Thursday, July 14, 2011

WATERING: Slow Down and Share the Load

South Church now has rain barrels—look around the corner to the left of the sanctuary door! These two barrels catch the rain that flows off a small portion of the church’s large roof. All we have to do is attach a hose and we can water anywhere on the front lawn.

Linda, Susan and Lenore tried this the other night. “This takes so long,” we whined as we watered the Roots & Wings labyrinth in this sustainable way. 

True. What a hose connected to (pressurized) city water could accomplish in 30 minutes would take an hour, maybe more.

Sivananda ashram combines permaculture and yoga," mused Susan. "Maybe that’s purposeful—you need to slow down to garden like this."

Watering was on our mind that evening because the plants in the labyrinth are not thriving. Why?

“It doesn’t get enough sun,” suggested Cris Kossow.

“Could be dead pan,” said Susan DeGeorge. “The soil might be so compacted the water can’t get down any further.”

Or, the leaves we put in the raised beds might be leaching out nitrogen so not enough nutrients get to the plants.

But we think it’s the simple fact that we’ve been too busy to water properly. We stuck our fingers into the soil about knuckle deep or so. It was dry.

"Slow down and share the load" is the new mantra.

Here is the labyrinth watering schedule for the rest of the summer. 
We recommend using a mix of rain barrels (if it has rained) and city water.

 July 13: Lenore Lelah Person
July 14:  Linda Herring
July 15:  Chris Cole Olsewski
July 16 – 22: Amy Delaroca / Dunn family
July 23 – 29:  Amanda Jacobs and family
July 30: Susan deGeorge
July 31 – August 6: Donna Thompson
August 7 – 13: Rachel Thompson
August 14 – 26: Linda Herring

We are still looking for volunteers for watering. If you want to be involved, please email Lenore_Person@msn.com

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