There is lovely article in The Dominion about edible 'weeds', called
Weed to the Wise.
I did the Eat Your Weeds! workshop for the Galt Horticulture Society yesterday. The few that came absorbed much and were fed by it. Aiding the process of reingaging with our landbase is nourishing, sacred work.
7.23.2006
7.12.2006
shifting, friends and zuchini brownies
well, it is july and i feel myself shifting from outward movement, back into preparing and maintaining of self.
garden ninja school is tucked in: i am holding no more classes, but i do wish to have an evening soon when we can all hang out in the garden and share.
I will also do one more session out at rare: soil/compost/mulch: if I could simmer down the key to intentional gardening in one workshop, this is it.
I will also do a few more workshops with the Galt Hort Society, herbology and flower arranging, for those here in Cambridge.
* * *
Shifting away from teaching, and from the production agriculture of rare organics, I am now working on more creative projects of my own. I love having a bunch of jobs, things to do, and being able to shuffle them into morning and afternoon blocks, weather dependant and flexible.
I am feeling great about my work, about where I am in my journey of building skills and networking.
I am making a fleet of salves now too. Lavender salve with frankinsence and myrrh, packaged with Derrick Jensen quotes on the lids of Mason jam jars! It feels good to be creative.
"All it would take to bring (our civilization) to a halt is creativity,persistent creativity."
* * *
So most of the photos Kili took, obviously, as I am in them! Great hey?. We are taking lots of photos and playing around lots. It is good: I am learning lots from his learnings.
The last two photos are of our porch, which has become more colorful and gorgeous than I had expected. Joel and Zoe were through, visiting, on their way to Halifax. Damn it is nice to see old friends. I am excited to set up in Halifax, have chickens, and work with Zoe. May it be, may it be.
* * *
The Zuchinis are ripening, growing as quickly out of control as zuchinis do: wait two days and the dildo sized squash becomes large as the average housepet. Today I made the first batch of chocolate zuchini brownies, topped with cinnamon-roasted sunflower seeds. Mmmmm.
I love days off. Today was a rain day, the first in months. Seriously, it has barely rained since April. Today was the first day that rain kept me in this summer, and I admit to loving these days. I always have. When I was a child, these days meant that i did not have to work outside, but could cozy up and read peacefully. I still snuggle into that magic of the coziness and safety inside.
Before the brownies, I purified a bunch of raw beeswax that I am using to make salves, and played on the computer making labels, and playing on MySpace. What a multilayered existance us moderns can inhabit! And I know the crash is coming.
I am asking myself more and more seriously these days, every day, what is it and how am I going to help take down civilization? What can i do, and precisely how will I achieve it? What risks will I take, and what will be the most useful, the most amplified and effective action I can participate in?
I wish peace and clarity to all of us.
namaste
6.04.2006
6.03.2006
energy. money. sighs. and amens for the days.
I have not been blogging as much as I want to be, as much as I envision myself writing. I have been busy in the fields the last few weeks -steady on-the-go.
The demo gardens at rare, where 'garden ninja school' takes place, are looking fantastic. (In my humble opinion). Last Tuesday, Alexander and Leah showed up early in the day so the three of us watered and mulched as much of that sweet little garden as we could. We built the compost up another layer using more of the kitchen-office compost and a fat, fresh harvest of vetch, cut to free the rhubarb and siberian irises.
After class I put in a lot of transplants that I had brought from home, and taken from the greenhouse on the production fields. Tomatos, peppers, chinese motherwort, ground cherries, tobacco, clary sage, lemon verbena, valerian, cleomes, orange cosmos.
That class was fantastic. It was the first in herbology series. We wandered the gardens, then went in the kitchen with our handfuls of green. We began a tincture and an infused oil, and made salve with an infused oil I began a few weeks ago. It was rosemary, lemonbalm and oregano, and it smells fantastic. It was a great class.
I have have been having a series of major realisations about energy, specifically petroleum and money and personal, human energy.
One Tuesday, I was in the demo garden, and I realised that I had forgotten something at home.
I considered riding home - which is about 30 mins by bicycle each way. I wondered if someone would lend me their car.
I realised that, if I chose to go, the energy it takes to get me home and back must be expended whether it is by me or by the combustion of oil. The laws of physics demand energy to move me place to place.
I get there faster on my bicycle, expending less energy, but even that equation is subsidised by the amount of energy it took to make the steel, and to make the bike. (One might argue that in riding, I do not expend less energy than I would if I walked, which is quite likely, but the time that I save does afford me more energy.)
Oil is like credit, roughly metaphored.
It is instant, and not of your own making. It is high-powered, and is more expensive than it first appears.
But, by using a money system we can give something a value that does not reflect the true 'value', but only one aspect of it.
We can make oil cheap.
'Economics is a form of brain damage'. (Goodness if I can find where I read that! It was in the new Permaculture Activist, and someone was quoting someone as saying this. I have looked, and could not find it again. )
Whether or not I knit the sweater I am wearing the energy needs to be expeded.
Money is a way of skimming the energy and re-allocating it. Subsidies, wages, 'value', coal and petroleum, all distort the true energy production and consumtion balance.
Items that are cheap - refering only to their designated monetary value- are a key to making money. Florists need to keep their container costs low, so the industry supplies stoneware and ceramic pots for $4-$8, mostly from Asia. The cute little pots are drenched in petroleum and factory labour.
Going the cheap way supports degredation somehwere else; it is a credit taken in other humans energy, and Earth's energy stores. Money has made acceptable and possible lynching another into repaying your debt.
Derrick Jensen, at some point in 'Culture of Make Believe' says something to the effect that true and persistant creativity will create the change.
Grow your own mulch. Make beads. Make medicine from herbs you grew, and art from roadside plants. Write, and observe.
