I love this time of year. Looking back over our shoulders at where we’ve been the last three to four months, how could we not be amazed by the shape and size of all that is growing in our gardens. Even the hailstorm that ripped the plants to shreds last month couldn’t destroy its beauty. The tomatoes, beans, and greens are going strong.

If you want to enjoy some amazing community gardens (and some pretty cute chicken coops as well) come out for the 2010 Albuquerque Coop and Garden Tour this Saturday and Sunday, July 31st and August 1st. Maps will be available at the website by Friday. If you come by The Source garden on Saturday, I’ll be there along with other gardeners to show you around. It’s free, it’s local, it’s educational, it’s inspiring and it’s one of the best ways to see all varieties of urban gardens and backyard farms, and put to rest forever the notion that you can’t garden. It’s not too late to get one in this year!

The next couple of weeks gardeners should really consider how to integrate a fall garden into their growing spaces. I am a firm believer in growing year around here in Albuquerque and most of mid and southern New Mexico as well. Why waste all those warm, sunny fall and winter days?

A good overall plan is important and must include the following:

What is the location and how much sunlight will be available to the bed mid-winter?

What is being grown in that space now so we can determine appropriate crops in rotation?

And don’t forget a key question: what do I like to eat?

You would be surprised how many people take up a garden project without careful consideration to what they actually like to eat! If you plant something you and your family have never tried, you may find it way too easy to forgo a trip outside on a cold day to check on turnips and parsnips.

I’m also urging the community garden to get something like this going on one of the properties as soon as possible.

Far less costly than a greenhouse and faster to put up, hoop houses are practical and economical whether used as season extenders or for starting seeds. Hopefully,  if our hoop house becomes a reality it will serve both purposes. (I’ll let you know here when the Hoop House workshop is scheduled.) Chery at The Source garden ate from her winter greens bed for over three months simply by adding a piece of plastic cover to the bed and holding it in place with rocks. Surely a bit more construction and stability will add months of greens and other tasty items to our menus.

I also encourage the saving of seeds from heirloom and non-hybrid varieties of all plants. With a hoop house, we become even more self-sufficient by growing our own seedlings for each season. Here’s a good check list for what you can still plant and harvest this fall compliments of  Urban Farmer Seeds.

For starting seeds, one of the simplest, cheapest way to start your own seedlings is with newspaper. Check it out. We’ll be making some this week and staring our fall garden seedlings.
How to Create Seed-Starting Pots From Newspapers — powered by eHow.com

Whew! If you already have that beautiful garden/growing area happening, come register with the 2012 Edible  Abq Gardens by 2012, an initiative that started here but is gaining popularity all over the country. It’s free, it’s simple and it will help us all connect more deeply with the urban gardening movement in our city.

And finally, here is the lunar planting guide for the coming month compliments of Farmers Almanac:

July 2010
24th-26th First Day Good For Planting Above Ground Crops. Last Two Days Are Good For Planting Beets, Carrots, Salsify, Irish Potatoes, And Other Root Crops.
27th-28th Good Days For Killing Weeds, Briars And Other Plant Pests, Poor For Planting.
29th-31st Good Days For Planting Beets, Carrots, Radishes, Salsify, Turnips, Peanuts, And Other Root Crops. Also Good For Planting Melons, Cucumbers, Pumpkins, And Other Vine Crops. Set Strawberry Plants.

August 2010
1st-2nd Barren Days, Do No Planting.
3rd-4th Root Crops That Can Be Planted Now Will Yield Well.
5th-6th Any Seeds Planted Now Will Tend To Rot.
7th-8th Most Favorable Days For Planting Beets, Onions, Turnips, And Other Root Crops. Plant Seedbeds And Flower Gardens.
9th-13th A Barren Time. Best For Killing Weeds, Briars, Poison Ivy, And Other Plant Pests. Clear Woodlots And Fence Rows.
14th-15th Good Days For Planting Above Ground Crops. Excellent For Sowing Grains, Winter Wheat, Oats, And Rye. Plant Flowers.
16th-17th Plant Peas, Beans, Tomatoes, Peppers, And Other Above Ground Crops In Southern Florida, California, And Texas. Extra Good For Leafy Vegetables. Plant Seedbeds.
18th-20th Cut Winter Wood, Do Clearing And Plowing, But No Planting.
21st-22nd A Good Time To Plant Above Ground Crops.
23rd-25th Barren Days.fine For Killing Plant Pests.
26th-27th Favorable Days For Planting Root Crops, Fine For Vine Crops.
28th-29th Barren Days.do No Planting.
30th-31st Root Crops That Can Be Planted Now Will Yield Well.

Hope to see you this weekend at the Garden Tour where you can meet folks like Melanie Rubin and visit her backyard farm!

