2Hands Urban Garden

Thank You, Rain!

"We never know the worth of water till the well is dry."

  ~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

Namasté!

Love & Light to All!  We were fortunate to have rain on & off all day yesterday.  The only disadvantage for me was that, since the rain washed away the cayenne around my plants & I was at work & couldn't put more down, the squirrels dug up my sedum & I think they got another squash sprout in between showers.  Oh, well, there will be some casualties, I suppose.  I replanted the sedum that was left.  I'm still trying to figure out how to harmonize my situation =-).  

I also want to report that I saw a young toad in my yard Monday morning.  I caught him & put him in my reptile garden - partly because I wanted him to know it was there & partly so he could hide from my dogs.  A few years back, Mikey J (the Pit Bull) got ahold of one & was - ahem - sick as a dog for about 24 hours.  I didn't feel like repeating that experience.

That's the first toad I've seen since I've lived here.  It would be so cool if I can keep attracting a wide variety of wildlife to this yard (squirrels excluded - I think I have enough of them!)

So, back to the rain...days like yesterday & hopefully today would be excellent days to collect rainwater for later use.  If you are like me & don't yet have a rain barrel, let's plan on acquiring one or making one.  I don't think I've blogged on this subject, yet.  The day we made rainbarrels in Elizabeth's class I relied on someone else to take & later give me the notes & that person ended up not taking any.

Although you can purchase rainbarrels, they're fairly easy & affordable to make.  I'm pressed for time right now, but I'll find some good, simple instructions similar to what James taught us in class that day.  One challenge I had was affording the barrel, even though they weren't expensive, since I was barely working at that time, so that's why I didn't get to make one.

Okay, well, enough for now...time to go!  Hope we have more rain today...

Take care & be well, be grateful & be blessed.

WeR1... 

Aché!

kel  

 

Sprouts & Squirrels

Namasté!

Love & Light to All...

Just a short word, today.  My beans &, I think my squash, are sprouting!  It took less than a week because I noticed them Tuesday.  It was very exciting for me!

And the beets were looking so good until the squirrels got to a couple of them.  Which, I know I should've already armed mySelf against them.  I already know how much they love big, juicy roots (why did one of my bar patrons make a joke about that statement yesterday???  =*) ).  I should've known better from the beginning. 

But there are still some sets left & yesterday evening I went & bought several bottles of cayenne pepper & after I watered earlier I sprinkled it all over the garden.  It's only about a 5' x 5' bed.  It's not that big an area - it took about 2 oz. to cover it.  A 2.5 oz. shaker is $1.19 at Fiesta Grocery, so it's cheap & effective. 

"The many great gardens of the world,
of literature and poetry, of painting and music, of religion and architecture,
all make the point as clear as possible:
The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden."  

~ Thomas Moore

Now, it won't be effective against birds, apparently.  I really have to do more research on whether or not cayenne tastes hot to birds, but if not, I'll be looking for bird repellents to keep them from eating the fruit of the plants...suggestions anyone?  I know it will be hard to keep them off the amaranth once it goes to seed

Okay, well that's all for now...

Take care & be well, be grateful & be blessed.  We are connected to everything else, so remember that

WeR1...

Ashé,

kel

 

Water Those Plants...

"There are no gardening mistakes,
only experiments."  

~Janet Kilburn Phillips

Namasté!

Sending out Love & wishes for everyone's peace & happiness.

Just wanted to give you a quick update on the state of my garden.  It's actually doing very well.  Besides the fact that my fervent watering knocked all the petals off the only bloom on the cosmos!  It's okay because it has more emerging buds.  Everything else seems to be happy.

The passionflower vine is already reaching for the fence!  I thought that was amazing!  It's like it knows that's it's new home.

The purslane has plenty of beautiful pink blooms.  My ice plant is blooming fuschia-coloured flowers.  Some parsley is still alive in my windowbox, & I get to enjoy the beautiful red penta everytime I come home & walk up my stairs. 

One of the main things to remember about sustainable living & living in harmony with your environment is that means paying attention to what's going on there.  See what happens on a daily basis.  As this becomes a habit you'll find yourSelf tuning into what's going on with your land.  As the seasons change, things on your property also modify themselves to adjust.  It’s important to be familiar with those changes.    

I think adequate water is one key to a good garden around here.  Remember to mulch.  Leave all tree branches & leaves where they drop or move them to a place that needs to be mulched & let them do the job.  Mulching holds the water in & it also helps keep the plant roots cool.  After the leaves have completely dried & fallen from the branches, run the branches through a chipper & compost or mulch with them.  I don’t have access to a chipper, so I just sort of pile the larger ones into a deadfall that could eventually be home to birds. 

