On Martin Luther King Jr. day Tom and I attended a meeting for the Victory Garden at St. Catherine Laboure church where we volunteer. The garden serves multiple purposes. One of the primary missions is to raise produce for food pantries. We are going to be growing vegetables and herbs. One topic that came up in the meeting that has been making me think strategically is that different clientele at different food pantries have preferences for certain foods. If the clientele does not know how to prepare the vegetable or herb and is not familiar with it, they might leave it behind. The people at the Victory Garden have been learning what foods are in demand at what food pantry locations and have been adjusting the distribution and growing patterns to suit the local clientele.
In addition to adjusting supply, it was suggested to also adjust demand by distributing recipes. There are lots of reasons why everyone isn’t familiar with every vegetable or knows how to cook it. Some people are from parts of the world where the cuisine is different. Others might have a lack of grocery stores in their area so have less access to a variety of fresh foods. I also have known several people with plenty of access to food who have never learned to cook because they rely mostly on pizza and fast food. I have seen terrible health issues in some of my friends at relatively early ages due to this kind of deficient diet. It doesn’t have to be this way!
I have been blessed to have been taught to cook by my Mom who was not only a home gardener and a multiple culinary contest winner, but also had a very adventurous palette. She passed on knowledge of cooking and diverse food preferences to me and my late brother. When we were younger my brother and I used to get a silver dollar or a silver half-dollar from a great uncle if we finished all the food on our plates when we had dinner at his house. I guess we kind of neglected to admit that we almost always ate all our food, including the vegetables! We liked almost everything and had pretty hearty appetites. That was decent money when our weekly allowances were about that amount or not much more than that!
I am not a professional chef or food writer but I do like to publish recipes from time to time. I know so many people who are intimidated by food preparation. If I publish a simple recipe that I just made I hope that will inspire someone out there to try it. Since I cook a lot with herbs that I grow I also hope I can suggest ways of using them. A lot of people who don’t cook frequently are very intimidated by dried prepared herbs and spices, much less fresh ones. If you’ve been exposed to a wide range of herbs, spices and flavors your whole life you just know what goes together without having to follow a recipe. I don’t know how you teach this without long-term exposure but at least with a recipe I can show examples of combinations that work.
I am in terrible shape from recent inactivity so I’ll be using recipes from Weight Watchers and healthy recipe books a lot for inspiration as I try to increase my fitness. I inherited a lot of these books from my late uncle, brother, and grandmother. I often start from there and make modifications. If the results are good, I like to tell people about it!
Before I get to a simple new salad recipe, I’ll post links to my Fun With Food page (old but recipes still good!) and recipes of mine that are on blogs.
For inspiration I used a recipe called “Dilled Beet and White Bean Salad” (Gagliardi 70) from a Weight Watchers cook book, but I made a lot of changes and substitutions. For one thing, we had no dill! It still turned out great. It really woke up my taste buds.
Ingredients
3 TBSP apple cider vinegar 2 tsp brown mustard 2 tsp olive oil 1/2 tsp garlic salt 2 (15 1/2-ounce) cans white beans, rinsed and drained 1/2 bag of mini sweet peppers, chopped 1/2 onion, chopped 3 Roma tomatoes, chopped 1 tsp dried Parsley 1 tsp dried Basil 1 tsp dried celery pieces 1 jar sliced beets 1 can sardines 1 bag fresh mixed salad greens, such as spring mix, spinach/arugula mix, or something similar Nutritional yeast
Directions
Get out a large mixing bowl. Open the can of sardines and empty the juice into the bowl. Set drained sardines aside.
Add to the bowl the vinegar, mustard, olive oil, garlic salt, Parsley, Basil and celery pieces. Mix well with a whisk.
Add the drained beans, chopped peppers, onion and tomatoes. Toss well.
Place greens on plates and spoon about 1/4 of the vegetables over the greens per serving. Sprinkle with nutritional yeast. Arrange about 5 beet slices and 4 sardines on top of each salad. Enjoy!
In 2013 I wrote an article for the first issue of a personal e-newsletter I used to publish. The newsletter was called Carolyn’s Creative Connections. Other than a typo or two that I fixed, I didn’t change anything since I originally wrote it.
“Creativity, Eco-Chic and the New Frugality
As a retailer and business person, it’s not really in my best interests to discuss hard economic times. One would think I’d be more likely to try to persuade you that employment is going to go up and taxes are going to go down and prosperity is just around the corner so you’ll spend money on what I’m selling. I wish I really believed that, it would make the future seem a lot brighter and the daily tasks I need to perform in order to try to grow my business and that of my employer would weigh on me a lot more lightly. The human capacity for creativity has a way of working around obstacles put in our way. I don’t know if there has ever been a more important time to nurture creativity in our society and apply it to issues that we have to deal with.
DIY culture has always been popular in certain segments of society – hippies in the 1960s, punkers in the late 70s and early 80s, zinesters in the grunge era. DIY culture might have to become more mainstream for survival reasons. I hope I’m wrong but all indications point to survival rising by necessity to the top of more and more peoples’ priority lists.
So I find myself as a purveyor of goods and services in 2013 in the paradoxical position of urging people to be more careful with their resources and to consume less! In my opinion the key is not to stop consuming entirely because you can’t do that and remain alive, but to consume more intelligently – and to consume in ways that make you stronger and better able to face the challenges we will have in the future. My personal experience has taught me doing something proactive to alleviate whatever events or conditions that you fear makes you feel stronger and more capable. There are some things in life we can’t control but in some cases I believe people have been brainwashed into believing they are more helpless than they are.
According to Thomas Jefferson, “Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bonds.”
