Thank you William. I am glad you are writing. I enjoy your writing, your humor/satire. I love the pictures of your garden. It makes me happy to hear that other, over 40 people are taking care of themselves, unlike most of America.
A few years ago I planted four service berries on the street side of my fence for the birds. I love to hear the cedar wax wings in the trees. I enjoy eating a few myself. One of the four is already about 15 feet tall. I also planted a lot of native plants with the trees. The bird life in my yard, here in Gresham, a suburb of Portland, has increased significantly. It is wonderful to wake to their singing.
My recipe is 1.5 gallons of berries, mash them, add about a pound of sugar and a gallon of filtered water, put them in a fermenting bucket with an air lock, let ferment 3-4 days; remove the solids, put the liquid into a 5-6 gallon carboy and add about 12-13 pounds of sugar, fill the remainder with filtered water. I have only ever used wild yeast, you can buy store bought yeast to make the process faster, but it is tricky to buy one that will leave just a little sugar. If you measure the sugar content after you have removed the solids, bottle whem the sugar content is about 1%. Wild yeasts will take 4mnths to more than a year, usually.
Happy birthday! You are one of the reasons I still check in on Substack. I love to hear about your garden and anything else you decide to write about. Your voice is clear and true, and much appreciated.
Love your writing! I am kind of retired, suddenly, after moving two months ago from WA and our law practice (we had a small law firm I am winding down) to NW TX. I have been precluded from writing for the past 29 years due to going to law school after getting a masters degree in creative writing poetry then teaching for five years. Law just sucks it out of those of us who chose this path. I now have a partially completed application for TX Bar reciprocity on my desk and three weeks to finish it. Or not. I kind of lean to the “or not” position. After practicing since 1999, and running the law firm I founded for 21 years, I am really sick of it, frankly. But the prestige of a local bar membership and the respect that engenders is compelling. I don’t want to viewed as a 70 year old housewife. That sounds awful and disrespectful to my homebody sisters, but the respect afforded to lawyers is way above the respect I got when I was teaching at a college and a university as an adjunct professor prior to starting law school at age 41. Being in a new community that does not know me as a lawyer and small business owner is disconcerting.
I just applied for a non law job through Indeed.com that would be interesting, tick some boxes of experience, and much less stress than practicing law. I hope I get an interview. If I got such a job, I would have the head space to write on the Substack in my name that is idle as yet, but amazingly, has a few stray followers, who signed up based on responses I have written. Then, I might be able to forego the $800 plus cost to get a TX bar license and could enjoy a new phase of my life.
I realized I have enjoyed reading your posts for free and need to support you. Headed over to the website now (because the app does not support subscription management) to become a paid subscriber. I share a lot of your interests and will write about that on my page soon. Like, for example, my journey from “born in the covenant” five generation Mormon, to Reiki Master, to Catholic convert. Over the past fifty or so years of my life. Definitely a journey.
I do want to tell you, in closing, what a poetry writing professor said at a poetry writing workshop at a writers conference (Writers at Work, Park City, UT) that I went to back in 1989, during my masters program. She said, “Never confuse poetry writing with “Po’ Biz” - it is not the same. Write first for yourself. Make it the best you can. Only when you think it is really finished (as it can be), then think about getting it published. Maybe even set it aside for a period of time so when you come back to it, you can see it with neutral eyes - we all fall in love with our writing when we are flush with a freshly finished writing. Never start writing with an eye towards publishing. Just write.” Maybe now is the time to go back through your old writing and see what you still like enough that you want to get it published. I have an essay I wrote in 1994 that I did not publish until 2004. I read it recently on the website where it is published and I would not change a word of it (“My Short and Simple Advice to a Young Mormon Woman,” on ExMormon.org).
Thank you for your encouraging words and deeply for your recent financial support, and I am honored to have a trained lawyer aboard, who is also a student and teacher of poetry.
Sounds to me like that could be a very interesting substack you are imagining. Good advice too. I write first because I love to write :)
Congrats William! It's a pleasure to read your work and I appreciate the snippets of your life that you share, especially around gardening. Looking forward to you soon hitting 1,000 readers and for your upcoming year.
