Grass Roots Micro Urban Horticulture

Please Clean Up After Your Pets

2012-05-23T20:36:00.000-06:00

Sign at Prospect Park located in Wheatridge, Colorado

From Establishing Boundaries to an Invitation

This blog is inspired by the need for me to find a solution to the south boundary of my property becoming a dumping ground for local dog poo.

And perhaps it also satisfies my often times aesthetics celebration of the sophomoric, like finding a 'ready made' theme for a blog from the act of a dog pooing.

I have observed passer byes with their dogs, pausing and circling their furry wards in the 'zone' in order to stimulate them to use this narrow plot as a doggy toilet.

Cool, but this is taking place in the front of my yard. I have children; I have dogs. I love both; but I think that dog poo left UN-attended and children are not a 'good mix.'

I am not responding with anger.

I can see how this area next to a street, not quite landscaped, may be interpreted as a free dumping zone. I have had conversations with 'offenders' and felt nothing but regret in becoming a Mr. Wilson. I have observed often that the dog walkers are surprised, and often quite apologetic.

So I thought, "how could I gently ask people to clean up after their animals?" The solution presented itself after a lesson from my Photoshop teacher, Marti, who works in graphics and proclaimed that the QR code is 'graphically ugly'. Being that I love parody and a challenge, I started looking for an opportunity to use this graphic social phenomenon in a work, and make it beautiful.

QR Sign Installed

I made the sign and wrote the blog to ask my neighbors to pick up after their animals, and I am using the QR code playfully. I am reflecting on the game-like modality and effectiveness of the QR code and inviting my neighbors to play with their cell phones in order get the message.

I chose to link the QR code to my blog in order to invite them to the 2nd Use site. I hope this becomes a means to share my ideas, or possibly answer questions, that they may have about my work in the yard.

Even though the QR sign is a social networking kinda deal, if you wish to enjoy the true social, please feel free to stop if you see me working in the yard for a jaw and a tail wag.

FYI :
There are some bags under the sign if you need them, and again thank you in advance for your collaboration.

Sustainablity?

2012-04-05T18:10:00.007-06:00

From Fertility to Futility

First Blooms on My Peach Tree

As part of my exploration into micro urban agriculture, I decided to create a mini orchard in my yard. I liked the idea of fruit adding diversity to my pallet and my property. The trees are placed on the west end of my front yard running north to south and they will act as wind break for the easterly winds we get off the Rockies. The trees, when mature, won't shade the yard until early evening--a good fit for newly learned the concepts in permaculture .

So I have planted a number of fruit trees over the past three years; including, one plum, cherry, pear, two apple trees, and a peach tree grafted with three different varieties. The peach is my favorite tree fruit. Being an early bloomer, my peach was the first tree to flower that I have planted. I was so excited about the esthetics and the show of fertility with the possibility of fruit.

My joy was soon replaced by a pragmatic concern; I thought about the timing of the color burst, it was the last week of March and in this climate zone we are at the risk of frost until a couple of weeks into May. A frost would kill the fruit buds. I learned this fact when I researched growing peaches in my area. The local average success of harvesting peaches is one out of every five years, again due to our false start springs. It would be a heart breaker to lose my first crop of fruit.

I shared my concerns with my fellow micro horticulturist, Shelley, and she mentioned that when she lived in the Bay Area, her neighbors would hang the old-fashion Christmas lights on the branches of their citrus trees, hoping that the heat emitted could save their blooming trees being threatened by the later spring frost.

Well sure enough the weather forecast predicted temperature in the mid 20°F. I couldn't find any old Christmas lights for two reasons, they are out of season, and I switched my festive lights over to the lower carbon foot print LED lights for our holiday decorations. So I improvised with a piece of crop cover cloth and a 40 watt light bulb, in a utility light fixture. I put in a thermometer to evaluate my results.


The heated cocoon

Well it worked and kept the tree in the heated cocoon at 45°F. I saved the blooms even though it was cold enough to have killed them. But after this success, and a brief self pat on the back, a small voice said, "but is it worth it?" Is keeping the tree warm when vulnerable, using electricity generated by fossil fuels, a sustainable practice? I don't think so.

I kinda hate the over-used, abused term sustainable. Sustainability is such a buzz word used to validate our products and activities; but what is the true definition of sustainability?

I did some more research. I learned with apple trees it takes 50 leaves to supply the energy required for a piece of fruit. After counting the leaf buds on the peach tree I determined that the tree could possibly produce 6-8 peaches this first year. I have two years and $50 invested in the tree. Now I have 1 KWH of electricity which at today's rates is about $.05 (plus another, $.05 for Xcel's "adjustments"). What happens when the tree quadruples in size? Do I provide a larger heated environment, and how does the cost break out? Is it still less of a carbon foot print and a lower per cost peach?

Perhaps it isn't about sustainable, it is about principle.

This year I am allowing myself the luxury of imposing upon nature to give me the possibility of producing some fruit. Bottom line, it still depends upon an inconceivable multitude of natural forces all smiling on my little tree.

