Sunday, September 27, 2009

They Seeds Are Sown

My number one and I got up early this morning and buried the seeds in our new garden. It's the first time that I have not been the sole gardener. It feels so great to have her by my side while we turn the dirt and plant our food. I want to cry when I think of how amazing she is and how much I need her in my life. I have never needed somebody like I need her. I have always had the attitude that I could do it all on my own and that I never needed anybody's help. Now that she is here, I want to share her load and mine. Here are some new pics.

Just watered.




The schematic of what's planted.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Soil is Cooking Now

I have been doing hard labor lately. I tilled the garden I haven't used in two years. It was hard work! I thought I would share some pictures from my big sweaty adventure. After I tilled the whole thing, a process that took over four hours, TK and I added four large bags of organic manure, four large bags of organic compost, a bag of phosphates and 5 pounds of blood meal, which it turns out is dark brown, not red. We water it every other day to keep it moist, but other than that, we won't do anything until the 26th when we plant the first round of crops. I can't wait to see those little green babies popping out of the soil! Here are some pics. A couple of before shots, some of us working in the garden and some after shots! I will post more as we keep going!

Before.




I just gone tilling.


TK watering after the soil treatment.


The After Picture.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Implications

Sometimes we don't think about what our words and actions as being bigger than in our own little worlds. Sometimes we do, but don't care. Last night, TK and I rode the light rail to Mill. We walked around Mill, had dinner at Hippies Cove, a burrito place, then we walked to Hippie Gypsy, one of our favorite stores, then to Mojo Yogurt where we enjoyed a shared delight. While we were eating, we watched an open mic night at Mill's End Coffee Shop. (I feel like I'm doing a plug for Mill businesses. Except Mojo, all of the businesses are locally owned.) The MC said that he hoped and prayed it wouldn't rain. All the while, I was hoping and praying that it would, even thinking about how much it would cost to replace my phone if it got too wet.

On the way home, I was thinking out loud with TK that the selfish hope of the MC, if it had any power and maybe it does, could totally change everything. If it did rain, it would be a nicer day today, the streets would be washed and cooled, the trees and plants would get watered, my garden soil wouldn't be as hard to break up if the water softened the ground. There are so many things that rain could positively accomplish for us.

I like how sometimes my eyes get opened by a slight murmur in this giant world. I need to be careful of my thoughts and doings. What I say may have only a small effect on me, but huge implications for something or someone else. Thank you universe for being subtle with this lesson.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

TK Birthday Camping Trip

Me.


Her.


Us.


Home.

BIg Changes Coming

I am not sure how much I have written about my current relationship. I started feeling like each one was the same and they were getting boring to write about and super boring to read. This new one is different though. She and I have very many things in common. We camp, we cook, we clean and we love being at home together. In short, she's not going anywhere. I will write more another time, but I would rather live life with her than write about it.

She is like my muse. I won't say that she gives me strength, courage and tenacity, but I will say that with her, I have diminished my fear of tapping into these energies. My house is clean all the time, my yard is nice and projects that I didn't want to complete before are getting completed. I have a new roof. I am saving up for a new hot water heater. This weekend, we are planting a garden.

Planting a garden seems like something I would have been able to do before her, but it's not easy to plant a garden when you lay in bed all day and think about planting a garden. We have our organic garden planned out, including drawings and planting schedules. I would like to eat mostly the food that we grow. It will be much cheaper than buying organic at the stores. And I know that it is for sure organic.

We are using the old garden plot in the backyard. (Alright, quick confession that makes me so cliche...she lives here now. She still has her apartment, but since May, she has been here, save for one night when the air went out. Ok, I'm such a lesbian! (Even though I still identify as queer.) I am such a stereotype! It totally works for us, but I am sure that you all have heard that before though. Blah!) That's out now! We have been working on the backyard now for two weeks and it looks great! I am going out there in a few to get the rest of the plot weeded. We are adding compost, manure, blood meal and phosphate this weekend so it can cook for two weeks.

When it is all done cooking, we will be succession planting carrots, peas, squash, cucumbers, lettuce and spinach, strawberries, green beans, onion and garlic, cabbage, pumpkins and tomatoes. The squash and cucumbers will be trained to grow up the four foot picket fence between us and the neighbors, the peas and green beans will be planted on the wires surrounding the garden to keep the dogs out. The strawberries are going to be dug into the existing area around the grapes that already grow up the posts and trellis around the garden. (The grapes act as shade in the summer.)

We will be planting herbs in containers on the back porch and will be adding fruiting trees in spring, including lavender, basil, oregano, thyme, aloe vera (cactus, I know), peppermint, lemon balm and mint for the herbs and apple and pomegranate for the fruit trees. The peach tree already does and amazing job of producing juicy yumminess. I also hope to add some blackberries and raspberries to the mix soon. We will be growing everything from organic, heirloom seeds from our local nursery. Together we ruled out places like Home Depot and Lowes as we would rather support our local community businesses. There is a company in Tucson that can help us with out pest control

So the garden is my latest conquest, our conquest, I should say. I have had successful gardens before and expect this one to be no different, just better and hopefully sustaining us through the winter until we till and plant the spring garden. She also wants to build a fire pit in the yard and I am all for that, but the food comes first.

On a side note, school is going great. I have decided that I do not want to work in a hospital setting practicing western medicine for 10 hours a day, so I am graduating in May with my AA and AS (Associates in Science) then moving onto NAU where I hope to double major in forestry and elementary special ed. I would like to continue working with the notion of nature deprivation, but taking it a step forward and and testing to see if being in a natural environment (with needed support) can help to organize the brain with autism. So, yes, that means I would be moving for a bit...I am a little scared of that. More later, I suppose.

Off to till and weed!