Author: Carley

One of the projects that we are working on this summer is a Spirit of the Land garden. Located at the community gardens near the fire hall, we hope to use this space to grow food for both SoL class meals and to donate to the food bank.

We planted the garden about two weeks ago, with the lovely help of John and Treva, who were willing to gift us leftover seeds and lend us gardening tools for the summer. They referred us to YardMasterz reviews & buyers guides for top yard products to learn about our options, should we want to purchase anything extra for ourselves. We planted a variety of things, including a pumpkin, zucchini, squash, beets, radishes, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, green onion, white onion, yellow beans, orca beans, kale, swiss chard, spinach and parsley.

Personally, I’ve never had a garden before- growing herbs in a pot is the greenest my thumb has been. But growing up, I remember visiting my grandma who had a quarter-acre plot, spending her mornings (and sometimes evenings too) out in garden, tending to her flowers and vegetables, sprinkling carefully saved eggshells and weeding out the dandelions. Every time we would visit, there would be fresh strawberries for breakfast and an assortment of veggies for dinner, as well as homemade raspberry ice cream. My grandma always found a sense of peace in her garden, using the time to reflect on her day, recall pleasant memories and feel connected to the ecosystem around her.

I never really understood the appeal of a garden- why toil in the dirt when you can drive to the supermarket

and pull a box from a freezer that magically becomes dinner? Over time, however, I began to appreciate all that gardens can give us. More than just sustenance, gardens create a space of quiet, a time away from technology and the busyness of life, allowing us to simply be, in the moment. Gardens allow us to get our hands dirty, both literally and figuratively. By working in gardens, we can intimately understand how our food comes to be on our plate, and the holistic relationship that exists between all living things to get it there. Gardens can also be a place of activism and justice. By growing a garden, no matter the size, you are moving away from the industrial paradigm that demands scarcity and separates us from our food. Gardens grow food, but they also grow connections- relationships blossom in a garden, where people of all walks of life can come together under one common need- sustenance. Gardens do all this and more, and I can’t wait to see what we can grow this summer.

*I am posting this blog for Anderson, who is currently in Minnesota*

A couple of weeks ago my fellow interns and I  had the opportunity to head up to Edmonton to learn from Ryan and Cathryn at Reclaim Urban Farms once again. Since it was my first time going up, I was excited to see what we would be doing and meet Ryan and Cathryn in person. We arrived at the SPUD (Sustainable Produce Urban Delivery) distribution centre where Reclaim rents a small corner to grow all of their micro greens, as well as do some of their processing of produce. Ryan and Cathryn arrived a little late as they had started bright and early at 6 am to do some harvesting at some of the other sites so we would have some produce to start getting ready for the farmers market.

Ryan showed Kate and me upstairs where we would work harvesting and packaging micro greens. Carley was downstairs with Cathryn to start washing all the salad greens and some of the micro greens as well.

We spent the rest of the day learning about farmers market preparation and all that it entailed: different weeds that we had to take out of the salad greens during the washing process, the three sinks each green needed to go through; what micro green planting, harvesting, and packaging looked like; and the importance of proper sanitation (read: washing ALOT of grow trays). I learned that although growing plants is a lot of work, that isn’t where the process stops. There is a massive amount of time that goes into the harvesting, processing, and packaging the produce–and it has to happen pretty much every week! We finished u a long day of washing and packaging, and headed back home for some rest before we returned the next day to get back at it.

The next day, we woke up bright and early again to meet back at Cathryn’s house, where we continued washing a myriad of different vegetables as well as weighing and packaging many more.

All of this has certainly affected the way I look at a bag of salad at the market! It is not just the planting, growing, and harvesting, but hours of harvesting, separating, washing, drying, weighing, packaging, and selling…it is no easy task.

After finishing the last of the prepping and packaging for the farmers market the following day, we headed to a new site, where the skeleton of a greenhouse and landscaping fabric were already in place. There, we spent our time transplanting broccoli, peppers, tomatoes, and squash–and a lot of it! We also helped to put up the plastic for the greenhouse, and it was crazy how quickly it got warmer inside after just some of it was up.
It was interesting to see the interactions with the community and the urban farm as people walked by. Many of them asked questions and seemed excited about the reclaimed use of vacant lots and spaces within the city; in such a high-visibility area, it was great to see that people wanted to ask questions and interact with some of the ideas behind Reclaim Urban Farm.

All of these two days left me far more appreciative of the food I purchase and the work that goes into it, with a new excitement about the possibility of potentially adapting the program/model to Camrose, with a better understanding of how Reclaim works…and, incredibly tired!

For anyone who is interested in making their own pine needle soap, fire-starters or cleaner, we’ve included the recipes below, as well as a list of other uses for pine needles! Let us know how your projects turn out!

