this is just lovely
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/The-Story-of-the-White-House-Garden/
Tue 1 Sep 2009
The Story of the White House Garden
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Sun 9 Aug 2009
puppy love
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Milton’s babies are just so cute but when they set themselves to a task it is amazing what damage they can do. Add to my list of gardening disasters for this year – unworthy tomatoes and puppies that torn up a whole patch of strawberries and a nice big blueberry bush and then presented the mess to me with such pride.
I love them more than anything!
Sun 9 Aug 2009
“You Say Tomato, I Say Agricultural Disaster.”
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After 2 years of having great success (over abundance even) with my 2 little 4 x 8 garden plots this year has be sort of a disaster. The tomatoes have produced a lot but unlike last year’s harvest, which was heavenly, this year they are mealy and not very tasty more like Safeway tomatoes then from the farmers market. Still they have worked out well for sauces and I’ve even had some success at pickling them but the famous basil and tomato salad that is my main stay for the summer months has had to be had with store bought tomatoes.
I’m so disappointed, more so because I had been so happy with the little heirloom seedlings I found, planted and lovingly nourished. The neighbors have been telling me the same tale of woe. But still I guess we are luck not to be experiencing the blight that’s bee sweeping the Northeast as Dan Berber from the NY Times explains in “You Say Tomato, I Say Agricultural Disaster.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/opinion/09barber.html?pagewanted=all
Depressing but an elegant lesson the fragility of our environment.
Sat 1 Aug 2009
random image
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I came across this image walking to the MacArthur Bart station the other day…..
Funny because salad greens are not the first plants that come to mind when I here the statement “grow your own” in Oakland. I love the change.
Tue 21 Jul 2009
composting as metaphor
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Composting was not something I ever thought I’d do.
Growing up my mother put a compost bin in our backyard and I did everything I could to stay away from it; it stunk to high heavens much like the green garbage containers Oakland’s waste management wants us to throw all of our organic waste into. But it didn’t take long after becoming interested in urban agriculture to see the benefits of learning how to compost and shortly after waste management’s last strike it became abundantly clear that trying to minimalize the amount of garbage we have is not only good for the environment but good for our sanity as well.
A trip to the local sierra club (http://sfbay.sierraclub.org/chapter/chapter_home.htm) provided me with a very nice albeit old-fashioned compost bin – for free! Some one had donated it to them and they donated it to me – wonderful!
I have to say I’m somewhat of a nazi about what goes inside he compost bin (seriously I should be so strict about what goes into my body – note to self) Eggshells are ok but other than that any other animal products are strictly forbidden. And so far it’s been a pleasant experience; no repulsive odors and the refuse has broken down rather quickly (just one major turn and I already have some nice looking compost. I have to say I know it’s not nice to look a gift horse in the mouth but if I had known more I would have invested in the newer style and purchased the kind of compost bin that spins but only because the space in my yard is so limited that turning the compost is sort of a gymnastic experience, still it’ not that difficult and I’m very happy with the results.
Sun 19 Jul 2009
Pliny the elder — really?!
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The following is part of the entry of composting in the wikipedia. Who would have thought composting had such a long history?
_________
Composting dates to at least the early Roman era since Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79), author, naturalist and natural philosopher refers to compost in his writings. Traditionally composting was to pile organic materials and let them stand for about a year, or until the next planting season, at which time the materials would be ready for soil application. The main advantage of this method is that little working time or effort is required from the composter and it fits in naturally with agricultural practices in temperate climates. Disadvantages (from the modern perspective) are that space is utilized for a whole year, some nutrients might be leached due to exposure to rainfall, and disease producing organisms, some weeds, weed seeds and insects may not be adequately controlled.
Composting was somewhat modernized beginning in the 1920’s in Europe as a tool for “organic” farming. The two early personages most cited for propounding composting within farming are for the German speaking world Rudolf Steiner, founder of a farming method called Biodynamics, and in the English speaking world by Sir Albert Howard who worked extensively in India on sustainable practices ( Lady Eve Balfour also of England was a huge proponent of composting). Composting was imported to America by various followers of these early European movements in the form of persons such as J.I. Rodale (founder of Rodale Organic Gardening), E.E. Pfeiffer (who developed scientific practices in Biodynamic farming), Paul Keene (founder of Walnut Acres in Pennsylvania), and Scott and Helen Nearing (who inspired the back-to-land movement of the 60’s). Coincidentally, some of these personages met briefly in India- all were extremely influential in America in the 60’s into the 80’s.
