When you wobble...dig deep. Be a dandelion!

I've been smitten with dandelions ever since I can remember.  This little weed, she inspires me. Her determination to thrive in any condition, to bloom wherever she is planted, speaks to me.

We are living in wild times.  We have to decide if we are going to bloom or whither.  Nature teaches us how to be resilient, how to thrive in storms and come back from fires.  How to bloom on our own.  We are more resilient than we know.

I love dandelions because of their feisty spirits.  When I start to wobble...and of course I do wobble, slump and grieve....and then I think: "Be a Dandelion Denise".

The wisdom of Dandelion

My tap root runs deep. It is strong. When I need nourishment or water I dig deep into the earth.

Try to pull me up...my root may snap, but that is only temporary.  Before long I will be blooming again ... stronger, brighter, more joyfully.

My roots are medicinal, I am meant to heal

My leaves are nourishing, I am food

My flower is bright yellow. I bring joy

I'm the first to bloom in the spring and one of the last to bloom into winter.  If I get planted in tall grass, I will shoot my blooms up high so I can see. I will explode thousands of seeds. I have faith at least one will find soil.

Not everyone understands my value.  By most, I'm considered a weed and yet I don't mind. I continue to multiply and grow despite the effort to quiet me.  I don't need much to bloom. You can find me growing in unlikely places.  I grow in ditches. I bloom on freeway walls...with nothing to hang onto but a handful of dirt...I will bloom no matter where I find myself. It is my gift.

I'm a determined and feisty soul. I am who I am, and I like my spirit. I will thrive in any climate, any season, any location.  I am tender and strong.  I am bouquets of love given by tiny hands.

I am the definition of resiliency.  I am medicine. I am nourishment. I am spirited. I am beautiful. I am bright, I am happy. I am authentically me.  I am a dandelion. 

This is what I think when I need to dig in deep and bloom... in uncertain times ... let your roots dig in deep, your spirit bloom.  Don't ask permission or wait for the perfect conditions. 

We have one life and this is it!  Let's bloom where we are planted!  Be a dandelion! Be whatever you need to be...listen to your heart, your spirit, your joy.  Let's find ways to thrive, re-create, to connect, bloom, grow, share.  We all have it in us.  That feisty, wild spirit... this spirit we need to listen to.  The world needs our blooms!

No matter what the world is doing, in spite what is going on around us- bloom!

    Denise...I'm digging in right next to you!

Symphony of the Soil

   A little known fact about me is:  I love a good documentary.  For me, the key to a great documentary is starting with a a movie of quality, with an interesting topic, an inspiring message and a movie that leaves me pondering days after watching.

                     Plus, a great documentary movie provides the perfect reason to have gathering.

   I call it a A Documentary Party

My latest documentary movie favorite is:

A Symphony of the Soil.   

   Of course, I understand not everyone gets into documentaries, dirt, composting and learning as much as I do, but this documentary is worth the risk.  If you love to garden, have a worm bin, compost pile or even just love science, this is the movie for you.  If you have friends with similar interests, share this wonder.  We closet scientists usually flock together!!

    To host a documentary party all you need is an invitation, TV, popcorn and maybe some tea and there you have it:  a documentary party has been created.  Not only are Documentary parties super easy, they are also good mixers.  It doesn't matter if you know a soul before the movie, after the movie, everyone has an instant and common connection.

   I borrowed A Symphony of the Soil from the King Country Library but I could own this one and watch it over an over again.  This documentary was inspiring, beautiful, educational and entertaining.  I give it 4.5 stars out of a possible 5 stars.  A perfect movie to get you into the party and gardening season! Hope you enjoy- let me know if you watch it and what you think!

Click here to go to the Symphony of the Soil Home Page

 
Wishing you a happy, healthy and prosperous spring!!
      Denise

1 year under my Lasagna belt

Last year at this same time, I was watching the little plants in my newly built lasagna beds grow. If you remember I created my first beds using the guidance from Patricia Lanza's book, Lasagna Gardening.

Even though the garden was hugely successful: I had very few weeds, the soil held moisture incredibly well and my root veggies were so perfect. I still wondered about Lasagna gardening. Maybe, I thought, it was just too good to be true.

