Changing Perspective: From Ditch Flowers to Tiger Lillies

Something I adore about Halifax is the beautiful urban gardens right in the downtown. Halifax is a small enough city that in the summer trees and flowers and greenery are everywhere.

What I found surprising when I moved here were the amount of Tiger Lilies as ornamental, planted ON PURPOSE for the garden, flowers. I would have to say they are Halifax's "la fleur du jour" and a staple for front yard gardens.

Which struck me as extremely odd since at home (aka rural Nova Scotia) they're considered "ditch flowers", or "those orange flowers that grow in ditches". People generally don't plant them necessarily on purpose, and if they do it's because they don't really have better flowers to plant.

They would almost be the equivalent of lupines in the garden. (Lupines, pronounced "lou-pins", are a tourist-y flower of Nova Scotia that grow along the highways in purples, whites and pinks. Although pretty while they flower, they are generally considered as more of a weed and not something you would have in your garden).

(Lupines near Lunenburg, photo credit "Second Paradise Retreat" (website) a beautiful eco-vacation rental in Nova Scotia)

It's like Haligonians didn't get the memo that these flowers grow best in ditches....

In order to help change my conditioned response that Tiger Lillies= ugly ditch flowers, I decided to photograph them. On my short ten minute walk to Smiling Goat for the most delicious coffee in the city, I encountered 12 instances of ditch flowers (aka Tiger Lillies). Here are the highlights:

 (Sturdy, overgrown, haphazard lillies next to a garbage bin)

Focal point in a garden, colour in the green!

lonely pop of orange curling around a gate

The main show spilling onto the sidewalk

So pretty reaching up near the stone wall of the church

A second group of orange near the church

Up close and personal

Discovering local greens in your city is a great way to feel a bit more connected to nature (and ecologically responsible!).

Do you have any flowers that strike you as strange "garden" flowers?

Le potager urbain: Grow Food Not Lawn-GPB

I may not be a great urban gardener, but I do believe that in order to change our way of living and cultural views on food, front yard urban gardening should be encouraged not punished.

Check out my post on a Canadian couple's fight to keep their beautiful front kitchen garden (photos and video!) over at the Green Phone Booth (and sign their petition!)

Blessings!

Why I Gave up Urban Gardening- GPB

Do you feel guilty when you're surrounded by everyone and their dog who grows their own food? 

My journey as an urban gardener has taken a vacation. Go take a peak at my Green Phone Booth post today about my challenges and roadblocks in gardening and why I gave up on the dream (for the time being).  And feel less guilty :)

Happy Weekend!

Illicit Rooftop Gardening

Growing my own food- I strongly believe that in order to live sustainably we need to try to keep our food as local as possible. Personally, buying organic bananas that have been shipped thousands of miles to my plate doesn't sound very sustainable at all.

Although I know I can't personally grow a whole lot in an "urban" garden, I feel like a small container with real food growing is a contribution to changing the culture of what is considered "urban" and "rural" behaviour. That and my last three urban dreams have drifted down the bug infested, dead toilet.

 (Halifax Seaport Farmer's Market from upper level)

So I'm setting my standards low.

A problem with our current apartment, although a dream in a heritage building, there was no balcony. No growing space except for this ridiculous green patch which the exhaust fumes of the cars parked in the driveway spew onto. No fumigated food thank you very much.

At the end of last summer, though, I found out from my neighbour that she sunbathes on the roof... YES! that would be perfect- I would sneak up there with a container and make a rooftop garden.

 

 The beautiful peg and dowel garden box! It was a cinch to put together!

 A month ago I found a local farmer at the market who was selling these uber cool wooden peg and dowel garden boxes. He hand mills them and the wood is all Forest Stewardship Certified. After checking with my dad on price and whether it would cost less for him to make me some (haha, forever the fisherman's daughter)- no it wouldn't- I bought a small one. My favourite part? It will easily come apart for storage at the end of the season. In a Halifax heritage building, storage is treasured.

 The fire escape UP (and our living room window behind there) and DOWN...

Sunday, Andrew and I finally decided it was time to foray into the illicit rooftop garden world. Firstly; the neighbours. Our fire escape, the entrance to the roof, goes directly by two levels of windows. It was a perfect opportunity to meet a new third floor neighbour! We bought a bag of organic potting soil, some lettuce starters and hot peppers from the Farmer's Market (they're supposed to be easy to grow here in Nova Scotia) and pretty viola flowers. Just because.

The view from the roof!

