gardening girl with lizard on head

Enlisted the help of my two redheads in the garden the other day.  Little brother found a lizard and was thrilled to put it on our heads.  The lizard stayed very still.  We think he enjoyed the ride.  Isn't my girl adorable?  I just love her.

for the birds

My twenty tulsi plants are HUGE!  The plants are so strong they can support small birds.  But they are so overgrown and sorely neglected since I was gone for three months.  I have not had time to harvest them much, even since we have been back.  They thrive in the weather conditions where we live.   They are almost as tall as me and need to be shaped. 

I refuse to prune them and just throw out the precious branches.  Each leaf is medicine.  In the last couple of years I have harvested them and plucked the leaves off by hand.  Then I dry the leaves and ship them to California where they are packaged for tulsi tea.  The tea is sold, it helps so many people.  And the money earned is given to charitable causes.  So it is a multi-level seva.

I love the quiet, meditative work of harvesting, but I am so busy these days that I have little time for it.  Still I persevere, bit by bit.

In the meantime, the birds are loving the seeds, and the bees love the flowers.  Just today I heard an unusual sound at my window and when I opened the shade, I kid you not, a bird was tapping his beak on the window, as if to say thank you.

gifts from the earth

Gifts from our garden.  One of the joys of life.  Right now I am harvesting tulsi too.  I have about fifteen huge plants and they are in desperate need of pruning.  If I get my act together I will have some friends here to help me pluck the leaves.  It is time consuming, but once they are dried I send them to an organization that bags them, sells them as tea, and this money goes to charity.

Has anyone heard of, or had tulsi tea?  Tulsi has many medicinal properties...it is an incredible herb.  Read more about it here.  Hmmm, maybe I should do a tulsi tea giveaway!  I have some dried, am getting ready to ship it off.  I could save a bag for my blog friends.  Would anyone be interested? :)   

holy basil look at my tulsi

I came home to this one plant that is gigantic!  I am talking 4 feet tall and almost as wide!  It's the purple tulsi plant.  Time to harvest!

We have been home for 28 days.  I have been so busy since arriving I haven't had time to properly prune and clean up my garden.  One thing I learned, no more tomato plants!  :(  But it's not worth it.  They are a summer bloomer, even where we are where it is so hot, the plants know when it is winter, when it is summer.  Since we are always gone in summer it's not worth it to plant tomatoes.  The only plant that survived has some sort of bug disease...Gardens really do need a lot of love.

But my tulsi is so happy!  Some bugs, but nothing neem won't cure.

This is what I have done since we came home:
*Unpacked and set up a room we had remodeled (can you say dance floor/ performance room people?)
*Gotten Shawn back in school, helping him after school with staying on track with way more homework this year.  Shopping for his school supplies took nearly 5 hours, as I had to go to 3 stores since the other 2 were out of stuff.
*Found the girls a home school teacher and have gotten them going with school, books, supplies, etc.  Meeting with the teacher weekly.  She is GREAT.
* Had a brief surprise visit from Swami (although he didn't stay with us) because there is now a new resident here who Swami lived with for years.  So from now on when Swami comes he won't stay with us anymore...bit of a bummer for us.  We will miss having him here.
* I am currently organizing a workshop with our kids new acting coach from Hollywood.  He is coming here in a month, I am handing his registration, which is fun, but a lot of work on my end - newspaper press releases, etc.
* Hosted Gary's production manager for 4 days while he shot video of Gary singing and playing for several new YouTube videos, all upcoming.  They turned out GREAT!  I will write more about that. 
* Helping oversee Skylar recording songs, making videos, etc.  She runs everything by Gary and me.   
* Continuing social networking for Gary's music, daily
* Helping the kids with every other day shooting brief commercials so they can practice their acting.  
* Getting caught up with eye, dental, orthodontist appointments for all three kids.
* A small fundraising project.
* Cooking, cleaning, piles of laundry!

As Sky used to say when she was little,

"Good my gracious me!"

It's good that I wrote it all down.  I realize, man that's a lot for less than a month, especially right upon our arrival home, where what I want to do is ease back into our life and poke around in my garden.  I am trying to maintain stamina for now I feel pretty tired. 

Good thing the tulsi is good for stress :)

my garden 2 weeks ago

How happy my edible garden makes me.  I hope I always remember that, no matter where I live, no matter how old I am, how important it is for me to have an edible garden -- to water, prune, and love my plants.  I especially like to walk through my garden after watering in the morning and sample all of my herbs, and my arugula.  I planted arugula by seed and have tons of it.  We are just starting to get tomatoes now.  I am hoping for a bumper crop.  I thought maybe I planted too early, (October).  I was getting impatient, for the plants were huge and green and healthy looking for 2 months, but no fruit.

Even though the weather is warm year round here, "the plants still know it's winter," as a wise gardener friend pointed out to me once.  He was telling me how he was growing a tropical herb (tulsi), from seed, in Michigan, putting the tiny plants under lights indoors in his basement for the coldest part of winter.  Giving them two hours of TLC a day.  Now that's dedication.

Explanation of my photos:

#2 is thriving tulsi.  Tulsi is holy basil.  I talk about it a lot.  It is my favorite plant.  I am kind of obsessed with it.  I have about 20 tulsi plants in the ground, and another 20 I have started from seed in pots.  

