My Green Ambitions

My seed packets finally arrived a couple days ago, so sometime between now and the weekend, I will be starting my wee garden - even if it's just putting some seeds into peat pots by my kitchen window. Oh, and I guess I should really get going in terms of getting the actual garden plot set up. One thing at a time. There's still frost to contend with - so I can focus on indoor efforts for now.

One of the flowers I planned to grow was Cosmos, which are sort of a wild daisy. I am still unsure if they're actually a member of the daisy family. Let's just roll with it, shall we? On the back of the Cosmos seed packet, in big bold letters it says that Cosmos do well in either full sun or partial shade. They prefer poor soil, need very little water, and require very little attention. Um, doesn't that make Cosmos the most desirable flower to grow? A flower that basically thrives on neglect!

This is something I know I can grow. I went out and bought two more packets. I'm growing Cosmos EVERYWHERE this year.

We had a lot of rain a little over a week ago, and some warmer weather and sun this past week. While cleaning up the patio, I noticed this little guy in the pot where we used to have some marigolds. When the marigold gave up the ghost, I took the last couple dried seed pods off the plant and just stuck them down in the dirt of the pot. I suppose the proper seed-saving technique would have been to put them in an envelope or other sealed container and wait until Spring to plant them. But marigolds have never really been my favorite, so I figured if the seeds made it, they made it. If they didn't? Meh. But, strangely, seeing this little marigold sprout made me feel so happy. I hope it will continue to grow. I'll bring it into the house to keep it warm if necessary. Somehow, even though they aren't my favorite, I'm really in love with the idea of having a pot of marigolds this year. In the past, I remember our family would buy marigolds from Home Depot and plant them around the yard. They'd grow and bloom and do fine, and then at the end of the season they'd die and that was that. We'd just buy more marigolds the next year. I know it's silly, but I find something thrilling about the idea of keeping a Home Depot marigold going. The idea that it wasn't just a disposable plant, only good for one season. But something I could keep seeing every year. It might be corny to say, but I really feel like a little kid: so full of the wonder and discovery of the garden & natural world. There's a joy and a reverence for being a steward of the Earth. Even if it's just over a marigold sprout.

Keep growing, little marigold!

After the recent rains, I went out to work in the yard to try and get the weeds a bit under control. It's amazing how fast stuff starts to grow with just a bit of extra moisture! I noticed that in one section of the yard, there are these somewhat impressive stalks growing. I think they might be sunflowers. This spot is close to where we had a bird feeder for a while, and the mix we used in the feeder had lots of sunflower seeds. If they're not sunflowers, they're some of the sturdiest weeds I've ever seen. They've grown really tall, really fast. Here's a closer look:Those are sunflowers, right? If they are, I'm delighted. As I mentioned in my flower post a few days ago, sunflowers make me think of my dad. I plan to plant a few different types. So if some want to volunteer themselves, I welcome it. I just hope they'll survive the frost. The coldest weather is still to come. Of course, if they aren't sunflowers I'll feel like a fool.

This is a photo of the spot where I plan to plant my herb garden. This little strip of earth, which is just around the corner from my kitchen window, was where a hedge used to be. The hedge wasn't very pretty to look at, and was ridiculously tall. I didn't like having something that thick and unruly so close to the house. Thick foliage means bugs, and I don't want them in my house. I feel like when we're outside, we're sort of in the insects' domain. We have to learn to live together. But my house is MINE. Bugs will go squish if they come inside. That is the way of things. Anyway, back to the herb garden. I figured this little strip sees plenty of sun, and it's close to the kitchen. Seems like as good an area as any. Of course, right now it has assorted weeds growing in it, so I need to do some work to get it ready. There are also those red tiles on either end, covering sections of the dirt. I'll get those out of the way to maximize the space. So, there's still plenty to do. But it shouldn't take long. In theory.

The herbs I particularly want to grow are rosemary, basil, and cilantro. Though I probably should expand that to include some dill and chives. I'm trying not to bite off more than I can chew as I start out. What other herbs would you have in your ideal kitchen garden? What do you cook with the most?

This is one of our two orange trees. As you can see, there's lots of fruit this year! And the oranges are enormous. Most are the size of softballs. I notice that these oranges have a really thick peel, though. So even though they might look gigantic, the actual fruit part is closer to average. They're delicious and sweet, though. We've had lots of fresh squeezed juice, and oranges to snack on. And, as you can see from the photo, there's still plenty of oranges to enjoy!

But my tree is suffering. We still have problems with white fly. I have some insecticidal soap to use, but I'm hesitant to bother with it now since we've (gasp!) actually had some rain around here lately. I don't want to spray the whole tree only to have the wonders of nature rinse it all off. So I'm waiting until we've harvested the fruit. Then I'll prune the tree, and I'll spray it to help with bugs. White fly isn't the only thing "bugging" this tree, though. In the photo to the left you can see how the leaves are curling and brown, and have kind of a squiggly pattern on some of them. These, according to The Internet, are classic signs of citrus tree miners. It's a moth larvae that burrow between the layers of the leaves. Stupid moths! Go have your babies somewhere else! I'm pretty sure the same insecticidal soap I need to use for the white fly will also take care of the citrus miners.

