The New York Times asked for photos in response to "What are you eating right now?"" I submitted a photo and was so happy to see it included.
Here is my photo of the season's first Albion strawberries:
And here is a link to see all the photos – the variety is amazing.
Have a great Monday!
Cynthia
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Cynthia McKenna is a therapist specializing in anxiety, depression, and healthy living. To learn more about her work, check out her website
Posted in Gardening, Organic Gardening
Tagged Cynthia McKenna, garden, new york times, photo, what are you eating right now
Pippin has strong feelings about his catnip…
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Cynthia McKenna is a therapist in private practice in the Texas Hill Country. She's passionate about helping clients find peace in their lives. She can often be found in the garden, kitchen, or hanging out with the dogs and cats. You can learn more about her work here.
Posted in Gardening, Organic Gardening
Tagged cat nip, catnip, Cynthia McKenna, garden, garden blog, pippin, psychotherapist, therapist
As part of the Psychology, Biology, and Politics of Food class I'm taking, I came across this great blog, Rudd Sound Bites from the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.
The blog features brief, informative posts that have quite a bit of information, They've even got a podcast on iTunes.
I hope you'll get a chance to check out Rudd Sound Bites: Where Food Policy Meets Real Life.
There is a lot happening in the garden this week and I look forward to showing you what I've been up to! Stay tuned.
Cynthia
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Cynthia McKenna is a psychotherapist in private practice in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. She loves helping people create the happy, healthy lives they long for. You can learn more about her therapy practice at her website.
Yale University offers Open Yale Courses on a variety of topics and I was thrilled when my friend Lorrie sent me the link to this course
The Psychology, Biology, and Politics of Food
The course is taught by
Kelly D. Brownell is Professor of Psychology, Epidemiology, and Public Health, and Director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale, where he also served as Chair of the Department of Psychology and Master of Silliman College….Time magazine listed Kelly Brownell among “The World’s 100 Most Influential People” in its special Time 100 issue featuring those “…whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world.” Taken from the Open Yale Courses website
The 23 class sessions are each about an hour long and available in audio and video formats.
And they’re free.
I’ve done extensive continuing education in the field of Mind-Body Medicine and often talk about health, food, and wellness issues as a therapist. I think this course will be enlightening and I hope you join me in learning more about The Psychology, Biology, and Politics of Food.
A big Thank You to Yale University for its commitment to expand access to education.
Take care,
Cynthia
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Cynthia McKenna is a therapist in private practice in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. She is committed to helping her clients achieve health and wellness in their lives. To learn more about her psychotherapy practice, please visit her website.
I am surprised to learn that probably 1/2 gallon or more of the compost tea has evaporated…I don't think Pippin drank that much. It might be wise to use a lid next time I make compost tea.
My plan was to foliar feed my garden with the compost tea, but the winds are howling today as our first cold front of the year moves in. So I'm heading out to the garden to harvest all the tomatoes, peppers and those strawberries that decided to fruit in November, then I'll pour my compost tea on the young seedlings.
I will also probably start a second batch of tea, it won't be cold and windy on Wednesday and that would be a great time to foliar feed after we come out of the little cold snap.
BTW – if I had been able to use the pump sprayer to apply the compost tea, I would have poured it through one of the paint strainer bags to catch any large particles that escaped when I initially immersed the tea bag int he water. I did not have the bag tied closed and some debris definitely escaped.
Happy compost Tea brewing everyone. I hope you'll try it, its easy and your plants will love you for it.
Cynthia
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Cynthia McKenna is a psychotherapist in private practice. She helps clients heal anxiety and depression and find peace through living healthier lives. You can learn more about her work here.
Posted in Gardening, Organic Gardening, Science
Tagged anxiety, compost tea, Cynthia McKenna, depression, foliar, healthy living, psychotherapist, san antonio, texas
Eight hours have passed – already! Time to take out the tea bag. Squeeze out the excess compost tea and then put the contents back into your compost bin. Rinse out the bag and hung it to dry…ready for the next batch.
I used an old spoon to stir the compost tea and repositioned the air stones so they were distributed evenly (sort of) Now we wait 18-24 hours and the tea will be ready. My compost tea mostly smells like the fish emulsion that I added – but it's a pleasant smell.
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Cynthia
Posted in Gardening, Organic Gardening, Science
Tagged compost bin, compost tea, counseling, Cynthia McKenna, pippin, tea
The technical name for compost tea is, "actively aerated compost tea" That is what the air pump and air stones are all about – putting as much oxygen into the water as possible. This makes a healthy environment for the bacteria and fungai to grow, and multiply like crazy.
Compost tea should smell earthy. It might smell sweet like molasses if you added molasses. It might smell yeasty. If your compost tea is really stinky, it's gone anaerobic and that's a bad thing. That means you are growing bad or dangerous bacteria and you don't want to put them into your garden or onto your plants. Dump it out and start a fresh batch.