If you find yourself unhappily in the position of having no choice but to be frugal, creativity can make your situation a lot more palatable. Loss of income is associated with a loss of status in our culture, but frugal practices are often beneficial for the environment so you can disguise your frugality by being eco-chic, an attitude made fashionable by entertainment elites. In a culture where the appearance of something is as good as the real thing, the celebrities only have to appear to be eco-chic but in your own life being more environmentally aware has real benefits for you. Take control and use eco-friendly practices to gain more autonomy in your life.
Here are a few examples and suggestions:
Organic gardening
Frugal and Survival benefits:
High quality nutritious food and herbs filled with vitamins and free of poisons is added to your diet and improves your health.
Improving and caring for your soil helps make up for the choice farmland we’re losing to urban sprawl developments.
Knowledge of how to grow food is preserved to pass on to future generations.
If you open pollinate and seed save, the genetic diversity of seeds may save our lives if something affects monoculture crops.
Good soil and reduced use of chemicals contributes to a healthy life-sustaining water supply.
Physical activity – a stronger body is less prone to injuries in riots, natural disasters, etc.
At least there is a chance of some kind of food supply being available if roads are impassable, there are fuel shortages or there is civil unrest.
Plants reduce erosion and preserve soil.
Plants reduce urban heat sink effect and reduce air conditioning bills.
Contact with nature beneficial for mental health.
Less chance of food contamination and tampering.
Healthful foods more available in areas where there are no grocery stores such as depressed urban areas.
More diverse stock of plants adapted to your specific climate or microclimate conditions will be developed.
Plant stock and seeds can be used as barter if there is currency trouble and food shortages.
Eco-chic benefits:
Helps sustain wildlife (if you garden organically you will be sharing at least a little of your harvest!).
Not going to the store as much reduces packaging materials and transport fuel consumption.
Less dependent on food produced from genetically modified seeds.
Children who observe you gardening learn about where food comes from and the importance of healthy soil, air and water.
Plants absorb CO2 in photosynthesis if global warming is something you worry about.
Composting reduces waste going to landfills.
Raising a serious amount of food, especially organically, is not an easy task. I myself am in no position to have a self-sustaining garden for all my food needs – I’m not even allowed to grow vegetables in the ground where I live (I can grow them in containers on the deck but don’t have enough sun). But I’ve always believed it’s better to do somthing than nothing, so I have an herb and wildflower garden. I save a lot of money on herbal tea and fresh herbs for cooking, I’m as certain as I can be that my herbs are not contaminated with anything and I’m providing a home for lots of beneficial insects which have reduced the amount of pests in my immediate vicinity – that makes life better for humans and wildlife around me due to the reduced need for chemicals. If you have a yard or even space for a few containers on a porch or windowsill, you can make a difference. Aquaponics and hydroponics are also possible indoors if you can manage the lighting requirements.
Making crafts from repurposed items
Frugal and Survival benefits:
Creative outlet improves mental health.
Gives resources that would otherwise be wasted an economic value.
Better lifestyle for less money.
Cottage industries help provide income for people who have lost their jobs.
Improves hand skills.
Eco-chic benefits:
Keeps resources out of landfills.
Reduces the need for new goods which these days are often poorly made in countries with environmental laws a lot less stringent than ours (if they have any).
Shows off your committment to recycling and being “green”.
Fewer trips to the store mean less fuel consumed for transport.
Natural products very fashionable.
Refill your own containers and reduce the need for packaging.
Fewer harmful substances go down the drain and end up in water supply.
Making Gifts
I used to work at a large retail store and was appalled at what constitutes a celebration of the birth of Jesus in today’s society – waiting in long lines to buy cheap junk made in other countries employing slave labor. Borrowing money to pay for things beyone one’s means – believe it or not after all we’ve learned about the consequences of too much debt you can still hear ads on the radio at Christmastime encouraging people to mortgage their home to buy Christmas gifts. Trampling people to buy cheap junk (yes someone was trampled at the store where I worked but not injured fortunately). Extra security guards on duty – what does that say about the Christmas spirit?
Frugal and Survival benefits:
Creative outlet improves mental health.
Avoid debt.
Avoid stress of crowded roads and crowded stores.
Avoid disease from being in crowds (yes there will be more diseases rampant as our society deteriorates, for example the current TB outbreak in California).
Improves hand skills.
Eco-chic benefits:
Fewer trips to the store mean less resources used on packing and less fuel consumed for transport.
Teaches the value of homemade things.
Emphasizes the Eco-chic values that Jesus taught – keeping in mind the welfare of others, not placing too much value on material things, the value of humble and honest labor, the meaning of a gift being the love and caring that went into it and not the monetary value, etc. Whatever your spiritual beliefs are, I’m sure you can think of eco-chic ways to enhance your religious and cultural activities.
Cooking meals at home (Some of my favorite recipes)
Frugal and Survival benefits:
Creative outlet improves mental health
Can choose more healthy ingredients
Catch fewer diseases from food preparers, salad bars, buffets, etc.
Families that eat together have healthier relationships
Eco-chic benefits:
Fewer disposable containers consumed
Can make your own sustainable choices of ingredients
Those headlines sound alarming. No one can predict the future, but if you are concerned and as a result are inspired to grow more food or in some other way become more self-sufficient, here is good news. There is no down side to growing food even if the predicted food shortages don’t happen. You’ll be better off either way, and healthier as a result of the activity. So if you have any interest in growing food or gardening at all, when has there ever been a better time?
