July 10 & July 13: Talacheras y Okra

July 10: Wednesday we met to do some light work in the garden. While I was making executive decisions on the fly about our new soil to be added, my sisters were preparing to come in to the garden for work.

We kept it light:

• lifted weeds
• scoped out the area for okra areas
• bagged the sunflowers to ensure we were saving as many seeds from birds/rodents, etc.
• make sure to cut small holes/slithers for sun to poke through!
• took the Amaranth that was ready out.

• The best way to tell is to see how the inflorescene (tassel like top) becomes too heavy it weighs the plant down.
• In order to take out the amaranth you cut the steam about 1-1.5 ft off the ground and it will regrow itself.
• We harvested seeds by saving the inflorescene to dry out and shake out seeds
• We saved leaves for eating and put the stalk in the compost.100% useable

July 13: Saturday the plan was to create a space for okra that gets at least 8-10 hours of sun.

How it went down:

• First things first, we needed to get tools out, we pulled out almost every tool we had. ha! 
• Next to pick a spot to place our okra, we initially made plans for a particular area, but based off Dee's research found out it probably isnt the best place. so we moved on to a different area.

• Creating Patches: 
• Using the Talacho. I don't know what the proper term for the tool is in English, but I can say I can pick it up and use it! I think it's called a pickaxe. It was such an experience as I literally used almost every muscle in my body to properly use it and create spaces for us to use. 
• We picked down about 6- 8 inches of the ground so we can create a area to make a nice rich 
• Soil mix: After making a small basin we decided to mix the following ingredients. With this we were able to make a mound that gives the roots a little bit over (1) foot to grow in rich soil.

• compost mulch
• manure
• our collective compost
• O.Jardin's finest dirt ;)
• planting of the seeds
• The matron of the house (Dee's Mama) usually comes out to visit us in the garden, this time she came in to plant seeds! special moments 
• Put more soil down to support growing Squash
• General clean-up weeding, picking up branches, etc.
• Cleared patch of weeds under the tree [took a quick nap...hehe]

Sentimientos: Well, if you don't know me personally, I am a relatively private person, with the exception of those closely surround me. This past week has been so emotional for me. Experiencing life, watching our garden grow, sharing laughter, having deep conversation and understanding what it all really means. As I/We continually strive towards Mexicayotl we are constantly evaluating what we are doing in relation to this life. I put my sweat and tears into this and watching things grow is truly an amazing experience. We are watching seeds form into food that goes into our mouths. I always leave with a heart full of accomplishment and a step toward creating sustainability in my communidad. I am excited about the okra. I love the way it was tastes and can't wait to share it with my father.

Gracias/Tlazos:

A Juan! We got a cool weed/grass tool to use. Juana, thank you for helping us plant the okra. To our sisters, thank you for either contributing to the compost, coming to learn, weeding, conversing, listening and/or sharing your palabra, your words, sweat and hearts help us reaffirm the work that we do!

Other:

Peace to Trayvon Martin, may your soul rest and continue to be one of many who opens our eyes to be proactive in our communities. There is NO JUSTICE, there is JUST US.

July 10: Update since I last wrote...

Things that have been done:

• routine things done in the garden (i.e. watering/weeding)
• removed the last of the corn stalks (07/03/13)
• decided we need to move our cardboard. It's working y'all, we are just moving it around to continue to kill those weeds
• re-soiling, we laid some new soil, and will continue to do so, we are going to have to find a new soil place to go to, so we can buy in bulk.

Quick Crop Updates:

• Amaranth- matured! We are preparing to cut it down.
• Squash- which is thriving, it looks awesome, its really taking over.
• something i learned: the stem of the leaf that grows (to provide shade) is hollow.
• Beans-growing, seems to be a bit fragile, have to be mindful of that when watering
• Tomatoes they are growing. despite some problems we had with a caterpillar (Tomato Hornworm) ugly little thing. it got a few, but I got to taste one! it was awesome, and was very special to me. 
• Onion- we need to do some research on this, some leaves look great, others not so much, which scares me since it's a root crop you pull on the leaves to get it out... might need to do some digging.
• Sunflowers- looking, er-not so good? NO! they are where they need to be! Once the flower wilts it means the seeds are setting into place and getting ready for picking!

Things to do:

• Get more soil and paperbags
• work on composting
• try to find a barrel to use for compost
• plan for fall crops! MUST RESEARCH: 
• companion planting, specifically for okra, mesculin lettuce mix, squash, tomato and onion
• common pests and natural solutions for those pests.

Surprises:

• We were gifted Okra! Yay! I am particularly excited, its one of my favorite things to eat.
• we will be planting this soon.

