Meet Katie Amaral

Katie Amaral (right) of Dave Wilson Nursery

There she is. To your right. That, my friends, is Miss Katie Amaral. And that is your's truly to the left of Katie. This photo was snapped about two weeks ago. For the people that I work with day in and day out at the California State Capitol, you might recognize this as the entry room to the Governor's Office on the first floor of the State Capitol Annex.

That's where I would find Katie Amaral on this fine day. And, although we've known each other for years, this was the first time we actually met in person. Katie and I have been corresponding with one another via email for years. Oh -- nothing to worry about. Nothing insidious here. Yes, the wife that is Venus knows all about Miss Katie. As it turns out -- all three of us share a love for fruit trees.

And, if you love fruit trees as much as we do, Katie happens to hold down the dream job of Marketing Manager for Dave Wilson Nursery in Hickman, CA. They just happen to be the largest provider of fruit trees on the planet. Want to parlay about pluots? Talk to Katie. In pursuit of peaches? You need to see Katie. Compare notes about Nectaplums? See Katie Amaral.

Mark Stromberg

Katie's visit came at an opportune time. That was a rather tough week two weeks ago when this photo was taken. It's been a rough couple of weeks since then. I suppose this reaction is quite normal when a brother-in-law suddenly and surprisingly passes away. And that's exactly what Mark Stromberg did on March 12th. He had just turned 42 years old. He died from triple organ failure.

I know what you're probably thinking. How does an otherwise healthy 42-year old man suddenly and unexpectedly pass from triple organ failure? It's the same question the family is asking. You see, we don't know. We're not doctors. But we are hoping the Sacramento County Coroner can find the answer. Yet -- these types of investigations take time. Autopsy results are still pending.

Venus and Barky

I still don't know how Venus has managed to maintain the strength she has. She was the first one with her brother when they brought him into the Sutter General emergency room, very much unresponsive. Although I would join her later as we sat outside the room Mark was in, there wasn't much we could do other than hold one another after Mark's heart stopped beating again and again. We could hear the monitor code. We saw emergency room physicians and nurses rushing in and out. There was little else we could do.

The wife that is Venus is now the last surviving member of a family of four. She lost both her mother and father to cancer. And now she's lost her baby brother -- Barky she would sometimes call him. Somehow she has to deal with his. The only thing I can do at this point is be here to support her, in whatever she may need.

So you can imagine how I felt that day when Katie Amaral messaged me to say she was in the Governor's Office. I couldn't get out of my State Senate chair quickly enough. I needed the distraction from the thoughts going through my mind about my brother-in-law and how things could have gone so horribly wrong. Katie offered that distraction -- and I can't thank her enough for it.

Backyard Orchard Culture Pear Trees

You see, Katie is responsible for many of the fruit trees growing in the Bird Back 40. There wouldn't be a five-in-one Pride Peach Collection without her help. The Harrow Delight and Blake's Pride pear trees also found their way into a raised bed thanks to her efforts.

To be honest -- I haven't felt like doing a whole lot since Mark's passing. Working in the yard does provide some relief, but it's just an escape from the reality of this thing called life. At some point I have to get back to living life. That's been a tough assignment. How can I possibly blog about heirloom tomatoes when this is hanging over my head?

Celina Marie and Marquitos Stromberg

Mark leaves behind a wife and two children. Our niece and nephew now have to face the reality of growing up without a father. That's not easy. I remember how I felt when my mother told me that my father had passed away in the hospital. I was nine years old. I grew up without a father. You can grow up without one. I'm living proof of that. But it was anything but easy.

Perhaps that is the answer then? Be there for the kids? We can't be a father to them, but we can sure do everything we possibly can to be the best and most attentive uncle and aunt (or Tio and Tia). I suppose that is the answer then. Be strong for the children. Be strong because strength and mentoring is what they need the most right now.

It isn't easy. But we're up to the task. So long, Mark Stromberg. And thanks for the visit, Katie Amaral. It came at an opportune time.

Happy Trails Cold Warrior!

Gale Stromberg with the Arriba Rocket

It's the kind of party that the man to your right would have very much enjoyed. I wish he could be there. After all, it is in his honor. It's my hope and prayer -- however -- that he will be there in spirit.

I lost a big part of me this past week -- a loss that not even I can comprehend at this point. The gentleman to your right, pictured in front of the rocket he helped build (the Arriba), passed away last week from lung cancer. His death closed a chapter on a wonderful period in my life and in the life that is the wonderful wife -- Venus.

Gale Stromberg -- Rocket Man Extraordinaire -- took his final breath under heavy sedation inside a Kaiser Hospital Room in Roseville. The old man was 75-years young. With him, passed the story -- and a life -- of a lifetime.

Services for Gale -- and the party that he most certainly would have enjoyed -- will take place this weekend.

Gale with daughter, Venus

I wasn't expecting this -- to be be brutally honest. Up until his dying day I kept telling him -- more like pleading -- that he had at least another 20-years of life yet to live. There are unfinished projects to complete I told him. There is a lawn to plant. Landscaping projects demand his attention. There are gardening boxes yet unbuilt.

