Gonna wash my bones in the Atlantic Shore

Chelsea's Wedding

No I am not invited.  No I do not appreciate the millions that will be spent.  But ...
Hudson Valley Girl? And a Vegan, Too!

I should think she must be thrilled that Chelsea and Marc are rumored to be sourcing the food for their wedding from some of our fabulous local farmers. And I'd love to give them a shout-out, too, if only I were allowed.

But all I can say is that Chelsea's choice to make the menu mostly vegan, including the wedding cake, is maybe the best PR break an advocate for a plant-based diet could ask for. And the inclusion of pastured beef will do wonders to spread the grass-fed gospel.

At least her food choices make sense.

Crazy train passenger

Rand Paul:

He sticks up for the man-made disaster known as MTR, the technique that blows the tops off of mountains to get to the coal inside. Paul has been vocal about MTR in the past, and now he's saying that MTR has many benefits, including the creation of "enhanced" land.
"I think they should name it something better," he says. "The top ends up flatter, but we're not talking about Mount Everest. We're talking about these little knobby hills that are everywhere out here. And I've seen the reclaimed lands. One of them is 800 acres, with a sports complex on it, elk roaming, covered in grass." Most people, he continues, "would say the land is of enhanced value, because now you can build on it."

Wonder why he has this opinion? That's right - money.

"Coal companies are offering to spend millions of dollars to defeat Mr. Paul's opponent this fall. With stories today showing he'll support their practices, he's sent them an unmistakable response: I'm your guy.

I need some ice...

New York City to Have More Frequent, Intense Heat Waves - Due to Climate Change & Urban Heat Island

If you thought the heatwaves we've already experienced this summer in New York City and all along the East Coast were bad, there's definitely more sweating in your future. A new study coming out the City College of New York shows that continued warming temperatures, combined with the well-known (and growing) urban heat island effect, means more frequent and more intense heatwaves are in store for New York.

New York City Nights 15 Degrees Warmer Than Surrounding Areas
Illustrating the amplifying effect of the urban heat island on recent heatwaves, according to data collected by CCNY's New York City Meteorological Network, during the first July heatwave overnight temperatures were 10-15°F higher in Manhattan than on Long Island or in western New Jersey, just a few miles away. Daytime highs were similar throughout the region.

It is a report like this that makes me appreciate the trees around my house. Sure I said a few posts ago that the thought of hurricane winds hitting my trees are a scary thought, but the shade provided during these months balances out those fears.

Make some noise!

Why the BP Spill Hasn't Invigorated Environmentalism

In 1969, an oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California released a few million gallons of oil into marine ecosystems -- eight months later, it was among the primary catalysts for the biggest pro-environmental movement in the nation's history, starting with the first Earth Day. That 'national teach-in' day in turn lead to some of the strongest and most effective environmental laws and regulations ever created, it yielded the founding of the EPA. Fast forward to 2010, where we're still in the midst of the biggest oil catastrophe in our history, with an incomparable 100-180 million gallons of oil fouling the water. And yet, there's no sense of focused national outrage (discontent is probably a better word), no movement gaining momentum to address the roots of the problem that lead to the BP spill, and the government has shown that it feels no pressure to take significant action on behalf of the environment. What gives? ...
But I wonder. The cynic in me says we're unlikely to see anything near the public outpouring of support for the environment we did 40 years ago, for a few simple reasons. Primarily, the sentiment behind the movement then was new, it was bold, pioneering -- participating in the movement was exhilarating. Knowledge of the extent by which American industry was destroying our natural habitats and resources was just then bubbling to the surface of the public consciousness. Joining the green movement was sort of like Beatlemania -- few had seen, heard, or done anything like that before. And just like we're unlikely to see a pop act command that kind of attention again, I think the same goes for an environmental movement encompassing many of the same ideals.