Resources:

• common garden pests- this is a constant problem, so we occasionally have to look a thing up or two. This link is great and helped us identify the tomato pest culprit.

Special Thanks & Dedication:
This is my favorite area to post. Giving thanks is so important in our lives. This post I want to say Thank You to so many people. To everyone who liked our Facebook Page: The Original Jardin (where we post info, pictures, links, resources, etc.). To Brother Zin for the Okra seeds and a good build on soil and the importance of it. Knowledge spreads far between people. For our visitors: our family, our friends. We had a great group of people come see our jardin, original members who put in work for years and it brought so much peace and happiness to my heart. Their words brought tears to my eyes, and their actions peace in my soul. I love them. 

Thank You (English) ~ Gracias (Spanish) ~ Tlazokamati (Nahuatl) 

From Rows to Groceries...

Since this is a (b)log of our garden, I want to make sure I remember how our garden changed over time.

Besides the research I think its important to see our progress... and since I am an amateur Paint artists (lol, I love Paint, great program) I have been working on this to track the changes in the garden. 

Please click to enlarge

The first image is what the planned our rows were supposed to look like

This is what survived after the original planting and second round (because of those birds!) All pieces in green are seeds that didn't take, and no crop yield.

The garden before planting Beans & Squash

Here is when we inserted the beans

and squash to complete the three sisters..... 

After our mishap with stink bugs, and having to

get rid of some of our stalks this is what survived....  Notice how some areas no longer have the corn stalks, simply bean and squash.

June 15: Clean-Up, Ears & Hojas

Earlier this week, I went out into the garden and was overcome with what I saw. Through all the research I had been reading about stinkbugs, I realized that what I feared was happening to our garden. Last we learned that if Stinkbugs take over your garden it can potentially ruin your crop. Anything sucked of its nutrients can wither and die.

Our garden looked in bad shape! Saturday (June 15) we went out to the garden to do and discuss a few things: survey damage, cut down dead stalks, decide what we would do with corn, figure out what was salvageable and make a plan to keep what we could do to maintain a healthy garden.

Here are some notes of the day:
Corn

• Many stalks were damaged, however once we viewed them closely quite a few were salvageable. So we removed what we felt like we had to. 
• To remove the corn, we decided to cut the base instead of pulling out- to ensure new squash/bean seedling roots weren't interrupted. Reminder: squash/Beans can both grow without the corn stalk.
• The corn we chose is absolutely beautiful! When you look at it it shines, literally, it looks shimmery, it was so beautiful to hold.
• We have hojas to save for Tamales!

Amaranth

• Is big! The inflorescenes (tassel-like parts) are getting huge!
• Weeds grow really fast! Gotta keep an eye on the imposters...

Sunflowers

• The 1st sprouted sunflower, although wilted looks like it can survive with more care and water. We will leave it as is.

Tomatoes

• We need to watch out for the Caterpillar attacking the tomato. However in the time being we have quite a few small bulbs!!!

Onions

• Are growing, need to do reserach about harvesting.

Seed Saving

• We need to figure when/how to seed save for amaranth and corn!

Pests

• Ants! They can be nasty little things with their friends Aphids! We found 1 stalk that had damage from Aphids (no we didn't put it in the compost), but we do need to treat with grits/coffee more
• We need to get more coffee grounds from people... 

Compost

• This is hard for me to do, because in my home we eat every inch of a vegetable, except the little colitas of fruits and vegetables... Either way, I thought I would attach a friendly link of items you can compost for reference.

Watering

• Decided that we needed to water more. The damage had to be a combination of both lack of enough water and the stinkbugs. 
• Solution: Dee will water in the morning, and I will (most) evenings.

Juanes- Thank you for trimming the weeds around the garden. We appreciate both you and Juana's patience with us and for the space! Jane- Thank You for the wisdom and experience you have shared from your gardening. It is much appreciated.

Stink Bugs!! & Other Things

There were three main tasks on this visit: clean/replenish (with compost) Amaranth bed, do something about stink bugs, and compost.

Pests: STINK BUGS!!
Last time I wrote I briefly mentioned stink bugs. We have noticed there has been a large number of them on the corn. After some research on both parties we learned quite a bit, here are the essentials.

Stink bugs use their clypeus to penetrate and suck nutrients out of crops!! (similar to what a mosquito uses to suck blood.) No es bueno. Some of their favorite crops to eat are sweet corn, amaranth, okra and tomatoes (three of which we have!)

