RENTAL SPACE at Dandelion Ranch, available June 1st

Duplex: Lower unit
1130 sq ft
Wood Gormley School District
Don Gaspar near Cordova
Sweet 1/2 acre property!
Master Bedroom + 2 extra rooms
Walk Down Town
Full Bath w Cobalt Mexican Tile
Also large living/dinning space
Washer/Dryer
Dishwasher
Lots of counter & cabinet space
Connect w the Community Garden on property
Garden view from Kitchen
Very sweet, nice Feng Shui, But not great light
Wood burning stove (save lots on winter bills)!
Block wall construction keeps it very cool in summer
Tile floors
Lots of trees on property
Kid-Friendly Yard
Chickens & Turkeys on property
(We have been selected to be on Homegrown's annual "Garden & Chicken Coop Tour" this July)!
(Our family of 4 lives upstairs, partially over lower house).
We are looking for nice neighbors!
Hopefully folks looking to be part of the Communal Garden!
see our blog: http://thedandelionranch.blogspot.com/
Animals negotiable.
: )
Thanks,
Giselle
989-4424

May Day Celebration at Dandelion Ranch! Tuesday May 1st.

Come and and raise the love energy for the Garden and Community... live music, May Pole and good company!!

Come around 5:00PM

Bring food and drink to share. Bring fresh cut flowers for May Day crowns. Bring friends and family who would like to celebrate.

April 16 Community Meeting Notes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Thank you Brian for taking notes at the meeting!)

The first part of these notes relate to all things Poki:

1) he will train both Gaia and DR folk in the art of blogging. Contact him if interested.

2) he stated that DR should have a life of its own beyond the intent or blueprint that was originally spearheaded. That means all opinions are welcome. Start rehearsing.

3) he will still be at DR twice a week on the regular Wed and Sat schedule (until when depends on God's favor and Dominique's patience but the writing on the wall is that Poki will make a physical break with DR and the yurt in the near future); he is also available to meet at prearranged times to teach skills or to consult, so contact him.

4) he advised us to read and understand The Sharing Garden, a poetic tome that enforces the notion that giving is better than receiving, a beatitude that causes capitalistic druids to blush and bluster in their difficulty to understand it. Read it to better answer some curious newbie who asks: How many pounds of produce do I get per hour worked? Check it out at http://communities.ic.org/articles/1513/The_Sharing_Gardens

OTHER DISCUSSIONS...
How do we communicate amongst each other? One suggestion was a Google calendar that will list all events from and for all DR people. Meetings, gossip, teachings, festivals, etc. That list is independent of the blog. It will be an interactive scheduler that any participant can list on and get info from. Another option from the Token Luddite Society counseled that a hand written calendar with drawn daisies in the corners might benefit those Baby Boomers amongst us if said calendar was pinned onto the garden bulletin board. A quick souring murmur from the TechnoCats slowed that motion.

For Hell's sake, somebody invite Joaquin back to the tribe for his razor sharp garden wit and knowledge. We would love to have him as a consultant and teacher also.

Some quick notes about the AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY drawn up and delineated by Kirsten of all the work necessary to make the garden run like a smooth machine. In part these tasks will replace the Perpetual Motion Machine named Poki who attended to many of these tasks while living on the premise.

1) are there too many tasks compared to the small numbers of DR participants?
2) each person(s) who signs up for a category is thought of as a Coordinator who does some of the work them self but also delegates chores to others. Just as long as that task gets done!
3) this is all an experiment. Try these tasks for 1-3 months and see what works.
4) it was suggested that The Community Meeting Manager be merged with the Communications Manager.

We went through each AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY and described what it would include. Then people signed up, and the list now looks like this:

Transplanting/Seeds: Carmen (?)
Watering/Row covers: Dan Piburn
Soil:
Comost: Bella, Giselle, Carmen Harris
Weeding/Harvesting: Tess, Iwona, Bella
Tools/Supplies: Dan
Money Management:
Fundraising:
Bloggers: Dan, Carmen
Community Meetings/Communications:
New Member Orientation: Iwona
Celebrations: Elizabeth(?)

Five major garden areas that need work before the Kitchen Garden Chicken Coop Tour July 29:
Main garden
Shrine Hill
Shine Hill
Herb Garden
Shedville
These are projects above and beyond the general Areas of Responsibility listed above.

How about pre-work party meetings for half an hour or hour on Wed and Sat to talk things over?

Consensus was that DR would meet every three weeks.
We're aiming for MAY 7 FOR NEXT MEETING.
To be discussed at the next meeting:
Yurt/WWOOFER
Money
Time slots for task work, expanding open work hours
Water source and separate irrigation source
Redefine mission statement

Just Pictures

Our Garden Parties are held every Wed. and Sat. 3:00-6:00pm

Sign-up on the right of blog (Follow this Blog by Email) to receive announcements posted on this blog.

  If you wish to support this project, you can make a tax-deductible donation here.   See our Wish List

Learning the Ins and Outs of Blogger

The Dandelion Ranch blog is managed through Blogger (part of the Google suite).

My intention is to progressively hand over the Dandelion Ranch blog to the Dandelion Ranch community.

It is a relatively simple tool, yet one blog entry can easily take me one hour to create between sorting and formatting photos, writing the text, researching relevant links and making sure the pictures and text format correctly (and I manage a dozen blogs and have used Blogger for several years)

I will soon be offering a two-hour workshop on Blogger.  A test blog will be set up for participants to practice until they are proficient enough to be made Dandelion Ranch blog authors.

