Choctaw Nation and Ireland Bonded by an Act of Kindness

THURSDAY THOUGHTS

How about some good news? How about a story about an act of kindness that has been remembered and celebrated for close to two-hundred years? This news is close to my heart…and my DNA.

James Cleburn Kirby

One of my grandfathers was a redheaded, 100% Irishman. One of my 

Anthie Lois

grandmothers was ¾ Indian of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes. They met, fell in love, and produced my mother. Recently, I discovered that the Choctaw Nation and Ireland have more in common than these two grandparents of mine.

In 1847, the Choctaw people were probably still feeling the emotional effects of having walked the Trail of Tears in 1831 and 1833. News reached the nation of the Great Potato Famine in Ireland. In March of that year, a group of Choctaw people met to raise money for the starving poor of Ireland. They managed to pool together $170 which they sent to the Memphis Irish Relief Committee who then sent it on to the General Irish Relief Committee of the City of New York. Today, $170 would be equal to $5,000.

The chairman of the New York committee specifically mentioned the Choctaw Nation’s gift in his reports. The gift was significant for those times.

The Irish people have never forgotten the kindness of the Choctaw people. In 1992, a group of Irish men and women walked the 600-mile Trail of Tears and raised $170,000 that went to the famine relief in Somalia. What a gesture of paying it forward. $170 gave the spirit to raise $170,000.

There’s a statue in County Cork, Ireland, commissioned in 2015, that is dedicated to the bond between the Choctaw Nation and Ireland. Last year, a scholarship program began for members of the Choctaw Nation to study in Ireland. When I learned of this, well, I got a bit teary. How very special for those students.

The connection between the people of Ireland and the Choctaw Nation proves how a simple act of kindness can bring nations together. A real lesson here in humanity.

It’s a top wish list item for me to visit Cork County. I bet my grandma and grandpa would be thrilled.

#Solstice #Christmas How It Came to Be

For the past six years, we've celebrated Solstice. It started when we shared the farm with our son and his wife. The holiday was very appropriate since we lived off the land, we have native American blood, and Christmas is rooted in the centuries-old holiday. Our celebration is a mixture of native American and European tradition.

We left the farm a few years ago, but we've continued our holiday celebration

Solstice 2012

on Solstice. We now have a granddaughter. Last year, she was old enough to grasp the concept and joined in for the fire ceremony. She was beyond cute and touched our hearts when she came up with her own set of things to be thankful for and what future blessings she saw. Quite a feat for a four-year-old.

Celebrating Solstice serves another purpose in that we don't have to share our son and family with anyone else that day. Selfish?

38 year-old-decoration

Yep. We do try to see them on Christmas Eve or Christmas, but it isn't always possible because they give time to my daughter-in-law's family.

I'm going to share with you the fire ceremony. Each year, one of us is the leader. This is the leader's speech as he guides us through the ritual.

The traditions of Solstice mean:

Decorating is the way we ward off the darkness of winter

Evergreens such as the tree and ivy represent the return of the New Year and new growth of both the Earth and within each of

us.

Fire celebrates the longed for return of longer days of sunshine and warmth.

Our Solstice Eve meal is a gathering to share love and foods of our ancestry.

Gift giving on Solstice morning began with the Shamans and continues with our present-day Santa Claus. They gave to us the spirit of giving which each of us embodies.

Solstice 2013

Now we will each choose a direction. We honor the directions of North, South, East, and West to help us focus on the unique nature of Solstice and the wonders that open to us on every side. Remember both the physical attributes of each direction and what is in your heart.

Each direction represents an element or part of nature. Read the general thoughts of that element, and then speak on how that relates to you and your own thoughts.

Praise what you find most precious about the season and our simple festival.

May this Solstice and turning of the season bring us love, peace, and good fortune in the coming year.

The remaining four of us each speak to the direction:

NORTH

This direction represents Earth.

When you focus on North and Earth, know:

This is the season of cold.

But there is life waiting to germinate and be born.

We are part of Earth.

Solstice 2014

WEST

This direction represents the element of WATER.

When you focus on West and water know:

We are reminded of restless seas and wandering spirits.

This brings the blessing of movement.

We are seeking new directions, and we are emotional as the new year begins.

SOUTH

The element of FIRE (think of physical fire and the fire within you)

When you focus on South represented by fire and heat, know:

Heat of life ripens the earth.

Our heat seeks the roots of our life.

With the warmth comes stability.

2016

EAST

The element of AIR (the air around us and your breath within)

When you focus on the East represented by air, know:

New life awakens with each breath and spreads through the world in spring.

This is the direction of peace.

Our spirit will triumph.

And then we roast marshmallows and make smores! Can't have a fire without those.

Happy Solstice and Merry Christmas to you all!

