No, this isn't a Diary about the cops ;). Some of them are quite pretty actually. This Diary is about Gargoyles, and Gardens, and feeding yourself and your family in hard times.
I have a house, and haven't yet been booted out of it by a bank. This house has a front yard, and it has a backyard (and even a side-yard). When I moved into it, it had a lawn in the front yard. The lawn was choked and dying, as was the Modesto Ash tree living in the side of that front yard (Sacramento).
My Wife, Mrs. Evolutionary (Hi everyone!), and I discussed this dying front yard at length. She drew up grand plans for it, part of which included even more (useless) grass.
I grew up with a Hippie Mom (and no Dad), who, throughout my life - always had food of some kind growing. We were dirt poor. We ate a lot of peanut butter sandwiches, mac-cheese and tuna, hot dogs, and (Blech!!!) cereal without any sugar at all. Grape Nuts and Shredded Wheat (no frosting). It was a treat to stay at someone else's house and eat new and interesting food (like coco puffs). We also had plenty of fresh greens, and tomatoes, and other vegetables that every child seems to really hate (like Lima Beans), but that is another story for another day. What that upbringing instilled in me was that it was possible to feed yourself. I learned from before memory how to plant seeds, how to compost, how to not dig up the soil, but just to rip out the old plants and plant fresh seed, and other various ways of building good healthy soil.
We live in a world of totally unsustainable agriculture. See more about Gargoyles below the Fleur de Kos...
While the enormous agricultural Corporations own most of the farming land in our Country, and only 4% of our population actually does any farming, and the soil of the "Breadbasket" of America is being shorn of any sort of nutritional value, I grow food in my front yard!
I live in an upper-class neighborhood. I am surrounded by rich white people, many of which are very conservative. Sometimes I argue with them, and sometimes I just give them the Hairy Eyeball. There are, in fact, Fox News Entertainment idiots right here in Liberal California. In my neighborhood. I am this fortunate because my Wife makes quite a lot more money than I do - as I am a low down, no good, Socialist, pinko Civil Servant (or so I have been told on occasion). They don't usually argue for long, I am a very big person, and I am not overweight. I am also a martial arts instructor, I have two 200 lb dogs (so cute!) and a great big shotgun (yeah a Democrat gun owner, I know). These same low-information people are upset! That my garden is in my front yard! (Don't worry, I am getting to the Gargoyles shortly here)...
GOD FORBID I effing refuse to grow a useless lawn in a State that is constantly in drought, that sucks up water (which we pay for), electricity (automatic sprinklers), and space in which many other beneficial organisms can also grow. No, no one from the City or County has demanded anything. We are at least that Liberal.
That tree? I ripped it out, and ground out the stump. That lawn? I removed it with a Bobcat, and put down 8 inches of top soil with compost. We covered our front yard with decorative tall grasses, a Mandarin Orange tree, a Key Lime tree, a Bay tree, and a shade tree (Free from SMUD!). We also covered it with big 4x8 planter boxes (just wood and posts). We got more topsoil with more compost and filled those boxes. The first year, I grew enough food in my front yard to feed many families.
Today, my rich, white, evangelical, conservative, Fox News watching neighbor asked why I have 'monsters' in my front yard (which makes his neighborhood look bad apparently). Those monsters are Gargoyles!!!
I love my Gargoyles. They are about 2 feet tall, ugly as hell, winged and fierce looking - and they protect my garden without fences. They protect it from birds, bugs, and more recently Republican scumbags. Yes, I admit it, I am a garden growing, socialist American. But I am American. And I have as much a valid point of view as any other American. YES! I am a LIBERAL! I freely admit it! I voted for (GASP!) Barry Obama for President. And I will again.
For my religious friends (and I mean friends!) I include a link to the legend of St. Romanus, who defeated the nasty Gargoyles - but their top half's would not die! They hardened. St. Romanus put this bit of Gargoyle leftovers up on top of the buildings to scare off other bad spirits, etc. Please protect my garden St. Romanus, from the evil Republican idiots.