Stewardship (maintenance) program for organic garden help. Need help planting your fall garden? Jordan and Mark are hard workers with Permaculture certificates and knowledge about organic gardening. They are available on a regular basis or on-demand for weeding, mulching, harvesting or troubleshooting pest problems or other issues. They work with me to make recommendations best suited to the long term health of your garden.  Rate is $60/ hr for a team of two with a two hour minimum.

Biodynamic Preparation sprays support overall health, vitality and disease resistance of your garden, as well as improve the nutrition content of your food.  Read about Biodynamics here.  We are offering an annual contract, which includes the materials (preparations), stirring/activating and applying the preparation to your whole property.  6-10 applications per year, $500 flat rate.

I designed a rain garden for a local community garden and they had good success installing it themselves.  We used a swale/rain garden concept where water was routed from the road via a swale into a series of ephemeral ponds that encouraged infiltration and let the excess flow into the forest towards a stream in a slower fashion.   They used rocks placed at random within the swale to stabilize soil and disperse water and planted various native plants.  See quick video image of the raingarden at Dunwoody Community Garden at Brook Run.

Now i find myself trying to relate that little anecdote to this blog post… and I find it doesnt really relate to anything except perhaps the good mood we find ourselves in during summer.  Summertime is easier, in some ways.  The Ayurvedic mantra for summer is Celebration!   And I certainly feel like celebrating the abundance of the continual harvest, with full belly and kitchen full of fragrant, gorgeous, tasty produce.

This week I’ve made sour dill pickles with garlic, chili pepper and grape leaves for crispness.   Well, they are being made; they’ll take a week or two to ferment in the gallon glass jar we packed them into.  We (with my husband) made 10, half quart jars of fig preserves out of a single harvest from both of our fig trees one morning (it’s been a great year for figs with well-timed rain).  We ‘pt up’ eggplant and roasted red pepper in olive oil for the winter and I’ve started a batch of live ginger beer.  And we just had a simple but fabulous dinner of home made pesto on rice bread topped with heirloom tomatoes at their finest hour. Yum

Ive never really been a foodie.  In fact, its common for me to get annoyed at the hunger tinging in my belly- meaning i have to break from the day’s activities to feed myself (the acute irony of an organic gardener’s life).  But with the incredible abundance of produce that comes from our small home garden with relatively little effort on our part, it’s hard not to be appreciative of the prosperity!  Tasty stuff like eden gem muskmelons (try to find that in a store!), all kinds of tomatoes we make into the Most flavorful sauces.  Todd for lunch chopped some zucchini and eggplant, mixed it with some of our garlic and tomatoes and boiled it all down in a pot with some olive oil.  It was Delicious. He remarked on really good food being about basic, wholesome ingredients.  If you grow your tomatoes well- organically from heirloom seed with good soil- you’ll have a good meal.  Simple ingredients, simple to cook, fabulous on the palette.

And that most of these good meals are coming from 20 steps from our back door is the most rewarding part.  We supplement, sure- we still buy our grains and oils and some spices, but each year we find ourselves making more meals that are 95 -100% purely grown in our little slice of backyard heaven.  It is the true feeling of abundance….. can you see my little buns dancing?!

I find Biodynamics really hard to write about, explain… even understand in specific terms.  But I love to practice it.  I love to stir and I love the way the garden- any garden- feels after I spray the preps.  It  just works.  Biodynamics works to increase general garden health, to improve the soil – this I’ve experienced- and it is Highly resource-efficient.  So we like it.  And we like the philosophy a lot, but we dont know how to effectively write about it yet, so:  Here’s how we made a Bd compost pile at Sugar Creek Garden.  I hope it encourages you to explore bd in your own garden!

The challenge is translating Biodynamics in all its rich-wonderfulness to an urban environment without compromising its wholeness beyond function.  That’s what our little group Urban Biodynamics, guided by Jim Jensen here in Decatur (Atlanta) GA is working to do.

1.  Compile your materials.  Manure is critical.  The most life-force comes from the living.  Animals= astral force.  We used goat-manure because it’s very local. Cow manure is the best.  Because it’s scraped from the goat pen, the manure is mixed with quite a bit of hay.  Need a balance of carbon like veggie scraps or ‘brown’ materials like straw or leaves, wood chips.  We used a lot of raw kitchen scraps from a pile that was 1/2 way done, eggshells too.  We used granite sand and some existing dirt from the site.

