These last couple weeks of cold are really dragging on. Hoping by March 10th our last frost has passed, but the window still remains open until the 30th.  April 1st was our last frost in 2014 and it  took with it a half dozen of our early tomato plants. For our sanity, lets manifest the 10th of March haha.  Luckily, Gaiamtv.com has a fantastic selection of short films, documentaries, and more. In our family we like to say 'Spirals be Spiralin' when moments of reality lead toward synchronicity.  Spirals because Nature and cosmos work though the Fibonacci as a blueprint for the formative forces (subtle energy we have yet to accept in our mainstream science paradigm).  Our bodies, sea shells, plants, galaxies, even at a molecular level atoms too, all expressing themselves through the fibonacci. We feel even our time in existence this lifetime, to souls we interact with, all work through spirals based off numbers we have manifested through, ie birthdates, ages, certain people we befriend.. This concept actually interconnects multiple facets of science such cosmology, astrology, numerology, archeology, and more, similar to how ancient cultures are being perceived by more and more souls.  For example, a neighbor asked what I could tell him about Permaculture (one of my pillars of stewardship) which lead to deeper conversations about our current reality's state and even steps towards our developing homestead.  From one question a new spiral was initiated which encompasses the homestead in Blanch, the local acreage yearning for seedballs and a food forest, to unforeseen common bonds of the future.. Spirals :) Getting on with the story, the spirals continued to spiral. Being cooped up in the house for weeks we stumbled upon a few documentaries that sounded interesting. The first was about the Guerrilla Gardening scene in Los Angeles. It was inspiring, but also gut wrenching and infuriating. The latino population in that area of the country is being consumed by gang and american society, leading a majority on a path for incarceration, struggling as a debt slave, or even death, all before 18.  To see such a populace infatuated with gardening and the impacts it has on them is nothing short of heart warming. It followed a group of 6 or so teenagers who take it upon themselves to plant out vacant lots with seedballs, filling curbsides with native flowers and veggies.  One of their biggest events and achievements brought tears to the elder latino's eyes, those who had farming in their blood and lifestyles back home.  It was awesome to see such a bond and connection rediscovered! However, the city came and took out the garden weeks later due to no permits.... Complete ignorance, arrogance, and disrespect for the youth making a difference.  All I can say is this lifetime I am not meant to be an anarchist, thank goodness for those troubled souls whom would attempted to block my path.  Another of the movies was the 2008/2009 production of 'Back to the Garden'. It followed the Flower children of Washington State in the 1960s and 70s on their journey to not only push aside the increasingly ignorant and failing culture that encompassed the country (still does), but also create a counter culture to replace it.  All types of souls, from all walks of life were drawn to this energy and intention.  One such soul still teaches German, Spanish, French, Chinese, and multiple musical instruments, clearly not the typically envisioned ignorant hippie stereotype fed to the masses via propaganda. It went on to explain the core values of peace, love, and compassion embodied by these souls. As well as their desire to live in conscientious poverty, more harmonized with Nature and the Earth that gives us life. From cob and earthern homes, to yurts, geodesic domes, and practices such as passive solar, wood stoves, and solar energy are staples in such mindsets. Most of them grew their own vegetables, flowers, even one surged towards permaculture! These souls were then found years later in 2007 to see how their journey was going and where it had taken them. Without spoiling the movie, the souls presented and their lifestyles will forever be on my mind and heart.  I am eternally grateful they laid the foundation for the future of living on this planet successfully. They sowed the seeds of positive and harmonious living in our species, yet again. Leading to the next three short films we watched, which were entitled Disclosure with David Wilcock (just a host, I do NOT resonate with his Edgar Cayce incarnation claims). The subject matter was Ancient Egypt and he had some of the best minds in the field for 30 minutes each! Minds such a John Anthony West (Serpent in the Sky), Graham Hancock (Fingerprints of the Gods), and even Robert Bauval (The Orion Mystery) all discussing the current (February 2015) state of the Paradigm Symposium (annual collection of scientists discussing our real human history, collaborating across dozens of fields) and of the doomed 'Church of Progression' mindset. Very fascinating subject matter and as with the Pyramid Code, it all resonates very well (especially with my past life regression in Egypt). Point of all the spirals and movie concepts was a reminder of our journey. Our desire to separate, as best as possible like the generations before us,  and nurture a family away from a debt slave lifestyle, before society implodes. To raise a soul and live through love, compassion, gratitude, and peace while respecting and giving back to the Earth that houses us, sounds more balanced in every way. No matter how much we want to change the cities and concrete jungles, they are inevitably tied to the fate of the culture which spawned them. A culture, and species, which ignorantly thinks itself the top of the food chain, the best humanity has ever been in all our history. That is the problem though, it is His-Story, a patriarchal and linear based mindset and way of living, so disconnected from Nature that we find ourselves deaf to our Mother's voice. Hence where the spiral lead next, to the reminder that we are but a fetus of a society in comparison to Matriarchal centered cultures such as the true Ancient Egypt which flourished for possibly tens of thousands of years. Ultimately, we must strive to reharmonize ourselves and the planet, but live life in each moment while being grateful for what we have manifested.  With all that said, lets look at some garden pictures! We had freezing rain and ice for the first time, and hopefully last time, this winter. Enjoy the show!