Also contributing is the fact that corporations were far less prepared to cope with the charges leveled at them -- they had little course of action but to complain how insignificant the environment was in comparison to businesses' contribution to society. Now, every self-respecting oil company channels money into front groups, lobbying campaigns, and PR efforts, not just during a spill, but all the time to keep public opinion in check, and to hedge against such disasters.

Finally, the culture of special interests has grown so pervasive that many Americans feel like it's a hopeless situation in Congress -- there's a sense that it's impossible for the common man to get heard through the thicket of lobbyists and campaign financiers. A perfect example of this is the recently deceased climate legislation -- polls found majorities supported climate and clean energy action time and again, and yet the Senate had no qualms giving it up because it's too touchy a subject for an election year. The gulf has widened between civilians and our elected officials to the point that few expect much from them at all.

One another all-important reason is not mentioned - so many are more interested in Lohan's jail stint, what Snooks is wearing, which party they are going to....That is the real reason. Too hung up on entertainment, more interested in the cult of personality...

Ernest Callenbach

Recently the author of Ecotopia was interviewed and I just love this closing quote:

Mixing mud is such a physical thing that if you don’t have somebody that you can apprentice yourself to who says, “It’s too soupy, it’s too tough, it’s too whatever,” you’re not going to be able to really do it within a range of rightness. So we still need a lot of apprenticeships. We can’t rely on abstract information coming in over the web or even through books. We need to get our hands dirty and plant our own seeds, and see what happens.

In other words - go out and try something. Sure you may make a mistake - in the garden for example - but learn from your mistakes, grow, live and survive.

Say it ain't so Jeff

Seventh Generation Partnering With Walmart Will Create a Healthier World

When I first heard yesterday's announcement that Seventh Generation and Walmart are entering into a long-term strategic partnership to get Seventh Gen's eco-friendly cleaning products, diapers and wipes into Walmart's stores as well as online shop, my initial reaction was to check the weather reports to see if hell had indeed frozen over...

* First that Walmart is not the same company it was even five years ago. It's a much different organization that has fairly dramatically and with little fanfare transformed itself into a serious sustainability leader. A few months ago, I wrote a long post about just how much remarkable progress the retailer has made and the tremendous level of positive influence it's now wielding on its employees, customers, suppliers, and communities. I won't repeat all that here. Suffice it to say that Walmart has come a very long way and is committed to going a great deal further.

* Second, Walmart's size means we'll reach people and places we couldn't reach before and help countless more families lead safer, healthier lives. From rural outposts to inner cities, we'll get much closer to fulfilling our mission to help all consumers protect the planet and themselves from harm.

But we must remember the sentiment in this video:

De-lawn your yard

A Call for an End to Primpy Lawns

Despite signs of progress, the de-lawnification of America is going pretty slowly. Although the green and alternative press is bursting with stories of backyard gardens, frontyard gardens, rain gardens, prairie restorations, and other turf-free options, it’s clear from mere observation that most American homeowners still think that a flawless, chemically treated monoculture lawn is the way to go.

Reggie McLeod, the publisher of Big River magazine, which covers the Upper Mississippi, is fed up with it. “This column may get me in more trouble than any other that I have written, but I’m going public with my challenge to primpy lawns,” he writes in his editor’s note in the July-August Big River:

I have never understood why people feel compelled to dump toxic chemicals and fertilizers on their lawns, then drench them with water, which, by the way, washes a lot of the chemicals and fertilizers into the groundwater or into the sewers, both of which lead to the lakes, streams, and rivers.

And then? Well, this massive load of nitrogen and phosphorous create algae blooms that degrade water quality and wildlife habitat. McLeod concedes he once bought into the green-lawn myth, as a teen selling Scott’s products door to door. But he’s now an unrepentant hands-off groundskeeper: He has a lawn, but lets it do its own thing:

To the untrained eye it may appear that I have a crappy lawn, but I’m proud of it. I enjoy the violets, clover, and even the dandelions. I have never put a drop of herbicide, insecticide, or fertilizer on any of my lawns in my adult life. I hope that I have lowered the bar for my neighborhood.