Learning

2012-03-14T14:58:00.009-06:00

Befuddled

From Teacher to Student to Student Teacher

I am presently acquiring new skills in the digital realm for my job at the University of Colorado Department of Art and Art History where I run the wood shop. We now have a new piece of equipment, a CNC machine, which is basically a plotter with a 15 hp. wood cutting router at the business end rather than ink jets. I am taking a Photoshop class at Red Rocks Community College and it has been a much broader education then I could have anticipated.

My educational roots are in photography having received a MFA degree back in 1985--which was during the pre-digital age. During this Photoshop class I have been fascinated by the interface in the program and how it simulates my experiences in printing color in a darkroom. I find it interesting how the program not only works within the photographers matrix but also has a great deal of tooling for the ways of thinking and making you find within the discipline of graphics, painting, and drawing.

But the most profound influence on me has been becoming a student again and feeling that vulnerability and experiencing the frustrations which are integral to learning. Perhaps part of my befuddlement is from my working in, and teaching in, a four year university and taking a class at a two year college. They have different missions and people they serve, with the two year school focusing on job training and transfer students; and the university focus on research. I have truly learned the importance of both types of institutions and the needs they fulfill.

I have learned how critical it is as an educator to be responsible to your students, reach out, be consistent. In my newly forming opinion the relationship between student and teacher needs to move a bit away from master - apprentice to collaborators to a shared enlightenment. The quality my of commitment to the students and their learning has greatly increased and in the end, they learn more and I have a fuller life.

The above image is my mid-term project for the Photoshop class which had to be a composite image about an emotion.

Unrelated Situation

2012-02-22T14:28:00.009-07:00

From Not News to the New News

There was quite the excitement at Red Rocks Community College the other day while I was attending my class on digital media. Apparently some students in a chemistry lab mixed a couple of things and made a no-no which called for some evacuation of a section of the campus.

On my way out to my truck I took this shot as a passing thought, the thought being, "what if this image came in handy, if a real event took place I would have documentation."

Nothing really came of the 'miss mixture event', and I forgot about it until I got this voice mail from Red Rocks Community College. I realized how different my experience of the evacuation was from that of the droid voice I listened to telling me to ignore the smoking gun.

I decided to create a digital document from my 'moment captured'. I have now published my take of this event on the social network, where it can become part of the information saturation form of pollution we seem to be drawn to.

This story can now become part of the - No News is the New News - phenomenon.

Winter Greens

2012-01-23T18:43:00.008-07:00

From Wanting Fresh Greens to Using Words of Wisdom

“Can’t never could do nothing.”

I first heard these words from Tyler Roots as he bravely quoted his father’s words at his memorial service.

If you have the heart of an artist, then you must understand the contained lesson. My artist culture looks for the exceptions, not as rebellion but as exploration through expression. This creates comments and judgement by many as weird. But I find this way of being exciting a constant exploration. And it always ends for me in "Could be better" — that is my mantra.

As example, my new work as an artist is in horticulture, and the ‘can’t’ in Colorado’s Zone 5 climate is growing green produce, during the winter months from November to May, without investing a great deal of resources in hydrocarbons.

You ‘can’t’ do that — it gets too cold, and you get too short of days.

Well I can’t change the duration of daylight, but I thought perhaps there is something to be done in passive solar to up the temperature and prevent frozen crop.

Now I just want to come right out and say that I didn’t pull this off without using some fossil fuel. I used plastic products such as PVC, and 4 ply poly. But the PVC will last a lot of seasons and the poly was left over scrap from other projects.

On the web I learned of the work of Eliot Coleman who wrote, The Winter Harvest Book about growing veggies year round.

So this is my first effort at extending season, and as my neighbor Michael pointed out—it’s only seed, what’s to lose? Hell, worse case scenario is I create lettuce popsicle and I learn something.

So I did some research. I chose to grow a cold crop such as lettuce that can thrive during shorter days and cooler temperatures, FYI, I also had a lot of harvested seed to play with. I knew better than to grow a Mediterranean culture such as tomatoes because that lose vitality at about 45 F degrees.

PVC 1/2 pipe just stuck in the ground about 6" each end covered with 4 mil poly with the perimeter held down with scrap

Then I covered the ground with frost row cover fabric, this photo taken in November

Well it seems to be working, I wouldn't want to have to try and feed my family year around with this new technology of mine, but I wouldn't say I couldn't.

Garrison

2011-12-21T19:46:00.002-07:00

Garrison Roots

Today-December 21, 2011 at 4:00 AM I lost my chosen big brother to pancreatic cancer.

When Garrison first told me he had terminal cancer about five years ago, it was quite the shock.

That night when I got home I tried to process the news as I generally always do, through playing music. I play the banjo as a meditative practice; I have never been much interested in performing. So when I came home that night five years ago I picked up the banjo and started playing.

This tune came to me then, and I have played and developed the melody for these perfect years that I have since shared with Garrison.

This recording is the first time I have played it as a reflection of Garrison’s life. The song is not sad but instead is joyful—in celebration of his life.

I wish to share it with all that knew him, to honor his courage and accomplishments.

I played and recorded this tune in my kitchen were I have always played it.

