You’ve successfully babied a houseplant or two, and now you’re ready for the next step. But how do you garden without a yard? Living in an apartment doesn’t mean you can’t grow things: It just takes a little ingenuity and planning. Start small with a few pots, window boxes or hanging baskets to get comfortable, and add more as you gain confidence. Before...
There’s something special about growing your own food. From feeling the silky soil between your fingers to watching the seeds you planted finally begin to sprout — it’s a feeling of accomplishment and pure joy, it’s a feeling Dr. Steven Shimotakahara wanted to share with others. On Saturday, Dr. Shimotakahara, the chairman of the board of the North Bend Medical...
One silver lining of the coronavirus lockdown is that it comes at the start of the growing season. Between now and the fall, folks have the chance to coax food from the soil while also feeding the soul. This year, a vegetable garden may also provide one thing we seem to be lacking at the moment: control over our lives. It includes the satisfaction of raising...
According to a new study, gardening can increase our confidence, improve our self-esteem and boost our appreciation of our bodies. This confirms what we already know about gardening being the perfect activity to get us through the current social distancing regulations. The research, conducted by Anglia Ruskin University, looked specifically at allotment gardening....
The coronavirus crisis has increased interest in individuals wanting to grow their own food during stay-at-home orders, massive layoffs and community planting postponements. About 1,000 people a day are signing up for a free, online vegetable gardening course offered by Oregon State University Extension Service. As of April 1, more than 17,656 people had registered...
🌱 Plant a Victory Garden to combat your coronavirus fears and isolation woes. 👨🌾 During World War II, those at home grew Victory Gardens to ease food shortages & boost morale. While there may not be a shortage of food, those quarantined at home may find their garden to be a place of joy, wonder and peace. BONUS… you’ll...
As you practice social distancing, use this time to introduce two new friends into your life: a shovel and a pair of gloves. During stressful times, nature can be a peaceful refuge. And, coinciding with the timing of coronavirus, we’re also at the start of something a little brighter — gardening season. “There’s a meditative feeling you get from...
People still struggle to find food at grocery stores during this pandemic, but Jameson Altott is not as worried. He grows more than half the food for his family from his large garden at home, outside Pittsburgh. “We are lucky to have preserved a lot of food and we still have canned fruits and vegetables and jams and berries in the freezer and meat in the freezer,”...
If someone were to say I must self-isolate in the garden for the next few weeks, I would shake him or her by the hand. If I could. Here’s a thumbs up from a distance of six feet or more. The neighborhood sidewalks and nature trails are thronged with the cabin-fevered, so what better place to be outdoors and yet away from others than in your backyard and garden? You...
Being stuck at home doesn’t mean you have to stay inside – the current spring weather is perfect for working on the landscape and doing some gardening. Gardening is a great way to get fresh air, exercise, stay productive, and grow some of your own food. This herb garden at the Tom Green Co. 4-H Center in San Angelo livens up the landscape. (Photo: contributed) Herbs,...
Spring weather and extra time at home may have you thinking about putting in or tending to a garden. It’s something past generations always did in times of turmoil. Home gardens provide extra fruits, veggies and herbs when store shelves may be bare. During both World Wars, the U.S. government encouraged Americans to grow their own food to relieve shortages. Gardening...
I don’t know if fertilizer is flying off the shelves yet, but I am guessing a few more people might be interested in gardening this year … you know … stocking up! Growing your own produce is fun and eating it fresh from the garden is rewarding. Growing organically remains popular — so much so that each generation seems to think they invented it! Regardless...
A nine-year-old builds houses from scratch and they aren’t the kind for dolls. When Hailey Fort was just five-years-old, it broke her heart to see a homeless man on the street. After asking her parents how she could help him, she’s been assisting the homeless by providing food and housing ever since. Hailey of King Fort, Washington is building a mobile...
Historically, farms and forests have been at odds. Conventional wisdom says we have to cut down the forest to make way for agriculture. But a growing movement called agro-forestry “capitalizes” on the free services forests provide farmers and gardeners. Not only do trees protect more delicate edible plants from the elements and extreme weather, they provide nutrients,...
MORGAN FREEMAN’S MISSISSIPPI RANCH IS NOW A SAFE HAVEN FOR BEES Famous as one of America’s favorite narrators, Morgan Freeman is hoping to tell a new story for the world’s declining honeybee population by giving them his 124-acre (50 hectares) ranch to live on. The 81-year-old actor took up beekeeping as a hobby in 2014 and converted his Mississippi...
Thanks to science we now know that nature is basically a wonder drug. Spending time outside helps hospital patients recover faster, eases depression and anxiety, boosts the immune system, reduces blood pressure, and even increases happiness. The only trouble with trees is that it is impossible to prescribe in pill form. But while you can’t shrink a tree...
Why Choose Organic Fertilizer? Many people are confused by the use of organic fertilizers because these products naturally contain lower concentrations of nutrients than chemical fertilizers. This fact may lead you to believe they are not as good, but this is not the case. When you use strong chemical fertilizers, you run the risk of accidentally applying too much...
In recent years, there has been a growing disconnect between children and their food. Most kids have never set foot on a farm or in an orchard, only ever seeing food go from the grocery store to their house to their plate. Thousands of children have never before witnessed the food they eat actually growing in the ground. What better way to introduce this concept,...
According to a class draft, the two-year course, called “Living with the Land”, will combine “traditional building, cooking and craft skills with aspects of ecology, sustainability and community.” The three modules will be “shelter, food and craft.” “By stripping things back to these basic necessities, we aim to equip students with the skills and understanding...
WASHINGTON – The landmark Food Quality Protection Act requires the Environmental Protection Agency to protect children’s health by applying an extra margin of safety to legal limits for pesticides in food. But an investigation by EWG, published this week in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, found that the EPA has failed to add the mandated children’s health...
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