I recommend taking at least a few minutes to water by hand each morning &/or evening.  This affords you an opportunity to multi-task; you'll be observing your land as you nourish it with the lifeblood of the Earth. It's idiosyncrasies & tendencies, what sort of flora & fauna show up, what sort of topographical features it has, all are important things to know.  Watering can also be a relaxing meditation.

One of the points I love about sustainable living is the principle of greatest return for least effort.  Gardening should be therapeutic, not back-breaking.  If it becomes work, it’s time to reevaluate your position.  If you’re observant enough, Mother Nature will show you how to best garden your land without killing yourSelf.    

 I think that if ever a mortal heard the voice of God
it would be in a garden at the cool of the day. 

~F. Frankfort Moore, A Garden of Peace

I’m so proud of my little garden.  But you really must water a lot this time of year here in North Central Texas.

And remember the animals.  Even if you have no domestic pets, the wildlife, the birds, reptiles & insects all need water.  And you should invite biodiversity for the health your environment.  It’s good to keep a few shallow containers placed here & there.  Please, no one start lecturing me about mosquitoes.   As long as you change the water everyday when you’re watering the yard & garden, you’re not going to have mosquitoes.  And reptiles are natural mosquito control!  See how it works? 

Okay, well, I guess I’m outta here for now.  Sending out Love & Light to All.  Take care & be well, be grateful & be blessed.

Ashé!

kel   

  

Gardening For Real!

Namasté!

How's everyone doing?  I'm excited to report that I have just come in from planting several things.  I went to the Garden yesterday.  Deanna & her precocious daughter, Aubrey helped me out.  I got to see Maggie & Sheba, which was exciting.  The chickens were doing well.  I got a good vibe fix & bought:

• A passionflower vine. These are one of my favourite flowers & they seem to draw a lot of pollinators. All the flowers are for this purpose.
• A red penta.
• A reddish-pink purslane (which is edible, by the way). 
• A coleus with a purple spike.
• An angelonia with a purple spike.
• Summer squash seeds.
• Dill seeds.
• Waxbean seeds.
• Green been seeds.
• Amaranth seeds.

A friend of mine also gave me some beet sets.  I planted most of what I got in the garden.  The penta is in a big pot with some zinnias & the purslane in a windowbox with an ice plant, some sedum & a few parsley plants on my balcony.  Everything else is in the garden with the volunteer tomatoes & the basil.

I almost hated digging the holes to plant in because my garden is so full of earthworms & I didn't want to harm them.  I'm grateful that they'll be feeding my plants, which will hopefully feed me! 

I'll keep journaling in this blog about what they're doing.  I planted my beloved passionflower vine next to the fence in a very sunny spot.  Hopefully it will climb the fence & eventually I'll be able to enjoy looking at those gorgeous flowers when I come through the gate, which will also draw the birds & bees to pollinate.  

Take care & be well, be grateful & be blessed.  I came up with a cool thing: grateful = greatful.

Ashé!

kel 

Addendum to Yesterday's Post

Namasté!

I wanted to clarify something about yesterday's post: I know it's too late to be planting either tomatoes or basil (there's a little parsley involved, too).  I am well aware of that fact =-)

The thing is, the tomatoes are volunteers...they just came up in the compost I added to the windowbox on my balcony, which harbors a lot of transient plants.  The basil & parsley was some old seed I ran across while cleaning house & I had planted it in the windowbox, as well.  Since it was all nice enough to sprout, I figured it can't hurt to give it a fighting chance.  The tomato plants were tall & the basil & parsley had become leggy.  It was either just pull it up & compost it or plant it in the garden bed & see if it would survive.  I will go shopping Thursday & get some stuff that's appropriate to plant at this time from Elizabeth Anna's.  Then I can also post pictures! 

Regarding the 'bigger picture', though, I want to point out that this sort of thinking is a great example of sustainable living.  Always figuring out your next move by how harmonious the results of your action will be is as good as it gets.  So, regardless what happens in this situation, it's a win-win.  If the plants die, they will be composted, probably right back into the same bed.  If they survive, I'll have food.  Either the worms get to eat or I do.  But the beautiful reality of it is, is that either way, BOTH eat.  It goes full circle.  The worms produce the nutrient-rich soil in which more food will grow, the by-products of which will go back to feed the worms.

