Garden South 1

Our CSA offers fresh culinary herbs and a variety of herbal medicinal products. The concept of Community Suppported Agriculture (CSA) has spread across the country quickly. It is an idea that is a good fit for the times. When you pay for a farm-share up-front before the growing season, you are provided with a weekly share of fresh organic produce throughout the growing season, while lessening the farmer’s risk. People are recognizing the importance of knowing where their food came from, and feeling urgent about cutting the petro-calories in each calorie of food. For the same reasons, Herbal CSAs are emerging out of the yearning for respect for the land, and relationship with it.

In our quest to provide a Permaculture model, we aim at growing what we need on our site to maintain a healthy nutrient balance in our soil. That is, we are designing our system so that in time, perhaps 3-4 years, we will not have to truck in any inputs, we will be growing all of our fertilizer on-site. This is “Permaculture”. We are not yet certified as organic. However, we do not use any chemical fertilizer or toxic pest controls on our land.

What is a Willow Way Permaculture Herbal Share?
Our Herbal CSA shares provide you with quality herb teas for your table, vibrant medicinal herbal products to keep you healthy, as well as culinary herbs. A share consists of a wide variety of herbal health preparations containing herbs organically grown on our farm. In general, they contain formulas that both enhance vitality and address a variety of common conditions.

We grow herbs that are native or well-adapted here, thus not needing excessive inputs, preferably those with low-water needs. We also grow local natives that are under pressure from over-harvesting. We are offering shares for four seasons, described below. Paying for your share now will enable us to move forward with our production plans for 2010. We are so appreciative of your participation. Shares are available now.

Summer Share (late July, or early Aug):
• Choose 2 two-ounce herb tea blends.
• Choose 3 single-herb tea two ounce packets.
• Choose2 1-ounce tinctures or tincture blends.
• Choose 3 two-ounce packets of fresh culinary herbs.
• Two salves: Arnica salve for muscle aches; Healing salve: for insect bites, stings, cuts, burns
• Rose skin cream 3 oz.
• One free Willow Way Flower Essence.

Fall Share (late Sept):
• Choose 2 two-ounce herb tea blends.
• Choose 3 single herb tea two ounce packets, or, ½ oz.dried culinary herb.
• Choose 2-1ounce tinctures or tincture blends.
• Choose 3 two-ounce packets of fresh culinary herbs.
• Medicinal honey 4 oz.
• Two beeswax candles (two small pillars).
• One Russian Sage sachet, or, Sage Smudge stick.
• One free Willow Way Flower Essence.

Winter Share (early Dec):
• Choose 2 two-ounce herb tea blends.
• Choose 3 single herb tea two ounce packets, or, ½ oz. dried culinary herb.
• Choose 2 1-ounce tinctures or tincture blends.
• Cherry-Horehound syrup for cough season, 8 oz.
• Medicinal Honey Oxymel (oxymels include vinegar-based tinctures for a more balanced pH) 4 oz.
• Beeswax candles: one re-usable jar candle, one small pillar.
• One free Willow Way Flower Essence.

Spring Share (March 2011):
• Choose 2 two-ounce herb tea blends.
• Choose 3 single herb tea two ounce packets, or, ½ oz.dried culinary herb.
• Choose 1 2-ounce tinctures or tincture blends.
• Herb blend skin cream 3 oz.
• Choose Arnica salve for muscle aches, or, Healing salve: insect bites, stings, cuts, burns.
• Lavender MT oil, or, Catnip Cat Toy.
• Choose 2″ x 4” herb plant seedlings.

Sign up for one season-share, at $70. or all four seasons for a 15% discount at $240.
One share is recommended for one person per season

You can purchase our current Willow Way Herbals at the farm now, or at Niwot Market.

Aston Fitness Class for Gardeners.

Most gardener’s experience that when spring comes and we bust out of our cabin fever, the bodily aches and pains accompany our garden lust. Gardening is such good exercise—and it can be GOOD for the body if we know how to go about it.

This class is rooted in Aston-Patterning, a refined combination of movement education, ergonomics and hands-on work. The exercise component, Aston Fitness has been keeping my gardener’s body happy for years. I’ve been a practitioner of this work for 30 years.

This class will attend to the body stresses inherent in gardening. The class will include movement re-patterning and three components of exercise: loosening for release, stretching for alignment and toning for strength and endurance. These exercises will open new pathways to body-use habits that your body will LOVE, and simple routines you can do on your own for quick recovery from a long day in the garden when you just didn’t know when to quit.
For more info, see willowwaywellness.com/ap and willowwaywellness.com/af
Max class size: 5   Six classes, to meet once per week. $120.
1) Thursdays, starting Feb 11, 10:30-12:00 am
2) Wednesdays, starting Feb 10, 5:30-7:00 pm,
Follow-up drop-in class is available, sliding scale $15-25.

To register, call Zia Parker 303-530-1415 or email ziaparker@yahoo.com

Greens Leaf Wall Fall

Leaf walls covered with Reemay Row Cover and plastic sheeting. This bed is approximately 25’ x 12’.

