Growing Pains in Eden

Unfortunately I had to take a bit of a sabbatical from blogging due to some family transitions which were mostly positive and then my own transition back to school for my last semester of college. Now that everything seems to at least be rolling once again, I'm a back to doing what I really like which is writing. 4 weeks have gone by so fast since schools has started and many of the topics that have been covered I am very taken with. Most of my classes have the word leadership and/or organization in the class titles. I am finding leadership a more and more fascinating topic to study. Reason number one I find it so interesting is because we can go back thousands of years with records and study different leaders, even ones form the bible. In my classes we stick within the last hundred years or so, for leaders to discuss. Even with that limited time frame we are graced with the modern media that provides a plethora of information. Reason number   two leadership is such a great

Finally for the 4th of July we dried out little in our Garden! This was so exciting for us because it meant our trench was dry and didn’t need to be bailed. This also meant we actually had to water out plants which has been a chore we have been able to skip most of the summer. Unfortunately our dry spell did not last long and the following week rained us out a few times. Being rained out was not all bad because we have a lot of preparations to make for our family camp coming up this month! While the weather was dry we took advantage of it though. With our dry weather we also had six little helpers in the garden. We weeded, tilled, and planted all of the plots that were still unplanted. This was so exciting for us because it has been a bit of a downer to come to the garden and not have it all planted until JULY! But it's done now. This was probably our biggest round of planting and thankfully our last. Our two largest left over plots were planted with multi-color corn and s

This past week we built a 4 soils garden. We wanted to have this garden ready for our family camp in a few weeks to serve as an illustration to the kids when we go over the parable. The idea behind this garden came from a parable told in Mathew 13. The parable of the sower talks about seed that falls upon 4 different soils. The first soil was the path which was compact so the birds ate whatever fell on the path. The second was rocky ground where the seed sprung up immediately but were quickly squelched by the sun. The third soil was full of weeds that chocked the seeds out when they grew up. The fourth and last soil was the good soil the produced grain one hundred fold. To build our 4 soils garden we used a pallet that already had 4 squares so it required little work. The pallet was placed upside down a few weeks ago which has allowed weeds to grow up in it. Now after coming back to it we first weeded 3 of the 4 squares in the pallet. Next we filled a square with plain old di

About two weeks ago I did a post about composting . That post focused a lot about how and what to compost. Here I would like to delve into more of what you need to put your compost in! I currently  compost at my parents' house in a trash can with a  lid. This works well for our lives in the city, but could be taken a lot more seriously The Tenth Acre Farm has a really good post about a few different composting bins you can have in your back yard First they talk about the good old fashioned heap which requires no additional resources. For most of us living in urban areas this will simply not work for us. Firstly this is not for me because, having a compost heap is too unsightly. Second having a compost heap is available to  neighborhood friends like bunnies, raccoons, foxes and squarls, these friends could cause you more problems than you could even imagine. Mentioned are several medium sized compost solutions. These solutions include a round wire bin that could al

This has been the summer of rain! This rain has defiantly been the biggest difficulty we have faced in the garden this summer. We have well over 100 tomato plants planted, and after a certain donation we are probably close to 150! Our tomato plot has been affected by the water most obviously. For a week we let tomatoes sit in standing water with the hope It might stop raining. Unfortunately our patience was not beneficial and we had to take action against the gathering of water. Step one was to dig a hole for the water to gather in this hole is about four feet long two feet wide and two feet deep. In addition to the hole we dug a few channels for the water to flow into the hole. Our second course of action involved using cotton string to wick the standing water away from the base of the tomato plants. Every day even multiple times of day we have bailed hundreds of gallons of water out of this hole five gallons at a time. I almost don’t want to mention it just in case the r

What does life have in store  for me next? I have been giving this some thought lately and there are so many options available to me. the plethora of options is freeing and overwhelming at the same time. My first option for after graduation is to do a solo tour of Europe for 1-2 months. Even with in this option there are many options starting off with Hitting every tourist spot in a backpacking style tour of Europe Mixing in actual tours through travel agents and such WWOOF . World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. This would in tale an organic farm providing me room and board in exchange for 4 hours of labor a day. Seems like a pretty good deal and would be a great opportunity for hands on experience and education Another option is have is to tour the united states. This option does take a back seat to touring Europe simply because I have driven form the Mississippi to the pacific ocean a couple of times even though I was rather young. For thi

