Evergreen Cob - Day 1

Last week we built the foundation for our cob bench project. We dug the shape of the foundation down 8 inches or so, then dug a drainage ditch and filled both with gravel. Then built up 2 courses of "urbanite". Urbanite is recycled scrap concrete.. it is beautiful in it's own way, each piece unique and rugged. The center part is more urbanite and gravel.. The kids will add their cob right onto this form.
We started to working with the kids yesterday at Evergreen on their cob bench project. What excitement! Mud Days are here.
Tarps are laid out and ready for the kids to arrive. Each tarp has a bucket of sand poured out and a bucket of very wet clay measured out and waiting to be dumped.
Straw is added after the clay and sand are mixed by foot. Funny to see how many kids don't want to get dirty.. You would think that they would not need much encouragement to jump in.. and most do.. jump in that is.. but a few were tentative and some would not even touch the stuff... FUNNY!
More pictures to come!

The Next Chapter on My Cob Building Experiences

So it seems that I am learning to build a cob oven from the outside in! Funny how opportunity presents itself when you express an interest.
I took that Earthen Plaster Workshop last month and learned about the outer skin of these Earthen Ovens. It really got me excited. So I started searching for more information on the web. I found out that AB Tech is offering a Cob Building class this fall.. but it is on 4 Saturdays, and I have gigs on 3 of them so it would not make any sense to take the class this time around..
Well.. enter happenstance! My daughter's school has gotten a grant to build a cob bench and a straw-bale playhouse. I contacted the teacher in charge of the project and offered to help. They were delighted and put me in touch with Tony Beurskens, the builder.
Back to the oven.. I went out to the Pisgah View Peace Garden to spend a day working with Tony on a project at the garden. It was an Earthen Oven ready for it's outer layer of cob and middle layer of insulating perlite. So as you can see.. from the outside in...
Funny... we see something that we like.. and we see it from the outside.. closer examination brings us to the next layer and then the next and so on until eventually we uncover the "bones" of it. I like that I am getting the chance to work with different builders, at different locations, on different projects.. what a great way to see into this method of building with cob and get a nice well rounded experience!
Last week we built the foundation for the cob bench at Evergreen Community Charter School. It was a bunch of digging, moving gravel, and chunks of urbanite to create the foundation and base for the bench. This week the classes will each get a chance to build the bench. What an exciting experience this will be for the kids! I can't say that we ever did any projects like this when I was in school. I am really looking forward to working with the kids and watching the magic unfold for them.

Been Bitten by the Cob Building Bug!

I had the opportunity to take an Earthen Plaster Workshop yesterday at the Pearson Community Garden in Montford taught by Doug Sharkey. The object of the workshop was a repair job on the Cob Oven at the site. The surface was cracking and some pieces were falling off. We mixed a batch of sand and clay to fill in the cracks and repair the lost chunks. Then mixed another formula of earthen plaster to resurface the whole thing.. clay, sand, straw and wheat paste. While we worked, we talked about the process of building and using a cob oven as well as cob construction in general.

The Pearson Community Garden has several examples of Cob Building. The Oven is surrounded by a structure made of cob. It is a beautiful curving shelter with a tin roof. Here are some photos...The "window" included a glass bottle worked into the opening. The possibilities are endless for incorporating interesting objects! I am so intrigued by the curves that are not only possible, but easy in this building form.

The other cob structure at the Pearson Community Gardens is the home for the composting toilet. A most beautiful building incorporating all sorts of cool elements. It also has a living roof and the curving walls that just really capture my imagination! It was a fabulous first taste for me and I am totally bitten by the cob bug! I look forward to learing more and building my own oven... Fresh bread anyone?

Bugged!

Spending the morning pulling up plants that are infested with Harlequin Bugs . I was able to knock them back a bit with a home made insecticide soap solution made with olive oil and peppermint soap mixed with water.. I am wishing that I had hit it right away with the soap solution.. I was trying to do the hand-picking thing but they really got ahead of me and took over...
It breaks my heart to not compost everything from the garden but I do not want to invite these creatures back!

Still here... just SO busy!