We’ll need brave warriors like McLeod to combat the deeply rooted perception that pristine green lawns are a mark of an enlightened civilization. “The American lawn now represents a serious civic problem,” Elizabeth Kolbert wrote two years ago in the New Yorker in an article on what she called the “lawn-free movement.” But I haven’t exactly seen this movement take hold in mid-America: Traveling alongside McLeod’s beloved Upper Mississippi, I see lots of people straddling their lawn tractors on vast green expanses, baking for hours in the summer sun so they can carve out their bit of perceived paradise.

But you know what? In paradise, they don’t mow the lawn.

I too love my clover, violets, dandelions.... I like even more my trees, flower gardens, veggie gardens, fruit bushes and moss gardens. Now if I can convince the family that the bocce court lawn should become a garden...

What Would Vanna Do?

Pat Sajak Says Manmade Global Warming Is Simple to Solve

Pat Sajak? The "Wheel of Fortune" guy? Yes, that Pat Sajak. He says in a post at Ricochet.com that the solution to manmade global warming lies with men (and women). We have to make our own change, suffice it to say, rather than hoping that our government will save us.

What the hell does Pat Sajak know about global warming, other than a green week at Wheel of Fortune last year? A skeptic blog called WattsUpWithThat notes that Sajak was a weather man before he was a game show host. (He's also an active supporter of conservative political causes).

In his Ricochet post, Sajak takes a swipe at Al Gore, and offers this idea:

"... if those True Believers would give up their cars and big homes and truly change the way they live, I can't imagine that there wouldn't be some measurable impact on the Earth in just a few short years. I'm not talking about recycling Evian bottles, but truly simplifying their lives. Even if you were, say, a former Vice President, you would give up extra homes and jets and limos. I see communes with organic farms and lives freed from polluting technology.

Then, when the rest of us saw the results of their actions--you know, the earth cooling, oceans lowering, polar bears frolicking and glaciers growing--we would see the error of our ways and join the crusade voluntarily and enthusiastically."

This reminds me of the old saying, "An Ostrich with his head in the sand." Wouldn't that make a great Fortune puzzle?

But does Sajak have a point? Should there be less talk and more personal action in the green movement? Would you like to buy a vowel?

Would love to find out if he was trying to lessen the climate change problem or really trying to offer a solution. I really agree that he has a very valid point. Individual actions are as important as large scale actions.

Black Krim in the house

This is my "new" favorite - no not just because it is the first - besides cherry tomatoes - that I pulled.

Turns out this was the January 2010 Tomato of the Year.  Didn't know that but I agree.

The Black Krim is an heirloom tomato that has gained much popularity in the last few years. The Black Krim is highly regarded for its excellent, yet bold taste, and medium to large size. This tomato can vary in color ranging from a reddish brown hue towards the bottom of the fruit, then darkening to greenish-dark purple shoulders. Just a pinch of salt is needed to enhance the flavor, since this tomato already has a slight salty taste.

This heirloom tomato originates from the Isle of Krim in the Black Sea, near the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine. It is believed that soldiers returning home from the Crimean War, in the late 19th century, gathered these seeds and began sharing them. As a result these seeds were later widely distributed throughout Europe.

Maybe that is why I enjoy this tomato.  They are in my genes.  My great -grandparents probably had these growing on their farm. 

Reading "Year of the Flood"

THE GARDEN
Who is it tends the Garden,
The Garden oh so green? 

’Twas once the finest Garden
That ever has been seen. 

And in it God’s dear Creatures
Did swim and fly and play; 

But then came greedy Spoilers,
And killed them all away. 

And all the Trees that flourished
And gave us wholesome fruit 

By waves of sand are buried,
Both leaf and branch and root. 

