Patience Pollock

learning biodynamic preparations & applications

Church Castle — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 13:03:30 GMT

In regards to the layout of the gardens at our new space, the sun and its placement and depth are still mysteries to us. The main impetus of garden bed placement was to just do rather than think based on a slight manic moment of studying google earth archived satellite imagery of the light hitting the property throughout the year. Our presence will allo…

February

Church Castle — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 15:01:35 GMT

Wood is rare, out of all the elements it’s got this goldilocks moment here on earth. NO wood on mars, no plants on the moon. Trees are healing. Trees have this strength not much else has. I get upset when people spray chemicals to rid the beetles and other inputs plaguing them. Just let the tree die if it’s going to die. The human intervention thing is getting out of hand— especially with the all chemicals (especially in the desert)

Wood Rack DIY hurry up and cure some wood for next year special. The two long pieces came with the house and were partially unusable. A cord of oak is $700 here.

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January

Church Castle — Sat, 14 Mar 2026 15:01:45 GMT

We will begin living in the space once this room is completed. This entire front wall is not core filled block but instead filled with pumice. We wonder how the strength of a concrete floor in this room will work with a rotten Vega or two. What do the deer think of all the commotion? How cold does it get in the coldest areas? When was the deck built?

LATELY

Church Castle — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 18:00:44 GMT

Big Dreams, small pocket book

Church Castle — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 01:49:09 GMT

I laid some hay around the apricot and apple trees today. I wonder what they think of all the human commotion for having been still and unbothered for so long. I would hate to ruin the bounty they have going. I will prune some old dead looking branches back at some point. It is a total rehab job with the apple trees. They’re barely hanging on.

I plante…

Time Travel November

Church Castle — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 21:13:58 GMT

November was also an emotionally engaging month. Time traveling back here are some of the takeaways:

What I Was “Reading”

Southwest Foraging by John Slattery

Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning by The Gardeners Farmers of Terre Vivante

Made several raised beds to begin the garden starting process. I was so adamant about getting garlic in the ground so come next year I can make garlic scape pesto. We got garlic in the ground and it has already started to jump out of the dirt. We brought all of the potted plants from the art studio to the new place to empty into the bigger raised beds. This garden area is a total mess, but it is a work in progress…. It will be cute one day. The wood is all repurposed from a contractor cleaning out his material yard.

This will be a green house/hoop house situation area.

Plants and the yard

Church Castle — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 20:32:45 GMT

I dream of growing beautiful meadow like garden. Deer, bobcat, mountain lion, rabbits, coyote, moles would likely put a damper on the meadow dream that real quick. There are small microclimates throughout the property I am interested in observing. The back porch area is colder than the area where I put the garden stairs. Here are some photos of the existing trees and plants.

Time Travel: September

Church Castle — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 19:46:43 GMT

Here is my husband with the man who we bought the house from. He worked on the house project in the summertimes. He eventually got distracted with other projects and his family and other real estate investments. The house was left unfinished…. for 38? 40? years.

September was ROUGH. Between figuring out how to deal with a title company, research real estate transactions, asking friends and family for advice, asking random folks in the community for advice…. We had our hands full! We were implementing major budget cuts, scrounging money in any way we could figuring out how to finance this property. To spare you the details we magically by the grace of the universe made it happen. It took a LOT Of work, sleepless nights, “ OH SHIT” moments etc etc.

My husband and I were daydreaming NONSTOP. We were thinking about lighting, what we can make for the space, feelings we wanted to embody while being in the space, coming up with a plan, looking at craigslist free….. Playing around with ideas, asking questions, Sketch up Models, building out Pinterest boards galore….This structure is like an unfinished conversation. With the mountain, the concrete, the dirt, the sky. Lots of dialogue to be had.

Structure without front dormers. This model shows windows installed in front greenhouse-esque room.

Time Travel: August

Church Castle — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 17:29:01 GMT

Here is a peek of what the property looked like in the late summer. There was SO much rain this year that it negatively affected some areas: (EROSION) Mulching, water control/erosion mitigation is HIGH on the list. This place has been sitting unoccupied for 38-40 years or so.

coyote fences & old beam garden stairs

Church Castle — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 17:17:25 GMT

We will likely compile images/photos from the week, show some process and publish on Monday’s.

Late Fall Sowing

Church Castle — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 21:25:13 GMT

I was able to plant a small section of garlic in mid October. Somehow managed to beat the frost. Here is a sample of plants of the southwest native flower seeds that got me so excited for planning the property’s growing zones.

doing, making, reflecting until the big sleep sets in.

Church Castle — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 15:33:23 GMT

I am a gemini who loves old photographs, architecture, home grown food, biodiversity, sewing and is the steward to a huge house project called (working title) the Castle Church house~~~

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Purchase something I’ve sewn~

Give free building advice~

Donate your old wood stove~

Come to a work party~

Let’s be friends~

Historic Found Photos of Southwest & West in a Dumpster

Church Castle — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 15:15:59 GMT

As a enthusiast for all things old, hold a story, well made and capture a time far different from this present one- these photos are so wildly interesting, are a mystery and I am on a mission to do some creative problem solving to get answers on the who, when and what- stay tuned.