Dreaming in Garden

As we were watering this morning, Kristyn, Jess, and I talked about how we had all been dreaming about the garden this week. Kristyn remarked that when you understood a language really well, you dream in that language - so, it was only a matter of time before we were all dreaming in 'garden,' our own language of the inner workings of the permaculture site. This week has been a big week for the garden, and we were so happy to share our language with some welcomed visitors!

We have been setting up a drip-tape irrigation system down at the garden, and that is going to be a huge help for me and Jess as the summer gets hotter and drier. Drip tape irrigation is a system that pumps water from one of our spigots down at the garden and sends it through a series of tubes which get smaller and smaller as they approach the crops. In each bed, we will lay down thin tubes, or drip tape, which comes pre-perforated so the water can leak out into the roots of all the plants. This is a really wonderful system, and we are excited to have it completed soon! 

On Tuesday we had a stupendous group of MOVE volunteers come down to the garden for the last week of volunteering with the Accelerated Summer College program. We put drip tape into the beds of the hoop house, and covered three beds with landscape fabric. Then, we cut holes along the length of the fabric to plant some cucumbers and tomatoes - having this fabric down means that we can better control weeds. Take a look at our volunteers to the right -->

Jess and I had a really rainy harvest morning on Wednesday - good for the plants, a little chilly for the humans. But, the garden provided more than enough food to have a wonderful Salad Day that afternoon! We had around 20 people down at the permaculture site for Salad Day. Fresh salad harvested that morning, local bread, homemade butter, and a suddenly sunny day made for a wonderful time with some friends new and old. Please, join us for Salad Days every Wednesday at 12:30! Bring your own bowl and we will provide the lunch. This week we welcomed some veterans to Salad Day. The veterans have a plot of veggies and a couple raised beds in the permaculture site; below, Kristyn is sharing a kohlrabi with them. 

Another exciting new development in the garden: the orchard! This week we had a huge delivery of fruit trees and berry bushes, which will soon be planted on the northern incline of the permaculture site (the area to the left of the road as you walk down). The purpose of this orchard is to provide fruit in the coming years and also filter the water that drains down to the lower vegetable production area, a permaculture principle in action. 

A little nugget of wisdom: 

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." 

- Lao Tzu

This has been true for the past couple of weeks at the garden - a lot of projects to get done, and we are tackling them all in due time. Please come visit us soon. We have open garden hours every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday 8:00-3:00, and we are always looking for more volunteers!

Wishing good vibes and good dreams about the garden, 

Erin