Tending, Part II and Two Big Announcements
Staying grounded in challenging times
October in the northern hemisphere is a big transition month. The longer daylight hours shrink down until there are more hours of darkness than light. By the end of the month, the sun does not have enough hours in the day to warm us up into those light sweater temperatures of 60+degrees F. (15.5 degrees C) When the life-giving chlorophyll of green-leaved plants dies out in the colder temperatures, the brighter yellow, oranges and red pigments left behind in the leaves show themselves in gorgeous color.
Our neighbor’s exquisite Japanese maple tree shining even on a rainy day
The earth gives us all kinds of clues that the colder, darker time of winter is approaching. (And thank you, Australian friends, for checking in with news of blossoms and long light!) Even the night sky heralds huge change. By early October the spectacular winter constellations of Orion, the Pleiades, and Taurus the Bull appear in the east in early evening and set in the west by daybreak.
As a gardener, it is a time of much activity—planting garlic, tulips, and daffodils before frost; cutting back dead tomato, squash and bean vines; and savoring any flowers left in the garden before the first frost. Tending the rhythms of nature is helpful and calming to me in this time of perilous change in the world.
End of October, individual cloves of garlic placed carefully in 3-4 inch deep holes with some blood meal, covered with soil and then leaves.
And yes, the rhythms of nature can also be violent at times.
Update on Hurricane Helene victims
Earlier this month I wrote about tending to the details of nature’s changes in early fall in the northern hemisphere AND tending to human needs in the face of Hurricane Helene which smashed into the southeast U.S. on September 26 and 27 devastating the area in western North Carolina where my sister and several friends live.
Too often, when a natural disaster hits, the area is in the headlines for a few days, and then the news cycle moves onto the next event. But Hurricane Helene’s aftermath is an ongoing heartache and challenge for people of that region. Some follow-up news.
One month after Helene swept through Asheville, North Carolina schools finally re-opened. According to the National Weather Service, the storm was billed as a once-in-a-thousand-year rainfall event, dropping over 30 inches of rain in three days. With a population of 100,000 Asheville is the largest community in the storm area, but even after a month the city’s water pipes carry water not yet considered drinkable. So, an aid organization is providing drinking water to the district’s 45 schools that are starting two hours late because bus drivers must negotiate new routes and bus stops due to washed out roads and bridges.
Number one focus for the school system besides restoring the physical plants of schools is the mental health of students and faculty, many of whom lost friends and family in the storm. There are towns in western North Carolina that literally no longer exist: Chimney Rock, Bat Cave, Montreat, and Swannanoa, to name a few. One hundred-one people died in North Carolina from the storm. Life is anything but “normal” in much of the region.
My sister, Margaret, and her family in Brevard, N.C. were not as hard hit as other communities because they are not located on the banks of a river. But they have spent weeks cleaning out items soaked in their flooded basement and treating the walls with Borax to prevent mold from invading the house.
The clean up of flood-soaked shelves from my sister’s basement—a real battle to stave off mold. photo by Frank Parsons, my nephew
Our friend’s home in Weaverville, N.C. is located slightly above the river and was spared the damage her neighbors suffered on the riverbanks who lost everything. She spends her evening hours washing donated towels for the portable showers that have been set up by the Baptist Church, a major shelter in town where people are living in tents in the parking lot and being fed by organizations like World Central Kitchen. Since overnight temperatures in the area are now dropping below freezing, immense suffering continues.
Our friend, Ruth, in Black Mountain, NC wrote the following email just days ago:
This community is extraordinarily connected by Town officials who actually use the word love and weep along with us. . . . I am called to use my voice for remembering and reminding us that we are one family. As I sit in the middle of the night with no Internet yet again and water not yet safe for anything but flushing, and the prospects ironically that with no days of rain since the deluge, there is now fire hazard, I realize that we are ground zero for dealing, not only with disaster, but ongoing escalating climate change.
Blue Ridge Road, Black Mountain, NC, one of many roads destroyed by Hurricane Helene, ABC news
One of the citizen weather reporters in Black Mountain in the COCORAHS weather network: sent this message on October 2: “I live in Black Mountain, NC, devastated by Helene. My home was destroyed by falling trees, and Monday I was able to evacuate to Charlotte. It was almost 100 miles before I saw a light. It will be a while before I can report. Pray for us in Western NC.”
In the aftermath of disaster there is both community-helping-community and the swift presence of state and federal agencies. However, disinformation is creating distrust. Political hucksters circulated lies that FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency), which arrives after disasters with food, drinking water, and shelter would “take people’s land” if they requested aid.
This inexcusable, evil misrepresentation of the truth has kept thousands of people in the area from getting help they desperately need. And it has further caused political foment in a time when the U.S. is already dangerously divided before the November election.
What can be done? From our friends and family on the ground, a unanimous response—keep focused on what YOU can do to help your neighbors. Share what you know to be true and helpful. Actions speak louder than words.