Making Use of Pantyhose and Brown Bags

 Tortuga Thursday

In 2012, on the plains of Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.

Lance tying up cucumber plants

When we lived in Minnesota, every year it seemed the winter would never morph into spring. And then one day I'd wake up and spring had sprung. Overnight, there would be flowers everywhere and shades of green sparkling on every tree.

It's the same sort of feeling here on the farm when I'm waiting to start harvesting. Even though we have the greenhouse with year round greens and the garlic was harvested in July, when the bigger vegetables start coming and the cucumbers appear on the plants it feels like an overnight event.

The zucchini and peas appeared three days ago and are now an everyday chore to harvest. Every couple of

Bags and bags of drying dill seeds

days the kohlrabi can be harvested. And carrots can be dug up whenever we need them. The last of the dill seeds have been harvested out of the greenhouse and are hanging in bags to dry before going into jars. Lance planted more onions, okra and broccoli in the dill's place. The outside dill is about six inches high so that should be coming ready before we use up the dried weed and seeds we have from the greenhouse crop. They got so huge in the greenhouse that they restricted air flow and held in too much humidity so we had some mold going on. Lance got that under control.

Garlic in nylons

Found a better use for nylons than wearing -- they make great bags for storing and hanging garlic. Dollar Store (the Paulden Mall) had boxes of ten for cheap. 

More good neighbor stories. Frank's boat trailer had a weld come loose. He asked Dave (of Dave and Eunice with the eggs) if his welding machine could do the trick. Dave took the section of the trailer to Phoenix and had a welder friend of his fix it - for free! We've been swapping produce with them, too. They didn't plant carrots, shard or kohlrabi. I take them some of those every week and we get yellow squash, snap peas and of course eggs.

Can't see the pea plants for the weeds

With all the rain I can always weed if I find myself without anything to do -- which is never, but I still have to weed. No matter how many weeds, it's still better than the last two years.

I'm going to sit in the walk-in care at the Indian Medical Center tomorrow down in Phoenix. Really hate to take the time but they can't see me on a scheduled appointment for ophthalmology until August 18. My eye is blurry with light flashes and I don't want to wait. You know I've written how great it is to have the care available and I mean it, but I sure hate the idea of just sitting for who knows how long. Wish me luck!

My path of destruction when weeding

The Plan Man, Still No Moola But Fun

Tortuga Thursday

In 2012, on the plains of Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.

When I started this blog, I didn't intend on it to be entirely about farming. From May to October, that's what consumes us. Farming is Lance's endeavor, and we're along for the ride. But it's a great deal of work, too much for one man, so we'll be mightily involved until he's self-sufficient. It's what we want to do. We went into this communal living project to combine our talents and still be able to pursue our individual goals. I have to say, growing and eating our own food is rewarding. We're looking ahead to year three, and there are still a lot of things we need for the farm. We're lucky we have neighbors that are happy to loan Lance the attachment for the tractor. He can keep it for days at a time. We're lucky we were able to get a two year no interest loan that enabled us to get the material for the watering system and greenhouse. In fact, we have enough to build the second greenhouse and add on to the drip system. But the list of needs is still long. We'll eek it out somehow. I'll clue you in on how we do as this next year progresses.

Pirate Pickles and Relish - gourmet

Pirate Pickling Co. is part of the plan. We have the product. We have the "look". There are a lot more hurdles to get over in order to sell our product on a larger commercial basis. This is just a test year while we get all the needed licenses and certification. But we can sell it direct and we're working on that. Found the table for the markets, had a banner and business cards made, and this weekend Lance will be putting it out there locally.

Now that harvesting and pickling are done, Frank and I can get away occasionally as finances allow. As I write, we're at an RV park in Laughlin, NV, actually, a ways from the main area and on the reservation at a casino called the AVI. I told Frank I would take him to a movie and dinner for his birthday here. There wasn't a movie we wanted to see. We checked out the dinner restaurant and choked on the prices. We ended up at the casual restaurant and had prime rib for $9.99. It was okay. I gave him $10 to put in the slots, he turned it into $70 and we headed back to the RV to watch a movie on TV. I couldn't get him to play his winnings. He's saving it for our next trip.

One short health note: still thankful for the Indian Medical Center since we can't afford insurance. The dermatologist found two spots to biopsy. They were benign but showed evidence of pre-cancer cells. He gave me a cream to put on twice a day for four weeks that will inhibit these bad cells from growing. I'm to put it on all sun exposed areas over the next few months (small areas at a time). It can react on my skin like I've been burned. I can handle that if it prevents future problems. Thanks again to my great grandparents for getting on the Indian roster that allows me this care. 