February 24 Crabapple bud in ice

February 24th view of a blooming hyacinth in ice!

February 24th we spotted a fungi, thriving in the ice!

February 24th view of a baby pine tree showing true determination and perseverance.

February 24th view of a tea plant that is staying alive. Maybe in summer time we will make some tea from her!

February 24th view of the R&D morsels I kept going for my own curiosity. This spinach survived and is delicious!

February 24 Fiona trying to step across the icey ground, it really baffled her as to how to walk without making noise.

February 24 view of the Mammoth Snow Pea trellis still standing tall, but coated in ice.

February 24th up close of the ice on the bamboo, it came from the west, northwest and shows.

February 24 view of twine coated in ice with kale plants in the background.

February 24th view of the chicken coop covered in ice from roof to porch and more. See how it even coated the chicken wire and luckily didnt put too much weight strain on the frame.

February 24th view of Lavender braving the cold, the only chicken to come out of the coop that day! Poor chickens, they surely do not like ice, at least these four.

February 24th view of the decent sized icicles on the coop roof. The latches on the back doors of the coop had to be bathed with a heat lamp to open them. Four eggs were waiting inside with three chickens avoiding the ice. I put the heat lamp on after getting inside to warm the chickens up some.

February has been the month I learn seedballs. These are the materials I am using from left to right: A heat lamp to dry the seeds for 24 hours (no sun consistently), Earth Recharge (biodynamic compost), dry red clay, red russian kale, dino kale, curly roja kale seeds, earth tonic and a stir wand for potenizing the water to be used with seedball intentions, a plate of diatomaceous earth and Azomite to dust the extra wet seedballs with trace minerals, two spray bottles (one with potenized water, the other with fresh compost tea), and a white tray with nifty groves in it for holding the seedballs to dry. If you do it inside, have plastic or cardboard down to protect the carpet/floor. A 2'x2' or 3'x3' space is plenty.

February the seedballs are starting to shape up and dry. One can see how white tray worked wonders keeping them separate and easily counted!

February the seedballs are dry and starting to add up. Currently, as of the 27th, we have made about 400 of them. I would estimate about an hour for fifty to sixty in the method I am developing. Not as fast as some, but putting 2 to 4 seed per seedball takes time compared to mixing all three parts (compost, clay, seed) together and balling. I prefer to give each seed a fair chance, developing seed combinations and individually placing each seed within.  About 100-150 to go to have enough for both plots dedicated to Natural Farming. We have also been contemplating making native perennial flowers and cover crop seedballs to throw around the area, from a sandy yard spot to poplar grove walking trails ;) Seriously, spreading seeds and doing so in such a manner makes me ecstatic inside! I look forward to spreading this knowledge and practice the city, or even state over! Considering we have a decent amount of CO2 in our atmosphere (methane, a byproduct of our livestock and agriculture, is the real problem dont be fearmongered by global warming propaganda and carbon tax bull$h!t) planting more plants is the way to absorb it practically. We clear cut forests and strip away the plants that give oxygen for CO2. I am here to replant those barren lands with co2 loving souls eager and grateful to live! I read stories of individuals who have planted forests, thousands of trees strong, in their native lands and I get flat out giddy about doing the same here.