]]> http://outrageousgardens.com/lazy-hazy-crazy-days-of-summer/feed/ 2 http://outrageousgardens.com/a-cure-for-the-gulf-coast-blues/ http://outrageousgardens.com/a-cure-for-the-gulf-coast-blues/#comments Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:35:23 +0000 Yvonne http://outrageousgardens.com/?p=986 And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.- Kahlil Gibran

What does pull me up from the pits of despair is something like this photo, taken last year of my granddaughter, feeding lorikeets at the Rio Grande Zoo. When one of them landed on her head, I prepared for a lorikeet mob action if Maddie began to cry or shriek.

Instead, she stood statue-like, asking if I could see any more wanting to join in. Unconcerned about the possibility of “droppings” she was in awe of this contact between thirsty winged creatures and herself and was totally content to allow it to continue. Sorry I don’t have a pic of the enormous grin on her 7 year old face.

I recently returned from a four-day gathering of indigenous elders and others in a small town outside Kansas City, Missouri. I just needed to be out of the city, with people I hoped understood what I am feeling. You know, that sort of camaraderie where you don’t have to explain how you know something or why it’s important. Where there aren’t many deep, head-tripping discussions, just deep moments of silence and laughter and sharing. And here there were ceremony, sweat lodges, ritual which didn’t demand university degrees or letters of introduction. The only prerequisite was respect for the Earth, respect for each other and a willingness to be present.

I also drove to Missouri in search of some clarity on how to continue through all that was collapsing around the world. The group prayed for the Gulf while being reminded that Mother Earth knows what she’s doing so don’t drag her down with your own unrelenting grief. Rather, if we choose to pray, pray for ourselves: to regain balance, to remember our place within and among all the other creatures of the Earth, to set aside our incessant addiction to things, things and more things. We were asked to become givers, to stop taking more than we need. And most interesting for me at this time, we were instructed to be “in-joy.”

Indeed, CELEBRATING the Earth on a daily basis could be just the shift we need to re-balance our relationship with the only home we’ll ever know: this miraculous blue, spinning ball suspended in space by an invisible energetic connection with an enormous swirling gaseous ball of fire. When I wake up each morning, I can only marvel that I slept peacefully while spinning in space at approximately 1,000 mph on a large sphere chasing around the Sun at (hold on!) 67,000 mph! And what would this planet be like if gravity had lined us up say, 100 miles further away or 100 miles closer to our star/sun. Think about that….

This message of joy keeps coming back to me through various channels and frankly it is the one action I can initiate that moves me out of anger and pain. I look for joy and celebration in every moment. I find myself being less critical of those who are responsible for this greed and irresponsibility because in some ways, I AM RESPONSIBLE.

I drive a car– still; I reluctantly accept a styrofoam cup when there are no other choices offered; I wrap left-overs in cling wrap or ziploc bags. Minor infractions, maybe, but multiplied by millions of people millions of times each week and well, that adds up to a lot of petroleum. After meeting up with Julia Butterfly Hill in St. Louis recently, I’ve started carrying my own china, drinking cup, napkin and utensils to functions so that I can take them home and wash and not use disposables.

I’m driving less on purpose, got my bike out of the shop, spending more time helping in the gardens, saving seeds, getting ready for an adventure with the same granddaughter.

We’ll drive this summer to see the redwoods in Northern California. I’ve dreamed of meeting them face to face since I was Maddie’s age. When she was born, I made a silent vow to her “One day you and I will go the redwoods together.” That was almost nine years ago. This is the summer I’ve committed to fulfilling the vow. Another part nags at me to stop consuming gas just for my own personal road trip. And the other part of me isn’t so sure we’ll have another opportunity.  This I can give her and me now, this is a once in a lifetime adventure. We can’t know about next summer let alone next month. What I do know is that we can stand together in the temple of the redwoods, in awe and in balance for a little while, simply experiencing the magnificence of beings that pose no threat, harm no one or no thing, take nothing more than they require for survival, and when their time on the planet is finished ease back into the very soil and soul of the source of life.

I have a strong feeling that while she stands in the shadow of trees taller than any building she’s seen in her life, a bird just might flutter by. Maybe even land on her shoulder.

In joy!

VISION FOR A NEW EARTH:

Meeting at 7:30am on Saturday, June 26, utilizing the energy of the Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse to activate a vision for Mother Earth in her Highest Light. Location is Rio Grande River bridge on Central NW in Albuquerque. Hope to see you there! (PS: HIGH fire danger-no candles, lighters, incense, etc.)

Gardening calendar for June/July from the Farmer’s Alamanac:

June 2010
25th-26th Poor Planting Days. Cut Hay Or Do General Farm Work.
27th-29th Plant Late Beets, Potatoes, Onions, Carrots, And Other Root Crops.
30th. Poor Day For Planting. Kill Plant Pests, Spray, Fertilize, Do General Farm Work.

