The garden is buzzing

The garden is buzzing and not just with bees.  The garden did a good job taking care of itself this summer.  What may look like weeds to some people is actually intentional.  Not having bare soil, reduces watering and the variety of flowers has been amazing for the bees.  We also have a gopher enjoying the garden along with his human friends who eat lunch there.  You will notice many students in the garden this fall.   Planting, identifying, designing and measuring are being done by the plants and society class.  They are bringing positive energy to the garden and it shows.  It seems to be even more alive with all of the activity.  We harvested our first pears and they were delicious.  We have also enjoyed the chamomile, lemon balm, and chocolate mint in our weekly teas.  The apples and comfrey are being used in various projects and we have been eating beans.  We are now getting ready to plant some perennials, cover the compost, and make a better trail. 

Spring is almost here

It's time to start sending that positive energy to the garden.  We have some new and exciting things happening in the garden this season.  Deb Buria-Falkowski is going to help make our garden more bird friendly.  Watch for some feeding stations to be installed, and compare your bird sightings to the Mesabi master list provided by Deb, which is posted above. 

 Also, Mesabi is offering a new class called Plants and Society.  Expect to see students in the garden next fall.   The plantings this summer will be influenced by the curriculum of the new plant class.  

Earthfest is on April 22, and we will be participating by presenting on backyard herbs.  Environmental Science students will be starting seeds soon.  Through donations, we have some extra seeds. If anyone needs some or knows someone who can use some, please contact Kim Giermann at k.giermann@mesabirange.edu.

Garden recap

2016 Garden Reflections...
Thanks to students Baker Felix and Kiana Martinson, we were able to use our own compost in the raised beds.  Also thanks to students Jody Brooks and Ali Ogo, we planted seedlings  that we started in the spring and were able to harvest this fall with cabbage and kohlrabi being the most successful. Thanks to past student Alex Crum, community member Marlise Riffel, Jonah Giermann, Jody Brooks, student Ashley Altobelli, Tom Baldwin, Deb Falkowski, and of course Craig and Monica for planting, weeding, donating etc.  Also thanks to those who helped keep the garden going in the summer by watering and good thoughts, especially Sue Twaddle and Brenda Kochevar who attend all of our garden events, and to all of the Environmental Science students who planted, weeded, and enjoyed the garden.  It was great seeing some classes meet in the garden sitting area.  We had four pears, currants, aronia, 2 plums and elderberries, which is great since we just planted them two years ago.  We look forward to seeing our new perennials next season and enjoying the last of the kohlrabi this fall, although Jody has dibs on most of it.

Winding down

On Friday,  September 23, we will spend a few hours 10:00- 2:00 or so, tidying up the gardens and planting perennials.  Please let us know at k.giermann@mesabirange.edu if you can help out.  The more help we have the more perennials we can plant.  We also need large cardboard which can dropped off in C163.

Harvest snack

Our Northern MN growing season is winding down.  Our Mesabi garden had some great kale, kohlrabi, cabbage, peas, chamomile, and broccoli.  We did not have good tomatoes this year.  Let's celebrate the harvest by having some kale chips and kohlrabi at 10:00 on Wednesday, September 14- in the garden if it is a nice day but in the commons if not.

Walk postponed

Postponed walk by request due to weather.  New date will be posted once it is determined.  There are things ready to harvest-kale, chard, broccoli, and kohlrabi.  I think I ate all the pea pods but there will be more.  For kale and chard just take the leaves you will use, so we have some all season.  If you need to know what and how to harvest, you can contact Kim.

Take a walk on the Wild Side

Let's meet in the garden at 11:00 on July 11.  Kim will identify some plants and give some harvesting tips.  We will then walk to Olcott park where Dr. Aaron Kelson will lead tree identification.  We will have some field guides available.  You can join in for some or all of the walk.  We planned it at 11:00 so that maybe people can do it over a lunch break.  Let's hope for good weather.

Last planting

We have most of the planting done.  This year we are focusing on improving existing areas.  We planted the raised beds which feature tomato plants from our own saved seeds.  The fence area features green and yellow tomatoes.  We also planted some perennials and other vegetables along the fence.  We are still working on the soil in the fence area.  We have been able to use our own compost in the beds.  June 14 we will be weeding and doing our last planting for this phase.  If you plan to help, even for one hour,  please e-mail me at k.giermann@mesabirange.edu, because if we have a few more people to dig holes and haul compost, I will bring transplants from home, but it's too much to do with four just four people.  I plan to be there from 10-12 but depending on schedules of those who plan to help, I could change the time.  If you want to help but are not available on the days posted, you can always weed by focusing on quack grass and watering with pond water.  While you are there be sure to pick a few chamomile flowers for a cup of tea.  You need one teaspoon for one cup of water.  I have a donation of plants and bulbs in the fall so hopefully I can get some help with that.  I will keep you posted.