"Docos"

I promised to start posting recipes we use on Tortuga Flats Farm. The first one is what not to cook. As part of our goal to be self-sustaining, Lance is hunting and occasionally dragging Frank along. They came up with the idea to make Docos (dove tacos). Dove is gamey tasting and it seemed like a good idea. DON'T try it. We ended up feeding them to the dogs!

Forget the Blonde Hair - I Am Indian!

TORTUGA THURSDAY

 2012 On the plains in Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.

Have you ever had a doctor ask why are you here with emphasis on the you? Every doctor I've seen at the Indian Medical Center has been anything but Native American, and they didn't give a hoot the mixture of my blood. I had an appointment with my first doctor that was actually Native American, and she didn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy. In her defense, once we got past my explaining why I had the right to be there, she was quite thorough. Maybe I read her wrong. I thank my great grand parents every time I need to see a doctor. I don't know what I'd do without the care I am entitled to at IMC. Certainly this primary care doctor will show her friendly side next time. Or maybe I'll find a way to bond?

Potato Rows

The potato rows are ready. We are a potato family, both Idaho's and sweet. Actually, I think the sweets have it in this household, 6-4. The dogs get sweet potatoes in their daily meals but Frank won't touch them. Potatoes freeze and can well. Our crop last year was less than hoped for thanks to a late freeze and blister bugs. This year, the plants will go in the ground a little later, and we know when to be on blister bug alert. Should be a good potato year.

The drip system arrived and Lance got the major lines run. We'll run

Drip System

the row lines as we plant. We have high hopes for this system. If we aren't flooding in between the rows we shouldn't have near the weed problem we had last year. The water will be more direct on the crop. Yea! I really hate weeds.

Drip System Line

I managed to clear half the tree wells in the orchard on Wednesday. Wild grass had claimed a lot of territory since the warmer weather moved in. I had less trouble with weeds than grass. The fruit trees are popping earlier than last year. Scares me. We could have a couple of more freezes before June. There isn't much we can do so we've had to adopt the attitude that we're lucky to get whatever fruit we get each year.


The people who lived here before us must not have ever flushed the hot water heater. For the third time in a year, our bottom heating element went

Frank and Lance work on rows

out. We finally got a technician that would talk long enough to tell us why. Well water is great but there is sediment that will collect at the bottom of a hot water heater. If you flush the unit a few times a year, you wash that out. If not, it becomes so clogged it fries the heating element. Frank tried to get out as much as he could but it's pretty solid. We'll see how long this one lasts but it's inevitable. I'm seeing dollar signs.

Tulips have bloomed

Flowers from our Austrian friends, Harte and Uli are coming up.

Flowers are blooming. Days are getting warmer. Tumble weeds are getting burned weekly. Won't be long before we have gorgeous sunsets over green fields of vegetables!

Doctors, Splotches and Snow

2012 On the plains in Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.

This Tortuga Thursday should be called Tortuga Thursday Thoughts. Still in winter's throes, it's a little of this and a little of that going on.

More seeds are on order. Last week, we received our "bucket of seeds" but there are other things we plan to grow that weren't included. Lance toiled over the web site but got them ordered.

I had my regular three-month check up (because of past melanoma issues) at the Indian Medical Center in Phoenix with a new dermatologist a few weeks ago. This one didn't look in certain female places either. I thought the last guy was just shy, but this doctor said that the regulations of the center didn't allow it. Sort of seems like going to a nose and throat doctor who can only look at the outside of your nose. He had me make an appointment with the eye clinic and the women's clinic. The doctor who looked at my eyes was mystified why he needed to do so. Very unlikely anything there. My thought was so what - if it ever happens, then just do it. The gynecologist was even more mystified. He didn't say much but shook his head when I told him the dermatologist couldn't remove all of my clothes to check all of my skin. Three doctors later, I'm free and clear.

I received a jury duty summons, but the trial was canceled. I've never gotten to actually serve so hope I do some day. It's possible I could get called for Cottonwood. I'm not hoping for that since the drive would take me about an hour and a half.

I'd like to get my end of the house painted before planting season. Frank and I have the kitchen and one wall in the living room done. I always have a difficult time picking color. Those small jars of samples Home Depot sells are a blessing or a curse, depending on how I look at it. They've saved me from making some awful mistakes in color choices but then again, I seem to take longer making up my mind. I've had three different splotches on the remaining living room walls, two on the bathroom and four in the bedroom. I got sick of my indecisiveness in the bedroom and bought a gallon yesterday of a color I had not splotched on. Not sure I'm happy but I'm not going to waste another $30. The first color I bought I didn't bother testing, and it turned out to be the color of baby poop on the wall. Had to eat that $30.

Speaking of painting, Frank and I painted the baby's room. Excitement is building.

Rusty loves the snow

We had snow yesterday but the sun and heavy wind took care of that today. 

