ThingsPondered

An eastern suburb of Reading, PA has joined the local communities sponsoring farmers’ markets.  As I did not think it would be operating on the 4th of July, I wandered over the next Saturday to see if it, indeed, exists.  Yes, Virginia, there is an outdoor farm market in Exeter Township!

On the approach towards the parking lot of Boscov’s, a retailer renowned for civic-minded activities, I spied five tent tops in a far corner.  These were the little ten by ten feet jobs that families use at soccer games or the beach.  In addition, there were two folding tables without covering and one food vendor with the classic beach umbrella arrangement over the cart.

This modest start is exactly how the West Reading market began.  It is almost as if a few brave vendors must test the waters, to the benefit of others who will jump in once the consumer interest has been proven.   Happily, several of the tents offered exactly what I wanted and expected: locally grown produce.  One stand had cabbages larger than bowling balls and a commodity new to me - golden beets.  Others had garden plants or homemade catsup and preserves.  I found the preserves to be costly.  Am I willing to pay $6 for a large jar of homemade jam?   I think it will need to be one of my favorite fruits for that sort of sum to leave my wallet. The classic hot dog vendor - well, what can be said, other than seize the opportunity to feed the masses of shoppers.

I was a little disappointed to see that one of the tables was for some sort of eco-vitamin-snake oil-wonder drink.  That does not match the spirit of the endeavor, in my humble opinion.   Nonetheless, if you live nearby and need some fresh produce for the weekend, this market is worth a look.

The four-county area near Boyertown has gained a sought-after artisan typically found only in the largest of metropolitan areas. Djembe builders and repair masters are a rare breed in central Pennsylvania.  Fortunately, we now have one!  A hearty welcome extends to Doug Libby, proprietor of Alive Drumming, with locations at Zern’s Farmers Market, Gilbertsville, and South Jersey.

The djembe is a hand-drum  - not one of the drums seen in rock bands. Originating from West Africa, it is made from a tree trunk carved into modified hourglass shape.  Traditionally, the drum head is made of goatskin.  With the increased appreciation of world music, the djembe’s popularity in the United States has steadily increased over the last twenty years and is now frequently the staple instrument played in drum circles.

Doug glows describing what he likes about djembes.  “Every time I play, especially in our drum circles, I feel so cleansed from daily stresses, almost like a spiritual renewing of some sort…I have learned that the djembe is a very powerful instrument.  Djembes are used in healing ceremonies, they are used for calling spirits within the spiritual world that we are surrounded by, and are used just to have fun.”  Doug is also drawn to the spiritual nature of the djembe drum. “The djembe itself is known to carry three spirits: the spirit of the tree that it is carved from, the spirit of the goat that is used for the head of the drum, and the spirit of the drum maker.” 

Doug first became interested in djembes about seven years ago.  Like many Americans, he really didn’t know much about them.  However, while attending The Swagg’s Greatful Dead Tribute concert in Kansas City, he witnessed his first drum circle.  “I was in awe and really amazed by the trancing beats that were being played.  It was at this show I bought my first djembe from a drum vendor.  My first djembe was a mini baby djembe - a  perfect size for a beginner’s drum.”

After that concert in Kansas City, Doug and a group of friends in Missouri started their own drum circle every Saturday night.  “We called it ‘another Saturday night’ after a well known Grateful Dead song.  At first we didn’t have too many hand percussion instruments.  One of my best friends Paul would actually play on pots and pans … They sounded awesome.  We eventually purchased a Conga set, and some more djembes.” 

Doug’s musical journey continued while on active duty with the Navy.  When he transferred to the Willow Grove Navy Air Base, he wanted to get involved with the drum scene in the Philadelphia area.  “But just playing wasn’t enough for me.  I had a deep interest in building these sacred instruments,” Doug explains.  He found Conrad, a drum builder, online and began email correspondence.  After attending a workshop with this Philadelphia area builder on how to rehead djembes, they slowly built a friendship.  Doug began an unpaid apprenticeship working for Conrad in his shop trying to learn as much as he could. 