And all the shiningWater
Is turned to slime and mire, 

And all the feathered Birds so bright
Have ceased their joyful choir. 

Oh Garden, oh my Garden,
I’ll mourn forevermore 

Until the Gardeners arise,
And you to Life restore. 

The above is from The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood.  Rereading this great novel - a third time.  It is a great story about a scary world.  The real problem is that the world of YOTF mirrors so much of our current mess.

Ready for a challenge?

The 100 Foot Diet Challenge

Growing Closer to Home

It wasn’t that long ago (1940s) that people planted Victory Gardens when it became necessary for them, due to wartime shortages, to grow their own food. Now, it’s our turn.
If you want to fight against peak oil, climate change and our consumerist culture, then join us and start a living protest right in your own back (front) yards. Be the change, live the solution! Use your yard (or balcony or porch steps) not only to grow food but also to cultivate a healthier and more fulfilling life.
There have been 100 mile diet and other eat local challenges.  But we homegrown revolutionaries are upping the ante by reducing the mileage to a few steps – to right outside your back or front door.
The challenge is simple. Beginning as soon as you can, prepare a meal at least once a week with only homegrown vegetables, fruit, herbs, eggs, dairy products or meat, using as few store bought ingredients as possible.
The purpose is plain – the waging of an all-out fight against the forces that keep you dependent on the system of petroleum fueled food. The degree to which you rely on today’s artificial corporate structure determines the extent of your vulnerability. Resolve to lessen your dependence on outside food sources.
The result is revolutionary. As you take back responsibility for your food supply, you’ll experience the empowerment and fulfillment that comes from learning the basic skills of providing for yourself and your family.
Let’s sow the seeds of freedom and get our hands dirty to fill our plates.

:: Guidelines ::

A meal must be comprised of food grown on your property or garden plot (literally or figuratively within – 100 feet – of your front or back door). If non-homegrown ingredients are needed, then we suggest following these modified locavore guidelines:

If not from BACKYARD, then Locally produced (our “homegrown” addition)
If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Organic.
If not ORGANIC, then Family farm.
If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business.
If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then Fair Trade.

:: Moving Forward ::

Once you have planted your garden and have prepared a weekly homegrown meal, consider how you can expand your “farm,” increase your garden’s productivity, and, thereby, cook more homegrown meals per week. Then take a further step on the path to independence and freedom by learning to preserve your garden harvest

 Not that difficult.  Come on and try it. 

Great Posters

After making the Dilly Beans and Refrigerator Pickles I think I have to buy the above poster from Victory Garden of Tomorrow.

VGoT is an art project posing as a propaganda campaign for new, American homefront values. The message style draws from American mid-century homefront propaganda, and the messages essentially draws from 21st century needs as found in the current environmental sustainability movement. The campaign is designed to access America’s history of ingenuity to overcome adversity, and apply those values to fighting modern problems.
The resulting artwork is a series of propaganda-style poster images, that are either hand screenprinted, painted, or offset printed.
I'm Joe Wirtheim and I've been making these images since 2005. I now live and work in Portland, Oregon.

Refrigerator Pickles

From Organic Gardening:

Audrey's Pickles
1 pound medium cucumbers
3 cloves garlic
½ teaspoon black peppercorns
½ teaspoon whole mustard seed
1 teaspoon fresh dill weed
1 whole dried bay leaf
2/3 cup organic cane sugar
6½ tablespoons white distilled vinegar
6½ tablespoons white-wine vinegar
¾ cup water

Made this yesterday. Can I control myself and wait a few more days to sample? It is very difficult but I have to try!

Cucumber Beetles

Image via Wikipedia

The cuke and squash plants look a little forlorn lately. The culprit? Striped (Acalymma vittatum) or spotted (Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi) cucumber beetle.
According to OG I could spray canola oil to control the little buggers.

Anyone try this?