A last financial note since I promised to share it all on this experiment. We've finally put aside the RV dream for now. After crunching numbers, it seems best not to lock into a payment if there's a chance we'd have the RV but no funds to use it. We're going more commercial with the farm this year and who knows what that will bring. Yes, the farm is pretty much Lance's project, but we're partial owners in it and want to see it succeed. By next week I should be able to unveil our first crop adventure into the wholesale market.

And a P.S. on snow - the San Francisco Peaks are calling. From here they look solid white. Even though it's Tortuga Thursday, we're heading out to play in some real deep snow about an hour and a half away. I'll be back in the afternoon so I welcome your comments and will respond then. One great thing about where we live is that we're close to many different types of free entertainment like a drive and play in the snow!

A New Old Tradition (and S'mores!)

An era ended and a new one began on 12-21-12 according to some interpretations of the Mayan Calendar. We're all still  here so I'm going with that. A new tradition started in our family which rings in a new era for Tortuga Flats Farm.

The mid-winter Solstice celebration has been around as far back as history is recorded. Cultures all over the world celebrated the darkest time of winter. Neolithic farmers were fearful that the sun and their crops might not return. Fire played a part in symbolically bringing back the warm sunny days. Romans decorated their homes with evergreen plants and had various celebrations to lift the spirits during the long winter months. Celtic traditions are many for winter and the Solstice. Native Americans had Solstice traditions. It was a time to reflect on the past year and hope for the new. Sprinkled in all these traditions across the globe were Shaman gift givers, Santas in various forms, holly, ivy, bells and all the other things we associate with Christmas.

As farmers, we decided to start our own traditions for this season. Our first Solstice included a meal with much of our own produce, a fire and reflection (and of course s'mores!) and the exchanging of gifts. I doubt the ancient neolithic farmers had s'mores but after all that reflection, chocolate and marshmallows were in order. On Christmas Eve we will have another big dinner and continue to give thanks. Christmas morning we will empty our stockings and see what Santa brought us. We'll then go south and visit the rest of our family.

We had a great time with our first Solstice. We decided it could evolve and include others in our celebration. Next year, we will for sure have one new person, my granddaughter! She won't be able to add verbally to the fire circle, but her presence will add to our richness.

If you'd like to see some more of our Solstice celebration pictures, you can go to my personal Facebook page where I've posted other shots. Click on photos and then go to the Solstice album. https://www.facebook.com/brenda.whiteside.58

And if you haven't yet "liked" my author page on Facebook, I welcome you to do so. Would love to see you there.  https://www.facebook.com/BrendaWhitesideAuthor

The Humongous and the Sexy

Whenever it gets to be near the end of the year, I rethink how I want next year to go. I start making lists and marking the calendar for next year.

2013 is going to be a humongous year on Tortuga Flats. At least it should be. We have all kinds of ideas we're brainstorming. And then there's the baby! And then there's the hope I have for the mystery series I'm writing sold.

We'll need to quadruple this for next year

One of our last harvests

We're researching how we can get our other two acres farmed, what we should grow and how to sell the crop. Should we grow several things or specialize? What's our market? Two acres really isn't all that much land but still quite a bit for four people to handle. We're also brainstorming different ways to bring in help. I'm gathering Farmers' Markets information. Frank is researching crop prices and output per acre, etc. Lance is planning layout of the land and what equipment we're going to need. I'm looking into nontraditional avenues of funding while Frank is looking toward traditional means. Lance is on the lookout for the really nontraditional ideas. Hopefully, by the first of the year, a plan will unfold.

My sexy new hero looks like who??

I've established some self-imposed deadlines for my writing projects. I'm having a little trouble right now nailing down my latest hero, Mason. Who he is in my head is not translating on paper, but once I get that figured out, my newest novel needs to get completed.

I've decided to have a regular schedule for this blog and my web page newsletter. Next year I'll blog about the farm on Tortuga Thursdays. On Mondays I'll blog about writing. And occasionally I'll have guest bloggers on all kinds of subjects. I'd like to hear what you think about this sort of regular schedule. My web newsletter has only gone out sporadically when I've had something to announce. I'm going to start sending it out quarterly. If you'd like to get on that mailing list go here: http://www.brendawhiteside.com/contact.html#newsletter

Mom on her 80th last year

Last week, I spent three nights with my mom. The trip to the big city had three purposes - three month full body dermatology check, shopping with mom and an all day writers' workshop in Scottsdale. Mom and I shopped for two days straight at the mall. No wonder I'm under the weather today and staying in bed. I'm not a good shopper. But I felt like the country gal who couldn't get enough of the big city stores! My mom is eighty and she ran me ragged.

Wish I had some interesting pictures of Tortuga Flats to post, but this is that ugly in between time of year. In another week or so we'll (well, not me actually) burn and turn the land. I'll get some of that recorded.