IT has been way too long since I posted! But as you know summer is the busy time. We were away for nearly 2 weeks and playing catch-up with the jungle that my garden has become. Rainy days while I was gone made it easy on the garden sitter.. and encouraged lots of growth. Everything is doing well but I have been battling Harlequin Bugs... yuck.. they do some serious damage! It has been hard to throw the affected plants in the trash.. I just want to compost everything.. but I don't want to invite those dastardly bugs back for a free feast next year... the affected plants are covered with eggs! SO to the dump they go. I know they will compost there and be far away from my garden!
Tomato plants are gargantuan this year.. 6 feet plus. Giant tomatoes... but mostly still green... I have been liking the cool temperatures this year... but a little heat would do all of my heat-loving crops some good!
I am dreaming of getting some chickens for eggs and compost! WE are looking at plans for a manageable chicken tractor and learning about different breeds and other chicken stuff before we take the leap!
So much happening here that it will take weeks to catch you up.. but I wanted to at least make a stab at getting back to regular posts.. Wish me luck!

ASAP Local Food Guide has Sprouted!

The ASAP (Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project) Local Food Guide is available now in both print and on-line versions. The on-line version is search-able which is a great tool for finding specific things... the print version is good for browsing.

You will find our An Urban Plot listing in both the farm listings and the farms to visit listing! Check it us on-line at http://buyappalachian.org/index.php?view=detail&entityID=1448

As we know, every dollar spent is a vote for the business/agriculture/environmental/human practices that the product we purchase represents. Many areas of the country have their own Local Food Guide version. Check out your sources for local food. If you are not growing your own, support these local sources. Inform your choices. Ask questions.. where did this come from (how many food miles are you paying for), how was it grown (pesticides? organic/natural practices/small farm vs. factory farm?) Make your dollar-vote count where you really want it to count!

Garden Thoughts While on the Road

I traveled last weekend to Portland OR to call for a dance festival there, The Portland Raindance Weekend. It was fun, a really fabulous time, but kept me from the garden at a time of year that I hate to miss a minute. When I am away, I carry my garden journal along, a sort of portable garden, and I write of growing things. It helps pass the time... and chronicle thoughts and ideas that crop up as I wait for airplanes!
Yesterday, I left Portland on time homeward bound, but got waylaid at my next stop.. Dallas/Ft Worth. Here is something I wrote while waiting 9 hours to get on a plane to complete my trip...

Stuck in Texas and longing to be in my little piece of North Carolina, longing to see my garden, to touch the earth of home, to drink in the changes that are surely waiting for me. To revel in the magic of growth and the accomplishment of my plot while my back is turned..
I know... it has only been since Friday that I was there among the spirits of my ground and today is just Monday.. only a few days, but away I have been, though never far, for in my mind I am ever diggin' in the dirt. Away but ever connected.
I have imagined my homecoming, rushing into the kitchen-first stop, hugging my family, my loves, then a trip out to the front garden to see what those plants have been up to while I have been gone.. I'll be in by 6:30 tonight, still plenty of light, the perfect prelude to dinner, a walk in the waiting garden.....

LATER....
But the weather had other plans for me, hours now sitting, walking, waiting in the airport, plastic, impersonal, I am alone in a sea of humanity stopped by the weather and eating food that smells more like a chemical copy of food than the real thing. I am so grateful for the care package of food that my hosts sent me off with this morning as I am not forced to eat airport food to survive.
Now I will not get in until well past midnight.... We have just celebrated the new moon, there will not be much light.. so I imagine myself, flashlight in hand creeping out to the dew-damp, midnight garden to check in with nature, to touch the ground after this long, long day of waiting... will I dare, right now, waiting until morning seems an impossible task.......

Earth Day

Thinking about Earth Day and knowing that EVERY DAY is Earth Day... according to my very wise nearly 8 year old!, I thought that it would be good to make a list of what we do everyday to Celebrate and care for our earth... it's the only one we really have!

