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Soil Research: Improve Your Soil, Improve Our World

by Donna Balzer | Mar 12, 2018 | Featured, Soil, THE LATEST | 2 Comments

Soil Research shows improving Your Garden Soil by adding organic matter improves the world by reducing climate change. New York Times writer Kendra Pierre-Louis says soil research shows ordinary back yards are more likely to reduce climate change over parks. This isn’t the first time I have heard of gardeners saving the world one back yard at a time….”Terra Pretta: How the World’s Most Fertile Soil Can Help Reverse Climate Change” impressed me last year. Adding Biochar is one way to permanently boost carbon in the soil and take carbon out of the air.

Mentoring Students in My Greenhouse taught me so much

by Donna Balzer | Mar 7, 2018 | Bugs & Buggers, Flowers & Alpines, Food, Gadgets, Greenhouse, Soil, Trees & Shrubs | 0 Comments

I was asked to mentor youth as part of the Goodseeds program earlier this winter and I wondered what two students and I would do together for a week once my shed was clean and shears sharpened. It was snowy outdoors so we couldn’t attack my unlimited weeding. I had to get more creative….

It is Easy Being Green – In March

by Donna Balzer | Mar 7, 2018 | Food, Greenhouse, Soil | 2 Comments

So recently there was some humble pie served in our kitchen. My Helpful Husband did a price check and found out butternut squash costs more than ten dollars each last week. I am bad with numbers so it might have been 12 dollars or 17 dollars – I can’t remember exactly. What I do remember is that when we first discussed Helpful Husband’s cost-efficient, engineered solution to gardening it was fall and squash were falling off trucks and being virtually given away by farmers. He couldn’t see why I bothered to grow them…. I understand the trend where farmers grow only the most cost-efficient crops on their land and I see where Helpful Husband was going with his gentle suggestion. He wants me to be a farmer. But then again he wouldn’t let me cash in the house to buy that small farm

Latest Review: Journal Gets Noticed in Spokane!

by Donna Balzer | Mar 7, 2018 | ARTICLES, In the Media | 0 Comments

Susan Mulvihill, Garden Columnist with the Spokesman-Review newspaper in Spokane Washington writes today: “This time, I’ve found something to help you learn from yourself …..

CBC’s Sheryl Mackay Shares the Garden Journal News!

by Donna Balzer | Feb 25, 2018 | ARTICLES, Food, Gadgets, Greenhouse, In the Media, past appearance, Soil | 0 Comments

What a thrill to go into downtown Vancouver to the big CBC building and meet NXNW host Sheryl Mackay in person this weekend! I have loved and followed her show for years and I have had some interviews with her over the phone and in the Victoria studio. But this time we met face to face.

Columnist Helen Chesnut Shares the Garden Journal News!

by Donna Balzer | Feb 11, 2018 | ARTICLES, Food, Gadgets, Greenhouse, In the Media, PLANTS & DESIGN, Soil | 0 Comments

Three Year Gardener’s Gratitude Journal, by Chelsie Anderson and Donna Balzer (240 pages, soft cover, $28.55): An effective agent for firing up enthusiasm for a new gardening season is a lighthearted and warmly encouraging garden journal like this one.