July 3, 2018
Liz Writes Life
It is zucchini season! When I was out and about last week, I
heard people talking about their zucchini picking and eating. One friend was buying
it from the store. Guess he didn’t have any plants at home! Another friend said
she had several volunteer plants that look to be a cross between zucchini and
yellow crookneck. They taste and look like zucchini, but are yellow.
For several years, we have notice that our first zucchini starts
rotting at the blossom-end, when it is about three-inches in size and we don’t
get to eat it. Yep, once again, I got excited last week and then it died. But,
the next two look to be growing OK, so I hope to make our sausage-zucchini
casserole this week.
Don’t remember if I mentioned it, but I really cut back on
the garden this year. Jack is re-doing our large porch and boards were stacked
into the garden area in May at planting time. Also, the carpel tunnel in my
hands has made it more difficult to do plant-tending and weed-hoeing. So, I
planted in a row hoping to lay a soaker hose down it. There are six tomato
plants, three lemon cucumbers, two zucchini, seven pickling cucs, volunteer
potatoes and the two giant rhubarb plants. Volunteer amaranth plants have been
transplanted into the row, cuz I just really like the unusual maroon plants
that get five-feet tall. In a zig-zag, there is a volunteer 4-foot tall
sunflower and transplanted chives.
Problem is that I can’t seem to find soaker hoses that soak
correctly. At different times, during the past 17 years, I have purchased
soaker hoses that either seeped too fast or not at all. But, for the most part,
they seeped just right. I still have two that work well. Last year and this year,
the ones I have purchased seep the first half of the hose (these are 50-foot
hoses) and literally not at all from the last 25 feet.
As a result, the vegetable plants are not on a soaker hose with
a timer, but are being hand-watered. Yes, I know I should do a drip-system, but
it is quite time-consuming to put in and a bit expensive. So, I echo what one
friend mentioned recently: No matter how you do it, gardening is a lot of work!
Also, my knees complain a lot.
But, I can update you on my friend, Tim Grenvik’s, larger garden.
He reported that his corn is “definitely knee high” and sunflowers are up to his
belly button. He and wife, Lynn, are eating snap peas, broccoli, radishes,
garlic and artichoke heads. Wow, that is great. His artichokes are in a variety
of stages of growth, but he is fighting with earwigs as they like artichokes
too.
Tim’s melons are crawling off their mounds, but the crimson
watermelons are slower than the cantaloupes and honey dews. He wondered if that
was normal and I think it was for me. Seemed like the cantaloupe vines grew
faster than watermelon. Oh, and his tomato plants are putting on tomatoes.
POW
Scott Valley Protect Our Water met last Thursday. It was a
small turn-out of stalwarts. I reported CA. Dist. 1 Congressman Doug LaMalfa
and three other congressmen have written a letter to U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service urging the agency delist three species of wolves: gray wolf, Mexican
wolf and red wolf. Among other facts, they cited the recovery success stories
in Wyoming, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin have led to the removal of wolf
species in certain states from the federal Endangered Species Act list.
POW President, Andrew Hurlimann, read a letter from Mark
Baird, leader of the Citizens for Fair Representation lawsuit against the CA. Secretary
of State. The decision by the judge has been pushed back again, so the group is
still waiting.
I spoke about the Bundy Ranch situation. When Ammon Bundy was
here in May, I was able to question him for nearly an hour. I now understand
his dad, Cliven’s, situation much better. We, in California, think of grazing
on public lands as needing a permit. That is how things work here. But, in
Nevada a grazing right is the same as a water right. We understand water rights
and POW formed in 2010 to stop the state from demanding we pay for a permit to
open our headgate to obtain our legal water right property allotment. That water
is our right to use without a permit.
When Cliven said his problem was with the State of Nevada and
not with the federal agencies, he meant just that. In Nevada, water and grazing
rights are tied together. His family enjoy “vested” water and grazing rights,
which are even stronger. The legal definition of vested is: a right belonging
completely and unconditionally to a person as a property interest, which cannot
be impaired or taken away without the consent of the owner.
So, it is through Nevada that Cliven owns his legal water and
grazing rights. It is Nevada that should collect any grazing fees.
For 20 years, the Clark Co. Sheriff (whoever was serving at
the time) had provided protection from BLM. Some sheriffs were better
protectors than others. This last sheriff didn’t even try. When, Ammon drove
from his home in Idaho to support his family in early April 2014, he
immediately went to the Clark Co. Sheriff asking for help – he received none.
He went to the ranch, where Cliven and Ryan Bundy families
were literally surrounded by BLM employees. Grudgingly released government documents
prove there were 213 federal agents with 143 in full-tactical gear, including
19 law enforcement contractors, watching from the hills. There were convoys and
guards on the main road and helicopters running the cattle. Ammon said they
really thought the BLM was going to kill them. Later, it was learned the
military-op had authority to use lethal force.
Also, Cliven had never signed for the federal BLM permit,
which is a contract. He never obtained or agreed to a federal grazing permit, so
how could he owe a million dollars in grazing fees? In a court of law, there
must be a contract that has been breached to demand restitution.
There is something evil behind the removal of cattle ranchers
in Clark Co., Nevada and it is higher than the BLM. Back in the 1970s, there
were 53 cattle ranchers in Clark County. As the BLM became more aggressive,
Cliven tried to get them to stand together. Most did not. Some obtained the
dreaded BLM grazing permit and still lost their ranch.
In 2014, Cliven and Ryan Bundy were the last ranchers left.
The State of Nevada and the county sheriff did not protect them. That is why
Cliven’s frustration is with the state. That is where the protection of his
water and grazing rights should have been. What is going on behind-the-scenes
in Nevada government? And why were the federal agencies allowed to do a military
operation? I’ll provide more next week.
Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in
newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near
Callahan. Call her at 530-467-3515. Check out her blog at:
LizWritesLife.blogspot.com
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