For many years I have been taking dance classes with Mama Kadiatou and her company Balafon West African Dance Ensemble. Recently they brought the spirit of Guinea to DC during DanceAfrica 2008 on Saturday, June 7. What amazing energy and strength!

Ever since I was young, I enjoyed dance. When I was growing up in India, I learned both garba and raas, folk dances from Gujarat and Bharatnatyam, classical dance from Tamil Nadu. Every Navratri we all danced garba and raas in large circles outdoors late into the night.

After moving to the U.S. I continued to take Bharatnatyam classes and started to take ballet as well. I was never very flexible, so even though I really enjoyed ballet I was never very good. Still I daydreamed about becoming a dancer.

Over the years I took modern dance, flamenco and other types of dance. It wasn’t till I moved to DC that I discovered West African dance. I saw Kankouran perform and I loved the energy, so I started taking classes. I could barely keep up with the class.

Later when I was at a local gym I started taking Kadiatou’s class. Wow, what energy! None of the other dance styles I had learned compared to the spirit and energy of Kadiatou’s class. She often lectured us about eating healthy, exercising and being strong. She was fierce and intimidating at times. I always admired her strength, grace, energy and spirit.

After all these years, she still has the same spirit. When I dance to the music from Guinea that she taught us, I feel an amazing energy. I still can’t do some of the steps, but I can keep up better than before. My face turns bright red after class, not from embarrassment, but from the movement and energy. I feel so much younger, stronger and alive after class.

I sing the songs that are now familiar to me, but still don’t know what they mean. Somehow I feel connected to the women who are singing the songs without knowing them or what they are saying. Many of the songs are about farming, courtship and community. I give thanks to Kadiatou for sharing her amazing energy, strength, wisdom and spirit. Check out the videos below to experience Kadiatou’s energy!

o About Kadiatou
o Balafon West African Dance Ensemble
o Class schedule

Seeds have such magical, hidden potential lying dormant within the seedpod. They come in all shapes, colors and sizes. Some are quick to start growing, others take some time.

When you are purchasing seeds, it’s good to look for open-pollinated seeds, instead of hybrid seeds. According to the Primal Seeds website, “Hybrid seeds are the first generation offsprings of two distant and distinct parental lines of the same species. Seeds taken from a hybrid may either be sterile or more commonly fail to breed true, not incorporating and expressing the desired traits of the parent. The development of hybrid seed enabled the beginning of the commercial seed market. Farmers were persuaded to buy new hybrid seed each season, replacing the traditional practice of farm-saved seed, due to the “hybrid vigour” which can improve yields. Hybrid seed is also known as ‘high response’ seed. These seeds require fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides and lots of water to achieve their high yields.”

Hybrid seeds can lead to higher yields, but they also require more inputs in order to do so. Well, this is great for the agriculture companies, but not for the farmers or the rest of us! Now let’s take a look at open pollinated seeds. The Primal Seeds website explains, “Open-pollinated varieties are the traditional varieties which have been grown and selected for their desirable traits for millennia. They grow well without high inputs because they have been selected under organic conditions. These varieties have better flavour, are hardier and have more flexibility than hybrid varieties. Breeders cannot manipulate complex characteristics such as flavour as easily as they can size and shape. These seeds are dynamic, that is they mutate and adapt to the local ecosystem, as opposed to modern hybrids, which are static.”

The open-pollinated seeds can be grown organically with few inputs and they can be saved from year to year. The Council for Responsible Genetics has put together the Safe Seed Sourcebook to help people find places to buy open-pollinated seeds. Companies have to take the Safe Seed Pledge in order to be listed in the sourcebook.

