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Tonight I am interrupting my regular flow of dancing in my living room with my overzealous son, nursing and snuggling on my hammock, making friends with bugs and plants, giving and receiving massages from my lover, and, uh, sleeping to tell you about something awesome! (Now you understand why I may not post as much as is requested of me ) This is worth the interruption though because tonight I am going to show you some pictures of my herb spiral. See, here they are…

Was that the most amazing experience you had in your entire life?! I thought so It is only because herb spirals are so COSMIC! Not only are they beautiful, they are convenient and efficient too. If you have a small garden space to work with they can fit all your herbs into one compact place. It is a great technique for those who appreciate organization. The shape of an herb spiral creates several different micro-climates so all your precious herbs get exactly what they require. I am sure my eloquent and convincing words along with these life changing photos have inspired you to create your very own herb spiral. So, to help you out I made a step by step guide on how to do it! I know, I know. You are welcome. I do what I can

1. Purchase or plant in soil blocks the herbs you choose to have in your spiral. In our herb spiral we have, from top to bottom, rosemary, oregano, thyme, borage, sage, lemon verbena, yarrow, mexican terragon, anise hyssop, chives, basil, calendula, and stevia. You could also add echinacea, chamomile, st. johns wort, caraway, parsley, cilantro, dill, or any other herb your brilliant brain can come up with.

2. Plan each herb’s location in your spiral according to their needs. The east side of the spiral will have morning sun and afternoon shade. The west side will have morning shade and afternoon sun. The top will be dry. The bottom moist.

3. Place a huge piece of cardboard down on the area you choose to create your herb spiral.

4. With a pencil draw the outline of your spiral on the cardboard. Make it no more than five feet wide to ensure you can gather herbs from the center.

5. Place bricks or rocks along your outline. Remember to slowly increase the height of your brick stacking until the center reaches about 3 feet high. It is useful to employ help at this point…

6. Fill your herb spiral with compost and mix in soil enhancing ingredients. In our compost we mixed in 4 cups of zeolites, 1 cup green sand, 1 cup rock dust, one gallon of mycogrow and one gallon of seaweed water. Worm castings would be another great addition. Wish I would have thought of that!

7. Wet your soil thoroughly.

Me watering our spiral while wearing my husband’s shorts. You can get away with that sort of thing when you are a true Goddess

8. Plant each herb in its correct spot. When plants are big enough add mulch around them.

9. Water and talk to your plants regularly and watch them grow!

Voila! You now have an amazing herb spiral!
Congratulations!

Since last year was my first year being a mom, I wasn’t able to plant the massive award winning garden I desired. However, we did do some planting and now we are enjoying the fruits of our labor. We have an adorable little winter garden which is supplying us with arugula, radish, mustard, and kale. I love being able to go outside with my blender in the morning and pick the greens for my breakfast green smoothie.

My winter garden

This year we are gearing up to plant THE BEST GARDEN EVER!! We just purchased all our seeds, soil blocker, and mycogrow today! After a few of our friends named their Space Of Love (Garden of Eden, New Earth Center and Hackberry Farm), we decided to call our domain PARADISE GARDENS. This year our place is definitely going to live up to its name! We have already planted blueberry bushes, fig trees, raspberries, boysenberries, strawberries, mint, akebia, kiwi, emerald carpet raspberry, goji berry bushes, goumi, paw paw, aronia, elderberry and a kousa dogwood tree. If being surrounded by beauty, delicious smells, and healthy food is not enough to motivate you to start planning your garden, I have a list of ten reasons you absolutely must plant a garden this year. Seriously, you have no choice. It’s mandatory!

10 Reasons You Absolutely MUST Plant A Garden This Year:

1. Your garden produce will have more nutrition than anything you can buy in any store. Even processed food from your own garden will have more nutrition than fresh produce from the grocery store. I betcha didn’t know that!

2. You will get produce that is fresher, riper, and tastier than anything in the store. Eating will become an orgasmic experience again!

3. If you do it right, you will save money. Produce from the store can be very expensive. Think of all the trips to Hawaii you could take if you didn’t have to pay for groceries!

4. All your food will be unsprayed and have nothing toxic on it. Even certified organic foods often have (natural but still toxic) pesticides on them. For example, my son David got a rash from eating unwashed organic tomatoes from the store, but has no reaction to unsprayed tomatoes from our friend’s farm.

