Weeding Amaranth and Dumpster Diving

Michele and ElanaSue weeding the beds

Weeding the beds was high on our agenda today as the wild amaranth was chocking parsley, oregano and eggplant.  The stem of the plant is cut just above ground, leaving the root in the beds for organic matter.  We harvested two 5-gallon buckets of amaranth from just two beds. Next time you come, bring a plastic bag to take some of these edible weeds home. I had a dinner of steamed amaranth tonight.  That so called "weed" is quite delicious and nutritious.  Willem Malten, owner of Cloud Cliff Bakery in Santa Fe writes the following about Amaranth, also called "pigweed".

We planted 32 Jalapeno pepper plants in the bush bean beds. Juaquin and I brought these peppers back from our visit to Abbondanza Farm in Colorado.

The fence was relocated to make room for more raised beds.

 

After the garden party, I couldn't resist going dumpster diving for compost material.  Equipped with rubber boots, rubber gloves and a headlamp, I foraged through a large dumpster near REI where the Flying Star Restaurant throws its garbage.  Well, garbage for them but compost for me!  In 20 minutes, I filled five buckets of vegetable waste and found a large bag of orange rinds.  Our compost pile is now almost to the top of the pallets and is cooking at a steady 135-145 degree.

Roy, who came to help at the garden today, is going to look into zoning for this property.  The idea of building a small legal dwelling for a resident gardener has been suggested as a component of an urban farm such as Dandelion Ranch.  Between the animals, the compost (we pick-up compost from Body every morning) and the garden, it would behove the hosts to have a garden caretaker on the property.

For the next two weeks I will be taking care of the house at Dandelion Ranch as Dan and Giselle went on a road trip with the kids. If our current schedule (Sat. 3-6pm, Wed. 3-6pm) doesn't suit you and you want to come visit (13 turkey eggs are about to hatch any day!), please give me a call 505-796-6006.  I will be working in the garden everyday.

June 26.  First day of gardening at Dandelion Ranch

July 30.

Who says it's hard to grow food in New Mexico?

Correction - Garden Party is this Saturday July 30

GARDEN PARTY  is this Saturday 7/30    3:00-6:00PM

• Building seed flats
• Planting seeds in flats
• Finishing new raised beds and transplanting peppers and tomatoes
• Preparing area for building the greenhouse

As always, bring cookies, gloves, enthusiasm and a curiosity about how to build this new model of community garden/urban farm/education center/playground for the food revolution.

A promising event is happening at the Santa Fe Complex (624 Agua Fria) on Saturday as well:

Brainstorming a Sustainable Lifestyle in Santa Fe
Event co-sponsored by Sustainable Santa Fe and the Green Fire Times
Saturday 7/30  11am - 3pm 
 
What would make a centrally located Sustainable Urban Village in Santa Fe, so compelling, such a great place to live, you'd move in??!! Share your ideas and visions in the September issue of the Green Fire Times! 

To help spur your creative juices, develop your ideas, and collect your thoughts in a supportive environment, join a brainstorming/writing session on Saturday 11-3pm.  More details here....

‎Planting seeds for our fall garden and eating Portulaca Oleracea

According to the Stella Natura Biodynamic Calendar, today was an excellent day to sow seeds.  Juaquin and Giselle used the flats we made a couple weeks ago and planted a variety of vegetables, flowers and herbs for our fall garden.

Juaquin preparing soil with a mix of professional potting soil, bone meal and Soil Secrets products (Earth Magic and Protein Crumbles (extracted from beans))

The two hoop houses we recently built got covered with old Remay cloth we brought back from our visit to Abbondanza Farm in Colorado last weekend (see video here).  The material is quite worn-out and thin so we''ll be looking for some thicker fabric and have an offer from our friend Piper to help sew it properly.

For now, our seed boxes have a home, protected from the harsh sun and birds who love...seeds!

A visitor holding a bowl of Purslane, (also known as Verdolaga, Pigweed, Little Hogweed or Pusley) harvested from the garden.  Considered a weed, Purslane is one of the most nutritious greens on the planet. Purslane has more beta-carotene than spinach, as well as high levels of magnesium and potassium. (Purslane recipes)

The garden is starting to look pretty luscious, and the clover we sowed on the path is starting to grow.