Pine Needle Fire Starters

Ingredients

1 cardboard egg carton

Pine needles and cones

Old candles or candle wax.
1. Melt the wax

You will need to melt the wax, and you will need a double boiler setup for this. Any wax used in a saucepan or cooking pot will make the pot unusable for food. So, a good way to handle this is to find an old saucepan at the thrift store and use it, or you can also melt the wax in a clean glass pickle jar set into a pot of hot water.

2. Put the pine needles

3. Pour the wax over top of the egg sections

4. Let it dry
You only need to wait as long as it takes the wax to harden.

5. Break off one “egg” worth to start your fire!

Pine Needle Soap

Ingredients

 ⅔ cup coconut oil – to produce good lather

 ⅔ cup olive oil – which makes a hard and mild bar

 ⅔ cup other liquid oil – like almond oil, grapeseed, sunflower or safflower oil

 ¼ cup lye – also called 100% sodium hydroxide (find at local hardware stores)

 ¾ cup cool water – use distilled or purified

 Pine needles and/or pine needle essential oil

Method

1. Cover your work area with newspaper. Put your gloves and other protective wear on.

Measure your water into the quart-canning jar. Have a spoon ready. Measure your

lye, making sure you have exactly ¼ cup. Slowly pour the lye into the water, stirring

as you go. Stand back while you stir to avoid the fumes. When the water starts to

clear, you can allow it to sit while you move to the next step.

2. In the pint jar, add your three oils together. They should just make a pint. Heat in a

microwave for about a minute, or place the jar of oils in a pan of water to heat. Check

the temperature of your oils – it should be about 120° or so. Your lye should have
come down by then to about 120°. Wait for both to cool somewhere between 95°

and 105°. This is critical for soap making. Too low and it’ll come together quickly, but

be coarse and crumbly.

3. When both the lye and oils are at the right temperature, pour the oils into a mixing

bowl. Slowly add the lye, stirring until it’s all mixed. Stir by hand for a full 5

minutes. It’s very important to get as much of the lye in contact with as much of the

soap as possible. After about 5 minutes, you can keep stirring or you can use an

immersion blender. The soap mixture will lighten in color and become thick. When it

looks like vanilla pudding it’s at “trace” and you’re good to go.
4. Add your herbs, essential oils or other additions at this point. Stir thoroughly to

combine. Pour the mixture into mold(s) and cover with plastic wrap. Set in an old

towel and wrap it up. This will keep the residual heat in and start the saponification

process. Saponification is the process of the base ingredients becoming soap.

5. After 24 hours, check your soap. If it’s still warm or soft, allow it to sit another 12-24

hours. When it’s cold and firm, turn it out onto a piece of parchment paper or baking

rack. If using a loaf pan as your mold, cut into bars at this point. Allow soap to cure
for 4 weeks or so. Be sure to turn it over once a week to expose all the sides to air

(which is not necessary if using a baking rack). For a DIY soap drying rack, I took an

old potato chip rack and slid cardboard fabric bolts (from a fabric store) through the

rungs.

6. When your soap is fully cured, wrap it in wax paper or keep it in an airtight container.

Hand made soap creates its own glycerin, which is a humectant, pulling moisture

from the air. It should be wrapped to keep it from attracting dust and debris with the

moisture.

Clean up

When you’re done making soap, always clean your equipment that has been exposed to

lye. You can neutralize the lye with white vinegar, then wash the equipment well as you

normally would. For the rest of it, let it sit for several days. Why? Because when you first

make soap, it’s all fat and lye. You’ll be washing forever and you could burn your hands

on the residual lye. If you wait, it becomes soap and all it takes to clean it is a soak in hot

water.

 

About Pine Needle Cleaner

From diynatural.com

How: You can make pine needle cleaner by making a “tea” with the pine needles. Strain and put into a spray bottle.

Uses: the liquid can be used to spray on counter tops or floors to clean them and leave a fresh pine scent, as pine is naturally antibacterial and smells great!

Fun fact: Pine Sol was originally made this way.

 

Other pine needle uses

1. Place pine needles under acid loving plants such as holly, azalea, or rhododendron.

2. Place some pine needles in your winter garden to keep moles and voles out. This works well to deter cats and dogs from getting into your garden too. You will need to replace them often as the scent dissipates quickly.

3. Make a foot bath. Take a handful of pine needles and throw into a basin of warm water. Soak your feet in this for at least 15 minutes. The naturally antibacterial action of the pine will help to get rid of anything that may be lingering, such as athlete’s foot.

4. Ground needles can be used to make a soft green dye for cottons and other natural fibres.

5. You can add them to chicken’s nest boxes to help keep bugs out. They work very well on the floor of the hen house too. Mix them with pine or aspen shavings as they are not very absorbent on their own.

6. Make your own incense! Dry pine or spruce needles under low heat in a toaster oven. Grind up pine needles (mortar and pestle or maybe even a coffee grinder) and place a small mound in a fireproof bowl. Light the needles and enjoy the scent.

Last night we hosted our first event in the Seed for the Soul series, making creations with pine needles and engaging in a discussion about John Chryssavgis’ “Three Perspectives on the Sacred”.

