Longer Step: Ideas for Justice and Sustainability

This week in my classes (to become a certified Organic Master Gardener), we're learning how plants exchange information and material with other plants, bacteria, and fungi, in complex symbiotic relationships. Here are a few random things I'm learning this week, which are 'wow' items to me: 1. N-fixing bacteria live on the plants' roots, extracting N2 from the air. Plants can't do that, but they take the N2 from the bacteria and they give some carbohydrates to the bacteria, in return. Perfect symbiosis.  2. Also, plants emit CO2 not just through leaves, but also thru roots, and this stores carbon in the soil. It slowly rises and gets released under the forest canopy, where trees prefer it to having to take it in from the air above the canopy.  3. Grass is toxic to trees, in a manner of speaking. Scientists don't think it's just competition--they believe grass can exude a chemical which retards tree growth, just as some trees do vs other plants. There are ...

  Neil Gaiman (author of American Gods, Good Omens, and many other books) is accused of sexual assault by two women. I asked Alexa to name some famous men accused of sexual assault, and she wouldn't respond. I guess there were too many for Alexa to try to list. Here's the point: It has to be a perverted, sick power thing, because surely any famous writer can certainly attract a willing partner, if they just put in some effort, right? So to go instead for non-consensual assault is incredibly sick, and needs to get massive monetary damages paid to the victims, plus super-long prison time. Being famous or successful does not give you any greater rights under the law than anyone else.

  1. Dom Perignon is tossing its entire 2023 vintage. It's just not good enough. This is one of those lessons that most of us winemakers may not be sensitive enough to. After years of making rose wine from Leon Millot (and winning lots of silver medals for it), I've finally decided I just don't like it enough, and won't make it again. This is partly because my abler winemaker friends are making killer-good reds from both Leon and Foch. I used to make Leon red, and yes I would let it spike to 85F to remove some of the herbaceous notes,  but people didn't like it unless it was aged a few years. But these younger winemakers are adding oak to the primary ferm, and removing the wine and cap from the seeds as soon as they can, and their wines are amazing. Leon is such a perfect grape for here that I simply must find some ways to use it. It was 25% of my red blend that won Gold this year, so that is one good way (blended with Valentin Blattner's Labelle, Ukraine's ...