King George (AKA Ivava) is still recovering from his encounter with the creature(s) who got into the chicken coop two days ago and took away all the chickens.  Fortunately, the turkey flock survived as they perch in the trees at night.


GARDEN PARTY  Saturday 7/30    3:00-6:00PM

• Building seed flats
• Planting seeds in flats
• Finishing the new raised beds and transplanting peppers and tomatoes
• Preparing area for building the greenhouse

As always, bring cookies, gloves, enthusiasm and a curiosity about how to build this new model of community garden/urban farm/education center/playground for the food revolution.

A promising event is happening at the Santa Fe Complex (624 Agua Fria) on Saturday as well:

Brainstorming a Sustainable Lifestyle in Santa Fe
Event co-sponsored by Sustainable Santa Fe and the Green Fire Times
Saturday 7/30  11am - 3pm 
 
What would make a centrally located Sustainable Urban Village in Santa Fe, so compelling, such a great place to live, you'd move in??!! Share your ideas and visions in the September issue of the Green Fire Times! 

To help spur your creative juices, develop your ideas, and collect your thoughts in a supportive environment, join a brainstorming/writing session on Saturday 11-3pm.  More details here....

WorkPlay Party Wed. July 27 - 3-6PM

Juaquin and Poki are back from Colorado where they went to help with harvest at their friends' farm (www.eatabbo.org).


WEDNESDAY 7/27 AGENDA

• Finishing hoop houses with recycled Remay cloth from Abbondanza Farm
• Finish double-digging new beds and transplant tomatoes and peppers
• Building seed boxes with recycled fencing material
• Making planting soil and sowing seeds 

Feel free to come at any time between 3 and 6PM.  Jump in, or observe or ask questions.  All are welcome (including children) especially if you bring cookies!



Video of Juaquin and Poki's visit to Abbondanza Farm last weekend (click full screen on bottom right corner to take advantage of Hi-Definition)

 

Work Party Sat. 7/23 10:00am-1:00pm

Please, come visit the garden on Saturday.  Bring the kids and plenty of cookies.

We'll be cleaning-up the arroyo, expanding the turkey fence, spreading gravel in the driveway and transplanting strawberries.

Work Party Tuesday 7/19 - 2:00pm-5:30pm

Weeds in our first raised beds

Tomorrow Tuesday July 19, work party from 2:00pm to 5:30pm
with Juaquin and Poki

AGENDA

• Understanding weeds-which ones need to be removed and which ones are nutritious food and excellent soil builders
• Making soil (with arroyo leaf mulch, arroyo sand and local soil) to plant seeds in flats for our next crop cycle
• Building flats from old fencing material
• Fertilizing with Soil Secrets products
• Transplanting tomatoes and wild strawberries

Michelle, Michael and Poki building flats last week



PERSONAL / CULTURAL BENEFITS OF EATING WEEDS:

• Develop a closer relationship with nature
• Become a part of the environment you live in, rather than imposing yourself on top of it
• The adventure of wild food hunt is so much more fun than shopping!
• It makes you take notice of what is around you, and understand patterns and cycles in nature
• Let go of the belief that we need to control nature
• It’s a freely available resource

NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS:

• Leafy greens contain almost all of the vitamins and minerals we need
• Eating a variety of greens gives you a range of nutrients.
• Most weeds are credited with some medicinal value.
• Animals instinctively know which plants to eat when ill. Perhaps by becoming more familiar with the plants that grow in our area we can develop the same instincts and take more responsibility for our own health.

ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF WEEDS:

• Weeds are often pioneers of disturbed soil, they repair degraded land
• Prevent erosion and reduce salinity
• Weeds build soil, and create shade and shelter for the next stage of growth, which then shades out the weeds

BENEFITS IN THE GARDEN:

• Soil indicator – the type of weeds that grow somewhere indicate soil type, pH, drainage, soil structure, salinity
• Soil improver – weeds can add organic matter to the soil, bring nutrients from deep in the soil to the surface to feed other plants, and provide mulch
• Compost additive – weeds are high in nutrients and can be made into liquid fertilizer or rich compost
• They can be a living mulch.
• They attract predator insects, so aiding with pest control.

