With the award we intend to build more elevated beds like the ones shown above, give some help to our greenhouse that grows food for Meals and Wheels and build a screened in gazebo for the residents at the nursing home where we have our largest garden so they can be up close and personal to the garden. Thanks so much!

It was well worth taking a couple of hours away. After making ice cream and yogurt, hunting down photos, starting an article and fielding a couple of calls for the community gardens, I finally made it out the door… with the boys and their bikes. We even brought Luna. Since it was close to lunchtime, we swung through Jimmy John’s and picked up a couple of sandwiches. Then we drove over to the Fish, Wildlife and Parks building to meet Grant. At lunch, Sam decided his stomach hurt and he had to go poop. Well, one sniff of the outhouse changed that! They obviously need some lime or something in there because it was rank.

The trail was great. We went over to Giant Springs, and the boys biked along the trail. This was their first big outing. John has no fear, much to my dismay. He’s the kid who pedals downhill, then lifts his legs up so he can coast. Sam was more reserved, and thankfully is learning to work those brakes pretty well. I’m sure we’ll head out there more, although with being blessed with 40 miles of trails in the system we have lots of options.

Grant tried to coax Luna into the water, although she wasn’t so keen on the idea. We stopped quite a bit so the boys could throw rocks in the river, look for fish jumping in the little pond area alongside the trail, or watch the bull snake slither away from us. We threw feed to the fish at the hatchery, and they even spent a few minutes playing in the playground before we hoofed it back up the hill to the parking area.

I stopped to take pictures of the golden currants, which are absolutely stunning and smell lovely. There was a hawthorn along the trail, which king of surprised me. I also found this flowering shrub with reddish leaves and pink flowers. My guess is a flowering almond, but I’m not certain. Whatever it is, it’s very pretty. You just never know what you’re going to see along the trail.

A lot did come back this year, but even better was the enthusiasm and effort put forth from Connie, who has incredible gardens in Simms and has a keen eye for design, as well as Jennephyr and a group of interested herb ladies. She also started an herb club here in Cascade county so this garden will be a good meeting place throughout the summer. Connie sketched out a plan, and a group got to work on Tuesday evening. It was chilly and windy, but everyone was in good spirits while they set down landscape fabric for the pathway, then lined it with cobblestone and filled it with washed gravel. Meanwhile, Jennephyr moved plants from the old plan to the new design, and added a few more that showed up.

The boys had a great time. I bought them new shovels at Ace Hardware earlier that day, and they were eager to try them out. Boy, did they give those shovels a good work out! I was trying to mark a few of the plots while the boys stayed with the rest of the crew shoveling gravel and moving rocks. They were hard little workers, and I must say I am proud of them. What was even more gratifying was to see how much they loved it. It wasn’t work to them. It was playtime.

I really need to figure out a way to take a picture of the garden from an elevated position. The overall design is going to be a circle in the middle with four paths radiating from it. We’re going to build a fence around it, and Connie wants to place a bench at the west end of the garden. She also planted a hawthorn, the heart of the herb garden, in another corner. I’ll plant raspberries outside of the fence on the west end, as well. They’ll make a lovely, edible hedge. Overall, it’s going to be a wonderful place to meet and to learn about the benefits of herbs. Jennephyr is going to teach a class on May 22 about planting an herb garden, and go over some of the basics. Such fun!

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous this weekend with temperatures reaching the upper 70s today and a forecast of 85 degrees tomorrow. Even though I know from experience that unseasonably warm springs can ultimately turn into a blizzard anytime between now and June,  and I’ve been preaching to people not to plant too early, I couldn’t resist. Yesterday I planted a handful of the ‘Deadon’ savoy cabbage, an early cabbage, a bed of ‘Copra’ onions, and I seeded ‘Sugar Ann’ peas around 5 tomato cages. I have the floating row covers ready in case of inclement weather, but really hope it gives us a break and holds until the end of May when we’re closer to being realistically out of the woods.

