FOUNDER'S GARDENING

DOING IT LIKE

THOMAS JEFFERSON

An idea launched itself in Lana's head

as she read Andrea Wulf's Founding Gardeners.

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams used

kelp to enrich their fields.

 We now had a mission-collect

kelp from the shore.

 Chinese kelp harvesters worked these Central
California shores with great productivity.

 We didn't mind being the only modern

shore harvesters.  The Abalone farm in Cayucos

uses a harvest boat to work the beds in regions

for which they are licensed.

 We found a practical purpose for those

noxious plastic bags that never seem to go away.

 There was something else the Founders

used on their gardens. To collect it

we made a quick dash just up Highway 1 to a side road.

 In about a mile and half we were

entering a new micro climate as we drove

 into the Santa Lucias along San Simeon Creek.

 The road took us into sun and to

 the area of our next hunting

 with the prize being just

 across the cattle gate.

 The founders used manure and we knew of a

great field of cow chips.

 With a collection gathered, 

 we headed back toward the ridge

 and the awaiting compost

 about to be recharged,

first with the chips and

then with the kelp.

 I asked Lana if she thought TJ used a garden hose

to rinse his kelp.

 Now we have an enriched compost heap

thanks to offal of Pacific kelp beds,

 grazed open range cattle

and the Founding Gardeners.

See you down the trail