Ranch Schedule for Sat. 7/16

Juaquin and Poki will not be working at the Ranch this weekend,  However, Dan and Giselle will be cleaning the arroyo and building a new fence for the chicken coop.  If you want to come help, a work party will take place  Saturday 2:00-6:00pm
 

Excitment on the Ranch!

Last night a coyote apparently almost caught Zelda, our Mama turkey who has a family of seven poults (baby turkeys) and is also sitting on eleven new eggs.

A friend upstairs (Coyote Sue) saw the coyote. She and Giselle chased him making noise and he bolted through the arroyo and over the fence.

We found large canine prints, tufts of fur on branches, feathers everywhere and eggs knocked out of the nest. Zelda and her teenagers were rattled, BUT no one was injured! They did however, go up to to their high-tree perches early tonight.

Dan ended up (with the kids' help) transferring her eggs into the nest Amelie made from straw up on the chicken coop roof!




















Dan didn't leave Zelda till after dark when she finally settled on her new nest!

Hopefully mama and eggs will all be safe up there!

Fairies, Horseshit and Reflection on Community

Amelie, our garden fairie, the hosts' daughter.

Getting horse manure at Arrowhead Ranch.  "Feeding" the raised beds has so far required 3 pickup truck loads of manure.

Four more 18'X4' raised beds were created using the double-digging technique.  Thank you Therese, Dan, Giselle, John, Michael, Juaquin and Roy for all your joyous effort! (double click on image and check Roy's (in black) special digging shoes and jumping style!).

Old wood frames were turned into hoop houses. A Remay-type cloth (white breathable material that cuts the light/heat down) will be installed over the PVC pipes and the hoop houses will be used to grow starters.

 

Coleman, the hosts' son, swinging the hammer.

Giselle (hostess), watch them fingers!

 

Our compost pile is starting to grow.  Here is a fresh delivery of vegetable scraps from the Montanita Coop.

We delivered our compost buckets to Body where we'll be getting kitchen scraps and vegetable juicer pulp.

 

The compost pile is already humming at a healthy 130 degrees

Dan and Coleman building a platform for one of the 100 gallon water catchment tanks.

Juaquin and Poki transplanting celery.

Michael and Therese stretching on their spades, loosening up these hamstrings.

A busy weekend at the ranch....

 and a lovely rainy Monday for finishing the raised beds and paths...

Several people have asked me if we had a "formula" of "ownership" for the community garden.  Right now, honestly, my answer is that we don't.  As much as there must be existing models of community gardens that have a formula for the distribution of the harvest, I am personally interested in listening to what this particular place, in these particular times, with that particular community of people, wants to be.  My interest is in developing vibrant models of urban farms (1/4 to 1 acre) that inspire people to grow food in their backyard.  Dandelion Ranch can be both a showcase and a learning environment.  Sure, people come here and sweat for a few hours digging, weeding, planting, etc., but what they will take home is far more than a few heads of lettuce or hand fulls of heirloom tomatoes.  It is a way of working in community, sharing knowledge, supporting one another in our quest to wean ourselves from corporate agro-business, restoring our local biosphere one garden at a time, and rekindling with the indigenous ways of feeding the Earth and the heart of the village.

We started this community garden 3 weeks ago.  22 people are already following this blog.  A dozen people have been attending work parties at the ranch. The Vision, Hosts, Teachers, Events (menu tabs) sections of this blog are still blank.  As much as I, or Juaquin, or the hosts have many ideas and definitely plenty of energy, we invite you all to reflect on what this new community garden could become.  What elements could be incorporated that would make it even more beautiful, joyous and fun? What type of children's activities could we create (4 kids live on the property)? How can we imbue this place with such spirit that it becomes not only a place that nourishes our bodies but also heal our soul, and the heart of our community.

NOTE: We are not sure if activities will take place next weekend as some of us may be out of town, but a work party is scheduled this Wednesday July 13, 2:00-6:00pm.