If you would like to read all the issues of my old e-newsletter Carolyn’s Creative Connections and it’s predecessor the Carolyn Hasenfratz Design Newsletter, here is a link:
I’m also adding to that page the newsletters of my former employer Webinar Resources that I designed and wrote some of the articles for. Some of the graphics will be missing at first until I can do some fixing. I’m mostly doing this for my own reference since I’m currently dusting off some of my old social media marketing skills and seeing what is still relevant and what has changed. It helps me study marketing techniques.
It’s been awhile since I updated the Schnarr’s blog calendar with gardening events. For the last couple of years most events have been cancelled or online. But a few in person events are starting to happen again, along with a lot of webinars and online sessions.
I’ve put some St. Louis based events, be they in person or virtual, on the Schnarr’s Blog calendar here: http://schnarrsblog.com/calendar/
I’ve also added some pins to a couple of sections of the Schnarr’s Pinterest site to help people find gardening related webinars and on-demand content from all over the country.
In the St. Louis area where I am, it’s a bit rainy and cold right at the moment and it’s possible that tasks you were looking forward to doing in the garden might be postponed for a few days. If you’re forced to be more indoors than you’d like, maybe some online gardening content will help you maintain a healthy state of mind. Enjoy!
Dad is on the left, Rosie Willis on the right. 03-26-2022
This past Saturday my Dad and I blew some of the winter dust out of our bodies and minds by volunteering at Fresh Starts Community Garden. It was Dad’s first time here while I’ve been to this garden a couple of times before. It was uplifting as always to spend a little time with the inspiring and kind leader Rosie Willis and the other volunteers. I get praised a lot when I volunteer, but it’s likely I get more out of it than I give – gardening makes me happy wherever I do it! And it’s always uplifting to be in the company of people who are working hard to help their neighbors.
This week those of us who are St. Louis Master Gardeners got some nice validation by getting the Master Gardener 2021 Impact Statement PDF document in our email. If you would like to see what we did in 2020 and 2021, check out these links:
I’ve been reading in the last year or two about biophilia – in so many words it is the human tendency to feel a sense of well being while exposed to nature. As I’ve learned from reading horticultural therapy books, in addition to spending time in or around actual nature, pictures, video and sounds from gardens can make people feel better mentally and physically. I hope the resources I’ve linked to can help give you some good feelings immediately whether you have to be inside or outside.
Here is a link to my photo album on Facebook of some of the past master gardener activities I’ve enjoyed since completing my training in 2016.
Tom and I have been volunteering at a new community garden, named St. Catherine Victory Garden, at our parish, St. Catherine Laboure in Sappington. Organizer Deanna Violette compared the challenges of recent history to World War II, when people grew extra produce to support the nation through a trying time.
At the end of this blog post are scans of the printed article.
Several organizations within the St. Catherine Laboure parish are collaborating on the garden, with support and knowledge from the following outside regional organizations:
When we as a society are tested with hardship, the kinds of leaders I want to follow are those who bring Americans together rather than separating them into opposing factions for the divide-and-conquer type of political power. I will be continuing to help at both gardens with whatever work is needed at the time I volunteer and also special projects that I’m taking on. I’ll be writing about these activities on my blog as they happen. I’m looking forward to a summer full of sharing, teaching, learning and growing!
St. Louis Review clipping from June 7-13 2021 edition, page 6.Clipping from St. Louis Review, June 7-13 2021 edition, page 7.
I work part-time at a hardware store. We have a lawn and garden department, and within it we sell vegetable, herb and flower seeds. Last spring and summer, the demand for seeds was higher than normal while at the same time supply chains for many retail products were disrupted. As a result we ran out of many seeds. As a St. Louis Master Gardener, it’s part of my personal mandate to help people garden. Sometimes I try to help with information, sometimes with my labor, sometimes I distribute my extra seeds and plants for people to try out.
Last summer’s growing season was an unfortunate time to experience a shortage of seeds, because the COVID-19 pandemic has put extra pressure on some sources of food. There is not only the economic effect of many people losing their normal sources of income, but the disruption in the labor pool and supply chain, as thankfully brief as much of it was, forced us to think about the security of our food supply more than many of us normally have to. At a time when there was less ability to buy food, the opportunity for volunteer efforts to help people get the food they need was also diminished. Some food pantries had to temporarily close or reduce their hours of operation. In-person St. Louis Master Gardener efforts were halted, so I could not go to help at a Community Garden site. Besides donating a modest amount of money to a food pantry, my husband and I tried to distribute extra seeds and plants to anyone we could get them to.
It’s beneficial for the security of the food supply, for everyone who has the means and the time, to learn how to grow plants and food. Although anyone can jump in and start at any time, growing serious amounts of food is not easy and takes a lot of time and effort to learn to do well. Growing serious amounts of food requires learning how to maintain healthy soil. Growing serious amounts of food requires learning how to maintain a sustainable amount of beneficial organisms such as invertebrates and fungi in the ecosystem. All of these activities are fascinating hobbies that can be pressed into service any time there is a food crisis. And the health benefits of gardening, both mental and physical, create a more resilient population for any challenge we might face in life. For those reasons and more, I think home or community gardening is one of the best pursuits anyone can undertake, regardless of current financial status. You never know when you’ll be extra thankful for the opportunity to go to your own backyard to get some fresh food, or when you’ll have the opportunity to pass on plants, seeds or knowledge on to someone in need.
Tom and I were grateful to have the opportunity to start volunteering in person again. Recently we volunteered at the Fresh Starts Community Garden in St. Louis at a volunteer session sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council. It was satisfying to share our labor and knowledge while learning about the needs of community gardeners as well.
Fresh Starts Community Garden in St. Louis – volunteer day
In our most recent church bulletin, there was an article about food security with a helpful graph that I’ll share here. Food security is defined in the article as “…the lack of access, at times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members and limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods. Food-insecure households are not necessarily food insecure all the time. Food insecurity may reflect a household’s need to make trade-offs between important basic needs, such as housing or medicine, and purchasing nutritionally adequate foods”.
