by katie | Dec 28, 2010 | Farming, Fine Gardening, Gardening, Organic Gardening, Self sustainability, Trees, Vegetable Gardening
Having my first child in a monastery where there were no other kids.We worked seven days a week and long hours each day. I started working again right after she was born . It never occurred to me to do differently, I loved it there, I didn’t want to live another...
by katie | Dec 25, 2010 | Farming, Fine Gardening, Flower growing, Gardening, Organic Gardening, Perennials, Self sustainability, Shrubs, Trees, Vegetable Gardening
I have this confusion about what the difference is between a gardener and a farmer? I’m not sure that people in Europe would say a gardener is not a farmer. I’ve maintained 4,000 fruit trees as a “gardener” not a farmer. Now that I’m...
by katie | Dec 18, 2010 | Annuals, Farming, Fine Gardening, Flower growing, Gardening, Organic Gardening, Perennials, Self sustainability, Shrubs, Trees
One of my favorite things about plants is the unbelievable abundance in nature. If you know, or if you look closely you see babies everywhere. Seedling maples, sarcocca, digitalis, perennials that can be divided. Flowers that have reseeded in the garden. Pumpkins in...
by katie | Dec 15, 2010 | Farming, Gardening, Organic Gardening, Self sustainability, Vegetable Gardening
I’m sure you all have heard this all before . But do you really realize that most small farmers are making under twenty thousand a year? These are creative, intelligent, dynamic entrepreneurs who have risked everything for that.They are subsidized in parts of...
by katie | Dec 14, 2010 | Annuals, Fine Gardening, Flower growing, Gardening, Organic Gardening, Perennials, Self sustainability, Uncategorized, Vegetable Gardening
I have big goals for our garden here. I want to produce veggies for ourselves and some of our local community and work to inspire others to garden.I’m still learning about growing vegetables. I love that about gardening that you can do it for so long and keep...
by katie | Dec 10, 2010 | Annuals, Fine Gardening, Flower growing, Gardening, Organic Gardening, Perennials, Self sustainability
We decided to change our gardens at work to all organic a few years ago. The garden was looking good but it just didn’t sing. We wanted the gardens to be beautiful. radiant, shining with energy. This does not happen using chemical fertilizers.I had tried early...
by katie | Dec 8, 2010 | Fine Gardening, Gardening, Perennials, Pruning, Shrubs, Trees
In our part of rural California , gardening can be quite a recent endeavor .Many people here are living out their dreams and have built their own house and planted a few fruit trees. Then they might get more passionate about the garden and start buying random plants...
by katie | Dec 6, 2010 | Gardening, Self sustainability
For those of you not familiar with the well known farmer / author Gene Logsdon, here’s a interview of his new book. A great article about the importance of manures in farming and soil health ....
by katie | Dec 4, 2010 | Self sustainability
The other day I met my new neighbor.The people below us are the masters of simple living. They rent out their small off the grid cabin for six months every year when they spend the winter in Arizona. They are grown up hippies who live with a wood cookstove for cooking...
by katie | Dec 1, 2010 | Cooking, Gardening, Self sustainability, Uncategorized
Today I pruned the wisteria that are beginning to grow up and across our porch . I took the cuttings and wound them into some wreaths. In a very poor Christmas in the past we used their seed pods to string into ornaments on our tree.They would twirl in the breeze and...