I guess I should get a book on caring for citrus trees. I bought some special citrus fertilizer, and I'm hoping that with a little extra TLC and maintenance, our two orange trees (and one lemon tree) will flourish. I guess the late winter & early spring are a good time to do maintenance on trees, because it's after the harvest and just before the new buds appear. Here's hoping I get the timing right. I'd hate to further injure or harm the poor thing.

As I start down this gardening path, I'm saying silent prayers that I will have inherited my dad's green thumb. My dad really was pretty amazing with plants - though he never really exercised that talent until the later years of his life. It was when he became a grandfather that he really took an interest in landscaping. He wanted to make the yard and beautiful and safe place where his grandchild could play. He reshaped the whole yard. But the one thing that stands out in my mind the most was how he took little clippings of geranium ivy from a neighbor's plant, and somehow managed to grow them into dozens of plants. He only got a few leaves from the neighbor, and within a year or so, the entire side bank was covered with gorgeous lavender geraniums. There are only a couple patches left, since my mom hasn't really had the time or patience to maintain the flowers since Dad's been gone. Maybe I should take a clipping or two and see if I have a little bit of the same magic within me.

I am, admittedly, kind of foolish when it comes to bottled water. But I'm trying to make some changes. As all those Brita commercials proclaim, thousands of plastic bottles end up in our landfills every year. And even though I'm sure thousands upon thousands of plastic bottles are also recycled, it's better for our planet to cut back on plastics in general. Especially the plastic containers that are not made for continued use. There's also increasing evidence that nasty chemicals can leach into your water from the bottle. So, I went out and bought myself a trusty sports bottle type thing to replace the disposable plastic bottles I'd used before:I've been using bottles like this one for several months now, and I love them. We also have a couple stainless steel water bottles, and other sports bottles around the house. So we've cut back on bottled water in that respect. We still used a lot of bottles during soccer season, though. But I'm hoping to only use sports bottles and reusable bottles in the future.

I feel good about this change, but I'm still a fool. Know why? Because even though we don't buy individual bottles of water, we still buy big 2.5 gallon jugs of Arrowhead water at Costco. We keep them in our fridge. I guess our fear of tap water runs deep. So, we might not have a ton of individual bottles, but we still have these big plastic jugs that we use. Yes, we recycle them. But they're pretty much the least "green" thing about our household. Know why? Not only is it wasteful in terms of the plastic, but it's wasteful in terms of energy. Because they're the kind of jugs that have a little spigot on the end. We keep them in the fridge. When people want a glass of water, or to fill a water bottle, they stand there with the refrigerator door wide open while they do so.

The worst part? When we bought our house, it came with a water softening system AND one of those fancy reverse osmosis water filters:That's right. I have a very expensive filtering system right there under my kitchen sink, and it basically doesn't get used. I need to have people come out to replace the filter on that thing, but otherwise it's perfectly serviceable. And, really, it's an invaluable piece of equipment! WHY are we not taking advantage of it?

So, that's one of my "green" goals: ditch the bottles and use the filter we have!

A few weeks ago, as I know I briefly mentioned in a previous post, a friend and I watched Food, Inc. This movie gave me a lot to think about. I'm sure that's the main objective of these Shock and Awe type movies - give you something that disturbs you enough to think about things in a new way. Watching Food, Inc. made me feel almost the same way I felt when watching An Inconvenient Truth: that while I was not unaware of the problems at hand, the problems were much, much larger and more complex than I realized. In fact, both movies made me feel a sense of helplessness, if I'm being honest. The problems are so big, and I'm just one small person. What can I do? At least each movie had some suggestions at the end. That made you feel a glimmer of hope after the message of DOOM. Maybe I can't do that much to impact the whole problem of massive commercial agriculture and food culture, but eventually a bucket will fill even if it's only a drop at a time. I can do little things. I can be a little more conscientious. I can educate myself and my family. I can try to get the word out. I can make little changes.

But I doubt that I'll get the image of a fistulated cow out of my head. It was one of the most horrible sights I've ever seen. A fistulated cow basically has a hole cut in its side to access one or more of its stomachs so the farmer can assess how it's digesting food. Or something like that. But it's a hole in the side of a cow. The hole is typically ringed with a plastic or rubber collar. But it's a hole straight into their stomach! And there are lots of photos in Google Images showing people who are reaching inside the fistula all the way up to their shoulder. Shoulder deep inside a cow! Disgusting! I'm sure the fistula doesn't really bother the cow that much, after it's initially put in. It's sort of like any stoma. Just keep it clean and it will heal and be fine. But...still. That's a pretty extreme way to monitor your livestock. And then we end up eating said livestock. Bleh.

Anyway, I highly recommend checking out the movie. Just to get you thinking about food and where it comes from. Be part of the change!