Oh this rain!! I don’t need to say how glorious it is, as I know each and everyone of you (that lives here in the high desert) is loving every minute of it as much as I am!!  BUT OH HOW WONDERFULl!!!

Our skin our soils our souls are soaking up every sacred drop!  The rivers are raging, the mountains inn full bloom!  All I want to so right now is wildly throw seeds around!! And of course lay in the great green grass!!

I green up on blankets of green but I admit I started to reject the typical lawn when I learned how many chemicals went into the average American lawn, not to mention water and how many other amazing plants you could squeeze into those precious spaces around ones home.

There is a huge movement across the country now to pull out your lawn, grow food and medicine and even keep animals close to home and I am all for it!!  But I must say when I ran the garden at the Santa Fe Children’s Museum I saw how precious the lawn was for picnicing families, barefoot children and rolly polly babies alike.

Here in the desert lawns are rare and now that I have barefoot children of my own I see the great need to have open soft green spaces for them to run and roll and rest in.  So this year has been the year of the lawn.  I probably wouldn’t have thought of it, but my son did.  In fact he asked for a lawn mower first, which he was gifted by a dear friend…but once he brought it home he realized it was not much fun on our weedy dirt…So we planted the boy a lawn.

Luckily it has coencieded with a very wet year here in the desert, so the lawn is growing to every bare patch we have left in this little lot.  So when I say lawn- I don’t actually mean the Kentucky blue grass or fescue of my past, but an herbicous or otherwise known as a weedy lawn.  We started out by leaving to of my beloved ‘weeds’. Mallow (Malva neglecta) ( the name says it all!)

and Knotweed (Polygonum erectum )

were already growing here.  They are hardy weeds, trouble for some if you are trying to rid your farm of them, but soft under foot and welcome here.  They grow low under heavy traffic and take to mowing quite nicely.  We used what was here as nurse crops and planted in plugs of Buffalo Grass, Chamomile, Creeping Thyme, and Yarrow

Then we raked the bare soil

mixed up a bag of Strawberry Clover, Blue Grama Grass and more Buffalo Grass seed from Plants of the Southwest.

Sprinkled liberally

raked some more and covered with a bit of loss dirt from a pile we had and danced around on it.  The seeds of course need contact with the dirt and all like to be watered to begin with- and in this rain are sprouting up beautifully.

Once they are established, they will be desert hardy and should thrive just fine on the water that falls from the sky (hopefully it will just keep coming!!)

So now we have ourselves a beautiful little lawn and an extra lawn mower when we need her!!

I woke up to this message today

so I packed a lunch and headed up.

l

Looks like last falls cloves are hanging in there

and the water is flowing well.

Seeds are still being set in the ground

and the furrows constantly cut, the mud ever moving

but we are starting to see the fruits of our labors

and if nothing more, sweet smiles from a Sunday morning spent well.

Well what can I say– things are sprouting up around here!  The greenhouse is full, the garden giving and I too am perking up a little. *(For those of you who read this blog solely for gardening info, and I know there are at least a few of you– the posts of this year have been very belly and baby centric so back to gardening– at least for the moment.)

Before we jump into the gardening season though, I thought I would share what we have been growing all winter because even if you don’t have a greenhouse you too can grow all kinds of food in your windows, little sprouted food.

Recently I taught a class to Cooking with Kids teachers about indoor gardening and I think the most successful one was the one on Micro Greens.  Growing your own is so very easy and really only takes about 10 days from sowing to harvest so you really can be constantly growing food in a tiny space.  NPR even did a little story about them a few years back when they were all the new rage.

You basically soak the seeds in water over night (or not, it just speeds up the process a bit).

Sow your chosen seed THICKLY in your chosen container (you don’t really even need to have holes in the bottom but I use plastic or wooden flats).

Cover with some soil (or a wet towel or soaked newspaper like the Santa Fe Sprout lady does).

Keep moist to the touch, watering every other day or so.

Place in a warm, sunny window (the more sun the better a south-facing window with direct sunlight all day is ideal).

Here is a great little video from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply on how they do it.

You can harvest at cotyledon stage or when they get there first true leaves or when you get around to it!

I usually get about 1lb per flat to give you an idea.

I have done Brassica micro greens ( including Broccoli, Mustard, Kale, Cabbage) here is their list of what can be grown as micro greens…Johnny’s has a great selection too!

Peas Shoots ( field peas work great and are cheaper than snow pea seed)

Buckwheat sprouts

The ever popular Sunflowers Sprouts (a great one for kids, they taste great and kids can help remove the seed coats or little hats before harvesting which saves you a lot of trouble in the washing)

Winter Rye ( or Easter Grass)

And whatever else you can think of.

When you get what your can eat from them, off to the chickens ( or worms, wild birds or compost pile) they go.

