Illuminated and bright white, the atmosphere blurred the view in a way vision did not.
Night is coming and with it restlessness and yearning…
For something once held in my hands… now gone.
People I know are disturbed about the election of Donald Trump as president. His transition team is a leaky bucket so we know some of what’s going on in Trumpland. His first steps don’t look good for anyone, including people who rallied around him. They will be freaking out sooner than expected as the president-elect struggles to deliver on campaign promises. It’s only five days after the election.
I live in a privileged enclave the affluence of which is driven by the largest of Iowa’s state universities and a few medium-sized businesses. Since moving to Big Grove Township in 1993 I’ve held the county seat at arms length as best I could. Iowa City is where I attended college, met my wife, got married, and witnessed the birth of our daughter. I have memories of my time there — most of them are good.
Eight of 58 precincts in Johnson County, including ours, voted for Donald Trump. Those who assert the county is monolithic in its liberalism paint with a broad brush. Their canvass looks neat — well contained within its edges. Like all products of imagination and technique such portraiture is more aspiration than reality. I’d rather live midst swing voters, small business operators, low-wage workers, and young men and women with imperfect lives. I’ve been with them so long it seems like home.
Tonight I’m drawn to the moon with its inconstant orbit outside the frame of a 24-hour day. As it sets over my shoulder this morning, giving way to sunrise, I’m reminded of this:
O blessed, blessed night! I am afeard.
Being in night, all this is but a dream,
Too flattering-sweet to be substantial.
~ Romeo and Juliet, Act Two, Scene Two in Capulet’s Orchard
Having inoculated myself early on to the possibility of Donald Trump winning Iowa’s six electoral votes, my reaction to his Nov. 8 victory in a close national election was more recoil than shock.
“Expect Iowa to award its six electoral votes to Donald Trump this cycle, contrary to the claims of prominent Iowa Democrats,” I wrote on Sept. 16.
I believed Hillary Clinton would win nationally based on conventional sources — polls, media analysis, progressive friends and family. Trump didn’t just win Iowa. He beat Clinton statewide by almost 10 points, attracting voters repulsed by his personal character but not wanting another Clinton in the White House. Trump won the voters that make Iowa a swing state.
My surprise in the result came from a failure to listen to my own experience.
“Low wage workers are everywhere in Iowa in significant numbers,” I wrote Sept. 15. “Based on my conversations with them, if they vote at all, they are just as likely to vote for Donald Trump as Hillary Clinton, whose name the corporate media associates with all things bad.”
As we now know, a majority of the people I described weren’t at all likely to vote for Hillary Clinton. I didn’t want to believe Trump could win and that distorted my perception.
The messaging from Republicans was direct, simple and effective.
“The American people have had enough of failed status quo policies which have left them less hopeful for our country’s future,” said Jeff Kaufmann, Republican Party of Iowa chair in an Aug. 10 press release. “They have had enough of serially dishonest, corrupt, and self-interested career politicians like the Clintons.”
Their candidate hammered this message home over and over in an effective social media campaign which, when combined with a national GOTV effort that worked with local parties, enabled Republicans to distract many Democrats while they networked with people early on.
What we thought we knew about politics proved to be outdated as conventional political wisdom was incinerated this cycle. If Democrats held a ground game advantage in 2006 and 2008, Iowa Republicans reached parity this cycle. Ground game is no longer a political advantage, it is a necessary tool. Ground game must be well executed for Democrats to maintain parity with Republicans.
Having competed with Jeff Kaufmann’s political organization on his home turf of Wilton and Cedar County in 2012, I believe the success of Republicans statewide is due mainly to his 2014 appointment as their party chair and broader application of tactics he has long used on the ground. Like with any competition, each game, each election is a result of training and performance. The level of expected ground game performance has been raised this cycle.
Experience tells me election day didn’t bring the end of politics as we know it. The body politic is ever changing, ever re-inventing itself, sometimes by design, sometimes by unintended consequences. Those of us who believe the framework of society is enduring also see an opportunity in the election results for positive change. After voting for Richard Nixon in 1960, Iowa elected Democrat Harold Hughes as governor.
After recoiling from the repugnant national election results my response is simple: confront bigotry, work to build positive community relations where I live, and resist the rollback of everything I’ve worked for.
These things can only be accomplished by joining together with others in common purpose. Or as Hillary Clinton said, we are stronger together.
On election day co-workers at the home farm and auto supply store asked me about the Clinton – Kaine bumper sticker on my 19 year-old car.
I said it was still a contest and you should vote if you haven’t. Trump could win.
