Spring is coming!

Around the farm, the signs that Spring is coming are everywhere.  The birds are up early and stay up later in the night.  Just this week, we spied crows gathering nesting materials.  The frogs are croaking and the broad beans are flowering!

This descending moon, we began to till in the cover crops on the new land.  Eleven months after acquiring this land and the soil is starting to glow with all the added compost.  I love the look of the freshly turned soil and love seeing all of the worms!!

The compost looks and smells terrific.

And the Spring sugar snaps have germinated!

The glasshouse is filled with cool season crops like brassicas, lettuce and fennel already germinated and ready to plant in the next fortnight.  While the tomatoes, capsicums and eggplant are on the heat pads.

Although we planted a few things for the spring share last Autumn, the late winter seeding for the season began three weeks ago.

Our direct seeder, a Jang, has different wheels for different size seeds.  I used a trick from Joyce Wilke and Michael Plane of Allsun Farm to organise the seed and the wheels together...large snap lock bags!

We built a glasshouse in June/July.  Our builder friend Dave told us about a whole house full of big laminated windows that were going to be smashed and binned during the house remodel.  Recycled materials seem to have a way of looking so good...but there are usually hiccups.  In the case of these windows, we never imagined how heavy they were.  Six men could barely lift ONE window!!  In came the crane. The glasshouse is a passive solar structure that with the use of heat stores and venting should be warm in winter and early spring and cool in summer.  It will be a great place to start all of our crops, protecting them from weather until they are strong enough to be planted.

With time off school, Maya and Rye helped too!

Thank you to Alan and Lionel for building the glasshouse, Dave for telling us about the windows and all of those hefty fellows for helping get the windows out of the house!

In the next few weeks, we hope to construct a polytunnel for the tomatoes, make soilblocks for all of the warm weather crops, more and more and more seeding, finish pruning the fruit trees...the list is long and we love the energy of Spring which helps to get it all done! Two interns are arriving this weekend too, ready to jump in to the Spring season.  We are still taking applications for the Summer and Autumn Internships.

We are hoping that our CSA season will begin in October.  If you are interested in the Spring share, please sign up as we will be sending information about what to expect in the share and the size of the shares in the next few weeks.

Feeding the soil

One discussion that comes around in farming is whether you feed the plant or feed the soil.  Here on Transition Farm, we feed the soil believing that healthy soil is the beginning of a healthy plant.  Much of our energy as growers is spent nurturing the life in the soil, balancing the minerals, bacteria and microbes that create a living and dynamic soil.  We make compost, apply Biodynamic preparations which seed soil bacteria, grow and till in cover crops, make special herb and seaweed brews to mineralize the soil. Cover crops are amazing.  Peas, for instance, love growing in cooler weather.  We seed them in the autumn on land that has grown food throughout the summer.  They sprout and make some growth before the real cold of winter sets in, suppressing other weeds.  Then they just sit there, covering the soil, protecting it from strong winter storms that might erode the top soil away with wind and heavy rains.  They also harness atmospheric nitrogen...it is just what they do.  So while they are sitting there, they are making nitrogen, pulling it from the air and storing it in these little root nodules in the soil.  Come spring, they shoot off growing, even before we humans might feel the spring coming.  We till them in just as they are flowering.  You can see the leaf matter in the soil in the above photo.  The worms will come and digest that more, as will the various other soil life.  The added hummus helps the soil retain water and provides a base of nutrients accessible to plant roots.

We have been planting cover crops on the mandala soil for four years now.  When we arrived, the soil was a sandy loam, grey in color, dry, hydro-phobic (water literally pooled on top of the soil instead of sinking into it).  Now it is rich and dark and full of worms,  smells alive, holds together in your hand when you clasp a fist full, and is ready to grow food, full of all the nutrients we want fresh food to have.

Healthy soil not only fills food with goodness, but, more importantly, it also supports the health of the plant growing that food.  Healthy plants can fend off fungus attacks, insect attacks, weather stresses.  So by feeding the soil, we are feeding the plant, at the onset of its life cycle.

We continue to under sow crops with cover crops throughout the growing season. Last year we sowed clover under the cabbage, corn and pumpkins.

Cover cropping can be done in any size space, from small raised garden beds to large acreage.  While cover cropping is a biodynamic farming practice, it is also an organic and sustainable agriculture farming practice.  Healthy Soil - Wholesome Food!

