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WELCOME to the JRemedies Natural Health Newsletter!
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Gardens: Rambling Thoughts of a Somewhat Experienced Gardener
Presented By: Amber Kaiser, Certified Natural Health Practitioner, Herbalist
Note to the Reader: This information is not intended to substitute the advice of a properly licensed medical professional.
www.JRemedies.com
NaturalHealthinWI@yahoo.com
Want to know how to do it the natural way? Natural Health Education Sessions Available, Call: 1-608-299-1496
ARTICLE:
A home garden can be rewarding in many ways. Not only can it provide delicious fresh and nutritious food, but gardening can teach a variety of skills and life lessons and the importance of nature. Gardening is a large part of our family. There?s nothing like watching a little one thoroughly enjoyed by roaming through the garden and delighting in the taste of a fresh fruit or vegetable they picked off the plant. There?s nothing like watching the ecstatic face and bright eyes of opening a fresh pod that has more peas in it than the last one. And there?s no better sand box than a plot of freshly tilled earth sinking with the sun?s warmth between bare toes.
Those who do not garden may find it difficult to know where to start. There are so many seeds out there, and what do you do with them? How do you know the difference between a plant and a weed? How often do you have to water the plant and how do you know when you have to water? It can seem overwhelming. And those who are avid gardeners may wonder how to identify the signs of certain garden pests? How do you garden organically? How do you charge your soil without having to use chemical fertilizers? Which varieties will yield the most?
The answer to great gardening is as simple as it is challenging: the secret is that it is always a learning process. That bit of wisdom was told to me by a cherished friend of mine after I expressed my concern of presenting a gardening class when there is so much to know about gardening, and everyone has their special trade secrets that work for them.
I find being creative and adaptable helps. One year we did not have the budget for tomato fencing. Growing nearly one hundred plants or more of tomatoes can get a bit expensive to cage up. The kids and I made a fence out of large sticks and twine, tying the twine in cris-crosses around the joints of our wooden fence. When we were done, we were so proud of our hard work and accomplishment that we decided to ?theme? that year?s garden with the rustic feel of natural stick and wood.
We were so excited with our idea we made a large tripod of small trees that had been cut by a neighbor and aged on the banks of our tree line. We then took and tied smaller horizontal sticks to lay across the vertical tripod. Smaller more flexible sticks were weaved between them. The children were delighted in searching the tree line for the ?just right stick? for mama, and before we knew it we had a beautiful trellis for our cucumber plants and peas to grow up on. Of, course, it first had to be tested out as a fort by the kids.
We also used sticks pushed into the ground for our pole beans to grow up on. It was a ?nothing but nature all around you? feeling when we walked into the garden. However, I?ve since learned that it?s much easier just to plant the beans on the edge of the corn row so the beans grow up the corn stalk for easy picking.
Speaking of corn, I read in a book that pumpkins and squash grow well when planted between corn. We tried it last year and the pumpkins grew beautifully! But, they climbed right up the corn and knocked much of it down.
Luckily we haven?t had much problem with pests, except for a bit of blight on tomatoes. I learned that if you grow garlic chives around the tomato plant it keeps the blight away. A friend from the farmer?s market also let me in on the secret that if you take all your leftover green tomatoes at the end of the season and put them in a bag with a red apple, the apple omits a gas that ripens the tomatoes.
One of the things I am really glad I learned about is heirloom seeds. Heirloom seeds are seeds saved from plants and passed down through generations. They were saved for one reason or another, special feature or coloring or uniqueness, or better yielding. But seeded from the fruit and saved for next year?s garden, shared with friends and neighbors, prized for what it might grow? Natural selection in a strange way?
I?ve read that hybrid seeds are developed to produce better yield and more resistance to pests, but not surprisingly at a price. For example, ?genetically altered hybrid varieties, such as hybrid corn, are made to produce big yields by producing more carbohydrates while lowering the percentage of minerals in food?. (1) No wonder the doctors tell us to take our vitamins and so many foods are vitamin fortified. I?ll stick to the good old fashioned way with my Cherokee Purple tomatoes and White Wonder cucumbers.
Besides the nutrition of good old-fashioned natural genetics of Heirloom Seeds, did you know they can also save you money? In the fall we usually have almost all our seeds for next spring?s garden. For example, I take my best tomatoes, well ripened, and spoon all the seeds into a meshed strainer. I rinse the slimy seeds with cold water, picking out any extra chunks of tomato. When well rinsed and strained, I place them on a piece of muslin material and spread out thinly so they can dry. When the seeds are dry, they sometimes stick to the cloth so I scrape them off and stick them into the envelope. Do you know how many packages of seeds you can get from one tomato? Usually at least a couple, sometimes a few. And then you don?t have to buy seeds in spring.
