Growing

We had a slow start to the growing season with torrential rains and cool temps this spring followed by a few sweltering dry weeks to welcome summer, but things are finally starting to perk up and grow!

I'm already getting some sungold cherry tomatoes, a few squash (zucchini and zephyrs), peppers, and plenty of herbs. I've also dug the potatoes and have all the onions and garlic drying in the garage. Had a decent first year blueberry harvest (even though you're supposed to pinch off the first year's flowers - oops!)

Here are a few pics from the past few weeks of growing at the house.....

drying onions

sungold tomatoes, oregano, and rain barrel

squash in the front yard a few weeks ago

squash again (also notice the nectarine tree that replaced the dead apple tree)

summer squash in the front on the 4th of july :)

zephyrs are becoming my favorite summer squash

volunteer pumpkin plant in the back and the largest marigold I've ever seen - the pumpkin might have to go if it starts taking over my blueberries......

Happiness.....

......is a garden growing.

Joplin, MO

As many of you know, Joplin, Missouri, was hit by an F-5 tornado on Sunday, May 22, 2011. The three-quarter mile wide tornado stayed on the ground wreaking havoc for nearly seven miles.

This kind of damage was unfathomable to me until just a few days ago when I was called as an AmeriCorps member to help with tornado recovery. Even several days after assisting I am still processing my experience. This post is mostly just an overview of what we did, but I've tried to capture a little more as well. There are so many things about the whole experience that just can't be put into words.

Our team of 11 Energy Corps members from Fayetteville drove the 80 miles up to Joplin on Wednesday morning not knowing what to expect but ready to help however needed.

Due to some organizational challenges associated with coordinating hundreds of volunteers, we initially experienced some down time when we arrived (a frustration that was really difficult to accept, but definitely a personal learning experience). By the afternoon we began assisting in the Red Cross shelter moving cots and personal items for people staying in the shelter. I heard some heart wrenching stories on Wednesday that I can't begin to do justice to by retelling here. There were some amazing people who had just had their lives literally torn to pieces just two days ago, but yet they were thanking us for moving their cots. It really put things into perspective.

During a break in the afternoon we drove down to the area worst hit by the tornado. Every picture I'd seen on the news and online of the devastation was completely accurate - except the damage just kept going. There is absolutely no way to capture or describe what 7 miles of tornado destroyed land looks like. Below are a few photos of the damage, but it's just a small sampling of the damage.

After coming back to Fayetteville late Wednesday night and being extremely thankful for our own families, homes, and beds, a smaller group of us returned to Joplin early Thursday morning. Because we had already made connections with the AmeriCorps leaders we were put into service much more efficiently and went out in the "field" to lend a hand with cleanup.

We spent the day Thursday clearing tree branches and debris from houses "on the edge" of the tornado path. These were homes that people were still living in or returning to shortly (they had just turned the water back on in many of these neighborhoods Thursday morning, but generators were the only source of power). Initially it felt like we should be doing something more but the worst areas were so damaged they are beyond repair at this point so helping the people who still have homes is vitally important.

I worked closely with another AmeriCorps volunteer from Colorado to manage a group of approximately 40 volunteers moving from house to house with chainsaws cutting and moving trees. There were some amazing stories and people who from all over who were helping. It was simultaneously heart wrenching and inspiring to work beside some young people whose rental house was completely destroyed by the tornado while they huddled in an interior room. As they showed me pictures on their cell phones of where there house used to stand I was speechless - unable to relate to their experience and humbled by their willingness to help other people.

I didn't take any pictures on Thursday, but just imagine the worst ice storm damage to hundred year old trees you've ever seen and then apply that to thousands of homes. It's an image I will not soon forget.

I'm definitely still processing the experience of helping in Joplin. The amount of damage is still hard to comprehend - even after seeing it firsthand. The recovery is going to take years, but I am comforted by the courage and strength I saw in the survivors and the outpouring of assistance from people all over.

These are pictures I took on my phone from the car on Wednesday. You can see more pictures from our trip taken by a fellow EnergyCorps member on the Arkansas EnergyCorps page here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.230242866990179.79286.178196745528125

(notice the American flag hanging on the house)

Houses were spray painted with an "X" and often numbers after they'd been searched by the search and rescue crews.

This was the Home Depot

**I promise an update post soon of all that is growing and greening around here - this just felt more important to share right now.

Rain

In the words of Forrest Gump: "we been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain....and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night......"

As a matter of fact it's still raining tonight. I started to lose count after we had 12 inches in less than 72 hours, but suffice it to say, we've had A LOT of rain. With all of that rain, we've also had flash flooding.......and regular flooding. And our roof even leaked (we haven't fixed it yet because it won't stop raining long enough).

