Our Organic Garden Beds

Ok, first, this doesn't have a whole lot to do with this post about our gardens, except that I happened to upload these two pics of a fabulous raw "hummus pizza" dinner we shared out in our "tree house." Preston and his culinary genius created this raw flat bread made of squash, flax, and herbs, and we dehydrated it (low temps as to preserve the enzymes needed for digestion) in our new Excalibur 9-tray dehydrator. We then topped it with a raw cashew hummus (I like the taste of raw hummus with a cashew base rather than soaked chickpeas--recipe to come soon!) and garden greens, tomatoes, avacadoes, and cilantro from the garden you are about to see!!! And a summer favorite: San Pellegrino with lemon and of course, cherries!! So refreshing!!

Now, on to the garden.

Preston and I have two raised beds in our little backyard, and this year, they are yeilding a lot of food, especially greens, and I wanted to share it with you!

The Birth of our Raised Beds

Last year Preston built them and we spent an afternoon literally lugging dirt in 5 gallon buckets from bins in the trunk of our little Corolla (no truck, no wheelbarrow lol) into the garden beds. The dirt was...eh...not the best. It didn't drain very well, and we didn't have any finished compost having just moved in that year, but we added lots of soil amendments and worked on it for a while, and when it drained ok, we crossed our fingers and planted our garden. Well, it was already June by that time, and we travelled three times that month and I'm sure it dried out at the pivitol times when it was sprouting, but amazingly, it yeilded some really good greens among other things, once again reminding us that nature is a miracle, and a lot of the time, it is this simple: You plant it, and it grows. There certainly are a lot of things to learn about gardening, and I've read so many books, but I still feel like I'm just beginning. I'm finding the best method is trial and error, as well as intuition, and working along with nature in a beautiful co-creation.

Gratefully, this year, our garden has done wonderfully well. In the fall, we left the roots in the soil and chopped up everything else on top, and we sprinkled what unfinished compost we had on the beds along with some dead leaves. We left it to decompose, and a lot of it did, and I'm happy to report that there were worms and other creepy crawlers in the soil when we prepared the garden bed this spring.

This spring, much earlier than last year we began to prepare our garden beds by removing the leftover leaves that had not yet decomposed, and we put them in our compost buckets.


We then added a soil amendment that had kelp meal and compost from cotton burrs, and some Yum Yum mix, and very gently incorporated it (as not to disturb the mircoorganisms too much.)

Then we planted, and waited...

And one day...

Tiny baby curly and dino kale sprouts!

Sunflower sprouts began to grow in our compost buckets! It was cute. We had thrown out some sprouted sunflower seeds that had gone bad and still, they wanted to be flowers! :)

Baby cilantro sprouts reaching to the sun...

Baby greens mix almost ready for harvest! (and we did, and it was fab.)

Baby spinach :)

Baby rainbow and swiss chard...

I re-mulched by the fence in the front yard, and put up this cute little sign...

Beautiful purple Irises grew by the fences in the front in spring...

Buddha brings peace to the garden. :) See the baby lilac tree beside him? That's Lucia, a cutting from the yard of my great great great grandparents home where I spent my childhood in Maine. My great-grandmother likely planted the lilacs. According to my mom, we have a lot in common as far as our relationship with nature goes and I am so grateful to have this living piece of that sweet property in Maine from a time that will always have a piece of my heart. Right now, it is planted in a pot, which we planted in the ground to protect the roots over the winter. The lilac tree has to over-winter or it will never bloom, so we have moved it around in a bucket and someday when we have a more permanent location we will plant it into the ground. She is doing really well, though and has at least quadrupled in size since she was given to us by the sweet present owner of the house.

Here's the greens garden in the beginning...

And I have no idea why this is horizontal, or how to change it for that matter, so here is a view of the farthest garden bed now, full of basil (in the front) tomatoes: heirloom and cluster (gross word), Strawberries, cilantro, and other herbs just now starting to sprout.

This is our Kale now, almost full grown. We grew it for both juicing, and kale chips mmmmm.

Here is our Rainbow Chard now, which we grew for juicing, and Chard wraps.



And here is a tomato peeking out of the greens...

Here is our cilantro, about to go to seed....ahhh we need to make a lot of salsa!

Some Romaine Lettuce on its way, along with new growth from where we cut the baby greens...




And in the front yard, the little purple bell flowers have returned and are in full bloom... :)



And that is an update (finally) of our little gardens. Do you have a garden? What has your experience with gardening been like? What is growing in yours?

Love,
Abbey

Spring is Stirring, Gardens Calling, Creativity Flowing...

I can feel the first stirrings of spring within me. I love this time of year when I can feel my inner and outer world begin to wake up.

I look outside each morning to watch as more and more species of birds come to gather at the feeder. With this warm spell we've had, the snow is almost completely melted from our yard.

