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Saturday, November 25, 2017

Small Business Saturday

Today is Small Business Saturday and as a special deal, Abundant Design is giving
$25 off
initial consultations scheduled through the end of November!


If you plan to do a full design and installation package, we'll still deduct the full consultation price from the design.

Your yard can become a sustainable oasis and a foraging paradise!

Shop Small, Shop Local!
Shop Abundant Design!
 

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Thanksgiving 2017

Looking back from the track loader
A little late on the post this week.  As the weather changes, and there is less and less daylight each day, I've been trying to spend more time with and reconnect with my family.  I'm very excited for this Thanksgiving holiday!

Work still continues, and yesterday dug in the water catchment swales/rain gardens at the healing garden project.  I'm thankful for the beautiful weather before this chilly wind rolled in.

What is a swale?  A swale is a ditch for collecting water, generally to move it elsewhere without undue erosion.  In my projects we usually use a swale on contour, meaning it is nearly level and water collects and soaks into the soil hydrating it.  If there is too much rain, it will move off site in a controlled manner, but we try to infiltrate as much as we can into organic matter rich soil for our plants use.

This video shows one of this summer's rain garden projects where we elongated them to act as hydrating features of the landscape, which will drought-proof the hazelnut, aronia and raspberry plantings.

Video Tour of a large Rain Garden

Back to the healing garden, I am also thankful for Beemer Landscaping who did the initial site grading for the walking paths. I've also used them for some retaining walls and other projects.  Their water features are top notch and Korey and his team have won awards at home shows where I have had feature gardens.


I'm also thankful for Bob and Tessa at Blooming Prairie Nursery.  I have had Bob help me on a couple projects and purchased many plants from them, check them out for your prairie and native plant needs.

Brandon at Browne Atlas has also been a friend and cooperator of Abundant Design.  They have worm castings available and can be used with our landscape installations for an early boost to your plantings.

Will and Jonathan are great guys over at Trinity Tree Care. They have also been a great resource, tree clearing/trimming help and helpful tree care advice.

Although I didn't get to work with Ralph as much this year, I am thankful for his friendship as well.  You can help out the Forest Avenue Community Orchard on Giving Tuesday and/or head down there on December 2nd to help with fall cleanup, meet new friends and enjoy refreshments.

I'm also thankful for my summer intern Michael, Ray at Cherry Glen Learning Farm, Drew at Land Matters and all of my wonderful customers.

I'm also so very thankful for my wife and family and their support this past year as the business has grown and I haven't always been home as much as I should have been.  After getting home past dark last night, with two of my kids helping me out, my wife had supper waiting, so I could eat quickly and get to the board meeting at Cherry Glen on time.

God has truly blessed me, and I am Thankful!


Monday, November 13, 2017

Save the Leaves, Part II

Last year about this time I wrote about saving leaves for an easy way to add organic matter to your soil.  Read that article here-

Organic matter feeds healthy soil life, improves the water holding capacity of sandy soils and the workability of clay soils.

Recently I shared an article on Facebook about how Backyard Abundance, very similar to Abundant Design, is encouraging people to keep their leaves, and even ask for more.  Here's the local news video talking to their director Fred Meyer.



Well, one of my customers from this summer took that advice, and we arranged a load of leaves to be delivered. 

The load arrives, right next to the Norway Spruce we planted

He has been grooming his lawn for some time and it really looks great. Unfortunately homes in newer suburban developments are notorious for having poor soils, low in organic matter.

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More recently they've been looking for natural approaches, from using Milorganite and spent coffee grounds in the lawn, adding a butterfly and vegetable garden, composting and our recent project.

We planted several trees and shrubs to enhance the windbreak and shade their home in summer, along with a strip of native prairie plants for pollinator habitat.  Next stages will include a larger vegetable space, natural playscape and possibly a rain garden.

These leaves are a great natural addition to the soil building efforts going on, that won't contaminate the soil or groundwater, but could actually improve it.


Spread and ready to be mulched

















After the first pass with the mower










Ready for the snow, a few freeze/thaws and these leave pieces will be rich soil


 

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Winding down and Gearing up

What a great season its been!
 
Preparing beds for next spring
 
These Echinacea seeds can't wait!

I attended a training workshop to be a Prairie STRIPS consultant this week. More on that training in the near future and how Abundant Design can help reduce nutrient and topsoil loss on your farm.

Grass identification slide

Last week was also the ground breaking on the Healing Garden at the East side clinic.  Very excited to see how that develops and grows over the next couple years!



Now is the perfect time to get a design started for your project. 
Be ready to go next Spring!

Thanks for reading, and have a great week!