Grow your own mulch. Provide for your own scene. Figure out how to work what you got into what you need. Yes, I am now veering towards a rant that stems from a difference of perspectives between the boss and I.
So often, less is more.
The demo gardens at rare, where 'garden ninja school' takes place, are looking fantastic. (In my humble opinion). Last Tuesday, Alexander and Leah showed up early in the day so the three of us watered and mulched as much of that sweet little garden as we could. We built the compost up another layer using more of the kitchen-office compost and a fat, fresh harvest of vetch, cut to free the rhubarb and siberian irises.
After class I put in a lot of transplants that I had brought from home, and taken from the greenhouse on the production fields. Tomatos, peppers, chinese motherwort, ground cherries, tobacco, clary sage, lemon verbena, valerian, cleomes, orange cosmos.
That class was fantastic. It was the first in herbology series. We wandered the gardens, then went in the kitchen with our handfuls of green. We began a tincture and an infused oil, and made salve with an infused oil I began a few weeks ago. It was rosemary, lemonbalm and oregano, and it smells fantastic. It was a great class.
I have have been having a series of major realisations about energy, specifically petroleum and money and personal, human energy.
One Tuesday, I was in the demo garden, and I realised that I had forgotten something at home.
I considered riding home - which is about 30 mins by bicycle each way. I wondered if someone would lend me their car.
I realised that, if I chose to go, the energy it takes to get me home and back must be expended whether it is by me or by the combustion of oil. The laws of physics demand energy to move me place to place.
I get there faster on my bicycle, expending less energy, but even that equation is subsidised by the amount of energy it took to make the steel, and to make the bike. (One might argue that in riding, I do not expend less energy than I would if I walked, which is quite likely, but the time that I save does afford me more energy.)
Oil is like credit, roughly metaphored.
It is instant, and not of your own making. It is high-powered, and is more expensive than it first appears.
But, by using a money system we can give something a value that does not reflect the true 'value', but only one aspect of it.
We can make oil cheap.
'Economics is a form of brain damage'. (Goodness if I can find where I read that! It was in the new Permaculture Activist, and someone was quoting someone as saying this. I have looked, and could not find it again. )
Whether or not I knit the sweater I am wearing the energy needs to be expeded.
Money is a way of skimming the energy and re-allocating it. Subsidies, wages, 'value', coal and petroleum, all distort the true energy production and consumtion balance.
Items that are cheap - refering only to their designated monetary value- are a key to making money. Florists need to keep their container costs low, so the industry supplies stoneware and ceramic pots for $4-$8, mostly from Asia. The cute little pots are drenched in petroleum and factory labour.
Going the cheap way supports degredation somehwere else; it is a credit taken in other humans energy, and Earth's energy stores. Money has made acceptable and possible lynching another into repaying your debt.
Derrick Jensen, at some point in 'Culture of Make Believe' says something to the effect that true and persistant creativity will create the change.
Grow your own mulch. Make beads. Make medicine from herbs you grew, and art from roadside plants. Write, and observe.
Grow your own mulch. Provide for your own scene. Figure out how to work what you got into what you need. Yes, I am now veering towards a rant that stems from a difference of perspectives between the boss and I.
So often, less is more.
5.21.2006
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?
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?
5.20.2006
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.early may, 2006.
photo by martha gaye, team leader, woman who orchestrates much.
the may 20th sunset reflected in our front door.5.14.2006
4.23.2006
weeds
those wild annuals we called 'weeds' are a secondary succession of plants that come to a wounded ecology to make it fertile enough for the next succession, which is grasses and brambles, usually.
the 'weeds', -such as plantain, dandelion, burdock, lamsquarters, pigweed, vetch, clover- help the soil by adding their tough fibre, pulling up nutrients from deep in the soil, and holding the soil tight together in protection from erosion and the harsh sun.
soil always wants a cover.
the toughest, most medicinal little plants come in and build the fertility of the soil. these plants are most often medicinal for humans too.
the soil condition -alkali, acid, fertile, etc.- can be infered by some observation of the weed guilds. Here are some indicators; (from Burbidge, Jean. "Reading Weeds on the Farm", Winter 2000, Eco-Farms and Gardens. pg13)
high soil fertility:
chickweed
chickory
groundsel
lambsquarters
acid soil:
hawkweed
dock
wild strawberry
mullein
knapweed
alkali soil:
bladder campion
wild carrot
black henbane
perrenial sowthistle
heavy clay soil:
buttercup
plantain
coltsfoot
dandelion
dock
low potassium:
eastern bracken
corn chamomile
yarrow
high potassium:
spotted water hemlock
red clover
knapweed
weeds can act as companion plants, significantly reducing insect damage.
cultivating certains weeds can as a cover crop or within your cover crop can be a free, super-nutritions, pest-controlling way of nourishing the soil.
i say 'can' because it is up to the gardener to listen to what combination and timing is going to create what ecosystem.
grasses compete with vegetable roots for nutrients: they are the next succession after weeds, and should be kept out of the garden.
nitrogen fixers:
clover
vetch
legumes
alfalfa
the 'weeds', -such as plantain, dandelion, burdock, lamsquarters, pigweed, vetch, clover- help the soil by adding their tough fibre, pulling up nutrients from deep in the soil, and holding the soil tight together in protection from erosion and the harsh sun.
soil always wants a cover.
the toughest, most medicinal little plants come in and build the fertility of the soil. these plants are most often medicinal for humans too.