I'm very pleased to be one of the nearly 1000 readers of your work. You're a growth oriented blessing within the rotting chaos of our current culture.
We will rebuild.
Have you any constructs for pollinators?
I have discovered wild plums nearby! The state agri depy is very excited. I'm going to be collecting pits and growing them to transplant out. Wild persimmons I just chuck to the road sides where they'll get sun.
What's the chances we can ask for faerie help vs hornworms and fire ants? 🤔
Here's to you, and to your open and growing fan base!
Here's to another 2 years of natural sprawl of subjects and freedom.
Thank you I&K, you have been here it seems like from the start.
Pollinator constructions are a good idea, I had not thought of that. Back before 2012, the wood chips I hauled into my food forest in the city, would make for homes by bumblebees. I have not seen very many bumblebees since, even though I set woodchips in that food forest every year through '21. I have been thinking about chips here, as I have seen a few bbs this year.
Wild plums make a great homebrew too, speaking of JMG's assertion, when the 4horsemen show up, offer beers. Never tried making persimmon homebrew.
Faerie might say, fight fire with fire? Hornworms, blast them with Miles? First things that came to me...
Thus far I have only constructed one structure- my home- which attracts ...well...who knows what carpenter bees do when they ain't eating my facia??
Otherwise I have a tree with honeybees, and also a few Mason bees enjoy burrowing here! Woodchips... I have a good bit!
Breaking!!( oh I'm getting tired if that on X for every dang thing!)
Rural Georgia woman sidelines WW3 ! She claims " Damned if William wasn't right!, the Horsemen stopped for Wild Plum wine, and then I just had a serious talk with them..."
Sounds like he is lacking real male influence, and the girl thing is maybe related to the early stage of his Saturn's Return existential crisis? He clearly wants to fit in, he just doesn't realize he is trying to fit in with the mentally and spiritually deranged. He should maybe read my post on the Trans phenomenon, but maybe he won't take it on recommendation from Mom? Maybe try reverse psychology and go over the top supporting him? I will be thinking about you and your son. It really is about the controlled demolition of America.
He married an SJW ( who's actually become more adult as he's regressed) who is now well medicated for her diagnosed issues, but for a while 4 years ago thought she was Trans...
2- you're right, his dad and I have been separated for over a decade, and he's never been a Male influence. Or really not much of any influence.
And honestly what I see as his " this is his Path to walk" ...
3- he has Venus and Mars close ( but not conjunct) in his 12th House. Venus leads. He truly has this " but...I feel feminine..." that he's got to deal with deep ,deep, down. And you probably know the studies about boys and dominant moms. I had to step up, because Someone had to 😔
His AC conj Regulus @1° Virgo gives me hope that some day, after his Sat Return, he'll go out to tell his story and help others see. I'm too much of a neophyte at astrology to know if what I hope may have validity.
Your thoughts are truly appreciated. Sorry if I babbled!
Happy belated birthday, Hunter! I love reading about your gardening!
I was in your region last week for my father's side family reunion. My sister and I stayed in the renovated Barnhard rural schoolhouse in Underwood off CR-35, kitty-corner from the Tingvold Lutheran Church. My aunt and one of my male cousins live 12 miles away in Dent, on acreage with a mostly obscured (by mature trees/shrubs) view of Star Lake, and that's where the events happened. I wish I had been able to see about getting together with you, but there literally was no time for anything but driving, visiting with family, and sleeping a bit. There were 70 people at the main party!
Sounds like fun. Didn't even know where Underwood was until I looked it up. Pretty country, the Battle Lake area. If you had let me know I might have driven up to say hi. Glad you had a great journey though.
I didn't even think about you driving up. Duh. There were so many logistics to deal with after taking two flights to MSP followed by a 3-hour drive to my sister's cottage, then the 6.5-hour drive to the Airbnb. I will for sure let you know next time I'm there! Yes, it is a beautiful area!