Special announcements!!
My sister’s newly released, revised book: The Wild East, a Biography of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
#1—In this last month my sister Margaret’s newly revised book The Wild East, a Biography of the Great Smoky Mountains, has been reissued by the University of Florida press. It certainly is a timely release given Hurricane Helene’s arrival.
“The first edition (2000) got more attention for details the book provided about the removal of mountain people to create the Great Smoky Mountain National Park,” said Margaret. “This time, I am hoping to emphasize the theme of restoration and climate change.”
The book was released BEFORE the arrival of Hurricane Helene when Asheville, NC was still considered a “climate refuge city,” where people from fire ravaged parts of California and the hurricane alley of Florida were relocating.
Announcement of the book’s release.
Christina’s new historical novel, The Beekeeper’s Question, Love and Honey, War and Reckoning, a Novel of WWII
#2—In this last month my beloved Christina’s new historical novel has also been published.
She writes extensively about this on her website: https://christinabaldwin.com/ A novel that was a decade in writing has been polished to great beauty, and like Margaret’s book, is written for exactly these times.
Set in rural western Montana during 1942 and 1943, the story follows a beekeeper and his sons through the early years of World War II on the American home front. At Christina’s local book launch, on October 18, a wonderful crowd of 150 gave her a standing ovation for her talk and reading.
The book can be purchased at your favorite local bookstore and or on Amazon, where she already has over 30 five-star reviews in the first month of release.
Sunset over the Olympic Mountains after a rainy day. Let us always remember that after the storm comes the sun. Photo by Christina Baldwin.
As always, you remind us of both what’s important and what’s occurring, that we need to know and attend to……with a weaving of basic values…. earth, family/friends/community, sharing and caring, embracing it all in the circle of life. Story and image are heartbreaking, devastating, relentless, overwhelming, and also the invitation to open, love and hold open heartedly without turning away. Thank you for keeping us in-formed, grounded, present. love… A
Hello Dear Anne, With appreciation for your seeing of the wholeness of my intention in writing this blog. Ann
Dear Friends,
I too am in touch by iphone with Ruth in Black Mountain. I am so thankful I can spend time on the phone with her, listening, loving and holding the sorrows and the griefs as well as the many ways she and others are helping one another through these days and nights. I am thankful for her work of the heart and hands as she too feels the deep bone weary effects of the storm which has touched so many-all over the country, and the world. May we be there for one another as best we are able.
Hold one another in kindness and care, please.
Thank you, Judy, for more news about Ruth who is doing her important, lifelong work now in her small community—a model for all of us. Ann
Ann, my youngest daughter, her husband, and my 4-year old grandchild live in the stricken part of North Carolina. They were without power for days but otherwise safe, no damage to their house or land. They live about 10 minutes away from Marshall, a town northeast of Asheville and one that I have grown to love. It was not completely wiped off the map but because it sits right on the bank of the French Broad, the main street and its buildings were inundated. A handful of buildings were lifted by the storm waters and carried away. The town is engaged in major repair and recovery work that will take months to accomplish. I keep abreast of the news through my family and I know about the robust community response, the helpers and volunteers, and the inspiring efforts of people who by all rights could sink into despair.
I have been thinking of the devastated area as a possible fractal of what we will all may face over the years to come. I am glad your sister and friends in the area are okay.
Thank you, Mary, for more news from western North Carolina. I am guessing many readers of this blog have some direct connection to the areas affected by Hurricane Helene. None of us wants to be a “fractal of what we all may face over the years to come”. But all of us would do well to listen to these stories and learn about the true heroism happening there. The human spirit is remarkable, strong, and truly tested in so many places around the globe. Ann
I need a Garden Ann in my life. Not a gnome, a fairy. 🙂 Thank you for the Asheville update, I don’t hear from my people. I know school started, my grandson had walking pneumonia (which apparently has been kind of prevalent there and in VA–hearsay mostly). The Margarets are having a time. xoxo
You are welcome, Gretchen. We all need to keep track of one another! Blessings, Ann
Thank you Ann. Your words bring comfort and wisdom. Smiles too. Appreciated!
And, Tenneson, your words of support are always appreciated. Ann
Thank you for remembering me. I look forward to reading both books during our Minnesota winter.
May your Minnesota winter not be too long, but may you actually have snow! Last year was quite an unnerving “no snow show”. There is a certain comfort in some level of regularity at this time of big climate changes. Ann
We just returned from a trip to the Oregon coast where we enjoyed the beauty of the thundering waves and the turning colors of the vegetarian which we missed for so long in Arizona. I appreciated your comments about the continuing devastation in North Carolina. With a different type of potential devastation in our country, the news media seems to have forgotten about the ravages of the hurricane. May we survive through the upcoming months.
Thank you, Sandy, for your wise reflections. There is so much news beyond the “main” news and, honestly, most of it is I believe about ordinary people being good neighbors to one another. May it be so after the election! Ann