It cracks me up when the kids are looking for me, and I overhear them say, "Where's Mom?  Oh, she's in her tulsi garden as usual." 

Hint: I noticed a month ago that the tulsi had an infestation of scale.  :(  I pruned the plants, painstakingly removed the remaining bugs, sprayed the plants with neem oil mixed with olive oil, and 90% of them are back and thriving, and bug free!  So worth my time.  Neem is great for bugs because it actually stops them from reproducing.  But you have to dilute it with 80 - 90% olive oil.

#4 is my first broccoli.  Can you believe how huge the broccoli plants are?

Organic home grown food is the best!  So good for us, our kids, the earth.  If you are considering starting a garden or wanting to begin composting, let me know and I will help you.  I have lived in many other climates, so I know a fair amount and can steer you in the right direction.  Plus, farming is in my blood.  All I can say is, it's so much fun, and great for the kids.  Have a great weekend.  I have something kind of fun to share with you all soon.  Suffice to say I have a new job that I love.

garden herbs

I have been using wonderful fresh herbs from our garden in my daily cooking.  Things grow so fast here, it is rewarding, especially to have the plants year round.  I have several types of basil to choose from, plus fennel, dill, oregano, sage, rosemary, parsley.  Gotta find me some thyme, so I can sing Scarborough Fair.

There's fruits and veggies too - chard, kale, all sorts of lettuces, tomatoes, broccoli, caulifower, several types of peppers, onions, cucumbers, zucchini, papayas, lilikoi, and of course, my favorite - arugula.  I also have tulsi (holy basil) -- a whole garden area dedicated to this special plant.  I am beginng a small nursery and selling off tulsi starts to fellow gardeners.  It is very popular dried as a tea. 

 

For more on our family's gardening and my other green pursuits see my other blog, "The Green Mama."  http://greeniemama.blogspot.com/

I have been writing this blog for about a year.  I post here less frequently than I do to All of Us.  I am trying to decide whether to keep it or to combine them into one blog.  Any comments? 

back to gardening

I was quite thrilled to return home to a garden where many plants had grown so much! The tulsis have tripled in size, the papayas are enormous trees now and we will be enjoying their fruits in a month or so. I never cease to be amazed by the miracle of life and growth. A garden and children, they are the best reminders, don't you agree?

tulsi, or holy basil

Plants for sale!!! I started these from seed in September. They are now ready for planting. I am trying to sell them to raise money for an environmental organization. $2 - $3 a plant... http://www.amma.org/humanitarian-activities/nature/green-friends.html

So far I have sold some. I am leaving town in a month so will be looking for homes for them.

A close up of a medium sized tulsi plant in my yard, sans flowers. I keep it pinched back so the leaves get bigger.

A fully mature tulsi in a neighbor's garden, with beautiful flowers that bees love.

Tulsi has myriad medicinal uses. I did a little research and have found out more about this amazing plant. Since it is a native plant of India, these references were Indian medical journals and research.

The leaves contain alkaloids, fats, carbohydrates, proteins, glycosides, phenols, saponins, tannins, terpenes, flavonoids, vitamins and minerals. The leaves also contain vitamins A and C, calcium, iron, zinc, manganese, selenium, chlorophyll, and sodium.

Tulsi has so many health benefits. It is adaptogenic (increases body's resistance to stress), anabolic, analgesic, anti-allergy, anti-asthma, antibacterial, anti-cancer, anticoagulant, anti-depressant, anti-fertility (not good if trying to get pregnant), anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-parasitic, anti-protozoal, antipryetic (reduces fever), anti-stress, reduces cough, anti-viral, helps in treatment of ulcers, lowers blood pressure, modulates the immune system, repels insects, can protect against radiation, and reduces cholesterol.

It can be used to treat hypertension, many central nervous system symptoms, diabetes, cataracts, helps the gastrointestinal system, helps arthritis and inflammation, helps wounds heal, and helps eczema and psoriasis.

It is considered a safe herb. There are no know contraindications, toxic side effects or documented herb/drug interactions. It may worsen hypoglycemia, although this is not verified. And avoid large doses if trying to conceive.

Other than that, looks like it helps just about every ailment I have come across.

Let me know if you would like a plant. Once established in the ground they thrive in tropical weather.

Read more about this project on my GreenMama blog. tulsi

tulsi harvest

I helped a friend who lives nearby and has an established tulsi (holy basil) garden. We harvested the plants, washed them and then plucked the leaves for teas and tinctures we are helping to create. The kids helped us. We all munched on some leaves and seeds. I love the tender young seeds best. They are a bit bitter but they feel so good for you when you eat them fresh.

gardening day

I joined my friend Udeya, pictured below, to prepare a future garden bed for the tulsi (holy basil) plants that I am growing. She lives in a rainier, more jungle-y area than we do. I had so much fun being a farmer. I was really in my element.

Udeya holding a cutting from a lush tulsi plant she discovered that grows in a remote area of our island. She has heard that this variety propagates easily from cuttings and we are hoping we can grow this variety on her property. This will avoid the need for starting from seed, which is tricky.

Susie, her friend helping us clear the land for the future tulsi garden.

Udeya's veggie garden