Backyard Gardening

A place to discuss health and fitness, including healthy diets, etc.
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shaunc
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Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2013 8:10 am

Home grown

Post by shaunc »

I'm stealing a thread from our sister site & hoping it will take off. It's spring time in Australia & the Melbourne cup has been run & won, which means in our area it's time to put in the tomatoes. The vegetable patch isn't looking too bad this year. 3 jap pumpkins, 4 zucchini, 6 egg plant, 2 x 2 metre rows of silver beet, 8 hot chilli plants & 12 tomatoes. The tomatoe seedlings were the last things I planted, last Friday & it's rained pretty solidly since then. I got them cheap as their leaves were yellowing from being root bound in the punnett. My luck held with the weather, I just gave them all a bit of a haircut & planted them out & the rain did the rest. We also keep 5 chooks down the back, I run them on the deep litter method & they keep us in eggs as well as supply good compost for the garden, when the plants are a bit more established in a month or so I'll let them out to free range in the garden, as they help keep the insects & weeds down. What do the rest of you do in your garden to put some food on the table. It can also help with Dana as I always grow more than we need so I've got a bit to give away to the neighbours & occassionally to the monks at the Thai temple in town.
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tidathep
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Re: Home grown

Post by tidathep »

shaunc wrote: What do the rest of you do in your garden to put some food on the table. It can also help with Dana as I always grow more than we need so I've got a bit to give away to the neighbours & occassionally to the monks at the Thai temple in town.
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Sawaddee Ka...Shaunc,

I do flowers-garden...jasmines/water lilies/roses/daylilies/hibiscuses/oleanders....I give flowers to my Buddhas-shrine daily..but now Texas is so cold...only the roses still bloom...I love gardening..a very peaceful hobby!

tidathep :namaste:
greentara
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Re: Home grown

Post by greentara »

shaunc, It's good to get your hands in the dirt, it keeps you grounded and feel the grass between your toes.
Today everything's so artificial... its a worry.
I've got no chooks but love the crooning noises they make from deep in their throats. I've got fennel, chives, sage and silver beet growing in the garden which is great to throw into a large pot of bubbling vegetable soup....fresh as. Also planted green peppers but it was a battle with the snails. I had parsley growing but some 'bright spark' in the family pulled it out, thinking it was a weed!
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Ayu
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Re: Home grown

Post by Ayu »

As a professional gardener I work for private people, old people, in their own gardens, because they became too old and too weak to manage it all by themselves.
I can observe clearly on my different clients: who keeps on working in his garden, who still takes care for the plants and the ground, he keeps mentally healthy.
For me it is a physically hard job sometimes, because the hard work is left for me. But often i enjoy the moments of enchanting beauty... And living, working and adjusting with the seasons seems to be a fundamental necessity for me. This gives mental foundation and health.
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reddust
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Location: Oregon

Backyard Gardening

Post by reddust »

I'd like to share stories about gardening and health on this thread. I want to know your adventures, please share.

We moved to rural Oregon up on the foothills of Cascades near Eugene 3 1/2 years ago. My goal was to recover my health and grow all our own food. I call gardening my garden yoga. In the summer I garden barefoot, one of the loveliest feelings ever! Something about walking on clean healthy dirt is so grounding.

I'm into my third season of preserving and I've been able to put enough food away for 2 people, my husband and myself. We have chickens as well, Buff Brahmas, Cuckoo Marans, Buff Orphingtons, Cherry Eggers, and Bantam Cochins. We eat the eggs, and my husband eats the roosters. I sell/trade/barter pullets (young hens) to pay for my chicken feed. Next year I am going to grow enough to share with 2 more people. Our community center takes garden produce.