the soil condition -alkali, acid, fertile, etc.- can be infered by some observation of the weed guilds. Here are some indicators; (from Burbidge, Jean. "Reading Weeds on the Farm", Winter 2000, Eco-Farms and Gardens. pg13)
high soil fertility:
chickweed
chickory
groundsel
lambsquarters
acid soil:
hawkweed
dock
wild strawberry
mullein
knapweed
alkali soil:
bladder campion
wild carrot
black henbane
perrenial sowthistle
heavy clay soil:
buttercup
plantain
coltsfoot
dandelion
dock
low potassium:
eastern bracken
corn chamomile
yarrow
high potassium:
spotted water hemlock
red clover
knapweed
weeds can act as companion plants, significantly reducing insect damage.
cultivating certains weeds can as a cover crop or within your cover crop can be a free, super-nutritions, pest-controlling way of nourishing the soil.
i say 'can' because it is up to the gardener to listen to what combination and timing is going to create what ecosystem.
grasses compete with vegetable roots for nutrients: they are the next succession after weeds, and should be kept out of the garden.
nitrogen fixers:
clover
vetch
legumes
alfalfa
4.22.2006
companion plantings
companion plantings
(from the book Culture and Horticulture, by Wolf Storl, (Wyoming, 1979) and others.
for earthworms:
stinging nettle
plantain
dandelion
thistles
strawberries: dandelions
solanacea: amaranthus
esp. pigweed.
corn: pigweed
The Three Sisters; bean, corn and squash go well together
vegetables: yarrow
valerian
for erosion:
ragweed
pigweed
clover
plantain
all the deep rooters ( burdock, dandelion, dock, thistle)
Gathered notes from hither and tither...
carrots love tomatos
things that taste good together, grow well together
legumes and alliums do not fraternize well.
brassicas like lime/alkali
potatoes do like lime
after potatoes add alkali for brassicas
potatoes do not like to follow peas
squash, cucurbitacea, solanacea: heaviest feeders
can also use second stage compost (which is less composted, still volatile: still hot)
snakes and lizards: rock piles
* * * please leave comments of other good companions you know of...
weeds
From Wolf Storl again,
Weeds act as companion plants. They reduce damage by insects. The deep rooted weeds pump up the leached-out nutrients. They add a lot of fiber for the soil. Weeds are the primary succession, the first repair after a big damage. They are tough, medicinal, small annuals that add to the soil.
Grass add brambles are the next succession: they compete with your vegetables. The weeds - they are nursing the soil.
some alleopaths:
(from the book Culture and Horticulture, by Wolf Storl, (Wyoming, 1979) and others.
for earthworms:
stinging nettle
plantain
dandelion
thistles
strawberries: dandelions
solanacea: amaranthus
esp. pigweed.
corn: pigweed
The Three Sisters; bean, corn and squash go well together
vegetables: yarrow
valerian
for erosion:
ragweed
pigweed
clover
plantain
all the deep rooters ( burdock, dandelion, dock, thistle)
Gathered notes from hither and tither...
carrots love tomatos
things that taste good together, grow well together
legumes and alliums do not fraternize well.
brassicas like lime/alkali
potatoes do like lime
after potatoes add alkali for brassicas
potatoes do not like to follow peas
squash, cucurbitacea, solanacea: heaviest feeders
can also use second stage compost (which is less composted, still volatile: still hot)
snakes and lizards: rock piles
* * * please leave comments of other good companions you know of...
weeds
From Wolf Storl again,
Weeds act as companion plants. They reduce damage by insects. The deep rooted weeds pump up the leached-out nutrients. They add a lot of fiber for the soil. Weeds are the primary succession, the first repair after a big damage. They are tough, medicinal, small annuals that add to the soil.
Grass add brambles are the next succession: they compete with your vegetables. The weeds - they are nursing the soil.
some alleopaths:
- cedar
- walnut
- sunflower
- rye
- fennel
- wormwood
- poppies
4.01.2006
Seed to Seed: syllabus overview
April 18 the Garden Ninja School's
seed to seed ecological gardening program
working with the source
seed to seed ecological gardening program
working with the source
*the structure*
Loosely, the structure will be one hour of talking ideas, details and theory
and 2 hours of working outside. Weather and sunlight dependant, we can be inside first, or after.
*the mission*
To provide the basic skills to empower good people to grow their own, produce a surplus, and live closer to Earth in a good way.
I see it as 'cottage industry' training,
and an exploration of cottage industry possiblities.
*the vision*
Imagine, (put on your rose-tinted glasses)
at the *rare* headquarters, the Lamb's Head Inn, there is a stylish and hip cafe, eatery, and art gallery, with flowers and plants for sale.
It functions as a gathering place, market and triage center for the rest of the activities on site.
The cafe has gourmet food from the fields, garnished with edible flowers, there are flowers on the tables; people can sit in the garden, amidst the birds and flowers, drinking teas grown right there.
Imagine....
I know it is a bit of a long shot, but lets garden to that end.
Growing tea herbs, culinary herbs, edible flowers and ornamental flowers seems a natural choice for the location, and provides us with a broad range of gardening experiences that can help people prepare their own future project.
While learning the basics of gardening, we can explore marketable crops, value-added products, and skills useful for the market and future.
Herbology, growing and arranging flowers, learning tea and culinary herbs, how to save seed and propogate plants, are all skills that can be further explored. This course offers a grounding in those and gardening basics.
*the syllabus*
- this is an overview, still subject to editing-
April 18. garden planning
April 25. phenology. sense of place. Permaculture overview.
May 2. compost. mulch. living mulch.
May 9. -break-
May 16. rotations. intercropping.
May 23. water. biodynamics.
May 30. soil. plant nutrition.
June 6. -break-
June 13. seed saving. seed stewarding.
June 20. solstice celebration.
June 27. herbology
July 4. -break-
July 11. weeds. pests.
July 18. flower arranging.
July 25. herbology.