Nettle - The Growth Stimulant of the Garden

Despite its cruel sting, there is always room in our mandala circles for nettle.  It self seeds and spreads rapidly, "invasively" I have heard some say.  But as I am so fond of this herb, not only as food for my family and a medicinal herb for acute ailments, but also as an incredible micronutrient accumulator and plant tonic for the whole garden, I have never minded its habit of being everywhere.

Nettle grows easily in temperate climates.  The stinging hairs of the fresh nettle contain formic acid and histamine, and have a long history of therapeutic use.  The Romans, when they entered cold and damp Britain, used to flog themselves warm to ward off the illnesses and infections rife in that weather.  In South America regular stinging has been used to stimulate the circulation, even in serious conditions such as gangrene.  Galen recommended the friction of the leaves against the skin to increase the circulation and stir up 'natural heat', to stimulate desire and cure impotence. The nettle's sting has given it a symbolic meaning of cruelty and spite (McIntyre, 229).

The tough fibers of the stalk are used in fabric making.  Remnants of nettle fabric have been found in burial shrouds that date back to the Bronze Age, and it is still used today to make cordage and fabric  (Gladstar, 250).

Nettle is a great example of Hippocrates' adage, "Make food your medicine and medicine your food".  Nettle is a gourmet green.  Lightly steamed, served with olive oil, lemon juice and a bit a feta, it makes a wonderful early spring addition to a meal.   Nettle can be substituted in any spanikopita recipe making a lovely, wild, tasty delight.  You can also pickle spring nettle tops by layering them in a mason jar and topping them with one part apple cider vinegar and one part olive oil.  You can add garlic cloves and cayenne peppers. Ensure that no nettles surface above the liquid.  Let the herbs marinade in the jar for several weeks or even months (Gladstar, 250,251).  We also add nettles to simple quinoa soups and our "green eggs", a light omelette with nettles, spinach, lemon thyme and chives. In fact, my children tease that the green in most dishes in spring is probably nettles.  The formic acid wilts when the leaves are steamed or cooked and will no longer sting.

Nettles are highly nutritious, rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and one of the highest sources of digestible iron in plant form.  They have been used throughout history as a nourishing tonic for anaemia, fatigue, edema, menstrual difficulties, allergies and hay fever.  They stimulate the liver and kidneys, cleaning the body of toxins and wastes.  Used as a tea or cooked into food in spring, they help restore vitality to the system.  Nettle enrichs the blood and nourishs the nervous system.  Being hot and dry, it helps the body to release excess mucous from the lungs and colon.  Made into an ointment, nettle helps to relieve irritating skin conditions such as eczema.

In ayruvedic medicine, the nettle has a cooling energy and a pungent effect (Frawley and Lad, 209).

Nettle leaves are safe for pregnant women and provide a nourishing, iron rich tonic which can be drunk throughout the pregnancy.  Mixed with red raspberry leaves, borage leaves, and fennel seed, nettle provides a nourishing postpartum tea for rebuilding strength and adding nutrients to breast milk (Soule, 57). Because of its high Vitamin K content, it helps control and prevent haemorrhaging (Gladstar, 251).

Nettle is a friend to women experiencing menopause.  Warm nettle and sage-leaf tea helps reduce night sweats, and nettles in combination with other herbs such as oat straw, red raspberry leaves, borage leaves and Siberian ginseng, support the body through this changing time by increasing low energy levels and helping to overcome fatigue (Soule, 57).

Nettle builds and empowers the fire element in a person.  It helps a person who is cold and angry to break through their self-pity and victimhood.  It is for evoking the will and contracting the warrior within (Brooke, 162).  Nettle helps people to express and thus release their anger and through its expression to relate to others more openly (McIntyre, 229).

In the garden, nettle is an incredible micronutrient accumulator.  It accumulates sodium, sulphur, nitrogen, calcium, potassium, iron, manganese, chromium, zinc, magnesium, boron and copper, even in soil that is deficient.  This makes nettle a valuable addition to the compost pile and an excellent plant and soil tonic.  While we have nettle growing throughout the garden, and this does sometimes result in children and adults being inadvertently stung, it would also be well placed next to a compost pile where it could be easily harvested for the benefit of the pile.  This in turn spreads the micronutrients to the whole garden.

