I keep my garden website and blog going to encourage others to start growing food. The big picture for me is to support growers, learn to grow and  spread the word until it reaches everyone on the planet. It's a small blog that shows how I am starting my world vision in my back yard apartment patio this year.


photo courtesy of www.fao.org

I believe the most basic human right is the right to food. If you are not sure how to help the human crisis around the world because it appears to be overwhelming, consider growing a garden, learning more about growing and passing on your knowledge to others. It's a great way to start and to contribute to a unity for all. We all need to eat, we all have that in common. Grow with others around the world! Spread the growing word!

I lived in Bolivia South America for 11 years. I have witnessed poverty first hand. I was an educator in Bolivia and worked with kids as a teacher and a coordinator in a private English school. I also taught gardening and encouraged those that were fellow privileged Bolivians to go out in the world and get the best education they could so that they could come back and assist their country and countrymen to learn the basic needs for living and better their lives. I have always believed that gardening is a way to touch everyones lives and to share the food that is grown for those around you to eat.


photo courtesy of www. progressio .org. uk

I also have worked with immigrants in my main profession for close to a decade now, but cannot really talk too much about the cases I have handled. I can say that I have worked with asylum victims of oppression and injustice, they too understand that the opportunities in a first world country are astounding and that giving back to others who are less fortunate than they is an obligation that should be met.


photo courtesy of www.ferminrocker.com

You are truly living when you dedicate a part of your life to strengthen yourself in order to bring others around you up to a capacity so that they to in turn can help others less fortunate. Grow plants, talk to people, become a part of a true obligation to bring every living person on this planet to a better existence. Remember that human rights such as the  basic rights to eat are an entitlement to everyone. Stay strong, improve your life and then help others to improve theirs. Keep growing!

        

More garden progress! All the veggies are up and visible! We took the burlap material off when the seedlings were popping up. Where  the seedlings are grown enough we have added the burlap again. This burlap is eco friendly and biodegradable. We use it as our container garden mulch. We talk more about the burlap in previous posts.



The burlap is also a deterrent for those $#*%^&#@!! squirrels! I put the squirrel screamer up, but the squirrels are sneaky! I think the squirrels have figured out the screamer and are  creeping around where there is no detection. I've seen a bit of digging action around my squash and eggplant and I thought I had the squirrel screamer aiming toward those plants.  I haven't really checked to see if the squirrel screamer is covering the radius it says it does. I'm going to go out tonight and lay on my back, squirm around those plants in question and see if the detector comes on. I'm also saving onions and spicy radishes to add to the blender and more cayenne pepper. The battle is on, but thus far there is no real damage from the enemy combatants.



Check out the tubs! Full of carrots, onion, cabbage, parsley, radishes (the biggest leaves of course), lettuce and celery. The celery is still really tiny, but I thinned some the other day and it sure does smell like celery! This is my first time growing celery, so we will see how that goes.



Pretty peppers! They are really growing!!!



My prize tomatoes have created a jungle out there! Blossoms are abound! I figure the fruit should start growing in June and we should have our first tomatoes around the end of July and beginning of August.



A container garden is not difficult to maintain. No weeds to contend with, especially if you use the burlap for mulch. Using great container soil ( you can find out what elements make great container soil in my previous blogs and a wealth of information therein), watering every evening with a hose and wand attachment and moving your plants around as the sun shifts positions in the sky throughout the spring, summer and fall seasons will be the extent of the gardening. Oh, yeah...... there are those pesky squirrels around here I have to deal with but all in all, this is a fun experience and not too much work.

If you are ready to plant your garden, whether it be a container garden, a small plot, community garden or a small farm you can learn more about plant characteristics, companion planting, growing for seed, biointensive gardening and more on our website: www.food2gro.com

Happy Mom's Day and Happy Gardening to all!

Bruce and Jubie have grown organic vegetable gardens in the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Northwest and near the Pantanal of the Amazon River.