Doug relates, Conrad’s work is “so amazing.   My apprenticeship lasted on and off for about a year. I knew my apprenticeship was over when he started to offer money to work for him.  It was such an awesome moment when that time came.”  Through this spiritual skill path, Doug has left the Navy, opened his own drum shop, and can devote time to his wife and baby boy.

It is impressive that Doug incorporates spirit and energy practices in building a drum.  Doug shares, “I like to smudge each step with White Sage to cast any bad energies from the drum and draw in good energies resulting in a pure drum.  That gives out positive energies each time it is played which are spread to others.” 

Alive Drumming is located at Stand # 4 at Zern’s Farmers Market on Route

73 near the intersection with Route 100.  The email address is douglas_m_libby@yahoo.com.  It is well worth a visit to this shop.

In some elementary schools, the 4-H program provides the opportunity for students to watch chicken eggs in an incubator.  Children learn about development, scientific method, responsibility, and even agribusiness. The exciting, culminating apex; the zenith; the climax of this four-week unit is known as Hatch Day.

God bless those 4-H cooperating people who collect chicken eggs which they know are fertilized and which also were laid on the same day.  This insures that an explosion of chicks should appear on Day Number 21.  Of course, it also insures a rapt group of students who want to see and memorize every moment of this experience.   

When I taught elementary school, I regarded the week with Hatch Day as the most important week of the year.  My urban students showed me miracles of caring, good behavior, and tenderness.  A teacher in a rural school has also shared that Hatch Day affirms for her what teaching is all about.      

How excited the young night custodian was today.  He had never been  through a Hatch Day and had SO many questions for me.  Because three viable eggs remained to hatch, he was checking the progress regularly.  He took pictures with his cell phone and sent them to his girlfriend.  It had me remembering how excited the night custodian was at Northwest Elementary and how carefully she learned how to move a hatched chick, should that occur during her shift.

What a wonder a healthy birth is.  We are awed by it.  As the classroom teacher said,  “we are witnessing a miracle.”

Snow is an act of nature, an act of God.   However, people who do not directly profit from it whine and moan.  The radio and television announcers warn us to leave early for work because it is going to take longer.  Casual conversations at stores or mailboxes usually center on the negative features of God’s chilly white gift.  Municipalities are either praised or castigated on their road crews’ performance in “disappearing” the snow.  Snow gets dumped on left and right.

Westerners fight the natural.  We are SO wrapped up in control.  We want control and we want, often, to speed up nature.  However, there is another way to react.   In the tradition of the Tao philosophies, why don’t we embrace snow instead of fighting it?

For a chunk of my life, I worked in American public schools.  Public education seems to be one of the few operations that shut down quickly at the least threat of danger to its participants.  I assert that in doing this, they are one of the few sane and sensible institutions.  If conditions are dangerous, shouldn’t EVERYBODY go home?  Is it really going to matter if that report is delayed by two days or the garment isn’t finished today?

Yes, yes, we can think of some deleterious effects of delay – food spoilage, opportunities lost, and so on.  However, other than a few essential services such as emergency health care and fire- and crime-fighting,  I say that the world should accept a snow-induced work stoppage, embrace it, and savor it.   

Perhaps a reason I can indulge in squirrel watching and thus become enamored of the little rascals is my bizarre work hours.  I work a split shift:  7:00 to 9:30 AM and 2:30 to 6:30 PM.  This schedule permits plenty of daytime deck viewing.  However, I think that 8:00 to 9:00 AM is the ideal time for our neighborhood.  Weekends and weather-related work cancellations afford me access to this window of squirrel gazing.

Our squirrels are definitely morning creatures, as am I.  Just as dawn hints, they are up and checking for food in our feeders and bowls.  As day breaks, if there is bright yellow sunshine the squirrels and I position ourselves to maximize exposure.  For Seasonally-Affected me, I position myself at the eastern side of the house, straining my eyes and soul to absorb as much as possible of the life-giving warmth and light.  Strangely, some of the squirrels do a version of this as well.  The first priority, of course, is to see if food is available.  After gorging on food and water, sometimes a squirrel hops onto a rung of our deck railing to mentally prepare for yoga Sun Salutation.  It digs its toenails into the wood, braces itself against the wind, and thrusts its white-furred belly into the gold glow of the rising sun.

