garden ninja school: may 23 and 30

garden ninja school: the seed to seed ecological gardening course
tues eve, 5-8pm,
@ rare headquarters (the big yellow building on the curve in the township of Blair)

may 23.
biodynamics and flowforms.

To be a ninja is to use the source. Ideally we take the oncoming and present energies, and do not fight them, but help them move on, directing them with our actions.
To do this, we need to be able to 'see' the energy flows and patterns.

Biodynamics is a huge subject. I intend to give an overview of Biodynamics, which is the "spiritual science" of agriculture as described by Rudolf Stiener in 1924. He draws on the ancient vision of Earth as a living creature of the cosmos, pulled by and connected to the cosmos. Biodynamics can give us a common language of the different forces and how they affect plants, animals and elements, which helps us to 'see' and 'garden' these forces.

Though it sounds a bit 'woo-woo' to us modern humans, the ideas are ancient. I really like these ideas - not as rules, but as insight.



may 30
herbology 1

On the syllabus, I scheduled soil and plant nutrition, but I feel we have covered these ideas already. The guest speaker I was hoping to bring in is not available for a few weeks. But some herbs are ready!

Lets get some tinctures and oils on the go, and begin to dry some herbs for tea. We can go over the basics of home-made herbal medicines and explore some of the better resources. Lets talk about a dehyrdator making workshop, for which we need to secure some materials.


june 6
-break-
perhaps a field trip?

images

ladies mantle.
fern poppy.
chives.

ah, the mighty kale!
just 2 inches tall and perfect is the day is blue.
this is in my front yard sheet-compost garden,
mulched round with straw.
with a large squirrel population, a groundhog, a cat and 10 loud grackls
sharing the garden with me, not too much has survived out there.
a few gorgeous milk thistle, shingiku, lettuce, kale and favas rise perfect and true.


milk thistle.
The only plant which actually repairs your liver;
eat the seeds, or take them in tincture.
(I know that when transplanting it is important to keep the hearts free of soil.
It is interesting to see that these, which have come up from seed here,
are cloaked in earth.)

in the fields of Springbank farm, farmed by rare.

mark, zara, heather and i transplant leeks.
early may, 2006.
photo by martha gaye, team leader, woman who orchestrates much.


the may 20th sunset reflected in our front door.

awakening to
this present instant
we realize the infinite is
the finite of
each instant

(unknown author)