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Song from the garden

Song of the Garden


The Mamas & The Papas - Safe In My Garden

The Garden by Eddie Watkins Jr.

The Garden Song by Dave Mallet

"Garden Song" is a popular children's song and American folk song written by David Mallett in 1975. The song has become a part of American folklore since being recorded by the Muppets in 1995.^[1] The song has been also recorded by Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary, John Denver, Pete Seeger, David LaMotte, and Arlo Guthrie.^[2] The version of "Garden Song" covered by John Denver made the national charts.^[3] The song also inspired a book called Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni in 1995.^[4]

^{The Garden Song by Bobby McFerrin}

Yield

  

^{I Am The Earth - music & lyrics by Glyn Lehmann} 

Swingle singers come live with me

come be my love 2

come live with me anne lenox

 Greg Brown \ Canned Goods

 

June Tabor \ The Gardener

Robyn Landis Roots 

ROBYN_LANDIS-Roots 

 Carl Martin wrote a lovely silly song called "The Barnyard Dance" that Steve Goodman used to sing:

Peppers and Tomatoes by Ralph McTell

 Mango by Earl Okin

 Harvest time Lonesome River Band

The Walk to the Paradise Garden Delius

 "Homegrown Tomatoes" by Jay Ungar & Molly Mason

Plow to the End of the Row Adriene Young

 The Tomato Vendetta" by Mason Williams performed by Jenn Kooi 

The Anti-Garden Song by Eric Kilburn parody of Dave Mallots Garden Song sung by

Amy Carlson

Call any vegetable Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention

Lavatera trimestris “Silver Cup” Annual Mallow

Lavatera trimestris “Silver Cup”

Annual Mallow

 Lavatera is in the family Malvaceae and is a cousin of hibiscus and hollyhock.
A reference to a cultivar 'Silver Chalice' has been encountered. This may be the same as 'Silver Cup'.
The plant was named after, J. R. Lavater a 17th century Swiss botanist It is a native of Spain and of Syria, but is not deterred by our cooler climates. The Annual mallow can bear very harsh temperatures without any problems, even many degrees below zero.
Lavatera appears to have been introduced from Spain in about 1600 as, though not mentioned by Gerard, who wrote in 1587, it is by his commentator Johnson, who wrote in 1633. It was then called the Spanish Summer Mallow.
Clusius was the first to apply to it its specific name of trimestris. Charles de l'Écluse, L'Escluse, or Carolus Clusius (1526 -1609), was a Flemish doctor and pioneering botanist, perhaps the most influential of all 16th century scientific horticulturists. Clusius laid the foundations of Dutch tulip breeding and the bulb industry today.

The species itself is pink and, although occasionally grown, was long since superseded by that old cottage garden favourite ‘Loveliness’.
The Fleuroselect award winning varieties ‘Silver Cup’ and ‘Mount Blanc’, which are pink and white flowered respectively, recently ousted ‘Loveliness’ from many seed catalogues.
Lavatera 'Parade' is a mixture of 'Mont Blanc', 'Pink Beauty', 'Ruby Regis' and 'Silver Cup'.

The Lucky Nut, Be Still Tree, Digoxin, Yellow Oleander

All of my Art has a story.

There was a time when all the oil Sheiks of Saudi Arabia brought all these existing plants in the U.S. for their palaces. I remember those couple of years. The Yellow Bells is indigenous to South America and now the tree is now considered an invasive tree in many parts of Africa and Pacific Islands.

Although Thevtia peruviana, AKA Yellow Oleander or Lucky Nut is a poison when ingested by humans, Its seed oil is used as an antifungal, antibactetrial and antitermite. It can be used in oil in paint to prevent termites. Thevetia peruviana inhibited spermatogenesis in rats, indicating the possibility of developing herbal male contraceptive.
TRAIL has now been recognized, as one of the few tumor selective agents able to eradicate cancer cells selectively by activating a signalling pathway that is used by the innate immune system, opening an entirely novel dimension to cancer research and therapy. Thevitia peruvian may take a key roll in this cancer cures. Cardenolide glycosides 1 and 2 showed significant reversal effect on TRAIL resistance in human gastric adenocarcinoma cells.