Crazy Joe from CT

Utilities Want A ‘Breather’ From Letting People Breathe

As negotiations on a stripped-down bill to limit global warming pollution from coal-fired power plants reach the final hour, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) is sympathizing with the utility industry’s attempt to suspend Clean Air Act rules on pollutants that kill tens of thousands of Americans a year. At a meeting with environmentalists, Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers “led the call for regulatory relief on a number of existing Clean Air Act programs dealing with sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury, including a new EPA rule proposed last week that deals with interstate pollution.” However, thirty-one environmental and health organizations sent a letter to senators last week calling such rollbacks “simply unacceptable.” Center for American Progress senior fellow Van Jones called it a “literal poison pill.” Today, Lieberman made the ironic claim that polluters “just want a breather” from clean air rules:

That’s a tough one. They frame it in a different way. They just want a breather. And not an eternal pre-emption. These are all topics of negotiation. That’s what we’re supposed to be doing here.

Sure Joe. A breather. But the big question is how many deaths and how much damage will occur during that breather. Sure your wallet may get fatter...

Oil from Stone

Nationalize Oil Industry

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill shows that the United States should follow the example of South American socialists in nationalizing its energy industry, filmmaker Oliver Stone said Tuesday.

The Academy Award-winning director of "Born on the Fourth of July" and "JFK" said that America's country's natural wealth was too important to be left in private hands, telling journalists in central London that oil and other natural resources "belong to the people."

"This BP oil spill is typical" of what happens when private industry is allowed to draw revenue on what should be a public good, Stone said.

"We shouldn't make this kind of profit on oil or on health or on war or on prisons. All these industries should be public industries."

All options should be considered at this point. And this one sounds very reasonable. Can you imagine Sarah, Rush, Sean and Glenn if this ever happens?

Grist's Comic Strip

My Intentional Life from Grist.  Trying to decide who I am like. I think I might like Benny .  Anyone walking around outside in a bathrobe is my kind of person.  I have to buy a bathrobe one of these days.

Dire predictions

What If He's Right? by James Howard Kunstler:

Matt Simmons Houston-based company has been the leading investment bank to the US oil industry for a long time, financing exploration and drilling in places like the Gulf of Mexico. Simmons, 68, recently retired from day-to-day management of the company. For much of the decade he has been what may be described as a peak oil activist. His 2005 book, Twilight in the Desert, warned the public that Saudi Arabia's oil production had reached its limits and, more generally, that an oil-dependent world was entering a zone of serious trouble over its primary resource. He took this aggressive stance despite risking the ire of the people he did business with.

Simmons's current warning about the situation focuses on the gigantic "lake" of crude oil that is pooling under great pressure 4000 to 5000 feet down in the "basement" of the Gulf's waters. More particularly, he is concerned that a tropical storm will bring this oil up - as tropical storms and hurricanes usually do with deeper cold water - and with it clouds of methane gas that will move toward the Gulf shore and kill a lot of people. (I really don't know the science on this and welcome any reader to correct me, but I suppose that the oil "lake" deep under the Gulf waters contains a lot of methane gas dissolved at pressure, and that as the oil rises toward the ocean's surface, and lower pressures, the gas will bubble out of solution.)

Simmons makes two additional points that are pretty radical: he says that several states along the Gulf ought to begin systematic evacuations in counties along the shore now. From his experience in Houston with Hurricane Rita (2005), he says a last-minute evacuation is bound to be a disaster -- the highways jammed hopelessly, drivers ran out of gas, and then the gas stations ran out of gas. Based on where the nation's collective state-of-mind is these days, I can't imagine that any Gulf state governor or mayor will heed this warning and begin preparing an evacuation now. (The practical problems are obvious for householders but what if it really is a matter of life and death?)

Secondly, Simmons maintains - as he has from near the beginning of the blowout - that the US military should take over operations from BP and ought to set off a "small" nuclear device down in the well-bore to fuse the rock into glass and seal the site permanently.