August 1. -break-
August 8. bees.
August 15. marketing. business. funding.
August 22. flower arranging.
August 29. -break-
Sept 5. pesto.
Sept 12. pickling.
Sept 19. drying.
Sept 26. -break-
Oct 3. storing seed.
Oct 10. root cellaring.
Oct 17. seedy release party.
*cost*
$30/month.
Money, passion, needs, and responsibility do not often balance in our current economy. I am doing this from passion and what I feel is my responsiblity; I do need some cash flow to pay rent too. I do not want anyone to not attend because they cannot afford it; but the question of fairness to all arises, despite my knowledge of the deeper truth. If you are interested, and money is an obstacle, let's talk.
*what you will come out with*
An good idea of some things you can make and grow; the knowledge, ears, and skills to approach a piece of land and determine what the possibilities are; the growth of an intentional season.
You will go home with flowers, herbs, tinctures, salves and teas (and very possibly other treasures) at various times.
Permaculture Principles
these are some of my notes from permaculture class with Liz and Oliver.
they are a bit vague, written for myself, but hopefully the essence of the idea is still communicated.
*relative location*
*each element supports many functions*
1. Care of the Earth
2. Care of the Earth and people
self reliance, community support and interdependance (helps avoid war)
3. Give away surplus
keeps the energy flowing. Try to produce more than you consume, if possible.
4. Everything has intrinsic value
in and of themselves.
respect
balance
effeciency
simplicity
"Everything gardens."
"The problem is the solution."
"The solution is the problem."
they are a bit vague, written for myself, but hopefully the essence of the idea is still communicated.
Permaculture Principles
*relative location*
- put stuff where it makes the most sense.
- zones: are a series of proximities, according to use, with zone 1 being highest use and zone 9 being lowest use. Plant high maintanence thing in zone 1, low maintanence in further zones. ie. woodshed on the way to the outhouse
- ergonomics. efficiency. convinience. balance.
- be honest about behaviour, and go the lazy route.
*each element supports many functions*
- three functions for every element
- three elements for every function
- An used resource becomes a pollutant.
- mulitple elements for single fuctions
- Nature always has a backup plan
- eg. multiple varieties and successions
- eg. how many ways can you put out a fire
- use living resources
- all biological resources can be multifunctional. Dead things are often single use.
- eg. animal tractors, and living fences
- accelerate natural succession
- cycles through time
- edge supports more biodiversity: edges are dynamic systems
- maximize edge efficiency
- eg. keyhole beds
Permaculture Ethics
1. Care of the Earth
2. Care of the Earth and people
self reliance, community support and interdependance (helps avoid war)
3. Give away surplus
keeps the energy flowing. Try to produce more than you consume, if possible.
4. Everything has intrinsic value
in and of themselves.
respect
balance
effeciency
simplicity
Some Mollisonisms
"Everything gardens."
"The problem is the solution."
"The solution is the problem."
3.24.2006
Derrick Jensen in Guelph
April 6,
Derrick Jensen
will be speaking in Guelph in a talk titledDerrick Jensen
Endgame: The Collapse of Civilization and the Rebirth of Community.
Put on by CRFU and Healing The Earth.
After the talk, Declining Amphibian Phenomena,
some environmental anarchist, hick-hop cats from Vancouver Island will play.
big thoughts and dancing. yum.
3.23.2006
*Seed to Seed Gardening Course*
Tuesday Evenings, 5-8 at @ *rare*. Mid-April – October.
*Seed to Seed Ecological Gardening Course – Gardening with the source*
This full season course will provide a comprehensive grounding in gardening basics. Combining permaculture and a variety of gardening methods, prepare to get inspired by seed-saving, medicinal herbs, heritage flowers, and storing food for winter. Resistance is fertile, colorful, fragrant, healing and delicious.
$30 for 4 weeks or $12 drop-in.
To sign up, contact Jayme Melrose; 623 0194 or ineffable@riseup.net
Course syllabus:http://thresh_and_winnow.blogspot.com
Get your hands dirty, we will seed indoors, and
outdoors, prep a bed, talk garden design,
and check out the composts. It will be very activity orientated.
It's a good time to bring out all your questions about starting a garden,
and how to plan it to be the least amount of work,
for the most amount of beauty, life and food.
To register, contact *rare*: 519.650.9336
*Seed to Seed Ecological Gardening Course – Gardening with the source*
This full season course will provide a comprehensive grounding in gardening basics. Combining permaculture and a variety of gardening methods, prepare to get inspired by seed-saving, medicinal herbs, heritage flowers, and storing food for winter. Resistance is fertile, colorful, fragrant, healing and delicious.
$30 for 4 weeks or $12 drop-in.
To sign up, contact Jayme Melrose; 623 0194 or ineffable@riseup.net
Course syllabus:http://thresh_and_winnow.blogspot.com
April 11 5-7pm
@ *rare*
Introduction to Organic Gardening.
@ *rare*
Introduction to Organic Gardening.
Get your hands dirty, we will seed indoors, and
outdoors, prep a bed, talk garden design,
and check out the composts. It will be very activity orientated.
It's a good time to bring out all your questions about starting a garden,
and how to plan it to be the least amount of work,
for the most amount of beauty, life and food.
To register, contact *rare*: 519.650.9336
3.14.2006
benevolant allies
Bioremediation. Inciting life back into wounded soil.
Compacted, contaminated, and misused soils need help if we plan to grow food, or anything else. I do not buy the technology-will-save-us argument, and most of us earthworkers could not afford the technology anyway. One of the main permaculture tenents is "Use biological resources whenever possible." Benevolant biological allies abound: here, I have gathered what I know, and have found, regarding using life to bring life back to wounded Earth.
To start with, OM.
