I Want to Be Open to the Gifts that are Shown to Me, Organic Gardener, Marion Owen Kodiak Alaska

“Grow organic food you want to eat.”

Marion Owen lives in Kodiak Alaska where she cares for her well-established organic garden.  She grows foods she wants to eat.

“The cool climate allows the kale to be sweeter.  Green onions are huge!”

“I live in Kodiak Alaska where there’s the changing light and cooler climate.  It’s OK to put things in the compost pile. I learn from experience.”

“I grow food I want to eat but I also want to provide food for the late pollinators.  I don’t just garden for me but for other people, insects, birds.  It’s all inclusive.”

Marion saves bumble bees who get caught up in a deep freeze.  Hear how she does it on the podcast.

“Gardening is relaxing and reflective.  I worked on a tug boat.  I was getting tired of going out to sea.  I had an internal conversation years ago.  What do I want to do?  Well two things came to my mind.  Photography and gardening.”

“When I moved to Alaska and started my garden there was no dirt.  Well I can’t have dirt delivered so I had to make my own.  The traditional way of composting would take too many years.  I researched it.  Hot composting was how I made dirt.”

“I add the green stuff and brown stuff and in a few days it heats up.  I turned it and it would cool down, then heat up again.  In a few weeks, not years, I had dirt!”

“Sharing what I do is important.  I’ve written for Alaska Magazine and I’ve also submitted photographs.  I’ve been a keynote speaker at garden conferences and if I can garden in Kodiak then you can do it wherever you are in the world.”

“My garden is part of the earth.  I think it’s important to know where your food comes from because it’s not all clean or healthy.  Food security.  Try supporting your local farmers’ market and talk to the growers.”

“In Kodiak I used to write a gardening column in the Kodiak Daily Mirror.  The articles are available online.”

” I also am an advocate of community outreach.  I help others to grow their garden and I also do a Veggies at Work program.  Anybody can do this.  I approach a business and ask them to purchase materials to have a raised box or bed at their work site.  I plant and harvest vegetables to take to the food bank.

“There’s more connections and more positive imprints with Veggies at Work program. Employees are responsible for the vegetables through watering and weeding.  They get to leave their desk and enjoy being outside.”