Two trips up and we had everything on the roof. Unfortunately I hadn't counted on my fear of heights as something to consider. Those steps are narrow and steep and well... I really don't like being high up. Watering should become an adventure.

Another thing I hadn't considered once up there: just how beautiful our view was! We can see the Atlantic ocean from our roof. I had the sudden urge to practice yoga- which was sad since I'm *really* sure that would be frowned upon.

Our little planter! The beauty is the bag can stay, discouraging cats and bugs!

All planted up and a quick water later and tahdah! My very own tiny little urban garden box, complete with pretty flowers for some urban bees to snack on. Since it's rained today, I've only been up there to water and check on the little box once. We'll see how it turns out, but I am immensely proud of my own little food sustainable project. :)

Blessings!

Article and photographs copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

Permaculture- it's not just about dirt and gardening

Spontaneous permaculture talks. I mean- what else could be more titillating? Do we live on the wild side or what?

You may be asking (as I did): 'What the eff is permaculture?'

Well... honestly if the talk were any indication, besides something that radical hippies/hipsters (hey, not that I'm not a tree hugger myself, I just happen to own a fridge) buy into, permaculture has something to do with agriculture. Permanent Agriculture is a term that has grown into, over time, "Permaculture".

Clear right? (Let's just say that the presenter wasn't the best at clearly defining topic and explaining the "what" in "What is permaculture").

Ok, so it's actually a lot more than simply a closed loop, sustainable agricultural system... which is what I originally thought permaculture to be. A quick search on wiki reveals that modern permaculture is:

...a system design tool. It is a way of:

1. looking at a whole system or problem;
2. observing how the parts relate;
3. planning to mend sick systems by applying ideas learned from long-term sustainable working systems;
4. seeing connections between key parts.... (wiki source)

(interested? More info on permaculture at Permaculture Principles)

A friend of mine had informed me that morning that the talk was occurring at a tiny bookstore-cafe two seconds from where we live (The Trident). As we'd never been there before, and hey I like ecological topics, we decided to attend. First of all, being type A, it was a little stressful to discover that the time was a little fouffy, no one (even the staff at Trident) really knew when it was starting and seating was haphazardly assigned. I had a few deep breath moments.

The presenter was an experienced and obviously passionate farmer, Alex. He had a beautifully hand drawn "Permaculture Flower" taped up against the book shelves and I could still see the soil beneath his fingers. Although there were a few key aspects of his presentation that were a bit wonky (ridiculously poor organizational and explanation skills and some obvious biases against all government and traditional educational settings, and several conspiracy theories thrown in for good measure), Alex reminded me of a few key and inspirational Eco-Musts.

Firstly, to my surprise, he did not in fact begin talking about soil, plants or compost- but Peak Oil. Nothing new here- oil sequestered by the sun for millions of years is a finite resource, we're chewing through it at something like 80-something million barrels a day and have passed the point of the peak amount of oil available on our planet. It is something to consider, because unless we start investing in something else for energy, our fuel costs will just continue to skyrocket in the long term.

As I sat there, surrounded by large framed glasses wearing, huge beard and "trying to look authentically like a trucker hat even though I obviously have never lived outside the city my entire life" wearing early twenty somethings who chimed in at the end how "parents are the WORSE man", I kinda felt a bit out of touch. Ya know, I have visual evidence of me hugging a ginormous tree in Stanley Park (Vancouver BC), and truly have grown up in rural Nova Scotia where I'd come home regularly to a new deer gutted and hung up in my grandpy's barn to be shared with everyone, but I kept having moments of "please give me something practical and useful hear" instead of Mr. Alex's passionate advice to build a rocket stove or a root cellar.

I kept picturing Andrew and I attempting to cook grilled cheeses in a brick makeshift stove with the fire started by the twigs we gathered and an increasingly large black burned area in our living room floor. I figured it would be 5 minutes before our neighbours would call the fire station... and we'd get evicted.

After the first hour I had a harder time tracking his jumping bean train of thought and connecting all the dots. I found myself gazing lovingly at the beautiful Permaculture Flower.

Now this flower has some interesting community and life implications. 

It looks an awful lot like a pagan diagram. The spiral, the connection with nature and the ethical concept that we're here to care for our planet as stewards.  I wondered on the Goddess or probably pagan roots and connections. There is definitely something spiritual connected here.