2. Build it up, baby- layer cake.  Of all the different ingredients- each layer about 2-4 in thick.  Keep the pile moist as you go- add water if you must (non-chlorinated!).  When the pile is 1/2 way done, add the compost preps, except only 1/2 of the Valerian mixture (#507) goes now, the only one not in granule ‘dirt-like’ form.  It’s a liquid that stirred in water.  We are imbuing the energy of prep 507 into the water by stirring in a special manner for 10 minutes.  Stirring is a wonderful experience.

3. The Biodynamic Compost Preps.  JPI has a brief description of each prep that goes into the pile #502-507.   As far as I know, the numbers dont mean anything but the herbal preparations are Very meaningful, very potent in what could be considered homeopathic doses.  Josephine Porter Institute is promoting widespread use of Biodynamics without compromising it’s quality, (says me).  They are an excellent resource for info as well as preps, if you dont make your own- and you probably won’t in the beginning unless you are a larger-scale, established farm.  I buy mine from Bio-Ag Resources in Kentucky.

4. When 1/2 the pile is built up and the preps are in, layer the rest of the pile.  Jim likes the manure to be nearest to the center, so the astrality which tends to scatter is contained within the pile.  He also likes the manure near the preps.  We layer backwards,  in the opposite direction we built the first 1/2.  Begin with leaves, then granite sand, wood ash, lettuce plants, hay/manure- preps- hay/manure- partially decomposed veggies, dirt, granite sand, ash, leaves.   You get the idea.  Its not an exact science, more of a feel you get for it. And dont forget to add your water if the pile is feeling dry.

5. Finish with a fine spray of the rest of the activated (stirred) 507 and a nice ‘skin’ as Jim likes to say.  A layer of leaves or carbon is good.

I’m trying to demonstrate to my sister- of a very different life path- the value of growing your own food.  Money talks, so I take that route.  I mention the luxurious, material things Im affording in my life that I enjoy…. planning an upcoming trip to Hawaii, a bunch of Jurlique biodynamic facial products, a new car (a guilty, necessary- yes- pleasure) our lovely home……  But how can you afford that?  I know how much you make as a small business owner (married to a self-employed yoga teacher) and that does not compute.  Todd and I did some basic figuring and we think we average saving several hundred dollars a month via our edible landscape- and that does not include double that amount of produce we give to friends.  That is significant to us.  Rosalind Creasy’s numbers figure $1000 a year can be saved from 100sf of vegetable garden.  So our 1/3 acre filling fast with veggies, fruits and medicine is on its way to matching my salary…. well, almost.  The point is:

Your edible landscape saves you money and increases your quality of life, manyfold.  Period.

I didnt yet address quality of life.  I cant.  Not while typing.  Come over!  We can walk in the garden together and let’s harvest a variety of tomato or lettuce you’ve never tasted (not available at any store), or blackberries right off the vine.   We can make an entire meal from produce we harvested that day!  How about roasted rosemary-garlic potatoes topped with goat cheese (Todd’s goat co-op) and paprika (yep- we make that too), and fried eggs paired with beet-carrot sauerkraut we made.  Feeling hungry?  There’s absolutely nothing that compares to the joyous mouth-watering satisfaction of eating a meal you grew and prepared yourself- and nothing that can describe it except the experience……  It fosters a sense of HOME:  well-being and nourishment; that warm home-fire is brewing.  It fosters love.  And gratitude in a big way.  And the material things that bring pleasure that dont cost much money- making my own rosewater to splash on my face when it’s hot.  I mentioned the food. (It’s worth a mention again.)  Gorgeous flowers that bring life to my bedside stand, from the garden.  Fragrances- lemon balm, lavender, mint, lemon balm!  Nasturtium, Creeping charlie (i know, it’s a “weed”)…… thyme!  Thyme flowers are in bloom now- fragrance and beauty!   I could go on…… but its really only the experience a garden can provide:  a simplicity that breeds real contentment and allows for a few luxuries to keep us a little lighter perhaps, a little less serious and more enjoyable…..

We’ve had the good fortune at SCG (a branch of the Oakhurst Community Garden Project) to use City of Decatur water for our first year of urban farming success.  However, tapping into city resources are (arguably) not sustainable, and here we have the opportunity to harvest water from neighboring residences that is considered ‘waste.’  Sump pumps on third avenue residences work just about year-round to pipe groundwater from a high water table in peoples’ basements into nearby Sugar Creek.  The 1700 gallon cistern was installed in May 2011 by the Rain Harvest Company (we Love the Rain harvest company) with help from City of Decatur (who we also love!) and is designed to be a catchment, placed between the sump pipe and the creek.  Of course in the wet season, it dumps much more water than we can use, so the cistern overflows excess into the existing pipe to Sugar Creek.  We havent tested the water, but consider it not potable.  It is clear, without sediment, and we are considering it safe for garden watering.  As the sump flow is near consistent, we hope that it will be enough to serve most (or all) garden’s watering needs.