If you didn't follow last years experiment, Here is the readers digest version. Lasagna gardening is a way to garden without tilling, spading or removing sod and weeds. It is a way to use up household compostables like shredded paper, chopped leaves, cut grass and anything else you can find- like weeds before they go to seed. You layer these compostables one after another- like a lasagna and then you plant into the bed.

Fast forwarding to now: This spring I had to pull up my 1st lasagna bed to put in our new sewer system- this is a whole other story. Here is what I found! I found the most beautiful, rich, dark composted soil I have ever seen. Even with my compost bins I have never created that much compost. Success!!!! I am now a true believer!

Happy digging!!
Denise

Lasagna bed experiments get an A+

This morning's newspaper had an article from Mike Stanly the project manager at our cities community garden. It is good to talk to or at least hear from other gardeners. A couple topics caught my attention. First, was the effect the cool and damp spring has had on our local gardens. Lots and lots of slugs are not just part of my garden but more of a wet spring thing. Slow to grow pepper and tomatoes are normal and his first experiment with lasagna gardens is so far a great success.

What does this mean to my own garden? Well since you asked, my tomatoes are growing great, with big stems, healthy foliage and new baby tomatoes. They do not look yellow or spindly but robust. I attribute their vigor to planting my tomatoes in my lasagna gardens. I can't remember if I told you but I built two more beds this spring. In one day, I built the beds and planted my tomatoes. Apparently, if you are highly motivated and creative, building these beds is a snap!

Anyway, I was excited to hear it was more likely the cool and damp spring and not my lasagna beds that brought in the slugs in such abundance. However, my lasagna beds have given me huge and beautiful purple potato plants, great big red beets and yummy onions.

Last night for dinner we pulled our first beets. Not only were they the most beautiful beets I have ever grown, the lasagna soil was incredible rich, dark, moist and so tender. It's hard to believe just a few months ago it was a bunch of shredded paper, chopped leaves, grass clippings, chopped straw, peat moss compost, kitchen scraps, etc...

With the hot weather finally here, I'm curious to see what the beds do with a little heat to match up with their incredible soil. Thanks also to a fellow gardener and lasagna bed experimenter for a few words of confirmation in the local gardening climate.

The lasagna bed shown above is my first built. The potatoes are on the far end. My tomatoes are in two other beds in my back yard. By the way, did I mention this bed is built on a bed of rocks. There is only about 1/2 -1 inch of top soil the rest if a solid layer of rocks. Not a bad garden if I do say so myself. If I had to rate the fun and success of lasagna gardening so far it would get an A+. As an added bonus I have only had to pull about 5 weeds out of this bed all year. My normal beds have tons more weeds!!

Happy gardening,

Denise

200 B.C. same old same old....

"One thing is sure: the earth is more cultivated and developed now than ever before; there is more farming but fewer forests, swamps are drying up and cities are springing up on an unprecedented scale. We have become a burden to our planet. Resources are becoming scarce and soon nature will not longer be able to satisfy our needs."
Quintus Septimus Tertullianus
200 B.C.

This quote comes out of the last chapter in Peter Pringle's Food Inc. A book giving both sides of genetically modified food. Kind of interesting when you look at the date. When we only see what is in our own vision it is hard to comprehend anything else. I always wonder what do I believe that is real and what do I believe that is not?

Wishing you more questions than answers,
Denise

Purple potatoes break ground in Lasagna garden

It is working!!! I have potatoes, carrots and beets all coming up in my lasagna garden. It was touch and go for a couple of weeks as it took about 2 weeks for the plants to break soil. It probably had more to do with our temperatures than my lasagna garden. My other non-lasagna garden bed with carrots took just as long to sprout. Dallas-my husband-doesn't think I'm the most patient of gardeners. I keep looking and looking-waiting and waiting.

I planted both purple and red potatoes. The plate in the picture features both purple potatoes and mung beans a picture of my lunch last fall. The purple potatoes are coming up with deep purple leaves. Both types of potatoes just came from my grocery store I let sprout in my pantry.

Next to plant, will be my Aunt Velma's corn from Holyoke, lemon cucumbers, more carrots, squash, and of course tomatoes and peppers. It is looking like our garden experiments are so far so good.

When I get a chance I'll catch you up on my worm bin fertilizer- I have a productive herd of worms!!

Wishing you a garden of abundance.