At 9pm my face was so red, my heart and mind a bit heavy after such a long, disjointed and impassioned speech (we'd been there since 6:30pm), that I was very much happy to go. Even though I really wanted to directly challenge a few of his statements (that university brainwashes you, that parents and the baby boomers know nothing about conservation, that environmental organizations really don't do squat, that urban gardening is a waste of time, that cooperation and community has been lost in rural and urban settings alike...), I just got up and left. The thing is though, I'm fairly certain he would have listened respectfully and been a great conversation partner.

Ahh well- the following post on cooperation and community: why it's important to begin thinking about and how to start one in your living area, were worth the entirety of that 2+hour talk. :) That and it was so moving to see someone completely passionate and caring share his thoughts and ideas.

The one book I've read that mentions permaculture? The Earth Path by Starhawk. An amazing book btw that teaches you how to make seedbombs. Oh yeah.


article copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

Earth

In honour of David Suzuki, I've decided to do a little "Four Elements" eco-impact. As a pagan, this paradigm just makes sense. Considering all four elements plus spirit is essential as part of our practice as yogi(ni)s. As biological beings we are inseparable from our planet and it's elements.

Remember Captain Planet? I feel like raising my fist in the air and shouting "EARTH"!!!

Earth, soil, dirt... life. When we think of earth, we typically think of dirt, something inert and non-essential. It's not like we go around waxing poetic about mud and earth worms. What we've forgotten in our uber clean, anti-bacterial, dirt-fearing culture, is that all earth-bound life forms get their nourishment directly or indirectly from soil. The food that we eat requires soil (for the most part). Every single one of our cells in our bodies require "sugars" and enzymes to keep their little selves moving and our brains thinking. Our source...food.

The soil we depend on to grow our food is in what is called "topsoil" and is an extremely thin part of what makes up our planet. David Suzuki reports that if we shrunk our planet to the size of a baseball, topsoil would be the size of an atom. Such a relatively thin layer of substance contains an extremely complex and bio-diverse profile. Each cubic centimetre moves with billions of microorganisms. "...the soil produces life because it is itself alive" (A Sacred Balance, 2007). Earth is our source of nourishment, a home for essential bacterial lifeforms and is a main filter for our water systems.

Topsoil has taken millions of years to create and we are destroying it within a few generations.

 

According to David Suzuki, each year an estimated 24 billion tons of topsoil is lost on our planet, in large part because of agricultural practices and desertification (The Legacy, 2010). Modern agricultural farming has allowed us to increase in our food productivity, but with the direct result in soil erosion, loss and decreased richness. Modern farming methods now deplete topsoil about 30 times faster than it can be replaced (David Pimentel as quoted in A Sacred Balance 2007).

Despite our use of pesticides and monocrop farming to increase productivity of food, we still lose a third of crops to weeds and pests, which is a rate on par with crop loss before the chemical pesticide "revolution" (David Suzuki Foundation). 30 registered pesticides in Canada are known to kill wild birds, fish or important insects, and every bite means a dozen or more chemical combos being absorbed into the very cells of our bodies. Bioaccumulation of chemicals; a higher concentration in top predators of chemicals; has been shown for scary chemicals like DDT and other currently banned pesticides.


So how do we protect the foundation of life, our earth? We need to remember it's there, bring our awareness to just how alive and essential our soil is to life on our planet.

I invite you, yogi(ni)s and non-yogi(ni)s alike to practice a short sequence or moment of mindfulness with our earth. For the next few weeks take an extra moment during your practice to visualize and consider the connection between your toes. Poses like "tadasana" or mountain pose are excellent to focus your mind while all strong standing postures allow us to feel the energy spiraling up through our earth into our bones, muscles and life.

Choose certified organic foods whenever possible, either by budget or availability. The best certified organic food sources come close to home and are local by the province or state. Certified organic foods are grown using safe pest-control methods and products, which means little to no chemical absorption in our soil. Certification is rigid and requires years of commitment and soil prepping and is taken seriously by the industry.


Growing your own food, even if that means a starting with a small urban food containers on your balcony, will not only provide food that you control the soil's health, but forge a connection between yourself and Earth.


Support sustainable forestry by purchasing post-consumer recycled paper, forest stewardship council certified wood products and voice your concerns about clear cutting.


Compost your food, contributing to nourished soil. A common misconception is that food breaks down in the landfill. In reality, organic matter can stay the same for decades when in a plastic bag with minimal to no oxygen to allow food to break down.


Decrease your carbon footprint. The carbon emissions released in the air don't simply float away. The soil isn't separated from the air by an invisible force-field. A really concrete example, while living in Montreal our floors were coated each week in a layer of black carbon tar from the trucks and cars driving past (on Papineau street). 


