shapeshifting into our future
This garden section focuses on sustainable garden tips. These are things I’ve picked up by trial and error and also from being a Master Gardener in Florida and New Mexico. In both these wildly different climates (and now once again on the Front Range of Colorado), I’ve created big messy diverse habitats with rich soil from what was a blank landscape of sand and clay. I try to make learning easy as I profess to be a LAZY gardener. My garden is home for songbirds and wildlife, and also bountiful and delicious. I practice permaculture principles. I’m not a perfectionist. I don’t always get a perfect tomato crop. But I do have fun and feel like I make my little corner of the earth a little more resilient and habitable. I hope some of this information helps you do the same.
During my South Florida Master Gardener training, a fellow student asked our extension agent what was the best solution to combat both our dry winters and torrential summer rains. “Mulch, mulch and more mulch,” the extension agent responded. That was 15 years ago, and I can tell you that was the best advice I ever received about gardening. Plus, it’s worked in both the subtropics and the high desert of… Continue reading
Lately, I’ve been waking up every morning between 5-6 AM hearing bird songs. There are sounds of Canadian Geese and Mourning Doves and many other songbirds . The other day, a Black-billed Magpie chased after my dog and me for about 200 feet –cackling all the way. Accidentally, we had stopped under a tree and the bird’s nest. My dog was oblivious. I… Continue reading
Image by Gerhard Gellinger from Pixabay“It may be doubted if there are any other animals which have played such an important part in the history of the world as these lowly organized creatures,” Darwin wrote in his final book (“The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Actions
I’ve always operated under the assumption that most people are too. Life is busy, of course, and there are lots of moving parts. I love my garden, and love eating the bounty that it creates. I just don’t have the time to care for it. So, I plant and hope for the best… Continue reading
“The Earth has lost her equilibrium. The fact that we have lost connection with Earth’s natural rhythm is the cause of modern sickness…
We need to realize that the conditions that will help to restore the necessary balance don’t come from outside us; they come from inside us, from our own mindfulness, our own level of
I LOVE the smell of citrus blossoms, especially in my house, in the winter. And I love tropical fruit. When I lived in South Florida I had three kinds of Brazilian cherries growing in my yard- the Grumichama (my favorite), the Cherry of the Rio Grande, and a Jabuticaba. I also had a Barbados Cherry. Did I mention, I love cherries?
I just finished the latest book, Folks, This Ain’t No
rmal: A Farmer’s Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World
This book is overflowing with the type of contemplative life wisdom you’d expect from a Buddhist monk.
Ponder this little gem:
Worms are industrious, tireless workers. Did you know worms never sleep?
They eat our garbage and turn it into productive soil. Worms can be kept in a small bin with no odor in an apartment or small space.
It’s no wonder that Charles Darwin spent almost 40 years of his life learning from… Continue reading
Steven shows us vanilla seed pods.
The connectivity of life is easy to contemplate at New Chapter’s Finca Luna Nueva in Costa Rica. Nestled in the primary rainforest, Finca Luna Nueva is a 200 acre biodynamic organic farm and… Continue reading
On a recent visi
t to Monteverde, Costa Rica, I met Victor, a small coffee farmer and member of the Coopesanta Elena. Made up of 75 small coffee producers, the cooperative members are committed to growing their crops in harmony with nature.
Victor’s farm is in fact teeming with biodiversity. From sloths hanging… Continue reading