Denise

Lasagna garden done- filled with worms

First day of spring, it was in the low 60s, Saturday and the perfect day to finish off my lasagna garden bed before planting. Yesterday, I finished my layering. So far, setting up has been a little more work than expected, but this might be because I'm a rooky. A seasoned lasagna gardener might have had this done in 1/2 the time.

While I was digging up my composted leaves and straw, I found more worms than I think I've ever seen. I don't even have this many in my worm bin. There were hundreds and hundreds of worms. I even took a picture of one because they were sooooo big. Did you know big worms move slower than little worms?

I'm lucky my grandpa used to take me digging for worms when when we would go fishing. If it weren't for my mom always smiling when she saw worms in her garden or my grandpa taking me fishing, I might have been a little freaked out. Luckily, I come from a strong worm loving family. If I was finding snakes in my garden- this might have been a whole different conversation!!!!

wishing you a happy spring and healthy garden.

Densie

Healthy Families - Healthy Lawns - Healthy Homes

Spring has sprung! Flowers are starting to bloom, trees are budding out and my lawn need mowed. I love spring, it makes me want to go back outside and dig in the dirt.
This is also the season to add extra TLC to your lawn so it is lush and healthy. Before you go buy the normal weed and feed for your lawn consider this...

Where do the herbicides go that don't get absorbed into your weeds?
They get tracked into your home or wash down into the sound waters.
They get on your pets feet and then are licked off.
They go to bed with your kids.
They end up in the air with your dust.

Pesticides and herbicides should be used like you spot clean clothes. Only if needed and only on the spot needed. You wouldn't clean your whole load of laundry with a spotter.

This year consider going natural with your yard care. Here are some resources to get you started.

Natural yard Care: www.ecy.wa.gov/beyondwaste/compost.html
WSU Master Gardener information http://mastergardener.wsu.edu/gardening.html
Integrated Pest Management: www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/swfa/upest or http://pep.wsu.edu/hortsense/
Noxious weed control: www.kingcounty.gov/weeds
Pesticide safety and regulations: www.agr.wa.gov/pestfert/pesticides
Building healthy soil and erosion control: http://www.buildingsoil.org/

Resource: Department of Ecology State of Washington:
Natural Yard Care
5 steps to make your piece the planet a healthier place to live

If you have any questions you are always welcome to contact me: info@dfbluesky.com

Wishing you a healthy and happy spring
Denise

The great lasagna garden experiement of 2010

This is the beginning of my lasagna bed. I wrote a little about this last fall, but in case you missed my earlier blog let me give you a reminder.

Lasagna gardening was introduced to me be a former neighbor, dear friend and excellent gardener. She thought I would enjoy lasagna gardening.

Lasagna gardening is kind of like sheet composting, where you lay organics out, layer by layer and let mother nature do the work of breaking them down. You use compostable material you find around your home and neighborhood such as grass clippings, fruit, veggies, egg shells, coffee grounds, leaves, straw, compost, wood ashes. You can also use local compostables such as manure, hay, straw, sawdust, seaweed/kelp. The author of the book Lasagna Gardening also relys on peat moss between each layer of compostable material.

I found this form of gardening fascinating for several reasons. You don't have to pull up any sod, as you lay newspaper or cardboard over and smother the grass and weeds. You can rebuild soil that seems unable to grow a good garden. You use your own resources instead of buying new or throwing away organic material. Supposedly, you don't need to do much weeding, you don't have to till the ground each year and you don't have to water as much.

Sounds almost too good to be true doesn't it? After many years of pondering this type of gardening, I'm going to do my first lasagna experiment this spring. Last year, I experimented with water and sweet potatoes. This year it is lasagna gardening.

The site I chose is going to be a great test. There is perhaps 1 inch of top soil here, below the little layer of top soil is a lovely bed of rocks. Of course, I wouldn't normally choose this soil for a rich garden but if lasagna gardening will work here it will work any where. On the good side of this site, it is close to water, I can easily see it and enjoy my gardening process from my office window and maybe most importantly it has the most sunlight in the summer.

As you can see in the above picture I have been assembling organics since last fall, borrowing grass clipping and leaves from my neighbor. My friend Tina grabbed a bale of straw from a Autumn display. As of today my lasagna bed is about 4 inches full of compost, straw, grass clippings, and one layer of peat moss I had left over in my garden shed. I need to build this bed up to about 18-24 inches- I have a long way to go.....

