Let's Make Compost!

There's a story to my very short hair for another post. Stay tuned.

 I find making compost one of the most satisfying acts of gardening. It's super easy and will save you a ton of money over a year's worth of gardening time. Just save your raw fruit and veggie scraps, throw in your coffee or tea grounds and some egg shells, and you're off to a great start. Dump your kitchen scraps in a compost bin, or if you can't afford one or find the time and materials to build one, just start with a pile somewhere off to the side in the garden (start saving for a tumbler or other type of composter of your choosing; most range between $75-$120, if you can save $6-$10 an month, within a year you'll have your new gardening tool). Add leaves, and other yard scraps to the pile, dig a hole and pile in your kitchen scraps, cover with leaves and a shovel or two full of dirt, water, wait about 6 weeks and voila! You are on your way to making your best defense against garden pests and sad looking plants. I love the way compost smells!

So, if you use this great soil, you'll reduce your use of chemicals, because the soil will do the dirty work for you. Also, you'll save from buying those bags(plastic-gross!) of soil at your local garden center. However, better to buy the bags and garden than not garden at all. Remember, like all the good things in life, a garden takes time to unfold and reveal itself... it's about process, and making compost is a great micro sample of the larger macro of the garden life. Btw, some say pouring beer over the compost helps speed up the worms' work. Also, a great activity do to with children (getting them outdoors and away from media) is to encourage them to dig for worms for the compost pile. This has been one of Rowan's favorite activities since the age of two. One last thing... it takes little space to make compost. These pix are from when we lived in the duplex apartment in Grant Park. But, if you have absolutely no space, seek out a local community garden or start one yourself; also, many counties have compost available for pick-up. I've used both Cobb and Dekalb counties compost services. These are great resources that belong to you so take advantage. Until next time... go dig! Peace,S

Necessary Wanderings

Certainly, Freedonia is more than a small business in a big city. If anything it is a place. A place that is inside of us all. The inner domain with its gel-like walls is either nourished, thus one goes on to become a peace maker/ creator, or, this place, where consciousness  dares to dwell, contracts, squashed by the titans of the great panopticon. The dark giants may sell the mere low human snake oil always promising to cure the forever gaping, oozing wounds they/ we inflict on ourselves. Like the proverbial hamster caught in the wheel, forever trying to shop and consume until this inner place where a soul once swelled heals and once again becomes one with its Mother Earth. We've survived the 'inspired words of 'GO SHOPPIN' FOLKS' (thank you W!) when the cut was the deepest. That was over a decade ago. Yes, decades come and go and progress marches onward. If only the doctor still made house calls. And now, The Great HOPE has come to town with nare the holistic medicine for which our time calls. Nope. Our leaders are not receiving the message(s).

For me, nothing lifts me out of a place of wound baring victim-ville as a walk. This simple, free act can fill the void and connect me to the most mysterious place where the butterflies flit about their migratory path. Whether a fitness walk/ jog(arms propelling me forward) or a stroll(yes, I stop to smell the flowers), nothing else opens me up to finding my own power like a walk. Thank goodness Atlanta is becoming a very walkable city! We now have loads of trails, The Beltline being the most advertised. However, in our little community of Lake Claire there are several wonderful spaces to stretch one's legs. These pics are from last week when Rowan and I walked the one mile each way to Little 5's to fetch our water at our fave local co-op Sevenanda. My son, the forever serious traveler, contemplates H2O as we gaze upon the creek water that wanders through our 'hood.  Of course, there is nothing better than a morning stroll, coffee in hand, or an evening's sunset version (vino will do) in The Garden. These are the necessary places that we all must retrieve and demand time to wander...