"The Power is YOURS! Go Planet!" :)


article copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

An Urban Garden Success Story: Laitue!

The rain today has washed away all hopes of a mid-week evening sunset Guerrilla Yoga... which was disappointing. However- it did mean that we had more time for supper preparing and balcony garden discovery!

Although supporting local, sustainable farmers is all great and good, my ultimate dream is to grow my OWN food... and I wholeheartedly believe that it is possible to grow edible food on a tiny city balcony.

This year's strawberries so far... similar to last year!

Last year was our first attempt at food growing (ever!) and it was a lovely experience. I adored watching the tiny seedlings push up and flourish. I also watched the garlic and peas whither away and shrivel up. Although a learning experience, our 'garden' really didn't produce anything more than a handful of strawberries, three pea pods and a few carrots. Not exactly meal conducive.

This year I was determined to grow a TON of food and use better soil. We attended a local talk on urban garden at the downtown library. I learned about a local urban and community gardens and beehive keepers (VERY cool! Rooftop beehives!!) and that potted soil should be 75% compost-type and 25% regular soil. 

So surprised they actually grew back this year, survived snow!

 

We reused our pots and bought a ridiculous amount of organic worm poo, ordered organic and non-GMO carrot, broccoli, lettuce and radish seeds. Sadly, we found a balcony-handicapped but otherwise perfect dream apartment.

radishes... see the skinny roots?

 

I ultimately decided to plant our lettuce, radish and broccoli seeds anyway and throw caution to the wind. We'll find new homes for the plants. Hopefully.

LETTUCE!!!

I am so excited to announce some success!


Although the radishes are kinda skinny and the strawberries (actually grew again this year!) are only producing a smattering of berries, the LETTUCE. Oh my.


Lettuce is a staple in this household for vegetables. Pair my anxiety around new vegetables and Andrew's anti-vegetable stance and you get a lot of non-adventurous salads. 

Forest of Lettuce- enter dramatic classical music.

 

Last week, for three days I picked little leaves for my sandwich. As it was baby lettuce I figured they were ready. Didn't really think they would continue growing, even though I left a bunch of little tiny leaves. I felt like a strange urban gardener, out there each early morning in my work clothes, delicately plucking little baby leaves and swearing whenever I accidentally pulled them out by the roots. By the end of last week they were looking quite razzed and I assumed that would be that.


Fast forward to today and cue leaf motherload!! It was as if *I had never even been there* (duh duh duuuuuuh). YES! Look at those beautiful fluffy green leaves. Half of the planter produced two bowls of salads, and I only took the biggest leaves... hopefully allowing the smaller leaves to continue growing.

 Le Bol de la fameuse Laitue!

 

I'm so sad to have to consider giving such a bountiful plant away! I'm considering keeping the lettuce up next to one of our windows in our new place... 

If you live in the city and have a balcony, all it takes is a pot, some dirt and worm poo and a few seeds. Take that step into becoming a self-sustaining yogi(ni) and use your outdoor space to grow Life.


I tell ya, lettuce rocks.


(one week and we'll be in our new place!! WOOT!)


Blessings from rainy Halifax


article and photographs copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

How Yoga is like Guerrilla Gardening

Guerrilla Yoga and Guerrilla Gardening. There is definitely a connection.

 (a purple finch in the city, hanging out next to green plastic....)

We have FOUND our apartment... our next 'forever-city-rental' home. On Sunday evening, after a weekend from... well- ya know, on the verge of simply going for the 'good enough' apartment, something magical happened. The Kijiji-Genie updated to show an apartment in the South End, for July 1st, under 1000$. Not to be mislead by wondrous pictures, I ordered Andrew to *STOP* cooking (yes, Andrew loves to cook) and we booted it over.  


The friendly current tenant told me I would crap my pants... and she was right. 14 foot ceilings, crown molding, circle dealy on the ceiling, original hardwood floor, original (blocked off) fireplace... extra 300 sq feet of living... Oh my. I have been dreaming of just how many yogi-friends we'll be able to fit in our apartment for our weekly Yogaglo friend yoga.

The catch? You guessed it; no balcony. No green-outdoor space whatsoever. And my strawberries have actually re-appeared in the pot (I guess when they say perennial, they meant it!) and I JUST planted my organic broccoli seeds.

As we just chatted about, I have come to realize that gardening in the city is an essential and necessary aspect of reconnecting our Selves to community and assuring Nature's place in our urban lives. 