5. It gives you a reason to spend more time outside, getting exercise, breathing fresh air, and enjoying the beauty of the earth and plants.

6. You’ll have a greater variety of produce. You can grow varieties that can’t be found in any store. Eating will become more interesting and fun!

7. You’ll reduce your impact on our planet. Fewer fossil fuels will be used, less wild land will need to be cleared for farms, fewer toxic chemicals will be sprayed into the environment and so on. Then Mother Earth will thank you by creating more magic and manifestation in your life! For example, cute little birds will land on your head when you reach out to them (happened to me twice ) They know who they can trust!

8. Money, Money, Money! If you sell your surplus, it can become a source of extra income. For example, this guy doesn’t even need a job. All he does is garden and sell his extra produce to neighbors and restaurants. And he only has 1/5 of an acre!

9. Gardening teaches children where food comes from. It also teaches them (and us) the law of the harvest (you reap what you sow). Plus, if you learn to forage wild foods you can learn the higher law – reaping where you didn’t sow.

10. You can help your friends and family become healthier. If you give them fresh home grown vegetables, they’ll feel obligated to eat them. (That’s right! I’ll be giving you vegetables from my garden this year. You know who you are.)

Bonus Reason (from my husband): It gives you extra incentive to keep bees. As if you needed another reason to keep bees.

The best type of gardening, in my opinion, is Forest Gardening, which is basically creating a forest type eco-system with useful and edible trees, shrubs, herbs, vines and perennial vegetables. By creating a forest garden you create a self-sustaining paradise. In a forest garden you don’t have to till the soil, plant year after year, or even water after a while. If you desire to look into this awesome style of gardening check out my fav books on the subject…

• Gaia’s Garden, Second Edition: A Guide To Home-Scale Permaculture
• Creating a Forest Garden: Working with Nature to Grow Edible Crops
• Perennial Vegetables: From Artichokes to Zuiki Taro, A Gardener’s Guide to Over 100 Delicious and Easy to Grow Edibles
• Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden
• Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre
• The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times
• Edible Forest Gardens (2 volume set)

In any case, make sure you leave room for wild food in your garden because…

Shepherd’s purse makes an awesome snack

David picking shepherds purse

David eating shepherds purse

Curly dock

Plus filaree flowers

Equal yumminess!
(curly dock wraps with raw macadamia nut “cheese,” decorated with filaree flowers)

Enjoy your life!

In order to explore and expand into higher realms of spirituality and consciousness, a person must have his basic survival needs met. Otherwise, one would remain in a “fight or flight” state, always searching for safety and stability before being able to move on. This is why Anastasia, in The Ringing Cedars of Russia series by Vladimir Megre, suggests every family create their own “Space of Love.” A Space of Love is a place which grounds you and takes care of your basic human needs. It is your sanctuary which feeds your body and soul and protects you from the outside world. Your body is fed through edible plants and trees that you plant with love. Your soul is fed through the beauty of nature and the love that you and your partner cultivate for each other and infuse into your domain. Love is ultimate nutrition for our souls!

This year was the first year for me to live in a home with a backyard since high school! Bryan and I took this opportunity to plant a garden. Our shared vision and goal strengthened our already beautiful relationship and our love for plants strengthened our bodies. You may be familiar with Cleve Backster’s polygraph experiments with plants, books such as “The Secret Life of Plants” by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Birdwhich, or books by Stephen Harrod which cite scientific studies and information that document how plants react to human thoughts and intentions with love or fear, and can change their chemical structure to help or harm specific humans. In these recent studies, it is discovered that plants react positively to people with pure and loving hearts and thoughts, and negatively to those with violent tendencies. It may be limited thinking to consider we, as humans, are the only intelligence on our planet. Everything God created has life!

If every family on earth took a few acres of land and grew their own food, many or even all of the health and agriculture problems of our society would be solved!! The space of beauty you create will support your children’s children for generations and create paradise on Earth. When everyone is surrounded by abundance, love, and safety, many acts of crime and violence will also dissipate.

Below I have recorded a video of our first gardening adventure. My sister Amy was so generous to allow us to experiment with her back yard (even allowing us to keep 2 beehives!). Now we are moving into a new home with 17 acres of land!! We look forward to creating another even more beautiful and perfect space to feed our bodies and souls and surround our new baby (due October 23) with love!

“Every Man must create around himself his own Space of Love, and offer it to his child” ~ Anastasia