Dandelion Ranch, one year old and on the TOUR!

On June 26th, 2011, the day the Las Conchas Fire erupted in Northern New Mexico, ground was broken at this precious little neighborhood garden in Santa Fe. The Dandelion Ranch will be presented with six other gardens in Santa Fe on the 2nd Annual Homegrown and Edible KITCHEN GARDEN & COOP TOUR July 29th, 2012 9am-2pm. We'd love it if you attend. Go to this link for details, homegrownnewmexico.org

 The few people who began the project were passionate and joy-filled. There was deep knowledge and energy flowing and the empty, barren hillside was double-dug over the course of a few months, but that very day, the soil was amended, watered, prayed upon and planted. A new garden was born.

 Looking West, across the width of the garden. To the right, behind the bird is the compost operation  and to the Left is the exciting and quickly materializing 'Shedville', a 45' structure containing an outdoor kitchen, tool shed and seed bank. Travis, lives on the premises with Rachel and their two children. He is an amazing artist and builder and set designer and he's completing 'Shedville' with a year's worth of beautiful old, reclaimed lumber and a few delightful accents from Dan and Giselle's home. Photos of 'Shedville' will be posted in the next blog entry.

 Mullein, Purslane, Wild Amaranth and Lambs Quarters grow abundantly in the garden and they are prizes in the harvest. Often removed from gardens as weeds, these delicious and nutritious volunteers hold soil together create shade canopies and put some pizazz in salads or sauteing.

 Ruby is one of four young people who live on the property. All kids who come to the garden, after a hearty go on the swing or romp on the trampoline, wind up drawn to the garden where the resident kids, Amelie, Coleman, Jay-hawk or Ruby can show them how to harvest the plants without injuring them, how to hold a snake or how to eat just a nibble of basil w/ mint for a special taste treat. There are three dogs, two cats, 22 chickens and a slurry of turkeys on the premises ~ and the best neighbors we could ask for in immediate surrounds.

 Mullein: A sacred medicinal tincture, oil and smoke plant. Probably a dozen in the garden.

 This beautiful shot shows Wild Amaranth in with the bone-meal-dusted Cabbages. The bone meal is combined with other natural ingredients to keep the bugs away. June temperatures and humidity levels were hot and dry making it tough on several of the colder weather crops. But now they're doing fine. We will be doing short demonstrations around soil development, compost, herbs and tincture- making and and how to empower the burgeoning or advanced gardener in you.

 The lush look is not an illusion. Here, the base of 'Shrine Hill' and all other gardens on the premises, except for "Cottage Garden' are on drip irrigation lines (different styles for different topographies and harvesting intentions).

 Chard at first light.

 Facing East toward the residence.

 The grey row-covers are hoop houses in the winter for year round gardening. We're direct seeding now, Turnips, Beets, Kohlrabi, Carrots and Broccoli in preparation for autumn's chill. And we're planting lots of Lettuces and Kales in 'flats' for progressive planting until we tuck it all under the reemay and plastic while Father Winter holds us suspended in time. The bees were most delighted when we uncovered the beds early this Spring. The Kale, Arugula and Sorrel were early blooming to develop their phenomenal seeds.

 Wild at heart, this couple day old turkey has had little contact with humans. The family consists of a Tom ('Lucky'), two Hens ('Zelda' and her daughter), four teenagers (born on the Solar Eclipse), and three baby poults.

 Currently, there are approximately fifteen amazing adults and many young people who frequent this neighborhood garden. Technically, Dandelion Ranch is not a community garden because community gardens contain individuals who develop individual plots in a community space. We move forward here, tending the various gardens together. It is a very satisfying adventure. Host, Dan recently realized  and wrote that, "Practicing Radical Happiness can be messy. But like a spirited garden, it bears the gifts of radical health, abundance and fruitfulness. And gratitude is its harvest and its headwaters."

 'Sunrise Hill', medicine garden and flowers.

 Calendula and Sunflowers etc. on 'Sunrise Hill'.

 Peek-a-boo from inside the Yurt.

Here this hard-necked garlic represents our latest harvest.

There is a lot of Work/Play to be done/had here at the Ranch before the TOUR. If you'd like to come by and lend a hand, it'd be a great way to see and feel the garden and your help would be greatly appreciated. All day work party this Saturday the 21st. Dan or Giselle Piburn 505-989-4424, luminous@cybermesa.com. If you'd like to officially help and volunteer on the TOUR, there's a training in Santa Fe from 10-11 on Sat at the community room behind Whole Foods (formerly Wild Oats). Check out the homegrown link above for details.

Sunrise Hill

The goddesses were in the garden yesterday. Carmen transplanted hops in sunrise garden - a nervine that helps rebuilds damaged synapses and also seeded another nervine

Poppies were planted in the main garden by the tulip patch.

We are going to relax this summer! Laurie and Bella pulled bolted plants out of the beds and transplanted spinach and onions in their place.

The greens that Bella was drying in the yurt for a dandelion seasoning mix did not dry properly and Giselle helped her reconstruct them.

Here is the beautiful blessing song that laurie sang to the newly transplanted mint:
"May your roots grow deep, may your stems grow strong, may you reach for the sky and may you sing your special song"

The dandelion garden is truly loved and  blessed !

Bella 

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

NOTE: If you are a regular and wish to come play in the garden on other days, please use our Facebook Group to let other people know. 