Sam also started planting his garden. I don’t know how this boy managed it, but he’s going to end up with four gardens. There will be one for pumpkins, one for popcorn, and two more for a variety of veggies. He planted one cabbage, about 4 onions and a circle of peas. Today he planted 2 potatoes after we planted an entire bed (21 hills) of the Katahdins (my favorite).

I have to say I’m very pleased with the number of worms coming out of the soil as I’m digging to plant. Every shovelful is absolutely alive! I’m tickled. Since the natural soil around here seems devoid of anything good, I know it’s a result of bringing in lots of organic matter over the years. Those grass clippings are a worm buffet. I also think a benefit is not turning over the soil very much. I did mix in some bigger chunks of leaves and semi-composted materials, but try to not mix it up so much so I’m not disrupting the natural process in the soil. It works. I just need to keep adding organic matter to the soil to keep it healthy.

When we lived in Kalispell mud season earned its own place in the calendar. It grew tiresome slogging through the slop for months on end. Here in Great Falls we have a few days here and there where it’s an issue, but the wind tends to take care of any bit of extraneous moisture lingering upon the surface. Most of our mud comes from the boys. I have no problem turning them loose with the hose, as long as they’re not risking hypothermia, for a short while to water the plants and sometimes each other.

Several weeks ago I talked to a neighbor of ours who has cows about having a dumptruck load of aged manure delivered. I build most of my beds by setting down cardboard and newspaper, and then burying them with a thick layer of compost or aged manure. When Paul Wheaton visited the other day, he recommended not bringing in outside sources because it’s hard to know the level of herbicides used in the whole process. I totally understand his point, and unfortunately it’s from firsthand experience. When we first moved up here our yard was nothing but knapweed and thistle. The bulk of the space was previously a go-cart track. We have a stable nearby that fed weed seed free hay, so Grant hauled about 50 yards of the decade plus old manure to spread over the yard and build the gardens. It worked fabulously well.

The following year I needed more to increase my garden space so we hauled over a few more truckloads although it wasn’t quite as “vintage” as the other stuff. That summer I initially thought I had a terrible virus plaguing my tomatoes, peppers and potatoes because the leaves were curling and the plants looked generally pathetic. I was ready to yank and burn the whole thing until I read a report from Montana State University concerning herbicide residue. It turns out some of the herbicides can stay in the manure for years. Grass crops, such as corn, would do just fine, but the more sensitive ones suffer. The bottom line is know your manure source. Here I thought I was being smart for using weed seed free source, but I ultimately nearly killed my favorite plants.

Since then I’ve been more cautious about my sources, and have used this aged manure before. This stuff is very lovely, and is obviously old because there are no manure clumps in it. It was really nice outside yesterday so the boys and I decided to work on the gardens. I pulled out old vegetable debris in the Square Foot Gardens, and added some of the manure to increase the volume of the beds. In one we planted a few squares of lettuce, spinach, radishes and an Asian green. As much as I’d like to plant onions and peas, I’m going to hold off a little while until the soil temperature warms up a few more degrees.

The boys must think I had the pile delivered just for them. They played king-of-the-hill and wrestled in the soft soil. They were so filthy that when we came in for the evening I marched them straight to the shower.  That’s the good thing about dirt and mud. It washes off. The important part is they had a blast.

Janice, one of our community garden board members, offered to host him, and had the privilege of touring Paul around Great Falls a bit before the talk. They went to Giant Springs, and he was able to see the Roe River, the shortest river in the world, and learn about some of the history of the area. (He was less than impressed with our falls. They’re not so great anymore with the dams built over them.) I met up with them in the afternoon, and took them out to the only permaculture place I knew of in the area. It’s a fellow homeschool parent who has spent a lot of time and effort planting probably hundreds of trees and shrubs. I bet it’s stunning in the late spring and summer because it’s going to be the most green of anywhere around here, and I was absolutely delighted to see the Sea Buckthorn he had growing. They looked awesome, and I can’t wait to plant some myself. Paul’s thought to block out the wind was to build berms – and we’re talking 20-ft high mounds  – perpendicular to the prevailing winds. It was good to see him figuring out how to best deal with our most challenging obstacle because there’s nothing easy about living with constant wind that comes at you from all directions.