I don?t think seed saving or seed harvesting will work with hybrid varieties, though. I?ve heard that they are often geneticised so they will not grow or yield as well when you try, so that you will have no other choice but to buy more seeds. Good business, but it makes me wonder about the future of seeds and food with industrialization and mass production. Who do we really need to rely on for our food? And, who cares about that if they are fed? Should we just let our children worry about it? Who would think there could be potential politics in seeds? And is thinking about such an idea going overboard anyway?
Let?s take advantage in the enjoyment of being able to create our own food and plants. You can grow food just about anywhere- even if it is in a container in the house. I have to laugh every time I think of a particular person in the ?natural health? field. I offered this person an heirloom tomato plant to have and was declined my gift because the only place to plant it was within yards of a parking lot. The fear of the pollution from the parked cars was not worth it to this person to grow a food producing oxygen producing plant. Talk about environmental concerns, maybe it is better that person drives all the way to the grocery store and buy an ?organic? tomato shipped from California.
What it comes down to, is creating a garden is much like creating your own work of art. What works for some might not work for others, and unless you?re willing to put in at least a little bit of TLC, patience, and are not afraid of dirt or worms, it may not be your cup of tea. But, oh the rewards can be so worth the time and effort if the idea is up your alley.
One of my favorite memories as a child was waiting until the first cherry tomato was ripe enough to pick and then delighting in the taste of the fresh juicy bright red flavorful treat, and hearing the sweet songs hummed by my mom as she tended to the garden while we played nearby. One of my favorite things now is to watch my son?s esteem grow as he works hard to help daddy prepare the soil in spring and harvest potatoes and carrots in fall, and enjoying my daughters big brown eyes light up as she takes a crisp bite from one of our heirloom beans that she picked. Nutritious food can be rewarding in so many ways. I hope you are able to enjoy similar memories with your family.
Here my top favorite books I have found especially interesting and helpful on my gardening journey so far:
Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening
Louise Riotte
Great Green Book of Garden Secrets by Jerry Baker
Storey?s Basic Country Skills by John and Martha Storey
The Best Gardening Ideas I Know by Robert Rodale
(1) Super Nutrition Garden by Dr. William S. Peavy & Warrwn Peary
Places to Find Seeds:
Here are some websites with great gardening resources:
http://www.jremedies.com/apps/links/
http://www.thegardenhelper.com/vegetables.html
http://www.i4at.org/lib2/howgardn.htm
http://www.backyardgardener.com/etera/
http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe40s/crops_02.html
Some other resources local to the La Crosse, WI Area:
Garden Questions? Master Gardener volunteers are available to answer your home horticulture questions Wednesdays from 9 AM to 12 Noon. Please call 262-857-1942 to leave a message or talk to a Master Gardener. You may also e-mail your questions to MasterGardeners@co.kenosha.wi.us.
Hill and Valley Garden Club 2136 S 22BD ST LA CROSSE, WI 54601
Natural Arts Garden Club N3216 SMITH VALLEY RD LA CROSSE, WI 54601
About the Author:
Amber Kaiser is a Certified Natural Health Practitioner and Second Generation Herbalist who has grown up using herbs and food to promote health from early childhood. She has an Arts & Science Degree from the University of Wisconsin school system, is a Certified Natural Health Practitioner, is a Second Generation Herbalist, and is certified in several active continuing education units including Herbal Energetics (how herbs work within the body). She offers workshops, classes, presentations, and small-scale seminars on a variety of Natural Health subjects. She also owns and operates Jozlyn?s Remedies, a business that offers her specially formulated all natural products and healthy lifestyle information.
www.JRemedies.com
NaturalHealth@JRemedies.com
Want to know how to do it the natural way?
Natural Health Education Sessions Available,
Call: 1-608-299-1496
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Sincerely in Health,
Amber M. Kaiser, CNHP
Certified Natural Health Practitioner
NaturalHealthinWI@yahoo.com
1-608-299-1496
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www.JRemedies.com
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CAUTION: Proper use of the brain is not endorsed by governments nor huge corporations involved in serious financial profit from a brainwashed and enslaved population. Mild discomfort may occur as confusing independent thought challenges popular views of the world.
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