The Heart of Community

Some thirty people attended our Winter Solstice Bonfire gathering.  What we are indeed growing besides vegetables is community!  Thank you Dan and Giselle for hosting such a colorful gathering of beautiful people.

I am now in Seattle where I will be adding new beds to my sister's garden (back on Jan. 1st).  Before I left Santa Fe, I harvested kale, chard, arugula and lettuce (yes still alive in the hoop houses, even after several zero degree nights!) from the Dandelion garden.

Weather permitting, I suggest that people come on Wed. and Sat. from 1:00-3:00pm to sweep the snow off the hoop houses and, if the temperature is moderate, open the hoop houses to give the plant some fresh air.  Please make sure that all the hoop houses are then properly closed back up.

Dan and Giselle will be in Colorado from 12/26 to 12/30.  Help is needed to collect the compost from the restaurants and make sure the chicken and turkeys have water and food.  If interested in helping with any of these tasks, please email Giselle or call her at: 505-660-3171.

Solstice Bonfire Celebration Sat. 12/17, 5:00-7:00pm

No one but me by the fire,
my hands burning
red in the palms while
the night wind carries
everything away outside.

All this petty worry
while the great cloak
of the sky grows dark
and intense
round every living thing.

What is precious
inside us does not
care to be known
by the mind
in ways that diminish
its presence.

What we strive for
in perfection
is not what turns us
into the lit angel
we desire,
what disturbs
and then nourishes
has everything
we need.

What we hate
in ourselves
is what we cannot know
in ourselves but
what is true to the pattern
does not need
to be explained.

Inside everyone
is a great shout of joy
waiting to be born.
Even with the summer
so far off
I feel it grown in me
now and ready
to arrive in the world.

All those years
listening to those
who had
nothing to say.
All those years
forgetting
how everything
has its own voice
to make
itself heard.
All those years
forgetting
how easily
you can belong
to everything
simply by listening.

And the slow
difficulty
of remembering
how everything
is born from
an opposite
and miraculous
otherness.
Silence and winter
has led me to that
otherness.

So let this winter
of listening
be enough
for the new life
I must call my own.

-David Whyte


From the most Ancient Days our ancestors have gathered at Solstice to witness the rebirth of the unconquerable Sun at first light. Moving from its long gestation to triumph over the darkness, the divine light gathers strength to bring new hope, peace and joy, whispering life’s secrets into awakening dormant seeds, with the warmth of love and the mysteries of the spirit.

We rekindle the turning of the year from its dark coals, to guide and sustain us as we journey through the coldest times, honoring the rebirth of the inner light within ourselves.

Let's Rejoice, Celebrate, Bless the Children and Sing Songs to our Beloved Sun...

Sat. Dec. 17  5:00-7:00pm

Bring hot beverages, party pupus, instruments and warm clothes.

We'll provide the fire.

PS.  We'll be hanging homemade prayer flags (approx. 6"X6") along the garden fence.   Joan and Nicholas gave us some blank ones to decorate at our last reunion.  Don't forget to bring them.

Going inside, Moving Forward, Celebrating Community

Last Saturday, our Dandelion Ranchers gathered at Thure and Maria's for our second brainstorming event.  The company was delicious and the food charming...

We discussed:

• Creating money-making ventures for teenagers such as selling worm castings, compost, flowers (dafodils, tulips) and growing shitake mushrooms.  A formal invitation to the kids will be crafted to pass around to parents (Giselle, Joan)
• Dealing with the volume of compost we are currently getting from 1 restaurant and 3 coffee shops.  Dan may ask his neighbor for permission to use the back of their property.  We are running out of space and may need to relocate our compost area to make room for the building of a shed and outdoor kitchen. (Dan, Poki, Juaquin)
• Renting a ditch witch to bring water and power to back of property (Dan, Gary, Poki)
• Inquiring with plumber and electrician about code/permit/cost (Dan, Poki)
• Pricing material for plumbing and electrical supplies (Poki)
• Gathering recycled building material for our structures (2X4, 2X6, 2X8, plywood, OSB siding, bricks, river rocks, metal roofing, etc.)  Keep your ears and eyes open for free material (contact Poki)
• Creating a perennial garden along the top fence/above the swing, softening slope with a rock wall.  Shrine and bench could be located in that area
• Finishing arroyo fence and chicken coop fence (Gary, Poki, Dan) 
• Creating the bicycle shed in the front of the property
• Building a gazebo and fire pit in the play area, leaving plenty of room for Amelie to ride her bike...