If he is right - we are in deep oily doo-doo!

Wishing summer away?

Pulled out the lettuce and two cousa squash plants. The squash was replaced with kale seeds. The lettuce area will be planted with a fall crop of greens.
The kabocha and butternut squash are growing great. Pumpkin and acorn are slowly getting there. I think next year we'll forget the pumpkin and acorn and just plant the whole back with kabocha.
So not really wishing a season away, but just planning ahead. Planning for the veggie stew with potatoes, kale, parsnips, turnips, carrots...It was my staple last fall and will be this year as well. But now it will be fortified with my own-grown potatoes and dried beans.
It has been a very good year for the garden so far. Though more watering this year than last.
But the yellow jackets are not treating me as well. Another sting - this one on my left hand. Let's see if this one swells my hand to three times the size.

The fat lady didn't sing

Methane, Leak Suspected Near BP's Blown Out Oil Well

A federal official said Sunday that scientists are concerned about a seep and possible methane seen near BP's busted oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Both could be signs there are leaks in the well that's been capped off for three days.

The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Sunday because an announcement about the next steps had not yet been made.

And until we hear her, this thing ain't over.

More destruction to come, I am sure.

Farmer's Tan

No not on my arms - in my gut!

A great beer from Southern Tier Brewing. Love the label too.

Neolithic humans evolved from nomadic hunters into a more settled agricultural society, changing life forever. The ‘founder’ crops they raised included wheat & barley. It is little surprise that the first examples of brewing appeared during this age.

Brewers owe much to that epoch. Similarly, we thank our farmer friends of today for cultivating the ingredients that are responsible for the beers we now enjoy. Their laborious days spent outdoors under the hot sun earn them respect, as well as a mark of distinction: the farmer’s tan. Yes, the inevitable red & white hallmark of hard work.

So, roll up your sleeves and turn the soil. Just be sure to chill a bottle of Farmer’s Tan to enjoy after work.

WOW - Part II

11-Year-Old Grows Tons of Veggies for the Homeless

When Katie Stagliano was in third grade, she planted a cabbage in her family's small garden. When it grew to an astounding 40 pounds, she donated it to a soup kitchen, where it was made into meals for 275 people (with the help of ham and rice). "I thought, 'Wow, with that one cabbage I helped feed that many people?'" says Katie, now entering sixth grade. "I could do much more than that."

So Katie started planting vegetable gardens as part of her nonprofit Katie's Krops — she has six right now — including one the length of a football field at her school in her hometown of Summerville, S.C. Classmates, her family and other people in the community help plant and water, and Bonnie Plants donates seedlings. This past year, Katie took her commitment to a new level: she has given soup kitchens over 2,000 pounds of lettuce, tomatoes and other vegetables. Katie and her helpers are now harvesting the spring planting, and another 1,200 pounds will be donated by October.

Another teen star!

One word - WOW!

A Michigan Teen Farms Her Backyard

Lawn mowing and baby-sitting are standard summer jobs for the enterprising teenager. Alexandra Reau, who is 14, combines a little bit of each: last year, she asked her dad to dig up a half acre of their lawn in rural Petersburg, Mich., so she could farm. Now in its second season, her Garden to Go C.S.A. (community-supported agriculture) grows for 14 members, who pay $100 to $175 for two months of just-picked vegetables and herbs. While her peers are hanging out at Molly’s Mystic Freeze and working out the moves to that Miley Cyrus video, she’s flicking potato-beetle larvae off of leaves in her V-neck T-shirt and denim capris, a barrette keeping her hair out of her demurely made-up eyes. Who says the face of American farming is a 57-year-old man with a John Deere cap?

“Let’s see,” says Reau, a quiet honor student who’s a little taken aback to find a New Yorker in giant sunglasses asking her questions in the plot next to her tidy white-brick ranch house on a June afternoon. “Those are carrots, spinach, beets, kale, watermelon, squash, zucchini, peppers, lots of tomatoes . . . um . . . corn, radishes, lettuce, beans, onions, garlic.”

