There's plenty for me to do inside and the only thing I want is to be outside at my community garden. The weather being damp (something I enjoy, however it gives me a lack of motivation to ride my bike) I decided to drive over to the garden this morning. I was anxious to see if there was anything going on, as I hadn't made a visit since Tuesday and it has been raining daily in Denver since. I was worried I wouldn't see any happenings in terms of growth--concerned I had planted the seeds too deeply... So, on my way to the garden, I stopped at my local health store to pick up more Botanical Interest seeds to plant over what I already planted last week. To my dismay, I couldn't find a lot of the exact same seed variations for everything, but similar seeds that came pretty close; and of course, unable to resist my overzealous tendencies, I grabbed some broccoli rabe. I arrived at the garden to find the soil moist and ripe, and soon there was a huge grin on my face. In delight I found sprouts! However I am skeptical that they are not all my own children... I do believe most of them are, but I get the feeling I left some stragglers in there and suspect weeds have grown. On top of that, I can't really be sure where I put anything, despite having made myself a chart and using stick markers, which I now feel are rather ambiguously placed. Don't be fooled by these pictures!!! These are all actually very small.... I carefully tilled the soil, watching out for any sprouting and handling them carefully as they crossed my path. I spread some new seeds practically right on top of the soil of the same general area I thought I'd already planted their similar variety. I have an inkling that this weather has been good for them--the soil felt pliable in my fingers and I mused that my loving touch and zen-raking made an impression on my dirt. Being at my garden I couldn't help but think, "The nut doesn't fall far from the tree." However, my mom would never mismatch seeds this way and I'm absolutely thrilled to see a hodgepodge-mezcla vegetable garden (hopefully) bursting before my eyes. I had planned to get some tomato plants in the ground but I just wasn't feeling it today; That's why they were labeled "tentative" on my layout chart. My fingers quickly chilled and my belly gurgled in hunger. Once home, I sat in my kitchen nook, listened to the pitter patter of the rain, and snacked on Outside the Breadbox Vegan Oat Bread and Haystack Mountain Snowdrop goat cheese. Why the vegan bread and then the goat cheese? I'm afraid of bad-juju eggs (in most store-bought bread) and a good source of fat is a delicious superfood for your brain! I've toured the Haystack Mountain facilities and while I prefer raw dairy, I trust this company. I'll share with you a little secret... I'm positive I want a miniature pet pig. Ethical dilemma--do I still consume high-quality pork? Copyright © 2011 biophilia, LLC // website made by kate Katherine M. Coleman : RYT & CNT / biophilia, LLC : yoga & holisitc nutrition therapy / 303 578 2378
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It's finally spring--which means gardening season is here! This year, instead of purchasing a CSA (Community-Supported-Agriculture) share, I decided to buy a Denver Urban Garden (DUG) plot. There was a super long wait list and after lots of phone-tag and e-mailing I was able to score a fairly large plot (pictured below) for only $35 for the whole spring/ summer season. This past Saturday I finally met my very own first DUG plot--Academia Sandoval School--located over in the Highlands, a pleasant 3.6 mile bike ride from my home. Saturday morning I was bursting with excitement! However, while I've spent years watching my green-thumb'ed-mother garden, I've never actually gardened myself--I was nervous, not to mention clueless. I intended to check out the Farmers Almanac to see when good days to plant would be but I completely forgot about it, and I arrived at my garden with seeds in hand and the sun higher in the sky than I preferred. I didn't know where to begin, so I asked myself, "What's the most logical thing to do first?" Immediately I thought, "Play in the dirt!" and began to recall childhood memories playing King of the Hill with neighbor-friends on a huge, looming and reeking compost pile in the middle of my steaming-hot, black driveway. All-smiles, I entered the community toolshed to look for something to play with. I emerged with a small, handheld garden fork and began to rake the plot as though it were a zen garden. Cluelessly tilling the soil I quickly realized I needed gloves; there was lots of broken glass and deeply-rooted weeds. I'm certainly not against getting my hands dirty, but I do dislike dry dirt wedged under my nails, so back to the toolshed I went to see what I could find.... plenty of kids gloves! (The garden is located right next to an elementary school) I tugged on some precious, little, green-and-red lady-bug gloves, and got back to work preparing the space and spreading fresh compost (freely provided, I might add). This didn't take long and before I knew it, I was again asking myself, "What now?" I gathered my seed pouches and started to read the back, but this overwhelmed me--for such small packets, there was a lot of info, and a lot of different info on each packet! I chose to skip the reading :-) (I'm more of a hand-on learner) and decided to organize the plot into little plots and figure out where each vegetable/ plant would go. I purchased Botanical Interests, Inc. Carrot Carnival Blend Beet Gourmet Blend Eggplant Black Beauty Butterhead Lettuce Ruby Red Swiss Chard Blue Winter Kale Sweet Cal Wonder Peppers Cilantro Chives Sunflower Elves Blend Zinnia Pastel Sunset I started to lay out the seed packets on the plot, using a garden hoe to mark each packets territory. I changed my mind a lot considering only landscape design (what would look good next to what, and what made sense [to me] being close together) Here is what I came up with: I decided tomato plants should go in the back because they are tall and may provide needed shade for the kale and chard, I bunched all the root vegetables towards the front where there would be a lot of traffic heading to and from the community shed, and lastly I planted the zinnias, sunflowers, and big-leafy eggplant alongside the shed for all to enjoy. After using a garden ho to dig trenches for the seeds, planting and covering up the seeds, I realized I was left with a huge open space in the center of my plot, so I lined the root vegetables and leafy greens with a row of cilantro and chives, respectively, leaving room for a stone walk way down the center of the plot (We'll see if that ever happens...), or perhaps more vegetables. It wasn't until I came back to water on Sunday (lobster-baked from the late-afternoon Saturday sun) that I realized I hadn't even considered the direction of the moving sun. All my full sun vegetables are covered with shade and my vegetables that do well with shade are fully exposed to sun for the majority of the day. Le sigh. I should've done my reading... Stay tuned for amateur gardener updates--there's a strong possibility of miserable failure, but I might just succeed... Wish me luck and please leave any helpful gardening comments/ suggestions! Copyright © 2011 biophilia, LLC // website made by kate Katherine M. Coleman : RYT & CNT / biophilia, LLC : yoga & holisitc nutrition therapy / 303 578 2378
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by Kate ColemanE-RYT & MNT // archives
April 2013
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