All this and Easter, too
IN ecclesiastical-purple shirt under pagan-orange suspenders, it’s been a few decades since I pulled on the bell rope of old St. Mary’s Church on Easter Sunday. If you, like me, missed Sunrise Services, it will still be Easter all day. Would that it could be observed every day. What this old world needs now is a resurrection, and a reaffirmation of, well, everything.
It may be by coincidence, or providence, that Vacaville Museum became a showcase of Eastertide symbolism Saturday last—in bunnies, anyway. The 23 “Jack Is Back” art rabbits were on display in the courtyard so visitors could pick People’s Choice favorites. A tough call; creativity came out of Jacks’ ears, to say nothing of the minds of the artists who spent weeks lavishing their talent on the hares. Linda Eagleton’s “Dagwood of Shining Forest” was the favorite. A payoff will come at an online auction, date to come. Info on the Museum’s web, and Facebook. The event was produced by Board Chair Jean Cox.
Now playing in the Museum gallery is an exhibit that pays tribute to the centennial founding of the Nut Tree. If you call yourself a Vacan, this is a must-see. As for Easter connections, a human in an exquisite bunny outfit was one of Nut Tree’s jovial cast of characters. You also need to know this: Nut Tree was started in 1921 by Edwin Power Sr. and his wife, Helen Harbison. Nearly everyone knew Ed by a nickname, “Bunny.” I don’t know how it got started but I doubt Easter had anything to do with it. He always carried a pocketful of Bunny pins he handed out. He never met a stranger he didn’t pin.
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THERE are signs everywhere of a return to normalcy, even if some are weird. Two boxes were delivered to us the same day last week. One contained six pounds (5-count) of delectable gourmet artichokes from Pezzini Farms in Castroville. The other contained a one-pound glob of live red wiggler worms from the Squirm Firm in GA, I kid you not. A native son, like me, loves to nibble steamed artichokes dipped in a garlicky aioli. Red Wigglers are eating machines. The trick is not to get the two confused.
They call it vermicomposting, the process of tending voracious worms so they can transform organic waste into compost; OK by me, so long as I don’t have to allow them in the house or give them names. I never thought I’d write that. Their product goes into the soil mix of two raised garden boxes built by son Barry and friend Rick Moehrke. Four feet by eight feet, and a foot high, sided with corrugated metal, trimmed in clear heart redwood. There’s a problem: They are so beautiful I don’t want to get them dirty.
But I am driven to grow a world class tomato. It took 3 yards of Castle & King garden soil to fill them. Add cost of materials, snail bait, fertilizer, 2,000-gal. water tank, a Glashoff scarecrow and the prize will cost about $2,500. It’s worth it.
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POINT is, COVID Wars have brought a sea change to our lives. No flitting off to Rome for a fortnight; stay away from party crowds; all bistros are limited to a 25% house. We are prisoners of Zenda, wherever it is. For sanity’s sake, we have retreated inward. We cook more and eat too much. We rediscovered our gardens. My son buys crossword puzzles by the volume, and eats them for lunch. We’re raising Wigglers without apology so we can grow world class tomatoes. I heard some people are actually reading books.
That said, I’m confounded by the number of people who won’t get a COVID-19 shot, or don’t believe in them; whatever. Krispy Kreme has an offer that’s hard to refuse: Show them your vaccination card and they’ll give you a free donut, every day for the rest of the year. They may be onto something: At election time, take a ballot stub to sweets makers for a treat. Anywhere but in Georgia, where insane voting laws are building another wall: No water for voters in line; show an ID, or no absentee ballot. That’s only two of the arcane laws. One would think the GA GOP plans to reclaim its political power by burning down democracy. The angels of Easter have a message for them, too.