Jabir b. Abdullah (Allah be pleased with them) reported: Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) visited the orchard of Umm Ma'sud and said: Umm Ma'bad. he who has planted this tree, is he a Muslim or a non-Muslim? She said: Of course, he is a Muslim, whereupon he (the Holy Prophet) said: No Muslim who plants (trees) and from their fruits the human beings or the beasts or birds eat, but that would be taken as an act of charity on the Day of Resurrection.
Your peaches look nice. I'm running an experiment where I'm germing apple seeds from the grocery store (I also bought some 1 year old whips from a tree farm). I got 9 to germ so for and I'm curious to see what they look like. They'll either be good apples, deer food or fire wood :p
The Lovell suckers are outpacing some of the original grafts. Hopefully they handle winter here. Zone 4/5.
I used to imagine planting a whole forest of germinated apple trees. I might still. The most beautiful apple tree I ever saw was in the northern Minnesota Boundary Waters Wilderness, on an old homestead or logging site. Thirty feet tall, a perfect 30ft diameter crown, 10,000+ perfect sour apples. Maybe one of Johnny Appleseeds originals, who knows? Apple wood is good for smoking meat or fish too.
The challenge I have is finding the right varieties. We're Zone 2/3 (depending on when you take the average) but a few plants I took from Zone 5 made it through the winter. My plan is to shove in as many varieties as possible and see what sticks. It's weird weather too.
There's already crab apple trees the deer eat so my apples should do fine.
The problem with deer is, they will eat the trees from the lead down. Currently I have a 7ft vinyl deer fence, another bailing twine line above that, plus a 4ft chicken wire fence 40in outside that. Deer won't try to jump two fences, a reader told me. I also have some crab apples in grow tube's, elsewhere on the property.
We have apricots that can survive this far north because Russians made a practice of training them over many decades, moving further and further north with the grafts.
Great post. I can't figure out whether they put Biden up there as part of their machinations, or they really thought they could pull it off. The more I think about it, the more I think they CANNOT leave him in the office for another 4+years. Besides an absolute risk of a dementia-death in office, having a vegetable as President of the country comes with a legitimacy crisis.
The question is what are they going to do about it. But I don't see them going with pulling every trick they can to avert a Trump win.
Biden is such a liability at this point they can't even cheat to make him win, because no one would believe it. But Newsome cannot replace a dark skinned woman, unless Kamala concedes too. Hillary has been very quiet publicly, though I imagine she is privately calling in a million debts.
I'm 12 miles in a 18 mile canoe trip, through 12 lakes. Thanks everybody!
Thank you William. I am glad you are writing. I enjoy your writing, your humor/satire. I love the pictures of your garden. It makes me happy to hear that other, over 40 people are taking care of themselves, unlike most of America.
A few years ago I planted four service berries on the street side of my fence for the birds. I love to hear the cedar wax wings in the trees. I enjoy eating a few myself. One of the four is already about 15 feet tall. I also planted a lot of native plants with the trees. The bird life in my yard, here in Gresham, a suburb of Portland, has increased significantly. It is wonderful to wake to their singing.
Happy Birthday William!
Also, serviceberries make some of the best fruit homebrew....
I'll have to look that up ;) The berries are very plentiful this year.
My recipe is 1.5 gallons of berries, mash them, add about a pound of sugar and a gallon of filtered water, put them in a fermenting bucket with an air lock, let ferment 3-4 days; remove the solids, put the liquid into a 5-6 gallon carboy and add about 12-13 pounds of sugar, fill the remainder with filtered water. I have only ever used wild yeast, you can buy store bought yeast to make the process faster, but it is tricky to buy one that will leave just a little sugar. If you measure the sugar content after you have removed the solids, bottle whem the sugar content is about 1%. Wild yeasts will take 4mnths to more than a year, usually.
👍
Thank you!
Happy Birthday William 🥳
Love your orchard and berries!
I’ve been fortunate enough too to have some fruit trees, and garden 🌿
BTW - I believe in fairy’s 🧚♀️ too !