Harvest Kale Dec

Insulated wall made of used chicken wire stuffed with leaves. Yummy Dwarf Siberian Kale, Fennel, and Fava beans and Parsley are happy inside.

Our greens were happy right through the stretch of 15 below weather we had last winter.

Greens Leaf Wall Winter

This design grew from our desire to keep our costs down. We had chicken wire, we had plenty of leaves. If we had used strawbales, winterizing this bed would have cost $200. This way, it cost nothing.

STRAW-CLAY COLD FRAME
… a locally adapted season extender

North Wall of the Straw Clay Cold Frame

This Straw-Clay Cold Frame at Willow Way is designed to meet the demands of our windy winters with their wide temperature swings, here in Boulder, Colorado. It is built with wooden pallets that are stuffed with Straw-Clay.

Straw Clay Mixing

Straw-Clay is one type of “natural building” material. It is straw that is coated with a light clay slip, providing value both as insulation and as thermal mass.

South side of Cold Frame

This structure is 7’ x 9’. Materials cost was approximately $100. , plus a several hours of labor.

West wall with pallets exposed, before plastering.

This cold frame has two ventilation doors that are opened with a simple mechanical thermostat that operates via a gas-filled cylinder, without electricity. It opens both doors when the temperature inside gets hot enough to endanger the plants, and spring-loaded hinges cause the doors to close when the temperature drops again.

The start of the Medicine Wheel Garden.

Sheet Mulching is a very basic and important Permaculture skill.

Sometimes called “blanket composting”, “no-work” or “no-dig” gardening, it is very representative of Permaculture in terms of modeling Nature.

This is the start of the Medicine Wheel Garden.

The Medicine Wheel in full bloom.

The Medicine Wheel in full bloom.

Other pics of the Medicine Wheel Garden if you want.

Sheet mulch and cairn

It is a great way to build healthy soil fast, and is an effective means of carbon sequestration.

Pond Late Summer

We applied simple bioremediation techniques to allow the pond to purify itself. This is a “before” photo. Looking good, but not purifying itself. Then the Pond Work Team started to dig in — here are some of the pics and details.

Pond channel party

After removing the plants, rocks and old liner, we re-shaped the stream channel to make it optimum for the fungi, bacteria plant species involved in bioremediation.

Pond channel is shaping up

The new channel and its steps will help oxygenate the pond too.

Pond Channel With Thomas

Sculpting the new water channel.

Cleaning plants Jen Deanna

This project is still in process. Reeds, rushes and sedges, the three main types of plants involved in bioremediation, will be planted into the five new pools that have been created for them in this stream channel.

Pond Work Team

The look of the new channel is emerging.

Pond channel south

Spring will bring the full transformation.

Medicine wheel greens, corn and beyond

The yield from our sheet-mulching no-till, “no work” method. Check out the sheet mulching blog entry if you wnat to see what this garden looked like before we got started.
Mouse over and click on the pics to see if there is a bigger version for the pic.

Garden north, corn and greens

Garden north, corn and greens

Garden South 1

Here is a look at the south part of the Medicine Wheel Garden.

Green hill garden 2

Green hill garden 2

Green potted garden and rocks 10

Green potted garden and rocks 10

East garden good eating now

East garden good eating now.

]]> http://ziaparker.com/blog/2009/11/the-medicine-wheel-garden/feed/ 0 http://ziaparker.com/blog/2009/11/outdoor-mushroom-growing-bed/ http://ziaparker.com/blog/2009/11/outdoor-mushroom-growing-bed/#comments Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:59:40 +0000 Zia Parker http://ziaparker.com/blog/?p=15

Mushroom propagation outdoors requires some careful preparations.

Site selection is important. In our valley, a shaded site that will retain moisture is critical. This site is under a large apple tree. It is close to a water spigot, to make

Full article >> Outdoor Mushroom Growing Bed

Mushroom propagation outdoors requires some careful preparations.

Site selection is important. In our valley, a shaded site that will retain moisture is critical. This site is under a large apple tree. It is close to a water spigot, to make it easy to keep moist.

The soil is cleared from the site.

Removing the top-soil gives advantage to the fungi.

Wood-chip substrate.

We used wood chips as a substrate, which is favored by the Oyster mushroom we were starting. Oysters are a good choice for beginners, as they are relatively easy to grow, and they have medicinal, culinary and bio-remediation properties.

The Oyster fungi spore

The Oyster fungi spore

The Oyster spore goes down on the wood chip substrate.

The wood chips are washed to minimize other bacteria and fungi that may out-compete the Oyster fungi spore. Non-fruitwood deciduous chips recommended.

Jim Gibson, myco-ecologist, completing the demo.

Jim is covering the Oyster spore with cardboard, then with more wood chips. The purpose of both of these layers is moisture retention.

 

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there there little plant

In Permaculture, we place plants together that will naturally support each other, mimicking that design.

guilded

In this fruit tree guild, the central element is a fruit tree, and each guild also has a beneficial insect attractor plant, harmful insect repeller plant, a nitrogen-fixer to help provide nutrients, and a food crop—in this case, squash.

Guild making

In nature, plants form symbiotic relationships with each other in groups.