Who waters cardboard? WE do!!!

I didn't even know what mulch was last Sunday at the mulch garden gardening class last Sunday . . . I'm not sure if I even know know! haha

I do know that we had a great time, and I feeeel soooo knowledgeable from that one hour mulch gardening hands-on workshop class that Ricki and I attended downtown Phoenix at 12th Street and Thomas.


Layering "lasagna" is what we did! When we showed up there was a patch of dry clay soil, and when we left we had built a full on mulch garden that will be ready to plant come fall. After turning the soil and pulling all the Bermuda grass "weeds", we started our layering. First cardboard (carbon), then mature, fine, compost (live matter), then the chicken manure, then the dry leaves, then the layer of newspaper, then the compost again, and so on . . .when we done, it looked like a 6 to 8 inch pile of yard lasagna with trellis laying on top! (To keep the cats out.)


We met a wonderful new friend, Dayna, who came to the meeting tonight as well and met some of the other gals - she is such a contribution, and we are so happy to know her. She shared the YouTube video, HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION, with us tonight - I encourage you all to watch it as it is very impressive and inspiring! You'll see a lawn that has fallen victim to 6 inches of mulch for sure!!! :)

Kristin shared the shopping cheat sheets she has put together for our use - at the farmers markets and grocery stores. Thank you Kristin for being part of this group! Ricki has shared the notes we gathered from herb gardening and mulch gardening this past weekend and Kristin has shared her mulch gardening notes and composting notes with us as well!

***** Nature's Garden Delivered!!! YOU will LOVE!!! For the matter of fact you will love a lot of Arizona's Green Businesses that you find on the organic consumers website! *****

Look at some of our "minis". . . peace & happiness mixed in with a lot of health . . . couldn't have planned it any better! xo



The video said it best: "By the process of directly working in harmony with nature, we do the one thing most essential to change the world . . . we change ourselves!"

It started with a thought - great intention + ACTION!

THINGS ARE HAPPENING!!!

"Hi Shauna,

Here is our little green house - well, partially green house! We need to finish the paint, create the plant beds, build a fan system, more compost bins, wrap it up etc.; I'm sure all of our imaginations and visions will continue to expand as we journey through our first attempt at a project like this. There will be several more parts to piece in before our home of tasty fruits and veggies is complete! My mama Sheri and step father Tommy wanted to make sure everyone felt more than welcome to join in or stop by anytime. Shauna- my mom wanted to pass on a thank you for being the spark!

I will blog my finding on heart and liver health from the newsletter in the next day or two. XOXO Anna"

So stoked for our group right now! Congrats to every single gal - we all have gardens growing and blooming! Congrats to Anna and her family for their new greenhouse! It is amazing - they have been invited to build another greenhouse at a local charter school and we will all be there to help! AMAZING - EXACTLY what we wanted to do - lead by example and get the vision spreading! Congrats to Jami and Kahala for their at work container gardens!!! We will be posting the article that was written about their project on this blog in the near future!


We discussed it all tonight!

• Cell Power - Cleanse, Nourish and Energizer your body at the cellular level!


• The importance of healthy PH balance & alkaline's ability to help neutralize over-acidity in the body caused by stress, modern diet, air pollution, and even acidic bottled water.


• Breast Health - how eating organic and healthy is important specifically to this area of our our health b/c our breast are estrogen sensitive and are susceptible to the chemically estrogen-like toxins that are found in the environment and in processed foods and genetically engineered foods.


• The benefits of Coconut oil - this is a saturated fat and is best for our bodies digestion. No matter what - using cold-pressed, unrefined, extra virgin and/or raw oil is best. Visit http://www.gethealthywithcarol.com/ to find out Carol Ann Wasserman's (a certified holistic health practitioner) cooking tips with coconut oil.

Our very own Britony will be putting together another useful letter for this years group as she did for last years group (http://www.togetherin2009.blogspot.com/) She said that she has tons of new tips and better advice now than she did then! Yay!

The information below are a list of links that Ricki found. . . .Sunscreen - which are bad for you and which are good? Also all other make-up and product safety standards that are listed on this link - they may make us look great on the outside but what are they doing to us on the inside?

www.ewg.org/cosmetics/report/sunscreen09/Beach-Sunscreens

Here are some of the links from the school garden tour day as well! Master gardeners, for getting real serious and real busy!www.cals.arizona.edu/maricopa/garden/html/general/hort.htm

Granny's garden school, curriculum for schools! www.grannysgardenschool.com/

Phoenix permaculture guilde. Ricki became a member and this and this is how she knows about the classes that are coming up this weekend. Everyone should sign up and be in the know of the activities happening regularly. :)

www.phoenixpermaculture.org/

Civil eats blog. www.civileats.com

Edible schoolyard. An example of the real and awesome actions.

www.edibleschoolyard.org/

Farm to table - www.farmtotablenm.org/

(Thanks for gatheing those links Ricki)

Girls- look through teh links and for now, there are 2 gardening classes that we will be attending this weekend for those that would like to join:

One on Saturday . . .

www.phoenixpermaculture.org/events/herbs-for-the-desert-with-maya-1

One on Sunday . . . . this is about how to build a mulch-layered garden.

www.phoenixpermaculture.org/events/building-a-mulch-layered

FANTASTIC WORK GALS! xo

Is my 4 week old Zucchini too big for this pot? ;)

BIG THINGS ARE HAPPENING FOR US! haha

I pick up these Developing Healthy Habits Newsletters from a health store where I buy my shakes - we are reading through them and taking the highlights back to the group. In one of them, Fundamentals for Breast Health, it stated that mankind has introduced numerous xenestrogens (external estrogen-like chemicals) into the world at large, the food supply and even medicines. Breast tissue is very estrogen sensitive leading to externally altered hormone states. Many pesticides fit this bill, which is just one of many reasons that eating organic is so important!

Ricki shared some pictures and thoughts from the food tour this past Saturday - it is great to be living in an area where fwd thinking and pro-activity is taking place. Thanks Ricki for getting involved this past weekend to learn and share.

We took a little while to discuss the intricate details of starting a community garden. Talked about things within the following topics:

• Policies
• Garden Needs
• Site Selection
• Insurance
• Water - Sisterning.
• Grants & Funding
• Containers
• Greenhouses
• Community involvement
• Composting
• Fencing
• Volunteering

I encourage you to go back to my first blog post of 2010 and click and review all the links from the American Community Garden Association.

It was great to hear that our actions are causing and creating positive reactions from our families - Anna's family has a massive composting bin and two greenhouses on the way! Way to go Jones!

Christina brought some great info in:

Nutrition Works - Health store that sells natural things that help the body run healthy! 1-888-451-0001 They ship anywhere . .

Local farmer - John Milton - teaches farming and community gardening locally. His has a local farm and local company called Udder Delights. 480.507.3859. They have a diary farm, Superstition Farm, and all their products supply the store where you can get fresh, local, delicious sweets! Check out their farm and their store!

Tonight was great - We are growing! :)