        

Politics, oil, unemployment, healthcare and the Iraq war are secondary to a crisis that is not just around the corner.......its here! Climate change, soil depletion, food shortages and the lack of water supplies are pertinent to this urgent matter .


www.learningfundamentals.com



Some people may not see it coming, others may be prepared. But are they really? Perhaps you're thinking;  I have a garden and I grow organic. It's not enough! Learn to grow a biointensive garden. Can you actually say you know how to grow plants for seed, store the seeds and then grow soil each year to produce the highest level of organic crops? Do you know how to save space, water and time?

For those of you that may think I am a bit drastic in my comments on this blog, I say let's have this conversation around this time next year.  Hopefully the food and water shortage will be improved. I'd love to learn that everyone is biointensive gardening, sharing their food and eating less meat. That is what it is going to take to save this planet!

Here is an excerpt from our new website: www.food2gro.com

Biointensive gardening is a sustainable solution to growing food. It is considered to be the highest level of organic gardening. It is a whole-system approach that brings together nourishment, efficiency and sustainability.

With biointensive food production, each adult person requires only a 10th of an acre of growing space to produce his or her yearly food intake! This small space can supply all the calories and the nutrients for a complete diet.

Biointensive gardening extracts the necessary nutrients from the soil and simultaneously puts them right back in. Biointensive gardeners use less water, create cleaner runoff water after garden use and they essentially "grow" the soil they are using.  The end result is a garden that produces a complete diet in the smallest sustainable area.

Biointensive gardening includes:

• Deep Soil Preparation
• Composting
• Close Plant Spacing
• Companion Planting
• Carbon Farming
• Calorie Farming
• Open Pollinated Seed
• Whole-System Approach

We offer more information on biointensive gardening.We have taken introductory courses  and will attend more courses this year in the fall through Ecology Action and next year in the spring. We plan to use this method and teach it where ever we go. We will blog about it, and add more to our main website as we learn more about these methods.

 

Talk to your neighbors, gather together, work together, take care of one another and feed each other.



hopecommunitygarden.wordpress.com


To learn more about Biointensive gardening, saving seeds, year round gardening, storing food and more visit: www.food2gro.com 

        

The garden is growing like gangbusters!  I thought I'd snap a few photos to show it's progress! We are watering every evening and we use a wand to water. It's fast and easy with the wand. I've had a few run ins with squirrels they ate all my marjoram I was growing and the peppermint too. They've dug around the tomato plants some but not too badly. I am now equipped with my squirrel screamer. I'll try that out this week. I'll drop the pepper for awhile and see if this squirrel screamer works.
                                    Blossoms! We'll be showing you tomatoes in a month or so!


 
Radishes,cukes, eightball zucchini and a pepper plant!



We have flowers, herbs, spinach, onion carrot, celery, sugar peas and parsley growing but they are too small to show! We'll show them in our next garden update!




Our prize tomato plants planted from seed on Jan. 29th are reaching for the sky! Remember, when container gardening, be sure to use good drainage in your containers.  A whisper in your ear from one gardener to another,  "The real secret is in the soil!"

Bruce and Jubie have grown organic vegetable gardens in the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Northwest and near the Pantanal of the Amazon River.

        

Our planet is an ever changing, living and breathing entity. Earth Day is a true reminder that Earth is home to all living things that exist on it. We are all in this together. Earth day is everyday! Celebrate each day on our lovely planet Earth! 

www.searchtrends.org/images/earthday

HOIST THE SAILS!

By John McConnell founder of Earth Day

Four billion years ago
Our lonely Earth
Set sail on cosmic seas
Guided by an unseen hand
Of nature, God or chance.

As life evolved
Through endless eco-cycles
Man was born, destined
To destroy or enrich               
the Precious Ship.

And now his hand
Has seized the tiller
But his ear has not
Yet caught the Captain's
Quiet command.

The sails are down, the ship becalmed,
Its fragile life at stake.
No longer do we ride the gentle swells of
Silent seas and breathe
The fragrant air.

Broken are the rhythms
Of our cyclic plants
And other living things.

