Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas and happy holidays from Abundant Design!

Wishing you and yours a blessed holiday season and best wishes for the the year to come!

Giving Tuesday 2018

This Giving Tuesday consider donating to these projects and organizations that are great friends of Abundant Design!


The Primary Health Care Healing Garden
Learn more and donate here http://www.phciowa.org/garden/

Read more at the links below-

• Latest progress
• One year
• Healing gardens

Also consider supporting the Forest Avenue Outreach Community Orchard Project. 

I've highlighted the orchard and the good work of Forest Avenue Outreach previously.  Read more here-

• Initial Tree Planting Event
• Patriot Day/Day of Service Projects - Trellises and Fire Ring
• The Summer Sustainability Series

And maybe these other great organizations, too.

Nine Square Feet
www.ninesquarefeet.org

Tree Grafting Workshop with Nine Square Feet

Lutheran Services of Iowa
https://lsiowa.org/refugee/csa/#register
https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/donateLSI?code=globalgreens

Global Greens Farm at the Valley Community Center

More Healing Garden Progress

Some more progress was made the last couple weeks since the healing garden anniversary update.

Log benches on the patio space

The patio common space (and bridge) was surfaced with crushed rock, and edged with some smaller leftover boulders.  The new durable surface really sets it apart from the mulched areas and is a nicer surface to gather.

You can also see some fresh woodchips around the garden beds if you look closely and the new cedar compost bins, too.  

The both the upper and lower spillways needed work done after the record rainfall early this summer.

Rain!

The upper portion was fixed and enhanced along with increasing flow capacity under the first bridge, about the same time as the raised beds were done.  Erosion continued on the lower spillway, in spite of some limited armoring work and plantings.

Additional boulders were brought in to stop continued erosion.  Elderberry shrubs will also help to hold soil in place as they mature, especially along the edges.

Over a dozen new benches were also added with salvaged logs.  A lot went for seating in the patio space (seen above) for community building events, a quick rest with friends, classes and more.

Both my chainsaw and I got a good workout in!

Finished Log Bench
 - natural and heavy - 

Until next time!

Happy Thanksgiving 2018

This time of year we remember the Pilgrims' celebration of Thanks they had with the Wampanoag after their first successful harvest in Plimouth.  Hopefully you will be able to enjoy something homegrown, or at least locally grown in your celebratory feast.  I want to encourage us to take some time to reflect on last year.  Remember the good times, those blessings and savor their memories.  

Also recall the challenges and give thanks, maybe not for the actual events, but for the lessons learned and character that grew from them.

What a year this has been.  Abundant Design has worked on some great projects from Norwalk and Easter Lake to Johnston and Urbandale. I am truly thankful for my customers and their trust in me!  I'm also thankful for new friendships, business relationships and most of all my family for supporting me in this journey.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! 

Here's a printable coloring page I made for the kids to enjoy!  If dinner gets late it might help keep them busy :)

Magazine Feature

Last month one of my yards was featured in Waukee Living magazine!

You've seen glimpses of its progress on social media before, and I hope to get a full write up done for it soon.

VIDEO: Using Rain Gardens as Contour Swales

The city of Waukee provided assistance with the rain garden, which was modified to not only hold and clean stormwater but to use it throughout the landscape.

Click HERE for more information on Waukee's Stormwater BMP program

Gardens were big this year!

But for now you can read a bit about it and how the homeowners enjoy their new backyard.

http://www.dmcityview.com/WaukeeOctober2018/html5/index.html?page=11

Healing Garden Update - One Year

It's hard to believe that only a year ago today we broke ground on the Primary Healthcare Eastside Clinic Healing Garden.

Before

Grading begins

Various reclaimed materials were used for ecological and budgetary considerations, as well as the inherent beneficial qualities they offered.

Piles of leaves, arborist wood chips and logs

A lot has changed on the site, with a lot more planned as well. The water catchment and runoff management has been built

In progress, with lots of rain

and many of the young fruit trees and supporting plants are in.

 The walking paths are mulched for now and ready to use, with more permanent surfacing planned for the future.

