Call me a control freak, but I like to know where my food comes from. I started growing my own food to get fresh, healthy produce, to use
less water, fewer pesticides and harmful chemicals – but really, to know where my food comes from. That was great, but I thought, “What else can I do to close the loop here? To be more
self-reliant?” Composting and
Here’s a question that came in last week:
“How can I speed up composting without spending a lot of money. Cover it with a tarp? Helga”
Hi Helga,
There are a few things you can do to try and speed up your compost production, and none of them cost money:
The first is to build a bigger pile – at least 3 x …
Perhaps you’ve seen it in the news lately, or perhaps you’ve been seeing it in the news for a decade. I’m talking about sewage sludge. Time and time again, we
are challenged with the task of finding out what’s really in the stuff we eat, or in this case, what’s in the stuff we use to grow the stuff we eat. I’ve always been a big proponent of
knowing where my garden supplies come from, and I’ve done …
It’s been busy here, launching the new website and 2 new products for the holiday season, so blogging has taken a back seat until now. These blog
entries are really my favorite things to do (besides harvesting succulent veggies while laughing in the face of commercial agriculture), and writing them gives me an excuse to venture out to
new territory.
So we continue with the Grow BioIntensive workshop that I attended in the …
Back in my early college years, all I wanted to do was make bread and swing in a hammock all day. I dove head-first into environmental issues and
chose
recycling as my personal passion. Along with the strong desire to sort trash came an awareness of solar power and all its benefits. It was then that I discovered Real Goods.
Real Goods had not yet been bought by Gaiam.com when …
It’s been busy these last few months. It seems that everyone wants a garden, and I’m happy to help.
Today I helped a family in Corona Del Mar to plant a garden in a small space in their back yard. The space was occupied with a couple of recently planted fruit trees that weren’t yet established, and some shrubs. After measuring the space and making some suggestions for plant removal, we were on our way….
Once you arrive in Telluride, there is little need for a car, which makes for great sight-seeing on foot. When I was last here in spring, the flowers were just starting to get going and there was still snow on the mountains. Now the gardens are in full bloom and everyone is making the most of their gardening space. While I haven’t seen too many vegetable gardens, I have been charmed by the plenitude of cuteness in every corner. I thought I’d share some photos from this beautiful mountain town:
…
As I write this, I’m sitting in the lodge at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA. When last I was here, I was particpating in a 5-rhythms workshop. This time I’m on the teaching side of things. Like a miracle that fell in my lap, I was invited to co-teach a workshop on the Heart of Organic Gardening with Shirley Ward, the fabulous woman in charge of the farm and garden at Esalen. With Shirley and a few other guest teachers, we’ve been immersed in the wonder of Esalen’s soil structure, composting production, seed-starting and transplanting schedule, …