Yellow Oleander (Thevetia Peruviana)

Thevetia peruviana, Yellow Oleander is native to South America and could be another plant 

the has to do with curing specific cancer cells. 

Medicinal Facts for Thevetia peruviana.

     Although Thevtia peruviana is a poison when ingested by humans. Its seed oil is used as an antifungal, antibactetrial and antitermite properties.  It can be used in oil is use in paint and it can prevent termites. Thevetia peruviana inhibited spermatogenesis in rats, indicating the possibility of developing herbal male contraceptive.
TRAIL has now been recognized, as one of the few tumor selective agents able to eradicate cancer cells selectively by activating a signalling pathway that is used by the innate immune system, opening an entirely novel dimension to cancer research and therapy. Thevitia peruvian may take a key roll in cancer cures. Cardenolide glycosides 1 and 2 showed significant reversal effect on TRAIL resistance in human gastric adenocarcinoma cells.

Serendipity with a Little John Bottlebrush

I arrived early to Sunday services at church and photographed this beautiful plant 

in the parking lot island blooming.

Little John Bottlebrush (Callistemon citrinus viminalis cultivar)

The Bottlebrush
 
 Unless you're from the Australia,  New Caledonia or Philippines, you are probably unaware of the marvelous healthsource growing greater Phoenix.  The bottlebrush tree or shrub (Callistemon citrinus viminalis), also sometimes called the Ringworm bush in its native habitat, is a hardwood tree that bears much more than a pretty bright red floral display to the environment.
      The leaves contain oils which are useful for their antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant properties. The chemicals cineole and pinene are known  for their insect-repelling qualities as well as antibacterial.  Menthyl acetate, an essential oil, is also found in the plant and is responsible for its fragrance. These are the primary ingredients found in this tree's foliage. In a process known as quorum sensing, bacteria are able to somehow communicate with each other on an intercellular basis. The chemical components found in the bottlebrush leaves have an ability to disrupt this procedure. (Bacteria disruption study Bacteria disruption study.)   In Jamaica it has been used for generations for a hot drink  call “tea” used for the treatment of gastro-enteritis, diarrhea and skin infections.
     In a 2010 report (Am. J. Applied Sci. 7 (1) 13-16) leaves of C. citrinus were shade dried for 48 hours and crushed into a powder using a blender. Six grams of powder were used in 10 ml of ethanol distilled water to make an ethanol extract and 10 mls of of methanol distilled water for a methanolic extraction. They were then centrifuged (3,000 rpms) for 15 minutes and clear liquid harvested. This was done three times then the alcohol evaporated by incubating at room temperature. This oil had antibacterial and antifungal activity.
       Veterinary research has discovered that the bottlebrush's leaves for combating intestinal parasites in animals.  By rubbing crushed leaves on your skin, insects have been effectively repelled from these oils. Many studies have been performed on the effects of the bottlebrush tree's oils. In Florida is has been observed that you won't find insects other than bees around the bottlebrush.
       The leaves can also be made into a tea and for flavor similar to a bay leaf. Some use the flowers to make a sweet tea and as a dye. The aborigines use it as a sweetener.

Snapdragon oil is like olive oil

     The Snapdragon (Antirrhinum magusis), also called toad's mouth, dog's mouth and lions mouth, indigenous to Europe and has been used as a garden plant since the Romans and Greeks thought snapdragons had the power to protect them from witchcraft.