Yet -- nothing could sway the cancer that claimed the life of the most wonderful father that I will ever have in this lifetime. He may have been -- by law -- just a father-in-law. But the men who proceeded him in my lifetime can't hold a candle to the impact he had on me.

There are those men -- and women -- who come around and brighten your life ever so rarely that you can count them on the fingers of just one hand. Gale Stromberg was that man. His passing leaves a hole inside of me that I doubt will ever be filled.

The title to this post is fitting -- because the gentle man that was Gale Stromberg was indeed the consumate Cold Warrior. A self-taught engineer who grew up during World War II -- Stromberg volunteered most of his life in the service of this country. His accomplishments are the stuff of legend.

Gale with grandaughter, Celina

By the time I met Gale -- as a young man in desperate pursuit of his lovely daughter -- most of his work on behalf of the United States military had already come and gone. Gale Stromberg had retired to the hills of Auburn -- where he put his engineering skills to work on cracking the thick lava cap that blanketed the half acre of backyard so he could grow citrus trees and other wonders. In every backyard that Gale ever landscaped, citrus trees grow. Citrus trees thrive.

Gale loved his citrus. Gale loved a challenge. Crack that lava cap he did in the most ingenious of ways. Where other men used dynamite -- Gale used the gray matter between his ears. No problem -- no obstacle -- ever slowed him down. His engineering skills won the day.

Gale was born in 1935 -- and his formal education lasted little beyond a high school diploma. Perhaps it was the sight and sound of the V2 rockets used by Nazi, Germany in World War II that drove him into the field of rocket science, nobody is really sure. But the Rocket Man left his mark.

After a short career at Aerojet in Rancho Cordova -- the father-in-law went to work for United Technologies (UTC) in the Bay Area. It was there where the old man help develop the fuel systems for the Atlas, Titan and Rapier missiles and the dreaded Tomahawk Cruise Missile that was unveiled to the world for the first time during the first Gulf War against Saddam Hussein.

Gale and Venus on Lake Nicaragua

If he wasn't designing fuel systems that struck fear into the hearts of ruthless dictators around the world, he was helping design booster rockets for the Space Shuttle program. Although his work took place so very long ago -- elements of it are still in use today -- long after the old man said goodbye to the 40-hour work week.

When the Cold War ended and the Berlin Wall finally fell -- Gale's career in rocket science came to an end. Funding for the research and design work that he dedicated his life too dried up. He was still fairly young when he was offered the Golden Handshake that many defense workers would receive -- but the old man recognized opportunity and jumped at it.

He would spend the rest of his life building garden boxes, buying and selling homes during the real estate boom, entertaining grandchildren and studying the somewhat young man his daughter brought home to his house one day. He just wasn't sold yet on the kid who would someday call him father-in-law. That is -- until -- I asked for his help in building a garden box for the backyard.

Suddenly -- I was alright in his world.

Stromberg Gardening Boxes

The garden boxes in use today in our North Natomas farm are a far cry from the simple project boxes we tackled at first. Inspired by his original design -- I took it and produced something on a much grander scale. The "V for Venus"  gardening boxes that grow heirloom tomatoes, potatoes, vegetables, melons and other produce simply would not have happened without Gale Stromberg.

It's because of Gale that I can design and build boxes for any use. It's because of Gale Stromberg that I can install PVC irrigation systems for small and large yards. It's because of him that I can optimize the use of drip irrigation technologies. Because of him -- I can install electrical outlets and switches. I have carpentry, irrigation and electrical skills that I never dreamed I would ever acquire because of this one man.

I was a sponge. I soaked it all in. And -- over time - I came to love him like I had no other man. I didn't quite realize this until he had taken his last breath. But now -- that he's gone from this world -- I've come to realize what a treasure this man was.

Gale Stromberg with grandchildren

Cancer is a terrible way to die. It's a terribly dehabilitating disease that robs every last decency and respect from a man before robbing him of his last breath. Gale fought the good fight before his death. His final year was spent enjoying the myriad of western shows and movies that are shown on the Encore Western Channel. What he had marveled at in his youth on the silver screen -- he saw again from the comfort of his home.

When he had seen all there was to see -- and build all there was to build -- it was time for the final trip home.

Too bad none of us were ready to say goodbye.

3-2-1 GERMINATION!!! Germination in North Natomas!!!

Well -- isn't this just a fine "how do ya do?"

In fact -- it's just downright embarassin! A crime against MANkind. It shouldn't be allowed! Personal Foul! Flagged for excessive celebration!

It's the wife that is Venus who is celebrating tonight. And chortling just a bit too much I might add.

What is causing so much mirth in the Bird household? Our seed starting efforts -- of course. It's always a race between us. Who will do better? Bill Bird the Big Mouth Blogger Extraordinaire? Venus "Magic Green Thumb" Stromberg?