Spring seems to be steadily approaching but the cold is refusing to end its cycle just yet. While outside the other day I took a few pictures of blooms and buds starting to show themselves as they anticipate spring's arrival. The Hungarian Paprika sitting on the porch finally had all her peppers ripen, and I hope to put her in the ground come summer for another fruiting.  Not much one can do in these cold winter months, when growth retreats underground. I have found much comfort in reading literature about Permaculture, Biodynamics, and Natural Farming, with the occasional youtube movie to ease the imagination along. Such examples would be From Dirt to Abundance in 126 days or even in 92 days. Both from the same user, check his work out! We are both excited to try making seed balls the next sunny day, for sowing a majority of our spring crops around the equinox. I have tediously made a list of plant varieties to go together for each of the three growing seasons. There will be 8 different seed balls used in the spring, 15 in the summer, and 8 again in the fall. The balls will contain 2 to 6 seeds each of up to 4 different plants.  Cover crop, dynamic accumulators, fruit, and vegetable seed will be used. I hope to put a biodynamic twist on the seed balls in a couple ways. One, by using compost prepared biodynamically. Two, by grouping crops into leaf, root, fruit, and flower crops. Therefore, allowing us to cast the seed balls over the course of a week on each respective crop day. The costs are just under $200 for the year's seeds (enough for multiple years really), biodynamic compost, and red clay powder. If that investment produces food like seen in the clips above, I will be over joyed with the results and looking for takers of excess food.  If this works, I will be confident in moving forward with food forest seed ball creation. Plants suited to revitalize the soil and let Nature return triumphantly, such as pioneer plants, dynamic accumulators, green manure crops, perennial flowers, and other native vegetation from prairie turnip to alder and birch. Here are a few pictures of spring showing a glimpse of new life. I have also been busy the past two week building trellis for peas, both Green Arrow Shelling and Mammoth Snow varieties. Upon completion I planted 3 to 4 peas with innoculant at the base of each trellis leg. Taking advantage of the pvc still in the ground from winter greens, I planted more shelling peas at the base of each pvc leg.. lots of shelling peas for a pea loving woman and I. Enjoy!

February 18 paprika harvest. These were topped, then seeds and gills taken out. Next, the peppers are cut into long 1/8 inch wide strips. A baking sheet works fine when spreading all the strips out and putting in the oven on the lowest temp possible. We use 170F for about 3 or 4 hours. When dry enough, powder down with a spice grinder or mortar and pistil, jar it up. It isnt smoked paprika, but we havent got that far along yet in our home made spice preparing.

February 18th view of the crab apple showing some buds amongst this late winter weather. Hope to harvest her fruit this year for Nature's Way, if only the weather doesnt ruin the crop like last year.

February 18th view of the Hyacinth, one of three blooming.

February 18th view of the peach tree showing signs of a happy spring to come.

February 18th view of a daffodil days away from bloom.

February 18th view of the blueberry bushes, established and maybe worthy of setting a crop this year.

February 18th view of white azaleas trying to bloom.

February 18th again of white azalea. We found a branch half buried under leaf mulch, uncovered it and found it had roots shooting from the stem. Hopefully the two plants propagated from this branch will root and be two beautiful white azalea bushes in the future!

February 18th view of the new pawpaw mound planted a few weeks back. I finished dispersing all the mulch/compost, and wish I had about 5 cubic yards more! I used old branches that had fallen in a storm for edges, laid cardboard on the bottom and filled it in, 6 inches deep. I knew the soil is a bit lacking in certain minerals, soil test done, so I added epsom salts to the mound. Next came purple coneflower seeds and some of the old straw bales from winter cold frames. Hope the pawpaws really take off this year and we can get more native plants established in this mound.

