Mound Therapy & Update

Planning and Coordinating a task to be done can always be tricky. After reviewing the Farmer's Almanac, the local weather, and the condition the mounds were in, we decided 1) we needed to spend some one on one time with the mounds, 2) figure out what we were going to do with the critters and 3) go back to the calendar and find a new day to plant. This past Saturday was predicted to be cold, followed by some rain and more cold weather. Although March just started, it seemed to be slipping from our fingers already.

MOUND THERAPY
Saturday we went out to the garden. The morning was cool and breezy, but we began the one on one time with our milpa (plot of land). We tilled, reshaped and pulled any lingering roots out. We laughed, caught up with each other and observed what was happening to our space, Mother Earth. As we moved the initial layer of the mound we found that the earth was moist and for me, it was much easier to shift the ground and re-sculpt what the wind, light rain and cold air has done. I started with gloves, then decided that I needed to touch the ground, feel for roots and work with what was in front of me. Using my handy mini-claw I was able to re-work the area. The sun felt so warm, and the shade cold. I realized that despite the Texas weather, Winter was soon-to-be over. Spring is set to start on March 21st, so it was interesting to see that majority of the roots I pulled were dry, and dead. I didn't see too many Grub worms and no ants, which was good!

CRITTERS!
As suspected, the culprits who have been invading the garden are some of the neighborhood strays: Possum (the dog that belongs to no one, but got nicknamed because someone thought s/he was a possum); this cute toy-sized dog, and a cat that looks like the beloved indoor cat, Cheto. Mainly, I think Possum has been relieving her/his self near the garden, plus there were some dog-like paw prints around the mounds, not to mention some unpleasant surprises in the path along the fence on the side of the house. (Yuck!) Either way, as we worked we discussed a mixture Dee heard about using cayenne, mustard and black pepper to minimize pests, little and big. In addition to that, we tried using this wire that was around the yard to create a make-shift gate and revive Panchito, the scarecrow we named the first year we did the garden.


THE PROGRESS:
Gate- The wire didn't seem too easy to work with it, and was bound by more wire. With no wire cutters, we were forced to re-think that strategy and get some other materials we could work with soon to get the gate working.
Critters- Dee was able to spend some one on one time with the mixture to keep pest away Sunday. Hopefully that will work in the mean time. We also stopped by the store and pick up some more supplies to make a large batch we can just pull from when we need to reapply the mixture over time.
Scarecrow- Panchito Jr. hehe, As I spent some time with managing the waterhose, and feeding the mounds some water after a morning/afternoon of being cared for, Dee moved around finding materials to build him.

THINGS TO DO:
- Work on a fence
- Prepare to plant! We lay seeds down in a few weeks!!
- Lay Seeds! I am excited because it turns out, while everyone is celebrating Mexika New Year, we will be laying our seeds. After thinking about that for a while tears came to my eyes. It is a beautiful thing, and I am happy to pay reverence to la madre tierra this way.

YO:

There is this phrase, that came to me that expresses how I feel with the garden:

In Lak Ech: 

Tú eres mi otro yo. Si te hago daño a ti, Me hago daño a mí mismo. 

You are my other me. If I do harm to you, I do harm to myself. 

Sí te amo y respeto, Me amo y respeto yo. 

If I love and respect you, I love and respect myself. 

Its taking care of the Earth, but taking care of myself. There is this liberating feeling that feels me when I work with the land, seeing the change, feeling connected and understanding the beginning of the cycle. I joked and said, this is what it feels like to be an original person, a Mexika, the strength and patience that is demanded from you to do what was necessary is no joke. Yet, its so amazing to experience, I found stretching helped with some of the aches and pain, but it was great. I love community, and talk about it, and being in the garden is community to me. There might not be too many people putting in the work right now, but its something that can be used as a platform to unite people.

Take a break from mainstream society and take a walk in the wilderness, tend to a plant and touch the earth. It will change you. I have had a long weekend, but definitely productive.

Peace hermano/as,
Gritona

prepping & pests

it's getting close to the time to plant our first seeds in the jardin. since clearing land, we have kept up with the yard by making observations and continuing to weed where necessary. despite wanting to have planted seeds already, we have been waiting out the chill here in Houston so seeds will go down in a good way.

the newly designated/available day for putting seed down will be March 16th, 2013. Good timing- after all...

March 12th 2013, will be the Year Ce Calli. One House / Uno Casa- Mexica New Year

Ce/Cen/Cem: Is the 1st number in the count of destinies and signifies the beginning, the origin. It also represents a unity, Ce, or a conjunction, conformed by various elements constructing a whole, like: Cemanahuac, the conception of the original universe. Cenyeliztli, the family like a life generating unit; and people ourselves are a set composed of several elements.

Calli: It is generally translated as house, in the sense of a building or construction, unlike the place where you live or serves as a dwelling that is called "chantli" in the Mexica language, Nahuatl.

Calli is what contains, protects or guards something. for example:

Acalli: act of boarding a boat
Huacalli: latticed box that contains something
Teocalli: where the knowledge is stored
Xicalli: Jícara, container that is used to hold something in their center.

In the indigenous thinking, calli is where each one should try to know oneself inwardly, ourselves are the containers of our own essence, which we are solely responsible for.

The Cincalco is another name of Tamoachan or Temoanchan, it is the place of the original house, the great womb of Mother Earth, that with the water (the sacred and vital liquid) gives birth to all beings and gives them livelihood.

-Translated from Calendario Mexicano, Maestro Arturo Meza Gutierrez





So, with that energy we will be set for March 16th to put seed down. A little copal, sweet grass, lavanda, y sage will move all things accordingly and it will be a good day!

My sister and I are looking for ways to make the jardin more 'open', inviting, and nice to inhabit even when we are not working in the jardin. have a few ideas i'll share more about later.

In other news:

/looks like the biggest pest this year will be .......drum roll please:
.......................
..............
..........
..............

stray dogs

i researched natural ways to get rid of the strays and decided to implement 3:
- investing in a gate/partition from my sisters yard next door
- a new scarecrow - Panchito Revisited
- a dry mix of cayanne pepper, black ground pepper, dry mustard powder, and coffee grounds (which ants also hate). i mixed these ingredients today and waited for the Sun to be high to go out and spread this blend around. after placing it around where the dogs get through, along side the house, and other places i've seen them hanging out, i hid when i saw one dog in my sisters yard and watched to see if my blend would work. interestingly, the dog trotted over to the gate opening- sniffed around- and then ran back to the front of the house, not passing the lines where i had laid down my mix.
of course the only down side to this is that when it rains or is particularly windy, the mix will have to be reapplied where necessary. it's good though- that there are NO ANTS in the garden space- our biggest pest of the past. i still threw down some dry grits alongside some spots of grounds for the ants that might pop up.


please advise

We bought tomato seeds and are debating on whether to grow them in pots or to designate a part of the garden and set up poles. thoughts?