By this morning’s unofficial tally, Trump won both the popular vote and the electoral college. (Popular vote was still being counted when this was written and Hillary won the popular vote). It is unsettling and upsetting.
Identifying where Trump will place priorities is difficult because of the many, and often conflicting things he said during the campaign. Along with the executive branch, the next congress will be controlled by Republicans — for the first time since 1928. Things look bleak as global financial markets took a fall in the wake of Trump’s victory.
In Iowa, Republicans flipped the state senate and will control the executive and legislative branches of government for the next two years. They will have their way with state government empowered by Trump’s stunning Iowa win. What will be their priorities? It is hard to say specifically now that restraint has been removed.
I am recoiling from the national and local results as many others are.
I haven’t changed. The sun will rise in about 90 minutes bringing the new hope inherent in each morning. I will still be standing.
Few people I know like the results of the election but it is less about us and more about our failure to live well in the broad community surrounding us.
The election brought home that in these United States, we are on our own as long as we fail to come together in common cause. Being stronger together is who we are as a species. It is a glowing ember after a firestorm that incinerated conventional wisdom about our society.
Let’s hope it will sustain us through these turbulent times.
The weekend began with a trip to the COSTCO bakery where I bought 2.2 pounds of cookies after my shift at the home, farm and auto supply store.
I am celebrating my first Saturday without a work shift since July 26 with, that’s right, cookies!
Saturday morning I made harvest soup from bits and pieces in the ice box, pantry and counter. With a sandwich it made a hearty lunch with three leftover quarts of soup for later in the week.
Hot peppers and kale
Gleaning the garden yielded sage, oregano, chives, kale, hot peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes.
After cleaning the vegetables there are bags of herbs and kale in the ice box, Bangkok peppers in the dehydrator, and a big bowl of Serrano and Jalapeno peppers in the ice box. More Bangkok peppers are ripening on the counter. Cucumber salad is in the works for Sunday as is an appetizer for the work dinner later in the evening. It is weird to be harvesting cucumbers and tomatoes in November.
I don’t fully understand the El Niño/La Niña cycle but the weather has been warm. Saturday’s harvest weeks after the normal first hard frost stands as evidence. Climate change is not about the weather per se but warming temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean impact Iowa.
Assorted kale leaves
Photos of fresh produce compliment each day and help us forget about the impacts of changing climate. There is something to be said for a warm Iowa winter. It would be welcomed by most people I know.
The hard frost is coming and with it the end of the gardening season.
In the meanwhile we harvest what we can and make a life for ourselves on the Iowa prairie.
All at once the United States is coming together and the convergence is upsetting.
While members of the white privileged class engaged in the seventh game of baseball’s World Series, a black church was burned in Greenville, Mississippi.
While members of Sioux tribes stand in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline crossing land theirs by treaty, white occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge were acquitted of wrong doing by a jury in Oregon.
While supporters of the Republican presidential candidate chant “lock her up,” “build the wall,” and “drain the swamp,” the more sane among us work toward a world that can be sustained based on what we know about society and its role in the environment.
It is an America I have known well, one of hate, greed, ignorance, isolationism, violence and intolerance. It pits rich against poor, convincing many to believe they are weak and powerless in an electorate that produced a horror show of incompetence, graft, war-mongering and corruption among elected officials.
Votes matter — now more than ever.
We’ll see voter turnout in the general election together on Nov. 8. The forecast does not look pretty. Many people I meet feel the value of their vote has been diminished. What they don’t always realize is the loss of hope and positive outlook about our lives in society is intentionally manufactured. What’s happened in the post Ronald Reagan era has been a stunning undermining of the fabric of society including governmental institutions being hollowed out predictably and intentionally by the richest Americans to favor their interests.
Congressman John Lewis of Georgia’s fifth district recently posted, “I’ve marched, protested, been beaten and arrested–all for the right to vote. Friends of mine gave their lives. Honor their sacrifice. Vote.”
Voting matters, the powerful among us know it, and voter suppression during this election cycle has no precedents in the 50 years since the Voting Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson. It is the first election without the protections of the law.
When the Supreme Court of the United States struck down Section Four of the Voting Rights Act, Chief Justice Roberts wrote in the 5-4 decision,
“Our country has changed, and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions.”
“There is no doubt that these improvements are in large part because of the Voting Rights Act,” he wrote. “The Act has proved immensely successful at redressing racial discrimination and integrating the voting process.”
Ask the 200 members of the Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, Mississippi how redressing racial discrimination is going.
We woke up Wednesday to the murders of two Des Moines police officers. A white suspect is believed to have killed two white police officers in premeditated murders. The murders are abhorrent.
