Ecce Sigum

Immanentize the Empathy

Author: John Winkelman

Night Photos of the Grand River

John Winkelman

Ice at the Sixth Street Bridge Dam
Ice hanging from a tree stuck on the edge of the Sixth Street Bridge dam, near the fish ladder.
30 second exposure.

Grand River At Night
Ice on a rock in the middle of the Grand River, near the Sixth Street Bridge dam.
60 second exposure.

Grand Rapids from the Fish Ladder 3
Looking East at the medical mile from the fish ladder.
15 second exposure.

Grand Rapids from the Fish Ladder 1
Looking East at the medical mile from the fish ladder. The line of lights across the sky is a plane approaching the airport.
30 second exposure.

Grand Rapids from the Fish Ladder 2
Looking East at the medical mile from the fish ladder.
15 second exposure.

Squash

John Winkelman

Hubbard Squash 01

What started as this grotesque thing ended up as food enough to feed a large family for a day, or a small one for several days. The best part? A gallon of soup, the recipe for which follows:

Ingredients
6 ½ pounds Hubbard squash, cut into 1-2” cubes
3 medium tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 large white or yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1” ginger root, peeled and grated
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme
1 small hot pepper (optional) finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 limes
enough stock (vegetable or chicken) to cover all vegetables

Directions
Grind the rosemary and thyme in a mortar and pestle.

Pour oil into a large pot, heat, and add onions, garlic and ginger. Saute for a few minutes, until onions begin to turn translucent.

Add tomatoes and saute, constantly stirring, for another couple of minutes.

Begin adding squash, a handful of cubes at a time, stirring all the while, until all of the squash is in the pot.

Add the stock, bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. Cook until the squash is tender. This will take about half an hour.

Remove from heat and let the soup cool. Once it can be handled safely, puree everything with a blender. This will probably have to be done in three or four batches.

Return the soup to the pot, and add salt and pepper, and stir in the juice of 1-2 limes, adjusted for taste.

I documented the whole process. You can see the rest of the photos here.

A Tragedy Which Affects Us All

John Winkelman

Due to budget cutbacks, the City of Grand Rapids has had to remove the lighthouse beacons from the Grand River at the base of the Sixth Street Bridge Dam. This has had disastrous consequences.

Turtle on the Rocks

Turtle Sunning on the Rocks in the Grand River

Turtle on the Rocks in the Grand River

TURTLES have been RUNNING AGROUND on the ROCKS!!!! Without beacons marking the deeper channels, turtles can’t avoid the rocks as they build up speed to leap the dam on their annual migrations northward.

Please: Think of the Turtles.

This Is My Radish

John Winkelman

My first harvest

There are many like it, but this one is mine. I pulled it out of a small garden I am growing in an under-used flower bed in front of my house. It was one of sixteen growing in an area a foot on a side. This area is part of a larger grid, four feet on a side, which I put together back in the early part of April. The grid is in a box made of cheap pine boards, eight inches in height, and filled with good potting soil. It is one of two such boxes in the old flower bed.

I have been growing food here in downtown-ish Grand Rapids since the summer of 2006. That year it was hot peppers in pots. The next year was peppers and tomatoes in pots. Last summer I ripped up all of the plants I had put in previously – including prickly-pear cactus and indestructible yucca – and planted hot peppers and tomatoes in the flower bed. The peppers loved it, but the tomatoes did poorly. Grand Rapids soil tends toward sand and clay, especially in the proximity of old houses.

This year I tore out everything except two burning bushes and put in two square-foot garden boxes, each of them four feet on a side. Three days ago I filled in the last square in the grid with a small strawberry plant I purchased at the Fulton Street Farmer’s Market the day before.

For peppers and tomatoes, I purchased some specialty seeds from Amazon.com: thai birds-eyes, tabasco, and bishop’s crown. All of the tabasco sprouted, four of the thai, and none of the Bishop’s crown. I also have some Japanese Black Tomatoes, which are doing nicely.

So here is what I have growing in the boxes.

East box:

Garden Box East, 2009.05.23

  • butternut squash – 1
  • black tomatoes – 2
  • green onions – 25
  • Lilac bell pepper – 1
  • Tabasco pepper – 2
  • Beets – 9
  • Radishes – 16
  • Carrots – 16
  • Spinach – 9
  • Broccoli – 4

West box:

Garden Box West, 2009.05.23

  • Beefsteak tomatoes – 2
  • Zucchini – 1
  • Tabasco pepper – 1
  • Jalapeno pepper – 1
  • Strawberry – 1
  • Green onion – 25
  • Buttercrunch lettuce – 4
  • Pak Choi – 1
  • Swiss chard – 4
  • India mustard – 4
  • Beets – 9
  • Radishes – 16
  • Spinach – 9
  • Carrots – 16

Containers:

  • Cilantro – 4
  • Dill – 4
  • Parsley – 4
  • Okra – 2
  • Basil – 2
  • Thai peppers – 3
  • Kale – 4
  • Tabasco peppers – 4

I also have a few more peppers and tomatoes sprouting, as well as around a dozen Goji plants, for which I have high – if perhaps unrealistic – hopes.

My goal, other than to have a steady supply of fresh produce for the next several months, is to break even. That is, I want the retail value of the food I pull out of my garden to equal the money I put into the supplies and infrastructure.The potting soil was the most expensive part of the project, but also the most important. Using the square-foot gardening techniques has made this whole endeavor quite manageable for one person and, so far, the maintenance take about fifteen minutes a day.

Yesterday I harvested the rest of my radishes, a total of 32, at around an ounce each. So: two pounds of radishes. The greens are quite good sauteed in olive oil and sprinkled with Chipolte seasoning, The bulbs, of course, are excellent raw.

I will check out prices the next time I hit the Farmer’s Market, and see what it would have cost to buy two pounds of radishes. Not much, I expect, but I have already re-planted, and should be able to get three or four more harvests this year.

I will post updates as more plants mature. You can see the rest of my garden photos here on Flickr.