Thu 9 Jul 2009
hudson valley seed library
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I love hudson valley seed library. I mean love love love them.
I found them sort of by accident as I was stumbling through the web looking at various potters whose work I admired when I came across a blurb on Ayumi Horie’s site about how she had illustrated a beautifully designed packet for their heirloom radish (rat’s tail radishes)
Totally unbelievable cool (seriously these rat’s tail radishes are the cat’s meow)!
Not only are they a complete necessity for any urban garden but they are also just part of a set – 13 of the most beautifully designed artist illustrated seed packs of (as they say) “heirloom seeds with local roots” (some of them are unfortunately sold out but I’m hoping this only means until next year – so order early.)
(note: I did buy some of their tomato seeds but got them too late to plant for this year. I’m going to plant them in the spring and hopefully this will cure my tomato malaise.)
Beauty, sustainability, food, gardening — what more could you ask for?
Oh did I mention how nice the owner is? Well let me tell you, this summer I got a bee-in -my-bonnet about making seed balls (another internet fling project) and when I asked them about picking seeds that they thought would work well for this project Ken wrote back and was SUPER helpful – I told him what I wanted to spend and he sent me an incredible bunch and variety of seeds (seriously I’m a bit awed by how nicely they hooked me up)
– Sustainability rocks!
Accord, NY 12404
Fri 19 Jun 2009
Green Guerillas
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Despite the fact that the street in front of my house is a pretty major thoroughfare in Oakland the road is a mess. Except for a few 50-foot redwood trees in the middle of the median (icons of days long past) the rest is in shambles – weedy, ugly, derelict.
I have my theories as to why the city has abandoned its responsibilities to me and my neighbors – a few blocks west on the very same street but across the border into the following town of Emeryville there are a couple of modernized strip malls, ugly but undoubtedly profitable. I’m sure that there are those on the Oakland city counsel that wouldn’t mind playing some eminent domain shell game and mow down the various 1920’s bungalows and Victorians that currently line the street replacing them with yet another venue for our consumer culture. The Oakland city counsel has never been known for its clear thinking. My neighborhood is fairly equally divided between young homeowners like myself and older couples (although mostly widows) who have lived in the same house for almost as long as I’ve been alive. For those of us who bought our houses a few years ago, we are supplying the city with pretty sizable tax revenues (I pay more per month in property taxes then I paid previously for rent on my Brooklyn apartment) prop 13 doesn’t apply to us. I’m not even going to go into the fact that the taxes are based on prices that the houses are no longer worth. As for the older folk who live in the neighborhood, many who have lived here for more than 35 years and are in their 70’s and 80’s, the small break prop 13 affords them (and it really is a small break) means they can actually stretch their social security into something that looks like a modest retirement in the bay area. Do I sound a bit bitter?
Well a few weeks ago my wonderful neighbor, Ahmed, took my sour lemon thoughts or his similar ones and turned them into some mighty tasty lemonade actions. He gathered together a group of neighbors (no small feat in itself with our busy always-working lifestyles), procured a bunch of donations (some money and a lot of plants) and talked us all into spending the day digging up the median and planting.
The result? Glorious! The median and the street look fantastic. The neighbors actually know each other now and sometimes even say hi.
Maybe you can’t fight city hall but then again…
Mon 15 Jun 2009
There is no parsimony as far as the plum tree is concerned
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“What is more mortifying than to feel that you have missed the plum for want of courage to shake the tree?”
Logan Pearsall Smith (American Writer, 1865-1946)
Is there anything that says “stinginess” more that a person who won’t share the fruits from his tree?
I have a plum tree in my front yard that doesn’t seem to understand that we are in an economic slow down, it’s producing at full speed and it is so loaded with delightful fruit that its branches are literally breaking.
So neighbor there is no need to want for courage – feel free to shake my tree.
And after check out this article by the NY Times the timing is just so sweet
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/dining/10Fruit.html?ref=dining
Mon 15 Jun 2009
the carrot and the stick
Posted by tlc under patience, urban agriculture
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My first and maybe only carrot of the season but it sure is pretty.
I had planted two rows but unfortunately it was in the one part of the garden that Milton, my adorable, totally loved and way too spoiled little French bulldog had decided to make his own, who am I to keep him from the joys of gardening?
Still after eating the first carrot I realize I need to find a carrot-safe area of the garden. It is amazing how much more tasty a carrot is directly from the garden.