It's Been Way Too Long
I haven't posted in a long time. I offer no excuses. But now I am writing from a new location with a ton of new info. I'm in Portland, OR. Home of green. Home of precipitation. I couldn't be happier. I've only been here a couple of weeks but have already gotten into things. Such as... I took a class at PCC all about soil. I learned about pH, soil structure/texture, macronutrients, mulching, composting, and many ways to ammend the soil for desired effects. I learned that Portland soil tends to be acidic clay--so different from the desert soil I grew up on. Learning how to increase drainage and create a good loamy soil will be my challenge when I start planting (oh, to buy a house and have a yard...). The one thing I need to look up on my own is the till vs. no-till issue. I read John's copy of One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukoka, which made a very strong and philisophical argument for no-till. But every gardening book I've seen lately casually refers to tilling in the compost, organic fertilizer, etc. as if, well, duh. So I'll get back to this issue as I learn more. Last week I also went to the TLC Farm at Tryon State Park. It's a gorgeous rainforest looking place with an intentional community farm right in the middle of it. I went to participate in what was advertised as "Permaculture Thursday," but mostly I cut back blackberry bushes (a nasty native weed here). I met some very nice Americorpse people there who lent me some gloves. My wounds from pre-glove work are finally healing. I know, I should've brought my own gloves. Lesson learned. This weekend I had the opportunity to make a little money cleaning up the garden behind Kristy's workplace. I filled three yard bags with the leaves that fell all winter. I weeded what I could and swept it all up to look nice and inviting again. It was the last beautifully warm and sunny day we had. I had my ipod in my pocket, Pixies in my ears. I enjoyed the work very much. Tonight I will go back to PCC to take a class on basic garden design. I will write about that soon.