My lettuce was under water for a few days. I planted tomatoes in the mud Saturday morning.

Alas, we did have a little break in the rain last Thursday and again Saturday. So what did we do????

Hosted rain barrel making workshops!

Actually, they were scheduled long before the never ending rain, but the timing could not have been more ironic.

Thanks to a partnership with the Washington County Cooperative Extension, Cargill (the Tyson equivalent for processing turkeys headquartered here in NWA), and the school district (me), we were able to host two "make and take" workshops where people could come and learn to make a rain barrel for just $15. The co-op folks are incredibly awesome and really did most of the work, I just helped secure some funding, organized the location, hauled some barrels, and then showed up and took photographs. It was awesome.

The workshops were set up so people did most of the work on their own barrels creating a genuine sense of accomplishment when completed. Oh, and they learned while doing! Where I come from they call that experiential education :) If only we could get more of it in the schools......

Anyway, the workshops were great - 40 people in Fayetteville now have bright blue rain barrels to catch some of this rain. Two participants have already happily let me know their rain barrels are hooked up and flowing over.

Here are some photos of the happy barrel makers in action........

Thursday evening crew

Katy from the co-op extension hard at work

I've never seen such a large socket wrench, just holding it made me feel powerful

Some people had the benefit of long arms to install their hardware.....

Others did not have such long arms.

This is the principal of the school, Ms. Champion, with her husband hard at work on their new rain barrel

Stapling on the screen.

Beth especially enjoyed stapling the screen

Dan and Laura got creative with their barrel :)

Happy rain barrel owners!

Spring Has Sprung!

The snow has melted and the sun is shining - it's finally spring in Fayetteville and time for gardening!

It's also time for some exciting projects including a garden at Owl Creek school. The project is a partnership between the school, Boys and Girls Club, and Apple Seeds, Inc. - a local nonprofit. We'll be starting an after school club for 4th - 7th grade students the week after spring break and working with teachers to determine how to incorporate the garden into class work.

I'm so excited to be part of the project and getting my hands dirty again! There are lots of really cool components and tons of potential, but I'll share that as it progresses :)

Most recently, one of the teachers at the school had the genius idea of getting each fourth, fifth and sixth grade student into the garden to prepare the beds before planting. Only one fourth grade class came, but ALL of the fifth and sixth graders made it out thanks to two amazing teachers. Each class spent approximately 30 mins in the garden and helped mix compost and topsoil, filled the beds, turned over sod, and mulched between the beds. I helped with some of the classes in the morning on Wednesday and Friday to get the teachers going and make sure everything ran smoothly. The students were awesome! Here are a few pictures of the classes that worked so hard.......

Fifth graders with Ms. Richardson

Sixth graders with Mr. Smith

Fourth graders with Ms. Price

Another sixth grade class with Mr. Smith

Fifth graders hard at work

Eight raised beds and a greenhouse foundation

Beautifully filled beds and newly mulched pathway

These students were all amazing - they worked hard, asked lots of questions, and were so enthusiastic about the garden. Many of them also wanted to know when they could come again! This was a huge success for the first garden event of the season - oh, and did I mention we even got a picture in the local newspaper?!

Social Network Overload

I started to post on Facebook tonight that I had an upset stomach due to eating dinner from Sonic.....

And then I realized......

No one cares.

Yup, no one cares.

I mean, it's not something I would call any of my friends to tell them, so why would I tell the 500 plus "friends" that I have on facebook?

Because I almost fell into social network overload. That's right, social network overload.

I don't think this is a technical diagnosis, but I'm pretty confident people have it. You know the people I'm talking about. The ones that post about everything.

I mean, really, do we need to know where you are every minute? Or what you had for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner? (I do find the occasional food post interesting, though, so don't take that the wrong way!)

So now I'm posting on my blog about NOT posting something on facebook. I've definitely fallen into SNO (yeah, I just made an acronym for a made up condition - it seems fitting in some odd way).

But in all seriousness, I think many of us are suffering from a little too much technology overload. Prime example:

Over the past week I've had several people ask or email me asking if I've heard about the seed swap this Sunday hosted by the Fayetteville Community Garden Coalition (FCGC).

I'm helping to organize the event.

Let me repeat that, I'm helping organize the event. So, yes, I've heard about it. In fact, without exception, all of the people who asked if I've heard about the event received an email or facebook message from me telling them about the event.

Yup, that's right, the people who asked if I heard about the event heard about the event from me.

