1st December 2011, at Allotment Plot at MERL, the sky was dull and grey, but in the garden at MERL, birds were singing. Ella Mott had been alerted to the fact that the Island was suffering from lack of moisture. Although it had rained lightly recently, this was not enough and the soil if you wiggled in to it or dug a hole, would reveal dryness not that far from the surface. The soil was only experiencing water as it met the open air. There was not an abundance of water flowing through the Island’s rivers or stored for human convenience in their reservoirs. If another dry winter was about to occur there could be a problem for many living things and their animation may be depleted. A quagmire was not required, but consistent moisture was needed to make plant material grow, unless the plant was drought resistant. A capitalist society required a lot of water to fully function and even basic vegetable survival will continue to be impaired. The moisture contained within last winter’s snow had evaporated in to the atmosphere, traveled across the galaxy and was now reaching another Planet far far away known currently as Kelper 22-b that a Kelper space telescope was watching as the next and nearest Earth candidate. Preparation and boarding passes were in the process of being administrated once Seti had been established as friendly. Ella Montt pondered this amazing phenomena; that there are more vibrant green Planets beyond the sky and much more life out there than any processing device could have ever dreamed of. Establishing if life forms were replicants of human imagination would remain questionable for sometime, but if the humanoids was able to survive its own Planet’s devastation from its own humanoid attack it could be an interesting prospect to meet Seti, as long as the life forms were not similar to Yuuzhan Vong.
At MERL the Allotment Plot had experienced a frost; the Climbing Beans were now all dead. Ella Montt cut the Climbing Bean stalks, leaving the roots in the soil and for now the vines on the bamboo supports. A grey squirrel moved horizontally in the trees across the garden. Wings of birds flapped and beaks emitted sounds. It was getting dark very early. The last of the Parsnips were dug from the ground. Slender leeks were allowed to remain rooted in the soil. A single Fennel plant stood defiant and seemingly unaffected by the frost, whilst a tiny Artichoke plant that had remained a stunted seedling and not grown to the same volume as Allotment Plot 326’s Artichoke pioneers, wondered if it could survive winter.
Harvest: Parsnip Halblange = 10.5oz = 895g; Leeks Blue Green Winter = 4oz = 115g; a few leaves of Rocket.
8th December 2011, it was a dark and stormy day, north of the Island was experiencing bruising by a winter storm. Extreme winds whipped across the mountain land. A Wholly Mammoth appeared and walked across the horizon.
At Allotment Plot at MERL, William Morris was standing amongst the rose bushes, deftly embroidering a tapestry in muted shades of autumnal thread. Rolls of wall paper were clutched under one arm. He suddenly announced that his work was not meant to be for the 1% who could really afford to pay the inflated commodity price, but for the 99% to inherit the patterns as a means to assist in building an achievable utopian future. The decorative plant depictions were a map to inspire the Composting of Capitalism, but right now the patterned items would help to furnish and insulate the Occupy tents at the Dome until new ways of human existence could be conceived and become universally operational.
There was no harvest today. Ella Montt had seen moisture in the crystal ball seven day forecast, so she left the slim Leeks to become more substantial. It was almost dark and no birds were singing. The Plot was taking on a new winter life form of slow activity. There was no sign of the overwintering seeds growing, which seemed odd as during the months of December in the two previous year, the growth of new plants had been apparent.
The next day, 9th December 2011, Ella Montt visited Allotment Plot 326. It was a perfect digging day. More soil was dug over with a fork, more Potatoes were found. A quantity of Broad Beans were planted and the last of the overwintering Onions.
Planted: Onion Radar x 10; Broad Bean Superaquadulce 2 rows x 12 beans = 24.
Harvested: Oriental Greens Tai Sai = 2oz = 50g; Parsnip Halblange = 2lb 4oz = 1.15Kg; Potato Sante = 1lb = 450g; Carrot Rothchild = 4oz =110g; Perpetual Spinach = 2oz = 60g; Rainbow Chard = 4oz = 110g; Kale Red Russian Curled = 1oz = 25g.
20 December 2011, Time had drifted by again, not aimlessly, but in nonstop motion, a stream of events, that at one point included Ella Montt moving with velocity through the air, landing on her head that was luckily protected, but also an arm that resulted in its malfunctioning. The malfunction would not allow the arm to lift a garden fork tool or barely grasp a packet of seeds! Although the situation was improving, digging was now out of the question until approximately the end of January. Earth was starting to grind to a halt under the weight of the Capitalist performance. If the humanoids could learn to completely Compost Capitalism and use different systems of existence that were more in harmony with plants, then perhaps Earth would start to spin again.