Quote of the Day: Maria Augusta Trapp
One of the greatest things in human life is the ability to make plans. Even if they never come true-the joy of anticipation is irrevocably ours. That way one can live many more thank just one life.
Maria Augusta Trapp in The Story of the Trapp Family Singers
Mr Chiots and I always find ourselves with long lists of things we plan on doing, especially when it comes to travel. We will someday drive to the west coast and Alaska, someday we’ll find ourselves on that long flight to Hawaii. We have plans to visit all the National Parks. None of these will happen this year, we’re simply too busy to take that much time off. We decided that our tiny trailer had to make a voyage this summer, even if it’s only somewhere close by.
Where will we go? We’re thinking Prince Edward Island. It’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to go. We haven’t nailed down a time to go, probably later in the summer when we’ve got everything to a state where we can be away for a few days. It’s been such a long and crazy year, I can’t wait to go camp somewhere and have some time to relax!
Do you have any great trips near or far planned for this summer?
Share this:
Quote of the Day: Josh Kilmer-Purcell
I’d been selfish. I hadn’t yet realized that the true goal of organic farming wasn’t harvesting crops in spite of bugs, pests and predators. It was about harvesting crops alongside of them. It was about planting more than the amount we need. And it was about making sure there was enough extra to go around for everything that made it’s home on the farm. For every sparrow I’d killed in the netting on my cherry tree, there would be millions of fewer seeds spread over the fields from their droppings and millions of uneaten bugs, which would in turn attack our vegetable garden. We’d be paying for our unblemished cherries in some way or another for the rest of the season. Sure, we hadn’t sprayed chemicals all over the cherries. But we’d been just as deadly.
Josh Kilmer-Purcell (The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers)
When I read this book, this quote really resonated with me because of my stance on dealing with insects in the garden. You can read more about my methods and ideals for “pest” control in the post titled: Empty Shelves. I’d like to encourage you this gardening season to be proactive rather reactive when it comes to controlling pests.
Put up a bird feeder, add a garden pond or small water feature, plant lots of plants that attract pollinators, add a few extra plants to share with nature. Realize that every action you take in the garden will have far reaching consequences, generally the opposite of what you were hoping for.
Birds will be one of your greatest allies in the garden, anything you can do to attract and keep them will be of great benefit to your garden. Hummingbirds eat thousands of mosquitos, chickens eat loads of insects as do ducks. If you can have chickens and ducks, consider adding them. If not, put up a birdfeeder and a birdbath, plant things for our feathered friends and watch in amazement at how important of a garden partner they can be. I wrote and entire series on attracting birds to the garden for the Your Day Blog: For Our Feathered Friends.
In what ways do you think you are proactive instead of reactive when it comes to garden pests/problems?
Share this:
Quote of the Day: Carol Deppe
Before you were a gardener, you might have filled your schedule. Most non-gardeners do. But anything unexpected then results in overload. And most of life in unexpected. So you were always overloaded. You never had time for anything spontaneous or unscheduled. (And when a friend or family member needs you most it’s likely to be spontaneous or unscheduled.) You also seemed to live from crisis to crisis. You might have even thought your going from crises to crises “putting out fires everywhere” was because you were so important. In actuality, being always too busy for anything unscheduled or spontaneous are signs of a life not being lived as well as it could be, a life full of missed opportunities, a life too full of busyness for most of what makes life worth living.
Carol Deppe from The Resilient Gardener
Mr Chiots and I have spent the last 4-5 years trying to cultivate simplicity in our lives. Simplicity doesn’t mean uncomplicated, it just means that you’re focusing on this things that truly bring you joy and happiness. Even though we don’t have much time to sit back and relax, the things that we spend our time doing are relaxing in their own way.
Have you found that gardening helps you manage your time better?
Share this:
Quote of the Day: Rudolph Steiner
“So long as one feeds on foods from unhealthy soil, the spirit will lack the stamina to free itself from the prison of the body.”
Rudolph Steiner from What Is Biodynamics?: A Way to Heal and Revitalize the Earth
Over the past month, I’ve been reading about ways to improve the soil. I want to make sure the soil I’m growing my food in is as healthy as it can be, because that in turn will provide the healthiest vegetables for my plate. I’m trying to come up with the best plant to remineralize this soil with minimal inputs and maximum benefits.
I’ll write more in the future about what I decide to so, most likely it will involve lots of compost, animal manure, green manure, beneficial microbial additions and rock/mineral powders. I’m debating on whether or not I want or need to get a soil test completed or if I just want to add beneficial amendments and let the soil balance itself out over the coming years. I really want to focus on watching the plants as they grow to learn to read them.
What’s your favorite way to grow the soil in your garden?
Share this:
Quote of the Day: Joe Eck & Wayne Winterrowd
Within the large context of gardening, the raising of vegetables if peculiar, for the nourishment it offers is both physical and spiritual, a rare meeting of body and soul. In its pursuit, one becomes more directly a second Nature, seeding and tending and harvesting, usually in one season. There is a directness, too, a straightforwardness of process, a neatness expressed even in the rows, that makes vegetables gardening, among all other sorts on might think to practice, peculiarly satisfying. And, though all gardening creates litanies – the blooming of the first snowdrops, crocus and daffodils, roses and Joe Pye weed, the turning of autumn leaves and the appearance of the first colchicum – the maturation times of vegetables become unusually precious beads on a long string.
Joe Eck & Wayne Winterrowd in Living Seasonally: The Kitchen Garden and the Table at North Hill
There’s something wonderful about watching a vegetable go from seed to table. I especially appreciate the cycle of the humble garden pea. Perhaps it the size of the seeds, the quick growing nature of the vines or the amazing taste of freshly harvested peas. It doesn’t carry the poshness of arugula or the flamboyance of a large round tomato, but garden peas are a true delight. If you want to learn more about growing peas, head on over to read my Growing Great Peas guide on the Your Day Blog.
What’s your favorite vegetable to watch mature?
