Well, more accurately, lessons from the dirt in my garden. The soil is the foundation of the garden, containing both the nutrition the plants need and the moisture to move the nutrition from the soil up through the roots and out the leaves where carbon dioxide is consumed, and oxygen is produced. What an amazing design of a closed-loop system!
The challenge now is to make sure that the moisture, nutrition, and PH levels are all within the limited need for each type of crop. This year I hope to produce zucchini, tomatoes, broccoli, beans, kale, cucumbers, peppers (3 kinds), and a few flowers.
I have four plots: two near my office and two on Windmill Island (photo left). Windmill Island is home to an 1864 Dutch Windmill (above) disassembled and relocated to Holland, MI in 1964 and then re-assembled. Windmill Island is now a tourist destination and affords me an opportunity to meet interesting people from around the world. Although I have lived in Holland for 27 years, I never realized the extent to which the Windmill is a national and international tourist destination. Yesterday, I met a family from Ohio and another family from Brazil while pulling weeds in my garden.
Gardening is a great way to learn hands-on lessons about the environment and your local community.