Love, love, love these soft rainy mornings.
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Grocery Gardening Workshop April 19
Y’all know I try to stay positive in my practice and communications. But I can’t ignore the fact that the world political situation is full of uncertainty right now. You can argue (somewhere else, please) about who’s to blame, but the fact is that something like 40% of the world’s fuel and fertilizer are not able to be shipped right now. This is raising concerns about the availability of food in the coming year.
I am offering a series of gardening workshops this year, and on April 19th at 2pm, the topic will be Grocery Gardening. If you are feeling the need to “garden like it matters” this year, this is the workshop for you. I’ll cut the fluff and get right to the heart of what it takes to grow (and store) a lot of food, fast.
- What you can reasonably expect to grow and how much space you’ll need
- High-yield vegetables
- Getting garden-able soil fast
- Modular garden plan with plant lists, varieties, and equipment needed
- How to store your harvest
I will also be offering a mini-version of this workshop online soon.
Note that I garden in southern Michigan, in USDA zone 5b-6a, so this will be most applicable to similar areas. If you live in a very hot area, some of the generalities may be helpful, but you’ll want to seek out local advice for dealing with summer heat and overwintering crops.
Spring Gardening Classes
I’ve got a full slate of classes in spring and early summer 2026! Check out times and locations for:
- Gardening with Joy – starting your first garden
- Grocery Gardening – scaling up quickly to grow some serious food
- Home Herb Gardening – planning a garden for tea and medicine
- Herbal Tea Harvesting, Blending, and Tasting – how to go from plant to cup
Prices and ticket purchase links vary by date – click the event for more info!
Garden Planning – On Sale!
Save $30 off garden plan design if you book before March 17th! Whether you are starting from scratch or expanding an existing garden, put my garden geekery to work for you. Get advice on:
- Beginner vegetable gardening
- High-value fruits and vegetables
- Low-upkeep and adaptive gardening
- Storage vegetable planning and best “keeper” varieties
- Medicinal and tea herbs
- Advice on structures: hoops, greenhouses, root cellars, and tomato cages that last more than one season!
You’ll get a phone consultation, site analysis, planting map, timing chart, and variety suggestions. Contact me or see Vegetable and Medicinal Herb Garden Design Services for more information.
New Tea: Lavender Lift
Have you, like me, been a little TENSE lately? Then I am delighted to share this new tea with you.
I’m calling it Lavender Lift and it’s one of those teas that is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s tulsi, marshmallow leaf, and a little bit of lavender. Some kind of magic happens when you put them together! I admit, I am not the biggest fan of lavender, because too much of it can taste like grandma’s soap. But wowza – I cannot get enough of this tea. The tulsi has that hard-to-define fruitiness. Just enough lavender gives it complexity (without tasting like soap!).
With the first sip of this, my shoulders finally relaxed from their seemingly permanent position jammed up by my ears. I took a deep, freeing breath. I was able to keep focusing on that sensation of letting my shoulders drop expanding my breathing, and as I did that, the tension just seemed to melt out of me.
Was it a fluke? Am I the only person it affects this way? I don’t know! But given all the 😬 in the world right now, I hope it works for you, too.
Did I mention it also tastes dreamy? Like a calm June evening when the fireflies come out.