The sound that began the universe, in Hindu mythology, is also the acronym for Organic Matter. Biodegraded biomass, humus, compost, black soil.
Organic matter seems to buffer all defeciencies and excesses for plants. Plants can take up more nutrients when soil has high levels of organic matter, and the harmful effects of allelopathic debris, like cedar needles or walnut leaves, are ameolierated.
Compost is a shrapnel approach, as Oliver would say, in that you get a lot of coverage for your bang. Not only does compost help retain moisture, and supply nutrients, but it is full of the biological activity that breaks down complex chemical bonds into useable units that plants can uptake.
Go into a forest and observe the forest floor. Think about the leaf cycles and how the forest maintains its fertility. Think about the primary decomposers: birds, beetles, fungi, worms, and the itty-bitty bugs and bacteria we don't often see.
Ideally, as humans our intervention is an acceleration of succession.
To conceptualize succession, imagine a landslide or a clearcut. What are the first plants to appear after the devastation? What next, which prepares the way for what? What is the ecosystem climax?
A good way to observe succession is to observe ruderal ecologies. The plants that first come in to heal the Earth are, poignantly, the plants which heal humans as well. Many 'weeds' are also indicator species, revealing a content of the soil below. Biomining is a large scale application of it.
In the clearcuts of BC, first come the annuals, then the alders -which are a deciduous, fast growing, nitrogen-fixer that support mushroom growth and add lots of organic matter,- and provide a shade layer for the next succession of trees. And so on, the forest builds until it reaches its stable climax we see as 'old growth'.
So what can we add to accelerate this natural succession?
Soil needs to be alive. Organic matter, insects, micro-organisms and fungi are the primary decomposers that work in harmony to break it all down so that the plants can use it.
Currently, Paul Stamets is researching, discovering, and cultivating fungi that break down petrochemicals, filter water, denature toxic wastes, accelerate the growth of planted trees, hold together eroding roads, and improve human health. This Alternet article on him is great.
He has created a series of products called MycoGrow, which are mycorhyzal innoculants that improve plant growth. I have seen some experiments done with them, all that showed noticably improved growth with of the innoculated plants. I ordered some this spring and am doing my own set of experiments this summer.
Back on Cortes, our permaculture class spent a day with Paul Stamets and his crew, helping haul buckets of innoculated bark mulch up the clearcut he bought. There is even a photo of Gillie and I in action on Oli's blog.
Right now in New Orleans some really interesting projects are going on. In the aftermath of the hurricane, the land is toxified, houses are mold ridden, and the government could only provide some short term 'help'. A grassroots, low-tech, permaculture movement has created the Common Ground Collective. The little flick they posted, Solidarity Not Charity, is worth watching.
In the aftermath of the hurricane, the EPA did a series of soil tests which revealed varying soil toxicisity. There are lots of heavy metals in the soil, and some serious petroleum spills that occured. Starhawk, -author, witch, and permaculture designer-, is doing some large scale bioremediation projects there. On the bottom of her site, she has 5 blogs on the project, best read from the bottom up.
Compacted, contaminated, and misused soils need help if we plan to grow food, or anything else. I do not buy the technology-will-save-us argument, and most of us earthworkers could not afford the technology anyway. One of the main permaculture tenents is "Use biological resources whenever possible." Benevolant biological allies abound: here, I have gathered what I know, and have found, regarding using life to bring life back to wounded Earth.
To start with, OM.
The sound that began the universe, in Hindu mythology, is also the acronym for Organic Matter. Biodegraded biomass, humus, compost, black soil.
Organic matter seems to buffer all defeciencies and excesses for plants. Plants can take up more nutrients when soil has high levels of organic matter, and the harmful effects of allelopathic debris, like cedar needles or walnut leaves, are ameolierated.
Compost is a shrapnel approach, as Oliver would say, in that you get a lot of coverage for your bang. Not only does compost help retain moisture, and supply nutrients, but it is full of the biological activity that breaks down complex chemical bonds into useable units that plants can uptake.
Go into a forest and observe the forest floor. Think about the leaf cycles and how the forest maintains its fertility. Think about the primary decomposers: birds, beetles, fungi, worms, and the itty-bitty bugs and bacteria we don't often see.
Ideally, as humans our intervention is an acceleration of succession.
To conceptualize succession, imagine a landslide or a clearcut. What are the first plants to appear after the devastation? What next, which prepares the way for what? What is the ecosystem climax?
A good way to observe succession is to observe ruderal ecologies. The plants that first come in to heal the Earth are, poignantly, the plants which heal humans as well. Many 'weeds' are also indicator species, revealing a content of the soil below. Biomining is a large scale application of it.
In the clearcuts of BC, first come the annuals, then the alders -which are a deciduous, fast growing, nitrogen-fixer that support mushroom growth and add lots of organic matter,- and provide a shade layer for the next succession of trees. And so on, the forest builds until it reaches its stable climax we see as 'old growth'.
So what can we add to accelerate this natural succession?
Soil needs to be alive. Organic matter, insects, micro-organisms and fungi are the primary decomposers that work in harmony to break it all down so that the plants can use it.
Currently, Paul Stamets is researching, discovering, and cultivating fungi that break down petrochemicals, filter water, denature toxic wastes, accelerate the growth of planted trees, hold together eroding roads, and improve human health. This Alternet article on him is great.
He has created a series of products called MycoGrow, which are mycorhyzal innoculants that improve plant growth. I have seen some experiments done with them, all that showed noticably improved growth with of the innoculated plants. I ordered some this spring and am doing my own set of experiments this summer.
Back on Cortes, our permaculture class spent a day with Paul Stamets and his crew, helping haul buckets of innoculated bark mulch up the clearcut he bought. There is even a photo of Gillie and I in action on Oli's blog.