Song Title: Reflection of His Spirit

Preserved Lemons

2011-12-10T15:24:00.007-07:00

2nd Use From a Lemon and Salt to a Complex Seasoning

I was asked by some friends to start posting some recipes. My choice for this first blog was informed by need. I am running out of my lemon pickles that I use as an acidic salt substitute for green vegetables.

The source of this recipe was a travel show about Morocco and they talked about the preserving of lemons in salt. I am fascinated by the preserving of food as of late.

The process is easy, as always the most critical part of preserving food is fresh, blemish free produce and a very clean environment and utensils.

A dirty hand in the pot can ruin the lot.

I first found some very nice organic lemons. I chose organic in hopes of eliminating fossil fuel fertilizers and pesticides in the final condiment. I am guilty of having a bit of a carbon foot print due to shipping of the lemons but at least I am cutting out the fuel used to go to a processing factory.

Every wee bit truly matters, believe it or not.

Ingredients

Lemons, perhaps limes would be nice

Kosher salt

Very clean jars

Lemon juice 1:1 with water

Olive oil

Canning lid rings

Number 4 coffee filters (or any breathable material)

Process

As far as how much of the above materials you need, you must first decide how much pickled lemons you will use in a couple of months. I process four lemons for a family of 6. I want size of the containers (glass jars) that I process the lemons in to be such that I can compress the lemons to remove air space.

I am putting two nice size lemons per pint jar

Soak the lemons in cold water for two days keeping them submerged.

On of my many sculptural kitchen projects

This process removes the bitter oils.

Nip off the ends and cut in quarters, but not all the way through.


Prepping lemons

Open up and pack with kosher salt. I figure about 4 tablespoons per lemon.


Salted Lemons

Then pack them in the jars with a good deal of pressure. This helps remove air space and expresses some of the lemon's juice.

Packed lemons ready for the fridge.

I then cover them with a torn-in-half #4 coffee filter and canning lid ring and place
in the fridge for a couple of days.

After a couple days in the fridge, top them off first with a 1:1 mixture of water and lemon juice and then just a thin layer of olive oil, about 3 tablespoons.

They will be ready for use in about 4 weeks and last for several months if kept if the fridge. It is important to keep the lemons submersed in the brine, any lemon above the brine, fluid, is likely to mold over time.

Salt is seasoning one in the same. I use these lemons as salt--with the distinct advantage of using less salt--with the additional advantage of the complex flavors of the lemon.

We like it best chopped fine to puree and added to green vegetables such as broccoli, asparagus, or perhaps collards. But it could also be nice with fish or in bread dressing oils; truly anything that lemon and salt would enhance.

Sin of the Fathers

2011-12-10T13:04:00.004-07:00

2ndUse

From being a Father to understanding my Father

I grew up in a large family of five kids, three boys and two girls ; born in this gender order.
Names from oldest to youngest were Bill, Mike, John, Susan, and Katy. We were all born pretty much one right after another with a break of a couple of years between number four, Susan, and number five, last born, Katy.

Going out as a family was always tense, especially with Dad. I truly learned to prefer staying at home rather than going to the outside world from my experiences growing up with my family. I realize that it is a lot to try and herd five young children. The way it worked with us is first Mom would manage all, unless someone wasn’t behaving properly. When she was exhausted Dad stepped in and he always seemed angry. I recognize that Mom and Dad had limited resources and experiences--both came from only-children families. I still wonder why they chose big family life, I guess they wanted something they didn’t have growing up.

The big laugh came when John, at age about 5, was left behind during a family event. Actually it wasn’t very funny when I realized the fear in my parents. John, the middle child, has always been the quiet one of the bunch, however when he speaks it is generally worthy of a good listen. The punch line "Where is John?" is now used as a device to alert all for a count.

Also as background, it is worth mentioning that I was the oldest and as soon as possible my parents recruited me to watch over my brothers and sisters.

As a father, I now have a family of four with the first two quite a bit older from my wife’s first marriage--Sarah and Annie.

Rebecca and I have had two more girls together pretty much one right after another--Maddie and Maura.

I have always enjoyed watching my wife parent and be Mom. She has a calmness and a trusting in resolve that I admire. She is developing and practicing a new way, foreign to me, to be parent.

I was home with Maura, age seven, who needed to vent some of her abundant energy, so I sent her to harvest some tomatoes from the garden. She was outside for a bit when suddenly fear welled up in me, something fierce. I screamed out the kitchen window, "Maura where are you.?"

In stride, not even acknowledging my out burst, she said, "Here Daddy!" and lifted her hand as a visual for me from behind a tomato plant.

Photo of "I am here Daddy" Maura's hand raised in the Garden.

At that moment I was able to empathize with my Father’s panic; seemingly for no good reason at the time. I now am a Father, and have been taught by my father, who was taught by my father's father, to react with fear. Fear may well be an innate mechanism to guarantee responsibility for one's own offspring's well being.

I must confess that I do not completely reject these confines as protector, and the use of the fear mechanism to keep one's family safe; or maybe it is too late for me to find the new way.

I am convinced that we live in too much fear as parents, with all the tragedies we share on a global scale experienced through the social and media networks.