I just wanted to expound on that before anyone posted a reply about it!  I am so excited about this that I'll probably be blogging on it quite a bit from now on.  Now that my garden is up & running I have something to blog about!  My first entry about this bed was July 12th of last year. 

Take care & be well, be grateful & be blessed.  Remember Who You Really Are & that

WeR1...

Ashé!

kel

Planting!

“Gardeners instinctively know that flowers and plants are a continuum and that the wheel of garden history will always be coming full circle.”   ~ Francis Cabot Lowell 

Namasté!

Today is an exciting day for me!  Today I planted in my compost bed!  It is now, officially, a garden!  I had some volunteer tomato plants & some basil I'd planted in my windowbox.  My garden received them today & now we'll see if they survive.  If they don't, that's okay.  They'll go back to the earth to feed something else.  But they had to be transplanted & my garden was ready.  I’ll have to go get some flower sets from Elizabeth Anna’s so they’ll be well-pollinated.   

My garden is full of worms & the compost process will be ongoing.  I have so many worms now it's amazing.  My indoor vermicompost bin continues to produce rich compost at a very rapid rate.  I'd say a good 5-7 lbs a month.  I was very pleased the other day to give a pot full of compost & worms with a volunteer pecan sapling planted in it to a friend whom I know will take good care of the tree & the worms.

“It's the little things citizens do. That's what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees.”
~ Wangari Maathai

I have another volunteer pecan sapling that will be given to someone soon.  It makes me feel really good to be spreading trees & worms around!  It’s how I show my LOVE!

Well, I’ll leave you with a final quote on planting stuff: 

“We can only move to a long-term resolution regarding terrorism and war by planting seeds of peace. We have to start with ourselves.”   ~ Peter Yarrow

The truth is we must start with ourselves in everything.  And it is up to us to make our world what we desire it to be.  My world is one of sustainability & harmony.  I intend to keep it that way, so I continue to observe nature at work in my environment & I strive to work with it as well as follow its lead & example. 

Take care & be well, be grateful & be blessed.  Remember Who You Really are & that

WeR1…

Ashé!

kel

P.S. I apologize for this looking like a French newspaper with all the different fonts.  I have no idea how to correct this effect!

 

What Can We Do?

Squirrels & the Oil Leak

 

"We are living on this planet as if we had another one to go to."
- Terri Swearingen

 

Namasté!

 

I hope this finds everyone well & happy.  Summer is coming on fast around here.  But what a strange winter we had.  

I know you guys are tired of hearing about the Urban Chicken-Keeping article that I haven't written.  Naturally, since I have the time & energy to blog today I couldn't find the notes.  This will sound awful to some, but I've been 'spring cleaning' for months now.  I still haven't come to a stopping place & stuff is shuffled around everywhere.  I am making progress, though.  I just had a lot to do. 

This will be the last time I mention Urban Chicken-Keeping until I actually write the piece.  When I find the notes I'll blog on it then.  I think I may have gotten slightly depressed because of the fact that it wasn't as easy as I thought & it's something I won't be doing anytime soon!  I'm so inspired to be as sustainable as possible that I was quite disappointed to find out there was so much to UC-K.

BUT!  On the upside, I'm really grateful for the knowledge I gained through Elizabeth's class.  I encourage anyone who's thinking of doing it to find out when she's having another &/or do your homework & research before embarking on such a project.  Decide & plan carefully.   

I regret that my work schedule precludes me from participating in many of the 2 Hands events.  Naturally, they're nearly all exclusively on Saturdays & those are the days I work a double shift.  I will try to blog more & will have to get up to the Garden on Mondays to pull weeds, if nothing else.

For an update on my composting, it's coming along nicely.  When I was watering awhile ago  I saw a lizard run out of the food bed, which was incredibly exciting to me.  She was running too fast to see what kind she was, but she was fairly large.  The bed is home to all sorts of creatures, as I said before.  And there are so many earthworms it's unreal.  I still keep the plastic on it to keep the moisture in.

The leaf pile I started also is breaking down quite well & is full of earthworms & other critters.  Decaying leaf matter piled like that & kept moist will naturally draw earthworms, just like the sheet/lasagna composting, but I also populated the bed & the leaf pile with the Eisenia fetida from my indoor vermicompost bin.  I have so many healthy worms these days that they really break down the stuff I give them pretty quickly.  And my pecan tree is a constant source of organic material with which to mulch & compost.  Right now it's blooming & dropping it's catkins.  