Paul’s presentation was fabulous. His first part was on 30 Tinkers for 30 Minutes where he rolled through everything from rocket mass heaters (I seriously want to build one) to building super economical, tiny homes (why be a wage slave). We stopped for a few moments so everyone could grab a bite to eat, but when he started the Power Point for the second discussion on gardening without irrigation the power shut off. It was pitch black in the basement. But Paul did not skip a beat. He ditched the pretty pictures, and continued on his talk while people shined their cell phone lights on him until the library staff had us move upstairs. I didn’t make a difference one bit not to have the slide show presentation, and overall, it went extremely well.  I’m anxious to see what comes of it in the long run. I think our Great Falls gardeners might surprise all of us because I’ve already heard murmurs of how people want to try some of the techniques at home or in the community gardens.

The next morning Janice brought Paul up to our place to take a look at the situation, and record a podcast on how to best turn living on top of Great Falls’ windbreak into a lush food forest. People always say not to work with kids or pets, and he had to deal with both. The boys had to make their presence known by peddling around on the concrete patio with their bikes, and Luna was merciless. You’ll have to listen to the podcast when it comes out to learn what she did.

I knew I was in for a harsh critique since I’ve listened to much of his work and are starting to have an idea of what needs to be done (although I also realize I have a lot of research to do), but I assured him I wouldn’t cry. His first suggestion was to build the massive berm to mitigate the wind. Paul thought it best to put it along the west, north and east sides of the back yard. Then inside the bermed backyard he suggested building 6 to 7 ft. tall hugelkultur beds going all sorts of directions.  Oh sure, that’s easy for him to suggest since he wouldn’t need a ladder to reach the top! (I don’t know how tall he is since people tend to blur out over 6-ft for me, but  I came up maybe to his chest. I should’ve told him,”You’re among the little people now…” ) But, the bottom line is its all about creating more contours to the landscape, and take advantage of the productive edges. This is doable.

I’m working on my first hugelkultur bed now using half-rotten lumber given to me from a friend, as well as the Christmas tree and the massive sunflower stalks. Looking at it after our talk, I think I need to tear it apart to move it to a better location. Paul also told me I need to add dirt in the best while I’m building it to help kick in the composting process. That’s good to know, and easy to do.

The chickens were an issue, as I totally expected, since he prefers to have them run free or strategically pastured to scatter fertilizer everywhere while they’re devouring grasshoppers and other undesirables. That would be good. To solve the errant dog problem, he thought a strand of electric would do the trick. Our neighbor dog, Ody, isn’t too bright, yet I think even he would catch on relatively quickly. As we talked about the comic relief aspect of the electric versus dog situation, Luna had to show him her own demonstration on the lack of sense. She stuck her head in the fence to check out the chickens, then had a devil of a time pulling it out. She’s sweeter than all get out, but not necessarily the sharpest knife in the drawer.

There’s a lot to plan when considering to take on such a large project, but my vision is to create an area where we can be out of the wind and where we don’t have to spend a couple of hundred of dollars per month in water just to keep things alive, not gorgeous and green. I need to sit down and calculate exactly how to do it, but am inspired that there is a better way, particularly for this climate. (And if I could grow citrus like Sepp Holzer…. but that’s another subject for another day.)

I’ve been working on building new gardens along the east side of the property because they would be somewhat sheltered by our neighbor’s pines, so over the past couple of weeks I’ve been hauling compost and covering the layers of cardboard and newspaper to create the new beds. I held off on planting because it was so dry, but after last Monday’s snow, decided it was saturated enough to move the raspberries. I had lots of help. Sam insisted on digging the holes for me, and even tried to pick up one of the plants to put in the ground… but the prickly stems surprised him. We planted 10 plants. They don’t take up much space now, but I know they’ll spread considerably once they’re established. This year I’ll have annuals planted around them – probably some of the tomatoes, broccoli and greens – and next year we can always expand the raspberry bed.