But now the Captain speaks again                                      Photo Courtesy:   http://www.asla.org
Our quiet thoughts at last reveal his voice.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
"Hoist the sails, Earth Man.
Set them for celestial winds.
Hold the tiler firm,
The course ahead is clear."

Be He nature, God or chance
His voice is heard
And we shall heed
The Captain's quiet command.

Links

Aol.com/TrusteeOne-John Mc Connell’s Personal Website

http://ww2.earthday.net- Call for Climate-Call your senators  

http://www.earthsite.org Poem taken from this site

        

The garden is in! We've filled the rest of the containers with our super soil we talk about in an earlier post, Seeds for Starters. If this is your first time on the blog, we are growing a container garden this year on our apartment patio! We encourage everyone to grow a garden! Many people live in smaller units or apartments. In fact, I'd be willing to bet the majority of the population on the planet live in apartments.  So if you have some space, turn it into a garden to grow some food! You can follow our advice on our blog, add comments, share experiences and give advice of your own!



We love tomatoes and plan on sun drying some of our apartment patio tomatoes this year in our homemade solar dehydrator.

Once you have made an investment to grow a garden on your patio, you can use the containers, the soil and any left over seeds you bought for future gardens!  Your biggest investment will be the first year.



The garden mascot and guard has moved from the tomato and pepper plants to the new seedlings!

We've planted several different container varieties of plants. We purchase our seeds at Park Seed company (checkout Park Seed on the sidebar to the blog). These  seeds are now newly planted and the germination process is taking place outdoors on the remaining plants. The biodegradable burlap is also great for seedlings. It keeps the soil moist and keeps birds from eating the seeds and  the squirrels from digging!

        

Those little starters that were planted back in the winter (see older posts for Seeds for Starters and They've Grown) are now taking off for the duration of the summer and fall garden. We are growing a container garden this year and encourage you to grow some of your food  too!

Here are the pepper and tomato plants in the biodegradable containers before planting them in their permanent containers.   We used biodegradable containers as discussed in the previous posts as well as the best potting soil around. Check previous posted entries on our starters in this blog for more information.

Tomatoes started in biodegradable containers in the beginning of January...... look at them now!
The peppers are now in their home for the gardening season! We were able to plant directly into the soil of the containers without having to transplant or take the plant out of it's biodegradable container.  We are using good drainage containers that hold water in the bottom. Once the plants grow bigger, the roots will  grow too and they will be able to absorb the water in the well below the container.

Most recently, we have been running into squirrel problems. They seem to like the fresh potting soil. We've heard they really do like new loose soil. Plus, they are garden thieves. Once these plants begin to bear fruit, the squirrels may try to do some premature harvesting. We are using pepper spray around the soil and on the plants now to keep the squirrels away, but we will purchase an ultrasonic device that only the squirrels will hear to keep them out of the garden. As much as those tree rats bother me, I hate to think of them rubbing their eyes with pepper spray! So, the pepper spray has to go..unless the "squirrel screamer" doesn't work. 
Courtesy photo:
www.greenoptions.com



The rest of the garden is scheduled to be planted around the middle of April. We will plant several herbs and other great container vegetable plants as well as colorful and very useful flowers to go in the garden. We will mulch our pepper and tomato plants at that time. They should be even bigger yet!

        

According to the roofer at greenroofs101.com , green covered roofs last longer than cleaned roofs. Moss for example, protects a roof from the sun's radiation to lose the ability to expand or contract.



Green roofs save roofs from cracking, curling or becoming brittle from the sun's radiant heat. The roofing contractor at Greenroofs101, has been a roofer for decades and through his experience he discovered this fact.


 

Here's the close up of the rooftop garden! See? You can find a place to grow food anywhere!
 

Roof top park! In the center of town!



Having trouble growing in the desert? Try growing on a roof!



Adding green to the concrete jungle! Rooftop tomatoes!



Somewhere under the rainbow..
skies are blue and roofs are green!




Leave politics out of it! Or support politicians who are for it!
Ex- president Bill Clinton put in a green roof on his presidential library in 2007.




Brown roofs in Greenland!