The graph helps show how much potential there is for gardens of all kinds to have positive impacts on human life and health. Even when people have the money to buy food, and healthy food available to buy, there are a lot of people who could use some encouragement and training in the life skills of choosing and preparing the food. The satisfaction of growing and harvesting for the table naturally leads to exploring ways to cook and store the delicious, life giving produce. If you are seeking health, a sense of community, solace, purpose, independence and agency in your life, I think growing plants is one of the very best things you can do for yourself and for humankind.
I’m enrolled in Strategic Communications class at Webster University for the Fall 1 Session. For one of my assignments, I was asked to answer some questions and then engage in discussions on the topic. Here is my answer plus some of my subsequent remarks.
Define “public relations” and “marketing” and explain why these functions often are confused.
According to Broom and Sha, public relations is a function of management that organizations use to build and maintain relationships with the public to the benefit of all stakeholders (Broom and Sha 2).
In marketing, organizations study what consumers want and need and strive to provide attractive and useful offerings in exchange for something of value (Broom and Sha 5).
In your answer, point out the major difference that distinguishes these functions.
The major difference between marketing and public relations is that in the former, there is an exchange between the involved parties of goods, services, money, or some other consideration that has value (Broom and Sha 5).
Contrast publicity with advertising. In your answer, address issues related to message control, expense and relationship to marketing.
Publicity is something that an organization might cultivate, or it could happen to them involuntarily due to some kind of unforseen issue or circumstance. Publicity professionals can use their knowledge to tailor their publicity submissions while targeting the right recipients so that the information is used in a way that is favorable to the organizations goals. They can’t compel or control how the information is used however (Broom and Sha 7). Some publicity can be had for free, while other publicity might involve expenses such as labor to research and prepare the strategy and content or mailing printed information.
Some of the same skills that publicists use are used by advertisers and in some organizations the same people people might perform both functions. Organizations are not necessarily consistent in how titles and functions are used and the public can be influenced by the portrayals of both types of jobs by portrayals in the media which are not always accurate (Broom and Sha 7).
In advertising, the organization is paying for the exposure which gives them control over where the message is placed, the timing and the content (Broom and Sha 10).
Works Cited:
Broom, Glen M. and Bey-Ling Sha. Effective Public Relations. Pearson, 2013.
I took this picture early in the summer because I figured it would come in handy in marketing classes. One of the times that I used the Wal-Mart grocery pickup service, I got this surprise free bag with my order with free samples in it. Is this marketing or PR? Can they be doing both at the same time?
The book (Broom and Sha) mentions that some efforts at PR are looked at with suspicion because it looks like the organization is trying to gain while appearing to be doing good, or some people already dislike and distrust the brand. There was a very different reaction among people depending on political affiliation with the stimulus checks, for example.
Wal-Mart is a brand that some people have strong reactions to. Wal-Mart gave me this bag of goodies when I had already used their services for awhile and it was a surprise. This was given out when a lot of brands were giving out some freebies to help out with COVID care and also get a little promotion.
For example at Schnarr’s, some companies gave us free hand sanitizer with their name on it to use for the store. Before masks were available at a reasonable price, I had a large stash that a client had given me for crafts, so I had plenty to share for awhile. If a customer came in the store really needing one to tide them over, I gave them one from my stash in a ziploc bag that I had packed after making sure my hands were clean. This is something I would have done whether or not it was good PR for the store and no one asked me to do it, but the store was my main exposure to other people at the time and it was something immediate I could do to help. I gave some plus some gloves to an old friend who works at a radio station. I didn’t give them to him because he works at a radio station, rather it was because he has health issues that make him very vulnerable and he was understandably scared. I did not ask him to mention me or Schnarr’s (where he started buying stuff without being asked) on the air. I don’t know if he did or not, I didn’t ask. For me it was not a quid-pro-quo situation, but I was not at all displeased to get a new customer at the store.
The front and back of the thank you card in the Wal-Mart goody bag
The Wal-Mart bag doesn’t really have anything useful for COVID, but it was something that brightened my day. I loved some of the free samples and others I gave away. I have not re-ordered any of the free sample products but if someone wanted to Wal-Mart made it easy to re-order. I might re-order the deodorant if they have a non-spray version. It smells wonderful. Other than brightening my day and being good for health in that sense, this bag seems more marketing than PR. I think it’s effective because it thanks people for trying the service, and gives them incentives to try it again and at the same time makes it easy and convenient with the bar codes and QR codes. They knew they were probably getting a lot more new customers because they were one of the first to have pickup services and it was fully in place and working well before the pandemic so they didn’t have to put it together in a hurry.
Here is another example of something I’m giving away. Like a lot of gardeners, I tend to have more seeds than I need of some plants and I save some to trade and give away. A few years ago, I designed and printed out some of these little seed packet templates to fill with seeds and give away at Schnarr’s Hardware along with candy and other goodies like safety lights as “treats” on Halloween.
After the COVID-19 pandemic started, some friends and customers asked me if they should be concerned about food security and if so what to do about it. I didn’t really know the answers, but I know that when people are out of work that there is less money to go around and people who are poor will struggle more than usual to get their basic needs met. It’s not a new idea for people who find it difficult to afford food or live in “food deserts” that lack stores to buy healthy food to engage in community gardening as a way to supplement the food supply. I gave some plants to someone who was trying to get a community garden started in his neighborhood.