February 18th view from what was the mulch/compost mound. There was a white metal thing in the ground that destroys lawnmower blades, so I put this mound on top of it. I aim to put a fruit tree in, still marking the spot, but not being capable of breaking mowers. In the background is the rest of the prepared garden space. I am considering not mowing the space from here to the other plots and grape vine, while throwing seed balls into it. If I can find free mulch I will use it, but without it may be a good example of using seedballed green manure and pioneer plants to revitalize struggling soil.

February 18th view of the fall greens finishing up winter as best they can. We have been eating spinach and cilantro from the garden at will, while the kales, chard, and pac choy have offered me only a few stir frys, sandwiches and smoothies. I filled in the walkways with mulch and strawed the top. I tried to pull the rows into the walkways if there were no living plants, to level the entire area some more. I have sown peas for all the trellis and all the pvc, both soil entry points. We are hoping for peas galore as the seedballs start to germinate late march, early april. I also took a chance spreading watermelon radish and chioggia beets last week over this area. The mulch will protect them from most animals, but disease, rot and cold may have found them recently. Hence the importance of clay and compost in the seed balls compared to broadcasting direct seed. Nature will reveal what works over the next few weeks.

February 18th view of the new do-nothing plot. I may do a post dedicated solely to it in the future as more time lapse shots are available. In summary, this was were I planted vine crops (watermelon, pumpkin, zucchini, squash, sweet potato, and birdhouse gourd) last summer. Directly into the sandy soil I dug a 2' wide by 1' deep hole and filled and mounded with compost and good soil, along with a transplant or direct sowing of 2-3 seed each. This worked great for 2 months, produced about a dozen zucchini and yellow squash. As well as 2 star and moon, with 3 sugar baby watermelons. They needed to be expanded once with more compost, soil, and straw/mulch forming one mound from two. Late last year I covered this area with cardboard then epsom salts, a couple inches of leaf compost from 2013, and mulch/compost from the 7 cu yard purchase last year. After that I may have put some grass trimmings on if any were available. The next layer was when the leaves fell last year, I raked them up, minus the sandy spots that needed the leaves to breakdown upon them, into about 5 tarp (20x14?) loads. Each load of leaves made it to this plot. When done, there was a 2 foot layer of leaves, all from this land, on top of the previously prepared layers. Note the only time I cut into the soil and tilled it was in summer 2014 before being introduced to this method. Ever since it has been simply placed on the soil, to be assimilated over time. I then put about 2 inches of mulch on the leaves to keep them there and compact enough to start breaking down. After the fall greens no longer needed straw bales, they were spread over this plot and again received more mulch. Now, the plot will probably stay as is, pea trellis made, peas planted, awaiting seed balls. I am thinking sweet potatoes will volunteer from the ride side of this plot. I may try a three sisters mound or two in the front left corner and side, while seed balling the rest. As mentioned, excited to see what happens when Nature is left to her perfection.

February 18th view of the pea trellis and sowed spot in the spiral garden. Smokie Doo is in the hand chair, but the row behind him has had grass trimmings slowly breaking down on it... I think I should have layered it for better results.

February 18th again of the spiral garden, but this time to show the cover crop on these two rows. It protects the rows from erosion, is wild and seeded itself, hopefully will add life back to the soil in the coming months. I honestly wish all the yard and garden plots would be consumed with this or clover. This concept of not trying to rid the soil of weeds, but encourage a different plant or weed to grow instead is more harmonious with Nature. For example, sandspurs are consuming one's yard. Scientific farming would say spray chemicals and or till/weed the plant from the soil. Organic farming says use vinegar or certified organic herbicides. Natural Farming solves the problem by dissolving the label of weed or pest plant, making all plants of similar importance, allowing a natural, perfect, perspective. Then native plants, be it green manures, perennial flowers, or even bushes and trees, are seeded/balled to encourage Nature's competition and cycle. In this way, no plant is disrespected, which clouds our perspective, and the soil gains more biodiversity. This in turn discourages the need for Nature to encourage the undesired plant. Seems complicated, but it is the philosophy that is being absorbed.  While the mind attempts to scare us from simplicity, nothingness, mu. Planting seed seems much easier and cheaper then scientific 'solutions'.  Logically it will always be easier as Nature works better then our human intellect can. Besides the yard, or vacant lot, could use native vegetation instead of being barren or constantly mowed, both restricting growth at tremendous expense.