My hope is that my children find the new way.

No More Animals

2011-11-13T17:30:00.005-07:00

2ndUse From Dogma to New Joy

So we have the 'limit plus one' for animals on our property (county code). The animals are well-cared for and we have no complaints from our neighbors.

We told our four girls, "No more cats or dogs," even as animals pass in our family we aren’t replacing them right away.

My daughter Annie is 17. Finding her ‘own way’ very quickly. She is so full of life and creation. She has a boy friend, Jess, and they are quite serious and perhaps he will be the one and only, the gods know for sure.

They got a puppy, Ruger, yep named after a firearms maker. Jess's passion is to hunt; he does so very responsibly. They promised us that the dog was theirs to care for, they would take care of everything, and for most of the time he will be at Jess’s parents house. I must admit that they are brilliant custodians but needless to say, we have a new dog.

I must admit Ruger has added vitality to our household, along with some chewing.

A typical joyful Ruger greeting

Friendship gate

2011-11-11T16:26:00.007-07:00

2^nd Use from acknowledging property lines to removing boundaries

In the 90’s I went to Ireland with my friend and boss Patrick Murphy to fly fish for salmon.

As we went from property to property following the stream with an Irish fishing gilly, John, I noticed that there were ladder-like step structures used to cross over wire fences that kept the sheep and cows in but not the neighbors out. I asked Patrick about these constructions from neighbor to neighbor. But what if the relationship changed with your neighbor? Patrick said with a bit of a bollix grin- "they are easily removed."

Today, we have great neighbors to our north. We are so much the same—sharing family, food, arts, and horticulture. I thought about the crossings between properties I saw in Ireland. "Hey Michael, what if we put a gate between our back yards so we don’t have to walk around to the front?" He liked the idea.

Photo by Rebecca Woulfe

Michael and I made a friendship gate between our properties.

Photo by Rebecca Woulfe

This act acknowledged a relationship of trust and the future love between our families. And then I heard a small voice in the back of my mind, "True, a bit of a commitment but the gate could always be locked."

We Laugh

Photo by Rebecca Woulfe

Halloween 2011

2011-11-04T10:59:00.009-06:00

2nd Use From Costume Accessory to Dad is "That Good"

Maura posing with wand

I told a dear friend, Shelley, that my daughter was Hermione Granger this year for Halloween. Shelley asked me if I took pictures because she wanted to see Maura as Hermione. So Shelley is the inspiration for this blog.

As the story goes, Maura announced to us that she wanted to be the Hermione character from the Harry Potter series. Why not? She is of Anglo Northern Irish decent so she looks the part. We can buy the Hogwarts costume at the WallyMartType store. The catch was she wanted a wand that was more like the movie version, and had rejected a store bought wand because it looked wrong, too twisted.

I, being a dad with a complete wood shop including a lathe, volunteered to make her a wand. But I wanted her there to watch and art-direct the project. Her delight, or perhaps relief, as she saw me set up the lathe and start to carve the wand, increased my resolve for the project. If you have ever watched something turned on a wood lathe it is magical in the way the wood takes shape as it is carved. Following her lead, we pretended it was a real magically empowered wand being made. The wand truly did have the power to create a shared moment and feelings of love between father and daughter. Needless to say she was thrilled.

The next evening my wife, Rebecca, told me that she noticed the wand being used as a substitution for a lost drum stick for a certain interactive video game.

Rebecca said to Maddie and Maura, "I bet daddy could make you a new drumstick the same way he made the wand."

Maura told Rebecca,” Oh ya, daddy could--he is that good!"

I have never received a more impactful review of my work in my life.

Maddie being a zombie

FYI

Maddie was a zombie cop and she designed her own costume and makeup.

A Moral Quandary

2011-10-27T17:02:00.004-06:00

2^nd Use From a 'harmless' carney game to a lesson in life responsibility

My family has within our animal menagerie a number of aqua specimens. None were acquired by my wish, but at the time seemingly accidental, and all were adopted through carnival games.

We now have 2 gold fish and a yellow frog.

Our first aquatic ward was Cookie, a goldfish my daughter Maura won at the age of four at my wife’s work place during their ’Family Halloween Party’. I wasn’t concerned when Maura walked up to the carny-like table with flashy colored local grocery store type table cloth with bright colored water-filled glasses, and was handed a determinant number of ping pong balls. I thought the odds were 1/ 1000 she would win the grand prize—a feeder quality goldfish. We won—hurray—now I have a bait fish’s life to try and care for. I was committed to care for this fish by my early learning that every life is precious; I took this new charge very serious.

Maddie and Maura In costume, the day Maura won Cookie. Photo by Michael Fulks.

As dad, I am sage--all knowing of what is right and wrong, or so I was taught growing up. I do think it is important as a father to be extra vigilant of accountability in my actions. My life actions are an example for my children; my wife taught me that children mimic our actions and to some extent find their life paths through parental actions, not through parental verbal commands or doctrine. She is right, always.

It has now been four years and three aquarium upgrades at about $900 to care for Cookie, and later to come company. I must admit I do feel success when visitors say, "Wow that is a huge goldfish." I feel like I am doing something right in that Cookie is thriving.