Schnarr’s customers are mostly not of the group that needs to worry about meeting basic needs, but there are a lot of customers that engage in gardening and might want some extra seeds to grow themselves, give away or trade. Also with possibly more kids being home schooled there might be more interest in home gardening so that kids can learn about plant biology and other related topics. I decided to reprint some of my little seed trading envelopes and package up some of my extra seeds for free giveaways as I harvest them.
Schnarr’s sells garden seeds, so is it a good idea to give some away? Mindful of not wanting to hurt sales I put small quantities in the packets, 4-10 seeds in each depending on the size of the seed. Someone who is not sure about trying a new plant or is casual about gardening in general might get inspired to do more if they try a free sample. That could bring us more sales in the long run of garden supplies. I put the Schnarr’s blog address on it so that people can read the large amounts of gardening information that I have contributed there. I think the information I put there will benefit those who want to learn more about gardening, but of course more readers also means more exposure for the blog. Those are a couple of ways that I think this giveaway can help Schnarr’s a tiny bit.
More importantly, how does this small action help the community? With the increased demand on gardening supplies in general that we have seen since the pandemic began, we are sold out of some seeds so even if someone wanted to buy a larger package of seeds from us, with some varieties they will have to wait. Some of my plants are species we wouldn’t carry anyway, so customers get the chance to try some new things. I also am convinced that since growing serious amounts of food is not easy, the more people who know how to do it the better off we are as a society. Added to that are the benefits to overall health of getting outdoors, interacting with nature and engaging in exercise. There has never been a better time to garden, if one is able, with the extra stress many of us are under – horticulture has therapeutic uses for mental and physical health.
I also put some of these seed packets in the little goody envelopes that I put in orders from my online store. I give a few to friends and fellow Master Gardener volunteers from time to time but since I’m not seeing those groups of people as often as I normally do, I need someone to give some of the seeds too!
What do you think, am I doing PR, marketing, or both?
As was decided at the November 17 board meeting, I attended the Building and Landscaping Committee Meeting on December 9 to explain my garden plan in detail and answer questions. The committee as a whole determined that I was following the by-laws and previous decisions by the board so I was to continue my plan with the compromises we agreed to worked in. The person who complained about my garden is to get a letter saying I’m managing my garden in accordance with the board and the by-laws and they can manage their own garden the way they like it. The landscapers came around for another round of leaf removal in late December and once again skipped my garden as agreed and I am very happy!
On January 1st and 3rd, I applied 20 more bags of mulch, bringing the total number of bags of mulch I’ve applied this season to 82. This time I went to the Clayton mulch pile where they have shredded leaf mulch available for the taking. It’s darker in color than the wood chip mulch I’ve been using, so I’m hoping topping the beds off with a darker layer will help my garden blend in a little bit with the neighboring areas which have not been mulched yet (that’s usually done in February and only every other year) and have only bare soil showing.
I do think the results are an improvement as you see here:
From left to right – front garden, side garden and back garden on January 4, 2016.
Comments from others have given me some ideas and I think the results are better than if I had not had any feedback – so far the collaboration and cooperation is resulting in a more attractive garden than if we had gone all my way or all their way. This is how it should work, how I hoped it would work and is the reason I engaged management at each step. If I can successfully pull off a sustainable garden in a condo complex, many others might learn from my experiment how to go about it. Many people all over the country who want to garden in a way that benefits the environment are dealing with the same challenges. Although I am not trying to grow food like the people in the article I can relate to some of the difficulties – for example getting permission for something according to the by-laws then getting threatened with punishment for doing it, which has happened to me more than once. Many organizations and governments are working at cross-purposes and giving their citizens mixed messages and not communicating effectively with each other or the people they are supposed to serve and the citizens suffer as a result. I think too many large organizations see their constituents or customers as subjects. The communication situation in my case has improved greatly and I’m optimistic about the future.
I’ve considered removing more of the liriope since it is not a plant native to Missouri and I want to have more native plants, but I changed my mind because liriope is all over the entire complex and having some in my garden will help with visual continuity. I’ll just keep planting around it and thinning it now and then to keep it in check. Some of the feedback I got indicated that the garden doesn’t so much look bad in their opinion as it looks different and that bothers some people. Looking different was definitely my goal because I don’t think the rest of the complex is as attractive as many other people think but since I know what a healthy garden is supposed to look like I’m seeing it in a completely different way than most people and I do realize that. To me a healthy garden is a beautiful garden, to others an unhealthy garden might be more attractive because they don’t understand what they are seeing. I think blending it in a bit better will help.
I didn’t have enough mulch this time around to cover the path area in the back as well as the planting beds, so my next step in the garden will be to get some more wood chip mulch to cover the path areas. The back garden in particular tends to look a little chaotic at times because my goal is to leave some of the dead plants standing through winter to provide habitat for wildlife and to keep the garden healthy. I think the contrasting color path area does help the appearance because it makes it look a little more ordered.
Once that is done, the next aesthetic issue I would like to address in the garden is that white pipe cap sticking up. I have an idea for a way to conceal that and another cap that is nearby that is not shown in these pictures. I’ll write about what I plan to with that later, and we’ll see if the condo association approves it.
In addition to mulching to cover up the fallen leaves in the planting beds, I applied more fertilizer and raked up the front yard. I’m not required to care for the grassy areas – the landscapers remove the leaves periodically – but it’s in my best interest to rake the area around my garden because when the grassy areas look messy my garden gets blamed. It’s understandable that people don’t distinguish between the parts I maintain and the parts the association maintains – how would they know? It looks like one unit and I’m going to start treating it as such. The leaf blowers the landscapers use leave some of the twigs behind and it does look better with the twigs raked up as well. I used what I raked up to help build up a small raised bed where I hope to grow something later.
