🌱 Happy July!

I (Gil) always have a lot of words to share. I’m a pinko from way back. I think it was the report I did on Leon Trotsky in junior high that got me started. For me everything boils down to cooperation. Subsequently I cannot abide the state of the world, but I remain an idealist. Our planet could be a garden of eden of people were the best versions of themselves.

Lack of cooperation is everywhere - but where it comes closest to Sproutpeople - it’s the business owners who claim they are better than anyone else. I am fed up with bad behavior - and especially so of some seed sellers. It should be - for all sellers of organic seed (as it has always been for us) - to help people grow their own food. Where you get your sprouting seeds doesn’t matter, as long as it’s high quality organic seed. What is important is that you grow.

Competing businesses should not bash others. They should not pay google to return their business when a person searches for another specific company. We should all be supportive of each other. We all should want the same thing because we are all responsible for helping farmers prosper - or at the very least, survive. I just cannot abide this bad behavior anymore.

I am grateful beyond words to be done worrying about business. I find peace in gardening - and as my personal goal has long been to be an organism of value to the planet (dare I say universe?), I tend my bit of land (thanks to our neighbor Irene, who owns it) - talking lovingly to the Earth, plants, birds, and insects (I am sorry that I have few kind words for slugs and earwigs and cabbage moths =;-) - and of course earthworms - who have grown in number dramatically in our 12 years on this lot - and who seem very happy with the double mulching thing we started in November - - which though it has not stopped all weeds, has drastically lowered their volume. Anyway - I cannot change the world - but I will spend the rest of my life nurturing land. Hopefully Lori and I will find some to call our own, before long. It’s not much in the scheme of things - but if Gaia is happier - so are we.

Our garden neighbor and sometimes Sproutpeople customer, Ann (whose husband Tom grows the most beautiful flowers in the neighborhood) told me months ago that parrots gather in Hawthorn Trees. I spent time online researching them, and even checked our locally owned garden center to see if they sold them. They don’t.

Long story short - with the tree trimming I’ve done I exposed a sadly neglected tree in the back of our garden - which turns out to be - you guessed it - a Hawthorn!

So, the video above - and the one I shared last month is not about the parrots finding the fresh sprouts we put out every morning - but rather their finding our Hawthorn.

I still have a good deal of work to do - to help the tree itself, and it may be that the winged wonders will always come for the tree’s berries - but we will keep on sprouting in hopes that they will eventually add them to their menu. They are such a joy to have in the garden!

If you happen to have pet crows or ravens - I can tell you with absolute certainty: They Love Sprouts, as do the bevy of little birds that share our world.

Here are a few time-lapses. Our garlic harvest, and then the bunching (for curing) of the garlic, and then the moving of sweet corn - which has to start in the greenhouse - and which I move outside when it gets 4-5 feet tall - hitting the ceiling. I have to protect the corn from varmints that roam by night - so that’s what the barrier you’ll see is all about. It’s basically the same as every bed has (for the same reason) - but much taller in the end. Lori got me some bags to put around the individual ears of corn too - so I’m hopeful it will be us who gets to eat the crop this year =%^)

Here are some non-moving pictures from our garden…

Before sharing photos - I have one more moving picture.

There’s nothing quite as sweet as getting to the garden in the morning with Ira, following our neighborhood walk - and finding Django there. Lori brings him over almost every day - at least once - but when he’s out on his own (wearing his GPS), and we come along - it’s just So Sweet!

Come to Sproutpeople

Sproutpeople.org is an encyclopedic resource of our creation - for indoor farmers of Sprouts, Microgreens, and Grass. It is so enormous that it gives some the impression that we are a big business. The reality is that we are basically 2 people who eat and breath Sproutpeople - and 2 part-time helpers (one being our son). Our site has been online since 1996. It’s the employee that allows us to serve all of you.