July 2010
1st. Good Day For Killing Weeds, Briars And Other Plant Pests, Poor For Planting.
2nd-4th Good Days For Planting Beets, Carrots, Radishes, Salsify, Turnips, Peanuts, And Other Root Crops. Also Good For Planting Melons, Cucumbers, Pumpkins, And Other Vine Crops. Set Strawberry Plants.
5th-6th A Barren Period.
7th-8th Root Crops That Can Be Planted Now Will Yield Well.
9th-10th Poor Days For Planting, Seeds Tend To Rot In Ground.
11th-12th Most Favorable For Corn, Cotton, Okra, Beans, Peppers, Eggplant, And Other Above Ground Crops. Plant Seedbeds And Flower Gardens
13th-16th A Most Barren Period. Kill Plant Pests And Do General Farm Work.
17th-18th Favorable For Planting Peas, Beans, Tomatoes, And Other Fall Crops Bearing Above Ground. Sow Grains And Forage Crops. Plant Flowers.

Yes, it’s TRUE! The World Hunger Exhibition is coming our way in just a few days!

Last week I got a message in my Couch Surfing inbox from Chris Sorbi letting me know he and his companion, Cynthia Quispe, would be in town for their presentation and since he saw on my CS profile that hunger was one of my areas of interest, he was kind enough to let me know.

“Yvonne,

We have 2 speaking engagements at a library on Thursday, May 13 from 12-1:00 and Saturday, May 15 from 2-3:00 for a 1 hour slideshow and presentation on world hunger. Main Library, 501 Copper NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102. If you need more info to publicize anything on your blog we can certainly send you some more press release type info.

We will also spend a few days fundraising in the area. We hope it will work out to meet you during our time there and that your week is off to a great start.

Best wishes, Chris and Cynthia”

Thanks so much Chris and Cynthia, and here you are on my blog! SWEET…..

According to his website, Transcontinental Humanitarian Corp. provides education on chronic malnutrition and hunger through the dissemination of facts, charts, graphs, and statistics. We provide this information by presenting live media interviews, lectures and slideshows titled, “The World Hunger Exhibition,” at schools, libraries and other public venues.  These presentations focus on the causes, current efforts and solutions to chronic malnutrition and hunger. They also highlight the geographical, economical, and social aspects of chronic malnutrition.

Transcontinental Humanitarian Corp. aims to provide disaster relief aid in the form of food and water to the severely disadvantaged who are affected by either a lack of existing community resources or a lack of funding and supplies to existing local infrastructures in the time of need. Transcontinental Humanitarian Corp. operates and focuses its resources locally and globally to communities who meet the aforementioned criteria regardless of their geographical location. We provide disaster relief aid through organizing volunteers to serve in affected areas by coordinating and carrying out the distribution of food and water.

SO I’m now letting all of you know that you have the opportunity to meet these motorcycle-riding humanitarians for their free presentation but I do encourage you to leave them some of your cash. Check out their blog www.motorcyclememoir.com and come on down to meet them!

(If you aren’t familiar with Couch Surfing, I encourage you to discover it’s benefits for yourself!)

2012 Edible Gardens by 2012!

Join us in registering 2012 Edible Gardens in Albuquerque by 2012. It’s simple, free and here is all you need to do:

For more information visit our sister site: Albuquerque Backyard Farms and SIGN UP!

Giving Gardens/Plant A Row for the Hungry

What to do with all the mouth-watering delights that will soon start to spill forth from that edible garden? In New Mexico we all want to create salsa–tomatoes, onions, chiles, brought together in our unique blend. And while we New Mexicans rarely have enough salsa to satisfy our cravings, I do urge all gardeners to think ahead in their planting and allow for the extra produce to be shared through the Plant A Row for the Hungry Program.

My co-coordinator this year, Debbie Dapson, created a local logo and flyer just for our central region. The Bernalillo County program is called “Giving Gardens.” Our goal is to connect as many people as possible with their closest food pantry. In the past the aim had been to get produce to Road Runner Food Bank and that is always an option. However, more people are interested in getting their produce fresh to the nearest drop-off point. If you want to participate and receive information and a listing  of local food projects, send me an email. This is probably the most cost effective and least labor intensive volunteer program you can participate in that has the most benefits. Since the gardener is already growing produce, the sudden threat of suffocation-by-zucchini has a quick and simple solution. Take it to the nearest food pantry where a bevy of amazing people without gardens are waiting to share in the bounty. It’s absolutely win/win.

