The beehive state

Every state in the good ol' U.S. of A. has a nickname. For example the state of New York is called "The Empire State", California is also known as "The Golden State", Texas is "The Lone Star State", and so on. Utah, which celebrates its 115th year of statehood today, the 24th of July, is also called "The Beehive State."

Utah has been my "adopted" home for the past several years now, from the day I first set foot in America. Currenly I have no plans of moving to any other state as I've come to agree with Brigham Young¹ when he declared: "This is the place."

Happy birthday to the Beehive State!!!

Similarly, the state of our Beehive ginger (Zingiber spectabile) leaves nothing to be desired for now that I know it has adapted to its "adopted" home i.e., the farm.

Last February of 2010 I asked Mom and Dad to buy another Beehive ginger. There is already one in the farm which was purchased last December of 2009. However we were not sure if it's the real thing so the second purchase was just an insurance just in case it's not. This more recent purchase we're sure is a Beehive ginger because it had a flower when it was bought.

For over a year the gingers just grew but very slowly and did not produce any flowers. I was beginning to think that they may not be suited to our local climate or maybe they were planted in the wrong area. Maybe the soil is lacking in nutrient, perhaps they are not getting enough water and nourishment.

Then in May two small knobs began to appear at the base of the more recent Beehive. I was so excited when Mom mentioned this development during one of our long distance phone conversations. Finally it's doing something more than just converting carbon dioxide to oxygen.

It took more than two months before the knobs turned into what they are in the picture below. They are now past their prime and will very soon be a part of history. Hopefully this is the start of a new era for this species of plant in the farm.

I suspect one reason why our Beehive gingers are sluggish is due to deficiency in nutrients. The upper garden was once a cornfield and as such the soil was subjected to much stress in growing corns, amended with chemical fertilizers and lacking in organic nutrients. The soil needs to heal from decades of mismanagement which could easily be remedied by applying composts. But despite the availability of materials they are not utilizing this eco-friendly means of soil amendment. Yet there is a glimmer of hope, as exemplified by the emergence of these two Beehive ginger flowers.

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¹ Brigham Young (June 1, 1801 – August 29, 1877) is the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (commonly known as the Mormon Church) who led his flock's migration from Illinois to the current state of Utah.

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Up the garden path II

Lately, it seems that I've been concentrating in featuring plants, structures and projects in the lower garden. What about the garden in the upper area of the farm, particularly the back side?

Although the upper garden plants have been sort of "neglected" they are doing just fine. For some reason they are more independent than their relatives in the lower garden. When it comes to nourishment, they are able to fend for themselves without much human help. This summer alone they have not received as much watering as one might expect they needed and yet they are thriving.

For the past several months we temporarily hired additional help to clean the garden area. As much as the plants are thriving well, so too are the weeds. In fact, the viny weeds have found good structural support from the taller plants almost to the point of taking over, threatening to choke them. So the task of the extra helpers were to clear the grass and weeds around and under the plants, remove dead leaves and trunks and other gardening stuff.

Much of the upper garden is the realm of the grazing animals particularly our small herd of sheep, a few cows and water buffalos. In the small areas where they are not allowed to roam are where the plants are growing.

In the places where the plants dominate, you will find different types of Heliconia, different palms (Foxtail, Manila, Fan, Traveler, Triangle, etc.), Norfolk Island Pines, Indian Masts ("Indian tree"), Plumerias, Ti plants, Alocasias, Cycads (Sago palm), ornamental bananas (Blood, Yellow, etc.), different ornamental gingers (Red, Red Torch, Shampoo, Beehive, etc.),  Calatheas (Cigar, Rattlesnake), and somehow a lot of Crotons. Not to mention are some other plants, the names of some I do not know.

These are the plants that are currently there. The 'greening' of the garden isn't done yet. We will continue to add more plants whenever we could. As much as I'd like the garden to look like a jungle of tropical plants now, I'd have to be super patient since the plants with the capacity to grow tall are still relatively small.

If there is one particular thing that I am proud to say about these plants is that they look strong and healthy despite the fact that they are free from chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
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Garden Structures: The gazebo in the hill

"It is easier to go down a hill than up, but the view is best from the top."
- Arnold Bennett

The hill is the highest point in the farm. It accords a view of the river below and the valley beyond. In the afternoon while the rest of the farm is exposed to the heat of the sun, there is a refreshingly cool breeze that blows gently in this area. The river below must have a cooling effect on this gentle wind as it crosses this body of water on its way up the hill.

It's so nice to spend the rest of the afternoon in this area if only there's a shady place to stay under, like some leafy trees perhaps. However, only Cogon grass and other weeds grow here. Early last year we built a small and crude tin-roofed hut. This temporarily solved the shade problem. Unfortunately months later a passing storm carried the hut away.

The hilltop view, a new temporary gazebo and some newly installed plants.

The simple gazebo in these pictures was not originally a gazebo. It was recycled from parts of the structure that used to house the goats after they were relocated to their new and better house. When the nasty October storm pummeled the farm, it destroyed this abandoned goat's house but luckily it left the roof intact.

The hilltop cleared of the Cogon grass that dominates the place.

Since the crude hut at the hill is gone and there is this perfectly good roof that has no use at the moment, my father thought of using it to build a new shelter to replace the old hut that seemed to have suddenly vanished into thin air.

New plants on the slope of the hill. More will be planted soon to make this a 'greener' place.

After the structure has been erected, the surrounding area was groomed with plants from the nursery and some of the plants that were removed from the entrance to the farm when the landscaping there was completely redone. More plants will be installed soon and hopefully stunt the growth of the Cogon grass.

And what is a gazebo without a place to sit on? The wooden chairs below were just sitting in the storage so why not use them instead. They need a bit of refinishing but since this is the outdoors their weathered look fits perfectly with the surroundings.

An old Narra furniture set from the storage.

All in all, I consider this project "eco-friendly" in that the materials used were all recycled, from the roof down to the furnitures, and even the plants.

What I'm afraid of is that this structure might get blown away again once another strong storm comes. It's the wind that would actually cause more damage than the rain. I have something else in mind that should solve this problem, a different type of gazebo that can be "folded" whenever necessity dictates it. But the rainy season is still a couple of months away so for now this structure will do.
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Soilent Green

"Soylent Green is people!"

The problem with the type of soil we have in the farm is that its mostly clay. It may be good for something else, but it's quite a challenge for gardening.

Since we have all these plants that require good soil to grow healthy, they have been importing this precious commodity from another garden. Good thing is, it's free. The only catch is that they have to travel several kilometers and haul it back to the farm themselves.

After a few weeks the mound of imported good earth was getting used up. Then mom realized that there is a great source of fertile soil right within the farm. Remember the two drained fishponds? Well up to now they're still dry.

With all the fish poops plus other animal poops, uneaten fish foods, dead leaves and other biodegradable gunks all mixed up and accumulating at the bottom of the pond, the soil eventually got enriched by these free nutrients. After years of not seeing daylight the mixture of wastes have decomposed and aged into a rich plant medium. Today, this is where they're getting the soil needed by the ever growing number of plants.

By using the soil in the pond, they don't have to use synthetic fertilizer. Soylent Green is people, but our pond soil is 'green'.

P.S.
"Soylent Green" is a science fiction movie made in the early 70's and set in the year 2022 when the world is burdened by over population and available resources are almost used up. To feed the people, food is rationed and one food being rationed is "Soylent Green" wafers.

If you haven't seen the movie, watch it and find out what Soylent Green is made of.

Au naturel!

The natural swimming pool's popularity is sweeping across Europe. It began in Austria, spread to Germany and now has conquered much of Europe. It has become so accepted that in Germany alone there are now over 100 public natural swimming pools.

So what is a natural swimming pool? A natural swimming pool (NSP) is a concept that gets its inspiration from nature. Nature's ability to filter and clean a body of water is combined with man's inclination to swim in it. By incorporating nature into a man-made pool, the use of chemicals to clean the pool's water is rendered unnecessary. In fact, a pool is considered NSP only if it's 100% chemical free.

Why go chemical-free? For one, chlorine is toxic. Its ability to kill bacteria and germs in just a small amount is the reason why it's added to drinking water to remove pathogens. Put too much of it and it becomes harmful to human. In an enclosed system like swimming pools, chlorine must be continuously added to keep the water clean. And more often than not, too much of it gets added. As a result, it emits this distinctive 'swimming pool' smell that you don't even have to see the pool to know that it's there. You might have experienced itchy skin, red eyes, dry skin or chemical smell lingering several hours after swimming. That's the effect of chlorine on your skin. Not to mention are the damaging effects of chlorine to the respiratory system.

On the other hand, natural swimming pool is clean and chlorine free. Aquatic plants like water lilies, water lotus, irises, reeds, etc are employed to clean and filter the water. They derive the nutrients they need from the people who swim in it. In return, they keep the water clean. The pool is divided into two areas, the swimming and regenerating zones. Water from the swimming zone goes to the regenerating zone. The plants' root system and the natural bacteria that reside in them filter and break down the nutrient from the water, absorb them and the filtered water is then returned to the swimming area clean and free of pathogens.

This is an eco-friendly pool concept that is worth looking into. The benefits far outweigh the disadvantages... which by the way is almost none. Now, when dipping your body in a water purified by nature, doesn't that invite you to go au naturel?