This is hairy vetch and winter rye that I broadcast bare seed of in the fall. Not much made it, lack of seed protection, soil that sterile? Learning, one season at a time. The vetch is the long stemmed symmetrical leaved plant. It is actually fuzzy and has purple blooms. It is a legume, like peas and beans, so it fixes nitrogen from the air into the soil via its roots. This nitrogen is available to the nearby plants and microbes after the plant dies primarily, but sometimes during life as well. If a branch is cut above ground, the root system releases rhizomes (the nitrogen bacteria/fungi) equal to the above ground lose. The winter rye is the tall slender, grass like plant.

Here we have white or red clover, not sure which. It too adds nitrogen back in the soil. It will be one of our staples in seed balls and for the future homestead. Fukuoka used it especially under his fruit trees as it stays under 18" tall, while being a green manure, unlike typical grasses.

February 18th view of three of our four hens. We love these chickens! The white one, the youngest is Snowflake, a pearl white leghorn, pink, ping pong ball like eggs. The red one in front of her is Regina, a road island red and americana cross, our oldest, white green eggs. To the right is Lavender, a full blood americana, with a blue hue egg, our third to start laying. Red is not pictured, but a road island red, laying brown red eggs, being the 2nd oldest.

February 18th view of half our Food Forest Felines. These two are nuts, they climb trees 20 to 30 ft up and sit or do yoga. Fiona is in the front and youngest, while Smokie Doo is in the background, higher up the tree.

As we buckle down and continue to read and plan (or purposeful lack there of!) for the homestead we strive to build next year I have found some really awesome resources. With the resources came motivations, local and far, to change my perspective. So much so that I find myself in quite a human intellect driven pickle! Biodynamic farming as we all know is a far cry from conventional agriculture, and a step up from organic agriculture. Permaculture, or the aspects I am absorbing, seems to incorporate a little less human labor and intervention, while still guiding agriculture and food production slightly. Then comes Natural Farming, or 'do nothing' farming which says human intellect has gone far outside its necessary bounds in this grand organism's sphere of influence. As nature knows and does best, the least amount of intervention by us is of utmost importance, hence no weeding, no tilling, no watering, no fertilizing, ultimately little to no planning. In such a case, all that is left is dispersing seed of native variety plants. Mostly legumes (tree to vines), cover crops, and mineral accumulators to naturally feed the soil. Seed balls are created and scattered in this method full of perennial flowers, vegetables, fruit trees, herbs, and the aforementioned green manure, accumulator crops. I have actually stumbled upon a few gardens and landscapes which use such practices and let nature make the greater percentage of decisions, such as Nature's Way Farm in hampstead, not watering a 50'x50' garden for 20+ years. Or even Jane's humble abode and the way the landscape and nature have seemingly designed a greater part of the vegetation naturally over time. Ideally we hope to manifest about 4 acres of edible food forest ranging from apples, pears, pawpaws to currants, blueberries, blackberries, goji berries, groundnuts, sea buckthorn, buffaloberry, ground cherry, kiwi, chinese wild yam (steiner's liferoot), prairie turnip, and much much more including leafy greens, perennial vegetables, even annual veggie and herb seeds we sow in seed balls. The idea is to blend these techniques and practices I have witnessed and learned to create this self sustaining foraging food forest, with the least amount of work input. Through swales and utilizing the slight hill we will inhabit I possibly hope to grow rice and utilize biodynamic flow forms too.

