Community Garden Politics, San Diego-style

by: Parke Troutman

Sat Jul 16, 2011 at 13:39:00 PM PDT

It's not like this everywhere. Some American cities, like New York and Cleveland, have longstanding community garden traditions, sometimes even going back into the nineteenth century. They have government programs that encourage or even run such gardens.

San Diego, however, had, until last week, fallen into another category.  

Raising meat rabbits: a tale of food independence almost anyone can participate in. (Part 4)

by: DawnG

Wed Jul 13, 2011 at 18:18:07 PM PDT

Cross posted in its original form at DailyKos

Raising meat rabbits: a tale of food independence almost anyone can participate in. (Part 1)

by: DawnG

Mon Jul 11, 2011 at 16:29:03 PM PDT

Cross-posted in its original form at DailyKos

Did You See the Film "The Garden"? Here's the Real Life Sequel

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Jun 01, 2010 at 12:40:15 PM PDT

I've pasted the story below, in the words of the South Central Farmers. I'm thrilled that the wonderful people behind the original 14-acre farm did not accept defeat. They are celebrating a groundbreaking of a new cooperative farm in Buttonwillow, CA on June 12 and the details are below as well.

Detroit as a site for large-scale post-urban farming

by: mental_masala

Sun Jan 03, 2010 at 14:58:40 PM PST

(cross posted at Mental Masala)

Being a native of Michigan, articles about Detroit catch my attention. Over the last several years, I've been collecting articles about the urban farming movement in Detroit, a collection that spans a variety of publications, from large newspapers to blogs to niche magazines.

Earlier in the week, the Los Angeles Times (via Matthew Yglesias) looked at Hantz Farms, a Detroit-based company that aims to use farming to bring Detroit back from the dead: "Farming is how Detroit started and farming is how Detroit can be saved," said Michael Score, president of Hantz Farms. While there are scores of abandoned lots in Detroit, the company has so far not been obtain large contiguous tracts of land, so they are starting with a “pod” approach, where smaller sections of land will grow crops appropriate for the area. The crop decision is informed by the type and condition of soil – soil with accumulated toxins might be appropriate for apples but not lettuce – and what buildings are on the land – instead of tearing down abandoned houses, they can be used as mushroom-growing buildings, suggests Score.

Free Food: Foraging with the Squirrels, Part II

by: wide eyed lib

Sun Nov 08, 2009 at 17:22:36 PM PST

Here are 2 examples. The Kentucky coffee trees I know about both have the ground beneath regularly raked. Unless I visit frequently, I can't collect many beans, so for a long time I've searched for a KCT in undisturbed woods. Recently I was hiking a very familiar trail when I noticed a small sapling with huge compound leaves. Sure enough, it was a KCT, and as soon as I looked up, I saw its parent, a tall tree hung heavy with ripe pods 20 feet off the trail.

A week ago on a different trail I decided to follow a deer path. A couple of yards in was a log covered with edible and delicious chicken mushrooms.

Call me crazy, but I feel as though I've somehow passed muster and been admitted into nature's secret collective. Whatever's going on, I'm not complaining.

Last Tuesday was also a magical day-- beautiful blue sky, a light breeze, leaves crackling underfoot and trees settling more into their autumn colors with each passing moment. (Right: Old Schoolhouse Road, Fahnestock State Park by wide eyed lib)

As if the weather and the scenery weren't beautiful enough, I stumbled across a huge patch of wild peppermint. Shortly after that, I tripped over something round buried beneath the leaves, landing on my knees. What on earth? A step later there was another, and this one I excavated to discover a lemon-scented tennis ball. I looked up and saw several mature black walnut trees. In minutes I'd collected a shopping bag full of nuts.

Walking back to the car, I took the photo you see here. All that and rainbows too. Fall is beautiful.

Covered: hickory, black walnut & butternut

Free Food: Foraging with the Squirrels, Part I

by: wide eyed lib

Mon Nov 02, 2009 at 15:18:00 PM PST

Saturday was a turning point. For the first time, the forest is more sun-dappled than shaded. Undergrowth is dying back, leaving bald spots beneath the trees. The willows have discarded their foliage, strewing the ground with narrow yellow castoffs. Leaves crackle underfoot and once-narrow paths widen, their edges trimmed with poison ivy's magenta display. Fall is here.

The dying undergrowth has at least one benefit; nuts dropping from the trees are easier to locate. Packed with protein, fat and carbohydrates, nuts have sustained us through long, cold winters for millenia. While our survival no longer hinges on them, gathering nuts is a fun and delicious way to celebrate Fall. Why should squirrels have all the fun?

Covered: acorn & chestnut

Not Free Food or Foraging: Small Farms Photo Diary

by: wide eyed lib

Sun Oct 25, 2009 at 14:29:35 PM PDT

As anyone following this series knows, I'm a big fan of local eating for lots of reasons, including:
• Cost effectiveness (no middlemen)
• Ultra fresh, seasonal food
• Shorter supply chain = safer food and less fuel
• Personal relationships with farmers

Foraging is one method of eating more local food, but most of the veggies I eat come from a community supported agriculture (CSA) program. Basically, CSA programs allow individual to share in the risks and rewards of farming. I pay in advance and receive a share of my farm's produce every week of the growing season. Of course, if crops are lost due to weather or pests, then I get less. On the other hand, if my farm has a bumper crop of corn, I reap the rewards. I pay about $13 a week for produce that costs ~$20 at a farmers market and even more at a grocery store. To learn more about CSAs or find one near you, click here.