Right now in New Orleans some really interesting projects are going on. In the aftermath of the hurricane, the land is toxified, houses are mold ridden, and the government could only provide some short term 'help'. A grassroots, low-tech, permaculture movement has created the Common Ground Collective. The little flick they posted, Solidarity Not Charity, is worth watching.
In the aftermath of the hurricane, the EPA did a series of soil tests which revealed varying soil toxicisity. There are lots of heavy metals in the soil, and some serious petroleum spills that occured. Starhawk, -author, witch, and permaculture designer-, is doing some large scale bioremediation projects there. On the bottom of her site, she has 5 blogs on the project, best read from the bottom up.
We spend the day going over the toxins that have been found in New Orleans’ soil, and the three basic methods of bioremediating them—using microorganisms, using fungi and mushrooms, and using plants. We divide people into different groups for hands-on practice, making compost, starting worm bins (worm castings are the major source for the microorganisms we culture), starting seeds and taking cuttings, and inoculating strata with mushroom spawn.Somewhere in there she mentions they are using worm castings as the base for their 'biobrew'. It sure makes a lot of sense to me: worms are like little moving tubes that digest and purify all that passes through them, leaving life behind them.Some toxins, like diesel range organics, are big, chainlike molecules mostly composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, and can be broken down into harmless substances like carbon dioxide and water. Beneficial bacteria can do the job, and so can enzymes released from fungal mycelium, the underground weblike matrix from which mushrooms emerge. We intend to do some trials with mushrooms, but its harder to grow mushrooms on a mass scale than it is to culture bacteria, so we’re starting with the brews of aerated compost tea. We’re also using a different preparation of micro-organisms, known as Efficient Micro-organisms, which is anaerobic and has many different uses. The house-gutting crews have been spraying it to counteract mold, with great effectiveness. They’ve had assistance from someone who does professional mold abatement and who has the equipment to do spore counts before and after. The bacteria and yeasts in the EM spray eat the mold spores and then colonize the surfaces mold grows on, preventing its regrowth. It’s non-toxic and much safer to use than bleach, and more effective. It’s success against mold has made me wonder if it would also be effective against Sudden Oak Death, the fungus-like disease that is devastating our forests in Northern California. The company that produces EM, and has donated a lot of it to Common Ground, has offered to bring a mobile processing unit down to New Orleans to produce it on a mass scale. But they have been unable to get the funding—nearly $200,000—they need in order to do so.
EM is mostly anaerobic—the organisms involved do not need or want air in order to reproduce. We’re also experimenting with EM sprayed on the soil, to see if it will help get life back into the dead, compacted, muddy sediments.
It’s exciting. It’s also uncharted territory. Lots of people have worked on bioremediation, in the lab, on highly toxic sites, in well funded cleanup efforts. We don’t know of anyone who has tried it on a low-budget, mass movement backyard scale.
And more, some underlying force of health and life and serendipity that we tap into when we do this healing work. There’s an excitement, a sheer raw energy unleashed that animates the digging forks and keeps us working joyfully and eagerly into the twilight. It’s as if the earth herself wants to be healed, and when we take on that work, we tap into an upwelling spring of life giving power. Out of nowhere, benevolent allies appear.
3.13.2006
UWaterloo community garden
UWaterloo Community Garden
Spring 2006
Spring 2006
Resistance is fertile.
Next community garden meeting will be April 12 at 5pm, at the EScourtyard.
We will all head out for a tour of the garden and check it out.
I am not going to worry about set up any times to run workshops. I am going to focus on *rare* for all of that, and learn from the community garden experience. If anybody wants to learn something specific that I can help accelerate, I will do my best.
I do hope to put in a patch of perrenial herbs for culinary and medicinal uses. Permanent mulch styles if possible. We will see how the land allocation settles out.
I would love to help cultivate a herbology collective.
Intro to the workshops
I am offering a passle of workshops for spring 2006.
This first set is aimed at getting the garden in,
with enough thought that summer maintenance is graceful.
The learning curve with gardening tends to be steep at the beginning;
there are so many seeds and gardening styles; planning for height, water needs, yield, and aesthetics.
Gardening is really simple and really complex at the same time.
Every seed wants to grow. It does. It will do everything it can to grow.
Plants have also been cultivating us to take care of them for years. The conversation between plants and people is a long one.
In my workshops I hope to help simplify, and deepen,
the gardening experience.
Ecological gardening includes organic practices, but goes beyond just not using pesticides, and the methods condoned by certification.
Ecological gardening is basically looking at different ecosystems, -natural and ruderal, forest and grassland- and *observing* the causes and effects. Using observations from nature, the flow forms and growth patterns, natural fertility and fertility builders, etc, an ecosystem can be cultivated to the ends desired. Everything gardens: every plant cultivates its world, birds plant seeds they like to eat... Everything gardens.
There are an infinite number of ways to garden. There is no right or wrong, contrary to the idea that the gardening industry tends to sell. I think that is why so many are intimidated by gardening. The reality is that there is only cause and effect, the continual conversation between people and plants.
My gardening is based in the mimicking natural ecosystems, building soil fertility, and using biological resources. Throughout my Permaculture training *observation* of nature was key.
Observation connotes the absence of judgment or knowing, or even trying to know, thereby leaving the mind open. This concept is resonated in Ecstatic Dance, Process Painting, HellerWork, and most other healing modalities I have encountered. To simply observe, to bear witness, to others and yourself, can open the big doors of perception.
I learned most of what I know from the Linnaea Ecological Gardening Program on Cortes Island. It is an 8 month intensive, and super intense in all ways. David Buckner, who runs the program, studied at the Farrellones Institute in California, and came up to BC with the Gypsy Gardeners, which included Joel Solomon and Nori Fletcher, now of Hollyhock fame.