The workshop will be offered to Dandelion Ranch and GaiaGardens participants as it would be wonderful to have multiple blog authors for both these projects.

The workshop will be offered on a donation basis

If interested, please email me to let me know what days/time would work best for you.

Transplanting has Begun!

Two kinds of spinach (Viroflay and America) were transplanted from seed flats directly into raised beds this afternoon.  

Laxton Peas were also transplanted along the upper fence of the main garden

Iwona, harvesting, weeding and tagging plants for seed-saving

Bella, transplanting nitrogen-fixing white clover (removed from one of the beds) around a fruit tree

Bella blessing a tiny spinach seedling before transplanting

Spinach seedlings

Happy Garlic

Community Meeting on Monday night

REMINDER

Brian, our miracle worker carpenter extraordinaire will be working on constructing Shedville (sheds for tools, supplies, seeds, etc.) at the following times:

Thursday 4/19  1-5pm
Friday 4/20   1-5pm
Saturday 4/21  10-5pm
Sunday 4/22   10-5pm
Monday 4/23   9-5pm

If anyone has time to lend a hand, it would be greatly appreciated!!!

SATURDAY GARDEN PARTY  3:00-6:00pm

Please come learn how to transplant tiny mustard, chard and flower seedlings in flats.  A very delicate and fascinating process that everyone ought to learn as we have hundreds of seedlings to transplant in the next few weeks.  I will only be available to demonstrate that process for the next two weeks as I now have not hundreds but thousands of seedlings to transplant at Gaia Gardens...

Sign-up on the right of blog (Follow this Blog by Email) to receive announcements posted on this blog.

  If you wish to support this project, you can make a tax-deductible donation here.   See our Wish List 

Shedville is Being Built

Brian will be working on constructing Shedville (sheds for tools, supplies, seeds, etc.) at the following times:

Thursday 4/19  1-5pm
Friday 4/20   1-5pm
Saturday 4/21  10-5pm
Sunday 4/22   10-5pm
Monday 4/23   9-5pm

If anyone has time to lend a hand, it would be greatly appreciated!!!

Giselle

Brian and Dan

Coleman

Carmen seeding lettuce in flats

John "dunking" a seed flat

  
Our Garden Parties are held every Wed. and Sat. 3:00-6:00pm 

Sign-up on the right of blog (Follow this Blog by Email) to receive announcements posted on this blog.

  If you wish to support this project, you can make a tax-deductible donation here.   See our Wish List 

Compost pick-up person(s) needed

A six-week substitute is needed for compost pickups in the South Capitol neighborhood, and drop-offs to Gaia Gardens.
I currently do coffee pickups twice a week at the two Ohori shops and Dulce.
Using my pickup bed as temporary storage, I drop off at Gaia Gardens every week to two weeks.
I will be away for six weeks, and we need someone to cover the pickups from Sat. May 26 through Wed. July 3.
(email me for questions)
Thanks.
Mishra

Construction has Begun!

Giselle and Brian at work

Brian DeBenedetti, our carpenter extraordinaire, has begun setting the posts for our backyard structures (composting toilet, shed, kitchen and shop).  He will be working on the structures during the next couple weeks.  If interested in working with him, please give him a call (206-714-7530) or email him.  He will appreciate your help and you'll be working with a fun and fine gentleman carpenter...

On Saturday, I will be attending the Elaine Ingham soil workshop and will not be at our garden party.  I will leave notes on the bulletin board regarding what needs to be done.  It would be good for people to arrive at 3:00pm and brainstorm on what to plant next and where.  (Someone needs to bring carrot seeds). The Laxton Peas are ready to be transplanted along some of the fences. 

As you may know, I am now working 5 full days a week at Gaia Gardens, currently creating raised beds on a 7,500sq' field.  I am not longer able to allocate as much time to Dandelion Ranch and encourage everyone to step in to tend to the beautiful jewel that we've created.

NOTICE:  Our Garden Parties are held every Wed. and Sat. 3:00-6:00pm  

Sign-up on the right of blog (Follow this Blog by Email) to receive announcements posted on this blog.

  If you wish to support this project, you can make a tax-deductible donation here.   See our Wish List 

 

The Dandelion Ranch is looking for great tenants for the lower house on the property!

Duplex: Lower unit, Sweet Property!
1130 sq ft
$1150 plus utilities
Avail: June 1st
Wood Gormley School District
Don Gaspar near Cordova

1/2 acre property!
Walk Downtown
Full Bath w/ Cobalt Mexican Tile
Master Bedroom + 2 extra rooms (currently used as bedrooms)
Also large living/dinning space
Washer/Dryer
Dishwasher
Lots of counter & cabinet space
Connect w/ the Community Garden on property
Garden view from Kitchen
Very sweet, nice Feng Shui, But not great light
Wood burning stove (save lots on winter bills)!
Block wall construction keeps it very cool in summer
Tile floors
Lots of trees on property
Kid-Friendly Yard
Chickens & Turkeys on property
(We have been selected to be on Homegrown's annual "Garden & Chicken Coop Tour" this July)!
(Our family of 4 lives upstairs, partially over lower house).
We are looking for nice neighbors!
Hopefully folks looking to be part of the Communal Garden!
Animals negotiable.

Thanks,
Giselle

505-660-3171

email