AND

SOLSTICE CELEBRATION   

Sat Dec. 17.  5-7PM     

Bonfire, Music and Gratitude

Giselle and Amelie harvesting

Amelie hiding her blue lips (from eating blueberries)

Cleaning debris in the arroyo (will be used for mulching and compost)

Dominique, our newest garden faerie.

Poki and Gary rebuilding the arroyo fence (to keep predators out)

Thure and Juaquin discussing the good old hippie days and the birth of a new culture.

and a big harvest before the snow.



NEXT GARDEN PARTY (weather permitting!)
Wed. Dec. 7   1:00-4:00 PM
(fence building)

NOTE: NO GARDEN PARTY Sat. Dec. 10

Work Party Wed.11/30 and Meeting Sat. 11/3

WORK PARTY
Wed. 11/29
1:00-4:00 PM
We'll be building a back fence as well as harvesting


GENERAL MEETING
Sat 12/3
3-5PM

at Maria and Thure Meyer's

411 Apodaca hill (off Upper Canyon Rd)

Notes from Sat.Nov.19 meeting

 

Intentions for the Garden

Changing the way we live

Eating the freshest food

Sustainability

Healing

Being part of the Earth

Teaching skills (construction, horticulture, compost, greenhouse)

Larger community survival

Learning

Creating beauty-art

Dreaming together

Accommodating teenagers and younger kids

Bees, birds and butterflies sanctuary

Sacred food more than volume food

Prototype garden to expand across more neighborhoods

Ideas

Shrine

Greenhouse

Cozy gathering space (table, chairs, fire pit, gazebo)

Inclusive community building and strengthening

Sculptures and art

Chaulkboard for tasks

Rain water catchment system and/or gray water recycling

Needs

Honoring the garden hosts' residence

Ethical behavior

Non-violent communication

Sacred/medicinal herbs for healing and rituals

Monthly potlucks

Forum for dialogue

Heart-centered community

Skills offered

Bodywork

Seedlings

Music

Teaching

Consensus process

Psychotherapy

Construction

Facilitation

Horticulture

Composting

Social networking

WORKING GROUPS

Event-Networking –Socializing   Joan, Michelle, Nicholas

Construction  Dominique, Gary, Poki, Alegria

Social Space  Thure

Garden and Sub-Garden (Native crop, Medicinal herb garden)  Gary, Joan, john, Dan, Thure, Dominique, Poki, Juaquin

Animals  Dan

Design-Master Plan   Gary, Dan, Poki, Giselle

Outreach-Growth  Dan

Compost  Michele, Poki, Giselle

Research (specialty crops (shitake, tea) and other subjects)  Thure, John

Art  Dominique, Joan, Gary, Michael, Nicholas

Youth Products  John, Giselle, Dominique

Blog - Idea forum. Bryan, Poki

Finances  Thure, Poki, Giselle

Causes (delivering food to persons in healing crisis)  Poki

If you wish to be part of a working group, please send me a note with your phone #

Follow-up meeting

Sat. Dec. 3  

3-5PM

Meeting Agenda for Sat. Nov 19, 3:00-5:00pm

Taetyn and Ivy harvesting lettuce


Some of the items on the meeting agenda:

• Setting up a weekly harvest during the next few months
• How to help pay for the set-up of the garden
• What to do with all the compost we are getting, especially the coffee ground
• Researching on crops that we could grow in arroyo (tea, shitake)
• Chickens and eggs
• Finishing the new chicken pen
• Building an outdoor kitchen and toilet behind yurt
• Building a fence in back area to create more privacy
• Finishing hoop houses with UV resistant plastic
• Planning next year's crop and ordering seeds

Some of you are not able to attend the meeting so please feel free to send your ideas, requests and feedback so we can weave them in the discussion. 

Please RSVP if you plan to attend.  Email here

Tia bringing coffee grounds from Ohori's Coffee Shops

Juaquin introducing our different varieties of lettuce and how to harvest them

Our plants in one of the hoop houses

John and Dominique planting Jerusalem Artichokes

Eating Jujube fruits

Planning Meeting Sat. 11/19 - 3:00-5:00PM

Now that winter is here, we can go inside and start reflecting on our next steps for Dandelion Ranch.