“’Cause I used to be, like, really shy and quiet. And I’m just more talkative now.” Farming has also taught her patience. “It’s a continual process,” she says, sighing. “You have to keep working at it, and you can’t just stop.”

Quite impressive. While her friends are swooning to Justin Bieber's photo she is learning about life. A garden is a perfect classroom - should be one at every school - and every home.

Oh no - my trees!

A Warm Atlantic Stokes Hurricane Fears

Stretching from the coast of West Africa to the Caribbean is a band of warm water several hundred miles wide where most Atlantic tropical storm systems “spin up,” gaining speed and size as they move toward the eastern seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico.

Meteorologists are watching these waters closely this year as satellite measurements show surface temperatures to be abnormally high — one of several signatures of a busy hurricane season to come.

These warm waters are one reason the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned in May that this year’s Atlantic hurricane season might well be one of the busiest on record, with 14 to 23 named storms.

Knew I should never have planted that one tree so many years ago. Too big to take down by myself at this point - and too close to the house. Sure it's healthy but hurricane winds scare the crap out of me when I watch those limbs bending and swaying.

Rooftop Farm

The Brooklyn Grange

I'd like to introduce you to The Brooklyn Grange, the newest and biggest rooftop farm in New York City. I visited a few days ago after their public opening to see what Founder/Farmer Ben Flanner was growing for the summer, and I was quite impressed with the progress made in such a short amount of time. His 40,000 square foot farm (just under an acre) was lush with greens, cabbage, tomato plants, corn crops, carrots, swiss chard, various herbs and root vegetables. I seriously didn't think the farm would look as finished or as polished as it did when I set foot, especially since they only began planting in late May. But, it did. The plants looked happy and tasted great, further proving the case for more NYC rooftop farms. Watch the video and see for yourself. Plants like rooftops...or it seems that way to me!

Two things come to mind after watching this video:

1. I wish I stopped there last Sunday after the flea market (it's in LI City)
2. I wish my garden had this much space and looked this great

Cereal Bowls Upturned

Image by "Cowboy" Ben Alman via Flickr

Kellogg Cereal Recall Due To Packaging Chemical, Company Says

Kellogg Co. said Wednesday that higher-than-normal amounts of certain chemicals in its package liners caused the unusual smell and flavor that prompted a recall of 28 million boxes of its cereal in late June.

The food maker recalled Apple Jacks, Corn Pops, Froot Loops and Honey Smacks after about 20 people complained, including five who reported nausea and vomiting.

Consumers reported the cereal smelled or tasted waxy and others said the taste or smell was similar to that of metal or soap. Others simply described it as stale.

Shouldn't be eating those sugary cereals anyway.

Wish my garden looked pretty

To Get in, the Deer Have to Knock

Those who prefer not to do their own digging but want a vegetable garden can call on Teich Garden Systems. Its no-fuss approach to growing started in 2005, when Mark Teich, a Wall Street trader, made his wife a free-standing garden: raised beds enclosed by a sturdy wooden frame, wrapped — both underneath and on top — in mesh netting to make it impervious to marauding deer, rabbits, woodchucks, etc. Friends loved it, and a business was born.

Just look at that photo.  Perfect paths, straight posts, symmetry...  Wish my garden was as productive as it is now but as pretty as that picture.
My paths are not perfect.  My fence is a mish-mosh of different fences - sort of like a patchwork quilt.  Sure it works, but...

Too many green beans?

No problem!

After trying Mean Beans at the Brooklyn Flea - I am inspired. Have to modify and experiment with some basic recipes and then I am ready to go. Hot and spicy beets, beans and cukes.

Buy some vinegar and then it's kitchen time!

If it can be done there...

