Inherit The Earth... Such as it is.

© Bethany Duffy

Clarkdale Arizona, was a mining town for over 40 years. While the copper was scoured from the sides of Mingus Mountain, the smelters created acid rain.

The little company town thrived in spite of it's handicaps, but the grass didn't grow, and neither did much else. Houses built from kits supplied from Sears and Roebuck were assembled on 1/3 acre lots, which ran in between deep ravines. Eventually the ore ran out, as did the money, but Clarkdale did not languish for long. It was chosen to be the site of a cement company to supply the concrete for the "Great" Hoover Dam. The progress oriented fifties, brought chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and bermuda grass. This time the grass did grow. it grew in the sidewalks, in the cracks in the house foundations, it grew everywhere the sun shone, and given the deforestation of the previous 4 decades, the sun shone every-bloody-where!

Enter our little family, unaware, and oblivious, to the previous decimation. With it's quaint little Main street, historical houses, and quiet community, not to mention the best school in Central Arizona, it was being bought up by the upwardly mobile, whose demographic we just happened to fit. We bought a pricey little fixer-upper, on a ravine, which had a stream, and giant cottonwoods, and assumed we had made an excellent choice. Within months we found out about the history of the land, and that the stream was created by a non-potable water source, four miles up the mountain in Jerome, which was turned off, and on, by some nameless human opening a sluice valve, on what appears to be whimsy. Paradise Lost? Hold on...we've got an upside here.

It is still a quaint little community. The best neighbors, the best school, and a small, politically aware, demographic. We have enough open land where we still have diverse, and beneficial wildlife. (Javelina, song birds, snakes, toads, lizards, hawks, eagles, herons, raccoons, skunks and coyotes) The challenge was to take this plot, this community, and this horrid history, and do something productive with it.

I am the Compost Queen, the Regent of Recycling. I will not to be thwarted by the poor choices of those who went before me. First were the raised beds, filled with some sort of top soil, origin unknown. These rectangular cinder-block, walled and stuccoed, beds were the obvious point to start. A wild grape, and several "Paradise trees" were the only existing vegetation. (The Paradise trees, a native from Australia, are a huge problem, requiring yet another article!) I started a compost pile, added some store bought manure, planted a few tomatoes, and peppers, and called it a day. After all, I was still dealing with pre-fab paneling, and substandard flooring inside the house, (not to mention the ugliest, tricolor, sculptured carpeting, ever installed.) At the time, my plan was: if I can make salsa, I'm okay.

That winter, I finally had the compost needed to feed the five existing beds. The next summer I became more ambitious. Outside the backdoor was a dead peach tree, and a lot of bermuda. I dug two feet down, didn't come close to unearthing the peach stump, but managed to remove most of the bermuda root, composted and planted a fairly successful herb garden. We had some, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, lemon grass, cilantro, cucumbers, and oregano. Big-bloody -whoop.

On this property, we also had an apricot tree, a pomegranate, and a sickly plum. The first year, both apricot and plum produced. Second year, late frost did in all the fruit. Third year: (Current) the plum was attacked by scale, and the apricot, only put out fruit closest to the house, (frost again) but for the first time the pomegranate is producing.

I have finally discovered permaculture. I've been digging swails, planting shrubs, and trees, provided habitat for toads, and reptiles, (rock piles, and water saucers, who-da-thunk?) I've planted soy in a key-hole-garden, to provide green manure, and beans to feed the javelina. (Having lived in Asia, I know better than to consume non-fermented soy products) I'm growing medicinal herbs, which since I've entered menopause are crucial, among the other vegetables, and I'm planning on several more trees and berries in the fall. (Preparing the soil with nitrogen fixers, and other mulches.) I can reclaim this land. I can make it possible to not only feed my family, and the critters, but to produce more oxygen than we take in. I can also fight the effects of dust from the aggreate produced from the dreaded cement plant.

I may not be able to save the earth, but I can effectively steward this little 1/3rd acre. My neighbors are taking notice. Perhaps we can protect Clarkdale. Perhaps their children will take what we've learned and steward other places...perhaps...

In this world, in this time, it simply feels good to not have the regrets.

Happy plantings!

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 © Bethany Duffy

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: I've composted on two continents and three different countries. (Thailand, Mexico, and S.W. U.S.) Only became aware of permaculture, and Forest gardens in the last few months. My main point of reference is, Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemmenway. As a Buddhist who can't really "buy into" reincarnation, composting for me is a religious experience.

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