Well crap, guess I gotta rethink my List. 

My Strawberry plants actually flowering!

Let's chat about Guerrilla Gardening. Like Yoga, Guerrilla Gardening is a non-violent means of encouraging beauty and Life. Guerrilla Gardeners have been known to plant on street corners, in abandoned parking lots, unused areas in public gardens or abandoned garden beds. 

In concrete, desolate spaces, a few choice seeds, organic matter and soil mushed together in the form of a 'seed bomb' can explode into a cacophony of petals, pollen and Life. Tiny living plant-forms push up as they root down, the tadasana of Life, taking hold and opening up amongst the cement. 

soon to be adopted Broccoli (really, they're under the dirt!) 

Guerrilla Yoga really is about spreading our practice, our Yoga (usually in the form of asana, but could be all other limbs and facets) to new and open spaces. By practicing together, surrounded by Life and community we are quietly and firmly rejoicing and growing. Our Yoga in the Parks (thanks to Climate Change) have been occurring much earlier this year and I am so excited to continue a practice of community and growth.

But what about the garden??? Unfortunately, after attending a local talk on Urban Gardening (Edible City), we found out that community plots are basically all taken, so that's out. Here are a few of my ideas so far, as obviously I am not giving up my Nurturing Garden in the City just yet.

1. Plant my radishes and lettuce now and harvest the heck out of them while I can... they'll grow pretty fast and will be ready before we move.
2.  Adopt out my plants to my parents (who are planning on building a hot house) and Funemployment DIY friends Jen and Chris, who have much greener thumbs than us anyways. They also have a balcony and will be our neighbours! So sharing might happen (hint hint...mmm basil pesto).
3. Ask the landlady if there is a spot for our container garden, somewhere...
4. Station our planters near the side of the building and plant in them anyways... and see what happens (probably cats will pee in them.. but whatever).
5. 'Guerrilla' garden in small areas around the building and hope no one notices.
6. Try growing stuff inside...I think the rads have shelves, but they might get a little warm. We'll have all our indoor plants inside anyway, why couldn't lettuce grow inside too?? (lol, a sign of how little I know about gardening).
7. Donate my seeds to local community gardens.

Any ideas on some possible urban garden-portunities? How are your Guerrilla Yoga (and Gardening) practices going?


Blessings!

article and photograph by EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

The 'Grassroots' of Urban Gardening

This post is part of The Coil, Hosted by A Green Spell for the Scorpio Full Moon. Please go on over and check out the lovely posts!

One of my favourite things about my banner, is my attempts to capture the disconnect between 'EcoYogini', Yoga, Environment and the city. Having grown up in the sticks, surrounded by ocean, trees and woods any city seems like a big slab of concrete with stinky smog. (tugboats at the warf! Theodore was just around the corner, srsly)

 eatin' icecream and being all 'I love ocean-y' while I looked at our beautiful oil refinery across the harbour... 

I say this even as I adored living in Montreal and I love living in Halifax. As our population moves to the city, I strongly believe that our disconnect as a community and to our Earth is a direct result. We live in our tiny boxes, little cubes of lives and no matter how many parks or trees that live cornered into their designated 'green space' it's a much more controlled, regulated process. Nothing like Nature's chaos, wildness or Strength. We view these little flower beds and trees as being 'permitted' to be there as opposed to having that right to space.

 Monsieur Homard with a terrible paint job- obviously he was attempting tree

This is the reason why I feel Urban Gardening is so essential to healing our community and how we treat our Earth. As Dr. Jay points out (in the comments!) city living actually decreases dependence on oil, gas and cars (sadly, Halifax is still a car-dependent city). What we're missing from our city centre is that connection to Earth and Nature. We still haven't found the balance.

Yes, decreasing mileage on our food, growing local and without pesticides is important and a great result of urban gardening, but it doesn't resonate with me as much as the cultural subtleties.

 A nice example of my fav aspect of Halifax- the cute shingled houses

Gardening is a direct way to view how our efforts and the way we treat soil can have a direct effect on our health. It's a bit more disconcerting, trying to eat something we've sprayed ourselves with chemicals and how much more appealing it is to use organic methods. How wonderful it is to care and nurture our food from a tiny seedling. 

How curious, a concrete empty building, like a city without Gardens...

There's been a lot of thought as to how we view our public spaces and how converting more and more unused city space for urban and community gardens is the way to go. Instead of growing small plots of pesticide-rich, water gulping, not really functional grass (I mean, who really just hangs out on their front lawn anyways?) why not grow a beautiful 'potager' garden. You know, growing pretty edible things.