Descorides, the Greek physician wrote that protection would be given to the person that wore snapdragons around their neck. In the medieval period, snapdragons were thought to be the guardians of European castles and were planted near the gates.   Early German society thought a bunch of snapdragons hung near a baby would keep the baby from being afraid of evil spirits. Women boiled snapdragons and applied the resulting infusion to their faces to keep them beautiful and restore youth. In Russia, snapdragons were believed to boost the body’s energy.  A cream or lotion can be  made for rashes and sunburns from its leaves and flowers. A gargle can also be made from its leaves and flowers for mouth ulcers and opera singers once drank a tea brew from the flowers before a concert to heal a aching, strained throat. Muclia pectin and gallic acid give the plant its anti-inflammatory qualities and has also been used for the treatment of hemorrhoids.
     In the fifteen century it was cultivated in Russia for oil found in the seeds as is only slightly inferior to olive oil.  The snapdragon depends almost entirely on the bumblebees for pollination because the flower's design make honey bees ineffective.

Abundance in the Garden of Gratitude.

The Garden of Gratitude March 30, 2014

Abundance in the Garden of Gratitude.

     Yesterday, I harvested 3 varieties of lettuce, the first of the non-gmo potatoes, the last of the broccoli and the many varieties of peas as well as carrots, peppers, radishes, tomatoes, moringa leaves, kale and onions. Neighbors were posting warnings of sightings of large birds of prey nearby, like the Great Horned Owls, an extremely, large Harris Hawk that some people think is an eagle, falcons and the two smaller Red Tailed Hawks that perch in a large Allepo Pine that can be seen from my Garden of Gratitude in my backyard.
      Today, in the early morning, I picked many varieties of swiss chard and lettuce to give away to church members as my neighbors have received all they can eat. I still have a crate of fresh picked Arizona Sweet Oranges harvested from my neighbor's tree. Then I saw five Hummingbirds and one that started to do his circular mating dance for the first time this spring. Brightly, colored Lessor Goldfinches were eating the seeds from the sunflowers. 

     Adding to the ambiance, I heard the buzzing sound of  large honey bees everywhere as they collecting nectar from the pink poppies as well as the collective sounds from all types of  birds singing, like a flock of chattering, feral Peached-faced Love Parrots and the trills from the common House Wren's songs.... If you add the sweet fragrance of Sweet Peas permeating the atmosphere and the first bloom of the pure, white flower of the Sacred Datura you know that you are mindful of the moment and the beauty of the diversity of life..

I am mindful....  I am grateful... of all that is present in the Garden of Gratitude.

Aloe variegata attracts Hummingbirds

 Aloe variegata, attracts Hummingbirds

Aloe variegata is called the Partridge Breast Aloe, Tiger Aloe or  'Kannie dood' which means 'cannot die'. It is native to South Africa and Nambia and spread around the world as a house plant. I likes semi arid to arid climates and flowers most of the year in Phoenix, Arizona.  It has much the same medicinal properties as the well-known Aloe Vera plant and can be used internally as a antimicrobial and it relieves discomfort and help heal skin irritations (ex burns and shingles).

Many beliefs are attached to this delightful species which was described as early as 1658. It is said that some indigenous people to this day, hang plants inside the huts of young women and if the plant flowers, this indicates that the women is fertile and will have many children-the plant will flower although not in the ground or cared for, hence its name, kannie dood.. Plants are also planted on graves in the belief that it will lead to eternal life. There is no doubt that Aloe variegata is a very attractive plant for garden and container planting. Once established, it lasts for many years with little care.

Don't pick the flowers!

Don't pick the flowers!

Almost all of my Sweet Peas have white flowers except for this one. I have such gratitude for this anomaly in my Garden of Gratitude as it bore in me the inspiration to write my very first pontification on this morning. 

“If you love a flower, don’t pick it because the flower dies and ceases to be what you love. Just enjoy the smell, beauty and uniqueness of the flower until it produces seeds. Then pick, plant and nurture the seeds so you will be able to appreciate the love that you have for that flower and all the diversity that it produces."