Garden season

We have been making our plans and starting our seeds for the 2016 garden season.  The sitting area has been put to use by some Mesabi classes on our nice spring days.  We hope to see more people enjoying the garden.  Last year a new fence was put up by our starter bed.  We plan to focus on that area with the planting of some perennial flowers, squash, green and yellow tomatoes, and Brassicas which include brussel sprouts, kale, cabbage, kohlrabi, and broccoli.  These choices will allow us to plant May 10 and possibly have a harvest when students return in the fall.  Our second planting in June will include the more frost sensitive plants like tomatoes, basil, and flowers.  We are also going to plant in our raised beds and improve the area that we planted over the last two years, and transplant a few trees.  Those who are helping that day will be hauling soil, digging, weeding, watering, and planting.  Join us if you can, even if only for a short time or to offer encouragement.  Bring your own garden tools if you can (we do have some if not).  Also, if you have any extra of the above mentioned plants bring those too. Let's wait on the frost sensitive plants until next time though.  We plan to start around 10:00.  If the weather is not cooperative, we will try for the next day.  As always send your positive energy.

Sax in the Garden

On Thursday  Aug 27 at 1:00, we will be serenaded by a sax soloist while we relax in the garden.  We invite you to join us.  He will play for about 15 minutes (we might relax a little longer than that). Come if you can.  We might do a little planting/weeding before and after and of course you are always welcome to help with that too, but this all about the sax.

Ready for class

We have seating in the garden!  Check it out. I know you will see me out there with my students.  Also a great place to take a break. 

Work day

Come check out the garden and give us a hand on August 3 at noon.  We plan to assemble and place two benches,  do some planting and weeding, and maybe a little harvesting too.  The trail is delayed until we have a crew of eight volunteers and a bobcat.  Please let us know if you are willing and able and we will make a plan.

Permaculture in action 3

If you have viewed the garden lately you would see an area with what looks like unmaintained grass amongst the newly planted trees.  To us this is a beautiful thing.  It is the rye that we planted last fall as groundcover.  We thought the geese got most of it but I guess  there was enough to share.  The rye was cut long enough to still provide some ground cover but all that was cut is now mulch which is decomposing to make our soil.  As you may recall this area has very poor soil, so we are building it up.  We covered the area with cardboard which will decompose, slashed the ground cover for mulch, and our plantings will further improve the soil by adding nitrogen or sending a taproot deep into the ground.

Friday June 5 Work day

On Friday we are going to do some planting and general improvement of the area.  We will attempt a trail  at the end of summer or fall when more people are around to help, so we will not be working on Saturday.  We will also place a bench made by our very own welding student, Mark Cerney.  Thanks to Tom Baldwin and Mark for that.

Unveiling of the design drawing and other updates

On Monday April 13 at noon (sharp) in the Schibel conference room, the drawing of our design will be revealed.  It looks pretty cool.  Many thanks to permaculture landscape designer Kate Plachetka.  We will also be meeting with the water design team from IRE that same day at 11:00.  Seeds have been started.  Potting mix donations are being accepted in C168.  Materials have been gathered.  We have a tentative work day set for June 5/6.  Once it becomes official, I will post it here.  We are hoping for a crew of 7-15 with assigned jobs so that everyone's time is used efficiently.  The Earthfest presentation talks about permaculture in general and some of the specifics of our garden.  Please go if you can.  It is at 10:30 on April 18.  Thanks to Earthfest for inviting us and to Alex Crum for being the presenter.

PRESENTATION

We have been invited to speak at Earthfest on April 18 at 10:30. 

I am unavailable but we have a volunteer, Alexandra Crum, willing to represent the project.  She is a past Mesabi student who has been involved with the project since the beginning.  She will be on campus at noon on April 6 in the Schibel conference room to practice her presentation and receive input.  In her talk she will explain permaculture in general as well as what we are doing.  Please come if you can. 

Spring plans

Preparations have begun for the upcoming gardening season.  At the last meeting we decided to go light on planting since we are still working on a water system.  A student from IRE is leading a team to design us a system.  Also a student from the welding program is designing us some furniture.  It is very exciting to have student involvement.  This spring, the goals are to add a few raised beds, finish the trail, start some plants, get furniture, and plant some trees.  We are planning a work day as soon as the frost is out of the ground.  We are hoping for a crew of volunteers.  We will have a sign up sheet with specific jobs to make the day as efficient as possible.  Starting plants from seed will begin in March. We will be presenting at Earthfest in April.

