By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

Gardening and renting has created a dichotomy of those who have verses those who have not.

But recent human ingenuity has stepped in to create an even garden path for urban dwellers that rent or just do not have the land or space to garden traditionally.

The new gardening path is permaculture.

This by definition is an agricultural system that incorporates trees, shrub, and perennials along with animals in a self-sustaining ecosystem that produces crops and other products. The bases of this concept is to create a more natural gardening habitat that is polyculture in nature not monoculture and mimics a forest. This type of gardening is referred to as forest gardening.

The first step to this process is to Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

This year my loofahs have set the garden on fire.

They have grown up my shed onto my fence and across my clothesline.

The secret to my success is two-fold.

One, I started my seeds indoors in February. This gave my loofahs plenty of time to grow since they require a long growing season to be exact at least 180 says of warm weather. The second secret to my loofah success is something I cannot take credit for that is Mother Nature. This year’s weather was just perfect for loofah production.

But while I am ecstatic about my loofah crop I am at the same time wondering what to do with all these loofahs. One thing I am trying this year is cooking with them. To my surprise the small ones are excellent in stir-fries and salads. The recipe below is one I created using zucchini but since I have a surplus of loofahs I substituted loofahs for zucchini and boy did it turn out great.

Mindy’s Zucchini or Loofah Stir-Fry

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 small loofahs peeled or zucchini
• 2 Tablespoons sesame oil Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

Many years ago I decided that everyone should grow something to make the world a better place.

Through many sleepless nights and meditation the perfect plant came to me.

The simple basil would solve world conflict and hunger.

Just think what the world would be like if we all sat down, had pizza, and discussed the world’s problems. Maybe the United Nations should think about that as a form of conflict resolution. I can see the headlines now “Basil stops the war.” Well I can only hope.

Basil can grow inside or out and does not require a long-term commitment. This simple plant is started from seed and only requires a general soil mixture in a container or a patch of ground in the garden. Once seeds are planted water in and fertilize once a month and that is it. I tell people if you can keep a goldfish alive you can grow basil.

To encourage those Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

The other day I was reminded how special and magical my childhood was in the country.

My alarm clock was my neighbor’s roosters, my taste buds were tickled by the smell of the smokehouse and my nightlight was the moon, stars, and lightening bugs.

The science of all these natural wonders was not my concern but instead I only cared about the magic.

As I got older the science tickled my nose with tantalizing knowledge and the magic Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

My career and pastime has always been gardening.

I never really wrote anything down when I was a young gardener my successes and failures drifted off with memory.

But when I had children I realized how important a garden journal really was in my busy life.

My journal has become a family history along with a record of my garden successes and failures. Family stories are wrapped up in the pages of garden diagrams, preserved seeds, photos, plant histories, and my own gardener’s bucket list plus much more. My garden journal has become a testament to how my plants and I have grown together along with how growing a garden is much like raising children.

One of my favorite stories in my journal is how red and green balls became a teaching moment for my daughter and I that I revisit each spring. When my daughter was 4 years old she decided that she would help mommy in the garden. She went and got her pink Easter basket and stepped over the little white fence Read the rest of this entry »