Short update on the solved plum mystery

The folks down at Trees of Antiquity (where the previous owners had purchased the tree) got back to me very quickly with some advice.

1)  Old plum trees almost never send up suckers from the roots, and there's no way to force it to happen.

2)  Any Asian plum within a half mile of ours will be enough to pollinate the Elephant Heart.


What this means is that I need to accept that we won't get that Marianna rootstock back.  On the positive side, that corner of the yard that the branch took up would be the most perfect spot for a small lifted fort or castle for our son (maybe with a sandbox or the quail hutch underneath?), since it would give a view of Mt. Diablo and the neighborhood while still being shaded.

It also means that perhaps we should wait to do anything until next season, to see if the Burgandy (also an Asian plum!) flowers for a longer period.  We did get very few Elephant Heart plums, which means that the Burgandy probably did do a tiny bit of pollination.

We could also just try some grafting anyway, for fun.  It seems like an awesome skill to have!

In a worst-case scenario, next year I could buy a baby Santa Rosa plum and take it door-to-door until I find someone within a half mile who wants it.  

PLUM MYSTERY SOLVED!

The discovery!

I was digging around in our "miscellaneous manuals" drawer to figure out what type of pool sweep me have, because I needed to order some swivels for the hose.  In addition to that, I found the secret to saving our plum tree from another fruitless year.

There is a paper in the drawer from "Trees of Antiquity," stating the heritage fruit trees in the back yard.
- Hauer Pippin apple (we already knew this was a Pippin)
- Ashmead's Kernel apple (appears to be long gone)
- Elephant Heart plum (otherwise known as a Blood plum), which according to the website is grafted onto Marianna, but they say it pollinates really well with a Santa Rosa.
- Santa Rosa plum (appears to be long gone)
(- Burgundy plum, which we planted and is very young)

I hadn't known the types of plum that were on the plum tree, so in delight I researched these cultivars.  Turns out that the "root stock" third of the tree that the landscapers cut off directly against our wishes was Marianna, and the 2/3rds remaining is the Elephant Heart.  Dang, that Marianna made the best jam.


But then...

There is one major drawback to an Elephant Heart plum... it is not self-fertile.  So when they cut off the root stock, they basically ruined the entire tree's ability to fruit!

They did give us another plum tree, but it is very young and does not flower at quite the same time as the Elephant Heart. 


What to do now?

It appears that I have 4 options.

1. Figure out a way to encourage the Marianna root stock to grow back.  Due to the severe cutting the tree had last year, it was supposed to encourage the root stock to grow back, but it did not.  There may be other techniques I can use, and this would by far be the most convenient method.
2. Wait until next year, and the next, and the next, see if our new young Burgundy tree grows enough to have more flowers for a longer period with which to pollinate the Elephant Heart.  They're both Japanese varieties, so they're compatible.  
3. Graft a Santa Rosa or Marianna to the Elephant Heart or Burgundy.   
4. Find and plant another Santa Rosa, and wait for it to mature.  This would be difficult, since there is not room in the backyard for a third plum tree, and we still have to find places for the potted pomegranate and meyer lemon.  I wonder if our neighbors behind us would accept a gift of us planting a baby plum in that corner of their yard.

What else to do?  Lots of deep breathing.  This new knowledge has ripped open the wound I felt when I first came home to discover that they'd destroyed the best-tasting part of the tree that made jam that tasted incredibly close to my grandma's jam.  Yeah, that may seem like an over-reaction, but I'm a nature-lover and trees are my buddies, and we told those landscapers specifically to leave the fruit trees alone.

I will just consider myself lucky that the mysteries of the plum types and missing plums have been solved.

Sunflowers

We have sunflowers, and they're actually making seed!!!

Mammoth sunflowers live up to the name.

All the ones I sprouted and planted died.  All the ones I planted along the entire western wall in perfect sunflower lighting refused to sprout.  All the ones along the northern walls did nothing.

But the ones in half-shade under the bedroom window, in the tallest bed, with the least sunflowery conditions, are the ones that made it.  Well, 5 of them did, and only 3 of them survived getting the heads chewed off too early.

I don't understand what Mother Nature is doing to my sad, sad garden this year, but at least there's a splash of color somewhere.

And now, for a darker sort of photo... I discovered that the new pair of doves in town have decided that the sunflower that is nearest to being ripe is their new irresistible playground.  I need to wrap the head in mesh or something to keep them out!  They've devoured or destroyed a whole half a head since I last checked on it 3 days ago.

And this is why I have trained Stormy to hunt doves.

A Patient Poodle Pup

Guess who watched "The Happiest Baby On The Block" last weekend?

