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• Post #4014057

  My previous post about arugula reminded me how important it is to purchase seeds from your own region. It's amazing and humbling to remember that the "luck" I have in the garden is often a result of the research and curation of other more experienced #Florida gardeners. I've posted about her before, but Elise Pickett of The Urban Harvest has been so helpful to me: https://theurbanharvest.com/ She's got a new book out, too: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-urban-harvest-gui...

• Post #3222552

  We visited ECHO Global Farm today and I picked up this book. If you’ve been following me, you know that I got frustrated trying to create all of my own soil amendments and reverted back to purchasing cow manure compost and organic fertilizers. My garden is much happier and productive now but I still would like to work toward a more DIY #permaculture approach to building #soil. Hopefully this book will help. #gardening

• Post #3222549

  Before/After: Mexican Sunflower hard prune along our back fence line. My husband mulched it down with the SunJoe and dumped it on our #compost heap. I’m always shocked at how small the pile is after mulching because look how gigantic the plant is. It’ll bush back out pretty quickly especially now that it’s raining again. But there is a beautyberry shrub and two #TropicalFruit trees close by that will benefit from having less shade and more room as they mature. #gardening #permaculture

• Post #3222546

  The Black history of food. "Cowpea is a gem gifted to the world by thousands of African farmers and gardeners who selected genetics over millennia for myriad forms of this incredible crop resource..." The variety of cowpea seeds I have are called whippoorwill and according to Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, "This crop came from Africa through forced migration and was later cultivated by enslaved Black people at Monticello." https://codycovefarm.com/cowpea-...

• Post #3222543

  Reading about how kaolin #clay can function well as a pest deterrent. I use Edgar Plastic Kaolin (EPK) from Edgar Minerals in central Florida as a glaze ingredient. Let's see how well it works to keep pests from chomping my giant red mustard greens. Last year, I read you can sprinkle some around the base of your pumpkin plants to deter vine borers. #gardening

• Post #3222540

  "Whenever the #soil is rich the people flourish, physically and economically. Wherever the soil is wasted the people are wasted. A poor soil produces only a poor people—poor economically, poor spiritually and intellectually, poor physically." George Washington Carver: A National Agricultural Library Digital Exhibit https://www.nal.usda.gov/exhibits/ipd/carver/exhibits/show/soil #BlackHistory

• Post #3222537

  My old bandmate’s name was Cassia so I still call this plant Cassia alata even though it’s been reclassified as Senna alata. When it matures, it gives bright yellow cone flowers which happen to match the sulphur butterfly it attracts. It’s common name is candlebrush. #pollinators

• Post #3222533

  I picked this mango as an experiment to see how early we can harvest them. It’s pretty much full size and has developed that blush tone near the top, but it’s still hard. It should ripen over the next few days. Besides the fact that I’m excited it’s mango season, we do have to make sure to beat the squirrels and passersby because the tree is on the strip between the sidewalk and the street. We don’t mind sharing but if we don’t pay close enough attention, they’ll all be gone. #gardening #Zone10

• Post #3222532

  I struck out with giant red mustards this spring. They are my favorite salad green, marketed as “heat-tolerant”—and maybe they are compared to other brassicas, but come June, it’s a no-go. I started them too late in the season and the seedlings are getting massacred by pests. I’m moving on to arugula and perpetual chard for the summer. I’ll put giant red mustards at the top off my fall planting list. #gardening

• Post #3222528

  We’re in an ongoing drought so there are watering restrictions in place but it also won’t rain the way it normally should this time of year. Our rain tank will probably run dry soon. Also, it’s in the 90s°F so the garden is very thirsty. It’s a tough time of year as a gardener in SW #Florida. #gardening

• Post #3222527

  #Florida summer garden: I just realized that most of what I’ve selected for the season is in the amaranth family including four varieties of actual amaranth, perpetual chard, Lagos spinach, and gomphrena. I’ve also sprouted okra, roselle and cotton (all mallow family). Two cowpea varieties and sunn hemp. Butterfly pea. The Seminole pumpkins are still in there, making lots of vines but just one pumpkin. The tomatoes refuse to flower in all of this heat. #gardening #Zone10

• Post #2217694

  I'm going to make ceramic mushroom planters. I didn't enjoy drilling holes in plastic buckets and the debris left behind. Also, I've been looking around and a mushroom bucket doesn't have to be 5 gallons. Some are pretty small. The person who got my buckets started didn't want any money or anything, so I'm going to make her a ceramic mushroom container and maybe also one for myself. They can be pretty much any shape, so my imagination is runnin...

