my garden guru

I have a garden guru. His name is Uncle Duane. He lives in Dawson, Minnesota (it's waaaaay out west, a suburb of Montevideo) and, with my Aunt Betty, owns a chain of nurseries -- Heather Nursery and Floral. He's guru of growing.

He recently moved to the favorite uncle slot when I found out that he hitch-hiked his way down to Mexico City and back in the 70s. I never woulda thought we have so much in common and so much to talk about -- farming, food, Mexico, Monsanto.

That's one of my favorite parts of getting older -- sitting at the "big table" and getting to know in a whole new way the people that have always been in my life.

Meet Uncle Duane.

This is the only photo of him I could find -- he's on the right. Sarah, you look so happy to be hanging out with your uncles and dad at a bar.

Uncle Duane knows more about farming, flowers, soil, nutrients in our soil or not in our soil due to mass usage of chemicals and sustainable agriculture that anyone I know. Almost as much as Barbara Kingsolver and "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle." He's a huge advocate for restoring our soil and the essential nutrients that belong in it through sustainable practices.

He's conducted experiments testing nutrient levels in the soil and thus in vegetables when using a variety of agricultural techniques and products such as oxygenated water, buffalo mature and the latest -- Earth's Elements.

Earth Elements.

Earth's Elements is a biological soil amendment. It's comprised of all sorts of natural elements that put back into the soil the healthy bacteria and such that needs to be there. And what's been depleted with all of the chemicals and pesticides that we've become to view as necessary.

I can't even describe how bad it smells. Or how moldy it gets. But I've been assured it's supposed to do that. It's the healthy bacteria.

It has North Atlantic Kelp, Redmond Natural Mineral Conditioner, Diatomaceous and a lot of other things I can't pronounce or ever heard of. You side dress your plants with it twice a year. Below is dressing number one.

Gypsy peppers
Cucumbers

I can't wait to see how much more beautiful my vegetables look than everyone else's because of Earth's Elements. Because that's it's purpose -- to help me do it better than everyone else.

Plug: If anyone wants their very own (smelly but effective) bag of Earth's Elements lemme know. I recommend it. And I've got the hook up.