Who made the rules that you had to seperate ornamentals from the edibles?  As I have learned it is a good thing to mix.  The variety confuses pests.  Just make sure that it is not a “host” plant for the pests.  It does add more beauty to see them flourish together.  These were acquired through my new gardening friend, Sylvia.  She grows all kind of beautiful plants.  Orchids, bromeliads, hibiscus, popcorn cassia.  As I walked through her garden it felt like a lil paradise.  She even had her chicken doing some tilling and keeping the bugs away.  From time to time she has a small plant sale starting for a buck & up.  I’ll post the link when she holds another one.

We finally finished our garden box.  We decided to try Adina’s garden lasagna using the hay, compost layers.  She has details on her blog Manure Depot.  We did staple some extra screen we had laying around on the bottom to minimize erosion of the good soil.   We then made sure we put it in a sunny area and started to put the layers in.  I must say it is much lighter and you don’t have to use so much dirt.  We can easily move it if need be.

I decided to plant a variety of seeds in this box to start.  I have some cilantro, recao, thyme, oregano, scallions, and a small row of mixed italian lettuces.  Let’s see what happens.

The classic.

We brought home some baby chicks last weekend and they are precious.  I have always loved chickens since a kid.  When we used to visit my abuelo and abuela in Puerto Rico, my abuelo would always take me to the pueblo market and buy me an array of rainbow dyed chicks to take home and raise for the summer.  Some of my best and favorite memories was of those times spent with him.  I wanted to share the joy with my kids and raise some chicks.  Some fresh eggs, pest control, manure for the garden are the added benefits.  We used to have a bantam hen a few years ago who was the sweetest thing.  I ended up passing her to my mother’s neighbor who was moving to a farm and would never eat her in a soup;-).  I figured she would be most happy there.  We do miss her.  She would perch right up next to the parakeets since we never really “cage” our animals full time.  They need their free time to fly or run about.  Anyways we obtained 4 chicks.  We each named one.  Felina, after my abuela, Celia after my husband’s abuela, Oreo (my son’s pick) and Ari (my lil girl’s pick).  They are fun to have and keep us entertained.  Celia was the smallest and not as active and alert as the rest.  I remembered as a child we would lose one.  I expressed my concern to my husband that I hoped she wasn’t ill because she didn’t seem to be acting right.  She seemed to be too lethargic and would mostly stay in a corner.  The other 3 were thriving and you can tell they were growing steadily, pio-ing and flapping their wings, running about.   My husband said maybe she was just the runt and would pull through.  Unfortunately our Celia did not make it.  Yesterday she did not want to get up and run around with her sisters.  I held her for 2 hours and tried to give her drops of water and feed.  She drank a bit, started to peep.  I thought she would “come back” but she didn’t make it.   My husband dug her a grave and we buried her in our yard.   I was depressed most of the day but was not surprised.  I had a feeling from the day we brought her home she would go but was hoping I was wrong.  The other 3 chicks, Felina, Oreo and Ari are still doing well and eating, scratching, pooping it up.  I pray that they continue to be healthy.  I have them inside for now since it has been quite chilly.  My husband is almost done building their condo and it is coming out great.   He wants to go get Celia#2 this weekend.  He’s not an emotional guy but it kinda bothered him when I told him his Celia passed.  He immediately called the place where we got her to arrange another pickup.  We will be more careful picking this time around and hopefully won’t have to experience the loss again.

This week have learned about Entropy.  This was one of those unfamiliar words  to us and took a while to grasp because of the vocabulary used.   Basically its capturing “energy” and making it useful.  For example composting your organic wastes.  Instead of throwing away those banana peels, kitchen scraps to become useless in the landfill, you compost them creating nutrients for the soil or feed them to some worms that pass it on to the plants.  Or like my husband, who collects the scrap lumber they were going to throw away at his job and turns it to something useful.  You can of course get more detailed and complex but it is the basic idea. 

Functional diversity is also a term we are learning.  It is where each thing in the design serves many functions which those elements serve many other functions.  “Every function is supported by many elements and every element should support many functions”.  The chicken serves many functions, not necessarily in this order but, they  provide pest control, fertilizer, they till, they clear, they provide eggs, they eat organic scraps, etc.  A chicken house can be attached to a green house.  They support each other by creating heat energy.  Functional diversity can be applied to most anything.  A tree can provide shelter, mulch, food, cycle air and water, home for birds and critters, etc.  Everything works together. 

Appropriate Scale can also relate to many things.  Many of us do not live within the appropriate scale principle.  We think bigger is better, when bigger can be worse.  Our design should fit within our resources and should take time.  “No time to rush” as our instructor would put it.  For me, the ending priciple was to create a balance in one’s life and design.  We should also prepare for aging or the worse and longevity of the design.  You never know when a storm or other unforseen event will occur. 

So far it has all been quite interesting.  For us it has gone beyond just design.  It is starting to touch other parts of our lives feeling a deeper appreciation and understanding of the systems around us that we took for granted. 

 Now I know what it means to take a moment and appreciate the view.  We are always in a rush and don’t realize how beautiful the sky looks or the birds that land in our yard.  The way the dragonflies play or how the vines clothe the trees.

  I even started to look at the weeds different. 

  Who started calling them weeds anyway? Looking through the empty lots in our area you see all types of beautiful little “weed” wildflowers that are a butterfly’s  heavan.  It is true how we seperate ourselves from nature and think we are superior when in fact, we can’t live without it and God created it for a purpose, each with a function and for our enjoyment, not to abuse of it.  We are part of nature, we belong to the system.  We just need to learn our place.

Plastic bag

I went to Publix supermarket today to purchase a gallon of milk and some other items that we needed at the house.  At checkout I was asked if I would like paper or plastic.  I said “neither, no bags please”.  The cashier and bagger looked at me as if I had 3 heads!  So confused by my response they asked again, “No bags?!”.  I politely said no,  I already had a collection at home which  I stick in the car to reuse for shopping.  (How many bags do we really need to collect?)   And I would just use the stash in the car until they break.  Even the manager came over to ask what was the deal?…lol…What a conspiracy! 

On the plastic bag reads the phrase: “Because Publix is concerned about the environment and reducing waste, we encourage you to use reusable bags when you shop”.  I decided to reuse the ones I had.  That was my way of reducing waste for the environment and for myself.  Next step is to sew a few for myself.

Sour Oranges

Originally uploaded by synergyearth

I wanted to thank one of my Zumba participants for the sour oranges. We have used them to marinade our fish and meat. I’m making sure to keep the seeds so that I can grow some of my own.

As for our classmates, they are very educated.  Some are graduates of permaculture and have been practicing for a long time, most are graduates with ”higher learning degrees” and  some are on the course to PhD’s. They  probably view us as still stuck on our 1, 2,3′s…lol…but hey, Dan our instructor said we are all a resource and are able to learn from each other.   Cooperative and not competitive.  We are new to all of this so it may take us extra effort than most. We are honored and grateful to associate with all of  them through this program since we probably would not get a chance to in our “real world”.    We both realize the value of learning from and with them and will soak it up as much as we can.  We may not be academically superior but we do have love for the Earth and are eager to learn, so I’m positive this will help us through any obstacles. After all, we are just the handyman & the housewife;-).

My personal view: 

God created everything in a system with a complex design.  Half the time we are not aware how we take this design for granted until we start to research it. We take for granted how spoiled we are in the US and not realizing how are actions here affect the rest of the world.  Out of sight, out of mind.  Horrible but true.  We have to learn to open our minds and realize those unfortunate people and animals, could be us one day.  We are not invincible.   The more I learn the more I appreciate this gift that God prepared for us.