Examples of erosion in areas that are not mulched. On the right, you can see plant roots exposed.
These photos show spots near my unit that are not part of my garden that are suffering from not being mulched – with all the rain we’ve had lately in the St. Louis area (which I’m sure you heard about in the news!) erosion can be a problem. My garden area did not have erosion at all because it was well mulched. I’ve gone through a lot of expense and time over the last 11 years building up better soil in the planting beds – I don’t want it to go down the drain!
I’m fortunate that I’m allowed to garden in the condo community where I live. My garden has been a tremendous source of pleasure and personal fulfillment for the last 11 years. It’s also been a source of occasional frustration. I realize that my gardening style, while common in some circles, is a bit avant-garde for a community where landscapers who don’t use sustainable practices do most of the garden work.
Any time people do something different there is an adjustment period and some conflicts. When you garden in a community others’ needs have to be taken into consideration. I’ve found that so far that any challenges that come up can be resolved satisfactorily with open communication and creative compromises. I think all gardens are experimental and frustrating to a degree, in my opinion anyone who sticks with gardening a long time accepts this as part of the deal.
My garden is on a really difficult site. When I started the soil was almost pure clay. I have no areas of full sun. I have building shade. I’m surrounded by huge oak trees – they are beautiful and I love them but gardening beneath them is far from easy. Human interference is by far the biggest obstacle to having a good garden at this site. Most people probably would have given up on this project years ago but I’ve gained so much knowledge along the way that I will never regret it. I hope others will benefit from what I’ve learned also by reading about what I’ve done.
2015 has been the most promising season yet, up until what I hope is a minor setback a few days ago. I don’t want it to escalate so I’m going to give a presentation to the board this evening as I understand there are one or more new members. What will the outcome be? Check this space to find out!
View the presentation here (if you don’t know the back story it’s in there):
Rich Reed is a resident of Maplewood, Missouri, a neighboring community just to the East of my home in Brentwood. I met Rich through Freecyle, a service we both use to give away our extra plants and acquire new ones. Not only have we traded plants directly many times, we have found ourselves showing up at the same giveaway sites more than once! That’s not all we have in common. I have special challenges gardening where I do because I live in a condo and Rich has similar issues because he gardens in an apartment setting. I know I and my readers can learn some things from his experiences. I conducted this interview after Rich had moved into a new apartment complex where he was allowed to garden outside and also place some of his plants in the shared spaces inside the building. In his old apartment he had been confined just to his own apartment – his new liberation flourished into a lush indoor and outdoor environment that I’m certain must be good for the mental and physical health of the other human residents not to mention local animal life. I was impressed!
Apartment gardening by Rich Reed
CH: How did you first get interested in plants?
RR: My interest in plants had to have started when I was a little kid. My Dad would take my sister and I to summer camp down in Pevely, Missouri every year from the time I was 8 years old up until I was 13 (oh, the memories!). The summer camp had two-week sessions, and there were nature classes five of the seven days each week. The nature instructors would have all of the kids go on ‘nature walks’ around the camp grounds, teaching us how to identify all of the different trees and flowers and plants….. I was instantly fascinated! I guess when you’re a kid, everything is fascinating, isn’t it? The first trees that I was able to identify from memory were the persimmon, sassafrass and sugar maple.
I also remember vividly how I was so obsessed with identifying poision ivy so that I wouldn’t catch it! So every day off summer camp, it seemed I was always trying to see if there was some posion ivy growing somewhere so I could say to myself, “Hey, I found some poision ivy!” I’m surprised I never caught poison ivy any of those years of summer camp, and to this day, I still haven’t ever caught it–nor posion oak or posion oak or anything from a poision plant, for that matter. The camp’s director one year had acknowledged my posion ivy obsession so much that I was given the ‘Poision Ivy Award’ (it was a certificate, and I can’t remember if it had a picture of the posion ivy on it or not). It gained a lot of laughs from all of the other kids and parents in attendance on the final day of camp.
Summer camp was also the place where I learned to identify my very first two flowers: the trumpet creeper (also known as hummingbird vine) and the Queen Anne’s Lace (also known as wild carrot). I remember being thrilled by the trumpet creeper’s bright red-orange trumpet-shaped flowers so much that I never forgot it! And as for the Queen Anne’s Lace–well, firstly, the name just sounded cool! Plus, I liked how the little white flowers looked like cotton balls from a distance. Except when I was a kid, I always spelled it wrong: ‘Queen Anslays’. So anytime I see these two flowers on the side of a fence or along a highway somewhere, it always brings back so many warm memories of summer camp. To this day, the Queen Anne’s Lace remains as my #5 favorite flower (yes, I have a ranking) behind the lavender, hyacinth, lilac (I favor the purple flowers!) and forget-me-nots.
During those summer camp years, my interest in plants had increased again while I was in 6th grade at Ladue Junior High School. My then science teacher, Ms. Perrin, assigned the class to do a leaf project. Basically, all we had to do was find about 20 leaves, attach them to a poster board using plastic wrap or clear contact paper (I chose the latter because it was easier 🙂 and write a description under each leaf identifying what it was. I remember overdoing it somewhat, as I had more leaves than the poster board could handle. I’m pretty sure there was a sugar maple in the group.
So yeah, summer camp and science class laid the foundation for my future gardening 🙂
CH: Where do you get your plant material?
RR: From everywhere! The main source of my plants, seeds, gardening equipment and what have you came from this wonderful phenomenon called Freecycle! People giving stuff away for free to others who can reuse them instead of throwing them away and filling up earth’s landfills–it’s an awesome thing! I have to thank my good friend Star for introducing me to Freecycle about a few months after I moved into my first apartment back in 2012. Once I realized that a lot of the members on Freecycle were gardeners and often were generous plant givers, I became hooked and have been using it as a source for other gardening material ever since.
