Tag Archives: organic produce

Make A Prairie Say No To Land Without Life

image: www.ojibway.ca

So make a prairie

It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a decade since I did some work recording for Statistics Canada. The job required door-to-door visits to all the homes in a designated area, interesting because I had a chance to see what people do in their yards. One residence in particular left a strong impression on me and it continues to resonate now in 2021 all these years later.

It was a beautiful home, probably 40 years old, on a fairly large estate.

The lawns were nicely manicured and the architectural evergreens were tastefully placed. It looked like a photo in a 1970’s Better Homes and Gardens.

This architectural sketch of a late 1970’s “Dream Green Home” at least shows a bit of “greenery” and a tree. image:public domain

But as I walked to the front door, I realized that there was no movement.

Nothing swayed in the afternoon breeze. There were no herbaceous plants, no flowers, and worse, no bees, no butterflies, no birds. This place had as little movement as my imaginary magazine photo. It struck me as being uninteresting and unnatural. Land without life.

In my experience we show ourselves at our best when we interact and connect with nature and even find a kind of fulfillment in it. This completion has been lost for many of us, but paradise can be regained at any time.

There are all kinds of small ways to re-connect and to bring restoration, not just to the land, but to ourselves as well. I encourage everyone to put in a garden of some kind. A vegetable garden is of course the most practical and immediately useful. Start small and easy if you have never had a garden before.

If the practicality of a vegetable garden isn’t appealing, then plant something in to nourish your soul.

‘Miss Ruby’ Butterfly Bush-Buddleia image: www.green-living-made-easy.com
Rick’s home butterfly garden photo:M. Larmand

A couple of years ago I put in a no-maintenance garden specifically to attract hummingbirds. The thank-you’s come at dusk when increasing numbers of my little buddies do their end-of-day rounds. Scarlet runner beans, red monarda, salvia, tithonia, and crocosmia – they did the trick.

And copying the garden of a friend , I have also put in a small butterfly garden.

Milkweed, Echinacea, and butterfly bush (Buddleia) are good starter plants. I’m doing my small part to help save the monarch butterfly population. The nice thing about both these gardens is that they require almost no attention, just observation and enjoyment.

I’ve often thought about theme gardens. “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance…” Ophelia’s mad scene in Hamlet is a great starting point for a Shakespearean garden and a study of plant symbolism in literature. A biblical garden would also be an interesting exercise, though the plants themselves would be local approximations of Mediterranean species but the life lessons would be endless. Consider the lilies of the field. What about a cutting garden, a scented garden, a night garden?

Poets and painters have found inspiration in gardens. Like them, let nature take your breath away. Start small. To quote the American poet, Emily Dickinson:

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee.
One clover, and a bee.
And reverie.
The reverie alone will do,
If bees are few.

It doesn’t take much to make a prairie – or your own personal sanctuary. For the Silo, Rick Posavad.

Supplemental: http://www.carolinian.org   tallgrassfactsheet

Get Dirty And Grow Organic

Rick’s lettuce- yummylicious

We’re too fat.  That’s what the media tell us.

We’re too lazy.  They say that too.  And North Americans in general are pretty unhealthy.  I’m saying that. Yet at the same time there are daily press releases about eating healthier, supporting local agriculture, the 100-mile diet, and buying organic produce.  Of course, that requires some thought and decision-making.  The default setting is to support economies of California or China, which we do, pay for the increasing cost of importing,which we do, and wonder what residual chemicals are in our salad greens, which we should.

I was at a high-end organic market in the GTA recently and I hate to say it, but the organic vegetables were a great disappointment.  I felt it was a misrepresentation of what organic produce should be.  But what if you grew your own? Or at least tried?

You don’t need a degree in agriculture, and don’t have to be intimidated by those who have been gardening for years.  It’s OK to be new.  It’s fun to be new.  There are all kinds of health benefits derived from gardening, aside from the produce itself.   And it gives you some time alone with your thoughts.

My advice is to just do it. 

Time and experience will be your best teachers.  Start simple, start small.  I had mini-gardens in townhouse patios and on apartment balconies for years.   At this point, I’m a big supporter of raised bed gardening for almost endless reasons. If you don’t want to go it alone, find a friend or two and have a competition. Like – who will have the first ripe tomato, (Grow the heirloom variety called stupice to win), or the biggest carrot, (oxheart will win, if you can find seed). The first thing to do is select your site.  Simply, the more sun the better.

The second step:  Prepare the bed. 

If you are going to put in a raised bed, you can just mound up the soil into a kind of plateau, or actually construct a container.  Avoid using pressure treated wood since the chemicals could leach out into the soil.  I’ve seen beds built with bricks and patio stones stood up on their edges.  I am
experimenting with various-sized lumber.

The next step is to add or amend the soil. 

The key is to add organic matter, and not just fertilizer pellets.  I think of it like feeding a child – you would never give your kids just water and vitamin pills and expect them to thrive.  Mixed organic matter (leaves, composted kitchen waste, composted manure, old straw…) builds the soil, feeds the worms, and adds the micro-nutrients that will eventually find their way into your vegetables.  Shortcuts are not sustainable. The most important rule is this:  feed the soil, and the soil will feed the vegetables.

If the soil is healthy, the plants will also tend to be healthy and be less susceptible to infestation by insect pests.  It’s one of the laws of nature that the sick and the weak are targets for the predator.  So it is in the garden.   Also consider “companion planting” for plant health.  Among other things I plant strategically-placed marigolds, nasturtium and herbs for insect control.

In selecting the plants for your garden, in the beginning start with what your family likes.  Even for the small garden you can get a pretty good yield in a small space.  For early spring grow leaf lettuce.  You can extend the season by picking off the outer leaves or cutting off the entire head about an inch above ground.  It will push more tender leaves until the summer heat arrives.

Love peas?

Try early bush snow peas, inter-planted with carrots and radishes.  All of them are great for small spaces. Grow herbs for your salads and seasoning.  You’ll decrease the desire for salt and sugar on your plate which will help you stay healthy. You just have to grow tomatoes. Locate a source for an heirloom variety.  Nothing compares with the taste of an old-fashioned vine-ripened tomato still holding the sun’s heat. For the Silo, Rick Posavad.