“What happened yesterday was calculated murder of two law enforcement officers. Plain and simple, that’s the reality. If someone wants to argue that reality with me, my office is two doors down,” said a visibly frustrated Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert.
With due respect to Chief Wingert, we have courts to determine the guilt or innocence of the suspect. Relativism has no place in our justice system. Reality may be arguable, but truth and justice are not.
While fueling my car the morning of the murders, the attendant walked up, wanting to talk about the election.
I said, “have you heard about the murders in Des Moines?” He hadn’t. Despite the speed with which the internet can communicate aspects of our lives, our understanding of current events is uneven at best, deplorable at worst.
Late last night I received an email from a respected friend suggesting a letter to presidential candidate Jill Stein asking her to drop out of the race and support Hillary Clinton. It read, in part,
We have never met in person, but I am writing to urge you to please drop out of the Presidential race and give your vocal support to Hillary Clinton. I completely agree with your policies, and am frightened by many of Hillary’s plans, but we simply cannot risk a Trump presidency, with his finger on the nuclear arsenal — he is insane.
What the hell?
Our country was founded on genocide, built on the backs of slave labor, then taken from us by the richest people in the world. In the 2016 general election we will reap what we sowed.
This dark time in history has few modern precedents. More than anything we cannot afford to relinquish the search for truth, meaning, sustainability and social justice. Not now. Not ever.
On the last shift of the season I walked in the test orchard picking apples.
20 minutes of bliss.
Beginning with a tree the orchard’s namesake planted in the 1980s, I picked a few there then added Connell Red, Regent and Sheepnose to my bag — about six pounds.
Bob Darby’s Seedling did not make the cut when the orchard expanded. A lone tree sits at the head of the test grove — a reminder of the founder who collected saplings from friends and neighbors to graft to his own root stock as he increased the variety of apples to more than 120.
After cutting and tasting, the whole lot of fruit will be sauced in our kitchen.
Wilson’s Orchard Oct. 30, 2016
And so it is with this and many of the jobs I’ve worked after my career in transportation. It comes down to a beautiful fall day, enjoying the last harvest of this season, and hoping there will be another year.
On my way out of the sales barn the current orchard owner was repairing an extension cord. We live in the same political precinct so local politics was our first topic. Soon we began talking about our customers – how the long, lazy, end of season weekend produced more than its share of long conversations about apples and what people plan to do with them.
I helped a couple from western Virginia near where my father came up find fruit for apple butter. He moved to Iowa to find work when what he described as “Obama’s war on coal” took away his job in the mines. They bought a bushel. We had three separate conversations about coal country, apples, apple butter and getting by. Making apple butter is a family tradition not to be interrupted by the move north.
There were a dozen conversations like this one, each with people of different backgrounds and expectations about apples and local culture. Some found apples in the orchard and those who didn’t bought them from the cooler. I savored each conversation as it happened.
I asked my boss to work next season and he said, “absolutely.”
As long as I breathe air and need paid work to sustain our lives, that’s the plan. Hopefully Bob Darby’s Seedling will survive another year.
Heading into the general election, public life is converging into a melee with an uncertain outcome.
Worklife had me circling the wagons, inner focus broken only by work, social media, and news feeds on my hand-held computer. I engaged with thousands of people, yet remained focused on sustaining a life midst social turbulence.
The streams of politics, environmentalism, justice, and conflict seem heading for an apocalyptic finish line.
Where to begin?
Environmental activism is off track with opposition to the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. Mode of transportation will never be as important an issue as reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. Oil and natural gas production is predicated on economic models — models that can change dramatically as solar, wind and other forms of renewable power generation continue to be developed and deployed. The same economic, governmental, technology and health factors driving the decline in coal extraction and use can and should be at the forefront of environmental activism regarding oil and natural gas production, distribution and use.
Environmental advocates are distracted by development of the Dakota Access pipeline by Energy Transfer Partners. The pipeline is nearly complete in North Dakota, nearly complete in South Dakota, two-thirds complete in Iowa, and 75 percent complete overall as of earlier this month. The pipeline is not finished but clearly will be despite heartfelt protests.
The issue of land rights has taken prominence among advocates against the pipeline. That fight would more properly be fought in the United States Supreme Court by overturning the June 23, 2005 5-4 decision in Kelo v. City of New London which granted private developers the right to transfer ownership of property as a permissible public use under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Use of eminent domain by Energy Transfer Partners to gain easements for their pipeline may be wrong, however, it is legal. Even if the U.S. Senate confirms a Democratic President’s appointment to the high court, there is no guarantee eminent domain would be taken up nor that Kelo would be overturned. Land rights issues activate people who would not normally be a part of environmental actions. The long-term value of such engagement to the environmental movement is an open question.