All the best to you, and us all 🌹
Happy birthday! You are one of the reasons I still check in on Substack. I love to hear about your garden and anything else you decide to write about. Your voice is clear and true, and much appreciated.
Thank you Shield Maiden. And honored.
Love your writing! I am kind of retired, suddenly, after moving two months ago from WA and our law practice (we had a small law firm I am winding down) to NW TX. I have been precluded from writing for the past 29 years due to going to law school after getting a masters degree in creative writing poetry then teaching for five years. Law just sucks it out of those of us who chose this path. I now have a partially completed application for TX Bar reciprocity on my desk and three weeks to finish it. Or not. I kind of lean to the “or not” position. After practicing since 1999, and running the law firm I founded for 21 years, I am really sick of it, frankly. But the prestige of a local bar membership and the respect that engenders is compelling. I don’t want to viewed as a 70 year old housewife. That sounds awful and disrespectful to my homebody sisters, but the respect afforded to lawyers is way above the respect I got when I was teaching at a college and a university as an adjunct professor prior to starting law school at age 41. Being in a new community that does not know me as a lawyer and small business owner is disconcerting.
I just applied for a non law job through Indeed.com that would be interesting, tick some boxes of experience, and much less stress than practicing law. I hope I get an interview. If I got such a job, I would have the head space to write on the Substack in my name that is idle as yet, but amazingly, has a few stray followers, who signed up based on responses I have written. Then, I might be able to forego the $800 plus cost to get a TX bar license and could enjoy a new phase of my life.
I realized I have enjoyed reading your posts for free and need to support you. Headed over to the website now (because the app does not support subscription management) to become a paid subscriber. I share a lot of your interests and will write about that on my page soon. Like, for example, my journey from “born in the covenant” five generation Mormon, to Reiki Master, to Catholic convert. Over the past fifty or so years of my life. Definitely a journey.
I do want to tell you, in closing, what a poetry writing professor said at a poetry writing workshop at a writers conference (Writers at Work, Park City, UT) that I went to back in 1989, during my masters program. She said, “Never confuse poetry writing with “Po’ Biz” - it is not the same. Write first for yourself. Make it the best you can. Only when you think it is really finished (as it can be), then think about getting it published. Maybe even set it aside for a period of time so when you come back to it, you can see it with neutral eyes - we all fall in love with our writing when we are flush with a freshly finished writing. Never start writing with an eye towards publishing. Just write.” Maybe now is the time to go back through your old writing and see what you still like enough that you want to get it published. I have an essay I wrote in 1994 that I did not publish until 2004. I read it recently on the website where it is published and I would not change a word of it (“My Short and Simple Advice to a Young Mormon Woman,” on ExMormon.org).
Thank you for your encouraging words and deeply for your recent financial support, and I am honored to have a trained lawyer aboard, who is also a student and teacher of poetry.
Sounds to me like that could be a very interesting substack you are imagining. Good advice too. I write first because I love to write :)
.
Democrats Have Surrendered Their Dignity.
It Was A Long Time Coming.
They Went One At A Time.
And Then All At Once.
They Didn’t Do It Willingly. You Took It From Them.
Don’t Ever Give It Back.
Next Comes The Begging. Until This Is Over.
Congrats William! It's a pleasure to read your work and I appreciate the snippets of your life that you share, especially around gardening. Looking forward to you soon hitting 1,000 readers and for your upcoming year.
Your support means a lot to me. So does your work.
Bright Blessings on your 51st Birthday, William!!
I'm very pleased to be one of the nearly 1000 readers of your work. You're a growth oriented blessing within the rotting chaos of our current culture.
We will rebuild.
Have you any constructs for pollinators?
I have discovered wild plums nearby! The state agri depy is very excited. I'm going to be collecting pits and growing them to transplant out. Wild persimmons I just chuck to the road sides where they'll get sun.
What's the chances we can ask for faerie help vs hornworms and fire ants? 🤔
Here's to you, and to your open and growing fan base!