Grant did keep the nuc at home, but brought it up from the crawl space so he could check to see if the queen was alive and laying eggs. She was and is. One of the main hives that he moved is queenless, so he’s hoping one of the other hives will raise a queen that he can transfer. If not, he might have to buy a couple of extra ones to replace the old ladies we have. Basically a queen is born when the workers draw out a longer (specifically “queen”) cell, and feed the larvae royal jelly. It’s interesting, although you’d think the queens were the heart of the hive, it’s the workers who make the decisions.

Many beekeepers replace the queens every two years, and at least one of the ones we have is pushing three. Although, I’m not one to diminish mothers of advanced age, it might be time for her to go. Fifteen hundred eggs a day is a bit much for an old girl. (Plus, they tend to start laying a bunch of drones, which doesn’t do anyone any good.)

Grant decided to assemble one of his Christmas presents since it won’t be long before he’ll need them. He put together 4 hive bodies to replace some of the ones he has, plus hopefully will add another hive to the apiary. He loves sitting there putting them together (perfectly, of course), and this year he had a little help. On our nice Sunday afternoon he painted them all before the weather turned nasty on us, so he should be ready to go once things start really rolling this season.

Although I’ve been playing in the dirt for over 30 years I’m always thrilled to learn something new. The past few months, I’ve been delving into permaculture. I’d heard the term before, but for whatever reason, it didn’t click. I don’t know why. Then I found  the abundance of Paul Wheaton’s (whom I jokingly call the Pied Piper of Permaculture) work on permies.com and richsoil.com. He makes more podcasts (and longer ones) than I thought humanly possible, and always has something interesting (and usually highly entertaining) to say. The great thing is he’s coming to Great Falls in April!  River City Harvest is hosting him for a mini-seminar for RCH members (which includes the supporting membership for those who don’t rent a garden plot with us), as well as the Cascade County Master Gardeners. The event is at the Great Falls Public Library on Tuesday, April 3 from 5-8 p.m. For more details on what he’s going to talk about go to: Paul Wheaton’s Evening of Permaculture on the River City Harvest site. If you’re interested in becoming a supporting member just drop me a line at amygrisak@gmail.com and I’ll send you an application.

The first permaculture concept that caught my eye was hugelkultur. You bury logs, wood debris and organic matter with topsoil, and then plant on top of it. Think of a nursery log in the woods that has all sorts of good stuff growing all over it as it’s decomposing. That’s the general thought behind hugelkultur. The neat thing is once established, it doesn’t need watering… or at least requires far less watering than a “normal” bed. Our wind throws a wrench into many things, so even if I have to water less I’ll be thrilled. With our high water prices this is very intriguing. I’m going to build a couple as soon as I find enough wood and some sort of soil (since we are seriously lacking any topsoil around here.) to cover it. I’m going to put it along the east side of the property where I’m relocating raspberries, and planting a bed of annuals and perennials. I think it’ll act as a bit of a wind break to those gardens, so along with the various shrubs it should turn into a fairly protected area.

The other permaculture technique I want to implement this year are fruit tree guilds. This involves planting beneficial plants underneath the trees that don’t compete with moisture, yet attract beneficial insects and balance nutrients in the soil. I’ll set down cardboard and compost, just as I’ve created most of my gardens, and plant comfrey, yarrow, bulbs, carrots, chamomile, greens, and many other herbs. I started a whole lot of thyme and agastache so I’m sure those will find a place under the trees. It’s obvious having the poor trees out in the open is not doing them much good. They struggle. I think this will help tremendously. Changing the landscape isn’t going to happen overnight, but I’m looking forward to making these changes to have a better living space in the long run. And now to find a source for black locust…