We actually saw a baby stalk have the life sucked right out of it. It was so sad to see it go from green to pale yellow and crusty. We decided we would remove the stalk, and possibly put it in the compost.

Some of the methods we read about included:

• pesticides (of course)
• spraying the plant with a lemon/water mixture
• drowning the bugs in a soapy water solution
• plant sun flowers to deter them from the crop being eaten

Some of the solutions were eliminated right away because we run an organic garden that has sunflowers in it. We strayed away from the lemon/water mixture because of the acidic properties and decided to go with drowning the bugs in soapy water. (helpful hint: they move slower in the morning)

We rolled up our sleeves, put on our gloves and got ourselves some bugs! At first my sister and I stared at each other, each anticipating the other one to begin. I don't know who did it, because the garden was soon filled with yelps and shrieks of  having to grab those bugs. If we accidentally squashed the bug with our hands we understood why they were called stink bugs. I got terrorized as one "screamed" (fluttered and hissed loudly) in my ear, it was one of those feelings, where you think they are crawling all over you at one point. *shudders*

We will have to give the garden some time to digest what's happening to it, but the research hasn't stopped! Natural predators include:

• Lady Bugs (which also fight aphids-but thankfully we don't have any of those!) *cross your fingers*
• Mini Wasps (parasitic size)
• Ants
• Ladybird Beetles
• Lacewings

OTHER NEWS:

After the dirty work was done we stopped and noticed our seeds had sprouted! All the commotion from the bugs had deterred us from noticing. It was a beautiful thing to see.

More updates soon!

Peace,

June 02: Seeds, Scents & Sense

This week & "The Plan":
All week I have been thinking about the garden: trying to organize help for Sunday morning/afternoon, I was worried about soil, I was looking for a truck, trying to find a wheelbarrow and fretting about the rain forecast. It was exhausting, trying to deal with the day-to-day functions of life, supporting family and friends in their journey of life. The plan was simple (ha!) find a truck, drive to the soil depot (wholesale), pick up enough soil to re-soil the entire garden, plant the rest of the three sisters: bean and squash, put up tomato. Psssh....

What actually happened...

The Back-up Plan:
Sunday turned out to be another long day full of work! I woke up to the sound of thunder and rain and was worried I wouldn't be able to get in the garden. Turns out the soil depot was a little bit of a bust: they had no hours on the site/brochure, 3 different phone numbers no one would answer and were closed on Sunday! I blame it on hippies, gotta get organized... So we stuck to our back up plan: ditch all the fancy stuff, hit up a regular store to get the soil we needed and just do what we could around the rain, specifically plant the other two sisters, the clock is ticking and we are in a bit of a crunch!

Surveying:
When I arrived to the garden I was met with drizzle and clearing skies, I quickly surveyed the garden to find: fallen corn stalks, BUGS (yuck!), damaged onions and blooming sunflowers and tomatoes! We made a mental note to invest in some reinforcements and got ready for the store.

Store:
One of the things we learned last week was that we needed a stronger base for our tall crop. Since our plan to go to the soil dump went awry, we went to the store consulted a nice gentleman named Huellete Packard (he joked and said like Hewlett Packard minus the money- ha! he was nice), we picked out an organic compost soil, and he laughed when we declined Miracle Gro because we don't trust what they put in their soil. While walking around we picked out stuff for ourselves, debated bird feeding stuff, admired beautiful garden decor talked ourselves out of some fancy garden tools, and got talked out of a wheelbarrow by a passing gentleman. After about an hour, we walked out with 5 bags of organic compost soil, some sticks to support our fallen stalks and a bell made of bird feed.

The work:

• Weeding/Mending - I will be honest, this is NOT my favorite part to do, but I do recognize that it needs to be done on the regular. It was a lot easier since we did heavy duty weeding last week, but the sun did beam down pretty hard, however it did even out my tan :D There were 8 different plants that had fallen, we were lucky to have purchased a few extra support sticks because it was a bit hard to tell from first seeing the crops.
• We did note that we need to probably invest in bamboo sticks to help the corn, we had to use bamboo before, and we like it because its natural and its tall enough to hold the corn high. In addition to the new soil, we are sure this will be better.
• Soil - It was nice to place a new base around each stalk/crop. It looked so healthy. Hopefully it can provide some of the nutrients we need! The crops are looking healthier and are attracting more pests which is a good and bad sign. (see below)
• Seeds & Planting - YAY!!!! Frijoles (beans) y calabacitas (squash). I am a major frijolera (bean eater) I think they are the best component for a meal and or snack, so I am excited to harvest these! We have talked about the different types of seeds we got in the past, but just to recap we have Hopi Pinto beans, Mexican Calabacitas (MexCal) and Yellow Crooknecks (YellowCrooks) [please see slide below for preview]. I love touching and seeing seeds. They really amaze me. After figuring out we had less Mex.Cal than YellowCrooks and doing some quick math we decided to plant this way:
• 2 small rows with the Mex.Cal. and beans each stalk (or set of stalks-since more than one have 2 to 3 stalks in one place.) 
• each set had 4 pozos (holes) for one bean seed and 2 pozos for one MexCal seed 
• and the rest of the rows (other 5) with YellowCrooks and beans.
• each set had 4 pozos for one bean seed and 2 pozos for one YellowCrooks
• Pests - uuuuughhh!!!! Peee-yeeeeewwww Stink bugs are invading! We haven't figured out a natural cure for this yet, but we are researching, so far I learned they are originally from Asia. More info to come.
• Compost- We are working on this! I have some editions being stored right now... but I will say its stinky... lol