I support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s resistance to land acquisition for the Dakota Access Pipeline. A web site No DAPL Solidarity calls for people to take action in support of tribal goals, including going to the site, organizing solidarity actions in our own communities, and sending money. I could do more to support the effort.
Election of anyone other than Hillary Clinton as president would be a setback for efforts to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, and for environmental issues generally. Clinton may not be the champion for the environment we want, however, election of her main opponent would undo the environmental progress of the last 40 years. Melee may be too mild a word for what may happen after the Nov. 8 election.
More than others, vegetables grown here made it to our kitchen and were used. Herbs, onions, celery, broccoli and green beans are always expected from a Midwestern garden. This year plot three delivered.
The story was of technique.
The plot is shaded by the locust tree each morning with full sun after noon. Almost everything planted here thrived. This year’s production included perennial chives and oregano, spring onions, basil, celery, broccoli and green beans.
I used drainage tile to protect young celery seedlings and it worked. Celery plants grew tall inside the 12-inch by 4-inch tile segments, producing enough for the kitchen with extra to give to library workers. There is nothing like home-grown celery.
The success of this year’s broccoli is attributable to protecting the seedlings as they grew. I put one old tomato cage around each seedling and wrapped chicken wire around the cage. As the plants grew, I removed the cages and put a 4-foot fence around the broccoli — tall enough to prevent top-nibbling by deer and close enough together to prevent them from jumping inside the fence. It all worked, producing the best broccoli crop I’ve had.
More than 100 onion sets produced spring onions well into summer. I tried seeding basil, but it didn’t take. Basil seedlings started indoors produced better results with plenty to make pesto.
What made this plot a kitchen garden was the production of aromatics — herbs, onions and celery particularly. In season I used them in everything.
Plans for next year: Split the chive and oregano plants; more basil; cherry tomatoes where the beans were; eggplant and hot peppers; and peas.
Hay Feeder Ring Photo Credit – Tarter Farm and Ranch Equipment
Something is wrong when the garden produces tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers in Iowa the fourth week in October.
I’ll dice tomatoes for breakfast tacos later this week, Bangkok peppers are in the dehydrator, and cucumbers and jalapeno peppers in the icebox waiting to be used. There is chard and kale, oregano and chives. Those leafy green vegetables usually survive until November, but tomatoes and cucumbers?
Call it what you want but something is happening and we know exactly what it is.
I spent most of Friday working with hay feeder rings.
After re-resurfacing the outside lot where farm equipment is displayed at the home, farm and auto supply store, I assembled and re-merchandised the stock of feeder rings.
I don’t know if it was a day’s work, but spent a day doing it, working slowly and as safely as possible. I was tired after the shift with a hankering to leave everything and head west to work on a ranch — day dreams of a low-wage worker.
The garage was cluttered after a summer of intermittent work.
I checked off each item on the to-do list on my handheld device before heading to the orchard for a shift. I disassembled the grass catcher and stored it; re-mixed bird seed and filled the feeder; checked the air pressure on our auto tires; brought in salt and paper products from the car; stored 40 pounds of coarse salt in tubs for winter ice melting; cleared a work space on the bench; and swept the entire floor. It took about two hours. I wanted more, but time ran out.
Yesterday’s political events had me thinking of Gettysburg, Penn. My parents, brother and sister went there before Dad died. I remember reading President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address on a placard near where he read it himself. With deep roots in rural Virginia, and ancestors fighting on both sides of the Civil War, it was a seminal experience for me. It began the process of turning me from being a descendant of southerners enamored of romantic notions about plantation life to being an American eschewing the peculiar institution and those who stood for it. To my mother’s probable dismay, I brought home a Confederate flag and hung it in my bedroom. Visiting Gettysburg helped me understand the reality of the Civil War and those who fought and lived through it. I was coming of age.
My parents pointed out the house and farm where Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower lived after his presidency. Eisenhower hosted world leaders there, including Nikita Khrushchev, Charles de Gaulle and Winston Churchill. He also raised Angus cattle. We thought favorably of Eisenhower even if he was a Republican. As Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during World War II he was a well known part of our culture. Seeing his farm enabled us to touch reality in his celebrity.
My life is here in Big Grove. I’m not heading west to work on a ranch. I don’t display the Confederate battle flag or think about it much any more. I will re-read the Gettysburg Address as I did this morning and wonder how my ancestors got along with each other after fighting in the Civil War. Perhaps there are lessons for the United States in 2016. I’m certain there are.
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