In Biodynamics, nettle is one of the compost preparations.  According to Dr Rudolf Steiner, the nettle is a plant with healing qualities for both humans and plants.  Stinging nettle conveys intelligence to the soil; helps proper decomposition, aids chlorophyll formation and stimulates iron, potassium, calcium, magnesium and sulpher activity in the soil (Biodynamic Resource Manual, 22).

If there were ever an herb most people would like to keep from their garden, nettle would be high on the list.  But in our garden, I treat it with the same level of care and respect that I have for all of our vegetables and herbs.  It is welcome in the nutrient rich beds because I value the health it brings to the garden and us.

Antidote for the Sting (formic acid) Bruise plantain or yellow dock leaves by chewing them slightly.  Place the poultice onto the affected area.

NETTLE BREWS

Stinging Nettle 24-hour extract Take 1 kg of fresh stinging nettle without root (it should not have gone to seed) placed in a suitable container. Pour over 10 litres of cold or luke-warm water. Leave it to stand for 24 hours. Sieve the juice and use as a spray for larvae or caterpillars, twice within a period of a few days.

Stinging Nettle Manure as a growth stimulant Use same proportions of nettle and water as for 24-hour extract. Leave it to stand until the leaves decompose. May take between three days and some weeks depending on the temperature. Dilute at a rate of 1: 10.  Spray twice within the period of a few days. This manure has a potent effect on growth and is sprayed on the soil either towards evening or in the early morning and watered well a few hours later.  The sap begins to flow more vigorously causing aphids and fungal attack to disappear.

As a general tonic for plant growth Dilute at the rate of 1 litre: 40 litres for water crops (eg. tomato, cucumber, spinach and cabbage). Dilute at the rate of 1 litre: 20 litres and stir for 15 minutes before spraying out through fine jets on to growing plants.

Deb Soule of Avena Botanicals has wonderful  nettle recipes for women -  from those just entering menses to those moving through menupause in her book The Roots of Healing (Published by Carol Publishing Group).

-Biodynamic Resource Manual by Biodynamic Agriculture Australia, An Astrological Herbal for Women by Elisabeth Brooke, Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs by Scott Cunningham, The Yoga of Herbs by Dr David Frawley and Vincent Lad, Herbal Healing for Women by Rosemary Gladstar, The Complete Floral Healer by Anne McIntyre, Grasp the Nettle by Peter Proctor and Gillian Cole, The Roots of Healing by Deb Soule, The Permaculture Home Garden by Linda Woodrow

Biodynamic Gardening Notes 12 - 19 October

Wednesday, 12th is the full moon, the apogee of the moon (when the moon is the furthest from the earth) at 12:06 and Moon and Saturn in opposition to each other.  The Moon and Saturn in opposition cycle occurs every 27.5 days.  "The Moon forces bring in the calcium processes which are connected to propagation and growth.  The Saturn forces bring in the silica processes which connect form and structure.  The balancing effect of these two influences streaming into the earth produces very strong plants from seed sown at this time.  Tests have shown the 48 hours leading up to this event is optimal time that overrides even the ascending, descending and moon in constellations for best planting time." (Biodynamic Resource Manual, 54) During Apogee  there is always multiplicity of form, and it appears to be a good time to plant potatoes as these multiply. Seed sowing should be avoided 12 hours either side of the apogee as it does bring a stress period (Biodynamic Resource Manual, 53).

With the full moon on Wedensday, the moon enters its third quarter and waning time.  It is still descending until Monday 17th.  Activities that take advantage of the descending moon include making and spreading compost, transplanting seedlings and trees, taking and planting cuttings, cultivating soil and spraying horn manure preparation 500 with manure concentrate and horn clay. View our previous post for more information about preparation 500.

Maria Thun offered that each activity we do for a plant such as seeding, transplanting and cultivating, when performed on the corresponding moon, further emphasize that quality in the plant.  For example, when we transplant cabbage seedlings during a descending moon in a leaf sign, we are taking advantage not only of the descending moon pulling the forces of that plant down and into the roots to minimize transplant shock, we are also emphasizing the leafy quality of the cabbage.

On Monday, the moon begins to ascend - the earth breaths out.  The ascending moon is favourable for seed sowing and application of horn silica prepartion 501. 501 increases photosynthesis, protects against fungal disease and balances atmosphere for insect attack.  With the increase in moisture predicted for this October, application of 501 may help all plants and especially those prone to fungal diseases such as fruit trees and tomatoes.  501 is best applied when Moon is in opposition to Saturn, Wednesday 12th.  Apply at sun rise as a fine mist after stirring for one hour using the vortex stirring process.