This first set is aimed at getting the garden in,
with enough thought that summer maintenance is graceful.
The learning curve with gardening tends to be steep at the beginning;
there are so many seeds and gardening styles; planning for height, water needs, yield, and aesthetics.
Gardening is really simple and really complex at the same time.
Every seed wants to grow. It does. It will do everything it can to grow.
Plants have also been cultivating us to take care of them for years. The conversation between plants and people is a long one.
In my workshops I hope to help simplify, and deepen,
the gardening experience.
Ecological gardening includes organic practices, but goes beyond just not using pesticides, and the methods condoned by certification.
Ecological gardening is basically looking at different ecosystems, -natural and ruderal, forest and grassland- and *observing* the causes and effects. Using observations from nature, the flow forms and growth patterns, natural fertility and fertility builders, etc, an ecosystem can be cultivated to the ends desired. Everything gardens: every plant cultivates its world, birds plant seeds they like to eat... Everything gardens.
There are an infinite number of ways to garden. There is no right or wrong, contrary to the idea that the gardening industry tends to sell. I think that is why so many are intimidated by gardening. The reality is that there is only cause and effect, the continual conversation between people and plants.
My gardening is based in the mimicking natural ecosystems, building soil fertility, and using biological resources. Throughout my Permaculture training *observation* of nature was key.
Observation connotes the absence of judgment or knowing, or even trying to know, thereby leaving the mind open. This concept is resonated in Ecstatic Dance, Process Painting, HellerWork, and most other healing modalities I have encountered. To simply observe, to bear witness, to others and yourself, can open the big doors of perception.
I learned most of what I know from the Linnaea Ecological Gardening Program on Cortes Island. It is an 8 month intensive, and super intense in all ways. David Buckner, who runs the program, studied at the Farrellones Institute in California, and came up to BC with the Gypsy Gardeners, which included Joel Solomon and Nori Fletcher, now of Hollyhock fame.
spring storm and the aching river
Spring sprung today. There are many new bird voices in the open air choir.
There was a storm last night.
Suddenly, in the middle of the night,
Kili and I sat blot-upright in bed in terror
to the louded crashing rumble -
It was terrifying. Then it was dead silent.
Then a sharp flash of lightening
and the sound of the rain. It moved on quickly.
I wonder how everyone here in Cambridge did;
were there any heartattacks? people up all night?
I imagine mamas praying, and some long thought wanders
in the small hours of the morning.
I came to the conclusion that I am a crazy fool to think that I could get out of here on my bike if shit goes sideways! Kili reassured me that I could this morning.
Earlier, on this warm, warm day
- i sit here nowin silky camisole and skirt, mmhmmm-
I walked down to river to see traces of the storm.
There were trees freshly fallen. Grass caught in the branches about a foot or so above the current water level. The grass was all pointed the same way, straight out, as though a fast moving stream were pulling it fiercely.
The whole surface of downtown is sealed up. All of the water runs off the roofs, over the pavement, off the roads, down into the gutters. All the natural run-off streams that once drained the area where the city is, and now funnelled into pipes.
Earth that once was a big recycling and purifying sponge would absorb so much water, and discharge it into the river slowly. Now it is all just shot into the river all at once.
The they build flood walls. Which destroyed the ecosystems on the bank, which are her only way cultivate enough life to digest the river on its way. I ache for the river. It is too much and too fast for her to clean.
[photo]
There is an area where the bank is eroding inches from the concrete path, that leads under the bay windows of something. I would like to plant willow in the manner that Oliver Kellehammer did in Grandveiw cut.
The Grandview cut is a steep, narrow, manmade ravine that was made the railway, back when. They put the a second skytrain in that ran through a section of the cut. They had to deforest to build, and of course the banks quickly began to erode once they did. The city of Vancouver was threatening to lace concerete blocks up the sides of the cut to stop the erosion. Houses would soon be in danger.
Oliver put in a proposal, as an artist and gardener. He would reforest the cut with willow and locus, it would only cost 30 thousand, not the 200 thousand of concrete and manpower. It would look better and we can market it as art. The city agreed. In gumboots on the muddy slope with a backback of cuttings, he stuck the slope with hundreds of willows, one every 10 feet or so, and laced black lotus in between.
Now people live in there. There are bird counts to document all changing numbers of bird activity in the corridor. Now when I google *Grandview Cut*, all that comes up is Vancouver's second largest greenspace.
Oliver Kellhammer, -artist, activist, and intellect, founder of the Cottonwood Community Gardens,- was one of my two fantastic permaculture teachers at Linnaea.
There is that section of the river which does desperately need to be held gently, and with life, in place. I should like to talk to all parties involved, and hopefully all can be convinced to help protect them. Basket willow is native to this area, and so useful. It would encourage the constant pruning of the willow too. If you are interested in helping, please let me know.
"Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul." Edward Abbey
3.12.2006
herbology notes from Josee's
at Josees, june 15, 2004
Hypericum perforatum
topical, in oil; sciatica, nerves, sunburn, burns, anti-inflamitory.
internal; mild depression, seasonal disorders; stimulates serantonin.
Nettles
infusion for hair. nutritive. seeds- make vinegar. freeze like spinach. facial steam for oily skin.
releives food sensitivities.
Calendula
to make oil, wilt the flowers for a day to avoid rancidity.
skin. burns, cuts, insect bites. anti-inflamitory. nourishing. anti-fungal. anti-septic.
use tea like arnica.