Another small tank adjacent to the cistern is filled and pressurized at the action of a hand-powered pump, making the water pressure- ready for the garden.  We are installing drip irrigation to each of the veggie beds…. and the strawberries planted in straw bales that have been hanging on for dear life in this dry heat.  There will be a tap, also, that we can use to water fruit trees and various plants around, as needed.  Horray!  We are so grateful for the opportunity to have a sustainable watering system for our local urban garden!

Big thanks to the City of Decatur, GA- Gerry Knotts, David Junger and the annual beer festival grant for making this possible.  Many thanks to Paul Morgan of the Rain Harvest Company for the technical experience and un-paralleled professional execution.

Current, traditional landscaping methods are insufficient to handle the issue of balanced ecology (they are often detrimental), and do virtually nothing to support soil life and health.

We are transforming the process of landscaping- or perhaps just improving the existing framework-  to address the fundamental issue of soil health as a basis for general garden health.  What I think this is going to entail is beginning to address soil fertility at the onset of the design process, continuing through implementation.  As some larger projects- from inception, design to execution- can last a year at most, we are getting a good start on building/ supporting fertility.   This is an improvement  on the typical ‘bang-out’ install work that last 3 weeks for the same project- where are left with a brand-spanking new LOOKING landscape, with not much reserves for it to thrive.

How will we build fertility?  Through my favorite methods of sustainable agriculture: encouraging biodiversity, utilizing teas (worm castings, compost teas, biodynamic sprays) and starting an excellent composting system upfront on the property in question.

Below is a sample proposal for a residential landscape that addresses the above concerns:

Landscape consultation and design

-   Site visits and consultation

-   Site inventory and analysis; considering aspect, light, moisture, existing culture

-   Concept sketches for review and final drawing with site design

-   Drawings indicating cohesive design for phased implementation

-   Plant and material variety selections with sourcing information

-  General care and maintenance specifications

Soil fertility and land preparation

Over time we have realized the need to amend the traditional landscaping process of design and installation.  Ecological balance and overall garden health takes time to achieve, as so many of our landscapes do not already exhibit balance.  We feel it is better to begin as early as possible to work with nature to build a foundation of health.  The methods below are found to be superior ways to achieve this:

-          Minimum of 3 biodynamic sprays over the next year to improve soil health and general well-being of site

-          Working with client to devise composting system for tea, worm castings, etc to build fertility

-          Geomantic assessment and facilitating a co-creative partnership with nature, including earth healing processes such as Machaelle Small Wright’s energy cleansing, battle release and soil balancing work.  To 2 site visits with Diana and Lindsey

(Let me just say, I have put off this blog post for several weeks now, attempting to find a way to present this without sounding as exasperated as i am…..  but here it is anyway…)

Its a very simple subject matter to most landscape supply companies.  Here is a typical conversation- I have had probably a dozen times- and again yesterday in Marietta:

Me: I see you are advertising organic compost.  Im looking high and low for some.  Please give me the specs!

Landscape Supply: Well, this is screened topsoil, meant for fescue.  This one is organic planting soil meant for flowers, and this one is blended topsoil for sod.

Me: Ok.  More info, please.  Can you tell me what’s in that organic planting soil?

LS: Composted chicken manure and other composted materials.

Me: where does the chicken manure come from and what are the other materials?

LS: Well…….  (awkward pause) we really dont know either.

Me:  Well, do you have some lab tests for me to review, as industrial chicken farming (where this was likely sourced) can result in compost with detectable arsenic?

LS:  Well, no.

Me: Heavy metals?

LS: Dont know.  I really cant tell you where it comes from or what’s in it, but it’s $30 a cubic yard.  Want some or not?

This may have been less of an issue when we were focused on growing landscapes simply for the appearance of green, but now that so many of us are learning the value and reward of putting our landscape resources to good use and growing delicious, edible landscapes, the complete lack of awareness about the soil we are importing is a bit disconcerting.

And further- even if they could tell me exactly where it came from, what the process was and that they tested for metals, we have no way of knowing what chemicals it might contain.  In a previous post on Containments in Urban Soil, I wrote about a grad student at Johns Hopkins (a leader in this research) reports there are too many possible chemicals to really test for, unless you know of a specific point source nearby.  He had some good suggestions for metals.