Retrospect/To-Do:
So much to say, but I will save it for another day. Random thoughts:
- Bamboo
- Love
- Weed
- Clean Amaranth Bed
- Soil Amaranth Bed
- Lay our usual pest solution, we should give that solution a name... 
- Sign
- Nails
- Compost

EXTRA EXTRA: Read all about it!!

Flowers blooming & other pics

Friday night pics 05.31.13

Thank You's for the week:

Mr. Huellete Packard, for being helpful and cheery. To the Barrio for allowing us to borrow a grocery basket randomly stored on the side of the road. It came in handy transporting all that soil. Hahaha, that provided many giggles to start us off! And to my sister, Dee, thank you for opening the space and for being dedicated with me as we continually move forward. We're doing the damn thing and its so hard for me not to be emotional in the palabra, but I am so happy to be a part of this with you. 

Peace and Love in the struggle,

Gritona

Updates Galore, May Edition: Part Three (May 25)

Saturday, May 25!

Phew! Time flies!! the amazing and crazy thing is how the garden looks after 13 days! 

It looked like a hot mess. the rain came in at the right time and those weeds crept through overnight. Saturday we spent eight (8) hours in the garden!

First we went to Wabash, they are awesome there for one! Mil gracias a Monica, a friend who recommended it to Dee! FYI I called trying to get information and got the shaft, but once we arrived it was easier to dialogue with the specialists on hand about problems we were facing and what were some natural solutions to that. After speaking to our new Wabash friend, Karl, we were able to understand some of the moving parts of what was going on. 

Things we learned/went for: we need nutrients!

• Corn needs more natural forms of nitrogen to grow, signs of this can be the yellowing of the crop, it will still grow, however you must be careful because the taller it gets the more nutrients are taken from the base/root to the top. 
• Corn needs more support at the base, we really need soil! We got some quotes on some locations at soil fills out in Katy and Conroe, but we have to 1) find a truck and 2) haul it into town.. we hope to have that done by next week! Updates soon!
• Through research and speaking to someone at Wabash the culprit eating the amaranth is most likely a Caterpillar of some kind. Ways to prevent this is putting a ring of cardboard at the base of the crop and use a product we got from Wabash. I will provide the name soon. Either way, its applied in the morning, after dew but before it heats up. More details soon!
• Cotton Mill can be used to as a natural additive to provide nitrogen to the soil to promote health and growth for corn. It should be applied about every four (4) weeks. Don't inhale this stuff, it can hurt your respiratory system... hints the photo with gloves and masks... hehe 
• Molasses can be a great thing! it can be used to fight pests and to help promote health compost! the main thing about molasses is that it heats up the area. A good way to get rid of ants is to pour some on an ant pile and for compost make a large hole and pour it right in to make sure your compost stays hot and breaks down the other components.
• Compost can be added to the soil once we have harvested our crops. Karl also mentioned that you can "rent-a-chicken". Its not a service but you can purchase and return the chicken to Wabash. This helps because once you have cleared your crop you can lay down compost and mix it in your soil, add two chickens and have them work the ground to mix it for you! Who would have known?! Also contrary to house pets, their droppings can help your soil.
  

We learned a lot on Saturday and cleared a hell of a lot of weeds. It was hard work, but we paid ourselves in two forms 1) knowing we are working towards sustainability and 2) RASPAS! Support local businesses! :D Limon and or Strawberry-n-Banana are my recommendations!

Until next week with an update on soil, Peace!

-Gritona

A special shout-out/ Thank You to Dee's Mom: Estela! Mil gracias a ti tambien! For the water, putting up with us coming in covered in dirt and supporting us both financially and in morale. Ometeotl