And later this month, I invite you to a very special type of workshop I’m offering:

Last but not least, here is your daily moon sign almanac for May from the Farmers Alamanc:

6th-8th Kill Plant Pests On These Barren Days.
9th-10th Favorable Time For Planting Late Root Crops. Also Good For Vine Crops That Can Be Planted Now. Set Strawberry Plants.
11th-12th Poor Planting, Fine For Cultivating Or Spraying.
13th-14th Favorable For Planting Beans, Corn, Cotton, Tomatoes, Peppers, And Other Above Ground Crops.
15th-16th Any Seed Planted Now Will Tend To Rot.
17th-18th Most Favorable For Planting Corn, Cotton, Okra, Beans, Peppers, Eggplant, And Other Above Ground Crops. Plant Seedbeds And Flower Gardens.
19th-23rd A Barren Period. Good For Killing Plant Pests, Cultivating, Or Taking A Short Vacation.
24th-25th Excellent Time For Planting Corn, Beans, Peppers, And Other Above Ground Crops. Favorable For Sowing Hay, Fodder Crops, And Grains. Plant Flowers.
26th-27th First Day Excellent For Planting Above Ground Crops. Second Day Favorable For Carrots, Beets, Onions, Turnips, And Other Root Crops. Both Days Good For Planting Cabbage, Lettuce And Other Leafy Vegetables, And For Planting Seedbeds.
28th-30th Do No Planting.
31st. Plant Late Beets, Potatoes, Onions, Carrots, And Other Root Crops.

Happy Mother’s Day!

“And you, Mother Earth, the only Mother, you who have shown mercy to your children!
Hear me, four quarters of the world – a relative I am!
Give me the strength to walk the soft earth, a relative to all that is!”

(from Black Elk Speaks)

For now it’s been typical spring in Albuquerque: snow, rain, wind, sunshine, heat, more wind. I hope you already have peas in the ground.  Pea seeds love to be snowed on at least once this time of year. And get those potatoes going–in bags, boxes, tires!

I recently facilitated a short workshop on “Taking Your Garden to the Next Level” for the Albuquerque Backyard Farms priming attendees to get their garden ideas out of their heads and into action. It’s important to think about not one or two but three seasons when you start laying all those seed packets on the kitchen table. You’ll want to get on the ABF email list because this group of talented, feisty gardening and farming addicts has pulled together a non-stop list of workshops, garden tours and resources to help everyone realize their desire for self-sufficiency.

At the March workshop, the first of the Albuquerque Backyard Farms series for 2010, I introduced folks to two zippy little on-line planting programs to help in setting up your schedule for the coming season–especially if you’re behind in your planning!

The first one can be found at the Gardeners Supply website.  Kitchen Garden Custom Planting Map makes it easy to design simple 3 X 6 ft. garden beds indicating how much to plant, when to start seeds and set them out, when to harvest. You can design your own garden based on plants you prefer or use the pre-planned garden schemes on the website.

The second one I suggest you explore is found at a lovely blog called “Skippy’s Vegetable Garden.” The author shared her methods for keeping track of just about everything for her garden as well as this handy dandy planting calendar.

And of course, don’t overlook the Old Farmers Almanac for best planting dates and moon sign dates.

Here are some photos (thank you, Michael!) from that workshop hosted by The Source in southeast Albuquerque–a windy, infrequently rainy day that ended with sunshine and warm breezes. We cleaned the beds of last season’s debris, extended the worm bed, turned the compost in the tire composter, (ah it looks so good!) created a higher raised bed around one of the lasagna beds with stone, and cleaned and planted the old worm bed with peas and greens–15 volunteers in 30 minutes! Now that’s organization.

All hands on deck getting the gardens ready for spring.

Wally and crew designing the stone raised bed.

Extending the worm bed with Brian, resident worm farmer.

From Lasagna Gardens to Grow Boxes there are as many ways to garden as there are starfish in the sea. I’ve used many different resources for growing food and prefer gardens that are placed above-ground for their efficiency, simplicity and the ability to control the growing medium.  In raised beds, the growing medium becomes the compost for the next season’s garden; the ultimate in recycling! They are also faster to set up, easier to maintain, and don’t come with ready-made problems like toxic soil, soil-borne pests or diseases, too much clay or sand, too little of this or not enough that. You have your most immediate success as a novice gardener, a person of fixed income or because of your climate or location–with a raised bed or container. I strongly urge every gardener, even those with lots of land, to benefit from no-till garden designs.

Garden planning requires four considerations (outside of the required soil/sun or shade/water needs) you should factor into your vision each year. They are: frost-free and first-frost dates for your area; succession planting– say 2 weeks apart–so you will have a steady harvest of your favorites yet not too much at once; rotation of beds for health and fertility and; multiple season gardens for maximum food-growing capacity.

Here’s a short list of common vegetables to consider if you need suggestions:

Early Spring

Mid-Spring

Plant these at time of the average last killing spring frost (approximately 4/15 in Albuquerque):

• Carrots
• Cauliflower plants
• Beets
• Onion seeds
• Parsnips
• Swiss Chard

Plant 2 Weeks Later:

• Beans
• Corn
• Early Tomato Seeds

Best Gardening Days for March and April according to the Farmer’s Almanac:

26th-29th. A Most Barren Period, Best For Killing Plant Pests Or Doing Chores Around The Farm. 30th-31st. Favorable Days For Planting Root, Fine For Sowing Hay, Fodder Crops, And Grains. Plant Flowers.