I cook totally from scratch, we only eat organic locally or home grown food.I grind my own grain bought from local farms for bread and tortillas. No need to go to the gym that's a real workout! I've meet some of the coolest people who run local organic small farms. I've learned how to make tofu and soy milk from scratch. I can work with a shovel, we don't use a machine, digging up ground without pain now for several hours without fatigue or breaking a sweat! When I first moved to our small 2 acre hobby farm I couldn't walk without intense pain, I woke up fatigue and in a cognitive fog, my back lower lumbar number 5 had ruptured five years prior and still hadn't healed, causing pain down my right leg. My thyroid wasn't working correctly causing hair loss, fatigue, memory problems, my digestive system was a wreck. Prior to moving I ate well, organic food from Whole Food store, however the water I drank was fluoridated. Which was killing my gallbladder, pancreas, and thyroid. I found out later, Whole Foods isn't totally organic and fluoride kills your thyroid including bromine in my bread.

To make a long story short, I am totally pain free for the first time in 20 years, I was diagnosed with fibromylagia 20 years ago. I believe that working in the garden, drinking fresh clean water, breathing fresh air, living close to nature, eating organic food, we threw the TV out too, helped me heal. My Buddhist practice gave me the discipline to change my life after I figured out what I need to do. My main practice has been Medicine Buddha and another practice I can't mention (yes I have the empowerment) plus Vipassana meditation.

I'm also teaching my grandkids how to cook and garden from scratch. I've turned them into avid seed savers as well!
Mind and mental events are concepts, mere postulations within the three realms of samsara Longchenpa .... A link to my Garden, Art and Foodie blog Scratch Living
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reddust
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Location: Oregon

Re: Home grown

Post by reddust »

I'm a backyard gardner as well. I posted in a similar thread in another forum. Gardening and eating organic has improved the quality of my health and over all joy in life. From what I researched just about anyone can garden. There is a huge urban garden movement, community gardens, small farms you can work for produce, small yards can grow tons of food. Just do a search on the net, square foot gardens.
Mind and mental events are concepts, mere postulations within the three realms of samsara Longchenpa .... A link to my Garden, Art and Foodie blog Scratch Living
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Kim O'Hara
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Re: Home grown

Post by Kim O'Hara »

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futerko
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Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by futerko »

Sounds wonderful. What time is dinner?
shaunc
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Re: Home grown

Post by shaunc »

greentara wrote:shaunc, It's good to get your hands in the dirt, it keeps you grounded and feel the grass between your toes.
Today everything's so artificial... its a worry.
I've got no chooks but love the crooning noises they make from deep in their throats. I've got fennel, chives, sage and silver beet growing in the garden which is great to throw into a large pot of bubbling vegetable soup....fresh as. Also planted green peppers but it was a battle with the snails. I had parsley growing but some 'bright spark' in the family pulled it out, thinking it was a weed!
I feel that one of the things our society is missing is an appreciation of nature. There's a lot of people out there that wouldn't know which direction the wind was blowing from today. My wife often cooks an omelette with our eggs & some silver beet & whatever else we can find. It always varies a bit, but it always turns out pretty well. The chooks are also good for our 4 year old daughter, she loves to feed them & collect the eggs. Brenton, my 19 year old is a keen fisherman & often supplies us with a feed of fish or yabbies. We often joke that in summer we're living on yabbies & plums. Unfortunately I'm still a long way from being self sufficient. Like most people I have a mortgage & bills & kids & cars. Still it's nice to dream a bit.
shaunc
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Re: Home grown

Post by shaunc »

My luck is holding well. We had rain again last night. Rain seems to be much better for the plants than town water. I suppose it's because of all the nitrogen it's laced with. Have a good day everyone.
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lobster
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Re: Home grown

Post by lobster »

Forcing daffodils for Xmas. Have jasmine and pears, herbs and bay tree. A fox sleeping area, a Buddha watching the birds bathe. A pond. Roses growing up a cherry tree. Such a tiny garden, so much action. We grew a few beans, peppers and peas. Rosemary will be available soon. I like to recycle, we have two large compost bins. I found some garden pots. Maybe tomorrow will fill them with recycled compost and grow . . . something . . . :twothumbsup:
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reddust
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Location: Oregon