This is great because we had a fire on the property back in March & as a result the yard has suffered.  However, it looks like it's coming back well, including my friend's (& landlady's) beloved Saint Augustine grass.  She mourned it's perceived destruction when the gas company had to dig up the remaining part of the yard that hadn't been dug up previously, in order to move the gas meters.  Not to mention the part that seemed dead after the firefighters dumped smouldering material all over it & that the insurance company failed to clean up.  

Anyway, I just keep putting worms & compost on the yard & watering it everyday & I don't rake anything up.  This yard will be like a mini urban rainforest in a couple of months. 

For those of you who would like the benefits that earthworms can bring to your yard but don't feel like actually handling the worms, etc., this is a good time to mention vermipods.  Here's a link telling what they are:

http://www.vermipod.com/Home.php

And you can order them from there or from my favourite worm farm:

http://www.unclejimswormfarm.com/order-stuff?page=shop.browse&category_id=2

Now, I titled this post 'What Can We Do?', so let me address that question.  The Terri Swearingen quote hints at what's been eating me lately: the oil leak in the Gulf.  Does anyone out there have any ideas about what we can do to be useful in solving the issue?  Any charities you'd suggest?  Any volunteer opportunities you're aware of?  Besides going down there & doing hands-on stuff (I don't have a vacation coming anytime soon), I mean. 

"We share the earth not only with our fellow human beings, but with all the other creatures."
- The Dalai Lama 

Otherwise, of course we should all be praying or meditating on the situation & sending/generating as much Love & Light as possible.  We should feel gratitude to those who're working hard to heal the damage.  It's simultaneously amazing & sickening to hear people talk about it.  The level to which most people DO NOT get that everything is connected just blows me away.  When are we going to wake up & realize that WeR1?  

I have a more practical dilemma to which to apply the question: What can we do about squirrels who want to dig in places we don't want them digging?  I have had issues with this for the last 4 years, since moving to this apartment.  I have a huge old pecan tree, in a neighborhood full of them, so consequently, I also have lots of squirrels.  They become 'problematic' when they dig up my plants & flowers.  Matter of fact, the violas from Elizabeth Anna's that I planted this fall were casualties of squirrel foul play (darnit!  I loved those flowers!).  I also wasn't too crazy about the fact that any birdfeeder hung with a cable was chewed down in short order to provide easy access to the goodies inside. 

I couldn't figure out what was wrong with these arrogant little rodents.  They didn't seem to care that I was a Shaman & refused to respond to my earnest caring & sincere  communications.  They continued to laugh & high-five each other as they consumed my plant's roots. 

I found cayenne pepper to be quite effective, as well as relatively inexpensive.  Just don't run out because you must keep applying it every other day or so, as well as after rain or watering.  And you must apply liberally.  Pour it on.  The minute you get chintzy with it the squirrels will party & you'll be PO'd.  I let my guard down at one point & lost several plants.

So then I decided to try fox urine.  It worked for a week & then it was back to business as usual.  When I called the manufacturer I was told that it's often not as effective on urban squirrels because they really don't encounter foxes much in the city.  They also told me that it would probably be more effective if I put it out more often than recommended.   

I've now come to a compromise with my furry foes, along with a 3-point plan & it seems to be working.   

First, I keep lots of cayenne pepper available & put it out liberally & often.  I also put out the fox urine I have left (it's a bit expensive) every week.   I read that you can put cayenne in with your birdseed because it doesn't affect the birds.  I don't know if that's true because my compromise is in the 3rd point: I put out squirrel food with the birdseed (in containers they can't chew down).  I hope they're getting trained to know that food is away from the porch, away from where the cayenne stings & the fox urine smell frightens.  I really don't want to go on a violent rodenticidal rampage.  That seems so imbalanced, especially for a Shaman...

Okay, I think that's it for now.  Oh!  Found this little gem of a website:

http://www.greatstems.com/

Lots of good stuff & great photos. 

And let me know what sort of birds you're seeing this time of year.  I've seen a Carolina Wren twice recently, some Cardinals, Blue Jays & Mockingbirds, lots of Robins.  I haven't heard my Woodpeckers the last few weeks.  

Take care & be well, be grateful & be blessed.  Remember Who We Really Are & that

WeR1! 

Ashé!

kel

   

Steve Irwin Day

"If Steve Irwin couldn't make you smile, your lips don't curve upward."

    ~ Terry Richard (reporter for The Oregonian)

Namasté!

Hope this finds you well & happy!

I just found out that today, November 15 is Steve Irwin Day.  I haven't found anything telling when it was instituted, so if you know, please let me know.  I'm just curious.  And I take it this is only officially observed in Australia?  When I have time I will research it, but I wanted to get the word out.  If you don't know who the Crocodile Hunter is, please check him out:  http://www.steveirwinday.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Irwin  From what I know of him, he was truly a man of integrity. 