April 2010
1st-3rd. Good Days For Planting Beets, Carrots, Radishes, Turnips, Peanuts, And Other Root Crops. Also Good For Cabbage, Cauliflower, Lettuce, Kale, Celery, And Other Leafy Vegetables. Start Seedbeds. 4th-5th. Barren Days. Do No Planting. 6th-8th. Favorable Days For Planting Beets, Carrots, Turnips, Radishes, Onions, And Other Root Crops. 9th-10th. Excellent Time To Kill Weeds, Briars, Poison Ivy, And Other Plant Pests. 11th-13th. Favorable Days For Planting Root Crops, Extra Good For Vine Crops. Set Strawberry Plants. 14th-15th. Poor Planting Days. Break Ground Or Cultivate

Enjoy this Full Moon Monday and happy planting this week!

Permaculture is a design system based on ethics and principles which can be used to establish, design, manage and improve all efforts made by individuals, households and communities towards a sustainable future.

There is a growing buzz on the internet and social networking systems about a “different” kind of aid effort: a Permaculture relief corps. There is actually a listserve devoted to this discussion and articles are popping up all over engaging in this theme. Why Permaculture and what would a “permaculture relief” team look like? Here’s one article I found helpful on Maddy Harland’s blog Permaculture Magazine Editorial. She points out how the principles of permaculture design lend themselves so well to healing the Earth following natural disasters, and by extension, the people living there, as well.

Co-developed by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren back in the good ol’ days of the 1970’s, Permaculture deals with the basic issues of sustaining life wholistically by dealing with what is in front of you.  If you need water, look at where and how you can collect it, reclaim it, clean it, save it; don’t wait for the USAID truck to drive down your road with plastic bottles shipped in. (They may not come.) You don’t wait for heavy moving equipment, you create smaller versions of your system with your hands or invent simple tools. And you don’t let anything go to waste. (Something most Haitians have more experience with than I ever will.)

But why is there such poverty and lack of infrastructure and why has it continued for so long? The people and the island of Haiti have endured several centuries of interventionism by the United States and European nations under the guise of “stabilization.” In this interview by Amy Goodman of Democracy NOW!, journalist Kim Ives discusses how this has crippled the Haitians from recovering more rapidly from natural disasters.

People trained in Permaculture understand and honor systems for working together, by developing the best approach based upon the resources–human and otherwise–available. Rather than utilizing a cookie-cutter approach to any situation, PC’s carry in a value system, a way of looking at a situation and developing answers based on what they see and experience hand in hand with the local population.

And while a Permaculture Relief Corps couldn’t replace medical emergency personnel, its practitioners would be able to get other life-saving systems underway like composting toilets and rudimentary sanitation systems, water purification, solar ovens, and of course, survival gardens. Rather than watching the defunct systems continue to implode day by day, the PC relief workers could guide and empower the citizens on the ground to regain some of what they have lost. Here’s an article by Cory Brennan, one of the movers and shakers for this idea, that relates how Permaculture  can help to re-structure and revitalize an area after a disaster.

Permaculture systems create sustainable, long term solutions that incorporate the needs of the local population and its culture while training its citizens to replicate these systems when the PC workers are gone. Permaculture becomes a way to reconnect the various components or threads of community no matter how tattered they may be.

My blog on “outrageous gardens” is a direct result of my own permaculture training. I took one principle– “the problem is the solution” –to its limits and learned that you can create a growing space anywhere, anytime from whatever you have available and it’s probably more effective than what you had before.

So just thinking about all the possibilities related to a team of PC’s going to Haiti brightens my day, and there haven’t been too many bright days since Jan. 12th.

For more information about the Permaculture relief effort for Haiti, go to www.permaculturehaiti.org. There, you can also sign up to volunteer, request assistance or offer materials and supplies.

To participate in the on-line discussion and dissemination of information on this endeavor, sign up for the PC Relief listserve here.

To read more about some of the Permaculture work that was already in place in Haiti prior to the earthquake, check out: www.oursoil.org

And here you’ll find just about everything related to permaculture on the web.

This is an idea whose time has not only come but is fundamentally necessary for rebuilding Haiti from within. There are Permaculture relief workers on the ground in Haiti today and we’ll keep following their progress on my “Haiti” page. If you know of other PC Relief sites, please send them to me or add in the comments for this page!

