garden .. on the run ; )

   So we've learned a few things about growing at 7000 feet above sea level. 1.) At least in Flagstaff - Mother Nature's hormonal clock is all over the place: Sunny and 75 degrees during the day, then dropping to below freezing at night (such as last night). 30 mile an hour gusts come around this season, and a little later on .. the monsoon kicks in with the occasional hail showers that can tear your crop to smithereens .. and to top it all off, we were only getting about 5 hours of good sun on the side of my brother's place .. so this morning, as is life w/ p&j, we took the show on the road ; ) 

   Luckily our whole farm lives in these buckets otherwise everything would have froze by now .. at the end of long days here at the Roost, we'd check the weather site and make sure the night was going to be warm enough for our babies .. a few nights it wasn't, so at 10 or 11pm, after wrapping up here, we'd drive by Paul's house and lug 25 buckets from the side of the house into the garage. Juwels says she likes the little night workout, but I could think of better uses of our energy at that hour .. so we decided to start looking around for a place with better sun and more protection from the wind and cold.

   And spoiled children of the Universe that we are .. wouldn't you know it, but there just so happened to be an unused greenhouse on the ranch about 100 feet from our Winnie front door. We met with the owner, and asked if we could clean it up, and bring a little life to the space, and he said sure thing! Over the years it had become full of junk, and we said we'd clean it up as soon as we could .. but last night at about 11pm, just after moving the plants into the garage, we pulled past the Winnie farther into the ranch to feel the temp in the greenhouse, and it was completely cleaned out .. as if magic elves or cartoon birds had come in and done the work. Best landlord ever !!

   Juwels didn't want to bring the plants in until we'd decked the place out, but I finally convinced her to just let them stay there in the full sun and warm nights until we were ready .. we could always pull them out when we decided to paint and build tables and shelves .. and it would sure beat the late night chug--lug.

   Outside there's another garden area with soil that's been conditioned over the years ... we'll plant some potatoes and onions out there .. they don't mind the cold ; )

   I started sweeping the cobwebs and dirt .. but a few seconds later found myself in a cloud of dust. Luckily, there's a water hookup, so we gave the whole place a nice splish splash. The damp cement and wood smelled great, and the air was suddenly tropical.

   Looks like one of the kids that ran around these parts in the past was decoding a special message on the wall. Juwels is already picking out colors for the new paint job - we're thinking brick red, but there's also a strong urge to do something really colorful and lively. We'll see ..

   This little fuzzy butt came in through the hole in the roof (sealing soon) and I told Juwels that I didn't think those big bees had stingers, so she scooped him up in her camera pouch and showed him the door : )

Lugging for the last time ; ) 

   And as I write this, our little greens are spending their first sunny morning in their new home. Can't wait to go in there tonight after work, light some candles, and meditate over the fruit and spices these organic beauties will bring us ; )

  More later, love,

 -p&j 

container garden

alOha Everyone ; ) 

  Sunday was a special day for many reasons.   1.) We had family in town from the southern, hot-as-Hades part of AZ.   2.) There was an amazing solar eclipse that cast the most bizarre sun-moon shadow on everyone's houses (see below).   3.) It was a new moon black sky night, perfect for star gazing, and   4.) We finally planted some tasty organic food !! 

   The soil up here in the mountains isn't the most hospitable place to plant delicate baby roots - the mineral content is off, and seeing as though we're strapped for space (we used to have plants in the broken air conditioning ducts on the Winnie's dashboard) but now we're crop sharing with my brother and his wife on the sunny side of their house. After contemplating tilling up and conditioning the soil vs. building wooden planter boxes and creating our own perfect atmosphere .. we were turned onto this simple bucket endeavor ; )  

Lotta buckets ... all their own mini specialized gardens - perfect for its occupant. 

   All of these weeds had to go, but with many helping hands, we had a blank slate here in a matter of minutes ; )

   After drilling drain holes in the bottom of these 5 gallon buckets (the herbs will live in 2 gallon buckets) we shoveled in a thin layer of gravel to help in the draining process, and keep more of our mineral rich soil from washing out. 