I decided to buy seeds from the Victory Seed Company, which has taken the Safe Seed Pledge. On their website it says, “Unlike most seed companies that purchase all of their seed stock and repackage, we actually do farm and what seed we don’t raise here, is obtained from a network of carefully selected growers.” It was wonderful to go through their online catalog and read the descriptions for all the different types of vegetables, each with their own nuance. It was difficult to pick between the different varieties, so I ended up picking multiple types of tomatoes, peas, watermelons and peppers. For corn, cabbage, cucumber, eggplant, cilantro, fennel and a few other herbs and vegetables I picked just one variety. I spent about $48 altogether on buying seeds.

On a side note, it’s good to keep track of all your expenses in a spreadsheet, so you can see what you are spending most money on in the garden. Some things you will buy one time, like a fork and spade and other things like seeds you will buy every year.
I bought several 72 cell seed starter kits from DoitBest which cost around $5 and includes 72 recyclable cell pack, greenhouse dome, carrying tray, and 4 quart seed starting mix. I also bought portable greenhouse which is a bit cheaply made, but helps to protect the little seedlings from the elements, especially when they are outside.

I emailed Josh the list of seeds I had purchased and he sent back a schedule of when the seeds should be planted and whether they should be planted in the seed starter kits or directly into the ground.

The seedling trays came with seed starting mix made from coir from coconut, so I just had to add water and the seed starter mix expanded. I carefully planted the seeds, covered the tray with the greenhouse dome and placed them on top of the refrigerator. Now it was time to just wait and watch. Slowly the different seeds started to grow into little seedlings. I wrote down where I planted what seeds on pieces of masking tape and stuck those onto the tray. I also created a spreadsheet to keep track of the seeds I planted in specific cells and what date I planted them. I was quite meticulous at this stage of the process. Later when the seeds were transplanted I wasn’t as careful, so now I don’t know specifically what variety a particular tomato or pepper seedling is.

Here are some of the lessons I learned growing from seeds. This is my first year growing from seeds, so all you experienced gardeners please share your tips because these may not be true based on your experience.

1. Don’t let the seedlings get too leggy.
This means transplant them when they get big enough, so they don’t start getting tall and thin. These seedlings have a tough time surviving when they are transplanted.

2. Hardening off seedlings is hard work.
To keep moving seedlings around from inside to outside for a few hours a day is not easy. They need to get acclimated to the outside, but it’s hard to achieve the perfect balance in giving them enough exposure to allow them to survive outside. Only some collard greens, basil, tomato, onion and pepper seedlings were able to make it after they were transplanted. The rest of the little seedlings were not strong enough to survive…

3. Some things grow well directly in the soil.
I have had such wonderful luck growing peas, corn, cucumbers, sunflowers and a few other things by planting them directly into the prepared beds.

4. Consider buying some seedlings from the farmers market.
I bought some tomato, pepper, eggplant, cucumber, thai basil and a few other herbs as seedlings from the farmers market. They are flourishing. They have a head start compared to my little seedlings. a friend of mine said that she prefers to buy seedlings for tomatoes and peppers because she wants different varieties, instead of the same varieties she would get by buying a pack of seeds.

Share your knowledge and experience growing from seed.
- Where do you buy your seeds and why?
- What are your favorite seeds to buy?
- Do you have any tips for hardening off seedlings and transplanting them?
- What seeds do you prefer to plant directly into the soil?
- Any other seed tips?

Around 3:15 pm this afternoon, the lights flickered a little and then went out completely. The wind picked up, dark clouds rolled in and little hailstones came down followed by heavy rains. The severe thunderstorms had arrived!

The first thing I did was look for the little round silver radio that I picked up at a flea market in Krakow, Poland several years ago. It’s a funny little radio because it only has three buttons: Volume, Scan & Reset. There is no dial, so you just have to scan and hope you find the station you are looking for. It runs on battery and it still works.

Once I set the radio to WAMU the local NPR station, I went to the porch to sit and watch the rains come down. My neighbors were also sitting on their porch watching the rain. I asked if they had called PEPCO the electric company and they said that most likely they knew that the power was out.

