddy because my sister couldn't pronounce brother and said Budda, which turned into Buddy (I personally think it was easier to not have two people called Paul in the same household), and lastly - my brother Arthur Michael , named after my father's brother. My grandfather's father married an Irish woman and his father also married an Irish woman, and that is how the Webbs became Catholic. The Webbs owned a stage coach inn in Tarrytown, that was the last stop on the way to New York City. The Tobins came from Ireland to Canada to Massachusetts by dogsled and oxen. It was rumored that one married a native woman. Joseph Tobin, my grandfather, married Gertrude Cox (Gra). They had five children - Arthur, Ruth, Paul, Joseph and Raymond. The Coxes were from Roscomen, Ireland. I have four children - Tobi, Sparrow, Sage and Avrom. I also have two step-children - Daisha and Elijah. I have two grandchildren - Melina and Noah and I have six nieces, two nephews, ten grand nieces and nephews. I live with my wife Jodi and our cat, and an occasional mouse that is promptly caught by our cat. This is the abbreviated version. If you are interested, the longer version can be talked about around the fire.
