I have spent the last three days at Amma’s programs at MA Center Chicago. It was my first time being on this magical property. When I get back to Seattle, I will be writing about some of my experiences there, but I thought it would be fun to give you a small pictorial preview of the post to come.
Today I decided I would make breakfast with vegetables from my garden. The garden is small and some of the vegetables are already getting sparse, but I was able to include beets, two kinds of carrots, spinach, chard, yellow squash, a squash blosssom, a potato and basil. I realized later that I forgot to include a zucchini and I chose not to use my last bok choy plant.
I was particularly excited about the beet because I’ve never had any luck growing them. But today the one I pulled out was BIG, at least in comparison to any I’ve had in my garden in the past.
I decided I would steam them with a bit of dill. They tasted uttamam! (Uttamam means “very good” in Sanskrit.)
Later, I realized that I could have cooked some of the beet greens, but I know the worms in my two worm bins will thoroughly enjoy eating all of the scraps. It seems fitting since they deserve a lot of the credit for the harvest.
I am still very much a beginning gardener. I love how much I learn each year
About three years ago I woke up with a compulsion to build a spiral garden in my front yard. By the end of the day it was done!
The Beginning:
It became so beautiful.
I don’t know how many Seattle residents have front yard gardens, but they are definitely common in my neighborhood. I love to see people growing some of their own food.
I visited the neighbors that live across the street from me yesterday. It is always such a treat to see their gardens. They have turned their yard into property that is magical. Even though the photos don’t capture it, know that this front yard garden is tiered on a steep slope. Eiric weaves branches to create the structure for the beds and remakes them every two years. When I asked him the correct terminology to describe this process he responded: “They are ‘wattled’ beds of Apple ‘air shoot’ branches.”
(To enlarge photos click on the individual galleries.)
Other nearby gardens:
And mine!
There are many other front yard vegetable gardens in this neighborhood but I think I’ve shown you enough to give you a good idea of what they are like. I wonder how many people have back yard gardens too!
Looks like I had a visitor during the night.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia
Thank you mole for aerating my garden for free.
Thank you mole for aerating my garden for free.
Thank you mole for aerating my garden for free.
Thank you mole for aerating my garden for free.
We have lots of gophers in my neighborhood so I’m used to finding gopher holes in my yard. This year, when I came back from India in mid-January, I discovered that the gophers had been very active. Soon thereafter, I noticed different kind of holes, ones that I wasn’t used to, scattered around the dirt portion of my driveway.
The ground is hard there but something was burrowing out from the earth. I couldn’t imagine what it would be. The holes were miniscule in comparison to a gopher hole but big enough to completely stump me.
Soon after I added top soil to one of my new garden beds, I noticed the holes begin to appear there as well. I’ve never seen anything go in or out of these holes so I stayed mystified.
One day a tree service employee came to do some work in my yard. I asked him if he knew what created the holes. His immediate response was “Worms.” I wondered if he was kidding but he seemed totally serious.
WORMS?????? How could that be? I knew that my gardens contained a lot of worms, and some of the earthworms I’ve seen are very big, but I had never seen one of them on top of the earth. If his statement was true, I have to assume that there are a lot of worms coming out of the ground during the night.
Does that mean there are giant earthworms roaming the land at night? That question conjured up images worthy of a 1950’s science fiction movie.
So to those of you who know about such things, are these truly worm holes?
I have long desired to clean up and beautify my back yard. I decided this was the year that was going to happen. The transformation has been an interesting process. It is as if my eyes opened to the potential of one space at a time. As I was finishing one area, ideas for another section “came.”
I desired to use the natural beauty that was already present as much as possible. That was much easier to do than I expected.
I also wanted to create beauty in areas that were fairly grim.
There are still plenty more areas that need my attention.
Most of what has already been accomplished was done within ten days time. I wonder what my backyard will look like by the end of April!
I give thanks to my friend Saroja, an experienced gardener, for sharing her ideas with me. She also went with me to a nursery to help me choose some of the plants. I also give thanks to my friend Ramana who is doing the hard labor that it is taking to make this transformation. I feel blessed to have their help.
Written for Weekly Photo Challenge: Future
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