It’s possible, but I wanted to make sure, so I looked for the yellow pages which I hardly ever use and found the number for reporting an outage. I called the number, entered my phone number and the automated system located my address. I was asked to confirm the outage and confirm the number that I wanted to be contacted when the power was back. I gave my cell phone number since the electric cordless home phone didn’t work. Luckily I have a regular phone with a cord in case my cell phone died and the cordless phone didn’t work. Do you remember them? You were forced to sit in one place to talk on the phone!

Next I looked around the house for flashlights, candles and a lighter. I found the wind up flashlight, several aromatic candles and a little monkey lighter I got while I was in Frankfurt. I was ready when the house got dark.

I had picked some greens and onions in the garden earlier in the day, so I was ready to cook them up. Luckily I have a gas stove, so I lighted an incense stick and used that to turn on the stove since the igniter is electric. I got it going and cooked up the greens with a little bit of sesame oil and soy sauce. A simple, delicious recipe.

I was also able to take a warm shower since the water heater is gas, not electric. I am so glad I have so many gas appliances. I wonder why they don’t make more gas appliances since they are more reliable in extreme weather.

Back on the porch, another neighbor was getting in his car and he said, “If only I could take the car in the house, we would have music.” In addition to the little silver radio, I have a wind up radio I got from a sale at National Geographic many years ago. I hardly ever used that radio, but it sure came in handy today. I wonder if there other things that use wind up energy that I should have besides a radio and flashlight. Just doing a little searching online, I came across Freeplay Products store that have several products that work on wind up technology.

As the evening continued the rain picked up and the lightning and thunder got worse. After some time the rain slowed down. As I listened to jazz music on WPFW and looked out over the porch, suddenly all the lights on the street came on. Wow, it felt like a little miracle!

I enjoyed watching the rains and listening to the wind up radio, but I was glad to have electricity back. I started to wonder what it’s like for people who live in places where the electricity goes out regularly. Life comes to a halt in many ways! Many things we take for granted are no longer possible when we lose electricity. We are so dependent on it! It’s definitely good to be prepared when it does happen!

So are you ready if the power goes out?
- Do you have a non-electric corded phone?
- Is your cell phone charged?
- Do you have candles and a lighter or matchsticks?
- Do you know the number for reporting an outage to your electric company?
- Do you have working flashlights?
- Do you have a working radio either one that runs on battery or wind up?
- Are your appliances gas or electric?
- What are some other ways to prepare for an electricity outage?

Imagine a backyard with a lawn and little else. Now imagine a backyard dug up with two raised beds, two double dig beds and some fruit trees and bushes. Earlier in the year for the first time ever I started a vegetable garden with little knowledge, but much anticipation.

As a child I watched my grandfather, parents and aunt grow many Indian vegetables quite effortlessly. Later I helped to pick vegetables at Clagett Farm in Maryland. I really enjoyed the fresh vegetables and the community at the farm.

Now it was time to embark on my own growing adventure. I checked out many books from the library trying to learn as much as I could about how to start composting and vegetable gardening. One of the many books that I found to be quite helpful was Vegetable Gardening: From Planting to Picking, The Complete Guide to Creating a Bountiful Garden by Reader’s Digest.

I learned many things from reading the books, but wanted guidance from someone who is experienced, so I put out a call on the different email lists. Someone suggested Joshua Wenz who has a company called My Organic Garden and helps people to start their vegetable gardens.

Josh came over, measured the backyard and later emailed me the cost estimate and the layout. He suggested that I put in two raised beds and two double dig beds. For the raised beds, he brought in truck loads of compost. We also used some compost in the double dig beds. Before digging these beds, I got the soil from the front and back yards tested through UMass Soil Testing. This helped to determine the lead and ph levels of the soil. Based on the results, Josh also brought soil enrichments that were added to all the beds.

Next I ordered the seeds and fruit trees and bushes. It was quite exciting flipping through the online catalog of seeds and selecting them. To be continued…

Share your stories and resources. How did you get your vegetable garden started? What are your favorite vegetable garden books, websites and forums?