The Community Garden Experience

Links to the community in a Community Garden

 

 

 

                                            

The History of the Gardening Movement

 

Links to Plan and Sustain a Community Garden       

City of Mesa Community Garden Policies

Neglected Parcels to Community Gardens: A Handbook

Community Garden Toolkit

I Love My P-Patch: A Community Garden Leadership Handbook

American Community Gardening Association

Gardeners' Welcome Packet

A Community Garden Cooperation Story on NPR

Therapy Community Garden Opens in Tucson

 

 Links Community Gardens in the East Valley 

Mesa Urban Garden, opened January 2013, is located at 212 E. 1st Ave
Care Partnership Community Garden, started in 1995, is located at 466 S. Bellview

Mesa Community College Community Garden located at the Dobson and Southern Campus
Dobson Ranch Community Garden for Dobson Ranch residents
North Desert Village Community Garden located at the ASU Polytechnic Campus

Desert Willow Sustainable Garden at Superstition Farm in southeast Mesa

Harvest of Hope Community Garden at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, @ 32nd St. & McDowell

Agritopia in Gilbert, AZ

Take Action

 

The Results of a Food Forest

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And then there was "Jadab Mulai Payeng" who worked over 30 years, selfishly and by himself to transform 1,360 acres (approx. 2 square miles) of a barren, lifeless sandbar into a lush jungle which now harbors not only many species of birds, butterflies and snakes and also provides a home for rhinos, tigers and elephants. The forest is comprised of many species of flora and bamboo as well as several thousand trees among which are Valcol, Arjun, Ejar, Goldmohur, Koroi and Himolu.  Regular yearly visitors to the forest include a herd of 100 or so elephants who generally stay for around six months. In recent times, the forest also provided a birthing place for their 10 calves.

A Diet Free from GMO and GE foods and harmful chemicals.

A simple way to eliminate foods from you diet that contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and genetically engineered (GE) foods, as well as fungicides, pesticides, herbicides and other harmful chemicals.

Rule 1:

Change slowly so that you don't get frustrated and think it is impossible. You must consider that all the foods that you consume now contain GMOs (or GE foods)  Remember that this change is life long commitment. Slow, small, constant changes are easier for your body, mind, taste preferences and budget to handle.  Try change one food a week. For example I would first start with your breakfast cereal and Tortilla chips.  They are easy to change. Lunch is the hardest to change if you eat out at a restaurants or eat packaged meals from the frozen food aisle at your grocery store. Lunch will take the longest.  Breakfast and dinner is the easiest since you probably eat at home.  Dinners at restaurants are the next hardest since you have few choices and you have to do a lot of research and talk to the owner and chef.  You won't be the first one to ask questions regarding GMOs.

 

Rule 2:

Assume that all restaurants and all prepared and processed packaged foods contain GMO foods.  Don't try to find out if the foods you are eating now have GMOs.  It will take forever. Change to brand that are researched by others.  Look up items that state non-GMOs from lists of links below.  The words like organic, natural, healthy, range free will confuse you. The labels must say 100% Organic or have a non-GMO label.  Each product must be researched by an independent sources and not by the company that makes the product. If it does not say " non GMO " is probably isn't.

1. List of  Non-GMO and GMO products
2. List of  Non-GMO Foods
3. List of  Non-GMO food companies and a list of brands
4. July 2013 largest list with printable Non-GMO brands
5. List of  Non-GMO retailers
6. List of  Non-GMO companies 
7. Non-GMO Shopping Guide in SPANISH
8. Whole foods market Non-GMO product list
9. Non-GMO Shopping Guide 
10. How to avoid GMOs in foods
11. Greenpeace shoppers guide to a Non-GMO diet
12. APPs to help avoid GMOs

Rule 3:

As you slowly change your eating lifestyle, you will find the certain foods are very hard to change.  Kick that food change down the road and start changing something else that might easier. Don't try to be perfect.  Listen to your body and especially your digestive system.  Do I feel comfortable. GMOs affect the digestive system. Once you change you will feel the difference.