Case in point. Social network overload. We're so bombarded with facebook posts, texts, emails, tweets (which is the one thing I don't do), etc., etc., we've lost track of each other.

It's a sad, lonely world sometimes.

But, hey, did you hear?????

There's a seed swap this Sunday. And I, for one, am looking forward to attending. I might even blog about it at some point...... :)

PS: I'm about to post on facebook that I just made a new blog post - oh, the irony!

Snow!

I finally was able to see snow in Fayetteville (I was out of town the first time it snowed significantly in January), and it sure has been an experience! It started sleeting/freezing rain/wet stuff falling from the sky early Tuesday morning and transitioned to real snow after everything had been sufficiently coated with ice. We then received about 4-5" of beautiful white fluffy snow on top of everything.

Unfortunately, people in Arkansas don't really know what to do when it snows and are even more confused when there's ice under the snow so school has been closed (i.e. I don't have to go to work) for the past three days and is cancelled again tomorrow due to road conditions.

The first few days were really enjoyable and I was able to get caught up on some of the part time work I do outside of my full time job. Oh, and nap a little. And make cinnamon buns. And brownies...... snow days make for a hard life :)

By the third day (today), though, I was getting pretty tired of sitting around so I ventured out into the cold, white world for a walk down to the park this afternoon after doing some work for a few hours this morning. The roads around our house are still a solid sheet of ice so I understand why school is closed - I'm sure not driving anywhere. It still didn't get above 25 degrees (our absolute high for the past 3 days!), but it was wonderful to get some fresh, albeit very cold, air.

Oh, and apparently people become really friendly when they spend three days trapped in their houses. I had very pleasant short conversations with at least three other people walking around the neighborhood - more interaction than I've had in this neighborhood in the past 6 months! Hooray for snow being a community building tool!

So, here are a few photos from the park today and a few of the house and yard from the past two days when I was too much of a weenie to venture out in the 10 degree weather.....

The trail to the park - clearly I wasn't the only person itching to get out in the snow

Weathervane on the gazebo at the park - that cow looks cold.

The creek at Gulley Park - mostly frozen

Bridge in the park

Icicles!

More icicles! Something just isn't working quite right with that gutter....

Proof that the sun was out today - this was right before I turned to walk back to the house....and it got very, very cold.

Natural pruning in my front yard - my apple tree just couldn't handle the ice

Dogwood tree in the front yard - notice it already was starting to think it's spring and putting out buds - sorry for the rude awakening with all that ice

Backyard - I think it was still snowing when I took this one on Tuesday

Front yard.....with the trusty Danger Ranger tucked in by a blanket of snow

This is what else I was doing the past few days.....I told you......it's a hard life

Bucket List

Happy New Year! Can't believe another year is done and we're into the next.....

I've never really been a big new years resolution kind of person - probably because I tend to forget what my resolutions are by the time my birthday rolls around at the end of January. Instead, I've taken to starting a bucket list. I've actually had one for quite a while, but for some reason I haven't really shared it in written form.

In the spirit of the new year, I'm revisiting my list. And I'm identifying some guidelines. Rules seem too harsh, and besides, it's my own list so I can really make it what ever I want :) Most of these come from a conversation I had with my sister earlier this fall when we were talking about bucket lists on a long hike. She encouraged me to push my list farther - to not just do things, but to do them really well and as completely as possible (which is a little ironic because she is the world's best project starter and worst finisher.) But, anyway, I liked her enthusiasm.

So, that's my first guideline - if I'm going to do anything, do it well. No half-ass bucket list experiences. I think I can live with that.

Second guideline - no time limits. This is the beauty of a bucket list for me. Unlike resolutions which imply a deadline of a year, a bucket list has a lifetime - however long or short that may be.

Third guideline - no particular order. My list is a random jumbling. I'm a dreamer and that's how my brain works.

Fourth guideline - nothing is impossible. Like I said, I'm a dreamer. And this is my list :)

So, without further ado.......drum roll please......

Dana's Bucket List (as of January 2, 2011):

1. Learn to play the banjo
2. Make a quilt
3. Go to Ireland
4. Go to Alaska
5. Own a farm
6. Have kids
7. Make my own pasta, cheese, and tomato sauce - on a regular basis
8. Kill an animal myself and eat it
9. Own horses again, and pigs, and chickens, maybe even a cow
10. Dance like no one's watching......in a crowded room

So, there it is. I had to get a little more whimsical with the last one just for good measure. For some reason it makes me a little nervous to put this out there. Maybe this is my subconscious way of creating some accountability - that's exciting and slightly frightening at the same time.

And now I'd like to know, what's on your bucket list???