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
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Fresh Out of the Garden Tortilla
Saturday at 1:00 pm.
My house is clean but my stomach was complaining. Before I head off Federal Way's Farmers market I needed to eat. My tendency would be to grab something fast and maybe not that healthy just so I could keep going. Heavens help me if we stop for a few minutes: eat a little bite, catch our breath and maybe enjoy just a bit of this gorgeous sunshine.
What are we rushing around for? Isn't today the most important day? Why don't we stop and enjoy this moment before moving on? I will and I did. Firsts things first- food- I needed food.
A lesson Dallas and I learned very early in our cleaning career- you must eat and hydrate yourself. You can't clean on an empty stomach with no water. You can try but it's just a matter of time before your body will ignore you and stop.
A better idea is to listen and do as your body begs. This Saturday I did and ended up making the best lunch. Just in case you find yourself at the end of a project with a growling stomach give this recipe a try;
Fresh out of the garden tortilla
In a skillet put in one flour tortilla
turn on burner to medium
In the tortilla
grate a light layer of mozzarella cheese
chop up some fresh basil
slice a small fresh sweet pepper
cut up a few sweet cherry tomatoes
top with a light sprinkle of sea salt
Warm until cheese melts - don't flip just fold and serve
This was better than any fast food!!
Here's to a happy and healthy home,
Denise
My house is clean but my stomach was complaining. Before I head off Federal Way's Farmers market I needed to eat. My tendency would be to grab something fast and maybe not that healthy just so I could keep going. Heavens help me if we stop for a few minutes: eat a little bite, catch our breath and maybe enjoy just a bit of this gorgeous sunshine.
What are we rushing around for? Isn't today the most important day? Why don't we stop and enjoy this moment before moving on? I will and I did. Firsts things first- food- I needed food.
A lesson Dallas and I learned very early in our cleaning career- you must eat and hydrate yourself. You can't clean on an empty stomach with no water. You can try but it's just a matter of time before your body will ignore you and stop.
A better idea is to listen and do as your body begs. This Saturday I did and ended up making the best lunch. Just in case you find yourself at the end of a project with a growling stomach give this recipe a try;
Fresh out of the garden tortilla
In a skillet put in one flour tortilla
turn on burner to medium
In the tortilla
grate a light layer of mozzarella cheese
chop up some fresh basil
slice a small fresh sweet pepper
cut up a few sweet cherry tomatoes
top with a light sprinkle of sea salt
Warm until cheese melts - don't flip just fold and serve
This was better than any fast food!!
Here's to a happy and healthy home,
Denise
Saturday, August 29, 2009
The practice of house work
It's Saturday early afternoon, my house is clean! Did I always love to clean? Heavens no! As a young girl it was like a life sentence. Living on a farm my brothers would go do something fun like build fence or pick up hay. I had to stay inside and help my mom. I'm sure from my brothers perspective I was spoiled rotten and the lucky one. Well -the grass is always greener!
Still house work was not a natural fit for me. Funny how life works out, for the past 19 years it has been my profession. What do I think of house work now? My mood shifts week to week as I clean but in general it has become a friend. In yoga my instructor talks about grounding yourself and doing grounding exercises. There is nothing in the world more grounding than cleaning your toilet!
For me, cleaning has become a practice. A practice of gratitude, a practice of creativity, a practice of relaxing and letting go, a practice in quiet reflection, a practice in awareness, a practice in value, a practice in flow, a practice in remembering and a practice in consistency.
The list of benefits to a clean house is a topic for another day but today I'm thankful my house is clean, that my husband just stopped in to say hi, that I still have plenty of time to stop by the Federal Way farmers market.
Happy cleaning,
Denise
Still house work was not a natural fit for me. Funny how life works out, for the past 19 years it has been my profession. What do I think of house work now? My mood shifts week to week as I clean but in general it has become a friend. In yoga my instructor talks about grounding yourself and doing grounding exercises. There is nothing in the world more grounding than cleaning your toilet!
For me, cleaning has become a practice. A practice of gratitude, a practice of creativity, a practice of relaxing and letting go, a practice in quiet reflection, a practice in awareness, a practice in value, a practice in flow, a practice in remembering and a practice in consistency.
The list of benefits to a clean house is a topic for another day but today I'm thankful my house is clean, that my husband just stopped in to say hi, that I still have plenty of time to stop by the Federal Way farmers market.
Happy cleaning,
Denise
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