   This is the black-gold bedding for our soon to bee flowering Spring show .. the local nursery, Warners, makes their own perfect blended organic soil, and mixed in on a 3 to 1 ratio, we supplemented with some poultry compost ; )  

   We loaded all 20 buckets (more on the way) with the dense farm-scented soil and then positioned them in the sunniest part of the yard.

   And in come the stars !! Watermelons, cantaloupe, peppers, heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, white cucumbers, mint, parsley, basil, rosemary and more ; )

   This little bell pepper was super cute, but we made the call to snip it, so the plant could pull as much nutrients for a healthy stock and leaves, and save the fruiting for later ; ) We all nibbled a taste of the first offering from our happy plants!

   As you can see, part of this melon vine was a little sad that it had to sit in such a small pot in the nursery, and it drooped and withered .. but after Juwels tucked it into its new home and sang it to sleep, we woke up to find it all puffed up and full of life !!

   We gave everything a little bath, and then decided to wrap the cluster of plants up in some old bed sheets for the night. The night time temperature was supposed to be pretty mellow, even though we can still get a deadly freeze as late as June 15th (?!) way up here at 7000 feet, but for their first night away from the nursery greenhouse, we couldn't help but baby them. (there's actually 22 mile an hour winds outside the studio as I type this, and we're rushing to tape up some final boxes, so we can make a trip down the hill to drop off some orders and check in on our girls..)

   Juwels found a trick for growing stronger tomato plants .. when planting, it's suggested to trim off the bottom two branches and then burry the stem to the level where they once were. New roots will spread out along the stem and anchor the plant extra secure and help pull more goodies form the soil ; ) We'll see ..

Rosemary and Basil. 

   This is the Chocolate Mint .. seek this one out - super tasty and refreshing. Can't wait to steep this as tea or throw a handful in a big bowl of salad ; )

   Although these tomatoes don't look worthy of being caged .. soon they'll be monsters. Anyone who's grown happy tomatoes knows that they'll really reach up and offer you a bounty of juice red goodness as the summer wears on. We're ready!

   Okay, that's all - time to go check on our babies.

  happy growing, love, love,

 -p&j




   Here's a little snap of the sun/ moon shadows. I saw these on a house across the way, wispy Dr. Seuss looking things, and commented to my mom about what tree could have been casting such a shadow .. but then later in the car, I saw this same pattern everywhere. It was an odd an beautiful solar graffiti .. almost more impressive than the eclipse itself for its scattered frequency.

   And at the end of that drive, in our tiny downtown with people staring at the sun on every street corner, the family sat at this fine restaurant for some yum yum. Great day ; )

First Friday Candle GiveAway !!!!

CANDLE GIVEAWAY !!

  We decided last month that we wanted to do a candle GiveAway on the First Friday of every month .. so here we are ladies and gents ; )

   Below you'll find the three prizes - 1st, 2nd, 3rd. This is the 3rd place prize !!

   To enter into the GiveAway - comment on this post, and tell us a PetPeeve of yours : ) Pee on the toilet seat, ppl texting while driving, your neighbor's dog barking like he's practicing for American Idol .. bring it on ; )


   ... also, we'll bee posting this same GiveAway on our Face Book page, so if you want to jump over there, friend us, and comment on any of the giveaway posts there, and you'll have -TWO- chances to win ; ) You can just paste your same PetPeeve there .. or I'm sure we can all find another ; )

  Here's the link to the Face Book page:

Pollen Arts Face Book

-- Third Prize --

A beautiful Root Beer Extract and Milk Weed Cream combo. Here the link to our etsy listing for these two pieces if you want to know more about it ; )  

Root Beer : (link) 

   Milk Weed Cream: (link) 

-- Second Prize -- 

Lime Juice Combo:

Etsy Link ; ) 

-- First Prize -- 

  This is the Altas Mason with the little Milk Weed Cream & Vaseline Jar left and right ; ) Perfect burners !!!

     Here's the Etsy Link (*)


   Good luck - Cutoff for entry is Sunday at Midnight - AZ Mountain Time - We will announce the winner Monday !!!

 love,

 p&j