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by reddust »

futerko wrote:Sounds wonderful. What time is dinner?
Anytime you are in Eugene send me a note, we would love to have visitors. Tonight we are having vegetable soup and steamed red wheat buns. My grandson in the first picture, I have 3 grandsons, gave me a cold. He is 3 1/2 and a little lovable monster. Not a good night to visit unless you want a cold too. I'm bragging here, I learned how to make tofu from scratch. We can't grow the soy beans up here but I buy in bulk from our local organic localvore cooperative.
Mind and mental events are concepts, mere postulations within the three realms of samsara Longchenpa .... A link to my Garden, Art and Foodie blog Scratch Living
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reddust
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Re: Home grown

Post by reddust »

"(And I know' there is one for you)When we get the hump- Cameelious hump- The hump that is black and blue! The cure for this ill is not to sit still, Or frowst with a book by the fire; But to take a large hoe and a shovel also, And dig till you gently perspire"
lobster wrote:Forcing daffodils for Xmas. Have jasmine and pears, herbs and bay tree. A fox sleeping area, a Buddha watching the birds bathe. A pond. Roses growing up a cherry tree. Such a tiny garden, so much action. We grew a few beans, peppers and peas. Rosemary will be available soon. I like to recycle, we have two large compost bins. I found some garden pots. Maybe tomorrow will fill them with recycled compost and grow . . . something . . . :twothumbsup:

Pictures Please :applause:
Mind and mental events are concepts, mere postulations within the three realms of samsara Longchenpa .... A link to my Garden, Art and Foodie blog Scratch Living
shaunc
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Re: Home grown

Post by shaunc »

The area I live in can be notoriously dry in summer, so far I've been lucky with the rain but I also know that my luck won't hold forever. Sometimes the local council can put water restrictions on us that either limit or even eliminate the use of outdoor water. To sidestep this problem today I connected a hose from our washing machine to the vegetable patch so basically every time someone (usually my wife) runs the washing machine the vegetable patch gets watered. With this method it's important that the grey water doesn't come in contact with any vegetable that will be eaten raw like tomatoes.
Just a tip for people that live in dry areas.
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Kim O'Hara
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Re: Home grown

Post by Kim O'Hara »

shaunc wrote:The area I live in can be notoriously dry in summer, so far I've been lucky with the rain but I also know that my luck won't hold forever. Sometimes the local council can put water restrictions on us that either limit or even eliminate the use of outdoor water. To sidestep this problem today I connected a hose from our washing machine to the vegetable patch so basically every time someone (usually my wife) runs the washing machine the vegetable patch gets watered. With this method it's important that the grey water doesn't come in contact with any vegetable that will be eaten raw like tomatoes.
Just a tip for people that live in dry areas.
Good thinking, Shaun.
There are regulations for the use of "grey water" (look up this term, e.g. https://www.google.com.au/search?client ... ter+re-use) in towns but in country areas people pretty much do what they like. Some run laundry, kitchen and bathroom waste water all straight onto the garden. Not "brown water" (toilet) though!!
We use grey water from the laundry on the lawn, not through underground pipes as we are supposed to but just by running the washing machine outlet into a length of black poly pipe which we direct onto a different part of the lawn each time. We've been doing it for ten years, using biodegradable detergents, and the lawn doesn't mind at all. It means we use less fresh water for the garden beds.

:namaste:
Kim
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tidathep
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Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by tidathep »

Sawaddee Ka...Reddust,

I love your garden story very much...and the grilled tofus look so yummy...please let me add FRIED TOFU with sweet/sour sauce...

Image

I don't plant vegetables....but I have beautiful fruits/flowers garden backyard/frontyard and this is my favorite flowers in Bangkok posted @facebook (I can't buy it here in Texas):

พุดตาน my favorite magical flowers!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a_shypP5pg

พุดตาน(Put-Tarn) is an amazing plant..It produces beautiful flowers that are so white in the morning...turn to be pink in the afternoon and turn to be bright red in early evening...my mom loved พุดตาน so much...we planted it near our private school and it was so big(bush) and bloomed profusely everyday. I've never seen any plant like พุดตาน ever in my life....amazing indeed!!!