Rule 4:

Eat organic heirloom wheat.  Remember all modern wheat has been modified in the 1970 by gene splicing.  Heirloom varieties of wheat are hard to find but many restaurants buy it.
Here is a list of AZ suppliers. It is hard to find bread without modern wheat.  I make my own with a bread machine.  Here is a list of local suppliers of Sonoran wheat flour.
Local suppliers of  Hayden flour mill products.

 

Rule 5:

Eat grass-fed 100 % organic, free range chicken, eggs, beef, pork
Eat only wild fish.
Here is a list of AZ  beef suppliers:

1. Topline foods.mail order and comparisons
2. Arizona Srv beef 
3. Date Creek Ranch in Wickenburg AZ 
4. Whole Foods
5. Sprouts Market
6. Call local butchers

Rule 6:      

Drink a substitute for milk and teas for soft drinks.  I like almond milk and I have my own special blend of teas and herbs. I use organic liquid stevia and honey from bee hives in the desert for a sweetener.

 

Rule 7:

Allow extra time every day for cooking unless you found a restaurant that you trust by talking to the cook and owner. You will not be the first one that asked them the question.

 

Rule 8 

Write your President, Congressman  and Senators about your situation and that you want to live without GMOs until they have been tested. Why should there be a patent rights on GMO foods.  I have no patent rights if I breed a better plant the traditional way.  Something is wrong here.

Sign the Pledge and download your boycott guide and poster

 Sign the Boycott Pledge of companies supporting NOT labeling GMOs

GMO boycott poster

 

GMO Genetically Modified Organism / Engineered Crops Information

NONGMO NONGMO NONGMO NONGMO  NONGMO

GMOs in agriculture:

Genetically modified (GM) foods were first approved for human consumption in the United States in 1995, and by 1999 almost 50 percent of the corn, cotton, and soybeans planted in the United States were GM. By the end of 2010, GM crops covered more than 9.8 million square kilometres (3.8 million square miles) of land in 29 countries worldwide—one-tenth of the world’s farmland.

Potatoes, cotton, sugar beets and corn, that were endowed with a gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, which produces a natural insecticide called Bt toxin. Studies of Bt cotton production in Arizona, U.S., demonstrated only small gains in yield—about 5 percent—with an estimated cost reduction of $25–65 (USD) per acre due to decreased pesticide applications. In China, a seven-year study of farms planting Bt cotton demonstrated initial success of the GM crop, with farmers who had planted Bt cotton reducing their pesticide use by 70 percent and increasing their earnings by 36 percent. However, after four years, the benefits of Bt cotton eroded as populations of insect pests other than bollworm increased, and farmers once again were forced to spray broad-spectrum pesticides. While the problem was not Bt-resistant bollworms, as had been feared initially, it nonetheless became clear that much more research was needed for communities to realize sustainable and environmentally responsible benefits from planting GM crops.
The independent studies regarding GMO food crops (not done by the Seed/Chemical corporations) have shown an alarming increase in health risks to humans. Bacillus thuringiensis has the unique property that it can transfer genes across species and is not naturally live in our human body.

Below are  6 of the most INFORMATIVE VIDEOS I have seen over the last few years.

GMO education goes mainstream on Dr. Oz 2014, but that is only part of the problem.

A short overview of the potential risks of GMO  by Thierry Vrain who retired 10 years ago after a long career as a soil biologist and ended head of a department of molecular biology running his own research program to engineer nematode resistance genes in crops.

