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