Left to right: Marmalade the frog, Cookie and Scales the goldfish

Then my daughter Sarah was gifted a super Wally store frog from my other daughter, Annie. Knowing sisters, I am sure there was a fair amount of begging to get this frog. I rescued it from a teacup in a windowsill; it has been in the aquarium with Cookie for three years. The frog’s name is Marmalade.

They live well together, and are thriving—getting bigger and bigger in a nice 35-gallon set up. Everything was seemingly stable.

I have been watching, while caring for these animals over the years, and I see their consciousness. I started to feel a bit guilty; and questioning, must they live in such a small confined artificial environment? By having possession of these animals, am I sanctioning the practice of keeping these animals in a captive environment? Am I enabling the small vertebrate animal trade? I rationalize through conditioning; many people with limited resources seem to be quite fine and happy. Who am I to say?

It finally came to a head this year when we went to a county fair in Laramie County Colorado—surprise, surprise, surprise; they have a carnival area with rides and games. Madigan, throwing the same dam ping-pong balls, wins another goldfish and quickly names it Scales. You know if you name an animal then you own it and it becomes your responsibility.

Maddie wins Scales as my wife looks over to me in disbelief.

That’s it; no more ping-pong ball games for vertebrate prizes of any species. I explained to my little girls that these seemingly harmless games are now prohibited for us. This is my new family law and I am putting my foot down. I explained how we would do our best to be responsible for the aqua pets we have in our possession as of now, but we have learned, It just ain’t right and we got to stop.

Photo of a typical tank of feeder goldfish at a pet store.

About the Editor

2011-10-20T20:41:00.002-06:00

2ndUse From Exploration of a new Medium to Even Greater Admiration

For about 6 years I have been working and studying horticulture as a means of venting my crazy high physical energy and as possibly a form of esthetic expression. I have always been a cook and enjoyed finding that I am drawn to making food from the dirt up. The surprise was finding that I was using my experiences as an installation artist in the gardens. I voiced to my wife that I would love to re-present my new explorations as art to the public. But I did not feel that the traditional white box of exhibition was a fit for this work.

My brilliant wife suggesting I do a blog. I didn’t jump on the idea right away since I am a bit digitally challenged. Rebecca, my wife, is an educator. She has been engaged in digital graphics and printing since the beginning when the computer first became a tool for this industry. Her most resent work is in using the digital world to reach people needing or wanting access to education.

Rebecca recommended I take a class at Red Rocks Community College in Intro to Computer Graphics. This new information from the introduction class has opened up an entirely new world for me. With my exposure to the course work and a lot of my wife’s help I have started publishing this blog. It started as a method to documenting my approach to horticulture, but has opened me up to working with the social media as a medium for my work as an artist.

However I am still not comfortable with my writing skills and I must confess that I do not publish anything without passing it by my editor. So I offer my apologizes in advance for any grammatical errors. This blog entry is an exception and I did not have her look at it. I think that my wife’s modesty would have made her evaluation of this blog quite bias and surely the content of bragging about her would of been toned down.

My wife 'the editor' seen here cleaning out the kids’ trash from the back of the mini-van; and still smiling, I look at this image and think how wonderfully simple love is.

Cloning Goose Berries

2011-10-19T10:00:00.008-06:00

2^nd Use Science Project to Daddy and Daughter Time

This entry is going to be a bit more DIY, focusing on the cloning of plants. This writing just scratches the surface of the practice but will go through some of the basics. I think my success was based on, ‘sure am lucky that cultivar of gooseberries my neighbor had was so cooperative.’

I also want to acknowledge the universe that creates opportunities or events that make life worth living. The hard part, for some especially my not so in the pass self, is looking at these events as opportunities rather than chores.

The story starts with my daughter Maura having her first science project. I asked and she conceded to do a horticulture science project and since money was tight and I wanted to plant some bramble, well it just all seemed to fit.

What is cloning plants? To the best of my understanding it is the taking of genetic-containing tissue, such as stem or twig, in order to create another plant identical to the DNA donor or parent plant. This practice, on the level of my approach, is more specifically referred to as vegetative propagation. Whereas a higher technology approach in cloning generally refers to the taking of a small tissue sample from the parent plant to reproduce the new genetically identical prodigy.

FYI- many plants clone themselves naturally, sending out shoots for new vegetation such as bramble or the aspen tree, which is on record for being the largest single living organism on the planet. That is why cloning is a relatively simple process—it is of nature.

I referred to http://www.biotechnologyonline.gov.au/biotec/cloneplant.html

So here is the DYI of it.

First thing needed is some research on the species you want to propagate from cuttings. Some variations are simple to propagate and you simply cut a bit of the plant off and put it in glass water until roots develop and then transplant to the new home. My approach to gooseberries was a bit more complex, not sure it needs to be?