GMO seeds are not the solution for this generation

A World View of  GMO crops

Farmers speak about GMO crops

2009 Nova / Frontline Documentary about GMOs on youtube part one of 12

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Joys in the morning in the Garden of Gratitude

I just heard the birds chirping in the Garden of Gratitude outside.  It is a call from the hidden forces in nature to begin another day within the "Circle of Life".   It is the time to commune with the unknown and the ever present life force that surrounds us all the time. For some they may call it God.  For me it is all the tillions of cells and microorganisms in my body and the almost infinite number of individul life forces like bacteria, fungi, viruses, animals, birds and plants that live in the air, soil and water all around us, each doing their job and so I can experience the joys of life and a new day of fulfillment as I reflect on the gratitude I have for the experience of yesterday. I have to go. I hear the call.

The Peach Faced Parrot is squawking for breakfast.

 

The Black Widow is spinning a new web.

 

The Salt March Caterpillar "Whooly Worm" is searching for lettuce

 

The Birdhouse Gourd is hiding for those who want to peck.

 

The White-lined Spix Caterpillar munches some Swiss Chard.

 

The Red Hollyhock absorbs the Sun's morning rays.

, 

 

The Honey Bee gathers fresh pollen.

 

 

Enjoying the Turnips, Artichokes and Sunflowers in May.

 State of the Garden of Gratitude May 20, 2013.

   I am picking the last of the Turnips, cooking mthArtichokes and watching the Sunflowers grow their seeds.

Microbes in Garden Soil increase your immune system.

     Gardening is good for your brain and the bacteria in the soil may be the cause, according to  Dr. Raison, a University of Arizona researcher.

    Scientists have found that contact with a bacterium that lives in the soil, Mycobacterium vaccae, can improve cognitive function and mood. “What is remarkable is that this microorganism seems to know how exactly to signal the brain areas we believe are most important for reducing depressive symptoms.  It immediately goes on a mainline right up to this one particular area of the brain. “Dirt has a lot of microbes in it that we know impact the immune system in ways that actually enhance emotional resilience,” says Dr. Charles Raison. So far, most studies of M. vaccae have been done in animals, but Raison is hopeful that future studies in humans could yield a new tool for fighting depression and other mood disorders. Their physical benefits have been known for decades. “It’s been shown a number of times now that people who live near green spaces, who have access to natural environments, live longer than people who don’t,” Raison says.  “There are now a number of studies to suggest that gardening in particular—therapeutic garden—may beneficially impact a range of conditions: obesity, dementia, schizophrenia, depression,”

 

 

The State of the Garden on May 15, 2013

 State of The Garden of  Gratitude May 15, 2013

Large leaves from Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Artichokes and squash are composting on my garden paths and also stabilize the soil.

 

 

 The Centaurea cyanus, Blue Boy Bachelor Buttons and Lavatera trimestris, Silver Cup flowers are blooming and make great cut flowers. The tulip and ranacula bulbs are fading and the marigold are prolifc. My neighbor are talking about the Sunflowers that are six feet high and the nine foot hight, Holly Hocks with their red, pink and white flowers.  I just finished harvesting the last of the broccoli, peas, spinach and lettuce. The beets, turnips, swiss chard and carrots are all huge and will be bolting soon.  The brussel sprouts and celery are growing.  The tomatoes are almost ready to eat and the cucmbers and peppers are blooming. The corn is knee high and the beans, melons and squash are beginning to growing fast. The bees are working late as I watch them at twilight on the Silver cup flowers and the Goldfinches love the Bachelor buttons. Today I planted Armenian cucumbers and tomorrow I am planting more Birdhouse gourds and String beans.

.

 

Peas from garden

It is pea season in the garden....Hmm.good!. It reminds me of  all the times I shucked peas with my maternal Grandfather, Albert Major  who lived in LaPorte In.. The are so sweet...that's why the call them "sugar" snap peas.
 

Serendipity in the garden

The garden becomes alive with Mushrooms under the Swiss Chard and a nearby Black Widow Lair.

Bird House Gourd from my garden morphed

Can you guess what the name of the plant below is? Yesterday, I took this photo in my garden and enhanced it today in Photoshop.. This is a planet for mold and bacteria. It is just another Mandala for me.

Answer:  Birdhouse Gourd