On Wednesday 12, the moon is in a a water sign. Water signs are favourable for leaf plants.  These include all the plants whose leaves we harvest: cabbages, cauliflower, parsley, coriander, lettuce, spinach, bok choy, silver beet, asparagus and fennel.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday until 13:59, it is in a fire sign.  Warmth or fire signs are favourable for fruit plants.  These include all plants whose seed fruit we harvest: beans, peas, grains, cucumbers, squashes, lentils, corn, capsicums, rice, soya, tomatoes, zucchini, strawberries and fruit trees.

It then moves into an earth sign until Tueday 18th at 01:42. Earth signs are favourable for root plants.  These included all plants whose roots we harvest: carrots, parsnips, radishes, beetroot, celeriac, swedes, potatoes, onions and garlic.

For the rest of Tuesday and Wednesday it is in an air sign.  Air signs are favourable for flower plants.  These include all the plants which are grown for their flowers, and where we want a long flowering time: garden flowers, medicinal and preparation flowers, bulbs and broccoli.

Crops that can be sown during this month are globe artichokes, asparagus, beet root, carrots, coriander, cucumbers, parsnips, peas, potatoes, radishes, rocket, spinach, spring onions, sweades, turnips, winter squashes and pumpkins. Crops that can be transplanted are basil (with protection), broccoli, cabbage, capsicum (with protection), cauliflower, celery, Chinese greens, corn, eggplant (with protection),  flowers, leeks, lettuce and salad greens, onions, parsley, silver beet, tomatoes (with protection) and zucchini and summer squashes.

For more information about our Biodynamic Notes, visit About our Biodynamic Notes

-Gardening Notes are compiled using Brian Keats Antipodean Astro Calendar; Maria Thun's Gardening for Life;  Biodynamic Agriculture Australia's Biodynamic Resource Manual; Peter Cundall's The Practical Australian Gardener; and the experiences and farm practices on Transition Farm

For more information about the Antipodean Astro Calendar, Biodynamic Planting and research and more visit Brian Keats' website at http://astro-calendar.com/index.htm

For more information about Biodynamics and to purchase biodynamic preparations visit Biodynamic Australia at http://www.biodynamics.net.au/

Biodynamic Gardening Notes 5 - 11 October

With the apple trees blooming, now is a good time to ensure that the trees you have to pollinate each other are in bloom at the same time.  This allows the bees to gather the pollen from the blossoms on one tree and bring it to the other tree's blossom, cross pollinating the flower and allowing it to create it's fruit, which in turn creates it's seed. The moon continues to descend this week - the earth breathes in and draws growth forces back down below the soil surface.  Activities for the week could include making and spreading compost, transplanting seedlings and trees, taking and planting cuttings, cultivating soil and spraying horn manure preparation 500 with manure concentrate and horn clay.

"The biodynamic preparations, based on mineral, plant and animal substances, are used to support the life in the soil, enhancing all bacterial, fungal and mineral processes valued in the farming system.

The application of these preparations is the basis of biodynamic practice.  Each preparation works as an organ of the farm or home garden. Each also has a specific role in stimulating bacterial and fungal activity, making trace elements and minerals available to the plants.  Combined, they also work in making the soil and atmosphere more sensitive to cosmic rhythms, connecting the Earth to the life-forces of the cosmos. " (Biodynamic Resource Manual, 10)

Regular applications of Preparation 500 will encourage strong humus formation, all soil bacteria and soil fungi, rhizobial activity on all legumes, phosphate solubilising bacteria, increase earthworm activity, absorption and retention of water and development of deep rooting systems.  This works in any soil type.

Horn Manure preparation 500 is applied at 85 grams/hectare, stirring 1 hour in 34 litres of high quality water using the vortex stirring method.  This is then applied to the whole garden or farm area in droplet form during the late afternoon. (Biodymanic Resource Manual, 10-11).  The optimal day to apply preparation 500 is when there is a synthesis of a descending, waning moon in an earth sign. If this complete synthesis is not possible, try to work with as many variables as possible.

Dr Rudolf Steiner stated that the biodynamic method of agriculture should be made available "as quickly as possible to the largest areas of the entire earth, for the earth's healing." (Pearce, 3) Many people fear that they might not be doing something "properly" and so they do not start.  Having a go at applying 500 is a great start.  I truly believe that with time and practice, a better understanding of the "correct" process grows.  But this experience is only gained through trying.  There is no harm that can be done, it can only help.