Many cities are fighting for more community gardens, land shares, roof top garden spaces than ever. I find it fascinating to consider how such a grassroots experience can create social ripples in how we urbanites view our surroundings. The more people realize they can urban garden, the more they will appreciate and care for the land space, spreading the word to convince others and creating a cultural shift. 

After you've begun growing in the city, it feels inherently wrong to drive exhaust spewing cars past other edible gardens. Each concrete abandoned lot is seen as such a colossal waste. We start to see how plants and vegetables have a *right* to be in our concrete jungle. We start to consider them a necessary part of urban living. Which will result in different uses of taxes, of public spaces, of how we treat our public spaces.


The ultimate form of non-violent urban food protest: 'Guerrilla Gardening is a direct response to the neglect and under-use of public spaces. It is a form of nonviolent, direct action focusing on taking over abandoned public or private lands, to plant crops or other vegetation...' (Halifax Garden Network)


Who can be upset over eggplants and lettuce being grown in a space that was neglected and forlorn in the first place? For more info on Halifax Guerrilla Gardening, or to join their group go to nature_graffiti@googlegroups.com. Not in Halifax? Do a quick search, ask local urban gardeners and community gardeners... you'd be surprised how much it may be a part of your city.

 Squint! See the purple 'yoga'? Look up- Alexander Keith's Brewery, 108Yoga Studio and current Farmer's Market Location... très Maritimes

Coming up... how all this results in a contingency plan for our balcony garden. Being flexible in the non-asana sense...

(ps- Photographs for Bob Weisenberg, who on twitter asked if I really was surrounded by water here in Halifax. Thought I'd take some 'tourist-y' photos for him :) ).

article and photographs copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com 

Toxic Super Bubbles; Growing our Air with House Plants

So many of us Canadians spend a lot of time indoors during the winter months. With everything sealed up to prevent heat loss, we get a super bubble environment. A super bubble that is usually 100 (and sometimes 1000) times more toxic than the air we breathe outside (Ecoholic Home, 2009). Seriously. Our houses are potentially a super smog bubble.


We have chatted about ways to decrease our indoor toxic exposure by revamping our greening supplies and I have actually just progressed to phasing in water and vinegar (and tea tree and lavender oil) for regular bathroom sink, toilet and counter cleaning.


Another option that doesn't involve completely renovating, ripping out carpets (although if this is an option- DO IT, carpets have a TON of gross crap in them that get spewed up with each vacuum), repainting.... would be house plants.


I will admit that I have killed cacti... by UNDER watering them. Yep, I dehydrated a water-resistent plant. I have slowly improved in my plant keeping skills, but am admittedly a bit of a spaz when it comes to growing stuff. However, if I can grow stuff anyone can.


The trick, I have discovered, is to grow to your light capacity. Andrew and I had houseplants every place we have lived. While in BC we ONLY ever lived in basement apartments, one with the tiny basement windows. I had five plants in that apartment, all low light and they all lived. My favourite- the ZZ plant (which you sometimes see in malls, they kinda look fake...). 


In our apartment here we have a bit more success with 14 plants (wow!), one of which is definitely not happy (the xmas cactus....) and two that are pot bound. Since I'm too lazy though, they remain to be repotted.


House plants are wonderful at clarifying the air, taking in toxins and pooping out nice clean oxygen (ok, maybe not pooing, but ya know..). 


Different plants will filter different chemicals and according to "Plants for your Health" the three most common chemicals found in homes are:


Trichloroethylene: effects similar to alcohol poisoning; headache, dizziness with long term damage to the liver and kidneys. Found in varnishes, lacquers adhesives (like in particle board), dry cleaning and paints.
plants that can help: Peace Lily, marginata, gerbera daisies.


Benzene: can cause drowsiness, dizziness, vomiting and unconsciousness. Has a pleasant smell which is why it used to be in aftershave... (ick!). Found in detergents, synthetic fibres, plastics, tobacco smoke, inks, oils.
plants that can help: English Ivy, Chrysanthemums, peace lily


Formaldehyde: Can cause headaches, watery eyes and difficulty breathing. Is classified as a possible human carcinogen by the EPA. Found in clothes, plywood, carpet, particle board, paper goods, furniture...
plants that can help: Spider plant, golden pathos, philodendron, corn plant, bamboo palm...


I highly recommend checking out the article, there are more specifics on what plants help with which item (furniture vs oil) and am very interested in finding this "How to grow fresh air" book.