Our next meeting is Thursday, Jan 29 at 2:00 in C156.  It's time to do our ordering and do some planning for spring. If you have any ideas or requests please bring them to the meeting, e-mail me (k.giermann@mesabirange.edu), or post to this blog.  That would actually be nice to see someone else post besides myself.  I do however know that our blog is being read and has influenced home gardeners.  I was very excited to hear that from a community member.  We have also been invited to present at Earthfest this April.  I will be unavailable due to my master herbalism studies but if someone else in our group would like to present, I could help with the preparation.  Since we have grant money that needs to be spent we are going to have to order some benches unless we suddenly get a welder or carpenter who came through the Mesabi program, or is currently in a program, who is willing and able to do it. I was really hoping to showcase a Mesabi student but we need to secure our benches by May.  If you know someone who may be interested, please connect them with me ASAP. 

Being the end of October in Northern MN, our permaculture garden season is winding down.  So now we begin another phase.  We are reflecting on our progress and planning for the spring season.  The big update is that Kim and Monica have decided to be strippers.  Sod strippers that is.  We are going to rent a sod stripper as early as possible in the spring.  By using a sod stripper we will not have to use as much rock and the ground disruption will be reduced.  Overall it should save both time and money with a nicer result. The trail will be about 1/4 mile loop with the possibility of expansion.  Brad Scott has agreed to haul the rock for the trail base with the bobcat.  Seppi Bros Concrete has generously donated some of the rock.  Craig  has agreed to haul sod.  We could use 2-3 more people on that big work day which will be announced in April or May-hoping for April of course.  We also need some digging, mostly grass removal for a new planting area by the fence, which can be done anytime.  We will even provide a shovel,  just let us know you are willing and we will show you the area.

Also in this phase we will be deciding on plants and ordering as needed.  We also need to secure furniture before our grant expires.  The carpentry and welding programs have said they will get some students involved, and we can buy materials and they will do the labor.  That will be so cool to have benches, or maybe something else, made by our own Mesabi students.

It's still nice out, at least as I write this, so try to take a moment to enjoy outdoor Mesabi on the pad overlooking the pond.  If you would like to donate a tree, perennial, or "furniture",  you could even do it as a dedication or memorial, let Kim know by January so we can include it in our ordering plan.  Thanks again for your support.

Update, Meeting, Permaculture in Action #2

On September 3rd we planted trees and shrubs which is the beginning of a guild and a forest garden.  We also planted a few perennials in the raised beds, finished the spiral herb garden, and mulched some of the path.  We are almost done with what we are going to do this year except for any donated perennials that come forward.  We will move into another planning and plant ordering phase.  We will buy local as much as possible form vendors like Cherry Greenhouse and Seppi Bros. Concrete that support our project but there are some less common items that we will need to order. 

We will have a short meeting in C157 on Monday, Sept 15 to give an update, share the harvest and walk the trail.  We are hoping to move the meeting out to the garden so bring your walking shoes.  If you can't make the meeting but are interested send Kim an e-mail.  I sent out a list of topics to those who have expressed interest.

I have updated the blog and plan to add a few more permaculture in action posts in the coming weeks.  Each time I add one, I will also put it in the tab across the top so that they are all on one place.  Please check out the lists under the ways to get involved on the right hand side, the thank yous and dedications, both across the top and please add your e-mail at the bottom of the blog so that you get an automatic message when I post.

Permaculture In Action #2

Spiral Herb Garden

Permaculture principles say to put what you need to access, closest to you.  If our garden were at home, we would want to access our herbs often.  We can simulate that by having our spiral herb garden close to the entrance of our garden.  A spiral folds up the garden into a smaller space keeping the herbs yet closer.  In our garden instead of using 25  linear feet, we have a mound that is about 5 feet across and about three feet high. In addition, the spiral creates microclimates because it has slopes that face all directions.  The sunny south will be hotter than the north, the east side with morning sun will dry out faster than the west.  We can plant accordingly to take advantage of the miroclimates for each plant.  Examples would be plants that thrive in hot, dry climates like oregano, rosemary, and thyme would prefer the south side while parsley and chive may prefer the north side because they grow in cooler, moister conditions.  In nature spirals are a repeating pattern, often the result of growth or expansion.  My source for this information is Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway.  I recommend this book to anyone interested in permaculture.  The Mesabi library has the book.  I will return it next week so it will be available.