• Post #2172471

  A gift from the community garden. Fresh coconut water 💦 #Florida #Zone10

• Post #1924078

  I’m trying chickpea tempeh for the first time. #vegetarian #vegan

• Post #1924077

  I was just at the grocery store and this sweet little girl was begging her mom to buy a dragon fruit so she could try it for the first time. Baby girl, I truly understand the impulse but you’re gonna have to grow up and and get a job before you can try a $10 piece of fruit that actually tastes nothing like you think it’s gonna taste based on the way it looks. Her mom was like 😐. I told the girl I’ve tried it and it’s bland. Mom was like, “Thank you, ma’am” lol. #TropicalFruit

• Post #1812459

  Just talked to my mom on the phone for an hour while shucking pigeon peas. These are the “regular” ones that I planted last year. The rainbow ones I posted about a few days ago won’t produce enough to eat until later this year. If my pumpkin is ripe by Mother’s Day, I will make a pumpkin and pigeon pea stew with whatever greens are available (kale or pumpkin leaves or both) and maybe I’ll add coconut milk and some garlic curry powder.

• Post #1760171

  This is the best progress I’ve made attempting to grow Seminole Pumpkin so far. This is only the first pumpkin to develop so I shouldn’t proclaim success this early on, but already this is much better than I’ve been able to achieve in the past. #gardening #Florida #zone10

• Post #1591011

  I spotted a male house finch in our garden for the first time (I think!) I didn’t have my phone with me (this is a photo from the Internet just in case you’re unfamiliar with the bird.) I watched it for a while as it visited my beloved tropical salvia. #birds #BirdsOfMastodon

• Post #1591008

  My dad just told me that his maternal grandma used to spin and weave cotton to make calico. I’m gobsmacked. Time to get back to my #spinning practice! Life’s been so damn hectic, I can’t believe I ever even had time for it. The calm will return, I hope. #AncestralMemory #textiles #fibers

• Post #1591005

  My favorite #Florida gardener at Cody Cove Farms, along with his friend from Zambia, shows us how to prepare pumpkin leaves. It’s another one of those things that seems obvious in hindsight but is just not done in our culture. I’ve cooked squash & pumpkin blossoms but not the leaves. I’ve got Seminole pumpkin growing right now and can’t wait to try this. #gardening https://www.patreon.com/posts/156000632?utm_campaign=postshare_fan

• Post #1591002

  First female blossom sighting on one of my Seminole pumpkin plants. I hand pollinated it. Also, the Zambian pumpkin leaf stew I mentioned in a previous post was delicious! I made a version I found online that includes pureed peanuts. Nice, #vegan, protein-and-nutrient rich food with so much flavor. #gardening

• Post #1591000

  I post a lot about pigeon peas because they are the most prolific, low-maintenance legume I grow. They thrive in poor soil and drought, and don’t require trellising. This was my first time growing a rainbow variety that I got from Cody Cove Farms, which I also post about a lot because I’m so impressed with his experimentation cultivating #Florida heirlooms. Helpful also for TX, SoCal and other hot & arid places. #legumes #Zone10 #gardening @gardening

• Post #1242942

  I thought I’d be able to give my big banana olla a rest since rainy season has begun, but we just went a week without rain. These plants are such big drinkers, that the extra irrigation is still helpful. It’s a pleasure watching life congregate around the pot which we fill with #rainwater. When you dig up an olla after a season of gardening, you can see how the roots have wrapped themselves around it, seeking hydration. #OllasByOsa #SustainableGardening #handmade #pottery #irrigation #gardening

• Post #1242939

  We harvest #rainwater but not enough to get us through dry season. We harvest #solarpower but not enough to be completely off-grid. We grow food in our #garden but more as a dietary supplement—nowhere close to being able to sustain ourselves on what we grow. We #compost, but don’t produce enough to feed our entire garden. I’d love to live a closed-loop #permaculture lifestyle but can’t see it happening realistically. What are people’s thoughts about this? @gardening

• Post #928993

  I have two generations of kale going now. It seems to be everyone’s favorite, including my father in law who lives around the corner and comes to collect salad weekly. It’s almost time to do a full harvest of the older section. I plucked these just so I could chop and freeze them. We don’t do a ton of #FoodPreservation, but it’s always nice to have a couple bags of greens once brassica season is over. @gardening

• Post #760819

  I’ve been posting for a while about my wonderful neighbor who passed away—the one who made me my first spindle and whose SW rug collection I inherited. Well, he planted a bunch of beets before he passed and I just thought to check on them. Tons of beets ready to harvest. They’re not my favorite food in the world but I can think of a few ways to prepare them that would be tasty. Pickled, shredded, marinated, roasted… And it’s just another way to remember and honor Steve’s generosity.

• Post #733407

  I visited one of my favorite places today and got so inspired that I’m finding it hard to fall asleep. #MidnightPass is an inlet that was closed by humans in 1983 and reopened by the strongest storm ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico—Hurricane Milton—in October 2024. Since then, the free flow of gulf waters into the bay has greatly improved water quality, and increased vegetation and wildlife. It’s been a wonder to witness. #nature #Florida #Sarasota