Another essential reason for surrounding yourself with plants is to strengthen the connection between us and nature. As many of us live in the city or a town, we often spend our entire days surrounded by concrete and minimal plants. Even Halifax, with many trees, definitely pales in comparison to growing up in rural Nova Scotia. 


Having plants reminds us that we SHOULD remain connected to our Planet, as we are a part of the Sacred Balance. We cannot pretend to be separate and we cannot forget that our actions have direct consequences on our health. 


I love mindfully watering our plants and meditating on them during yoga practice. There is nothing more peaceful than surrounding yourself with LIFE during your practice. I find studios that are lacking in plants barren and sterile. No matter the colour scheme, it is all artificial and contrived until you add plants. 


Have a new studio, or have recently painted (low or no VOC paint I hope!)? Add plants to help decrease the benzene and formaldehyde your yogi-nis are breathing in during their practice. No one goes to yoga in order to inhale carcinogens....




article and photographs copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com 

Mr. Waspy and the Adventures of the Urban Garden

I had dreams for my balcony urban oasis last Spring. It involved a space filled with edible greenery that would flourish and provide us with yummy treats all summer. It would also be the perfect space for my "guitar playing escapes" to occur, where I could strum, write songs and belt out to my little heart's content. I even caved and bought a little bistro table set for us to sit on (unfortunately the chairs were made with metal and PVC.... and smelled like "new car" and were made in China. I had several eco-guilt moments then thought- 'If I had to actually waited until the perfect second-hand table and chairs were found, it would be December and too cold to sit out there anyway'). (The crazy Lucifer plant taking over our balcony like a pretty parasite)

As it rained for the entire month of June (I kid you not), it's only been recently that we've actually attempted to sit out on the balcony.

Yesterday, as we moved the crazy monstrous Lucifer plant slightly to the left so we could actually sit without having plants molesting us I manuvoeured my guitar into position. I got through half of "La Corrida" by Francis Cabrel (Such an awesome song) when a wasp graced us with it's presence... did something to our bamboo trellis of our pea plants then left. "It was probably just collecting wood for it's nest in a tree out there" Andrew assured me (I have an irrational fear of anything that stings).

(Our garlic, kinda still alive- we checked the bulbs. Not too happy with the rain rain rain)

Start up the song again.... get to the second bridge, letting 'er rip.... AND the wasp is back. WITH wood. Hmm, so Waspy has decided to violate our trellis and has begun to build it's empire of stinging horror. After freezing until it left yet again, we rushed back into the apartment and slammed the door shut. "What are we going to do?? We can't let it build it's nest there! We should wreck it! With what??

With.... with... WAX! We'll cap it with wax".

Me blogging about SNIG earlier)

Our battle plan decided we watched until Waspy left yet again and opened the door... only to be confronted with ANOTHER, hovering guardian, challenging Andrew to even take ONE STEP over the threshold. Shut the door again. Slowly.

Ok. We can wait this out. We LIVE here. Thirty minutes go by and I see his Waspiness dart away again. The guardian must be on a stinging innocent people break so we managed to sneak out with

the BBQ lighter, ready to light a candle and prepare the wax. My plan was to document the Waspy in his construction of said stinging mansion, but I jumped so high when he started hovering again that Andrew whispered urgently- "Back up! You'll get stung!!!". I'm sorry readers, but photographic journalling just wasn't worth the risk.

(The burned evidence)

In any case, as soon as Waspy darted away I have to confess that I went a little bit bonkers. I just had this insight that wax was a little silly and I should just BURN the wasp-creation. So I did. While I wondered out loud if the bamboo would actually catch on fire... and Andrew assured me that it wouldn't... tiny flames erupted and it did. After blowing it out, we rushed back inside cackling like weird little children and waited expectantly at the window.

Mr. Waspy came back- tried to land on his abode, flew back, tried again, hovered angrily at the window facing us as if to say "I'll get you next time Gadget!!!" and flew away. AHA!

We totally won this one. I guess my little "zen garden" hasn't quite turned out the way I expected... However, I did pick TWO carrots, as I couldn`t wait any longer and they tasted SO YUMMY!

Blessings and Happy Sunday!

Article and pictures by EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

First Harvest=Graduation into Urban Gardening "Adulthood"!