First we needed to find a pot and, since they were previously used, we made sure it was clean and sterile. To sterilize the pots to prevent fungus, virus, bacteria and other damaging microbes, I used a sprayer with 1:9 parts chlorine bleach to water. First we washed the pots and then sprayed all the surfaces and allowed them to totally dry outside for ventilation. You see, chlorine solution is poison and therefore kills microbes but evaporates and leaves no residue. I like to limit my exposure as much as possible to poison so I wear gloves and use it in a well-ventilated area. I use bleach to sterilize because I come from a food service background and I think it works. With research you can find several ways to sterilize pots, so choose your own path.

These are the photos we used for her science project presentation.

From left to right, first Maura washed the recycled pot. Next she prepared the growing medium which in this case was a potting soil mix of 1:1 sphagnum moss and horticultural perlite. Finally, she filled the pots and moistened the soil.

We then located the cultivar or parent plant we wanedt to propagate from; in this case it was gooseberries in my neighbors yard. You want the parent plant to be healthy and pest free.

Maura cut a nice healthy twig with clean sharp cutters.

The cuts should be at a 45 degree angle to create more surface area and the cutting or twig should be flexible and showing some signs of vitality as seen in the above photo. Next, cut off the tip of the twig to remove the apical bud as seen in the above photo on the right. This will encourage growth of leaves on the stem.

Then Maura poked a whole in her dirt and dipped the bottom end of the twig in rooting hormone (which I am not sure is even needed in this type of cutting propagation).

She then planted her cutting in the prepared pot about two inches deep. It is important to bury the stem deep enough so that some of the stem buds, which are located at the juncture where the thorns come out of the stem, are in the soil. This is where the future roots will emerge.

We then just labeled what we did with info of specimen, date, and process. We placed them in the light and kept the soil moist.

The project was a success so in a couple of years we might well end up with some gooseberries, but through the documentation of Maura’s experiment for a school assignment I also documented the growth and development of another experiment in propagation—my beautiful daughter 1 year later—thank the wacky universe.

Maura with gooseberries 1 year later. She loves her Daddy.

The Lawn

2011-10-10T10:36:00.002-06:00

2^NdUse From Turf Management to A Field of Dreams

I went through my teens and early adulthood during the 70’s and 80’s. I was the oldest and given the responsibility of the family lawn—it felt like a punishment. I think this was due to the fact that my family had a push lawnmower and a corner lot, my dad had a bad back, and I was the only one strong enough to cut the weed-infested non-vital lawn—weekly. I had no training or understanding of how you make grass grow. I was aware of the conventions of what is good turf; being a hyper green lush grass carpet; this value was of course dependent on petroleum-sustaining practices now common in horticulture. FYI, we did not ‘blend’ with the neighborhood.

When Rebecca and I moved into our home in 2001, the lawn was a thistle and bindweed bonanza. I had to do something about the lawn. I wanted a patch of grass that would make up for the shame I had experienced growing up.

To be honest, I sucked at conventional bluegrass lawns, so I did a lot of research and discovered alternatives.

I approached my experimental lawn very seriously. First, I had to find the right cultivar that would thrive in this hot, clay soil—an arid environment with lows in the winter to minus 20. I decided upon a new buffalo grass turf as the answer. I then followed the recommendations given by the supplier of the seed, Stock Seed Farms , that gave me the information needed to created an environmental structure that would support this particular cultivar. I installation an irrigation system and creating a welcoming seedbed for planting. This was quite the investment but no different then the investment needed for a conventional bluegrass culture.

It took a good 3 years to establish the lawn.

There was a surprise to this experimental lawn that I didn’t expect. It was the feelings I had when I first saw my children playing in my lawn. Now the lawn is a playground out my kitchen window. I remember my mother’s wish that she voiced to me when I helped her in the kitchen growing up. She dreamed of having a playground outside her kitchen window so she could watch her kids and grand kids play while preparing another meal.

Bluegrass, even though it greens early in spring because it is a cold season grass, pretty much dies out mid-summer in our area when the weather gets hot and dry. Often it will recover a bit in the fall when temperatures drop and precept increases. Bluegrass requires about 3 more inches a month and a great deal of nitrogen fertilizer. This cultivar grows so aggressively that experts recommend mowing it twice a week.

The non-convention of buffalo grass lies in that it is a hot season grass, which means it starts greening later in season and goes dormant early. It has a more sage green in color, which I quite like. Buffalo grass is not a fan of a great deal of nitrogen fertilizers. And if you are okay with some stamens on the top of the grass you do not have to mow it because its mature height is only 6”. My wife and I have decided we like the look of a more manicured lawn. I must admit that during the height of its growing season, for about a month and a half, I mow it weekly. But during the majority of the season I can go as long as three weeks. The other advantage to buffalo grass growth rate is that I can garnish the lawn through naturalized techniques by planting some crocus, tulips, daffodils, and iris for spring color. This is because these fall bulb plants can go through there complete growth cycle before I have to mow.

But our grass is out of synchronicity with the rest of the neighborhood. Even sow, pun intended, I feel no shame. I love my lawn. Because what matters is that the lawn makes a great place to run barefoot. I am realizing my mom’s dream through my kitchen window. I watch my kids play. My hope is that my children’s experience of play in this grass is stored in their dreams to be replayed over and over again.