On Wednesday 5, the moon is in a fire sign until 15:44 when it moves into an earth sign.  Warmth or fire signs are favourable for fruit plants.  These include all plants whose seed fruit we harvest: beans, peas, grains, cucumbers, squashes, lentils, corn, capsicums, rice, soya, tomatoes, zucchini, strawberries and fruit trees.

It stays in an earth sign until Friday 7. Earth signs are favourable for root plants.  These included all plants whose roots we harvest: carrots, parsnips, radishes, beetroot, celeriac, swedes, potatoes, onions and garlic.

On Saturday, there is a planetary trine favorable in an air sign.  On Sunday and Monday until 12:44, the moon is in an air sign.  Air signs are favourable for flower plants.  These include all the plants which are grown for their flowers, and where we want a long flowering time: garden flowers, medicinal and preparation flowers, bulbs and broccoli.

For the rest of Monday and Tuesday the moon is in a water sign. Water signs are favourable for leaf plants.  These include all the plants whose leaves we harvest: cabbages, cauliflower, parsley, coriander, lettuce, spinach, bok choy, silver beet, asparagus and fennel.

Wednesday, 12th is the full moon, the apogee of the moon (when the moon is the furthest from the earth) and when the moon and Saturn are in opposition to each other.  The cycle occurs every 27.5 days.  "The Moon forces bring in the calcium processes which are connected to propagation and growth.  The Saturn forces bring in the silica processes which connect form and structure.  The balancing effect of these two influences streaming into the earth produces very strong plants from seed sown at this time.  Tests have shown the 48 hours leading up to this event is optimal time that overrides even the ascending, descending and moon in constellations for best planting time." (Biodynamic Resource Manual, 54)

Essentially then, if you have not planted any seed yet, gather what you want for summer harvest, make a site plan for your garden, amend the garden and get it ready for planting on Monday or Tuesday of this week.  Apply combined soil preparation or preparation 500 on Tuesday late afternoon and follow it with an application of 501 on Wednesday morning.  If you spend your weekend preparing your garden and the first days of the week planting it, you could be eating all summer from your own home plot.

Crops that can be sown during this month are globe artichokes, asparagus, beet root, carrots, coriander, cucumbers, parsnips, peas, potatoes, radishes, rocket, spinach, spring onions, sweades, turnips, winter squashes and pumpkins. Crops that can be transplanted are basil (with protection), broccoli, cabbage, capsicum (with protection), cauliflower, celery, Chinese greens, corn, eggplant (with protection),  flowers, leeks, lettuce and salad greens, onions, parsley, silver beet, tomatoes (with protection) and zucchini and summer squashes.

This is a great week to amend soil and transplant seedlings to reap the rewards of the summer harvest.

For more information about our Biodynamic Notes, visit About our Biodynamic Notes

-Gardening Notes are compiled using Brian Keats Antipodean Astro Calendar; Maria Thun's Gardening for Life;  Biodynamic Agriculture Australia's Biodynamic Resource Manual; Peter Cundall's The Practical Australian Gardener; Norrie Pearce's A Bio-dynamic Farmer's Handbook; and the experiences and farm practices on Transition Farm

For more information about the Antipodean Astro Calendar, Biodynamic Planting and research and more visit Brian Keats' website at http://astro-calendar.com/index.htm

For more information about Biodynamics and to purchase biodynamic preparations visit Biodynamic Australia at http://www.biodynamics.net.au/

Ode to Borage - The flower of courage

In my attempts to write about companion planting, my musings which began so simply started to twist and turn, passing through plants that are friends, feeding the soil, beneficial insects, deterring insects, attracting wildlife, brightening the soul, curing ailments, making ecosystems... As I sought to stay on one tangent, I realized that maybe the best way to approach such a huge topic is by paying homage each week to one special plant and its relationship in our garden- And so I bring you, my plant of the week... Ode to Borage The Flower of Courage

With its bright blue, star shaped flowers that uplift their heads, blooming in our climate from late winter through to late autumn, borage brightens any garden and gardener. Borage was used to promote bravery on the jousting field and continues to be used to bestow courage. Borage has a relaxing effect generally and is said to dispel grief and sadness (75, McIntyre). The herbalist Gerard writing in 1597 said that a syrup of borage flowers 'comforteth the heart, purgeth melancholy and quieteth the phrenticke and lunatick person.'  For as the lion finds out, where does courage lie but in the heart.