So here is my list in no particular order of importance:
~Growing a large percentage of our own food.
~Planting primarily heirloom and open pollinated seeds.
~Choosing Local Food first.
~Choosing organically grown products.
~Eating meat that is humanely raised, grass-fed, free-range, etc.
~Avoiding Bovine Growth Hormone, Antibiotics and Genetically Modified Foods.
~Choosing not to eat foods that contain high fructose corn syrup.
~Shopping at the Farmers Market.
~Focusing on Local products and services whenever possible.
~Using the Better World Shopper Guide to choose products and stores.
~Turning our yard into a sanctuary for birds and bees and other wildlife who appreciate our organic ways.
~Composting our kitchen, office and yard waste.
~Teaching our daughter fabulous ways to take care of the planet.
~Sending our daughter to an amazing public charter school, that focuses on Environmental Education and Green Living.
~Harvesting rainwater for use in the garden.
~Using mulch to minimize water usage.
~Reclaiming found objects and giving them new functions.
~Reducing the amount of things that we NEED to buy.
~Making as many meals as possible at home and from scratch.
~Repairing things that break instead of replacing.
~Finding new uses for throwaways.
~Recycling things that we can not compost, reuse, repair or reassign.
~Freecycling. Both to get stuff and get rid of stuff.
~Use compact fluorescent light bulbs.
~Filter our own tap water and do not buy bottled water.
~Minimize the use of credit cards.
~Sharing rides and minimizing car trips.
~Always looking for ways to lessen our Carbon Footprint.

I am sure there are more things.. but for now.. this is what comes to mind.

All of this is not only good for the planet but really good for the pocketbook and serves to bring our family and our neighbors and community closer together. Working for the greater good!

Make everyday EARTH DAY!

Busy times in the garden

What a bountifully busy time of the year. There don't seem to be enough hours in the day to get it all done. I feel like I am choreographing a complicated ballet....getting seeds started ahead of planting time, prepping the garden beds, direct sowing, weeding, rearranging plants from previous plantings, re-designing certain areas of the established garden, creating new beds and doing away with more lawn! There is SO much happening... and even with my best of intentions to keep up with blogging about all of this, it seems to be the blogging that falls by the wayside. Can't eat the blog... spend time on the food.

This is the first garden year.. (year number 4) that I have been working without a bunch of help from friends and co-conspirators.. As much as I liked having the help and company, I am certainly enjoying the solitude that I find out there by myself. My daughter, Rebecca, now nearly 8, helps out when she gets a mind to and my fiancée, David, helps when I need him... but mostly it is me out there keeping up with the ballet which is Spring planting time. I am a busy farmer!

This year I have added a new batch of Asparagus, so I now have 3 plantings of Asparagus. We have been getting a few spears here and there.. generally not enough to have a big asparagus feed.. but rather tastes of asparagus in other things.. YUM! Last night, however, we had asparagus sautéed with garlic and mushrooms as a side dish.. the closest we've come to getting to really eat asparagus.. wow... what a treat! I am looking forward to MORE!

I have also added Jerusalem Artichokes this year.. this is a first for my garden but my parents grew them when I was growing up and I remember really enjoying them. They have a new bed outside the garden fence.

I rearranged the herb bed on Saturday. It was time to give the sage plants more space and to break up the chives. Everything got a little cultivation and mulch. Then Sunday was a day of light rain. What perfect timing. Everything looks fabulous!

There is lots of salad greens for fresh salads and kale that wintered over and is now producing well. Spinach that made it through the winter and snow peas are up and coming soon. Arugula is doing well.. but now that it is warming up.. it is bolting.. but I keep cutting it back to prolong the going to seed process.

Life is good, Full and bountiful and BUSY!

Beautiful Snowy Garden

We had a big snow storm on Sunday night.. it was the biggest snow we had this winter and we sure enjoyed it.. These photos were taken Monday morning. School was canceled for the day and the whole family had fun out in the white stuff.. Funny thing is that it was mostly gone by Wednesday with temps around 50! and today the projected temp is 70! Seems odd after having a morning temp on Tuesday of 12.. But that is Western North Carolina for you. We get winter... but it rarely stays around for long. Thank you southern exposure.
I had just planted my baby salad starts out in the garden... but I had them covered with row cover... a double layer on one bed and the other bed is under glass...
I peeped into the glass covered bed to check on the babies.. they seem to be doing okay... the row-covered bed looks good too. Today I will open the covers and let the warm air get in.
I'll post some picture of the grand opening later today..
Have a good day. Spring is on the way! YAY!