Link Transit Ad and Tierra Garden Organics

Yep, we made the big time... a Link Transit ad. :-)

Mother Earth News Blog #6 Estimating Yields and Planting Area For Your Garden

Another Mother Earth News blog post about estimating crop yields and planting area for your garden.

Seattle Times: Battling the big (garden) chill near Leavenworth

This is an old one....
Just working on compiling past and present posts.
Thank you Seattle Times and Val Easton for the opportunity to talk shop!
Battling the big (garden) chill near Leavenworth

Bounty from the Box Blog

I recently got asked to share one of my posts on the blog site of Bounty From the Box.
Thanks for including us and here's to another great season of farming!

A song of sin and feigned regrets

Trace the bloodline of each wicked word
to the inevitability of your crashing world.
No mystery hides this ugly truth
from eyes swimming in feigned regrets.

Our choices are our cruelest deeds
and yours, my friend was without
need; so out of place in your
crystal world
of ideals on love and life and loss.

That bitterness, I never saw
but listened to her tender voice
and understood there was no choice
but freedom on a thousand wings.

So try and sink or dare to swim
no longer will I bear the strain
of tying you to a swaying shore
in hopes you'll be a better man.

Turn the earth around the sun
a heart's wounds knit with time and silk
thinnest thread; a delicate hand
torn anew....this time, by you.

Walk away,
I watch you go.
I call you back and wonder why.
A friend you are but not to her
not to me
alone you cry.

For the boy inside that man

Best name your demons soon boy,
Lest they consume your heart and steal your dreams away.
Yours is a tempest soul. There is a swirling that lives within you
and I never know which way the wind blows
when I meet you.
So many hurts and scars
framing your beautiful face.
I will admit that you scare me
from time to time.
A love so great resides inside you
I see that now;
There is no hope long enough or
patience fierce enough
to survive this storm.
From here,
you must find your own path
and at a distance I will wait.

Garden Resolutions 2015

The New Year is a time of reflection, for the good and the bad. I was recently asked what some of my regrets or mistakes have been in regard to gardening. I don’t know that my experiences are really all that different from other people, but I am happy to share some of my mishaps. Maybe you can identify with what I am about to describe. Resolving to ‘do things different the next time’ doesn’t mean that you actually will change your ways. We are creatures of habit, and a dreamer is always a dreamer and a procrastinator will always be a procrastinator. Although, I will give an ‘A’ for effort to anyone who genuinely learns from their mistakes and puts a concerted effort into re-learning habits.

For me, my biggest bad habit in the garden is the sin of over-commitment. This happens just about every winter and spring when I start laying plans for what is possible in the garden for the following season. I tend to Dream Big, which gets me into trouble now and again. For example, I slowly continue to pick away at building a small orchard at our home. I flip through catalogs and read the descriptions of heirloom apples or pears. I look for cold hardy peaches and blueberries and dream about the bounty of the harvest that will eventually come my way. In my mind, most of the hard work is already done; the holes are dug, rocks are picked, fertilizer has been added, irrigation is plentiful and a deer fence is fully constructed.  I wish I could say that I have enough restraint to keep myself from actually purchasing any plants until after this work is done but time and time again, I come home with bare root plants that quite literally have no hole for them to be put into. In early spring, you can get away with this lack of pre-planning preparation. However, I am prone to purchasing plants even in the heat of the summer and then have to scramble to make them a home.  Needless to say, I have killed a plant or two as a consequence of my desire. When this happens, I always make a little promise to myself that I won’t let it happen again. But eventually, I am confronted with a new variety (or a really good sale) and the cycle begins again.

This year, to combat my overwhelming urge to expand my garden on a moment’s notice, I did actually plan ahead. I made my garden beds much larger than necessary (while scrambling to get some really beautiful delphiniums in the ground in early June!) in anticipation of finding some desirable additions at the beginning of this coming gardening season. I spent all summer watering and weeding this future home site; carefully pulling every last runner of crab grass and digging every single mallow and thistle as they emerged. I even pre-planned my irrigation to accommodate the future expansion.  In a sense, I am following through (at least partially) on last year’s resolution to be a little less impulsive and a little more prepared.

I will always be an idealistic dreamer when it comes to my garden. I am old enough now to recognize the flaws in my character, including my perpetual habit of over-committing. But old dogs can learn new tricks given enough time and practice and I think I am getting a little bit closer to learning how to work around my own pitfalls. I hope the coming season brings you one step closer to overcoming yours as well. Happy New Year and Happy Gardening!