An excellent summary Judith! Wowza, I had no idea your Greek Island would be the social hub that it is. You are abundant in your gratitude but I imagine your visitors received just as much joy.
I have great envy for your different growing/composting/watering methods. I need to hit the books instead of wringing my hands, which is my go to when agricultural plans do not come to fruition. You are an inspiration!
Thanks for the kind words, Alice. Since you're a desert gardener, you might find this Youtube account inspirational (if you don't want to commit to too many books...): https://www.youtube.com/@GrowingInTheGarden
I watch a lot of her content because parts of it are helpful for our Mediterranean climate as well, but she's in Mesa, Arizona.
I actually hadn't seen the update, thanks for sharing! I love the song thread, looking forward to listening.
I have no plans to return to the US anytime soon, but if I do, I'll definitely get in touch. In the meantime, you might run into Quinn every now and then. Happy 2025 at Doe Bay!
So beautiful, Judith. Hard work but it seems you found what you were looking for. I'm glad this is working out :). Hope to see you this year! (Chigu and I are just starting to make some summer plans)
The Hügelkultur bed reminds me of the John Jeavons double-digging I studied long ago (in 1987, while I was CSLI) in Palo Alto, practiced for years in Ohio. Seems like the same idea: dig it deep with lots of amendments, stay off the bed after that, continue to enrich, and it will retain more water, the soil will slowly improve over the years. Do you know their work? From your description, sounds like the Hügelkultur bed may be a better solution for the Mediterranean environment? But they did do workshops with people from Africa, other non-NA locations.
Yes, I think these are all very related ideas. Hügelkultur is actually not great in Mediterranean environments because everything dries out very quickly (which is why we went through the extra effort of putting the wood underground, where it will in theory be more easily able to retain the water). We'll see how this one works out! I am very much in trial and error mode...
An excellent summary Judith! Wowza, I had no idea your Greek Island would be the social hub that it is. You are abundant in your gratitude but I imagine your visitors received just as much joy.
I have great envy for your different growing/composting/watering methods. I need to hit the books instead of wringing my hands, which is my go to when agricultural plans do not come to fruition. You are an inspiration!
Thanks for the kind words, Alice. Since you're a desert gardener, you might find this Youtube account inspirational (if you don't want to commit to too many books...): https://www.youtube.com/@GrowingInTheGarden
I watch a lot of her content because parts of it are helpful for our Mediterranean climate as well, but she's in Mesa, Arizona.
Another great update of life in the Greek Isles.... We miss you! You probably got my update.... https://doebayresortretreat.createsend1.com/t/y-e-cyklhuy-l-ji/ will you ever be stateside again?
I actually hadn't seen the update, thanks for sharing! I love the song thread, looking forward to listening.
I have no plans to return to the US anytime soon, but if I do, I'll definitely get in touch. In the meantime, you might run into Quinn every now and then. Happy 2025 at Doe Bay!
So beautiful, Judith. Hard work but it seems you found what you were looking for. I'm glad this is working out :). Hope to see you this year! (Chigu and I are just starting to make some summer plans)
Can't wait to see you!
The Hügelkultur bed reminds me of the John Jeavons double-digging I studied long ago (in 1987, while I was CSLI) in Palo Alto, practiced for years in Ohio. Seems like the same idea: dig it deep with lots of amendments, stay off the bed after that, continue to enrich, and it will retain more water, the soil will slowly improve over the years. Do you know their work? From your description, sounds like the Hügelkultur bed may be a better solution for the Mediterranean environment? But they did do workshops with people from Africa, other non-NA locations.
Yes, I think these are all very related ideas. Hügelkultur is actually not great in Mediterranean environments because everything dries out very quickly (which is why we went through the extra effort of putting the wood underground, where it will in theory be more easily able to retain the water). We'll see how this one works out! I am very much in trial and error mode...