Healthy living

Powdery Mildew, Your Butt Is Mine!

Posted on by Jean Campbell

Last year my squashes and cucumbers were growing like weeds in the garden out back. I was proud, happily envisioning months of delicious stewed squash, cucumber sandwiches, and refreshing cucumber water. Then I noticed a dusting of white powder on many of the leaves. I had a sense something was amiss but hoped it was merely dust that settled onto the leaves after a dry-weather lawn mowing session. I mean it easily wiped off. I told myself all would be right as rain when, well, it... Continue reading

Yoga Lessons from Baby Bear

Posted on by Jean Campbell

The story of the three bears is more than a cute story about a golden-haired girl and a cuddly little bear. It offers a wonderful viewpoint that can be applied to many aspects of life. Take the practice of yoga. Gardening season is in full swing, and I like to remind folks, as I am reminded every morning this time of year, yoga is for balance. Both too much physical activity and too little are equally debilitating to the human form. Yoga helps us maintain our bodies so that we can basically... Continue reading

Urban Farming, the Productive Way

Posted on by Jean Campbell

"If you plant it, it will grow," turns out to not necessarily be the case. I'm approaching my third summer of attempting to supply our little two-person family with wholesome, organic, homegrown vegetables. My original idea was to use only the composts I created from my kitchen scraps and fall leaves. Fail. :( Things grew. They did not flourish. Reality hit me square across the face about a month after I purchased my EarthBox. The kit comes with a cool little rectangular planter, complete... Continue reading

Apartment Gardening

Posted on by Jean Campbell

Just because you don't have an inch of earth where you live doesn't mean you can't have a productive and yummy garden. There is always the glass jar sprouting method described early in March. But I've learned a new way to make a garden happen indoors, and FAST! I took some pint-sized plastic to-go food containers and poked a knife through the bottoms in several places. I filled them with potting soil and watered well first so as not to upset the seeds. I added a pretty thick layer of... Continue reading