Posted in Growing, People on the Move on May 8, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
By Krista Arias Hi my name is Krista Arias. My family and I run the Tierra Soul Urban Farm and Guesthouse in Portland, Oregon. We explore traditional and healing foods, permaculture, and biodynamic farming at our experimental urban homestead. We have tended goats, chickens, ducks (including the famous Hettie Quackers), topbar hives of honey bees and an expanding [...]
Posted in Growing on May 7, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
By Laura Matter, Volunteer Site Leader at the Picardo P-Patch Here are some tips to keep your garden, and you, thriving this time of year: Keep it hydrated! Water existing plants deeply and your seedling beds often. Deep watering encourages deep rooting and seedlings are very shallow rooted, small and tender and susceptible to drying [...]
Posted in Cooking, Growing on May 4, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Sleep Away music to look at herbs… What are you growing in your garden? Do you have a favorite use for herbs?
Posted in Crafts, Growing on May 1, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
I love May Day. I love the rich pagan heritage that lies behind it and I love the ending of winter and the coming of summer. In days gone by English villagers woke up early on May first and gathered blossoming flowers and branches and set up a maypole. This poll was decorated with flowers and [...]
Posted in Growing on April 25, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Walking through the garden I smell the lilacs and see the starts taking hold in the rich dark soil. The chickens want to be fed and the rabbit is munching on his pile of dandelions from a recent bout of weeding. Soon the chive flowers will come and we will make a lovely lavender colored [...]
Posted in Growing on April 24, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Every year on a warm day in spring I feel the sun on my face and my mind cuts the tethers and wanders free with Yeats. There is something about this poem that conjures up for me the feeling of breathing in freshly turned earth and seeing growing things. I will arise and go now, [...]
Posted in Growing on April 22, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
SE Seattle’s Bradner Gardens Park is filled with interesting things to learn about and look at. There are bee hives, flowers, a basketball court, working windmill, native plants, a cozy meeting room with a gas fireplace, garden art and one of the nicest mosaic adorned public bathrooms I’ve ever visited. This 1.6 acre park, located at 29th [...]
Posted in Growing on April 17, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
I have a dog that just loves fresh veggies; pea vines, baby collard greens, arugula, you name it, he wants it. As I have a small urban yard this has set up quite a dilemma, he needs a place to do his business, lounge and play and I need more, more and more planting space. [...]
Posted in Cooking, Crafts, Growing on April 17, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Do you want to know yet another delightful place to visit on Whidbey Island? Greenbank Farm is a 151 acres of fertile, publicly owned space complete with a historic farm located in the center of the island. Coming through a hail storm my husband and I turned a corner in the road and the sun was shining, meadowlarks were singing and delicious smells were [...]
Posted in Growing on April 16, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
After visiting the fiber farm we continued on to Cultus Bay Nursery. Winding down a dirt road we pulled up to a Victorian house surrounded by verdant planting beds, charming greenhouses filled with begonias and whimsical plantings. A cat ran up to meet us meowing his welcome and the spicy, sweet smell of narcissus filled [...]