Ratios.
wet 1:2 100g herb/ 200mL liquid
dry 1:5
Colic calmer; for stomachs. in glycerin. sweet.
catnip, fennel seed, mint, camomile
Dried herbs
nettle mint lemonbalm dandelion root, el campe root
Usnia; lichen, old mans beard
tinture 100%
strong anti-fungal, anti biotic.
Valerian root
internal, tincture or tea,
nerves, sleep anxiety.
with Skullcap for deep sleep. wait 3 years for root.
Red clover
for blood and lymphatic system
Plantain
skin, bites
Yellowdock
gets the bile going. good before eating.
liver, excema. IRON.
Marshmallow
leaf and root for coughs and lungs. skin. urinary tracts. nourishing. nourishes dry skin.
oil; daiper rash, skin. varicose viens
Astralagus
root. immune booster.
mixed with echinacea and propolis
Teasel
eye wash from tea.
itchy skin.
internal; liver and blood.
Stevia
hard to propogate. yummy yummy.
int; mental and physical fatigue
Angelica
biennial
root; cough syrup
seeds; indigestion liver
stock; candies
leaves; vegtable, use to wrap food.
Arnica;
use flower fresh, topically oil.
Bergamont
Ladies Mantle
internal; blood coagulation, bleeding, menstral, astingent, diarhea
tea of flower and leaf as douche for infections
Motherwort
menopause sleepy bouyancy
tea and tincture
Meadowsweet
digestion, goes well with to mellow bitters.
leaves like asprin.
shrub
Wormwood
bitter. bitter. bitter.
worms parasites anemia
Blue vervain.
Wood betony
ext; sore throat, mouth wash, hair rinse
internal; stress fear anxiety worry sedative
Skullcap
immunity
Hyssop
bitter. cough syrup. tea
Cylandine
bitter. liver. dye worts.
topical, in oil; sciatica, nerves, sunburn, burns, anti-inflamitory.
internal; mild depression, seasonal disorders; stimulates serantonin.
Nettles
infusion for hair. nutritive. seeds- make vinegar. freeze like spinach. facial steam for oily skin.
releives food sensitivities.
Calendula
to make oil, wilt the flowers for a day to avoid rancidity.
skin. burns, cuts, insect bites. anti-inflamitory. nourishing. anti-fungal. anti-septic.
use tea like arnica.
Ratios.
wet 1:2 100g herb/ 200mL liquid
dry 1:5
Colic calmer; for stomachs. in glycerin. sweet.
catnip, fennel seed, mint, camomile
Dried herbs
nettle mint lemonbalm dandelion root, el campe root
Usnia; lichen, old mans beard
tinture 100%
strong anti-fungal, anti biotic.
Valerian root
internal, tincture or tea,
nerves, sleep anxiety.
with Skullcap for deep sleep. wait 3 years for root.
Red clover
for blood and lymphatic system
Plantain
skin, bites
Yellowdock
gets the bile going. good before eating.
liver, excema. IRON.
Marshmallow
leaf and root for coughs and lungs. skin. urinary tracts. nourishing. nourishes dry skin.
oil; daiper rash, skin. varicose viens
Astralagus
root. immune booster.
mixed with echinacea and propolis
Teasel
eye wash from tea.
itchy skin.
internal; liver and blood.
Stevia
hard to propogate. yummy yummy.
int; mental and physical fatigue
Angelica
biennial
root; cough syrup
seeds; indigestion liver
stock; candies
leaves; vegtable, use to wrap food.
Arnica;
use flower fresh, topically oil.
Bergamont
Ladies Mantle
internal; blood coagulation, bleeding, menstral, astingent, diarhea
tea of flower and leaf as douche for infections
Motherwort
menopause sleepy bouyancy
tea and tincture
Meadowsweet
digestion, goes well with to mellow bitters.
leaves like asprin.
shrub
Wormwood
bitter. bitter. bitter.
worms parasites anemia
Blue vervain.
Wood betony
ext; sore throat, mouth wash, hair rinse
internal; stress fear anxiety worry sedative
Skullcap
immunity
Hyssop
bitter. cough syrup. tea
Cylandine
bitter. liver. dye worts.
3.02.2006
fatkatshis
Two cats in one!Zan is on holiday, or gone to Heaven, or
safely stashed in her sisters belly.
Two in one and this way Kashis can get both servings of food.
Peace be both the sweetie heads.
2.26.2006
jayme*s first sweater
there it is.my first sweater.
the cuffs and bottom
are in the same pattern at the neck:
deeply ribbed and a bit flared.
it is a bit of a funny picture, but I really like the neckline.
A little bit puffy, too big, but good.
This next little chunk of words is extracted from an outgoing email that I just wrote, feeling expressable. I wish I could engage in such good nice connection more often, and with the people I love all over out there.
A snapshot, a one sided affair:
I sure do miss the ocean landforms, the ocean ecology, the ocean west coast aesthetic. ( That word even looks good.)
We were talking about ocean landforms in Geography last night, and I ached for Cortes.
Life is strange, no?.
-who you meet, who you are, how people react to you.
So university part time,
which is great. I am loving the stretching of my head,
of gaining the tools I could sense that I was missing.
Money is fucking stressful though.
I was working today, in Guelph. In the best little flowershop in
the area. A big area. It is really great to work there.
Aesthetics....
Style....
flowers and planters, eve candy, things looking good and fresh, alive sweet.
The girls there- Kelli, 33, rehead, gorgeous, hardworking funny straightup grounded, and her sidekick, trusty Fun Sara, with brains to back her looks, little brunettte with side ponytails.
Yeah, I like it.
I knit.
In school and on the bus, I knit.
I knit the sweater I am wearing. It is the color of arbutus bark.
I knit one armwarmer, heathered beige and ornately cabled.
Kelli loves it. She said I could sell them, and I think I could. Could I?
self discipline.
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