Of course, I do my fair share of shopping in the gardening departments at places like Lowe’s and Home Depot or additional supplies. You can only get so much free stuff from Freecycle 🙂
CH: What is it like having so much more space to garden in now? You have a considerable amount of outdoor space to work with plus the apartment building has nice big atria with room for plants indoors. Your new apartment has a nice big window too.
RR: It is soooooooooo great having a lot of space to work with in my new apartment! My old apartment on Bellevue had almost no outdoor space, except for the empty patches of green in front of the property and the green space bordering the back parking lot. I wouldn’t have been able to do any serious outdoor gardening there if I wanted to, although I did try to raise some tomatoes, eggplant and strawberries in pots near my designated parking spot. Nope–wasn’t working. And something kept eating my eggplant! I was so disappointed. So I basically restricted myself to trying to grow everything indoors, but with very little success.
But thankfully, my landlord here at my new place has given me the freedom to basically fill the stairway landings indoors with whatever plants I want! So most of those plants from my old apartment that weren’t getting enough sunlight? Well, they moved in with me and they’re much happier now. The inside of the building has practically become my own little greenhouse!
As for my apartment unit itself: yes, the big window in my living room area is perfect for growing things as well because, as it faces at a bit of an angle, it gets great exposure from the sun as it rises in the east in the morning and sets in the west during the afternoon to early evening. And since the area is much wider than it was in my old apartment, I have many more options for growing things besides just common houseplants.
Though the absolute BEST thing about my new place is having the freedom to finally be able to plant outdoors! I feel liberated and free, like I can do anything I want! Having so much land to work with is an exciting thing, and I want to plant everything I can possibly get my hands on! It’s like a playground for me, or a big science lab where I can play with stuff to see what works, and if it doesn’t, I can always try something else. It’s like, I can finally express myself in gardening the way I really want to.
CH: What are the challenges of gardening in an apartment setting?
RR: There are so many challenges! The main thing would be trying to garden within the rules and regulations of the property itself. Like certain plants that may be harmful if touched or may prove to be too invasive (like English ivy or mints) may not be allowed. Thankfully, my landlord allows me to plant the mints. Some landlords may have their own landscapers who take care of all the gardening, in which case, everything would be restricted to just raising houseplants indoors. And of course, one has to consider the safety and health of the other tenants. So leaving gardening equipment laying around, which could potentially lead to an accident, or tracking water and dirt and bugs into the building are a couple of potential dangers.
The other challenges come with gardening inside of an apartment unit itself. There’s the confined space to deal with–usually near any windows that get sufficient sunlight. But there’s often not enough sunlight, so that eliminates just about all of the exotic sun-loving plants and fruits and veggies. Can you imagine I was actually trying to grow pumpkins inside of my old apartment in a tiny 4-inch clay pot? Not happening. Even tried a little indoor pond (it was actually a fish tank filled with tap water) with some water hyacinth floating atop it, but that didn’t work either. Goldenrod? Didn’t make it a week. Cannas? Well, they grew, but no blooms. And why did I even have a banana plant in my bedroom when the shades were down almost half the time? I even thought a couple of evergreen shrubs would look good in my old living room. Yep—they too ended up in a friend’s compost bin. So with an apartment with no outdoor space available, you have to think small and simple: a few herbs, a few mints, a couple of nice houseplants or two….. I always say if I could grow every fruit, vegetable, plant and flower in the world, I would, but that’s simply not possible in an apartment setting.
The other challenge is more of a mental one. It’s like, you know that you love plants and flowers, yet every time you get up in the morning or come home from work, you see this small amount of greenery growing out of little containers, deep down wishing you could be doing a whole lot more with it. It plays on your mind some, and honestly, you sometimes might even get jealous of other gardeners who do have all of the outdoor space in the world to work with. So it almost forces you to find a different avenue to flex your gardening muscles, so to speak: a church community garden, a relative’s backyard….. Or to just move into a different home altogether, which I eventually did, but for more reasons than just for gardening 😉
CH: How do your neighbors react to your efforts?
RR: There are mixed reactions I get from my neighbors—both the tenants inside of my apartment building and the people living up and down the street. Most of my neighbors are in awe and in love with what they see. A few think that the way I have the flowers arranged look a little junky. Some seem to be indifferent and show no reaction at all when I see them walking past me to get into their car or to get something from their mailbox. My landlord is very happy with what I’ve done, and has even pitched in to help get the gardens looking more professional. But in general, I believe everyone who sees what the property has become since I started gardening in April are pleased that there is actual greenery of some kind taking shape when there was absolutely nothing there (except for a few boring yew bushes in front of the property and some old walnut trees in the back of the property) for years and years prior to my arrival.
CH: I imagine the fact that you are out there a lot working makes it easier to meet neighbors. Have you formed some good new relationships through the garden?
RR: Oh yes! Me being outside with a shovel in one hand and a water hose in the other has given me lots of opportunities to interact with my neighbors, and as a result, I’ve formed a few new relationships with others who are not only gardening enthusiasts, but also have an appreciation for organic living, which is another interest of mine in addition to gardening and freecycling. A very good neighbor of mine who lives right across the hall from me, who coincidentally is also named Carolyn, encourages me all the time to keep adding beautiful plants to the building, and has also generously shared some organic produce from her church’s garden with me. I even have a little helper occasionally named Brian who’s only 8 years old, but sometimes helps me water the plants and get rid of weeds. And there’s at least three other neighbors who have already expressed interest in helping me plant some things in my vegetable garden either this fall before the first frost comes, or when spring rolls around again next year.
CH: Although you don’t have as much produce as you’d like yet, you mentioned sharing some of your produce with neighbors. Do they share things with you because of the garden, such as plants, recipes, tips, etc.?
RR: Absolutely! As I mentioned, there’s my neighbor Carolyn, who shares her organic produce from her church’s garden. And she also has given me some extra planters and plant stands. But I also get plants and produce from other neighbors as well. Someone gave me some hot peppers recently and a while ago, another donated some aloe vera, even though I already had plenty! And I get a never-ending supply of gardening tips and recipes for things on an almost daily basis—even some from the landlord himself! It’s great!
CH: Have you noticed any change in the wildlife around the apartment since you started the garden? For example are there more or fewer insects, birds, etc.?
RR: That’s an interesting question. I do see a lot more squirrels, rabbits, bees, dragonflies and wasps, yet it seems nobody else sees these things at all. Supposedly, there’s an owl near the property, but I haven’t seen him yet. I do see raccoons occasionally, but not very often. And despite some of the neighbors’ fears that my raspberry plants will attract snakes, I haven’t seen any of those either. I will say that, for the most part, my gardens haven’t been attacked by insects and other critters, although I suspect there are some slugs chewing holes in the coleus in the front of the building and something snacking on the tomatoes in the vegetable garden. Maybe there’s just not that much wildlife in this part of Maplewood.
CH: What personal goals does the garden help you work toward?
RR: Ah, another good question. All of this gardening is giving me a whole lot of experience, so I am now looking to get into landscaping of some kind professionally. I didn’t realize how much I would love actual gardening living in that old apartment for a couple of years, but as I learn more and more and my passion for it grows and grows, I feel like it’s time I’ve taken that passion to a whole new level.
I’m also wanting to become more self-sufficient. Growing my own produce and not having to go to the grocery store anytime I want some kale for my stews or some parsley for my Eggplant Parmesan….. I think vegetable gardening is a lot more challenging than regular flower gardening, because what has to be taken into consideration is that you’ll be consuming what you grow, so care has to be taken on minimizing or doing away with altogether those pesticides and herbicides, knowing when to harvest—there’s so much to learn!
Most importantly, I just want to live a healthier lifestyle, and that’s where my interest in organic living comes in. Of course, one is only able to do so much when you’re on a budget, but I try to do the best I can. Good health starts with good eating, I’d say, and growing organic produce is a nice way to promote that while being able to reduce the number of trips to the produce department at the grocery store.
I look at plants and trees and insects and animals so much more differently now than I have in the past. It’s no longer something just to look at because they look interesting; it’s something to really embrace and to take care of. So additionally, gardening helps me to get out more to enjoy and appreciate the environment!
CH: What benefits do you think the garden and plants have for the people and animals that share your environment?
RR: Of course, there are the many physical health benefits that come with plants: food, natural medicines and remedies, oxygen….. But then there are the many mental health benefits for people as well. Seeing all of the bright and interesting colors and shapes and designs—observing something beautiful has a way of lifting one’s spirits and inspiring the mind. And gardens have a way of introducing a sense of peace and tranquility to the landscape–a kind of paradise to get lost inside of.
CH: Do you belong to any gardening or plant organizations or do you have close friends or family that you can share your interest with?
RR: Presently, I’m not a member of any official plant/gardening organizations, but I would someday like to fit that into my already busy schedule. However, I do have many friends and relatives to share my gardening interest with, namely my Aunt Vera, who has been my #1 inspiration to garden from the beginning, my best friend Jerry, my friend Matt, plus the many fellow gardening enthusiasts I’ve connected with through past Freecycle transactions.
CH: Where do you get your gardening knowledge from? Books, internet, trial and error, word of mouth, gardening clubs, visiting gardens, all of the above?
RR: ALL of the above! Though I would say I get the most knowledge from simple trial and error. Actual hands-on learning is the best way to learn anything, I think. Seeing what works and what doesn’t….. I do a good deal of Internet surfing and read lots and lots of articles on how to grow certain plants; I don’t do too much in the way of books, with everything being so digital nowadays. Learning from other fellow seasoned gardeners is always a great help. And sometimes, I like to take little drives to different parts of St. Louis to observe other people’s gardens and to get ideas for what to do with my own. So all of these are good learning tools.
CH: Do you have other hobbies?
RR: Too many, in fact! When I’m not outside gardening, I like writing (mysteries are my thing, but nothing published yet), computer gaming and traveling (when I can find the time). I also happen to be quite the eclectic music lover and CD collector, so I can go from listening to jazz, blues and New Age music one minute to 80’s hair band rock, country, techno and disco the next; there’s always something different playing in my car when I’m out on the road.
CH: Will it be hard for you to leave your garden if you ever decide to move or will you enjoy starting the whole process again?
RR: I’ve thought about this a lot since I started outdoor gardening for the first time in my life this year. I really would eventually like to move into a house with my own yards someday, once I’ve gotten some things in order, though much of that would bank on my career direction. Though at the moment, I’m content in my tiny spot right here in Maplewood. But should there be a drastic change in my life—for better or for worse—I believe it would initially be hard for me to leave everything behind because I’ve already put so much of my time into the gardens that have been created. Maybe harder if I had to move into another space with no outdoor gardening space whatsoever. But perhaps just as hard knowing that I’d be leaving behind the people whom I’ve bonded with through my gardening. With a new house, though, I could at least begin again from the ground up, and that was part of the fun and excitement that I had when I first broke ground in my vegetable garden way back in April.
CH: Thanks Rich for taking the time for such thoughtful and helpful answers!
According to Thomas Jefferson, “Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bonds.”
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