Image

tidathep :heart:
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reddust
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Location: Oregon

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by reddust »

tidathep wrote:Sawaddee Ka...Reddust,

I love your garden story very much...and the grilled tofus look so yummy...please let me add FRIED TOFU with sweet/sour sauce...

Image

tidathep :heart:
Thank you Tidathep and lovely to meet you too! I do fry my tofu plus all sorts of odd things like making tofu chocolate cheese cake (hahaha), I like to roll the squares in chili powder and buckwheat flour! I need more sauce recipes, I added yours to my list :namaste: I grow flowers too, mine are mostly medicinal and wild flowers. Your flowers are so beautiful, I have relatives in Texas, a beautiful state, you can grow amazing gardens if you have enough water. I also love reading your post. Your thread on toyboys (different kinds of relationships based on social needs) is awesome :thumbsup: My husband is ten years younger then myself, I call him my toyboy, although we are both getting kinda of old to carry that joke off, he is catching up with me in age after living together so long.
Winter Garden.jpg
This was my fall garden, most now under 2 feet of tree leaves. I need to take a picture of the amazing amount of leaves we collect and dump in our gardens! The circle of life is amazingly thrifty.
Blackberryjuice.jpg
Garden2.jpg
Wild turkey's ate all my grapes and then I wanted to eat the turkeys…I let the urge go don't worry :buddha1: but Mina my puppy is a wonderful guard dog, watch out next year you sneaky turkeys!
Mind and mental events are concepts, mere postulations within the three realms of samsara Longchenpa .... A link to my Garden, Art and Foodie blog Scratch Living
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reddust
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Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by reddust »

My grandson eating fried homemade organic tofu with basil from our garden. My son sent me his son so he would learn to eat organic and green. My son has issue with greens since birth and he has a problem making his kid eat greens, he feels mean and awful. Poor little monster has real problems not only eating greens but pooping, he won't go for days. After a week at my house he is a poop master, I also taught him how to squat on the potty for maximum poopforce! I don't feel awful at all. I turn little monsters into healthy people! hahaha :stirthepot:
Tofugrandson.jpg
Todays kids have industrial conditioned palettes, their food has been manufactured to trigger addiction parts of the brain and mouth feel is totally different with organic home cooked food. I get their baby girl when it's time to stop breast feeding in another 1 1/2 years. Hard work but well worth the effort!
Mind and mental events are concepts, mere postulations within the three realms of samsara Longchenpa .... A link to my Garden, Art and Foodie blog Scratch Living
shaunc
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Re: Home grown

Post by shaunc »

No work today, so I spent some time in the yard. The chooks are feasting on weeds I pulled from the garden & the sky has just started to become overcast. Taking another gamble on the weather I decided to put some dynamic lifter on the vegetable patch & am hoping the rain falls to water it in. The girls are all laying well, 5 eggs from 5 hens today & I haven't given them any sardines for a month. I'm not sure whether to tamper with their diet while things are going so well. I believe in the old saying of " if it ain't broke, don't fix it".
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reddust
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Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by reddust »

Wintergarden1.jpg
Harvest from our winter garden and chickens today. The white root is a Daikon radish, super easy to grow in early spring or late fall through winter. Vine beetles and flea beetles love these plants in the summer so I don't grow them in the summer garden.
Japaneseblacktomato.jpg
Japanese tomatoes really from Russia and have been some of the tastiest best producers for me these last three years.
Drying.jpg
my drying room, you can see a bunch of tobacco I am drying for pesticide tea next year. The rest of the stuff on the table, beans and melons are all gone. I have a few green melons left, they store really well. I can't believe I can grow melons up here in the Oregon Cascades! I start them early in the house and put them under some plastic row covers until June. A bit more work but well worth the effort.
Mind and mental events are concepts, mere postulations within the three realms of samsara Longchenpa .... A link to my Garden, Art and Foodie blog Scratch Living
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