Mon, 13 Oct 2025 14:21:12 -0500WeeblyMon, 13 Oct 2025 14:58:19 GMThttp://okorganicgardening.org/letters-from-kalamazoo/hollys-comments-on-gardening-way-up-northIt's nice and cool up here in Kalamazoo MI, beautiful tall trees everywhere, and I just joined a group of "Wild Ones", so I can learn the good plants from the bad ones.

The contractors here are shockingly expensive, but the thrift stores are fabulous. I already found most of the furniture that we really need. I’m struggling to accept the idea of leaving the old furniture behind, but it just isn’t worth paying to move it. It’s just “stuff” anyhow.

There are too many people and too much traffic up here. Sometimes we can barely find a parking place at the trail head to our walking place, just up the road from us. And, when I sit in the back yard, I see beautiful pristine nature….and hear the sounds of traffic. Even in the middle of the night. Ah, the irony.

Terrible drivers, even worse than OK and TX. I call our main side-street “Dead-man’s Curve”, and I whisper a silent prayer to the traffic gods, each time I approach it. Who convinced the legislators into these absurdly high speed limits? Sigh.

People are ridiculously friendly and happy here. I almost want to ask them “Hey, are you aware of the crazy and horrible things that are going on in our country right now?” Of course, it’s a fully-legalized state, so perhaps they are all in a pleasant fog.

I have been told by two people that I have a “charming accent”. What are they talking about?

Health care: good doctors, so far, but billing personnel always screw it up, everywhere. I proffered my two insurance cards (Medicare and bcbs), for my first doctor visit, and they still tried to charge me an extra co-pay.

Political landscape: it seems to be better-matched to my “leftist socialist” leanings. I do carefully put my toe in the water with people, explaining why I dislike the politics in Oklahoma, and quite often they engage me with a pleasant discussion. I even saw my next-door neighbor, with a letter from the ACLU in her hands. Ah.

EV infrastructure: K-zoo apparently has lots of charging stations, and they even offer a 500.00 rebate on getting a home charger installed. So...maybe. Although I just missed the deadline for tax credits.

Gardening:
Good news: The new yard received no watering at all, for the entire summer. I dreaded how it would look. But the grass is green and only a bit “hairy looking”, and there are still a lot of lovely blooming things. A few things did get parched, but nothing like it would’ve been back in OKC. So, it looks like I’m going to save on water bills.

Bad news: There are millions of aggressive mosquitoes, day and night! And yet, I haven’t been bitten yet, even without using repellents. All my years of Jiu-Jitsu mosquito-fighting in OKC are paying off.

Mixed: This seems to be a “mowing optional” neighborhood. Of course, there are the English Gentry Lawns, with perfectly trimmed golf-course grass. But some folks seem to prefer the natural “hairy” look. And this grass, unlike that horrid Bermuda that we all love to hate, is more like the Buffalo variety, growing only to a manageable length. So of course I will join the “naturalists” and save myself a lot of mowing. Thus, I am probably joining the “bad neighbors club”. Especially if I leave some of the dandelions for the bees.

Weird: So many folks up here have no backyard fences, or side fences. Everyone can just wander into each other’s back yards. Eegods. I cannot get used to this dearth of privacy, and I will get a fence erected ASAP. I don’t want uninvited attention to my composting and wood-pile-building habits, thank you.
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Overall, it’s mostly about the same as anywhere else. But cooler and friendlier, with a lot of beautiful tall trees. Let’s see how the winter treats us.]]>