We want to extend a big thank you to everyone who joined us last night, learning how to make pine needle tea, fire-starters, paint brushes and more! As well, thank you for sharing your thoughts, opinions (and snacks) with us and David Goa- it was wonderful to see the community come together and engage in a critical conversation about mindfulness towards ourselves, each other and the world around us.
Our next Seeds for the Soul event will be held on July 6th and the location and activities will be confirmed soon! Feel free to stay up to date by checking this blog, our Facebook page, by emailing us at spiritoftheland1@gmail.com or in person by stopping in at the office!

This summer, we are hosting a three-part series called “Seeds for the Soul” exploring both practical skill building and intellectual engagement and reflection on our relationship with the land. Events are from 6 to 8:00 pm:

June 1 – Ronning House

July 6 – Camrose Public Library

August 3 – Camrose Railway Museum

We are excited to host these events and hope to bring together all levels of our community. Sustainability is not a niche interest and by creating positive spaces for ideas and skills to be shared, we hope to widen the Spirit of the Land community and empower Camrosians to engage in alternative practices.

Our Third Seeds for the Soul event will be held at 6pm on Wednesday, August 3t at The Camrose Railway Museum. We will be learning about companion planting. At 7pm, there will be a presentation and discussion with Bernice Kadatz on grassland restoration project and the importance of being connected with the land.
Here is a video and an article you may watch beforehand as an intro into what we will be discussing together.

http://permaculturenews.org/2010/05/25/back-to-the-future-terra-preta-%E2%80%93-ancient-carbon-farming-system-for-earth-healing-in-the-21st-century/

We look forwards to learning about your version of sustainability and engagement with the land!

 

 

We have recently started reading “The One-Straw Revolution” by Masanobu Fukuoka, who explores the limits of human knowledge and questions traditional and industrial understandings of farming and food. Through a more holistic understanding of our relationships with land and community, Fukuoka emphasizes that, “[I]f one fathoms deeply one’s own neighborhood and the everyday world in which he lives, the greatest of worlds will be revealed.”

This quote brought to mind a lovely photo that Rajan took of Treva and John, two community members who are deeply integrated into their neighbourhood and community.

As we begin our work with Spirit of the Land, we are excited to delve deeper into the wealth of knowledge and connection that this community has to share. While these “great worlds” may seem to be far in the distance, it is through actions of love, gratitude and simplicity that we can create positive and sustainable change.

 

Reflection #7

 

While reading Jim Wallis’s “Rediscovering Values”, I realized how disconnected I was, and probably still am, from my own values. One quote that really resonated with me was actually from the epilogue, written by Jim’s 24-year old assistant. “We will have to face the challenge of making sure these changes and conversions are not just a phase of life, but a way of life.” This is something that I have been thinking a lot about lately. Sure, right now I am very active in social justice and positive and holistic environmental and economic change, but will I still be this passionate once I graduate? Will I continue to act consciously in my purchases, my lifestyle and in my relationships?

 

Wallis’s book culminates with a chapter that outlines “Twenty Moral Exercises”to assist individuals in making lasting change in their lives. As I read these moral exercises and reflected on the other chapters, I was made aware of one key thing: I have never clearly defined my values. This seems like such a basic thing, and as a GDS student who takes a variety of actions based on my values, it should not be hard to list them out. Perhaps this has something to do with my lack of affiliation with an organized religion or faith group. Regardless,  I have realized that while I feel connected to many different causes and beliefs, I do not have a coherent grasp of my values.

 

The first moral exercise listed by Wallis is “Calenders and Budgets are Moral Documents”. This exercise reminds us that what we say are our values and the values we act are two very different things. That means that my challenge is two-fold: not only do I have to identify my values, but I also have to compare them to my present reality and time management. As a student, I have more time than money to offer, as how I spend my time is almost an entire list of my true values. I decided to do this moral exercise as part of this week’s reflection- to make a list of the priorities/values in my life and compare and contrast it to my calendar and see how the two line up.

 

My priorities in life include: my family and friends, education and school, social justice, teaching, reading and travel. These are also all things that I value- I value my relationships and learning, along with feminism and environmentalism, activism, broadening my mind and having new experiences. Above all, I value passion and engagement with others and the community, whether it be local or international. I value critical thinking and living with an awareness of the world around us.

 

However, when I look at my actions a different story is told. A usual day for me includes waking up early, going to school or Fiona’s to study, running the Newcomer’s Program at the Library, going to class, reading articles off of facebook, working on papers or reading, grabbing a quick bite, studying more, and sometimes going to jump rope practice, having coffee with a friend or watching TV. Looking at this schedule, I can see that the vast majority of my time is spent on school, and while university is my reality right now, it is really all consuming in my life.
As Wallis says, one answer to rebuilding our economy with our values imbedded in it is to have balance. Balance is definitely what I need in my life as well, in order to really reconcile my thoughts with my actions.