A squirrel wanting to feel the sun on its body  -  I totally understand.

We have outside squirrels.  Some people feed outside cats; we feed outside squirrels.  Actually, we once had an inside squirrel, but that adventure is another story. 

Now that we are luring these rodents (specifically the Sciurus carolinensis) onto our deck, we can more closely scrutinize them.  Aside from the negative rumor that they are rabies-carrying rats with long tails, we’d say they are swell.  (Of course, we continue to keep a door between us and their teeth.) Honestly, they are quite attractive.  Did you ever notice that their abdomens are very bright white?  How do they keep themselves that clean, scurrying up and down suburban birdfeeders?  And, their front paws have the most delicate fingers covered by soft-looking grey fur – it looks like kid gloves. 

Being the fashion mavens that they are, they also wear matching socks with toes!  Next time you see one, check it out.

My partner and I made the decision to start feeding the backyard squirrels.  We have accidentally fed them birdseed for years, but now we are consciously choosing to feed them.  As this was an impulsive move, we are shooting from the hip so far.  

What is official squirrel food?  For the moment, it is whatever the local big box store says it is.  And that is dried ear corn.  This was not the best option; it was the only option.  Thus, until we do our feed research, in ear corn we trust.

We have a heated squirrel water bowl (really a birth bath) and a ceramic bowl for feed.  Into it, I excitedly placed three ears.  That was today, the third day of squirrel over-wintering parenthood.  Now, I am realizing that watching the little rodents happily chomping away on our deck may not be as easy as we imagined.

Pecking order.  Birds have it, literally.  Wolves have their hierarchy of power with the alphas, betas, and so forth.  Humans have it.   Then, it should not astonish anyone to acknowledge that squirrels have dominance ranking.  I observed it this morning as one precious-looking squirrel was at the bowl with the three newly poured corn cobs.  He (or she) was happily springing on an ear to extricate one kernel, then leaping back about a foot away to happily chew.  This was repeated several times until…

A more dominant squirrel appeared. Older, bigger, cannier, and wise in the ways of the squirrel world, this creature ambushed my cutie.  The ambush was just a “get out of here” maneuver, not infliction of bodily harm.  However, this dominant squirrel contrived to deprive me of my squirrel watching pleasure.  This meanie picked up a cob in his mouth and scampered away with it!

Alright.  This happened on our first day as well.  However, what has me on the warpath is that the scalawag returned to do it again three minutes later. What chutzpah!  Obviously, I leaped up and banged on the door.  Unfortunately, when an ugly huge human does this, not only the meanie, but also the cute, squirrels run.  In annoyance, I went outside and peeled the kernels from the only remaining ear into the bowl.  My thinking was that the “one-at-a-time” dainty eaters will still be able to eat within our sight.  In contrast, the muscular tricky squirrels will not find anything worth hauling.

I wonder what can happen next?

        Thanks for the curbside Service to Go!

I live in a development that is only about twenty years old.  The real estate investors and building contractors did something unspeakably heinous in order to throw houses up as cheaply and as quickly as legally possible:  they mowed down all the trees.  Therefore, we went many years without seeing critters one expects to see in a suburban Pennsylvania yard.  Among these critters were squirrels.

Happily, after much approved (and covert) planting of trees and bushes on the part of many homeowners, we are seeing many birds, squirrels, chipmunks, woodchucks, and the occasional skunk.  Life is back to normal.  However, my partner and I are developing a new habit within our regained normal ecosystem’s flora and fauna.  We are officially providing food and water for the squirrels. 

This did not blossom from a sudden devotion to rodents.  No, it was not so much an act of commission as one of resignation.  No matter that we intended to feed our birds; the squirrels’ communications network kept them immediately informed.  Furthermore, as they are bigger and scarier than the finches, sparrows, juncos, titmice, and similar little dudes, they get first pick of the seed and fresh water.  Since my partner enjoyed watching the squirrels so much as he sits at our kitchen table, we decided to go public.  We have purchased a heated birdbath – which we renamed a heated squirrel water dish, and are buying dried ear corn (a squirrel staple.)

As expected, the word is out.