Duane Marcus at the Funny Farm nearby recently tipped me off to a growing national problem of compost laced with herbicides making its way into backyards gardens and vegetable crops being put to a “slow death” as a result.   Not to mention the health effects of those who are eating the produce.

I regularly recommend Farmer D’s biodynamic compost blend- of course we cant be sure of chemical containments, but I’ve checked and the metals are very low, nutrients and pH are on target. Plus, plants respond very well.  Of course there are people who understandably won’t or cannot afford its $100/cubic yard pricetag.

What then?  Another newer compost company who I’ve also screened for pH, nutrients and metals and those are fine, except a pile recently showed up on a job site stinking distinctly of—- garbage.  And we found quite a bit of garbage in it.  This is probably due to grocery store packaging.  When composting in that scale, I can imagine they dont have the labor to go through and pick out every piece of styrofoam that a grocery employee threw into the bin with the zucchini.

I live and work frequently in Dekalb county and find their bulk compost available per delivery from the landfill (comes from residential landscape waste- the brown bags of leaves at the curb).  Ive found this compost needs a year or two before it can be planted in, but seems t be good stuff.  I have not seen test results, but think it’s mostly safe from heavy metals as it’s considered Type A, does not contain human waste (MSW).

Another important piece to this puzzle is how do these soil containments translate from our edible landscape to our bodies? do they affect us?  We are pretty sure how heavy metals are detrimental, and arsenic….. another area that needs more research.

I dont have a solution yet, except to encourage people to make their own compost!  The best way to get the most out of your compost is make a biodynamic compost pile- see my post on the subject here. If you are in a highly urban area then an enclosed wormbin is an excellent choice.  Im planning to do a series of soil tests of Dekalb county compost to be more sure of this….. To be continued for sure

Well, I think the South is finally learning that our relationship to our past is not serving us.  Denial of the truth is not healing- its denial.  Emory is certainly leading the way through opening up a long overdue discussion.  We’ve collectively been holding our breath for over 100 years, and it seems the breath is beginning again to flow.  What a relief.  I am proud of the courage it takes to unearth such a dark, deep and emotionally full subject.   I know it will take a lot more- and a lot more than just talking about it.

I first felt the grip Slavery still has on the south one Fourth of July in Winterville, GA.  I was with some friends, spending a free day in the woods, by the river-  enjoying the outdoors.   I had been studying Geomancy for a few years already with Marko and Ana Pogacnik, so I was learning how to communicate with the consciousness of nature.  I remember being close to the ground by the entrance to a garden, and when i put both of my hands on the ground I felt an immense surge of energy that I can only describe as painful and emotional.  I was overwhelmed as I processed this energy as  residual trauma felt by slaves so many years before, probably on the same site where i knelt.

Now I know through the work of Machaelle Small Wright that nature indeed holds human emotional energy as a service to humans.  Otherwise, we could cripple ourselves from the sheer power of our emotions- often even unconscious thoughts and feelings.  It’s up to humans to acknowledge this and work with nature to release this energy for transformation.  Then, I didnt feel I had the capacity to work on my own to offer healing to the southern landscape for this trauma- it just felt like too much.  So I invited our North American school of geomancy, lead by Marko, to Atlanta in 2007 to do this work.  I had not told the group of this experience, but together we did some remarkable work with the city and, of course, worked a great deal with slavery.  More details on that can be found in this article I wrote just after the workshop.  Incredible experience.

I believe working with Geomancy has the potential to heal us and the landscape from the trauma of slavery, because of it’s multi-dimensional approach.  And Lance Howard, professor of Geography, Clemson University believes this as well.  He was asked to speak on a panel at the recent Emory conference and said, “I have misty photos taken today from the Fort Hill landscape; the oldest of the red cedars there may date from Calhoun’s lifetime.  I got a real strong sense from him today that he wants to clear this legacy and then a strong sense of all this black, bubbling energy anxious to be released from beneath that ‘hardpan’ that we noted at [in the Atlanta workshop] and elsewhere.

“I see this as analogy of soil and the strata of the earth’s crust.  Just as there are sediments that accrue into sedimentary rock, there is an accrual of SENTiments in the emotional and etheric fields (details needed) over time.  Investigation and interpretation of these sentimentary strata is part of the subtle science of Geomancy.”

Well said, Lance.

Im grateful to have the opportunity to share in the abundance of organic food we produce at Sugar Creek with people who might otherwise not have access to such good quality fresh food.  Read more about this program of digging two rows for the hungry on Sustainable Pattie’s excellent blog.