Cold weather is here. Rain is here. I am calming down with the change in temperature and precipitation. I worry too much about water and the life it enables. My concern is not for me, but all the living things here. Sure, I can leave and be a water refugee, but most of the animals and insects cannot. So – I must use my power as a human to do what I can to ensure livability for all. It is a responsibility we all have, but not one that all fulfill. These values are typical in Indigenous communities and families. We are taught that we are part of the ecosystem and have an obligation to live with respect in reciprocal relationship with all things. I am not always the best relative. I have many more shoes than one person can ever use, for example, taking much more resource than I should. I try my best as a Native in the modern world to fulfill my obligations. I fall short often. No one is perfect.
So far, we have had .75″ in this rain year (October 1 start). If you include the 1.25″ in September, we have now had 2″. The lengthy warm weather has allowed the blooms to continue, which has provided welcome nectar for bees and butterflies late this season.
Not all plants are welcome. The lingering heat also allowed goathead (puncture vine) plants to continue growing. They are a painful scourge, and I work very hard removing them by hand year after year. Typically, they are done growing by September. This year, with the ongoing irrigation, their roots were able to find the water not meant for them, and with the sun, continued to grow. I did not keep my eyes out for them after the beginning of September, so many grew quite large with their prickly, penetrating load. I got to them too late and paid for it with large distributions of painful “seed”.
As cold weather descends, I will see less and less of these insect friends, no blooms, and not as many plants. Everything needs time to rest – the soil, the insects, animals, plants and me.
Xerces Society – Making a Difference
I have sung the praises many times of Xerces Society. They have very committed staff who work with diverse people and organizations to achieve their pollinator conservation mission. They are incredibly helpful and truly make a difference working with people who know so little like me. Check out their education on various pollinator species.
Last month, I attended one of their webinars on building habitat for native bees. It was so informative. I was able to go outside right away and create habitat per their discussion. Some of the things I learned that made an impact on me: 1. most bees live extremely close to where you see them. They do not have the physical ability (in terms of energy) to move too far away from their nest. 2. It is better to use leaf litter as mulch than wood/bark in areas where there are ground nests. They do not have the strength to push the bark away from the hole and could get trapped, and 3. Some bees nest in hollow sticks and some of those bees need longer sticks than others. They will take bites from leafs and use them to close the opening of the stick after they lay their eggs. Very cool!
The first thing I did was freak out. I had laid down significant mulch across many areas this spring to prevent moisture loss from the soil. My imagination ran wild as I was sure I trapped native bees in their ground holes by the thousands. I started to cry mad tears. These are the times I wish I had more knowledge to identify a bee hole. Son of a gun! I pacified myself by remembering that we must always think about balance. The bark mulch was crucial around the disturbed soil from planting milkweed and nectar plants to prevent the rapid drying out of the soil in the relentless Hornitos sun. I used the mulch for walkways to prevent soil damage and erosion in those areas I traffic quite a bit. There is considerable ground I did not cover, which is protected, and could host a bee nest. Ok, I wiped my tears and began to breath again.
The next thing I did was to trim the white sage. I had been cutting the old bloom stems for seeds as my Chiricahua Apache friend Pete showed me to do. I did not realize as I had been cutting them that I was making habitat. Now, with my newly gained knowledge, I cut the bloom stems at different lengths. The bee expert talked about leaving lengths between 4″ to 8″. I sometimes needed to squish the stem to make sure the opening was very round and open. I really hope I see a plugged hole.
I was also able to recognize the patterns cut from the willow leaves by native leaf cutter bees. Xerces staff person Deedee Soto, who I work with most, had pointed that out to me during one of her visits. Now, I saw even more. The willow leaves look like half moon Swiss cheese. I hope this means that I have A LOT of native bees living near me. What great neighbors to have!
Xerces Kits are back!
It is again that time of year when Xerces is distributing habitat kits. I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude for access to these important plants. I will be honest; not all of them survive each year. Hornitos is a tough place to make a life. Between drought, grasshoppers, gophers, and crippling heat, not everything can make it. Fortunately, life persists. Many of the Xerces plants have matured to generate seeds, and the milkweed has begun to run underground, replacing those that were lost along the way. I consider this a success and hope they (and their funders) do as well. We were able to bring back monarchs after a 10 year absence. Come on! That is incredible. Sometimes, I need to remind myself of this when I get sad about anything. With the help of Xerces, Mariposa Native Plants, Mairposa County Resource Conservation District and the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation Pollinator Team – along with individual participants inspired by the work, we have made a difference in Mariposa County.
Because the pick up site is far away, I try to be helpful and offer to pick up other people’s kits near me. My young friend Ray Gutierrez called me and asked if I would pick up his kit. Absolutely! What a good guy. He and his wife Leeza are good land stewards. They live on a large parcel in eastern Fresno County. They want to make a difference and expand habitat they already have on their acreage. I met Ray many years ago when he was an Americorp staffer for Sierra Foothill Conservancy and have stayed in touch. He is a member of the Wuksachi Tribe from the Central Valley and holds similar values as me. We are connected on Facebook where he saw the information about Xerces and the kits. He wanted to make a difference for pollinators too. I guess social media is good for some things. I am grateful to him and Leeza for their efforts. I sent them home with a pile of greens and herbs from the garden and flowers for Leeza’s desk.
What a great young couple. They chose to get a grassland kit AND two hedgerow kits. Their SUV was packed! They will be planting for days and days. Chiokoe uttesia in weweriam (Thank you my relatives).