Goats have always gone green and eliminated it too! These goats have  found a great green get away on this roof! Make sure your goats have plenty to eat or they might eat your roof!




I hope your Easter is Greentastic! Happy Easter everyone!
Knitted Easter Eggs! http://planetgreen.discovery.com

        

How about your salad, is it safe? The facts about food safety basics and food-borne illnesses in the United States should be highly publicized.

The other day, I was listening to National Public Radio (NPR). The topic of discussion was the recent recall of 143 million pounds of beef. It was reported that the Westland/ Hallmark Meat Company was unconcerned if consumer confidence would decline as a result of the recall. They projected a slowdown, but just as in previous recall situations, within a year of the recall Americans would return to consuming the same amounts of beef within a year.

Well, I don’t eat meat, but I’m not one of those self-righteous sprout munchers either. I think that both the consumers of meat and vegetarians should know food safety basics when making their purchases.

Food-borne illnesses have been on the rise for the last 30 years or more and it is not clear as to whether this is due to declining food safety or improved tracking systems.

Americans eat approximately 2,000 pounds of food in a year. 260 pounds of that is imported. But what you might not realize is that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), who has jurisdiction to inspect imported foods, only inspects 1.3 percent of the imports. That percentage has been declining rapidly since 2003.

Salmonella is the most common food-borne bacteria. However, E. Coli should be a major concern to  consumers. E. Coli can come from sick cattle or other warm-blooded animals, restaurant workers, ground water or crops. Much of the industrial cattle are corn-fed, which increases the chance of E. Coli being found in their lower intestines. If you eat beef, look for grass-fed beef. It is natural food for the cattle and there is significantly less chance of finding E. Coli in the beef you purchase.

Organic produce is not necessarily any safer. It is subject to the same hazards of E. Coli and has been previously found in organic spinach. Supporting local growers is beneficial to you. You can always ask the grower if their farm is close to cattle or if they use animal fertilizer. If they use animal fertilizer, there are very strict regulations for the organic grower. Ask what safety measures they use.

Higher E. Coli levels are found more often in restaurants  than in households. When you choose a restaurant be sure to look for cleanliness and see if a health score is posted in the restaurant or on a website. Not all states mandate this but several do.

Consider buying your produce at a local farmer’s market. Even better yet, grow your food or some of it. Meat eaters should consider buying free range live stock and grass fed cattle.

Please see www.nationalgeographic.com for further information on FDA regulations. Check out their "Green Guide".

        

If you are seeking better diet alternatives or if you know someone who has diabetes, I wholeheartedly recommend you watch this video. Remember to also consider eating raw foods and supporting local growers or growing your own.

 
The video takes a few minutes to watch and could add years to your life. Consider this if you will, and pass it on: (If you have a Mac and the video doesn't show, try uninstalling adblock plus and installing adblock(normal) instead.  Also, if your browser is Firefox make sure you have the latest version).




 
Coffee- Well the occasional cup is okay, but if you drink it everyday try to drop the habit.  Wean yourself off of it slowly. Drink smaller cups everyday until you eliminate the daily habit.
www.ConsumerReports.org to start your research. Be sure to check with raw food experts too.


Raw Food Pizza accompanied by Salad



Lots of great FREE raw food recipes here:
www.living-foods.com
www.healthfree.com 
If you want to become a raw food chef ( it is rather trendy and there is a great demand for such chefs)
www.rawfoodchef.com
Good article to read:
www.consumerhealth.org

Be CAREFUL about which websites you research.  Some of them are shams or they don't know what they are talking about. You could ask me to review them with you if you would like. Just comment below and I promise to get back to you. It's important you are on the right path to a healthier existence.



A special note to my dad who lives in Samoa (he is diabetic, but he's lost some weight and lowered his blood sugar levels through diet and exercise). Kudos dad, but there's more to do. Thought I'd let you know that the Samoan LA rap act BOOYA T.R.I.B.E are vegetarians! Word's out, drop the meat!




Bruce and Jubie have grown organic vegetable gardens in the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Northwest and near the Pantanal of the Amazon River.