At another location, Ella Montt stood in the dark, gazing at distant stars in the night sky. The fixed up greenhouse had avoided total breakage. A wooden fence laid flattened, adjacent, but not quite touching the glass. Blades of grass must have resisted the winds force and intervened to stop the glass shattering back to sand. A tall evergreen tree stood nearby, light shone through a new opening between the branches where the wind had snapped off a bough.
12th January 2012 – At Allotment Plot at MERL, Ella Montt looked in to the future and saw that this part of the Plot would continue for another eight or nine human months, then fade and finish. Residues of the Plot would remain in cyberspace’s eternal digital format, but this particular Plot of land would no longer be cultivated by Ella Montt. Data will be collated, analysed and submitted.
Strong winds in the previous week (or so) had blown down the bamboo framing system that had remained on the Plot from the last summer. The large bamboo tripod wigwam was unaffected. An assistant had removed the collapsed bamboo to the side of the Plot so that it would not cause visual disturbance to the garden. Ella Montt’s arm was still damaged, but with more assistance the bamboo was removed from the Plot and placed in the rafters of the newly neatened shed. Ella Montt collected her tools that had been reallocated different positions within the shed system and repositioned the tools in a corner; then carefully the door was closed before further adjustments were made.
The Plot was very much asleep, in a state of hibernation. Unlike the previous two years the overwintered vegetable plants had failed so far to grow. Echoes of the word drought bounced across the Island, ricocheting of human built buildings and permeating human toiled land, as the plants large and small adjusted their moisture intake to maximize their life support systems. It was still very early in the growing year so there will be plenty of time for the vegetables to develop vibrant growth and catch up on their slow start.
A report had been over heard stating that in another part of the Island over sixty types of plant had recently been counted flowering early. It was already an exceptional year! This premature flowering was brought on by warmer weather conditions and although once deemed unusual, some humans were noticing this occurrence and wondering at the implications. Insects will become confused. Danger was implyed, as fruit flowers may be damaged if temperatures plummet. Harvests can be affected if blossoms are too early. The natural world would need to be tampered with by more human intervention to trick plants in to producing product for the human needs. The Planet might not like this, and so will allow Nature to continue to sabotage itself under the option of free will that is written in to their agreement. Auto destruct might become inevitable. This year is 2012.
Harvest: Leeks Blue Green Winter = 5oz = 150g.
21st January 2012 – Allotment Plot 326 – It was a windy day, and warm for the position on the Planet and the time of its spinning cycle. The sky was darkening in to shadow of night. Cardboard and newspaper was spread across areas of the Plot to lessen the vibrant growth of undesired plants in the planting areas of the Plot. Other human processed tree products that were still in the form of wood, but adjusted, weighted down the human processed tree products that will act as mulch covering the soil. Parsnips were dug from the earth. Heavy frost had killed the young Globe Artichokes, the plants skeleton forms laid wasted on the ground.
Harvest: Parsnips Halblange = 3lbs 12oz = 1.7Kg.
26th January 2012 – Allotment Plot at MERL – It had rained, and now the sky was cloudless, a shade of winter clear blue. The soil was wetted after a long dry spell. It hardly seemed worth harvesting some of the remaining leeks, because of their slenderness, but a source of vital calcium is contained in their leaves. Perhaps the leeks left rooted to the soil would grow some more now it had rained? (The Leeks at Allotment Plot 326 are much bigger in size). Spikes of Garlic and Onion were starting to emerge from the soil, their germination seemed very late compared to the last two growing years. Several Celeriac plants were left in the ground; they had not produced substantial bulging of the roots.
There was a change in the Plot that was subtle, yet concise. The Plot had been interfered with, but not by Ella Montt. Sage plants had been cut back and other material altered. The bamboo tripod had been removed but then replaced. Strange alterations that will not be continued.
Ella Montt took a bag of Spelt and scattered it across the Plot in an area next to the Brick Composter. Spelt is ancient wheat and more easily digestible than the wheat that has permeated a large proportion of human’s nutritional diets in this contemporary era. There was no sign of the Sweet Potato slips towards the central area of the Plot, or of the Peas or Broad Beans planted to overwinter. It is hard to predict what the harvest will be for this growing year; the view in the crystal ball was distant and hazy. Planting and harvesting is a constant experimentation. This years Seed Potatoes arrived in a box. It is too early yet to plant them in the ground. EB gazed out the reading room window; Ella Montt nodded to her and then returned the tools to the shed.
Harvest: Leeks Blue Green Winter = 2oz = 65g.