“Permaculture is that art of the possible”

Graham Bell ‘The Permaculture Garden”

And then it was Tuesday evening at my computer, after a delicious meal with a good friend, that I received the first dispatch from Margaret Trost, founder and chairperson of the What If? Foundation:

Dear Friends of the What If? Foundation,

Earlier today there was a 7.0 earthquake off the cost of Port-au-Prince, Haiti (the capital city and location of the programs we support).  We are deeply concerned about the St. Clare’s community and all of Haiti.  We have not been able to get through by phone to find out any information about what’s happened at the food program or in the surrounding area.  As soon as we hear anything, we will email again.

Later that same night, Margaret was interviewed on KCBS 740 AM in Berkeley about the situation:

View Full Clip

By 8 pm, my world view changed completely.

No longer focused on the elation of all my good fortune, my eyes, ears and heart are only on Haiti. I was supposed to travel there this month. I was going to volunteer at the food program supported by What If? and get to know the community and see if, when, and how I could be of service and support them in creating more food growing systems and gardens in their area.  As my mom would often say, “there but for the grace of God” would I have been in Haiti last Tuesday.

As it turned out, the program wasn’t ready for me and a dear friend (and extremely talented astrologer) told me in no uncertain terms that I shouldn’t travel especially abroad during December and January. End of story.

I’m here. I’m safe. And I justify my good fortune this way: the Goddess had other plans for me, plans to be part of the next generation of assistance.  After all the emergency services have gone, and the great wave of eager hands and hearts must return home to rest and recover, when the people of Haiti are left once again to determine how to proceed, I will be ready and willing to go.

I wait now for each of Margaret’s almost daily emails to all the supporters, as we live vicariously through the tedious and onerous process undertaken by the organization’s amazing on-the-ground Haitian coordinator to move supplies from the Dominican Republic across Haiti.  In the short term, emergency food rations must meet the need. In the not-so-distant future, perhaps small gardens could lead the way out of hunger.

Margaret Trost of What If? Foundation with children of St. Clare's -- in better times.

For the moment, we can ask for financial assistance. Please consider the following organizations that have extensive in-country networks, run by local groups if you are still unsure where to place your donations:

What If? Foundation – www.whatiffoundation.org

Partners in Health

Doctors Without Borders

Much lies ahead but I put my money on the hearts and souls of the Haitian people.  I close this post with a Creole quote Margaret often repeats: piti piti na rive– little by little we arrive.

PS: Regarding that glorious $100 million dollars in aid promised by President Obama?

Of the twenty-two industrial nations of the world, the United States is last on per-capita giving to the poor peoples of the world. For every dollar that America gives to the world, the people of Norway give seventy.(2009 State of the Future report, Exec Summary pdf, p. 5)

“It is important for people to realize that we can make progress against world hunger, that world hunger is not hopeless. The worst enemy is apathy.”
– Reverend David Beckmann

And sealed within apathy is the feeling of helplessness with a smattering of “it will always be this way” thrown at us on a daily basis.

Sunflowers shouldn’t grow in a sidewalk grate but they can and do. If I believed it would always be this way, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do which is teach people to garden, collect simple, sustainable methods for gardening, or plant even one seed. Gardening teaches me that nothing is impossible or unchangeable.

Life in general IS change. Without change we could not grow, heal from illness, bake bread, fall in love, have children. All those and more demand that something changes. And true to the life energy itself, my personal career path has meandered onto a completely different territory since August, one that is allowing me more time to write on the book that set this blog in motion.

The purpose for this blog and the book remain–seeking ways to end hunger and poverty at the most basic and empowering level by growing our own food.

Over the past year, the human species surpassed one billion people living in poverty and malnutrition. Yet, we continue to grow more than enough food to feed every person on this planet. How can that disparity occur? Part of it may be that we as a species don’t yet BELIEVE we can end hunger and poverty. But there are voices that continue to stir the winds of doubt and point toward an ending of this most vile of human ills. One such document is the Millennium Development Goals.

In September 2000, 189 world leaders adopted the Millenium Development Goals (or MDGs) as part of the Millennium Declaration, agreed to at the United Nations Millennium Summit.

The MDG’s set an unprecedented global framework for development that is a crucial step towards ending poverty and inequality by 2015.

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDs, malaria, and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

To learn more and to participate in an action today, go to www.standagainstpoverty.org and be counted.

Yes, we still have a ways to go but the first step is seeing a better way, a solution even if it hasn’t happened yet. We need to inform ourselves of what hasn’t worked in the past by deviating from old ruts like some of these recent news stories point out:

• According to the new report from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), global trade in the past 20 years has neither improved working conditions or  living standards in many developing countries.
• The World Health Organization estimates that, at any given moment, 20 million children are suffering from severe forms of food deprivation as a consequence of various crises and food aid needs to be of a quality that will provide nourishment quickly. An article in Foreign Policy magazine questions how healthy fortified, blended wheat, corn, or soy flours are to counteract malnutrition even though they are the mainstay of many emergency food programs. Critics point out a more nutritious supplement should be routinely provided as well as the need to utilize local markets for staple items.
• A World Summit on Food Security will be held in November of this year in Rome. The goals? Not so different from the MDG’s.

FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf, who proposed the World Summit on Food Security, hopes the participants will agree on key actions to tackle this crisis.  According to Diouf:

This Lammas I had much to celebrate. My personal “harvest” included a transition to new type of position living alongside a house full of women on the University of New Mexico campus. This allows me to use many of the skills I’ve acquired over this lifetime (including patience which I know will be tested many times) and provides time to continue to write and support all the new gardens cropping up (no pun intended) all over the city.

While re-reading the most recent edition of Cosmic Time ezine from astrologer, Allison Rae, I couldn’t help but see myself and this new position reflected in her column. Her Star Priestess website and blog are pure poetry and her insights are uplifting and positive while keeping us well-grounded: in the movements of the planets and the constellations, and in this amazing Universe where our exquisite blue planet is suspended. Here are her thoughts on the power of the ancient celebration of Lammas (traditionally August 1-2) and its late summer dance in the wheel of the year:

“Lammas celebrates the first fruits of the harvest. The masculine and feminine energies have combined to fertilize the crops that are beginning to yield fruits, vegetables and grains. The Earth and the Sun share with us. We, in turn, share with each other…How are we prepared, and not prepared, to live a simpler way, cooperatively, in harmony with our brothers and sisters around the world? How are we taking care of ourselves, each other, and the Earth?” (www.starpriestess.com)

My goal this year, is to be a model for my charges, and to remind them of their responsibility to this planet. There is much to do, for I’m noticing we have not prepared our children well, to quote an old song.

To help readers answer Allison’s insightful question I’m honored to be giving away a copy of the soon-to-be released, The Call of the Land by Santa Fe author and friend, Steve McFadden.  Here’s the rules:  send me an email with the word “Steve” in the subject line by midnight Sept. 5th to be entered. We’ll announce the winner a few days later. Thanks, Steve, for giving our readers the opportunity to read your newest and deeply provocative book even before the ink had dried.

The Call of the Land
An Agrarian Primer for the 21^st Century

• A sourcebook exploring positive pathways for food security, economic stability, environmental health, and cultural renewal

The land calls out to us urgently. Our food and security are on the line. Impending matters of finance, transport, water, oil, climate and diet compel us to respond immediately and wholeheartedly.

We have commenced a transition the likes of which few are prepared for, but to which we all can respond with intelligence. Now is the time to establish a renewed agrarian foundation that is rooted in experience, adapted to the specific needs of our land, oriented to the future, and capable of integrating high-tech, sustainable practices. This is the profound vision skillfully articulated in The Call of the Land.

While no single remedy meets the many challenges to our land and food, hundreds of positive, creative options are already in place for families, neighborhoods, suburbs, and cities. The Call of the Land illuminates the paths forward, revealing a range of models to establish a sustainable agrarian foundation for the fragile high-tech, digital-wave culture emerging so dynamically in our world.

Veteran journalist Steven McFadden is co-author of Farms of Tomorrow, Farms of Tomorrow Revisited, and the author of Profiles in Wisdom, Legend of the Rainbow Warriors, and Odyssey of the 8^th Fire.

There are still good planting days for the late fall and even winter garden if you plan to use a cold frame of some sort. In fact some of the best planting days are coming up with this Full Moon in Pisces on Sept. 4. So get ready to plant above-ground annuals (greens, peas, etc.) from 9/3 – 9/4.

Plant or transplant for root growth: 9/5 and again 9/8 – 9/10.

The 12th to the 14th of September is a good time to prune, fertilize, compost and water deeply.

PLEASE REMEMBER: Your food banks, churches and food pantries need your contribution of fresh vegetables and fruits. Don’t let any of your garden excess go to waste.  To learn more about the Plant A Row for the Hungry program, visit Road Runner Food Bank’s website at:  http://www.rrfb.org/.

“There must be new contact between men and the earth; the earth must be newly seen and heard and felt and smelled and tasted; there must be a renewal of the wisdom that comes with knowing clearly the pain and the pleasure and the risk and the responsibility of being alive in this world.” — Wendell Berry

My evening at the Wayside Community Gardens workshop in Normandy on the north side of St. Louis, could not have been more perfect. The folks who came to learn and participate on July 14, were excited at the prospect of using sheet mulching to cut down on their mowing while at the same time contributing to building up the fertility in the soil.

Wayside Community Gardens, Normandy, MO

We created one lasagna bed for the Girls, Inc. area which my daughter, Mariella Funk, guides and oversees as part of her responsibilities with Operation Food Search.

Laying out the new bed with newspaper.

Adding the organic layers to the new bed.

Adding the finishing touches of topsoil to the new bed.

We also set up a wading pool garden with two very accomplished young assistants who believed you just can’t be too safe when working in the garden!

My best assistants wearing their protective garden gear!