Here's to another 2 years of natural sprawl of subjects and freedom.
Thank you, William.
Thank you I&K, you have been here it seems like from the start.
Pollinator constructions are a good idea, I had not thought of that. Back before 2012, the wood chips I hauled into my food forest in the city, would make for homes by bumblebees. I have not seen very many bumblebees since, even though I set woodchips in that food forest every year through '21. I have been thinking about chips here, as I have seen a few bbs this year.
Wild plums make a great homebrew too, speaking of JMG's assertion, when the 4horsemen show up, offer beers. Never tried making persimmon homebrew.
Faerie might say, fight fire with fire? Hornworms, blast them with Miles? First things that came to me...
I've been here watching ya a day or three 😉
Thus far I have only constructed one structure- my home- which attracts ...well...who knows what carpenter bees do when they ain't eating my facia??
Otherwise I have a tree with honeybees, and also a few Mason bees enjoy burrowing here! Woodchips... I have a good bit!
Breaking!!( oh I'm getting tired if that on X for every dang thing!)
Rural Georgia woman sidelines WW3 ! She claims " Damned if William wasn't right!, the Horsemen stopped for Wild Plum wine, and then I just had a serious talk with them..."
Heh- have a great Solar Return, sir!
I haven't seen a ton of pollinators, but I have seen a LOT of dragonflies, of which I am very fond.
As to the 4horsemen, it is good also to have some young muscle with heavy hardware around, to keep the 4horsemen honest and respectful...
This I'm lacking. My young 4th degree BB son now thinks he's a girl 😑
I lay my hopes on the start of his Saturn Return Sept 2025
Sounds like he is lacking real male influence, and the girl thing is maybe related to the early stage of his Saturn's Return existential crisis? He clearly wants to fit in, he just doesn't realize he is trying to fit in with the mentally and spiritually deranged. He should maybe read my post on the Trans phenomenon, but maybe he won't take it on recommendation from Mom? Maybe try reverse psychology and go over the top supporting him? I will be thinking about you and your son. It really is about the controlled demolition of America.
He has an Aries moon...you know he ain't listening to Mom. 😂🤣
He's got a Trifecta of influence:
He married an SJW ( who's actually become more adult as he's regressed) who is now well medicated for her diagnosed issues, but for a while 4 years ago thought she was Trans...
2- you're right, his dad and I have been separated for over a decade, and he's never been a Male influence. Or really not much of any influence.
And honestly what I see as his " this is his Path to walk" ...
3- he has Venus and Mars close ( but not conjunct) in his 12th House. Venus leads. He truly has this " but...I feel feminine..." that he's got to deal with deep ,deep, down. And you probably know the studies about boys and dominant moms. I had to step up, because Someone had to 😔
His AC conj Regulus @1° Virgo gives me hope that some day, after his Sat Return, he'll go out to tell his story and help others see. I'm too much of a neophyte at astrology to know if what I hope may have validity.
Your thoughts are truly appreciated. Sorry if I babbled!
Happy belated birthday, Hunter! I love reading about your gardening!
I was in your region last week for my father's side family reunion. My sister and I stayed in the renovated Barnhard rural schoolhouse in Underwood off CR-35, kitty-corner from the Tingvold Lutheran Church. My aunt and one of my male cousins live 12 miles away in Dent, on acreage with a mostly obscured (by mature trees/shrubs) view of Star Lake, and that's where the events happened. I wish I had been able to see about getting together with you, but there literally was no time for anything but driving, visiting with family, and sleeping a bit. There were 70 people at the main party!
Sounds like fun. Didn't even know where Underwood was until I looked it up. Pretty country, the Battle Lake area. If you had let me know I might have driven up to say hi. Glad you had a great journey though.
I didn't even think about you driving up. Duh. There were so many logistics to deal with after taking two flights to MSP followed by a 3-hour drive to my sister's cottage, then the 6.5-hour drive to the Airbnb. I will for sure let you know next time I'm there! Yes, it is a beautiful area!