View from my kitchen window of Maddie and Maura dancing barefoot in the lawn

Sky Garden

2011-09-30T20:20:00.003-06:00

2^ndUse From a Father/Daughter Art Project to Thoughts of Divinity and Down Streaming

A view from my front porch

Water is amazing; it is the elixir of life. I can see, when looking at a sunset, why we often think of our gods as residing in the sky. And, through contingent thinking, we perceive rain as a gift from the deities.

Living in an arid environment and working with horticulture has heightened my awareness of the stuff. It seems to me that after a big rain I can sit and watch the yard green up. For me, experiencing a good rain feels much the same as a good laugh or cry.

I have always known that water is infinitely renewable as it cycles over and over again from ground to sky. As example, my father used to revel in telling us that when we drank water we were actually drinking dinosaurs’ pee. But even though it is infinitely renewable, we all know that it is quite finite in supply.

My kitchen garden is in our front yard in an urban/suburban neighborhood. This being said, I need to expend some energy in my landscaping towards curb appeal. A monoculture agrology approach would not fly with my wife. The initial idea was to build some flower boxes for the tops of my new trellises. I wanted to plant flowers that were either edible or in some way beneficial to the garden whether they attracted predatory insects or repelled pests and for their color and interest. The way it worked out was the girls and I built these boxes to go on top of our trellises during a take-the-daughters-to-work day.

We talked about nature and what plants need, how big to make the planters, what we could plant in them, and of course themes for the decorations since they love to paint. The project was finished in a day.

Picture of neighbor’s view, which receives the painted sides—gifts from my daughters Maddie and Maura

I like the simple esthetics of the raw materials and I chose the unpainted view from my kitchen window. The height of the trellises is nine feet and made of 2x4’s and 6”x6” wire lathe.

After I installed them I realized that, due to their height and daily watering needs of container growing in Colorado, they should be hooked up to the drip water system. It was also because of their height that they were titled ‘Sky Garden’; we felt God got the best view.

After planting came the first watering and I observed that there was a fair amount of water draining through the containers and dripping down to the lawn.

So I to made flanges from left over roofing materials that directed the overflow into the garden trellis beds.

I planned on using the trellises for growing cucurbits, such as cucumbers, squashes, melons, and what ever else I could grow vertically.

But I must admit that this bonus of extra water was not all pre-thought, but more a series of discoveries that led to my better understanding of the responsible use of water through down streaming and just the gratitude for the gift of water.

The fruits truly seem to appreciate the extra water.

The Locust Plague

2011-09-22T10:01:00.023-06:00

2^ndUse - From Abstract Art to Comparative Biblical Story

Shelley has an abstract collage hanging in her office, and has recently confided in me that she saw grasshoppers in the image. I fully understood why.

My dear friend and chicken whisperer, Shelley, was hit big time this growing season by a grasshopper infestation. She lives with her wonderful husband Bill in a rural area of Longmont with several acres that are surrounded by fallow fields.

Shelley and Bill have worked very hard on their land and have had great success with chickens for eggs, which she refers to as the ‘French chicks’, as well as an ambitious kitchen garden, and the planting and nurturing of some fruit trees. They have been able to grow a great deal of crop.

This year started hopeful but early in the season I remember her telling me that she noticed a lot of small nymph grasshoppers, simply seemingly just to appear as if proof for pre-Darwin notions of spontaneous generation.

Then as mid summer progressed so did the stories of devastation and we began speculating and evaluating her attempts to try and find organic solutions to what was now an infestation.

By late summer, early fall, the infestation had become a full-blown plague of locust. It was heart breaking for Shelley to watch these animals grow in size and number and the green of the gardens disappear.

The only saving grace is Bill developed a method to herd this pestilence to the chickens where they were furiously eaten; getting their just deserts. But this was in no way a pest control activity; no it was a pure act of revenge.

All said and done what I learned from Shelley, who was faced with a plague of locust, is that one must remain hopeful and rely on the old adage, “It’ll be better next year.”

The following photos were all taken by Shelley.

Grasshoppers on Rose

Apple tree striped of vegetation by grasshoppers

Grasshoppers in kitchen garden beds mid summer

Kitchen garden bed with all vegetation eaten by late summer

Dirt Makers

2011-09-17T18:41:00.012-06:00

2^ndUse Decorative Containers To Soil

This project was inspired through my investigations in uses for straw. Living in Colorado this material is very available. Often you can find it for free either used for fall decorations or bedding that is slightly old and moldy. I have used it for mulch in my garden beds to help keep in water and slow weeds. One word of caution, straw is flammable so I never use it in beds around my house. I have also used it as carbon supply for composting and I have seen it used as a building material for hay bail houses.

Dirt Makers are straw bales used as a pedestal for containers to grow bedding plants. In my landscaping I use the Dirt Makers as an architectural element that acts as a divider or border between my driveway and front yard. My first experiment used flowering plants with the center being purple fountain grass. I thought it was an interesting mimetic play to have grass growing in grass.

