Monday, May 05, 2008

garden club meeting

my house is a swirl of smells - mint and sage newly acquired from last nights garden club meeting, lilac from the bursting bush outside my window, coffee in my cup, someone burning something in the neighborhood perhaps. im glad i don't have sensory ADD. blessed i have the capacity to mentally sort things out and enjoy each one if i pick and choose to do so. i can do the same thing with music, listen to just one instrument for an entire song while fading out the rest of the composition. i like that about my brain.

last night was the first of many, i hope, meetings of our church's garden club. we had marlin languis speak, which is a local rock star master gardener. i was hungry for his knowledge and shot my hand up with many questions about composting, worm farming, rain water collection, etc. it felt good to just ask someone who actually knows by walking it out vs just reading it in a book. he gave a demonstration about composting, using salvaged materials in the garden, and weed control using newspapers. upon getting home with a bounty of free plants (two hostas, a dozen tiger lilies, two sage plants, some mint, a chinese cabbage plant, & two cups full of awesome stuff for the compost from whole foods) i asked david if i were turning into a gardening geek. decidedly so. today the kids and i planted the sage, weeded the lettuce barrel, planted the hostas in the front of the apartment, and then the lilies in the back. our apartments are in a long row and my neighbor, a quasi-single 30something guy, has shown no eminent plans for planting anything in between our apartments. i think i shall branch over and beautify his space as well with his permission. the meeting last night was a big hit i felt. it's so hard to gage people's interest when starting something up like this. i expected about oh, 10? i think my mom said she counted upwards of 25 or 30 but she might have been counting kiddos too. anyways hopefully this will take off and we will really be able to make a positive impact on the community through our mutual interest in gardening. i am riveted with the idea of being a source of nutrition for an incredibly undernourished community of people. anyways, i fiddled with the gardening blog layout and am finally satisfied with how it looks.

im trying to find a babysitter sometime this week so i can plant the rest of the communal garden. im tired of asking my parents, it feels bothersome. at the same time we dont have all kinds of extra bananas lying around to pay a "real" babysitter.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great opening line - a swirl of smells, indeed!
Just wanted to say thanks for the idea for a community garden. I'm going to run with the idea that all the local churches can pitch in (beets for the Baptists? peas for the Presbyterians?) which will promote unity, give food to those who need it and (my ulterior motive) be fun.
Allison
www.simplicity.vox.com

Kristin said...

Hi Jenny-- I think you will really like this video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCPEBM5ol0Q

I hope the link works-- if it doesn't, there is a link on my blog.

Olive said...

allison - fantastic! and it is most definitely fun!

kristin - i just watched that video a few days ago and passed it around! great minds think alike :)

Radiantsun said...

Garden club! I wish there was one in my area. We already have so much going on and the season has just started! YEY for gardens!

Kristin said...

Great! I'm glad you've seen it. I just loved it-- I haven't planted a garden yet this year but now I am really itching to get one started!

Kristin said...

I have a completely unrelated/random question about FuzziBunz...do you have to dry them in a dryer or do they do well/dry quickly line hanging?

saylor days said...

kristin jo - it's important to hang them up to dry as they have a plastic lining to them which could degrade over time if put into the dryer too often.

Olive said...

whoops. that was me! my friend was signed in on my computer