حَدَّثَنَا أَحْمَدُ بْنُ سَعِيدِ بْنِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، حَدَّثَنَا رَوْحُ بْنُ عُبَادَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا زَكَرِيَّاءُ بْنُ إِسْحَاقَ، أَخْبَرَنِي عَمْرُو بْنُ دِينَارٍ، أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ جَابِرَ بْنَ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، يَقُولُ دَخَلَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم عَلَى أُمِّ مَعْبَدٍ حَائِطًا فَقَالَ " يَا أُمَّ مَعْبَدٍ مَنْ غَرَسَ هَذَا النَّخْلَ أَمُسْلِمٌ أَمْ كَافِرٌ " . فَقَالَتْ بَلْ مُسْلِمٌ . قَالَ " فَلاَ يَغْرِسُ الْمُسْلِمُ غَرْسًا فَيَأْكُلَ مِنْهُ إِنْسَانٌ وَلاَ دَابَّةٌ وَلاَ طَيْرٌ إِلاَّ كَانَ لَهُ صَدَقَةً إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ " .
Jabir b. Abdullah (Allah be pleased with them) reported: Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) visited the orchard of Umm Ma'sud and said: Umm Ma'bad. he who has planted this tree, is he a Muslim or a non-Muslim? She said: Of course, he is a Muslim, whereupon he (the Holy Prophet) said: No Muslim who plants (trees) and from their fruits the human beings or the beasts or birds eat, but that would be taken as an act of charity on the Day of Resurrection.
Sahih Muslim 1552d
https://sunnah.com/muslim:1552d
Welcome brother Ahnaf. I have been planting edible and medicinal plants all my life, and I will continue to do so the rest of my days.
You have a lovely orchard.
Your peaches look nice. I'm running an experiment where I'm germing apple seeds from the grocery store (I also bought some 1 year old whips from a tree farm). I got 9 to germ so for and I'm curious to see what they look like. They'll either be good apples, deer food or fire wood :p
The Lovell suckers are outpacing some of the original grafts. Hopefully they handle winter here. Zone 4/5.
I used to imagine planting a whole forest of germinated apple trees. I might still. The most beautiful apple tree I ever saw was in the northern Minnesota Boundary Waters Wilderness, on an old homestead or logging site. Thirty feet tall, a perfect 30ft diameter crown, 10,000+ perfect sour apples. Maybe one of Johnny Appleseeds originals, who knows? Apple wood is good for smoking meat or fish too.
The challenge I have is finding the right varieties. We're Zone 2/3 (depending on when you take the average) but a few plants I took from Zone 5 made it through the winter. My plan is to shove in as many varieties as possible and see what sticks. It's weird weather too.
There's already crab apple trees the deer eat so my apples should do fine.
The problem with deer is, they will eat the trees from the lead down. Currently I have a 7ft vinyl deer fence, another bailing twine line above that, plus a 4ft chicken wire fence 40in outside that. Deer won't try to jump two fences, a reader told me. I also have some crab apples in grow tube's, elsewhere on the property.
We have apricots that can survive this far north because Russians made a practice of training them over many decades, moving further and further north with the grafts.
Great post. I can't figure out whether they put Biden up there as part of their machinations, or they really thought they could pull it off. The more I think about it, the more I think they CANNOT leave him in the office for another 4+years. Besides an absolute risk of a dementia-death in office, having a vegetable as President of the country comes with a legitimacy crisis.
The question is what are they going to do about it. But I don't see them going with pulling every trick they can to avert a Trump win.
Thank you!
Biden is such a liability at this point they can't even cheat to make him win, because no one would believe it. But Newsome cannot replace a dark skinned woman, unless Kamala concedes too. Hillary has been very quiet publicly, though I imagine she is privately calling in a million debts.
Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary. Keep up the good fight!👍
Will do. You too.
Love your writing and photos. Sorry I cannot support you financially.
Thank you, and no need at all to be sorry. I appreciate that you check in and have something to say.
Happy birthday and anniversary William! I've been here with you from the beginning, lol!
Thank you, Annie Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow!