Have you ever wondered where chemical fertilizers came from?

One evening, while working at my computer I heard gunfire and mortar shells exploding in the living room. I poked my head around the corner. Black and white images of men and machines were blasting across the TV screen. My husband looked up from his chair. "It's that documentary by Ken Burns about World War II."

As soldiers stormed the beaches, I had a feeling there was one battle the 7-part series would not be covering. It's a battle that continues to this day and one I'm sure we could bring ...   more »

What is more valuable, a plastic ring from a Cracker Jacks box or a gold wedding band?

An REI tent or a 3-bedroom house?

A sweater from the Salvation Army or from Nordstroms?

An heirloom rose or a fern?

Gold is not valuable in itself. It is valuable because there is so little of it. If sand were found only in small quantities, people would treasure it in their safe-deposit boxes; they would buy sand certificates, on important occasions they would exchange a little sand, and they would have the expression "as good as sand."
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With fall around the corner, I noticed the leaves are starting to turn. So I started wondering...

Like leaves on a maple tree, we come into this life, are here for a few days, and then are gone. Nobody remembers us, and nobody misses us, except maybe the gardener that rakes a few leaves into the compost pile.

[Oh, say can you hear? Would you rather listen to this article? Subscribe to my podcast feed so you can open the attachment below or simply Download/listen here to the mp3. Or, for that matter, keep on reading...]

We can learn ...   more »

In Richard II, Shakespeare uses a garden metaphor to explain the political problems of the day: England is wasting away as a result of the royal family's greediness. In one scene, the gardener instructs his helpers about weeding and pruning. The garden is England and the plant that needs weeding and pruning is the royal family.

By the same token, many plants and shrubs become thin and straggly, even choked out of existence, if left to grow without weeding from time to time. Weeds rob valuable nutrients from the soil and compete with your hard-earned herbs, flowers, shrubs and vegetables. Plus, they are often hosts to harmful insects and diseases, so it's important to eliminate weeds.

The job of weeding however, is not often embraced with joy and enthusiasm. Yet weeding, as I'll explain later can be one of your best teachers.   more »

While growing up, we weren't allowed to watch much TV. Mom said it dampened a child's creativity and made kids lazy--mentally and physically. That was back in the 1950s. Since then, thousands of studies have looked at how TV affects kids' grades, sleep, behavior, and health.

TV has become a public health issue. First of all, kids get lots of information about health from TV, much of it from ads. And children tend to believe what the ads say, even though they might be untrue or unbalanced. If you don't believe it (HAH!), the next time you get tired of hearing your children beg for junk food, think about all those TV commercials.

[To listen to this article, a 3-minute audio file, subscribe to to my podcast feed (so you can open the attachment below) or to listen to the mp3 file now, simply click here]. Otherwise, heck, keep on reading...    more »

Back in the days of Thomas Jefferson, it was believed that plant roots actually ate soil particles. Therefore, the more you pulverized soil, the easier it was for roots to eat it. Thus it seemed logical to till the earth. Centuries later, scientists now say tilling--specifically rototilling--doesn't improve the soil, it destroys it. Now what do we do?

[To listen to this article, a 3-minute audio file, subscribe to to my podcast feed (so you can open the attachment below) or simply listen to it the mp3 file now by clicking here]

Otherwise, keep reading...   more »

The number of organic gardeners is predicted to increase about 10 percent a year. What about you? If you choose to switch from chemical fertilizers to organic ones, keep in mind that the process is compared to giving up smoking...   more »

During Captain Cook's first voyage in 1768, a mighty storm came up, injuring many sailors. To save the men from gangrene, the ship's doctor made a poultice of mashed cabbage and applied it to their wounds...

Learn more about Cook's cabbage, why cabbage was named Plant of the Year by the National Gardening Association and how it inspired one of the most notorious weapons of World War I...   more »

Rachel Biccum, a fifth-grader in Chico, California, was sick and tired of school lunches, so she decided to take action. She handed out fliers to her classmates, promoting a boycott. "No more bad lunches!" the flier stated. Rachel also encouraged fellow students to boycott the cafeteria and bring their lunches from home. They told school officials, "get rid of the processed junk, we want more fresh foods."

For Rachel and friends to ask for more fresh foods is encouraging news, since childhood obesity rates are skyrocketing. But you know, there's another way to provide fresh food at school, and that's to GROW it. School gardens are sprouting up all over the country. A growing success story, if you will...   more »

I'm not a Christian Scientist though I enjoy reading the Christian Science Monitor. A front page article highlighting the differences between candidates sent me to the keyboard to tap out a Letter to the Editor. Lo and behold, the Monitor printed it on February 23:
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Did you know Hawaii is at war? Not with people, with coqui frogs. Here's a lesson on what to do when a tiny brown frog keeps you, and everyone else, awake at night. Wouldn't you get a little grumpy?

My husband Marty just spent two weeks in Hawaii. A good place for Alaskans to thaw out. We stayed with friends on the Big Island, near Hilo. All was bliss, until nightfall. As soon as I put my head on the pillow, I heard a strange chorus outside...   more »

As Valentines Day approaches, consider painting the holiday green. Green as in more healthy and natural. It's easy, and you know what? You, and Mother Earth, will love you...   more »

I'm amazed at the power of small things that make a big difference. Maybe that explains why I'm so jazzed about starting plants from seeds. You know, small seeds that grow into big plants. Every chance I get--in my columns, podcasts, workshops, website, blog, newsletter--I spread the good word about growing your own. Here's the latest headline I used [don't laugh]: SAVE MONEY, LOSE WEIGHT by growing your own seedlings! Okay, sounds a stretch, yet it's not far from the truth...   more »

Maybe you've decided for this year, to treat yourself better. Or maybe you've come to the conclusion that your family ought to eat together more regularly, and that fast food several times a week is simply bad for both wallet and waistline.

Sound too lofty? Too hard to implement with your busy schedule? Nahhhh. Let's start with fast food and go from there...

[FUN STUFF! Listen to my audio article, a 3-minute, mp3 file which includes an on-scene interview at Seattle's Pike Place Market, by clicking here or subscribe to my podcast feed so you can open the attachment below]

Otherwise, keep reading. You'll eventually come to a cool recipe at the end...   more »

What is it about making New Year's resolutions? We decide to exercise more, eat better and weed the garden more often--knowing full well that these decisions will come and go like the weather.

So why do so many New Year's resolutions fizzle? Experts say change is possible, but to succeed, our desire for change must come from within, not from peer pressure. I'm sharing four simple steps to help you make--and keep--your New Year's resolutions. Even better, I've come up with a short list of 12 little resolutions that are not only do-able, they're lovely...   more »

Seattle's Pike Place Market is an open-air, farmers market buzzing with activity. You can find Alaska salmon and dried flowers; T-shirts and olive oil. Vendors do whatever it takes to get your attention. It worked for me. I spotted a sign that read, "Brussels Sprouts: Little Green Balls of Death."

I decided to ask the guy standing behind the vegetable display. Mike Osborn's his name...

"So Mike, what's with the sign next to your Brussels sprouts?"   more »

Charles Kuralt wrote about a special outdoor tree that came more alive during the holidays. "Trees just don’t grow up here on the high plateaus of the Colorado Rockies--everybody knows that. Trees need good soil and good weather and up here there's no soil and terrible weather. That's why the tree is a kind of miracle..."

Plus, are you considering a live Christmas tree this year? From a tree's point of view, it's sheer torture...   more »

In January, a tattered paperback fell off the shelf in Powell’s bookstore. Since then, I’ve inhaled a genre of books with a zeal I can’t explain. Thus, while researching my presentation, Creative Value-Added Marketing for the Tilth Producers of Washington conference my heart kept saying, "Tell the truth."

What’s this? In my workshops I always encourage the audience to be caring and "mindful of each step," as Bob Griffiths puts it. But this was different. My heart was telling me I could no longer pass off what I was learning, as messages meant only for me.

On one hand, Gandhi, Dr. Wayne Dyer and others* were whispering, "Don't hold back, Marion." Yet their wisdom flies in the face of what we accept as moral business practices; tactics that cause dividedness, not unity; doubt, not fear; anger, not love. And we wonder why we still go to war.   more »

The recent spinach scare, where E. coli-tainted spinach killed one person and hospitalized hundreds more, brought to the table the importance of food, that is, where it comes from and why we should care...

Most of the food we buy travels great distances to reach our plate. A head of lettuce for example, travels about 2,000 miles from farm to market. These distances, measured in “food miles,” reveals how most of us are overly dependent on outside sources for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

[Note: Hey, now you can LISTEN to this article (just 3 minutes long) by subscribing to my podcast feed (so you can open the attachment below) or you can listen to the mp3 file now by clicking here]. Otherwise, keep reading the article. You'll be glad you did!]   more »

Every week in Kodiak, Alaska, a small group of dedicated people stand in a clump of birch trees near the post office. Rain or shine, they clutch handmade signs. Drivers acknowledge them with a thumbs up, a honk or cold silence…   more »

After 20 years of cheerleading and pleading with plants to grow in my tiny Kodiak Island plots of compost, seaweed and volcanic ash, I've come to accept that my garden is more than soil that yields food and beauty. It is my teacher, and its lessons universal. I've learned patience while waiting three weeks for carrot seeds to germinate, and the value of "slow gardening" by picking lettuce leaves unhurriedly so as not to harm innocent bystanders. As Ecknath Easwaran reminds us in his book, "Love Never Faileth," "Hurry makes for tension, insecurity, inefficiency, and superficial living."

But on that morning, my lesson was as subtle as a drop of water, yet as large as the ocean...   more »

The numbers are amazing...

According to Discovery Health's calculator, between today (August 23, 2006) and my birth date, my heart has beat 1,911,301,056 times. That's assuming that in a typical minute one's heart beats about 72 times. You can do the math to figure out when I was born, but I'll save you the trouble: March 4, 1956, (or as I like to tell the person behind the counter selling me wine: 3-4-56. Cool, eh?)

The number jives with what the sages of India have maintained for centuries: There is a fixed number of times the heart is meant to beat each year. The number is something like 40 million. While you can argue about the precise number (by all means, use the calculator), I think you'll agree that the heart, like any sturdy pump, has a limited working lifespan. So, what's the point?   more »

I needed sheets, towels and pillow cases. But in Kodiak, Alaska where I live, the choices for linens can be summed up in one word: Wal-Mart. So I climbed into my late model Subaru and drove to the giant box store, never realizing the life lesson waiting for me.

The cash register rang up a total of $250. I felt a little sheepish buying so much from a store that is bashed to pieces in the movie Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. Yet my guilt was quickly displaced with gratitude toward the clerk who cheerfully went beyond the call of duty   more »

If you saw my brother, Alby seated at a restaurant or walking in the park, your first thought might be, "Wow, nice looking guy. Beautiful hair." But Alby is dying. He is addicted to heroin.

I guess most every family deals with stuff like this. Maybe not heroin, but alcohol, mental illness, whatever. (Our family just happens to deal with all three.)

And so, after returning from recent travels, I hit the the ground running AND hit the wall at the same time. For starters, our Galley Gourmet dinner cruise season started up, the garden needed attention, there were bills to pay and yadda yadda. Yet one thing kept nagging my brain: Alby will be celebrating his 52nd birthday on June 5. But at the rate he's going, I don't think he's going to make it to 53.   more »

You know how the smallest experience can stop you in your tracks?
Recently, my life was changed by a watermelon seed. Actually, it was William Jennings Bryan's take on the watermelon seed. Bryan served as Secretary of State under President Wilson. What's a guy like this doing talking about a little black seed?

Listen to this 2-minute podcast. I promise that not only will you nod your head in wonderment, you'll never look at a watermelon seed the same way again.

To listen to the podcast, you have 2 choices: Subscribe to my podcast feed (so you can open the attachment below) or simply Download/listen here to the mp3.

Or, heck, you can just read article by continuing on (you'll still feel chills down your spine).   more »

You're standing in the produce department, checking out the displays of fruit. The little baskets of strawberries catch your eye. Hmm, a strawberry shortcake would be nice for dessert, and tomorrow you could slice a few berries over your granola.

Nice thoughts; bad idea.

Why? Let's first get out of the cereal bowl and look at the big picture.

If you are concerned about oil prices and global warming, consider this: It takes 400 calories of fossil fuels to transport a single 5-calorie strawberry from California to East Coast supermarkets. What's more, that bright red, but flavorless strawberry was probably grown with methyl bromide, a carcinogenic and ozone depleting pesticide. [Reported by the Organic Consumers Association]

Still considering strawberry shortcake? Here are a few more things to think about when you're at the grocery store:   more »

The use of toilet paper dates back to sixth century China, though in most parts of the world, paper was a rare commodity until the 17th or 18th centuries. Before this, people used a variety of devices for the purpose. In ancient Rome, public toilets were equipped with a sponge on a stick, which sat in a bucket of brine...

SPECIAL NOTE: You can listen to the 2-minute audio-article by subscribing to my podcast feed (so you can open the attachment below) or just  download/listen here to the mp3. Or, you can just keep on reading...   more »

When you think you're having a bad day, think of Jill Weiss. She not only gardens from a wheelchair, she donates her vegetables to people with AIDS...

First, let's go back to the Torino Olympic Winter Games Closing Ceremony, where Canada invited the world to ‘come play with us’ at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. One of the special moments in the closing ceremony occurred when Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan accepted the Olympic Flag, using a specially modified wheelchair.

Vancouver resident and gardener Jill Weiss, knows what it’s like to get around in a wheelchair. Thirty-five years ago, a car accident left her disabled. But she didn’t let that stop her from digging in the dirt. In one of Vancouver’s many community gardens, I caught up with Jill as she maneuvered her wheelchair to pick lettuce.  Listen to her story. I promise you'll be inspired by her Olympic spirit.

To hear my 2-minute interview with Jill, subscribe to my podcast feed (so you can open the attachment below) or simply download/listen here to the mp3.

Across the country, grandparents are stepping in to care for children of parents that are drug addicts, in prison, working as a single parent, or simply need help caring for their kids.

Operating out of a van, a special program in Hawaii called Tutu and Me Traveling Preschool visits community centers, schools and churches, bringing grandparents, caregivers and kids together for two hours of science, reading, history, Hawaiian traditions and even gardening. ("Tutu" means grandparent in Hawaiian.) Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the program has received high praises as a model solution to a growing problem.

Listen and learn as Carrie Kowolski describes how the Tutu and Me organizers pack a van full of garden supplies to teach the how-to's and importance of gardening, Hawaii style. To listen to this inspirational interview (only 2-minutes long), subscribe to my podcast feed (so you can open the attachment below) or simply download/listen here to the mp3. Who do you know who might benefit from a program like this?

My husband and I subscribe to Netflix for most of our movie-watching. (However, the luxury of sitting down to a movie comes to a grinding halt when our dinner cruise season starts in late spring.) Perhaps the afternoon was particularly dreary, but I let it get me down. This called for a radical, conscious effort. So I went online and ordered four upbeat flicks. Here's our list:
PSST! I feature all sorts of tips like this on my friendly, monthly newsletter, the UpBeet Gardener. To read the current issue (always posted online), click here.

This billboard in downtown Seattle provides us with a universal message: When all is said and done, we regret more what we didn't do, than what we did do...

So when people tell me, "Wow, I've always wanted to go to Alaska," I tell them, just as I'm telling you, "Great, come. Your life will change." It's hard to put into words. You just have to experience Alaska for yourself.

We can also learn from writer, teacher and scholar Eknath Easwaran who said,   more »

What national resource are we wasting away at an alarming rate? Oil, you might say. Perhaps. Try manure.

[Listen to the 2-minute audio article by subscribing to my podcast feed -- so you can open the attachment below -- or simply listen to the mp3 file now by clicking here]. Otherwise, heck, just keep on reading...

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