Along the 2nd Annual Kitchen Garden and Coop Tour, 7-29-2012

Dramatically swooping into the Garden from the North East, a giant Fire bird (upper Right) brings the essence of exaltation to the plants, animals and humans alike!

 Public Artist and local phenom, Don Kennell offered this beautiful mixed-medium bird sculpture to visit the garden. He recently hung a show at the Eggman and Walrus Gallery here in Santa Fe where many birds were presented. He won two first place ribbons at last year's Recycled Art show at El Museo. One piece took the judge's prize and his other piece won the people's choice award. He has two fish sculptures installed on the Santa Fe River along East Alameda and his corrugated metal 'Yard Dog'-swing stands nobly in the Rail yard Park across Cerrillos from Whole Foods. He can be reached for private showings and commissions at 505-473-1584, or Don Kennell on Facebook where you can view his many works. Thanks Don!

Pablo Navrot works with Homegrown New Mexico. After locating the property on Google maps, Pablo rendered a beautiful layout of the Dandelion Ranch, and all the other properties on the tour. While researching our neighborhood through historical maps, Pablo noticed that the drainage running East to West along the Southern border of the property has long been named the San Antonio Arroyo which was very pleasing to learn and apply. This large work of art was given to us and it will always be an admired, historical piece around here. Thanks Pablo!

Hence..... gobble gobble!

And thanks also for the special invitation!

Bella Cloude and Tess set up a beautiful display of tinctures, salves and and soup-seasoning packages all harvested from the garden. Bella is an herbal specialist and passionate sharer of knowledge.

Bella in her sacred domain....

.... and with some ladies on the tour.

One of the rooms in 'Shedville' (an OSB-free zone) is the seed-drying center, seed bank and lending library.

Juaquin on the Saturday Homegrown-Host-and-Volunteer-Tour.

Amelie Piburn, also on the Saturday tour, found this 'tomato bug' and a few others in a greenhouse with her pal, J-hawk. They want you to see that this menacing and voracious green Horn Bug has a WoW-factor....... it turns in to a precious pollinator:

 The Butterfly Moth! In this case, the Sphinx-Moth. They love to visit our

fragrant ceremonial tobacco trumpet blossoms (bees, no-can-do) in mid August evenings.

Another feature in 'Shedville' is the outdoor kitchen. Framed by our friend Brian DeBenedetti and ably and passionately finished  by DLR resident, Travis Stroope.... all with found and reclaimed lumber collected over the last year. Fed by a hose-to-plumbing connection the cold water flows into a four inch perforated pipe running downhill, underground to the 'Buffalo Current' bush in the garden. Hot water will come from a gravity-fed 100' black irrigation hose in a solar box staged on the roof of 'Shedville'!

Juaquin Lawrence Hershman,  long time food, soil & people steward, and two year student of world renowned Master Horticulturist, Alan Chadwik, takes some of the tour visitors through a demonstration and mini lecture on double digging, soil amending and direct seeding.

Here the education continues at the seed-start nursery. We handed out at least a hundred Dandelion Ranch info cards (thank you dearly for the donation, Leslie Staller!), on Sunday and several people expressed interest in attending Garden salon-work parties at the ranch in September. Join this blog to stay posted....

Dan and Giselle Piburn, Dandelion Ranch hosts

L to R, Travis Stroope and wife, Rachel Zell, DLR residents with their dear friend, Zoe Wilcox, co author of The Home Farming Revolution. (In the lending library along with DLR friend, Nate Downey's book, Harvest the Rain).

El Gallinero

Tess in the yurt, looking lovely, energetic and 'vintage' after a long beautiful day in the sun.

Giselle and Dan with visitors discussing the squash bug assault and methods to recover, revive and prevent future invasions.

Happy cabbage following its divine blueprint.

 Travis and Giselle Monday morning in the garden.

and thank you,

Leslie Staller,

Father Richard Gundrey,

Candace and John G.,

Karen M.,

Amy Hetager,

Home Grown New Mexico and Edible Santa Fe,

and the volunteers,

Sobia Sayeda,

Pat and Mike Piburn,

Jaya Deva,

Brian DeBenedetti,

Kirsten Szykitka,

Joshua Sage,

Robin Duda,

Poki,

Derk Loeks,

Barbara Powell,

Gary Lee,

Don Kennell,

Elana Sue,

 Karen and Paul Schmitt, http://www.santafesunsilk.com/

Melissa McDonald and Nate  Downey, http://www.sfpermaculture.com/

all the Dandelion Ranchers

and everyone else who hosted and visited the gardens on this Second Annual Tour

making it such a pleasure and

success!

We would love to get your feedback about this blog and your experience here at the ranch. We encourage you to post your comments on this blog.

You can also reach us by phone by calling 505-989-4424 or on Facebook.

We'll soon be setting up a virtual calendar and bulletin board so that

we can share info easily with one another.

We do have 501c3, not-for-profit status and we sincerely ask you to consider making a financial or in kind donation to the Dandelion Ranch. We are dreaming a greenhouse, larger scale water catchment, solar thermal and pv, several bee hives, a pagoda shelter and a cordwood sauna!

All in hopes of continuing the vision of developing a sustainable and welcoming urban organic communal garden/homestead in Santa Fe that offers safe, fun and informative models and learning opportunities to spread the love, the joy and the fullness of living a little closer to the land in your back yard or in your community. Communal gardens truly illustrate the old adage, The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. For without each other, we'd miss the magic..... of giving, receiving, dreaming and sharing and when the going gets tough, workin' it out for the better. Sure beats isolation!

Thank you ~

~ cordwood sauna dream ~

Juaquin's Maverick Amaryllis in the garden ~