If you're guessing Bill Bird -- "No Soup for You!" The wife isn't only beating the pants off me when it comes to heirloom tomato, pepper and eggplant seed germination efforts -- as the photo to the right shows -- she's sort of SKUNKED me.

Yep -- just five short days after planting our 2010 heirloom tomato, pepper and eggplant garden -- every single seedling tray that she planted has busted out in NBC style "Peacock" color. I've never seen anyone get so darn lucky. I mean -- usually -- there's one failure somewhere -- right?

Oh -- not with the wife there isn't. She's just got that magic touch. As for me? The Blogger? Hey -- I've got some decent germination going here! But there are those -- ahem -- *few* seedling trays that haven't quite broken ground yet.

Actually -- to be brutally honest -- we're off to the most amazing start this year. And it's a late start at that. Normally? We plant the weekend after the Super Bowl -- which is usually early February. But the Super Bowl came a tad later than normal -- and we didn't get around to setting our first seeds until the following weekend -- February 15th.

That was a Monday. Here it is -- a Saturday. It's six days later. And everything the wife has planted (tomato and eggplant wise) has come up roses. The pepper seeds the wife planted haven't come up yet -- but that's just peppers. They're sort of like wallflowers at first. They take a while to get going -- and maybe a jolt of Jack Daniels.

So what's the deal? Are we doing anything different this year from last year? As a matter of fact, that answer would be YES.

With previous seed starting efforts -- the wife and I have always relied upon those handy, dandy, reliable, Jiffy Brand seed starting trays. You know the ones that come with those compressed pellets of peat moss? You put some warm water on them and they suddenly look like an egg pod straight out of Alien? Yeah, those are the ones.

But last year -- to be honest -- we didn't have the best germination efforts with the two trays that we purchased. Sure enough -- every variety did eventually come up -- but I threw away far too many pods that were planted with seed that produced nothing. I normally haven't had this kind of germination trouble with the Jiffy trays. Usually -- they're reliable. But last year?

Well -- let's just say I wasn't happy and I was ready for a change.

Now -- we're not quite ready to start brewing our own seed starting mix just yet. I do have that recipe thanks to Farmer Fred Hoffman -- and he's got pretty good detail with his seed starting efforts here. But I knew I wasn't going to use the Jiffy peat moss pods again -- and I had already purchased three seedling trays from Capitol Nursery earlier this year.

What I needed was a good seed starting medium. And I found it at Lockhart Seed in Stockton. This stuff is called "Black Gold" and it is -- as advertised -- some of the softest and nicest seed starting mixes I've ever come across. It truly is "Black Gold." I have the seed starts to prove it.

Well -- if you want to get technical -- Venus has the starts to prove it.

So -- last Monday afternoon I dragged out the seed trays. Venus dragged out the tomato, pepper and eggplant seed. We both filled up trays full of Black Gold -- watered and compressed it down a bit with some lukewarm water -- and set about planting in the garage. One hour later? The deed was done.

Now -- just when you think you know everything there is to know about seed starting efforts -- a fickle thing called fate comes in and just slaps you silly. I had our PVC seed starting contraption all set up and ready to go. The grow lights were installed. And I knew -- from experience -- that those lights needed to be right at soil level.

Not a problem -- right? Hey, I KNOW THIS STUFF man! I have BEEN there! I have DONE that!

Imagine my chagrin then when I tried to lower the lights near those trays and those nice white plastic markers got in the way.

DOH!

If you're asking why those white markers are bent at crazy angles -- now you know why. They had been sitting straight up -- looking all pretty and nice. If you have also noticed the foil wrapped tightly around each seedling tray and might be wondering if this is one of our "tricks of the trade?"

Uh -- no -- it's because the idiot who blogs also purchased drain trays that have holes in them. I've got to catch that water runoff somehow -- right? So -- it was time for some Mickey Mouse ingenuity! Know what this means? It was my bright idea -- so it's bound to fail. Miserably.

The varieties planted are listed below in alphabetical order -- and we did plant two of each so -- yes -- there will be some "horse trading" taking part later this spring.

TOMATOES:

Abe Lincoln Original
Arkansas Traveler
Azoychka
Beefsteak
Black
Black Cherry
Black from Tula
Black Krim
Black Sea Man
Bloody Butcher
Brandymaster Pink
Brandywine
Campbells 1327
Cosmonaut Volkov
Druzba
Evil Seed (Black Tomato)
German Orange Strawberry
Green Zebra
Gulf State Market
Jelly Bean(Cherry)
Jubilee
Kelloggs Breakfast
Lemon Boy
Lemon Drop
Mortgage Lifter
Old Brooks
Pineapple
Red Alert
Rutgers Select
Tigerella

PEPPERS:
Alma Paprika
Anaheim
Cayenne Blend
Golden Cal Wonder
Green Cal Wonder
Habanero
Merlot
Mucho Nacho
Nu Mex Surprise
Piros
Purple Beauty
Purple Jalapeno
Red Beauty
Thai

EGGPLANT:
Black Beauty
Early Long Purple