Amid the Trump! Trump! Trump!, a quiet observation.

The Sun King

There are two worlds happening simultaneously.  Trump world and political overload is one.  The other is the natural timetable of nature.  

Today's post is a simple acknowledgment of the obvious, which is often the hardest thing to notice because it is in fact so obvious.   

Trump is not the sun.  The sun is the sun.

March 15, 2016.   Then it gets even bigger.

Trump is the center of attention.  He is interesting and he gives cable news and its viewers exactly what they need, fresh new breaking news, with a half dozen items a day.   A week ago this blog made a half-joking effort to do a week without Trump, the Sun King and the source of all light, heat, and gravity in politics, around whom everything revolved.   I thought I was the only one.  I realize now someone else gave it a try, a columnist for the NY Times.

Trump is interesting.  Trump is a constant highlight reel from NFL touchdowns.   Every other politician is CSPAN.   Of course we watch Trump.


Current Trump issues on the table, written quickly from memory:

Other people went on a "Trump fast" diet.

  Comey testimony.  What will he say, and will Trump let him say it.
  Leaker identified, as Trump demands crackdown on leaks.
  Hillary Clinton to be investigated, tit for tat on the FBI probe of Trump.
  Trump's ten day trip aftermath, including NATO reaction.
  Trump's tweets criticizing London's mayor.
  Trump's tweets on the need for a travel ban.
  Trump's changing the NATO speech surprising and contradicting his own staff.
  Trump's son in law investigation.

Meanwhile, the natural world.  

Plants know how long the days are.  They don't have brains and they don't have watches, but they tell time and plants right now understand that this is the time to put down and grow roots and to put on size.   Plants that are supposed to flower in July know that it is still early June so they don't flower yet.

Grow bags

It is summer garden planting season.   People are lined up at the Home Depot and Grange Co-op farm and garden stores with carts full of tomato and other vegetable starts.   People are repairing drip system lines.  Huge stacks of fertilizer bags are at the end caps on the aisles.  The humans are in a bustle but when they bring things back to their farm and garden they revert to natural rhythms because they are forced to.  The plants have a pace driven by nature, not a news cycle.

Locally in southern Oregon marijuana plants--that big new cash crop--are being put into the ground or in special "grow bags" for people growing outdoors but in special containers.  I had never seen grown bags until recently.  Growers who want to control everything plant inside containers with specially calculated formulas of soil, organic materials, acidity, fertilizers.  There is tension in this relationship between humans and plants.  Humans want to control and manage nature.  A grow bag is way to do it.  Put the plants into a cage, but it is a seduction of the plant.  One grower told me his goal was to create a Ritz Carlton experience for his beloved plants.

Local farm, ready for low-till planting

Vegetables planted from seed will have been planted and have sprouted.   In nature, and unlike in politics, excess kills.  Too much sun, too much water, too much nitrogen or other fertilizers, hurt or kill the plants.  

Humans want to rush things so it fits a human calendar, but planting too early, when the ground to too moist or cold is worse than a waste of time.  The ground works up cloddy.  Seeds in the ground just sit there and rot.  Nature has a timetable and a process and it can be nudged but it cannot be rushed.   


In nature, excess is dangerous and too much is too much.  So far in politics, excess is exactly right.

41% of all news: Click for Harvard Study