I decided to practice one of the baby-soothing techniques, swaddling.

Stormy was extremely compliant and even seemed to like being swaddled, especially if her tummy's rubbed at the same time... although when I tried to jiggle her like THBOTB recommends for babies, she turned to Ryan and gave him laser eyes.

"Ryan, please just make it stop."

Well, I guess we have the swaddling technique down now.

A Social Experiment: Mini-Update

If you read the previous post on the Social Experiment, you'll know what I'm talking about.

I had another partnerless prenatal class, and this one was for breastfeeding.  For this class, about 30% of the women were there alone, which was a drastic change from me being practically the only single lady in the room.

The next experiment.

When we introduced ourselves this time, I wanted to try something more subtle.  I didn't even mention my husband.  I just introduced myself, and said that "we" were due Oct 10th.

Zero reaction from the class, for the entire session.  Nothing good (as when Ryan's "overseas"), nothing bad (as when he's "at work").  The single ladies after me did the exact same thing, leaving out mention of a partner but saying "we," and I noticed no discrimination towards them.

Conclusion:  the response may have been neutral because so many women were partnerless in this female-centered class. 

There's just one more class left to attend!



Heroic, my ass.

There was one thing that did change someone's perceptions of me.  I asked the teacher for tips on pumping, since I am planning on nursing and also pumping for a friend's baby (said friend is on a medication that is not compatible with nursing).  The guy sitting directly in front of me turned around several times to say extremely awkward stuff like "You're a hero!" or "What you're doing is really amazing."  You'd think I'd just defused a bomb that was about to kill hundreds of people.

Um, thanks, but I don't even know if I can make that much milk yet, and even if I can, it's not heroic.  I'm pretty much donating milk because

1. On a spiritual level it feels like it would somehow balance my previous inability-to-stay-pregnant pain to be able to lessen someone else's inability-to-nurse pain.
2. I can't give blood despite wanting to ('cause I go into shock after losing 1 cup and they toss my half-donation, and then I'm dizzy for 2 days), and donor milk is much more rare than blood so maybe that balances things out too.
3. Donor milk through a bank is ridiculously expensive (and pasteurized!) and nobody should have to pay $100/day for it.

Just visit kellymom.com instead.

As a side note, the class was completely underwhelming.  The two of us who asked for pumping advice were pretty much shut down with a "this class doesn't really cover that, it's about breastfeeding" (even though there is no pumping class, and lots of women there wanted to know more about pumping due to a planned return to work).  The lady dismissed concerns that people knew moms who had babies that were allergic to their milk ("that doesn't happen") or that they had friends who couldn't breastfeed (she rolled her eyes and said over 99% of women can but did not explain further).  The class didn't even cover galactogogues or how to increase your supply.

The main points of the class were "dads, be supportive," and "dads, don't be unsupportive."  I didn't learn anything new except that the lactation consultants don't check for lip/tongue ties soon after the birth unless you ask them to.  However, there were two other women there with my due date, and they seemed to really need the info... I had just done too much research beforehand and was expecting something more advanced.

Some puppy cuteness for the day.

There's not much to post about today, so I thought I'd just share last night's photo.

Stormy hates being under blankets, but she just got a pretty tight trim which makes it a bit colder at night.  I tucked her in while she was getting drowsy on the couch, and she didn't even care.

 ... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ...

Sometimes she's so cute it's painful to watch.

One Big Beautiful Poopy Rainbow

The last of the "essential" baby stuff arrived by today... the glider and the bulk order of diapers.


I'm a little embarrassed... I never thought I'd be the kind of person who got excited about diapers.  But here I am, lining them up by color, filled with glee.

So colorful!

After checking out a ton of different diapers in the store, we settled on bumGenius 4.0 snap diapers for a balance of ease of use, longevity, and cost.  They're theoretically as easy as disposables but without the poosplosions, should fit the kid from about 8lbs until potty trained, and with good care should last for another 4 kids if rumors are true.  (No, we're not planning to have 4 more, but we can resell them for a good price or gift them once we're done spawning minions.)  The diaper stash is further bolstered by a few used-but-excellent-condition mid-size prefolds and covers that were kindly gifted to us. 

Diaper prep has begun, but it is going to take a little while, probably a month as I work the bold colors into the regular laundry rotation.  The bold ones (orange, yellow, and dark green) must be done separately from each other on hot for a few loads, and despite my enthusiasm I'm not wasting water by just washing 3 diapers at a time by themselves.  *sigh*

Let's have a moment of praise for the man of the house, who is willing to get past the gross "poop in the washing mashine" thoughts and take the leap into cloth diapering.