Sustainable living is all about harmony within diversity.  Steve Irwin was an amazing man who celebrated diverse life & his precious family carries on his legacy.  Some of us are really grateful for people like these on our planet today.  Take just a moment to think about Steve & all the others like him who work so hard to harmonize us (humans) with our animal life.  Remember to say "thank you".

The Urban Chicken-Keeping lecture at the Garden yesterday was very informative & there was a large turn-out.  The lunch was wonderful.  And the energy was sooo beneficial (as always)...I'll blog the details later, with all the stuff we learned.

Take care & be well, be grateful & be blessed!

WeR1...

Ashé!  kel   

 

Leave the Leaves Alone

Namasté!

I hope this finds everyone well & enjoying this fall weather.  Great for bicycling!  

On the topic of bicycling, there was something I forgot to mention in the last post.  When you're getting out of your parked car, be mindful of what's around you.  Often cyclists are injured by drivers opening their doors into them.  Try to remember this when you're behind a cyclist passing parked cars, too.  All the safety information warns against us riding too close to parked cars. 

Wow!  Seems like the leaves on my pecan tree dropped all at one time.  Naturally, in the spirit of sustainability & Permaculture, I leave the leaves on the lawn.  However, they're piled up all over the sidewalks & against the house, garage & fence.  I've put as many of them on the compost bed as it will hold for now (I really need to add another tier of railroad ties to it), but there is no way I'm sending them to the city compost!   

I'm piling them up in another spot in the yard.  I'll eventually use them & they'll also start to turn into 'black gold' where they are without me doing anything else to them.  It's a win-win situation.  They'll make great mulch, too.  The only thing I use my green city yard waste bin for these days is transporting the leaves from the sidewalk to the pile. 

My schedule has changed  & this will be the last Saturday that I won't be working.  It just so happens Elizabeth is offering yet another free class today, preceded by lunch.  I had to take advantage!  And, what a blessing Elizabeth is for doing so much gratis work.  I hope people truly understand how great it is to have her in our community.  Thank you for all you do, Elizabeth! 

The class is on urban chicken keeping.  I hope to be able to have a few chickens soon.  I'll blog all about it!

Take care & be well, be grateful & be blessed!

Ashé!  kel 

Permablitz & More on Cycling

Namasté!

There were a few projects going on at Elizabeth Anna's when I got there Saturday.  I met more really cool people & got to see some I hadn't seen in awhile, including Bryce, the young man that had the vision & started Permablitz.  It was perfect: the weather was balmy, he chickens were foraging around outside their coop as we worked (they've really grown!) & took turns playing ball with Sheba (the pitbull).  I can't think of a better way to spend a beautiful day.  We prepared a new bed area, putting down cardboard & then compost.  We also harvested basil leaves.  Elizabeth makes & freezes enough pesto to last all winter. 

And she made some of her pesto for us...it is the bomb!!!  We had it over pasta.  Wonderful.  We had a great lunch - we even had some hard-boiled eggs from Elizabeth's chickens.  They were small, but very tasty.  I love eggs & I'd really like to have a few chickens.  Maybe I'll be able to do that soon.   

It's always such a wonderful experience being at the Garden.  The energy is so good & balanced.  And it took me back to the camaraderie of the SLS course.  Elizabeth is such a blessing to our community.  Thank you, Elizabeth! 

"I want death to find me planting my cabbages, but caring little for it, and even less for my imperfect garden."   ~ Michel de Montaigne

I'm going to change subjects on you, now.  I want to use this forum to educate people as much as I can about anything & everything to do with sustainable living.  I brought up bicycling in a recent previous post & I'd like to sort of expand on that for motorists who find it easy to get frustrated when they encounter cyclists on the roads.  I'm predicting that before long there will be more cyclists on the road as people attempt to live more sustainably.  

First of all, let me start off by admitting that I used to be one of those frustrated motorists.  But that's okay...let me drop some knowledge on ya, here.  

It's not safe to ride on the sidewalks & in many cities it's against city ordinance.  Sidewalks lack continuity & are often filled with debris.

The side of the road is also often littered with detritus, so try to understand that if the rider doesn' immediately go to the curb to get out of your way.

Remember, too, that we may have the sun in our face, be pedaling uphill or against the wind.  All of these factors can be a much bigger deal than you might think. 

So there you go...I think that's it for now.  Everyone take care & be well, be grateful & be blessed.

Ashé,  kel