I'll keep you posted of this experiment as I play through the process. If you are interested the book I'm working out of, it is called Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza. Hope you join me in playing in the dirt this year.

Happy composting,

Denise

"Go outside and get the stink blown off"

"Go outside and get the stink blown off" These are words my mom must have said to me on a weekly base when I was growing up. I don't know what led to her saying. Was I getting grumpy, acting up, was I bored, pale, snippy, tired, edgy??? I have no idea- well that's not entirely true. Her words sound off in my head even now when I'm a bit out of sorts or feeling caged up.

Going up in Colorado, even in the winter, I still had outside chores. I was suppose to water the cattle. In the winter, this also meant, chipping ice out of the tank, so there was room for fresh water. It meant being extra careful not to run the tank over. After it was filled, I needed to stretch out the hose and carefully lift it up over my head. From one end to the other end until all the water had run out. Do you know how much trouble it is to thaw a hose in the middle of winter??? Do you know how unhappy your family memebers are with you if you freeze a hose?

I now live in the city, I don't have cows I need to water. I walk my dogs most everyday but it isn't quite the same as accomplishing a chore. This afternoon it was sunny and all I wanted to do was go outside and clean out my rock/herb garden bed outside my living room window.

This whole day I had been plaged with a heavy feeling of dispair. I took a little break and my mom's advice and went outside. I pulled weeds, cut off perenials and moved around little rocks. It wasn't a big job but I paused from my day and put my hands in rich winter soil. Smelling the sage leaves as I raked, I looked at the dark soil, saw little worms. This pause was a little bit of heaven. Taking me less than 1 hour I went outside and "got the stink blown off" and in the midst of my mothers advice my day was so much sweeter.

Wishing you a good trip outside,
Denise

Smacked in the face with smelly dryer sheets

The dogs are walked and I'm back in for the evening. As I was walking, I noticed how earthy it smelled outside. All the leaves decomposing on the ground, it smelled so rich.

As we trotted along- whack- the smell of dryer sheets covered up all the autumn smells and flooded my nose with thick fake flowers. Fake fragrances are like having plastic flowers. Maybe, I'm jaded from being in the cleaning industry for so long. No, tonight the dryer sheets were powerfully obnoxious!

When I smell plastic fragrances I cringe. Partly from my own sensitivities and partly because the man made fragrances pale in comparison to nature and yet are so strong they smack you over the head. Those smells are out place and sneaky, like an invading pest attacking our sense of smell. The evening smelled so fresh, so clean, so earthy and then -wham- fake plastic rose smells. Yuk.

Have a residue free stroll,
Denise

Lasagna Gardening takes root

Years ago I had a neighbor, Dianna, who recommended I try lasagna gardening. She thought this type of gardening and I would be a perfect match. I didn't start lasagna gardening then but its seed was firmly planted.

What is lasagna gardening? I'll let Patricia Lanza explain it in her own words. ( Patricia is the author of Lasagna Gardening)

"Lasagna Gardening is a nontraditional, organic, layering method you can use to create better soil while keeping your gardens neat and attractive. ... Based on a commonsense approach and readily available natural ingredients, lasagna gardening is an easy, time-saving way to install and maintain any kind of garden without removing the sod, digging or tilling. Close planting and generous mulching greatly reduce the time needed for watering and weeding. And because of the healthy growing environment, lasagna gardens are plagued with fewer garden pests."


For me lasagna gardening is an intriguing idea filled will possibilities. To the west of my house, we have a patch of land. It has maybe 1-2 inches of top soil, below that a nice bed of rocks. This is not the ideal setting for a garden. The area does have some good points -sunshine and close proximity to the water spicket. This horrible soil is where I'm experimenting with my first lasagna bed. If I can grow a garden here you can grow one any where!

The idea of using waste from my home and yard and creating healthy soil is as old as dirt. This is what lasagna gardening does. Gathering up organic waste and using it as the foundation on which to rebuild soil. Layering newspaper, leaves, grass, compost, peat moss, chopped plants, straw, hay, manure, sawdust, seaweed, wood ashes, coffee grounds and stone dust to create a sheet composting system. Fantastic!

This is residue free gardening at its best. Building healthy Eco-systems and minimizing waste!

My experiment starts this fall. This month I'll be collecting matterial and building my beds. Our home is a buzz with excitment!!!

Happy and healthy homes,
Denise