Being an edible flower, borage brightens a salad, livens up a simple glass of water and makes beautiful cake decorations.  In ayurveda, borage has a sweet, astringent taste and a cooling action (Lad, 195).  The crushed leaves smell like cucumber.  Young leaves contain vitamin C and can be added to a salad.  Borage flowers are a wonderful addition to a birthing woman's bouquet and a soothing bath.

The blue colour attracts bees, and as they are blooming from late winter, they are excellent to put near your fruit trees.  Most apple, pear, sweet cherry and plum trees cannot produce fruit from their own pollen.  They require the lovely aid of the bee to take pollen from one tree to another, providing the cross pollination necessary.  In addition to fruit trees, strawberries flourish near a borage plant as do tomatoes and squash. Borage deters tomato hornworm and cabbage worms.

Borage roots go down 2 metres, mining the subsoil for nutrients and adding organic matter (Woodrow, 147).  It accumulates silica, potassium and calcium, makes good mulch and is a great compost ingredient.  As we started this garden on a sand dune very deficient in trace minerals and humus, borage has helped us build a well balanced top soil.

Externally, the fresh juice from the leaves can be applied to burns and to draw out poisons from insect bites, stings or boils.

Boarge self-seeds easily.  It is extremely hardy, growing in shade, sun, wet or dry, but the plants are easy to remove from places where they are not welcome, so it doesn’t become a troublesome weed (Woodrow, 147).

The multifunctional quality of adding borage to our garden has been incredible.  Our soil is being enriched, the plants are healthier and happier, the garden is prettier, the fruit more prolific, our stings have been soothed and our spirit is continually uplifted. As I sit amidst a sea of borage, calendula and fruit tree blossoms,  watching funny little wasps and bees that flit through the flowers, I give my gratitude to this lovely plant and marvel at the beauty of the natural world working harmoniously.

Flower Teas - from Deb Soule

Drinking a tea of any of the following herbs serves to uplift your spirit, gladden your heart, and nourish your nervous system.

Heartsease pansy flowers- 1 part Sacred basil leaves and flowers - 2 parts Borage flowers- 1 part Lemon balm flowers and leaves - 2 parts Lavender flowers- 2 parts

Dose and Use: To make a summer tea, place whatever proportions of these fresh herbs or others you have into cool water and let them infuse in the sunlight or moonlight or slowly heat to near boiling and steep, covered, ten minutes.  Drink 2-4 cups a day.

You can also add any of these herbs to an herbal bath. As Rosemary Gladstar says, "Herbal bathing can be soothing to a weary soul.  It is a bit hard to remain depressed for long while soaking in a flower-strewn tub surrounded by plants from your garden."

-Family Herbal by Rosemary Gladstar, Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway,  The Yoga of Herbs by Vincent Lad, The Complete Floral Healer by Anne McIntyre, The Roots of Healing by Deb Soule, How to make a Forest Garden by Patrick Whitefield, The Permaculture Home Garden by Linda Woodrow

Get Dirty!

Our vision in purchasing this property and growing food has been to develop a sustainable ecosystem that will provide a diversity of  quality food for our family, to use sustainable practices to grow food for other families and to share resources to empower the community with the skills to grow their own food. I do not know how to use Word Press...and the farm is busier then ever-  But I want to start sharing simple pleasures from our garden, glimpses of how this system works, biodynamic notes, a seasonal farm diary-  If you are growing food, or thinking about growing food, or just want to feel more connected to where your food is coming from, I hope these posts are relevant.

Anyone can grow food-  It all starts with the soil-  Peter chose this property because it was in  "the worst" possible condition-  It was devoid of life-  Where were the worms, the fungus, the critters-  Peter felt if we could renew this soil, bring back the life, kick start an eco-system, others might believe that it can be done...anywhere!- We would love to lose families in our share program because they are growing their own food!

So please forgive me if I cannot respond to every comment or even work out how to receive them-  In the spirit of spring I have decided to jump in and and start sharing and learn as I go-

The weather turned today from the sunny warmth we have been having to a bitter wind and rain-  But the earth is warming up, the sap is staring to flow in the trees, spring equinox is approaching-  It is a great time to dig your hands in and get dirty!