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Sunday, April 25, 2010

Visions of a Greener Future

A greener future garden that is. Yesterday my plans changed. Due to thunderstorms, I was unable to attend the Earth Day Festival down at the River Front. I was all ready to go, but lightening made me change my mind. I can deal with monsoon like rain, but lightening, with me holding a metal umbrella, equals nervous. So I curled up on the couch and flipped through my Starting from Seed magazine. By the time the rain cleared out and the sun greeted me, it was too late to catch the bus to the festival and besides, I was pretty primed to do a little gardening.


Mom had brought me several re purposed containers and buckets of good farm soil, so I spent the afternoon mixing the farm soil with my bag of organic soil and transplanted all my starter plants to bigger containers. I can't begin to tell you how satisfying this is. Dirt under your nails and the promise of a bountiful container garden made for me very peaceful yesterday. I can't think of a better way to have spent my Saturday.


During my research into container gardening, I've discovered things like "you can crowd a container". What this means is companion gardening. You can put things like tomatoes and squash in the same container, as long as the tomato plant already has some height. This cuts down on the number of containers needed and the plants help one another out. I'll also place a marigold along with these, as a natural deterrent of squash bugs and horn worms. There is so much to remember, lately I've been dreaming of gardening. I can't complain though, as these are always pleasant dreams.

Gardening is having the extra benefit of reducing stress. As I've said before, this blog isn't just about being green, although I know that has been it's emphasis of late, it's also about having a simpler and productive life. Nothing can be simpler, than thrusting your hands in the soil and helping things grow. There is a sort of mediation to gardening. I can understand why so many people turn to this to forget about the problems of the day. I felt wonderfully tired, but on the whole, it was very restorative. I slept like a baby last night, all the while dreaming that my plants had grown into a beautiful magazine like picture of a garden. Maybe a hint of things to come? *crosses fingers*

I'd like to remind those in North Little Rock that you have received another round of notices in your mail for curbside pick up by the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization. They will take clothing, clothing accessories, shoes, books, all bedding (except for mattresses), draperies and curtains, house wares and furniture, toys, games, and tools, radios and small appliances (no tvs). They ask that they be gently used items and all you have to do is put your donations on your curbside on you designated day. If you did not get a notice, you can call 501.374.6661 to see if there will be a pick up in your neighborhood, or for drop-off locations. I encourage you to donate. This is a great way to clean out that clutter and give a new home to those items, instead of them ending up in a landfill somewhere. I mean, you were probably going to put it on the curb anyway, this way it goes for a better purpose and you'll be doing something green, but in a pretty painless way.

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