Planning Meeting (instead of Garden Party)
Sat. Nov. 19
3:00-5:00pm
at Dandelion Ranch

Bring cookies as usual...

Celebration Potluck Wed Nov. 9 @ 5:30pm

Time to celebrate and dream our next steps.

Potluck dinner at Dandelion Ranch.

We will provide salads and cooked greens.  You bring the rest.

5:30pm at Dan and Giselle's house (1212 1/2 Don Gaspar)

RSVP appreciated  poki@nodilus.com

Caring for our Winter Crop

 So glad we were prepared for the cold!

All our plants did well under cover.  Each bed was covered with Remay (white ground cover) under the plastic hoop house.

In order to keep the plastic taut/secure over the end of the hoop house, two things are done:
1) grommets are installed on the end of the plastic cover, and nylon twine is passed through the grommets.  The twine is attached to the galvanized conduit (see pic below)  

















2) on the long side, the plastic cover is attached to metal conduit with special aluminum clips.  A piece of 3/8" rebar is inserted inside the conduit to provide weight.  The plastic cover is held taut by the weight of the conduit/rebar on each side of the hoop house, making anchoring the plastic to the ground unnecessary.  The strong winds we had this morning did not disturb any of our hoop houses.

The end cover of the hoop house is made with 2 pieces of plastic overlapping 18" to prevent cold air from entering tunnel when closed at night.

















Plastic on the end is held in place with homemade clips made from 4" pieces of black irrigation pipe that have been cut to fit over the PVC pipes.

Grommets are reinforced with a piece of bicycle inner tube.

Voila!

















My interest is in refining a hoop house design that greatly helps extend the growing season until Jan. or later.  The combination of tight, snow and wind proof hoophouses, remay and black bottles as heat sink will do the trick.   For black bottles (mild jugs courtesy of Ohori's), we use Rit dye (available at Albertson, Hobby Lobby and on sale at Joann Fabrics).

Taetyn and Ivy inspected the compost pile to see how the worms we put in a few weeks ago were doing.









































Our garden parties will continue through the winter.  Once all of our hoop houses are finished, we'll begin building an outdoor kitchen, outhouse and tool shed, all part of the design of this mini urban farm.  We may also begin the installation of a drip irrigation system and will need to dig a trench to bring water and power to the back of the property.  

Please keep your eyes open for recycled construction material such as 2X4, 2X6, plywood, OSB, gutters and metal roofing. 

Next Garden Party
Wed. Nov 9
2-5PM  (new winter schedule)
  

Help needed for Coffe Ground Pick-Up

We were just offered a coffee ground route (5 restaurants), all close to Dandelion Ranch.

Santa Fe Baking Co. is a daily pick-up, the other restaurants can be picked up every other day.

Coffee ground makes great compost and worms LOVE it!  (see article here)

If you are interested in either picking up coffee ground for your compost or for Dandelion Ranch, please email me ASAP.

We can pick up two of the 5 locations but we need help for the others.

Thanks a million!

Next Garden Party
Saturday Nov. 29
3:00-6:00pm

The Faerie Says...

Our beds are now covered with row cover and plastic.  Just in case the weather forecast is correct...

Next Garden Party
Wed. Nov 26
3:00-6:00pm

Bring hot tea, cookies and gallon milk jugs (with screw caps)

Hoop House Party

Dandelion Ranch is becoming quite a popular spot to spend a lovely Saturday (or Wednesday) afternoon.  A mighty crew gathered on Saturday to help build the remainder of our hoop houses.

What I find most intriguing about this experiment is the quality of the space that we've all co-created.  People seem to come to Dandelion Ranch for a myriad of reasons and I am sure that the topic of food sovereignty is on most people's minds, but something else is afoot.

Friendships are developing, ideas are exchanged, skills are learned and children are seeing happy parents doing something meaningful.

My heart is bursting with hope that we can rebuild our culture from a whole new place. And the food garden seems to be a great place to start.

* Other Blog Contributors Needed
If you (or your child) feel like sharing about your experience at Dandelion Ranch, please send me a note.  It would be nice to hear some other voices on this channel.

* Gallon plastic jugs (with screw cap) wanted to use as heat sinks for hoop houses.

 



Next Garden Party
Wed. Oct 26
3:00-6:00pm