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays! Go check out the awesome entries for more Food Renegade posts! :)

Today, July 5th 2009, Andrew and I had our very FIRST HARVEST as Urban Gardeners!!!! YAY! We started out this whole venture with the idea that maybe we could actually grow some food on our balcony... had a mishap or two with the terrible Zellers "biodegradable" or shall we say spontaneously combusting, planters and got to play with organic soil and worm poo!

(Our Lucifer plant finally deciding to begin flowering!)

We ordered our seeds from Vesey's, a Maritime owned company: organic sugar snap peas, organic carrots and fall garlic and impulse bought some strawberry plants. The seeds were sowed inside in April and carefully brought inside every night so that the frost wouldn't kill them. It has been an amazing and insightful journey!

Honestly, even though everything seemed to be growing as planned, I had no aspirations for these vegetables to actually produce edible food. I can barely keep cacti alive let alone something that needs to grow food. Of course, Andrew has been extremely helpful and patient (I just wanted to give up on

the trellis, some swear words may have happened... hah). This process had more to do with helping increase our connection with where our food comes from in an urban setting. Since we never had a garden growing up it was fun and a complete learning experience to nurture our seeds to vegetables/fruit.

(Our strawberry plant with an almost ready berry!)

Regardless of my extremely low expectations, or maybe despite, our little urban garden has decided to actually give us food!! That actually tastes.... good! (so far!). After looking on the internet to figure out when we should actually pick our peas, (now) we had 6 sugar snap peas (not so easy to 'snap' off, wrestling with it I thought I was going to rip the whole plant off) and one strawberry. They are now all eaten. YUM.

How are your gardens growing? I am getting a little concerned with the amount of wet. I don't remember the last time my garlic was dry...

Blessings!

***UPDATE (July 6th): So after a kind friend pointed out that these peas were the weirdest looking sugar snap peas she had ever seen; I went on the Vesey's website to confirm that they are, indeed "Oregon Organic Sugar Peas" (YES- I thought, I was RIGHT! I am very humble)... then read the following description:

A great garden addition for anyone who stir-fries. This staking type snow pea produces.....

um. Note the... SNOW PEA part. Oops! LMAO. They were yummy nonetheless :)

Green Space how did I Exist without You?

I am in love with my urban garden! Each week the plants seem to grow wilder and more out of control... it is fantastic. I was extremely nervous about growing actual edible plants, especially as the plants inside our apartment aren't really doing that well. So far, container gardening has been fabulous, and the eco-fiber planters and organic soil has been holding up wonderfully!

(Our strawberry plant circa June 14th while it was sunny)

I used to curse our terrible netting that covered our balcony, as it meant no bird feeders. But after speaking with a few friends who were extremely frustrated due to birds chewing off their flower buds... I was thankful for the ugly thing after all. One thing about having a tiny urban garden, we don't have to worry about animals, birds and less about pests!

There is something magical and real about having life grow and flourish just outside your living space. I've found myself stepping outside for a few moments each day to closely inspect our little forests, checking on progress, marvelling at how the pea tendrils cling tenaciously at our cotton trellis. Feeling silly for being surprised that strawberries form from the middle part of the flower- who knew? Even though my dad informed me that I should be trimming the flowers to promote berry growth, I just can't bring myself to clip off a potential berry. (Our biggest pre-berry! It's been so fun watching the petals fall and the middle flower part grow more and more berry like!)

Having this extra green/potential food space also has been helpful with easing feelings of loneliness that have been creeping up lately. Although moving

back to Halifax was the best idea, this is the first place I have ever lived where making friends has been extra difficult. Most likely a side-effect of old university friends drifting apart, the fact that my best friend and I "broke-up" around the same time she left my brother (loooong story!) and that I work with women who are twice my age. (our pea plants are growing like wild things!! No actual pea pods yet... or flowers... I keep checking.... )

I had hoped that practicing yoga would help meet some kindred spirits... but although somewhat of a community, yoga is still a very solitary practice and I'm finding myself feeling isolated even while surrounded by other yogi/ni's during a packed class. It isn't really acceptable to say a few words to someone after class and follow up with: "So you wanna be my friend?" lol. I am way too weird sometimes. Hopefully yoga in the park will help :)

In the mean time I have my little miniature faerie space. Some days I haul out my guitar, sit in my little urban oasis and just belt my heart out (it helps that we have a wall of maple trees and the church facing us... so I can pretend no one is listening). I've started writing again and soon (hopefully) will have a new song to add :)

(our carrots actually look like a little forest, a miniature rainforest. Reminds me of fern gully- anyone else remember that movie? lol I was a eco-warrior since childhood.)

How are your gardens growing? :)