Home grown biodynamics

Farewell Covid19, farewell autumn.

Winter gardening is, well, a challenge.
What to do now? Get busy planning for spring.
Here's what's coming up at a glance, or you can scroll down to read more about Blue Borage.

If you'd like a 1:1 consultation in your garden, please send an email or text message.

FOODSCAPING COURSE: GROW THE FOOD YOU LOVE TO EAT

FREE EMAIL FOR WEEKEND GARDENING WITH THE MOON

GROW THE FOOD YOU LOVE TO EAT: THE BLUE BORAGE METHOD

MICROGREEN KITS & PLANTS FOR SALE: PICK UP FROM TITIRANGI

Customised Compost Coaching

Online learning

Wherever you live, you can participate in online study. Take a look at my online programmes:

Grow your own microgreens (a free guide for beginners)
Seed Sowing for beginners.
In ground worm farm - the DIY version, upcycle a bucket into a mini soil factory.
Soil with Soul, a workbook with remote coaching via Zoom.
A range of mini courses, including the comprehensive five week edible gardening programme.
This selection grows as new courses are customised to particular groups or workplaces. If you see something missing then send me an email to discuss your needs: katrina@blueborage.co.nz

Soil with Soul

Are you interested in exploring how to optimise your composting? Perhaps it's your home garden, or maybe your workplace.

My 'Soil with Soul' approach helps you connect with the circular nature of our entire food system. Food scraps and green waste become valuable resources to help feed the soil — in which you can then grow food, flowers and beneficial herbs to bring even more vitality to your compost.

Workshops

Blue Borage workshops cover a range of topics in edible gardening, all grounded in biodynamic approaches, with no artificial chemicals:

Make your own seed raising mix and potting mix
Discover the lost art of growing food from seeds
Growing your own microgreens and salad greens — even if you haven’t got a garden
Eat beautiful meals garnished with edible flowers

When workplaces build edible gardens, these can become classrooms for a large group to learn in: your staff, your clients, or guests you invite to come and learn. Composting and growing food at work is a fabulous way to demonstrate your dedication to a circular economy.

I also love working with small gardens, and can show you just how much it's possible to grow on an apartment balcony or small courtyard. If you want to share the love of gardening with your children, I’m happy to come to your garden for personal lessons and coaching.

How's your compost looking?

Katrina making compost with a compost aerator in Titirangi, Auckland

Grow the food you love to eat

Turn your garden into a healing sanctuary packed full of food and flowers, all grown in healthy soil. There are so many ways to get started - what's going to suit you best?

JOIN THE FREE FACEBOOK COMMUNITY

ONLINE SCHOOL WITH A WIDE RANGE OF COURSES

FOLLOW DAILY SNIPPETS ON INSTAGRAM

GET EMAIL UPDATES WITH NEW COURSES AND WORKSHOPS

Foodies who love gardening: Gina Thomas

Here's a second wintery soup recipe from Gina Thomas, the boss at Rampant Coffee, which is that cute little cafe in New Lynn, in the distinctive brick building by the Community Centre. Is Gina reaRead more

Gardening by the Moon: Why bother?

As a biodynamic gardener, I've been buying moon calendars for a decade now. To start with, it was out of curiosity - the description of all the planetary movements was fascinating, and I wanted toRead more

Winter Wellness: Plant a Soup Garden

For the gardener each season has highlights, and winter is no different. In Auckland the winter is so mild that we can fortunately grow a lot of vegetables, and don't have to spend the autumnRead more

VIP treatment for all seedlings: the Blue Borage method

I often call myself a lazy gardener... but really that's just an excuse to break the rules as I look for more efficient ways to use my time and energy. One area of gardening I avoid cutting cornersRead more

Foodscaping: the perfect gardening activity for lockdown

It’s Easter 2020, New Zealand is in lockdown, and so many people are looking at using their gardens to grow more food this year. Problem? The garden centres are shut, as are Mitre 10, Bunnings andRead more

Five tips to save money when starting your winter edible garden

Before you start weeding or planting, take a really good look at what’s there. If it's a neglected garden bed that once had edibles in it then you may find little baby plants already self-seeding fRead more

What should I be planting right now?

"Strange times" seems to be the theme at the moment, right? With Covid 19 and Corona virus advice coming from all directions, I'm getting a few requests from people eager to start growing more ofRead more

Green Waste Composting in a School Setting

Schools are typically spaces with a lot of green waste: grass clippings, tree prunings, weeds, and mulch. Imagine using all this constructively to create that necessary resource - compost for theRead more

The Workplace Edible Garden: What, Why & How

Have you heard about the Blue Borage 'workplace edible gardens' and wondered they are? Here's an explanation of how I work with workplaces of all sizes. I particularly love being in an environmentRead more

CPP (Cow Pat Pit)

Have you heard the term 'CPP' used and wondered what it means? Or perhaps you've heard people use the full term 'Cow Pat Pit', and it's no clearer? Sometimes Biodynamics seems more mysterious thanRead more

Biodynamic Compost Preparations

Many people first encounter Biodynamic methods by stirring cow manure preparation in a bucket of water - this is called Preparation 500. There are two other preparations that get stirred in water - 5Read more

Why make your own seed raising mix?

I began my business by questioning if I really needed to invest in commercial seed-raising mix. I bought some of the overpriced little bags and examined them closely - what was in them? Could IRead more

Podcast Interview with The Rubbish Trip

Listen to an Blue Borage Podcast Interview from October 2019 about the Blue Borage perspective on waste, composting, food resilience and our food system in general. (42 minutes)

Podcast Interview on Mystic Discoveries

Here's an interview with Amanda Bradley from the Mystic Discoveries podcast, diving into biodynamics for the home gardener. It's long! (just over 2 hours)