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

Notes from Dandelion Ranch Meeting May 7, 2012

 Present: Giselle, Dan, Kirsten, Poki, Bella, Carmen

(Names of those commenting are in parentheses)

General discussion of how work is proceeding

~ A suggestion to revisit the list of Areas of Responsibility, to see how to make it work. (Bella)

~How is our structure permitting folks to ‘not commit”? (Poki)

~Poki & Bella know the pulse the best; the things that need to get done. We need a ‘welcomer’ (Poki)

~Mission is still nebulous. Why are folks attracted to DLR? Food, NO. Teaching YES. Community YES. Not me but find other teachers & organize. Work out mission statement accordingly. (Poki) There followed a discussion about how much we already have to offer as a group in terms of knowledge and classes. The idea was put forward to ask everyone what they might be able to offer as a “class” in the garden….

Action: Send an email to all DLR people asking what skills they can offer as classes?

~Montessori farm school ‘real time’ learning vs. “class at 4pm” approach (i.e. “real-time doing” is a better teacher than “taking notes at an official class”) (Bella)

~Don’t loose sight that lots of people are committed here (Giselle)

~But we need group work presence (Poki)

Action: We need a to-do list for whoever is the last to leave the garden for the day.

~Suggested: 4 Saturdays, someone different signs up to shadow w Poki  (Giselle)

~Decision: Tuesday – Saturday, the garden will be open to all established folks. We will cut ‘public’ welcoming time to Saturdays 3-6 only, at least for now (Giselle) Everyone agreed this would help w Poki-transition.

COMMUNICATION

~Communicate to members: We need more juice from the community: time & $$. Suggested $10 monthly (Carmen) Bloggers may be the best for this task.

~Also set up phone tree to make communication easier, for meetings etc (Kirsten)

Blog 1x week (Giselle) possibly Wednesday to show last weeks pics and list next Saturdays’ tasks planned.

FINANCES

~ Donations can soon go to NM Community Foundation directly under Dandelion Ranch (As opposed to Nautilus Project which includes Gaia Gardens as well. Poki will make an announcement when this has been done.) Once this is done, members can give Poki receipts which he files with the Foundation, then the Foundation gives checks directly to the person(s) who spent $.  (Money must be spent first to be reimbursed.)  A statement can be used as a receipt, i.e. “5000 gallons water for $40” is good enough.

~ Petty cash: Should there be petty cash established and who would hold it? Poki thinks all monies should go into NMCF because it shows our success & support. Some said that a small petty cash may make sense anyway.

~ A huge “thank you” to Michael Meade who donated a hefty $150, out of the blue last week! And “thank you” also to Bella, who contributed a generous sum of $300 recently!

~Kirsten spent the $ she was holding (~$40) for irrigation. (Thank you! We have been working the irrigation in the vegetable garden).

~ Re: $.  We spend w/o notion of being repaid. (Bella & Carmen)

~ Knows there is no $ but would welcome payback in the future. (Poki)

~ A couple of proposed options to pay Poki back: 1) 25% or other % of income from memberships or other fundraising, or 2) any money raised that’s over a certain amount that DLR needs each month to function. (Kirsten)

Amounts spent up until now and that need to be paid back should be calculated so that the group knows what it’s aiming to repay….

• Poki spent ~$600 in 2011 & $212 in 2012. (Poki & Bella agreed that $200 of her donation went toward paying Poki back)

• Juaquin spent ~$300 in 2011.

• Giselle & Dan should figure out their spending.

Other discussions:

~ We should post physical calendar: Giselle will look for one.

~ We should officially re-invite Juaquin (Poki)

~Poki can donate starts: broccoli, kohlrabi & cauliflower (Poki) (Giselle doesn’t particularly want cauli)

~Poki will ask Larry to help DLR w plumbing estimate, consult & possibly some work too.

~ Dan to call Kether, for plumbing help, as above.

~ Needed plumbing: Tap into water line (below freezing point) to run pipes back to garden & outdoor kitchen, frost-free hydrant, irrigation timer and zones to connect w this pipe and also a meter to separate out garden water use. (Paul, irrigator/landscaper/friend will donate time to do irrigation interface and buy parts at cost. Thanks Paul!).

~ We also want electricity to back buildings, or at least a breaker box with plugs near the tool shed.

~Dan to send Kirsten language from Wood Gormley legal department about use of everyone’s contact information (not passing along emails or phone numbers for any other use…)

~ Irrigation is a priority, especially in beds #3 & 9 : Giselle will try to do by Sat. (done w #3, 9 and more, with the spaghetti we had. Only need 400 feet more to finish all veggie beds!)

Next meeting will be 5/28/12

Future topics include:

Membership? How much? For what?

Blog should entice with what is happening &/or what is being taught (once list has been gathered from community).

~ Mission Stmt

~ Fundraisers

~ Review debts & assets

~ revisit Areas of Responsibility (try to add folks)

Turning Compost

Baby chard

Baby bind weed!!!

Collard Greens still going from last year...

Removing bind weed

Planting cabbage 

cleaning beds and transplanting lettuce

watering a Mullein plant

Community Meeting tonigh Monday 4/7, 6:30pm

at Dan and Giselle's house
We will be talking mainly about the finances of the garden.

Blogging Class for Dandelion Ranch Tuesday May 15

I will be teaching a blogging class for those interested in becoming authors for the Dandelion Ranch blog.

Tuesday May 15
6:00pm
Santa Fe Complex

1807 Second Street #107

Class offered on a donation basis

RSVP if you plan to attend

May Day

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