Mulch Much? The Benefits of Mulching

Permaculture Womens Guild

By Heather Jo Flores It’s always a good day for mulching your garden! Mulch builds humus. The word “human” comes from the same roots as humus, meaning earth, and in fact our bodies do contain many of the same elements and microorganisms as fertile organic soil. Soil health is linked to our own health, and soil communities bear remarkable resemblance to the flora and fauna in our own guts. A diverse, thriving intestinal community keeps us humans healthy, and the same goes for the soil ecosystem. The Benefits of Mulch ​A layer of mulch, whether up around perennials and fruit trees or…

Plant a Living Playhouse with Sunflowers

Permaculture Womens Guild

By Heather Jo Flores Grow a place for the kids to play! It’s the middle of May and time to plant sunflowers! There are many beautiful varieties to choose from, and they are easy to grow — just work up a spot in the soil, poke some holes with your fingers, and toss the seeds inside. Generally, the more space you leave between them, the larger the sunflowers will grow. My favorite varieties are the Tarahumara heirlooms, with their giant white-seeded flowers and multi-headed, long-living plants. If you have kids, try growing a living playhouse out of sunflowers and scarlet runner beans. Even…

Cold hardy figs and why you should grow them

Permaculture Womens Guild

Delicious, drought-tolerant, easy to grow…what’s not to love? by Heather Jo Flores I can’t stop eating them. There’s a fig tree at the place where I am staying and I can’t seem to keep them out of my mouth! It’s a huge tree, maybe 50 years old, sprawling across the low wood fence and dropping down into the neighbors’ yard. They don’t mind. Every October, both houses get more figs than they know what to do with, just from the one tree. It’s a Black Spanish, and it’s famous among fig aficionados as being one of most prolific, cold-hardy and easy…