The garden life never stops, but at least the weather is turning in our favor. As the sun comes out so does the squash, and we’ve planted enough recently to have quite the harvest eventually. However, while we wait for the squash to emerge we’ve already been in over our heads with mountains of chard. We harvested over 14 pounds in the last two weeks, so eat up!

Also, please mark your calendars for the cob workshop (see the workshop tab for info). We’ve managed to clear out a space in the permaculture garden for a beautiful cob bench which will overlook both the garden and the new pond that is planned for the meadow. The cob oven is planned for the space between the garden and the common house, and if you can only make it to one workshop then the final one would be best as we will be making a cob oven pizza. Yum!  

The permaculture garden has been filled up with new goodies which we will have to wait for (surprise, surprise), but strawberries are in full bloom. If you haven’t stopped by for a fresh, juicy morsel you should definitely check it out; although, I can’t imagine that they will all be eaten. It seems like every day they multiply! I swear I’ve eaten more strawberries in the last two weeks than I have in the last ten years. Ha ha.

What I love most about summer (Isn’t it summer already?) are all the flowers. They are so abundant, colorful, and smelly. I’d like to say they all smell good, but that certainly isn’t true. Even while I may not be attracted to them all chemically, I sure love to look at them.

However, what loves the flowers even more than I do are all the bees, and tons of bees there are, always zooming by. In fact you’d better watch where you’re walking because a bee is likely to fly right into you, and it is best to avoid both the pain of a possible sting (which I have yet to encounter) and the death of a beautiful, and much needed, bee.

As a bit of information I figure that everyone needs to be aware of is the issue of “colony collapse disorder” which means that whole beehives are randomly dying or going missing altogether. The problem is still unknown but there is some idea about it having to do with chemicals being used around plants that bees visit for nectar and pollen. So, for the sake of the bees, please don’t use chemicals!

Also another bit of information, did you know that honey is actually bee throw up? Ha ha. Yup! They drink nectar and then throw up the honey. It’s quite fascinating really. So, next time you think about your child throwing up, consider the fact that nature may actually be able to use that waste. I wouldn’t give it to the bees though, because their job is already packed full of slurping, carrying pollen to and fro, and of course taking care of their beautiful queen.

While the strawberries are tasty, so is the clay that we plan to use to build a cob bench and a cob oven. Yup, I ate clay today. It’s got a mineral flavor, but mostly it’s devoid of flavor. Patricia, the garden manager, decided that the strawberries would be her favorite meal of the day and I’m inclined to agree.

So I hit my head today, and I’m pretty sure it’s a result of all the amazing strawberries going to my head. It’s hard to keep my eyes looking up when I am intently focused on finding the most beautiful strawberries imaginable.

Aside from all the tastiness there has been some great creativity going on too. With the help of others, there is now an amazing bamboo teepee to give the beans a place to play and also a bamboo square arch trellis to decorate the new entrance into the permaculture garden.

Even more important, we’ve finished a great heap of compost and have mulched the daylights out of every part of the garden. No water will be able to escape our hard work, and soon our taste buds will reap the rewards.

The basil in the green house has been hooked up to water , and in both the garden and in the raised beds we’ve planted beans, squash, radishes, peppers, carrots, lettuce, beets, and more than could fit on one dinner plate. 
In fact, today we harvested enough lettuce to feed one hundred homeless people.

What more can this amazing garden do? 
The soil is happy. 
The bugs are happy. 
The plants are happy, 
and the people are happy. 
Simply perfect!