My parents back yard is where my interest and exploration in gardening began. 12 years ago we moved in, at that time we had a German Shepard/Husky mix dog, who we loved. The first spring we moved in she dug a gigantic hole under our fence. We could never keep it filled to stop her from getting out of the yard. My parents had a very creative solution and made that corner of the yard a flower garden. Over the years the garden has been willed with perennials that come up on their own every year. It has been like watching an evolution happen in that space. Some flowers have been moved, others taken out, while some have simply grown unbothered. It was a few more years before we out grew the first corner flower garden and in to more vegetable raised garden beds. Once we stared building vegetable boxes we couldn’t stop. To date we have 10! It has been such an incredible pleasure to see how this garden has frown and affected my family. My dad is our resident master gardener, while my

At the end of this week my independent contracting at The Garden will be half way over, as well as my summer class. I think this would be a good moment in time to reflect on some of the reasons I am here with the blog Growing Pains in Eden. Thus far, there has been a lot of exploring and learning going on during this period of time. Gardening in a sustainable way, and preparing that one acre for its future users who will benefit from my work season after season, has been quite eye opening. Gardening has opened a door for my faith to grow into as it comes alive in this new dimension. Having the ability to share this exploration with readers has also helped me digest the experiences and knowledge I am gaining. But of course there is still life outside the garden like the ever nearing graduation and job hunt, which I'm sure you will hear about at some point as I go through this season of life. As I get over this half way point it is my goal to remain committed to educating a

At The Garden we have three different wheelbarrows that are all different. The first is possibly older than me.. small and only pulled out when the other two are unavailable. The second is a traditional one wheeled sturdier wheelbarrow. Lastly the third is a two wheeled more heavy duty wheelbarrow. All three have admirable qualities but they are most defiantly not synonymous with one another. Honestly wheelbarrow number one is verging on being a yard ornament but has come in useful a few times. I would never recommend someone going out and buying one, and that's where I'm going leave it. The second more traditional one wheeled wheelbarrow is probably what you would find somewhat common in households. This one is a good multipurpose wheelbarrow and the one I would rate the highest but more on that later. Lastly there is the double wheeled durable and sturdy wheelbarrow. Although by looks alone, many people would gravitate toward it because they it will be easier and

On Monday I did a post on my Top 6 Reasons Why I Garden and today I decided to add 4 more to that list 7.    Bridges the gap between what I do in life and my faith . This summer gardening has made the transition from beloved hobby to a job and I couldn’t be happier! Now I get to spend more concentrated time in the garden I have also studied many of Jesus' parables. Since spending more time in the garden they have new meaning and have come to life such as the parable of the four soils, the mustard seed, just to give you an idea. 8.    Experimentation. When you are gardening it is always a good idea to leave room to try something new. You can try new techniques like no till or Square Foot Gardening , but you can also try new plants or varieties. Just try it and see what happens! 9.    Sharing produce . I love giving the fruits of my garden to those around me. This is also helpful to me because it always seems around harvest time I get overwhelmed and shocked by the amo

Humus compost is the product from our garden I would recommend for all gardeners to use in their garden even if you only have a pot on a patio. We get our humus compost for The Garden from our local University Farm at no charge. Any one from the public can also go and get some for a small fee. Compost is simply organic matter that is broken down and decomposing. Humus compost is that same organic matter that has decomposed but is then eaten by microbes. So basically microbe poop.     Humus is not only used across the country but around the world. Midwest Bio Systems , who introduced our local University into making humus, says that none of their facilities can make humus fast enough to satisfy demand. This could very well be why most of their business is educating and equipping farmers to use humus compost on their fields to cut down their cost of fertilizer. At The Garden we use it like most commercial gardeners by spreading over our plots. By just spreading a thin layer

Way back in 2013, My Garden Diaries did a post on building a trellis that sparked an idea for my garden this year. When building this trellis My Garden Diaries twisted simple dry cleaning hangers together to make a trellis for a morning glory to grow up the side of her barn. For My Garden Diaries original post click here! After seeing her post, and having the need to trellis in my Square Foot Garden , I grabbed some hangers and got to work! Initially I had intended to replicate her trellis exactly, but as I got started I realized my needs were different from My Garden Diaries needs. I needed my trellis to be exactly one foot wide with the hangers that I had, and her way of twisting them together was not wide enough. In order to make this idea of upcycling hangers to fit into my Square Foot Garden I had to insert some creativity. I also needed my trellis to stand on its own, freely. To do this I found plenty of green poles to choose from just lying around The Garden. After