Join me for a tour of a small organic farm and nearby dairy.

(Above: Norwich Meadows Farm Panorama. All photos by wide eyed lib)

Free Food: Foraging with Sand Between Your Toes

by: wide eyed lib

Mon Sep 21, 2009 at 10:48:41 AM PDT

As much as I love its crisp breezes and gloriously colored leaves, the approach of autumn always fills me with a certain melancholy. As the light fades and the nights lengthen, I console myself by looking forward to the bounties of the coming autumn. Fruits like hackberries, persimmons and apples are starting to ripen, nuts are swelling beneath armored shells, and plants like burdock, dandelion and chicory have almost gathered enough energy to make harvesting their roots worthwhile.

In the Northeast where I forage, plants teeter on the cusp of 2 seasons. It's still officially Summer, but every living thing is busily preparing for Fall. Join me for another walk along a salty shore to discover a few plants that thrive on this edge.

Covered: beach pea, plum & autumn olive  

Free Food: Foraging for Seaweed

by: wide eyed lib

Sun Sep 13, 2009 at 13:15:07 PM PDT

While people in countries like Japan, Iceland and China eat various forms of seaweed on a regular basis, here in the U.S. these simple, sea-dwelling plants are mostly relegated to exotic status. And that's a shame because seaweeds are packed with vitamins and minerals. (Not surprisingly given where they come from, they contain lots of sodium as well, so anyone with high blood pressure should proceed with caution.)

Grab your swimsuit, some sunscreen and a towel and let's go for a stroll through the sand.

Covered: sea lettuce, green fleece & rockweed

Free Food: Foraging through Disappointment

by: wide eyed lib

Sun Sep 06, 2009 at 15:46:15 PM PDT

Well, not quite. My main source of black walnuts is a single tree whose branches are too high for me to get a good look at the leaves. But something about the size of the immature nuts and the number of leaflets on the trees I'd tentatively IDed bothered me. When I later compared my photos to guidebook and internet sources, I realized my rookie mistake. I'd found bitternut hickory trees that, despite being fairly closely related to black walnuts, bear inedibly bitter nuts.

Someday I'll find that grove strewn with black walnuts; in the meantime this serves as a humbling reminder of the importance of looking at plants as they really are rather than trying to make them fit--through sheer will--a description that isn't quite right.

Covered: witch-hazel & wild mint

Free Food: Foraging Amidst Nightshade Confusion

by: wide eyed lib

Sun Aug 30, 2009 at 18:29:49 PM PDT

All herbs with opposite leaves, square stems and a minty scent are edible.

All plants that look like onions or garlic and smell like onions or garlic are edible.

Most white berries are toxic.

All pine trees have edible parts.

Some plant groups defy such axioms, however. Most legume plants, for instance, are poisonous in whole or part, so it's crucial to identify a legume down to species before eating it. The same is true of the carrot family (Apiaceae aka Umbelliferae), host to parsley, carrot and parsnip as well as deadly plants like poison hemlock and water hemlock. (Right: Legume Flowers by wide eyed lib)

The most confusing group of all may be the nightshade genus (Solanum). Join me as I discuss some of its lesser-known edibles, dispelling a few myths along the way.

Covered: black & bittersweet nightshade

Free Food: Foraging is Addictive

by: wide eyed lib

Sun Aug 16, 2009 at 15:06:03 PM PDT

I have a theory. There's obviously an evolutionary advantage to having the energy and focus to harvest large amounts of fruit. It's also very hard work involving bending, reaching and stretching, all while maintaining balance. Animals who found this kind of effort rewarding in some way survived and those who didn't perished.

Standing amidst a field of ripe berries and watching a container fill with bounty is indescribably, primally satisfying. What are you waiting for?

Covered: cornelian cherry, blueberry & blackberry

Free Food: Foraging in Rain and Thunder

by: wide eyed lib

Sun Aug 09, 2009 at 14:36:59 PM PDT

June in Central Park was the 2nd wettest since 1869 at 10.06". (Average June rainfall is 3.84.) This July has gotten only 7.11", but that's still 2.49 above average. I'm not sure if this includes the half inch from Friday. If Central Park gets 5.24" in August (1" more than average), it will be the wettest Summer ever. I suspect there are drier rainforests.

Unusual rain has come with unusual coolness. Central Park has had one day in June and July that exceeded 85 degrees (July 17th at 86). This is the fewest number of days above 85 for this time on record. Only one other year comes close--1996, which is the only other year not to record a 90 degree day in June or July. (All statistics from the National Weather Service.)

I'd gladly send some of our weather to OR (record highs) or TX (record droughts) if I could.

Covered: wineberry, sumac & black cherry

Free Food: Foraging and Other Ways to Eat Locally

by: wide eyed lib

Sun Aug 02, 2009 at 18:26:20 PM PDT

I love my CSA, and I love knowing that by joining one I'm helping to keep small, local farms in business and taking money out of factory farming, while gaining more control over the quality and cost of my food. The produce I pick up each week was harvested the same day or the day before; it's organic, delicious and cheaper than a supermarket. (One weekly fruit share was a half pint each of red and black currents plus a pint of sour cherries. A local farmers market charged $11 for the same items; I paid $6.)

There are risks to CSAs as well. By paying up front you're helping the farmer ride out bad weather, insect infestations and anything that might affect crop yield. So, like foraging, you never know what you're coming home with. But isn't that half the fun?

Here's a list of CSA organizations in every state and most Canadian provinces. It's not comprehensive, but at least it might point you in the right direction.

Covered: motherwort, bull thistle & sunflower