This time of year I love to dig out my gardening and bird books, and get lots of books for inspiration at the library. We are beginning to plan our vegetable garden beds for this year and taking inventory of the seeds we saved, and the seeds we need to order. I of course went out on a warm day and picked around in the corner of one of the garden beds to check (and smell, of course) the soil. It smelled WONDERFUL. I LOVE DIRT.

I always have to find ways (usually by reading gardening books and learning more about soil, composting, and companion planting, and flipping through seed catalogs) to be patient for planting time. The first stirrings of spring within my heart and soul always come long before the ground is workable, especially in Colorado where the last frost date doesn't arrive until May 15. Last year it really didn't arrive until June.

I have a feeling that spring is coming earlier this year, but for now I will work with Preston to plan our garden beds (and decide if we are going to add 2 more) and prepare to start some peppers and tomatoes inside mid-March.

I am working on a small Spring Collection which I hope to debut in the beginning of April. I'm excited to share it with you! More hints and secret details to come on that later, but for now I will tell you that I will be re-introducing some special Spring items into my Etsy shop online at www.LovesGarden.Etsy.com in the first week of March.

Available will be some wonderful spring wall hangings, garlands, and other goodies for decorating your home, among other fabulous things from Love's Garden.

By the way, I am having a HUGE Sale in my online shop and almost everything is on Sale and I've marked it all very low to make room for the new! Please stop by at LovesGarden.Etsy.com and scoop up a beautiful hair accessory, knitted item, etc. I'd be happy to gift wrap it for you as well, just leave a note in the "message to seller" box when checking out. Here are some photos of the things that are on Sale and Clearance now, go to my shop to see them:



















www.LovesGarden.Etsy.com

I wish you well in whatever you may be doing as we approach the end of winter. Maybe you've felt the stirrings of spring within you, too! Be sure to comment and tell me about your inner stirrings and current inspirations...

Love,
Abbey

Morning in the Canyon

This morning I ran in the canyon for the first time. It was a beautiful morning, the sun streaming down through the tall mountain pines. It was my first time running since we moved here, and I was excited to try it out. Our house is just 1/4 mile from the entrance to North Cheyenne Canyon Park, and the canyon walls reach to the sky all around the road.


It was beautiful. As I ran, I could hear the birds echoing, and woodpeckers pecking and the stream that runs down the mountain by the side of the road, that has begun to flow more intensely with a few warm days we've had recently. It was still very cold though. The air burned in my lungs, and it was a very challenging run, because the whole first 1/4 mile is at an incline. And the air is thin at this altitude, even more so than it was at my mom's house (we lived with my mom for 2 years) near downtown. And of course it is--we live in the foothills!


Last big run I had was with my sister Annie and her husband Kevin, in Ventura, CA, and although I could barely keep up with Annie (she is a fitness queen) I felt like a ran like a pro (for me) when I was there, forgetting that part of the reason for that was the lower altitude. Duh. Well this morning's run showed me up. I'm very excited though to have such a pristine, incredibly beautiful place to run. We feel so fortunate to be so close to such an amazing natural treasure. I can see though that I will be challenging myself to get further and further into the canyon without stopping to walk, and I will have develop my stamina for uphill running.


I'm thinking about buying trail running shoes for my next pair of runners. There are so many great trails here and throughout the area, and beautiful places to run. I returned from my run to a beautiful green and red-hued mango to indulge in. It was luscious, juicy, sweetness. Heaven on earth. Organic mangos were on sale the other day for 88 cents and my beloved Preston brought home 5 of them! Mmmmmm...





I've been working all week so far on getting our home organized and beautified. Very soon I will share pictures with you of our home now that we are moved in. I have been hand washing all of our dishes, and really enjoying the process, whenever I keep up with it well. While we didn't have our own home for a couple years, I really cultivated a sense for what a blessing and honor it is to be able to care for your own things...your own space. I value little things so much more now, and I have so much more of a sense for what I want my home to be, and to feel like. We LOVE it here. Its so quiet and precious. The sunshine streams through our windows at all times during the day, because there are windows all around.


Yesterday I hung up my windchime, which is truly one of my most cherished "things." It is a Corinthian Bells wind chime that I bought last summer with money gifted to me after completing a project very dear to my heart. It is perfectly tuned, and when a breeze floats by it creates the most centering and peaceful sound. It is LOVE.


Preston and I took a few moments to draw (literally, in the dirt out back) and plan for building our raised beds for our vegetable and herb gardens. I've gone through my seed catalogs and circled many flower and vegetable and herb seeds and everything we will order, and I'll be putting in my order soon! My heart dances at the promise of Spring! :)


One of my very favorite things about our home so far, is that on the hour and quarter and half hour every hour, up on the side of the mountain, bells ring and play music from the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun. Preston says, and I agree, that it makes it seem like we are in the Sound of Music. I always feel like I live in a sweet little mountain village every time I hear it. There is a lot that is magical about this energy space and I am so grateful to be a part of it.