Ashes to Ashes / Dust to Dust / Bananas to Lettuce / Compost I Must!

Everyone who visits our home sees the things I am passionate about: God, family, home, America, ambiance, gardening, good health, and now...making better dirt!

Back in my early days in Tucson, some 35 years ago, I was attending the U of A, studying creative writing.  At that time I had a pink adobe duplex with a huge backyard where I started my first vegetable garden. Looking back, all I remember is that I made raised "rows," like they do in parts of the country where there is more rainfall than sun. Needless to say, it was not very successful in the desert.

Later, Jim and I bought our little plot in the suburbs where we raised our children while we developed our landscaping interests -- which led to our business. 

Over the years my garden has been expanded and made more compact;  framed with wood, edged with grass, framed with flagstone, split by step stones, lined with vines, lined with shrubs, lined with trees, filled with flowers, filled with vegetables, filled with both, depending upon my latest vision.  The garden was the site for a wedding. It even became a place to bury our beloved Schnauzer, Abby.  It has always been the first thing I see when I open our bedroom curtains.

My newest passions are growing things to eat, raising chickens, and making compost. Here is a collage of my new enterprises: 

Left to Right:  Now drinking water from a wineglass; growing Orchids given to us by a customer; chickens LOVE grapes! using a chicken carcass to make stock, freezing in ice cube tray and freezer bag stuffed into a box to make a big, rectangular cube, reusing a spinach box to collect compost; a bowl to gather treats for chickens.

Here is a collage of what we used to throw away or send down the sewer:

Left to Right: breakfast, lunch, dinner waiting to move to its next home.

My new compost tumbler, purchased with birthday money from my mom.  She didn't want me to attract rats.

Compost recipe: Kitchen scraps, straw and chicken manure, leaves and grass (whatever the chickens haven't eaten) some fresh dirt to add organisms, air and water. Wa La !

Some actors in my new production:

Dinah ('cause she looks like a dinosaur) and Coconut enjoying a day on the lawn.

Isabel and Banana Chip - both contributors to the heap.

The chickens LOVE Cilantro

Linette jumps to be the first to get some!

Whenever Jim sees me feed the chickens real food, he says, "Save some for us!"

When he sees my pile of scraps for the bin he says,
" Save some for us!"

Just wait until he sees what I am making with all the good stuff we used to throw away! And when I ask him to get me some more pots to grow more veggies to feed to him for dinner...then what will he say?

I know what I will say...My new mantra:   Ashes to ashes, dust to dust; bananas to lettuce, compost I must! 

Thanks for joining me.  I will keep you posted

-Becky