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Cynthia McKenna is a psychotherapist in private practice in the Texas Hill Country. You can learn more about her at www.cynthiamckennacounseling.com
The compost tea is brewing and I want to share the process I used. I referenced both Bruce Deuley and Bob Webster for my tea bucket and the method. Thanks to their generous spirits, the plants should be benefiting in about 24 hours
You'll need:
This is the splitter I used. Also my pump has two lines so I can get even more air lines into the bucket
Air stones which create lots of bubbles in the bucket of water
Because the bacteria and fungi will need something to eat while they grow and multiply, I added 1T molasses and 1 T fish emulsion, and about 1/3 cup oatmeal to the water.
Next -fill the paint strainer bag about 1/3 full of compost, tie the bag shut and add your bag of compost to the bucket of water..
Tie bag with a string and if you are using multiple lines & air stones, put one line down in the bag. Here is my final set up:
Special thanks to Mr. Pippin for making sure I did everything correctly.
Now we wait 6-8 hours then remove the bag and let bubble for another 18-24 hours.
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Cynthia
Cynthia McKenna is a psychotherapist in private practice in the Texas Hill Country. You can learn more about her at www.cynthiamckennacounseling.com
I am getting ready to make compost tea tomorrow. I have been watching videos on the internet, and I ran to local stores today to get the supplies. I am planning on blogging the process so if you are interested, check back over the next two days & watch the progress.
Here is a great set of very informative videos featuring my favorite organic gardening expert, Bob Webster, from Shades of Green in San Antonio, TX.
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Cynthia McKenna
Posted in Garden Pests, Gardening, Organic Gardening
Tagged bob webster, compost tea, shades of green
These roasted sugar pumpkins smell wonderful.
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Cynthia McKenna is a psychotherapist
specializing in anxiety, depression and healthy living. You can learn
more about her work
Posted in Cooking, Gardening, Organic Gardening
Tagged anxiety, Cynthia McKenna, depression, psychotherapist, roasted sugar pumpkins
Posted in Cooking, Gardening, Organic Gardening
Tagged anxiety, Cynthia McKenna, depression, psychotherapist, roast, sugar pumpkins
This has been a challenging year – late freeze, hail storm, then two months of 100 degree weather and 2 year drought. The Garden did well considering all that. Here are the photos from this morning.
I’ll post more in a couple of weeks – I managed to plant lettuces, peas and beans this weekend and will get some more wintery things planted as soon as the seeds arrive.
Mr. Lolly is looking particularly good in the garden.
Cynthia
Posted in Organic Gardening
Tagged Cynthia McKenna, drought, garden, hail, late freeze, lolly
http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/10032373001?isVid=1&publisherID=1612833736
Great video about the White House Garden. I love seeing gardens make a difference. I was pretty interested in this project when it started and I am glad to see the process and some of the harvest. The White House Garden is an organic garden, and a teaching garden – hard to ask for more than that.
I'm going to start my fall garden this weekend – about a month late thanks to our 100 degree temperatures. We should still be able to get some beans and lettuces since they grow so fast. I'll probably buy broccoli plants though, and who knows what else. First I need to make some space…
Cynthia
I did some garden cleanup this morning - one tomato plant, one cantaloupe, and the okra – into the compost bin they went. The garden looks a little happier having the dead stuff cleared out. Tomorrow I'll do some fertilizing and hopefully take some photos.
It has been hard to work in the garden because it has just been so darn hot.
I have a lot of kale that is begging to be harvested – well, maybe not actually begging but it is just gorgeous and I’d hate for it to go to waste.
Posted in Gardening, Organic Gardening
Tagged bff, bittman, blog, Cynthia McKenna, garden gate blog, kale
We are still dancing with freezing temperatures – the forecast is for 32 tonight. Apparently Mother Nature isn't reading the Farmer's Almanac, which says our last freeze date is mid March, but I digress…
Posted in Organic Gardening
Tagged Cynthia McKenna, farmer's almanac, freeze, garden, garden blog, garden gate blog, strawberries
http://www.youtube.com/v/w1_1Jy5GPno&hl=en&fs=1
For more information, visit Garden Girl TV. You can also sign up for Patti's newsletter Urban Sustainable Living.
Posted in Gardening, Organic Gardening
Tagged compost tea, Cynthia McKenna, garden gate blog, garden girl, mark highland, organic, patti moreno
Posted in Garden Pests, Gardening, Organic Gardening, Science
they like to eat earthworms.
Posted in Garden Pests, Gardening, Organic Gardening
Tagged armadillo, Cynthia McKenna, garden, garden gate blog
Posted in Gardening, Organic Gardening