Yvonne helping the group visualize greens and peas for the fall!

Planting carrots and beets.

Thanks to Dan Linck, Jane Reise and all the Wayside gardeners for all the assistance. A special thanks to my daughter, Mariella Funk, for organizing this opportunity to be “outrageous” in Missouri!

One question that came up from the group was about just what organic materials are best to use in a lasagna or raised bed. The list is virtually endless. (More about that next time.) But here’s an example of ingenuity in utilizing whatever you have available to grow food in or on:

And here’s the list of BEST PLANTING DATES for the remainder of July according to the Moon signs (I’m certain Neil Armstrong would approve!)

July 20-21–great for planting (21st is better than the 20th)

July 24-25–Good for all planting/gardening activities plus planning your Fall garden!

July 26-27–Excellent for planting ornamentals or anything for beauty or color.

July 30-31–Another great time for all planting.

(Source: www.starpathways.com)

Next time:  planning your fall garden.

Mohandas K. Gandhi: To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.

So what’s the “secret?”

The title of this blog may be a bit deceiving to some yet I am quite certain that what we call gardens are simply energetic relationships that manifest through the intention of soil, seeds, water, air and sunlight brought together all in one place.  People at our workshops watch us throw together some newspaper, dried leaves, spoiled hay or grass clippings, some not quite decomposed compost, maybe some pumice stones or even cola cans, toss them into a tire or wading pool or a rectangle of straw bales– VOILA! –they see a garden. I see the Universe. But that’s another blog.

There is a teeny bit more to forming a useful, nutritious and fairly all-purpose, growing medium.  So perhaps the real “secret” is in the way all those items are placed in a growing container or piled on top of a piece of ground. I have a system that I like to use but you can design your own based around the materials you have available in your area and following a basic procedure of layering.

When you have collected all your organic matter together and are ready to put together the growing area, this is what you’ll do:

Stack each of the various layers of material one on top the next after creating a weed barrier of thick layers of newspaper or cardboard.  Next is a base or bottom layer to provide water absorption; next is an aeration (breathing space) layer; then a slow-release organic nutrients layer; and finally a topping of finished compost and topsoil with a dusting of bone meal, rock phosphate or wood ashes, where the seedlings and seeds will get started.

Cross-section of the various layers in straw bale garden.

But wait a minute, you say. Is that all there is to it?  Well, yes and no.  There are some general guidelines about the way each layer works as part of the whole.  What will be a bit different depending on your area, climate, time of year, are the organic materials you will have available.

We’ve gotten so many requests for a handout on this,  that I created a guide with photos and diagrams so folks at workshops would no longer have to scribble furiously on notebooks or the back of envelopes while we demonstrated.  You will be able to order a copy of  The Secret of Outrageous Gardens right here soon [has to wait until after my family reunion.] The document is in PDF form and will be easy to download and very inexpensive.

[Please know that proceeds are used to support the work of several organizations uprooting hunger in various parts of the world. See my Resources page and thanks for helping out.]

Backyard at the Zemach residence.

If you’re still not convinced that thick layers of organic mulch, water harvesting as opposed to irrigation, and a wide diversity of interplanted herbs, edibles and perennials can’t possibly happen in high desert, enjoy these photos taken June 27 at Mary Zemach’s annual permaculture tour of her residence in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Her home was the cover photo for Toby Hemenway’s first edition of Gaia’s Garden, a must-read for anyone feeling the urging to restore their particular section of the planet to health while claiming all the moisture we’re gifted in the form of rain.

Mary Zemach with some very happy horseradish.

Thank you, Miss Mary, for your willingness to share your experience, your wisdom, your wit and joy, and your commitment to the Earth with so many people over the years.

UPCOMING EVENTS:  If you’re in the St. Louis area next week, I’ll be doing a workshop on Bastille Day — July 14th– at Wayside Community Gardens in Normandy, MO,  about outrageous ways to create a garden as well as 3-season gardening. Wayside Gardens is located just north of the city of St. Louis.

Since I’m driving east from Albuquerque and taking my sweet time, I have committed myself to eating only locally produced food hopefully from Farmers Markets and food coops. I’m creating an itinerary around certain locations and days and times the markets are open. It is a challenge since so many markets are open only on Friday or Saturday. I’ll let you know how this challenge unfolds along with pictures wherever I manage to pull over and load up the cooler with local produce.

On Saturday evening, July 25th, I’ll be joining my dear friend Charlie Z better known as Mr. HotLix at KUNM-FM radio here in Albuquerque. While Charlie rolls out the best late night listening music, he and I will be conversing about the current situation in New Mexico regarding food insecurity, hunger, and some easy solutions we can all believe in! Hot Lix is broadcast on Saturdays from 8:30-10:00 pm. See ya on the radio!

[Artwork by Christina Bouajila www.crewnewmexico.com/creativeartist]