Mavis Butterfield's blog One hundred Dollars a Month is considered a top blog in many different niches but most especially gardening. She has made appearances in many different media outlets such as television, print and online. There are not many gardening subjects that are not covered when you start exploring One hundred Dollars a Month. When visiting One Hundred Dollars a Month you can expect to see many posts per day. The content of these posts are balanced from gardening and recipes to frugal living and deals. For her gardening posts, they fit a wide variety of gardeners from beginners to the well-seasoned. It also helps that gardening often seems more of an art than a science so tips and advice or updates on new experiments are always welcome. One Hundred Dollars a Month can also be found on the basic social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. On Pinterest she closely follows the content of her blog with gardening and recipes being a main focus.

At The Garden, redesigning the compost system is creeping to the top of the to-do list. In order to be prepared for when it is time to tackle that project I searched some other blogs for advice and ideas to re-vamp how we are composting, and here are the top picks of what I found. 3 Composting Techniques Everyone Should Know , is a valuable resource for an introduction to different composting styles. For The Garden the three bin style will most definitely be needed do to the bulk of our compost. The three bin style also has the benefit of faster decomposition, making more compost overall. For a backyard, the homemade garbage can tumblers work really well. I made one for my parents' house and they use it regularly. The biggest benefit comes from its portability, and that it is easy to control your proportions of brown to green. Weird things you Did not Know you could Compost , is good to get you thinking about not so obvious household waste you could be putting in your compos

1.     The flow of gardening. When working in the garden there are a variety of tasks, sometimes you are doing backbreaking work, and others you are pulling weed by weed at your own pace. 2.     Connection to where I live. Having a successful garden requires you to tune into where you live. Knowing your climate, soil, drainage, how much rain you will get (or not get) that year, where the sun shines most, and so on brings greater appreciation for how God designed where we live. 3.     Old fashioned hard work. I love getting in there and getting my hands dirty. I find so much satisfaction when I take a step back and see what my hands created. From digging trenches, building compost bins, trellises, and raised beds, it's been a good day when you’re covered with dirt and sweat and are ready to put your feet up. a work day at my parents house early this spring 4.     Eating healthy. When growing a garden you most likely have vegetables which have come to you much chea

The Garden E·den   (ēd′n) n. 1.  Bible  The garden of God and the first home of Adam and Eve. Also called  Garden of Eden . 2.  A delightful place; a paradise. 3.  A state of innocence, bliss, or ultimate happiness.   (provided by: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Eden ) To me Eden represents God’s will and his love for us. The creation story, as told in Genesis is one that I would study again and again and always find new truths that God wants me to see. From the creation of the heavens and the earth, man, the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The creation of man seemed to be something special. As the story is told in my NIV study bible the language of creation changes when we get to the creation of man in the story. In the story prior to the creation of man God spoke things in to being. An example is found in Genesis 1:3 "And God said, "Let there be light"…" this changes when we get to verse 27 in Genesis 1  says

Me and my 2015 Square Foot Garden (Photo by GG)   Square foot gardening is a relatively new method of backyard gardening. It is becoming more widely used by many gardeners because of all the benefits it has compared to victory garden style rows. These benefits include: ·         Maximizing space by planting closer together, meaning you will get a larger harvest ·         Your plant roots benefit because they are getting more oxygen because you have no need to walk in your garden which compacts your soil ·         The organization of the garden that makes it pleasing to the eye also makes it easier for crop rotation to make sure each plant gets the nutrients it needs Square foot gardens are most often in raised garden beds sectioned off by the square foot. I sectioned mine off by using string and a staple gun but you could use wooden slats or rocks to mark off your Square foot sections. Ideally you don’t want your garden to be wider than 4 feet; this is because average rea

My name is Charlie and I am just emerging into this world as a soon to be college graduate developing my life from the ground up. With my experiences in my back pocket I am starting an adventure in community gardening. I am currently a contractor for the summer in a church community garden (The Garden) that has a goal of getting the whole family involved from grandma and grandpa to toddlers. Part of my job at The Garden is to make that involvement happen. My two years of experience working with Jr. High youth groups and my (soon to be) degree in Business Administration has opened the door to this new opportunity. While I'm finding my way as a young adult I hope to encourage other young adults to find what they love, and live with  a purpose by sharing my growing pains and triumphs. Additionally I want to educate readers about gardening, and how little changes can reap great reward. I will be giving simple how-to steps on how to start different kinds of gardens, and ideas on