All posts by Becky Barnica

Guerrilla Gardening

Do you grow tired of sidewalks and concrete, buildings and bricks?  Does your soul feel a longing to return to green surroundings bursting with beauty and vitality?   Me too!

guerilla gardeningLet’s do something about those drab grey landscapes and create the change we want to see.  :)   Today I’d like to share one great way to do that, called “Guerrilla Gardening”.

This form of gardening is done on the down-low and sometimes on the fly.  It involves cruising around like a garden ninja and leaving beauty and abundance in your wake .

There are already a ton of great people around the world cultivating neglected landscapes, lets join them and be a part of the solution.

guerrilla-gardnersGarden Ninjas (I like that phrase :P) are taking wasted public spaces and transmuting them into abundant and useful edible landscapes.  Do you want to be a garden ninja too?  Here are a few ideas I’ve collected to get you started, they are easy and fun.

vinebuildingVines  Do you wish your surroundings were a little greener, but don’t have a lot of space?  Why not plant some climbing vines.  There are all sorts of awesome vine plants to choose from, if you live in a warmer climate you could plant wysteria or some other sweet smelling plant.

You could also plant edibles, like beans, grapes, or cucumbers, it’s up to you!  With vines, not only can you grow tasty food, you can also use them to shade the house during hot summers.  Vines are a great way to cut down on cooling costs.

edb1_seed_bombs_gridSeed Bombs.  Awesome on the go planting tool.  Take some seeds, some clay, some compost and worm casting and form them into a ball with some water.  Now just toss em where you want them to grow.   Here’s a good article on making seed bombs.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Seed-Bomb/

Grafting.  Have a lot of shade trees bordering your sidewalk?  Wouldn’t it be great if they also produced fruit?  You can make that happen by grafting a branch from a fruit tree onto a regular tree.  Here’ s a great video by Guerrilla Grafters that shows you how to do it.

Want some more great examples of Guerrilla gardening?  Check out the TedTalk below to see what Guerrilla Gardening has done for garden ninja  Ron Finley and his community.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzZzZ_qpZ4w

These are just a few ideas to get you started and inspired.  Guerrilla gardening can be as simple or complex as you want to make it.  Just remember to take into consideration the fact that you might want to finish your project quickly.  ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Save the soil, save the world.

Howdy Howdy!   Today we’re going to talk about soil and why it’s so important, along with some ways you can improve it.  Soil can make or break not only a garden but entire civilizations.  Please understand I’m not just talking about dirt, but dirt that contains life, microbes, bugs, worms, water, organic matter, that’s soil and it needs our help.  

Soil erosion is a huge environmental challenge in many places and it is often exacerbated by modern agricultural farming practices.  Luckily for us, permaculture can help. With permaculture, we can reverse the damage we’ve done to the planet, as well as grow our food in a way that is actually smarter and regenerative (instead of just sustainable).
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Permaculture and Observation

If you read my last post, or are familiar with the subject, you’ll know that observation is crucial in permaculture; because of its great importance, that’s where we’re going to start today.

The designer is the recliner.   Finding a good sit-spot.

lightThe first thing you should do is get your mind right…  To do that, you should find a good sit-spot.  It might sound simple but the sit-spot is crucial for a couple different reasons.

First, you get the obvious benefit of relaxation; being in nature is a meditative and healing experience.  Second, nature can teach you a lot of things about your environment, even yourself.

My sit-spot is right outside my back door.  I make it a point to go outside every day and become absorbed by the natural world around me.  It has been cool to implement some of the stuff I’m learning in my permaculture class and see nature doing the things my teachers described, there is something truly magical about the process.
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Permaculture Can Save the Planet.

With our modern world full of rampant consumerism, pollution, and the destruction of the environment  happening at a dangerously rapid pace, it’s becoming painfully clear we need to start doing something different.  I could go on and on all day listing the stuff that’s messed up with this planet right now, but this post isn’t meant to bring you down sooo…   Let’s focus on the positives!

What we can do about these problems we face today?  What are the solutions?

wemeThat’s where permaculture comes in.   The word Permaculture comes from the words “Permanant” and “Culture”, it means what it sounds like; creating a permanent culture.   I hope to share with you the same feelings of hope, inspiration and determination that studying permaculture gives me.

Permaculture is based on the ideas that we are all connected, that we can look to nature to find solutions to the problems we’re facing today and we can conduct our lives in a better way that is not only sustainable, but regenerative; healing the planet and promoting abundance and health.

I started my permaculture journey after stumbling upon a really great website (openpermaculture.com)  dedicated to the subject.  I started watching the free videos they offered and fell so hopelessly in love with the ideas presented that I enrolled in the Permaculture Certification class they offered, deciding this was the direction I wanted to take with my life.
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