Urban Food Forest Makes an Appearance in San Fran....

San Franciscans are turning THEIR city into a free food forest, shouldn't YOU be trying this in YOUUUURRRR city? I think you should. So do you!

So Pleased to Make Your Acquaintance, Mister Tasty Wood Sorrel....

   I have, today, had the exquisite pleasure of befriending a terribly common 'weed' that has been ticking me off for the past year or so. That's right, Wood Sorrel (Oxalis sp.), I used to hate you. Now I love you, thanks to volunteer Nathan at Nathan Levy's urban farm in St. Petersburg, FL. Turns out, this stuff is not only edible, it's got great flavor! The slightly sour, lemony essence would be a unique addition to salads and soups, not to mention as a handy little snack all on its own!  I even found this handy-dandy guide to all things related to wild sorrels (yes, there are multiple kinds). 

The Wild Sorrels 

As an added bonus, wood sorrel is high in Vitamins C and A, so pleasing your tastebuds and saving your wallet by eating these foraged victuals will also make your body love you. You want your body to love you, don't you?   

As always, be discerning as to where you harvest these little gems- make sure they're not full o' toxins from cars or pesticides. Wash'em before you eat them, too...on account of dog poo and insect parasites and whatnot. But you do that anyway, yeh?

This is fun...inspiration to just get your urban farm started!

Public Art Rides Again

New York activist and artist Mary Jordan takes on the Big Apple with a public art exhibition slated for display over twelve weeks in the summer of 2012. Visual art displayed on the city's water towers to incite conversation about the preciousness of clean water and the need for us to carefully manage its use. Check out the slideshow here: Word Above the Street- The Water Tank Project

And...speaking of water towers, have you seen this awesomely awesome awesomeness yet?

Turn a Water Tower Into A Roof Lounge And Garden: Presto!

Navdanya...I Wanna!!!!

Got an email today from the St. Pete Permaculture Guild. It contained a link for NAVDANYA, an organic, educational program in India that wants to teach me how to teach everybody else to grow their food, protect the world, save their seeds and deliver a general "bite me" to capitalist consumer jacked-up economic systems! I wanna do this!
Check it!

NAVDANYA, y'all!

Jacked Up Seedlings, Beautiful Seedlings...I think.

Here is an incredibly leggy 6-day old watermelon seedling, from seeds snagged from the Sugar Baby Watermelons we grew and recently ate. They were delicious. These seedlings, though..they're a little leggy. They live on the kitchen counter, so I'll try giving them appropriate amounts of sunlight and see what happens. I'm hoping they'll survive!

Planted these bell peppers at the same time...they're a little slower to spread all over, but that might be a good thing, yeh?

Magical Overnight Eggplants!

What the crap? Last night, I swear my little eggplant plants (do i call them eggplant plants? it seems redundant...hmmm) were on their way out, but today two of them have little purple babies hanging from them! From the brink of death to fillin' my belly in less than 24-hours. Hooray! I suppose they might have been there yesterday, but I'm pretty sure I would've seen them. Maybe it was the rainstorm last night.  I took their portraits, but my camera's a little defective at moment, so this is the best I could do:

I've also got a handful of baby zucchini...finally! The vines are threatening to take over the world- and our next-door neighbor's backyard. Thanks, Chon and Megan for being so understanding about my mad experiment! Here's a very foggy photo for your review!

Vid of the Day: Tomato Seed to Sprout!

Neat little vid of a tomato seed becoming a sprout...it's about time to get the fall seedlings started,yeh?

I Am Delicious...And I Can't Be Killed!

I am Cuban Freaking Oregano, Variegated! I am tasty as hell! I look great, too...and I love shade, sun, rain, dry weather, humidity, poor soil, rich soil...I'll grow in your Grandma's wig if she sits still for five minutes! I got a little chunk of this stuff from Grace's Hydroponics at Busch and 56th last year and...WOW! It's reeeeeally taken off! I've got little Cubies in pots and random garden spots all over! Front yard, too! It's great to cook with, it makes the world smell great when it rains, and it's pretty! It's super easy to grow, and it grows FAST, so let me know if you're wanting some. I will hook...you....UP. 

A Bloody Mess....

Well....shit. Lesson learned. Make sure you have a backup gardener available so sickness, busyness, and laziness don't turn your garden into a monstrous wreck. Holy crap. I've soooo much work to do! This used to be a seven-foot tall stand of lovely Purple Mountain Verbenas, with a waterfall of yellow Lantanas and these little white flowers I can't recall the name of- all beautiful and full of life. Now it's the poster for Grey Gardens. So much for the wildflower garden of Deb's dreams. Sorry, love! I'll be razing parts of this monstrosity to make room for a new and improved wildflower garden sometime soon.
The good news is, we harvested two perfect Sugar Baby Watermelons today...and the one we've already opened was, by far, the best watermelon I have ever had! The vines have taken over one end of the garden, and there are at least 5 other watermelon babies growing into tasty fruity-snacks as we speak! Thanks, watermelons, for giving me hope! 

 

A little respect....

Here's a great little video I found. Let's face it- water just doesn't get the respect it deserves.

I am working on a sort of a garden....

Gardening is hard work. It's confusing and disappointing, and just when you thought you'd succeeded....EPIC FAIL. Followed by a handful of the sweetest yellow tomatoes ever to have lighted on your tongue! In the grand plan in my grand imagination, writing about my experiences and ideas will help me connect the dots about how the world works. Or....it might inspire you guys. Or maybe it won't. So what, who cares? Let's get on with it!