The idea is that as the plants grow on top the roots will help break down the turning the straw in to compost. This means that there will be an element of entropy in the installation as the straw decomposes the Dirt Makers shrink and pitch. Eventually the straw will break down to compost that will be used perhaps as the soil in the next generation of dirt makers.

As an aside I like the idea that the straw bales hold water. This helps with keeping the soil in the containers moist, which is critical in the Colorado environment. It is like using mulch to hold the water, but up side down.

After making these I have heard that people grow tomatoes in straw bails, I would be afraid they would tip over in the wind. Perhaps an herb garden would be nice.

I made the containers for the soil out of found material in a metal scrap pile and my colleague Evan Blackstock, taught me the tools and techniques to make them.

I placed the structure on the bails on bails, added 3 inches of potting soil. Plan on using the soil created for the next generation of Dirt Makers.

Dirt Makers ready for planting with the metal containers and three inches of potting soil.

Dirt Makers when first planted in Mid Summer

Dirt Makers in Fall after one season

Dirt Makers In Fall, notice the tilt from decomposition and enjoy the wabi sabi.

My Shaman

2011-09-17T08:51:00.007-06:00

2^ndUse Chance Meeting to Ancient Wisdom

I was out working on my beginning kitchen garden when I noticed a man on an old newspaper delivery bike coming up the street.

We made brief eye contact and I noticed him circling back and, stopping. He got off the bike and let it rest on the ground, and sauntered up to me. I noticed immediately that he was Native American in heritage, which is a bit unusual in my area.

He said, “looks like you are doing some farming, I used to farm.”

What a gift, someone that shared my interest, which is a bit unusual, in that I chose to grow produce in my front yard.

I gave him the tour. He didn’t say much but I knew he was listening.

As he left on his bike the same direction that he came from he shouted over his shoulder, “remember you must first feed the animals.”

I didn’t give this gift much thought. I mean, come on, I live in the city.

I have been humbled seeing the squirrels, skunk, raccoons, and a plethora of insects go after my crop. I have been amazed learning the roles of the microbes, worms, and ‘bugs’ in the soil. I have learned to feed and attract predators to my yard to control pest.

He was right, ‘my Shaman’- you must first feed the animals.

This is the first feeding station, a bird feeder, from my daughter Maddie's drawn designed.

Making Peace with Field Bind Weed

2011-09-13T18:54:00.007-06:00

2^nd Use from Weed to Crop

My father-in-law told me the first time he looked at my newly purchased house that, “if bind weed was a crop I would be rich.” He was right, the stuff was everywhere. It was a constant losing battle to try and manage. Most interestingly I was hit with a bit of anxiety when I went to out into the garden because I hated bindweed. I was investing in hate; this was a bad energy so:

I had to make peace with the bindweed or suffer. I do not think that we are destine to suffer.

I was already past the pretty white flowers stage because of the way the vines of the plant would encase and choke everything I was trying to grow. So I had to change my criteria. I did this through research; know thy enemy and they may become your friend. Anyway I started by looking at the vigor of the plant as impressive rather than oppressive. The plant obviously belongs here if it is thriving in the environment. I started marveling at how it could search for light under landscape fabric and mulch. I have observed shoots as much as 10’ from the mother plant. I thought about how prolific this plant is, being able to grow not only from seed but stem and root nodes that could be found every couple of inches in both tissues. This means if you were to rotary till or try and hack it to death with a hoe, it would grow a clone plant from the many segments created. And lastly, that the roots go down to a recorded 30 feet deep when the conditions are right; and again if you leave any root segment in the soil it can create another new plants.

So if I can’t beat it, then how can I use it? If in fact the roots do go down 30’ to the parent rock level, and since plants are systemic due to there vascular and food making systems, this means the roots will bring up minerals or nutrients from deep below to the surface. These minerals and nutrients can be harvested from the green vines above grade, composted to prevent any regeneration, and then used to add nutrients to the soil to add vitality to the plants you intend to grow.

All this said, I must confess that this is pure conjecture, but it works for me because now,” I am not weeding - I am harvesting.”

I am so over the pretty flower

This is the area I harvested the bind weed from, it was previously harvest three weeks ago.

The harvest was about one and a half bushels of bindweed and it took 2 hrs. It was worth it, right?

An Optimistic Practice

2011-09-12T20:05:00.007-06:00

9/11/11
2nd Use from Manure to Optimism

My neighbor and I were loading up a full load of manure in his truck for our garden beds when he said, gardening is the most optimistic practice I know of, you are always looking to next year.

This I am sure was inspired by the load in the back being for improving the beds for the next year’s crop.

These were welcome words considering the date.

Two happy guys with a truck load of horse poo. I am on the right with Mike to the left. You can see the tools of choice in our hands.

The pitchforks are good for wet poo,and grain shovels are a better choice for dryer poo.

My preference is horse manure because horses are given better feed and less antibiotics.
The poo was aged and dry with no ammonia smell, which means it was ready for top coating the beds.

First I removed the weeds from the fallow

Then I put on some brown paper I had to help keep down the weeds

I then put on about three inches of manure top dressed. I also put down manure with out paper to compare results in the spring to see if the paper impacts weed growth. Now next spring I can simply aerate with a digging fork and plant.