What's it going to look like?

Newberg wants to know, "What in the world are you doing to your yard?" Well, it's hard to describe, so perhaps I'll just show you what we hope it will look like (sort of). Another question people often want to know is "How long is it going to take?" Well, if all goes as planned, it will take less time than it took to build Machu Picchu.

Children of Sod

Speaking of the earth, I just heard Seth Martin playing songs in concert from his new CD I Stood Upon a High Place. Not only was the music down to earth, but some of it was even about the earth! Not to be missed is the song, "Children of Sod"


Check out this line: "Don't we all feel better when the smell of dirt clings to our skin, pervades us, loves us, and waits for us to ask it to come in?"

This Dirt Soul says, "I dig it"

Grass (and flowers) Growing

Yes, that's right, the seeds have sprouted--grass AND flowers. The 'inter-cropping' is inter-sprouting, and it's fun to see. This fall seeding has been perfect timing--water, sun, water, sun, perfect temperatures. We're looking forward to seeing those strawberry flowers, the white yarrow, the blue bells, the English pink daisies.

Sowing Seed

We got the small plot of lawn seeded this week two days prior to the onset of the rain! We used a seed combination developed by an OSU professor who wanted an eco-friendly lawn that required no fertilizer and little watering. It only needs to be mowed once a month, and can get by with mowing once or twice a year. It has the look of an cottage meadow because it has several varieties of small flowers mixed in with the grass. This allows the different plants to feed each other (strawberry clover returns nitrogen to the soil, eg.), rather than having a mon0-culture lawn which depletes the soil and requires continued applications of fertilizer. It's called 'Fluer de Lawn' and can be purchased at Hobbs and Hopkins in Portland. It will look something like this.