WOHOOOOO! It's FRIDAY! It's also the start of the first weekend of the SUMMER! YES! I'm SO ready for summer. Summer means fresh tomatoes, eggplant and all of my other favorite homegrown vegetables.
In northern regions like ours, summer vegetables are still a few months away. However, greens like kale, lettuce, arugula and sprouts are coming on strong! You can get local greens from all of our local farmers and you can order via Root Cellar Farms. They now have an online store that is totally easy to use. Enjoy your local kale and with some freshly harvested mushrooms. Click on the image below for today's #foodiefriday recipe for roasted mushroom kale salad from Dishing up the Dirt.
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Sheet Mulching - An easy way to prepare and create a new landscape.One of the first things people notice when they start gardening in Montana is that our soil is, well, challenging. Our soil tends to be very low in organic matter, and is not generally well structured. Fortunately, there’s a simple and economical way to create fabulous soil – sheet mulching. In other parts of the world, sheet mulching is also called sheet composting, layered gardening, and even lasagna gardening!
Sheet mulching is essentially composting on-site, on the area that needs amending. It is a simple layering of slashed vegetation, cardboard or newspapers, and organic material, topped off with a nice layer of mulch. Over time, these layers decompose into rich fertile soil. Sheet mulching mimics the natural way of building soil, which is from the top down. The alternating layers of cardboard, organic material and mulch provide the appropriate carbon-to-nitrogen ratio that is needed. If you don’t add nitrogen sources when incorporating carbon-rich materials into the soil, such as sawdust, wood shavings and newspaper, the carbon will temporarily deplete the soil of nitrogen, and it will be difficult to successfully grow anything. For successful sheet mulching, you need to provide appropriate amounts of both carbon and nitrogen. Here’s how to get it right. Slash or closely mow all existing herbaceous (soft-tissued, nonwoody) vegetation, and leave it in place. This will provide a layer of nitrogen-rich material. However, it is best to remove tomato and squash plants from the area to avoid potential disease and pest problems. Next comes the carbon layer. Flatten a bunch of cardboard boxes, and lay them down, overlapping them by 6 inches. You can also use a one-quarter- to one-half-inch layer of newspapers, torn up phone books, or old pieces of carpet. Soak everything with a hose. Wetting down this layer is important. Water is a catalyst to kick-start the decomposition of the materials. Once everything is thoroughly soaked, try not to walk on it, or you may tear it. Next, it’s time to spread a layer of manure or compost. If you are doing this now, and plan to plant vegetables or annuals and perennials, you can use fresh manure if it is weed-free. Otherwise, use aged manure or compost. Then, wet the area again. The layer of manure or compost will entice earthworms and other soil organisms up into the sheet mulch and hasten its decomposition. Finally, top it all off with at least a 2-inch layer of mulch. Straw is a good choice because it is inexpensive, about $7 a bale. Just be sure that it is certified weed-free. The beauty of sheet mulching is its versatility. It can be used to build rich garden soil, or it can be used to convert lawn into a low-water-use landscape. Since sheet mulching provides the ideal carbon to nitrogen ratio, you can plant directly into it! Just pull aside the mulch and organic material, cut an “X” into the bottom layer, dig your hole, and install your plant. Then, put the organic material and mulch back into place. There you have it – a simple, inexpensive, and nontoxic way to kill your lawn and instantly install a new landscape! Sheet mulching kills weeds and lawns without herbicides, while building the soil without requiring tilling. It is a great way to begin creating a sustainable landscape, and it’s practiced all over the world. This year, so far, is the most unique time in which I've lived. I have written before about how we are collectively feeling and experiencing similar things. We have had to endure being stuck at home. We are seeing social unrest as we have not seen in this country in many years. We're all in the same ocean, some of us are just in different boats.
Now is a great time to explore your walls. Walls are useful for protecting us and keeping some things out. They can also prevent us from growing. We all have walls, and now is a great time to explore which ones you can take down. My walls are built with a thousand bricks of negativity: "you can't" "you're not good enough" "you don't know how" "everyone else is better than you" "you won't finish" "you'll fail" Sound familiar? All of those negative snippets (and more!) formed a ticker tape of negativity when I first started thinking about opening True Spirit. I knew I wanted to create a space where folks could develop their physical health and fitness AND a safe space where we can explore our mental, emotional and spiritual health and fitness. Physical training helps me break down my walls. It helps me see my strengths. It helps me see my opportunities for growth. I love what I learn about myself during a Hero workout just as much as I love what I learn about myself during a max effort lift. I love how the lessons of physical training transfer to mental training. True Spirit is a safe place where we can learn who we really are! I'm so glad you're here with me. It is very, easy in our current situation, to focus on what's out of our control and become obsessed with the negative.
One thing we can control is our words. A common word I hear used these days is "but." You've heard it, too. Someone says something and then here comes the qualifier, but. When that word is used in a sentence, it negates everything said before it. For example, I'm really happy to be in Phase 2 and doing my part to flatten the curve, but I miss my friends. You're not really happy and you really do miss your friends. That's the point of what you're saying. It's OK to miss your friends. I miss mine, too. We can reword our sentence this way, I'm really happy to be in Phase 2 and doing my part to flatten the curve, and I miss my friends. Now BOTH things are true. You miss your friends, and apparently you're happy to be in Phase 2. Using "and" instead of "but" is a small and (you thought I was going to write but, didn't you?) powerful change in our word choice that will have a positive ripple effect on our mindset and outlook. Try it today. Every time you're about to say, "but," replace it with the word, "and," and see how much more positive your mindset becomes. |
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