Thank you for your visit today… www.nadiaknows.com

Plant – Grow – Inspire!

Koi Pond

Swamis Beach Break below

Lotus Flowers in Koi Pond SRF Meditation Gardens

Palm Trees at the SRF meditation garden

Another garden road trip this last weekend took me to Seabreeze Organic Farm located in San Diego, CA about a mile East of the 5 Freeway in Del Mar. The property was purchased in 1978 back when the land was mostly eucalyptus trees and rolling hills and has been producing crops for the past 21 years. Owners Stephenie Caughlin and Kendall Cook had a dream to create an organic farm while at the same time fostering community awareness about where our food comes. Seabreeze Organic Farm is a CSA Farm: Community Supported Agriculture which connects local growers directly with the community that is consuming their food. In order for a CSA farm to be productive it must have a commitment from its supporters with a recurring monthly fee since the economic future of the farms depends on the ability to produce and deliver goods in a continuous relationship with them. Some of the challenges of a small farm are its ability to produce a diversity of produce while at the same time getting paid a fair market value for what is grown.

I was surprised to learn about the increasing economic and political challenges that the owners face on a weekly basis to keep their farm prosperous. In order to keep up with the financial strains they have opened up their farm as a sanctuary for tours, fundraisers, private events and nature walks to name a few. Deliveries go out on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to 27 cities in San Diego county including gift bag options, mixed edible flower bags and fruit deliveries to businesses. Online shopping is also available on the Seabreeze web site for a diverse selection of items like raw honey, coffee, edible flowers, eggs, oils, herbs, earthworms, etc. Emphasis on the ETC. there is much more available on the web site.

The Tour on Saturday was hosted by members of  Slow Food San Diego with about 25 people in attendance and a cost of $35.00 a head. The tour included meeting the owners, an amazing sit down vegetarian lunch and plenty of time to ask all the questions we wanted. Owner Stephenie Caughlin was wonderful about allowing us to meander freely around the farm and was available to educate us every step of the way. The photos below show how lovely this farm truly is and hopefully conveys how vitally important it is for a community to know and support its local growers. Buy Local!  Link to: Seabreeze Organic Farm Link to: Slow Food Urban San Diego

Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com ♥ A place to grow ♥

Made with hay -building on property

FLOWERS

Chicken Coop

Every area of the property has something growing in it. The farm produces an abundance for its size.

Squash growing on fences

Vertical Garden area of Bok Choy

Lemon Verbena and Lavender Tea served at lunch. Herbs were brewed in the sun just like sun tea. It was yummy!

Lavender Drying and Hanging in bunches

A flower for you on your birthday… How lucky I am to have you in my life…

A sunflower growing on the side of the road near my home this week.

July 10th, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Free online template:

LINK TO: Seed Packet Printables

An online web site offering a variety of printable seed packet templates. This is a great alternative to the usual ziplock bag/ sharpie marker labeling. Lately I’ve been doing “seed exchanges” with heirloom flower and vegetable seeds and these online templates will make it easier to organize and store them. For a sturdier seed packet try card stock paper when printing out the template.

Satin Ribbon added to packet

Pretty Patterned Template With Labels From M & Co.

These are a few photos of several templates offered on the web site, but check out the link above for other styles and sizes.

Great for kids seeds by using 'crazy eyes'

Template before cutting out

Seed Packet Freebie By Pamela Donnis Designs

Thank you for visiting www.nadiaknows.com

♥ a garden blog ♥

Aeonium succulent

Have you seen this idea before or am I really behind on the times? Cheers to the flower divas! This is what I stumbled upon this week… succulents mixed in with flowers for bridal bouquets, boutineers, center pieces and really all types of floral arrangements. Succulents are not limited to monochromatic shades of green so there are endless possibilities of mixing in all sorts of colors together… pink, yellow, purple, teal and black to name just a few.

Recycling the bouquets by transplanting them into containers might just be the quintessential green idea since the succulents in these arrangements can be preserved and re-used. How nice it would be to display a living reminder of a special event while adding to its value and memory.

Using Echeveria and Aeonium succulents in rosette shapes compliments the design mixture with the natural shape of roses and carnations. Long lasting flowers such as orchids can keep up with the stability of the succulents offering a long-living bouquet. Sempervivums are more compact and work well in center-piece arrangements.

Echeveria succulent

Here are a few photos from various online sites ~ SO inspiring and beautiful!

Thank you for visiting my garden blog~ www.nadiaknows.com

Creating ~ Growing ~ Staying Inspired

* Thank you to Completely Coastal for featuring several of my blogs on designing with succulents with an ocean theme and thank you for all the wonderful comments!

Flora Grubb Gardens

www.weddingbycolor.com

www.polkadotbride.com

www.projectwedding.com

]]> http://nadiaknows.com/2010/06/29/succulent-flower-bouquets/feed/ 2 nadiaqh DSCF5075 DSCF3289 floragrubb01.jpg nk-bouquet http://nadiaknows.com/2010/06/26/flower-boxes/ http://nadiaknows.com/2010/06/26/flower-boxes/#comments Sat, 26 Jun 2010 14:07:59 +0000 nadiaqh http://nadiaknows.com/?p=3054 ]]> A sea star perched in a window overlooking a flower box  in New Castle, New Hampshire. While on vacation last week I was inspired by so many beautiful gardens from Rhode Island to Maine.

Sea Star & Flower Box

It seemed that at every turn in each town homes and businesses were adorned with beautiful flower boxes and U.S. flags under windows, on porches and doorsteps.

Flags & Flower Box

It feels like summer now that gardens are in full bloom, tomatoes are turning from green to red and eating a watermelon actually has flavor.

Flower Box in Boston

These gardens in New England have inspired me with their color, design and whimsy.

Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com

A place to share and enjoy garden inspiration.

Roadside flower barrel in Rhode Island with iPhoto "antique" effect.

After eight years this columnar cactus in my yard expressed its first bloom with a very light fragrance and lasting only 24 hours. A little internet research helped me find the botanical name: Trichocereus brevispinulosis a native to South America also known as part of the Echinopsis spp. family of cactus.

Gift on my doorstep: sunflowers and wine

Sunflower "expressing its perfect self"

A few months ago a friend surprised me with a bottle of wine and some sunflower starter plants on my doorstep and this weekend I got my first bloom.

The garden that keeps on giving is a great concept, one that I encourage and believe brings community closer together. The love of growing your own flowers and edibles are an amazing way to bring more beauty into your life and sharing them multiplies it 100 times over.

Here are a few links of amazing groups of people across the country volunteering to bring the Giving Garden concept to a whole new level.

*  ”The Giving Garden” blog: where volunteers work to grow food for others.

* The Giving Garden: Productive community garden.

* San Diego based school garden education: WBC: Teaching farming, gardening and healthy eating to the young.

* Solid Ground: Building community to end poverty.

With summer right around the corner this is a great time to look into volunteering with garden organizations and at the same time increase awareness of community needs. There are so many gardening tips and sage advice that can be picked up when hanging out with other gardeners.

Thank you for visiting today: www.nadiaknows.com

Grow – Create – Give

Morning mist on a Purple Queen Contessa flower this week.

“Gardening is the art that uses flowers and plants as paint, and the soil and sky as canvas.” E. Murray