Fall Activities
I am gathering acorn from my trees to grow the next generation of trees that are on the west side of the ranch. Those beauties in front of the house are having trouble and getting older with no next generation to take their place. We never see any seedlings up on this hill. An attempt 10ish years ago to grow more from acorn failed. So, as mentioned in my previous post, we are going to try again. This time, we have experts available to us. As I have mentioned, it is a bad acorn year in terms of size and production. There are some trees along the spring creek that have full-term acorn finally dropping . David and I were there just at the right time to collect quite a few, and many are intact enough to propagate. In other words, all but 4 passed the float test.
The cooler temperatures and moist soils, bark and grass make walking the ranch a physical and olfactory joy. Every walk is deliberate, even if joyful. I am always looking for changed areas, new things, human interference. This is part of stewardship. On a recent walk, I found a landed mylar balloon, otherwise known as litter. Please dear readers, don’t get mylar balloons to celebrate anything, even for children’s parties. They often get away from people and end up being trash someone else has to deal with. They are plastic and can be dangerous for cattle. Little ones exploring their world can eat them causing a very painful and unnecessary death as it blocks their digestive system.
With the drought, the neighbor’s pond is dry. This is a good time to help them out by looking for trash. It is amazing what floats down stream from others upstream. We are still finding mangled items from the 2017 major flood, which took out bridges and floated cars downstream. The other day, my good friend Chevon was visiting. We gathered trash from the pond for pick up later. We found two mangled metal drums, two tires, broken PVC pipe a metal pot from who knows when and a piece of wire fencing. Thank you Chevon for helping keep the land clean!
The spring in Spring Creek has been expanded slightly by the rain. Horribly, the large spring on my border with the neighbors has absolutely no standing water. The last time this happened was in the fifth year of the 5-year drought. It has always been so reliable, but I fear the pressure of everything using it doesn’t give it sufficient time to refill or perhaps there is nothing left to refill it with. The rains we are experiencing this week should help – but this is a very bad sign.
Here are some random photos from this past month.
Animam Mikwame/Día de los Muertos
For those not aware, beginning last month and ending last week is an important time for many southwest North American Indigenous communities. In my Yoeme tradition, the holiday is called Animam Mikwame. In the colonized Latino community, the holiday is El Día de los Muertos. As the Catholics missionized my Native yo’yowam (ancestors) and all others in their path, they adopted the holiday/religious structures that existed and added Christian elements. In this way, the colonizers could more easily capture the minds, thus labor and natural resources of the Native people. The Día holiday is very much based in Indigenous culture – with Euro-religious elements added – and of course, many opportunities to merchandise and market. I am sure Hallmark has a card too!
Nonetheless, it is a beautiful holiday that I hope you will embrace (if you do not already). Essentially, October is a time when the spirit world is closest to the world of the living and is at its thinnest November 1-2. It is a time to remember those that have passed, to honor them. Making offrendas, alters, tapehtim (tampancos/lofts) that include items that loved ones enjoyed in life. Marigolds have been used as sweet smelling flowers that help lead the spirits to their alters. They are still blooming at this time and are an important source of food for monarchs. It is no wonder that there is such a strong connection between monarchs and the spirit world. They are a visual representation of the spirits returning and a very real symbol of transformation from one state to another. It is a special time with food, music, conversation and families coming together. It is a time to think of others, not ourselves, to celebrate those we love who have transitioned from this world to the next.
Who do you remember? What love from long ago or more recently did you lose? It can be difficult to think about – but that is the beauty of the holiday – the concept that they are always with us and closer than we think – especially in October. The purpose is healing, respect and the continuation of love.
The person who I remember always, all year long, is my mother. She was one of the most important persons in my life. Strong, yet gentle and so loving. She embodied everything the concept “mother” brings to mind. Tears are in my eyes as I write this, but they are tears that revel in the act of sharing her memory with you — because she was so important and such a fine person and someone who few really knew. She was quiet, contemplative, highly intelligent with good common sense. Importantly, she loved all her children unconditionally. There was never a moment I felt truly unloved or unsafe. I am grateful for her commitment to quality parenting. Too many people do not receive that.
I have had to struggle not to think of the bad things – the diabetes that could have been avoided in a less hateful world; the joy that could have been externalized in a less racist place; the emotional pain that need not have been if she had a more respectful spouse. I inherited her engagement ring, and when I touch the ring, I feel the happiness she had at that moment. The youthful hope she had for her future. Then, my mind moves to the hard times, the less bright reality of financial, housing, and emotional insecurities. How difficult that was and so far from the life she envisioned. — But I am getting too far in the weeds, and my mother would not have approved. She was also fiercely private.
Instead, I clutch that engagement ring and think of her being liberated from an abusive home by this strange, wild, fun, unusual man from the other end of the country. She loved to dance and so did he. I remember her smile, her glee at spinning around the dance floor. Her fulfillment by four children who she loved and took so much pride in – one who gave her grandchildren, another who gave her triumph, a third who gave her laughter and the last one who gave her music – each child with talents they contributed to make a whole to fill a hole – in my mother’s vision of her future. She loved to travel, and her wild spouse, who made her sad, also provided fulfillment. She loved to learn, read, discover, discuss. She was an intellectual, without money or degree, who learned by reading and listening, and passed along everything she had, everything she held precious, all that is good in her world, into us. I am grateful. I miss you every day, and I love you mom. I try to help where I can, to be a good person, to take care of the family and to keep what you created together as much as possible. I help children and vote for people who care about the world. I am flawed in many ways, but I have followed your lead to help with the valiant but nearly impossible task of leaving this world in better condition than when I found it despite the many powerful forces pushing the other way. I brought the monarchs you loved back to this place, protected their babies, which brought you back – from egg to caterpillar to butterfly to egg…from south to north back south again. I am as whole as I can be without you. Te tui yo’owe. Chiokoe uttesia maala.
Heather Bernikoff 