If you have followed this far, you are awesome... Possibly you can now see how my perspectives are shifting on agriculture. I even found an awesome farm out near Pittsboro that uses both Biodynamics and Natural Farming, growing rice in Chatham County NC haha awesome! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVupdIEH_7I

Anywho, here are the resources I have been deriving this information from, I hope it helps in some way!

• Documentary on just mulching, to simulate and create a forest floor type soil structure: http://www.backtoedenfilm.com/ film free at bottom, uses specific mulch, typically free from tree clearing companies, foraging chickens, and pruning old growth to flourish.

• Permaculture and food forest design: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIFfTX7SPLs using legumes and fast growing soil fixers to usher in a food forest of fruit trees, fruit bushes, vines, and tubers within 3 years, 7 year old example to show towards end. 1 hour 22 minutes, lot to take in. Geoff Lawton is the man to learn basics from (youtube videos at this point or books, as his main website has turned into a sales pitch instead of the 20+ different short videos on varies subjects), keep in mind a lot of his work is in New Zealand and Australia so species and climates will differ but concepts won't.

• Another on Permaculture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXVnAMQRGbI 48 minutes easier to digest.

• This one on Natural Farming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft0ylk4sU5M 1 hour

• One source I have found to be absolutely priceless in learning and putting thought into our land is John K.'s site, http://tcpermaculture.com/site he has done amazing work! One of the hardest stumbling blocks when trying to learn Permaculture in this climate is the shift to a temperate climate mindset and biodiversity. I will use this site for years to come, on top of the dozens of hours spent there already.

• Another site I found useful to comparing and gathering information was http://www.fruitipedia.com/index.htm a pretty cool resource to food sources we commonly overlook from plants because they are not in Harris teeter, or even Tidal Creek for that matter, mostly fruits.

• Peter Tompkins' and Christopher Bird's Secrets of the Soil is a book I would recommend to anyone who is serious about not only producing food, but desires a better world through stewardship of soil and Nature. It is a hard read and took me over 3 years to complete 24 chapters, but the knowledge to be gained is invaluable. Some call it witchcraft, but like race, social status, sexual preference, religious resonance, we should hopefully be past the age of judgement and fear of the unknown.

• The Natural Way of Farming, the Theory and Practice of Green Philosophy by Masanobu Fukuoka. This book will help to deteriorate the dependency we find for science and technology driven agriculture, our modern day conventional mockery of stewardship. From Liebig's law of minimums to the scientific method, even organic farming practices are philosophically approached. It has helped to deteriorate my perceived need for man's intellectually contrived work. Nature truly works perfectly and if we can be humble enough to embrace the humility of errors and ignorance, we can turn our species around for the better.

• Fukuoka also has a book entitled The One-Straw Revolution. I have yet to read. Both books seem to teach, from Fukuoka's experience and observations, letting Nature play her rhythm with the least amount of intervention possible.

• Sepp Holzer has an awesome book on Permaculture as well.

• http://www.permies.com has an amazing forum for Permaculture techniques of all kind, it is a way of living to some and the topics covered express this clearly.

• http://www.pfaf.org/user/Default.aspx has lots of info about many plant remedies and uses among growing conditions and more.

• http://www.xerces.org/pollinators-mid-atlantic-region/ Is preselected for our living region, if you live elsewhere please choose your geographic location. This site is an excellent resource for pollinator information. One link I used heavily was of the native perennial flowers to which pollinators will choose first, based off both color or time of blooms.

It feels to me as though Natural Farming, Permaculture and Biodynamics have similar perspective and reverence for Nature, each with their respective core lessons. This lifetime I am resonating best with a blend of the three practices, in an attempted to re create a garden of eden. A Garden of Eden in which we don't cast aside our plant, animal, and spirit co companions as lesser life forms, resulting in our embrace of balance and harmony.

The gardens are doing well here in Wimington, not much to update nor take pictures of until Spring.. bare with us folks, only a few more weeks! The crab apple, bulbs, and even azaleas are showing signs of spring coming ever closer in the cycle of seasons.