Bridge over the lower swale spillway

Walking path's lower loop

The raised beds (with log cores) for annual crops have been built and a modest fall planting was done. Also, various squash and melon vines took advantage of the sunny space in the young mixed orchard this summer.

Volunteers came out to put in hundreds of native prairie plants donated through People for Pollinators at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge.

To learn more about the garden project and wellness center, plus more pictures, visit

http://www.phciowa.org/garden/

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!

Top 15 Regenerative Agriculture Blogs

I got an email this week that made me smile :)

"I would like to personally congratulate you as your blog Abundant Design has been selected by our panelist as one of the Top 15 Regenerative Agriculture Blogs on the web.

https://blog.feedspot.com/regenerative_agriculture_blogs/

I personally give you a high-five and want to thank you for your contribution to this world. This is the most comprehensive list of Top 15 Regenerative Agriculture Blogs on the internet and I’m honored to have you as part of this!"

There are some BIG names on the list like Regeneration International, Kiss the Ground, Food Forest Farm and more!

Why Regenerative, not Sustainable?

If you like blogs and want your favorite topics highlighted in a single email check out feedspot.com

If you generally use Facebook try the Regenerative Agriculture group, or regionally Midwest Homesteading & Permaculture group.

Have a great week!

Rain Gardens are Popular!

Once most of the vegetable gardens were in and a couple bigger projects were completed, the focus of work shifted to rain gardens.

Rain Gardens are yard features focused on reducing the immediate surge of storm water during rains.  They also are built for filtering pollutants and providing pollinator habitat.  With cost share available from many different cities and other groups, they are also growing in popularity.

More on Rain Gardens and Cost Sharing Incentives here!

Organizations like the Easter Lake Watershed Project can provide qualifying homeowners with significant cost share.  As part of the Easter Lake Watershed Project, residents, businesses, and other landowners  located within the watershed are eligible for 75% cost-share for rain gardens. Contact the watershed coordinator for more information. We were actually there last week on a patio and rain garden installation, with a couple more in the wings.

Easter Lake Watershed Project Rain Garden

I was excited the Polk County S&WCD shared some of my work on their Facebook page!

This rain garden is right in the front yard of this Waukee home.  Photos include

The newly finished rain garden, 

as the native plants first take off in the summer,
highlighting the armored spillway for major rains,

and following a late summer rain event.

You need to be quick for a photo, as the basins are designed to empty over 12-24 hours.

With a short duration of water in the basins they cannot breed mosquitoes.

Click HERE for more information on Waukee's Stormwater BMP program

This project in Ankeny had a few challenges - many, many roots from the former tree, and to bore the downspout tile under the sidewalk.

before

The basin was adjusted for the stump, but remained near to the original design.

Basin sculpting complete

You can see the boulders that disrupt water flow around the inlet

Newly Finished Ankeny Rain Garden

Rain Garden retaining stormwater, reducing stress on municipal facilities

Ankeny also has a Stormwater BMP program, more information click HERE

I checked in with a customer in Johnston (more info) from last season for any learning opportunities about Rain Gardens to share:

The garden is looking great. In general the garden is very low maintenance, I remove weeds once I a while and had to replenish the mulch after the last big rain. I cannot tell you much about the amount of pollinators visiting because of the garden location; I guess I need to set up a little bench or something near it and watch. What I love the most it's looking at the garden after a big rain.  It does gets full  of water which attracts mallards in the spring (that took me by surprise) and drains slowly but by the same day is empty even in very heavy rains.

Several more are currently in the works, both consultations and design and installations!  If you are interested stormwater best managment practices Abundant Design can help you with your projects!

Enjoy the Fall weather!

Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle

Here's a quick video detailing the Monarch Butterfly's life-cycle, enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwLECbQCOsc

Once an egg is laid, it should take 3-5 days to hatch.

Over the next two weeks (11-18 days) the caterpillars grow in size eating milkweed leaves.  Monarch caterpillars can eat almost 200 times their body weight in this time!

When grown they will form a chrysalis, where they will spend the next 8-14 days.

During this time they metamorphose into the adult orange and black butterfly!

It's been a great year for Monarchs and Pollinators in general read more here, or contact us about installing pollinator friendly plants for you!

Data adapted from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1440-6055.1982.tb01803.x