Fresh, quick, easy and abundant– they best kind of food!!

Last night I trusted the whether man enough to go out at dust, uncover my greens and take a look.

Hey not bad for total neglect!!  I haven’t looked under here since Christmas when I got another nice little harvest.  The spinach is doing beautifully (harvested 1 1/2lb and could have doubled that had it not gotten dark on me) and the kale is starting to come back too ( 1/2 lb of baby leaves) !!  This is all in the ground, no heat, thick row cover and 4mm plastic (Not very tight!!)  Cheap and Easy and a bit Lazy!!

And here is last night harvests with this mornings snow- we have already eaten spinach in 2 meals today (going on 3!)

And now there they are sleeping under a thick blanket of snow.  Who knows when I will get under there again, but feeling so thankful for all the moisture that will slowly seep in and keep them growing into the spring.

Speaking of spring….If anyone wants to take a Seed Starting class with me, now this is your last chance for a while….Baby due in just 4 short weeks, but I am teaching on FEB 10th at SFCC so sign up here— you will go home with your own flat of babies ready to grow!

This week as a snow week!! The world is white and it seems like the perfect day to bring in the green!

Today is also a leaf day according the bio-dynamic calendar so I will be sowing my very first leaves of 2015!  Celery, Scallions, Leeks, Spinach, Lettuce, Kale and Chard will all be in the mix today– Along with a flat of wheat grass for my chickens (poor girls need some green!! and maybe even a flat of sunflower sprouts, peas shoots, or micro greens for me!!

If you are wanting to get started sowing today to the best place to start is with a plan.  Seeds are so small & ambitions so big this time of year, I just encourage you to really look at your garden- how much can you fit, how much room does each plant need, what do you really want to eat fresh and wheat is more cost-effective to buy?  Don’t let me rain in your parade, but doing a little garden planning will really help you achieve your garden goals and not end up with plants over running your living room.

I have written about seed starting and garden planning for a couple of years now, so here are links to older posts you might like.

There are tons of resources out there to help you make your seeding plan like this one at Organic Gardening

and another audio webinar from Seed Savers Exchange that sounds a lot like the seed starting class I teach.

That’s me

This year my Seed Starting class will be taught at SFCC on Feb 10th from 10am- 12pm.  It is being organized by the Santa Fe Botanical Garden so you should go here to sign up for the class.  We will be going over everything you need to know to get your garden started indoors and you will be sent home with a flat of self-sown seeds ready to go.

I also just got my 2015 Gardeners Year Planting Calendars in the mail yesterday and they are ready to go!!  They are really pretty and full of planting dates so you will know exactly when to plant what throughout the year.

I will be selling them at the class, but can also get you one via mail or drop off.  I only a few so they may not make it onto Etsy this year, but I do have plenty available as of today!

So back to planning & planting!!  Happy First Leaf day of this abundant Gardening Year!!

That’s me

As most of you know, I have been running the garden at the Santa Fe Community College for about a year and a half.  Before that I was on the design team, so for the past four years I have gotten to watch it go from good idea to a highly productive and beautiful garden, and we are just getting started!!

I can’t tell you how much I love to witness the process of a piece of land go from ignored to embed with love!!  Don’t get me wrong, this project has been less than perfect, but when I step back and look at what we have sown, I am deeply satisfied to the core and know it will bloom and grow as the years go on.   We now have 21 fruit trees, 16 vegetable beds, a pollinator garden, a worm compost and have plans for an outdoor classroom/ kitchen, berries, herbs, perennial vegetables, and more!!

This Friday marks the beginning of my first official class I will be offering in the garden, ‘Gardening in the Desert’ through the Continuing Ed Dept.  Because it has been a long time in the making, I have pulled out all the stops for this one.

It will be  a 6 week course where I will impart all my garden secrets weaving lectures and hands on learning to really get my students confident in growing in this wild western ecosystem.

I even invited the some of Santa Fe’s Garden stars to teach with me!!

Joel Glanzberg of Pattern Mind will be teaching about the high desert arid landscape and how understanding this distinct ecosystem aids in us growing well within it.

Joel Glanzberg & Son

Ken Kuhn of Grow Your Own will be sharing his experience in making raised garden beds for desert bounty.

Ken Kuhn

and lastly Deborah Madison will join us for a lesson in Vegetable Literacy!!

I am so excited about this class and have to say I hope it is the first of many, but it very well may be a once in a lifetime course.

Deborah Madison

There are still 5 more spots left in the class so you can still sign up!  Go online or Call 428-1676 to enroll.

You can even enroll after the class starts on Friday, but trust me you don’t want to miss even one!!

I also want to say thank you to all of you wonderful readers who have already signed up, without you planning ahead, this class would not have run!!!  See you Friday!!