In Toronto, a Backyard Transformed into an Urban Farm

In New York, a group of twenty-somethings who live together make up a hit sitcom. In Toronto, they make up Trinity Reach Farm. Let's call it The One Where the Gang Makes Their Backyard into an Urban Farm. An urban farm where they raise chickens, grow herbs and vegetables, smoke fish and meat, make cheese and brew beer and cider.

Trinity Reach Farm, recently profiled by Vidafine, was founded in the spring of 2009 by four young restaurant employees, Paul, Dave, Chris and Jacob. (Chris left the farm at the beginning of June; his room has been converted into a dining room.) Soon kicked off the roof by their landlord, the group moved into the apartment building's backyard, where things really took off, as they write in their blog:

Ideas began spilling out at a rapid pace. A smokehouse; chicken coupe; fire-pit; compost... perhaps fueled by a few too many home-brews, our small herb garden had turned into a full-fledged small-scale urban-farm, overseen by three inexperienced twenty-somethings.

And although raising your own chickens is technically illegal in Toronto, an otherwise very forward-looking, green city, the urban farmers haven't had any trouble with the neighbors or the law. Vidafine writes:

The team at Trinity Reach Farm isn't here to present anything revolutionary, they are just looking to use their talents and interests to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Ultimately, producing your own foods is fun, and enjoying the fruits of your own labour definitely tastes better!

It's hard to disagree when you think about fresh-as-can-be eggs, smoked meat and fish, and home-brewed beer and cider!

Feeling inspired? We hope so! The team at Trinity Reach Farm has proven that you don't need a house in the country- or even a large backyard- to have your own farm.

I am there!

My one vice...

Okay so I have two - a cold beer and smoking a good pipe tobacco.  Sure I have a few pipes but recently had to trim a crabapple tree and saw a perfect limb to try to "carve" into a pipe for gardening work.  Never want to take a good pipe in to the garden - drop it too often. 

Drilled out the bowl and had to look around for a mouthpiece.  Elderberry is the top choice - but no elderberry in my yard.  But I do have forsythia, which like elderberry has an inner pith that can easily be reamed out.

Result:

 It smokes great - and if I drop it or lose it - I can always make another!

Heck - may make a few more just for the novelty.

Around the Garden

Walking around the garden and taking some photos for my records I decided to share a few.

This is about half way down my garden - kohlrabi in the right foreground and beans to the left.  In the background are more beans, lettuce, winter squash, garlic, carrots and tomatilloes.

The other half of the garden has more carrots, beets, peppers (red and jalapeno) tomatoes (cherry, heirloom and roma), cukes and of course summer squash.  For the second year we are growing Magda or Cousa squash.  We find these have much more flavor than zukes.

 And then my potato patch.  Sure you see a few red potatoes growing here, but I see hash browns!

In the rest of the yard are the blueberry,  red & golden raspberries and highbush cranberries.  And then we have the grape vines.  Young leaves picked for stuffing.  Grapes making a small batch of jam.  In the future - some wine?

Truthsayer - Steven Seagal

A movie clip?  Really doesn't matter since it really is all true.

Disgusting article!

Image via Wikipedia

10 Uses for Beer You Never Thought Of

10 Unusual Uses For Beer

1. Enrich Soil

Yeast is beneficial to plants. Pour a few tablespoons of flat beer into the garden to cultivate the soil. The yeast-filled soil will help plants grow healthier.

2. Polish Wood Furniture

Pour a little on a rag and rub it into wood furniture to add a little shine. It may also deepen the color.

3. Take a Bath

When washing let the invigorating bubbles cleanse and exfoliate skin. The yeasts and other ingredients are great skin-softeners. Don't forget to rinse.

4. Stain Removal

A light beer will help pull that stain out much like club soda will. Again, don't forget to rinse!

5. Lighten Hair

Soak your hair in beer and then lay in the sun. Beer conditions and pulls out highlights. If you don't want to smell hoppy, rinse.

6. Polish Gold Jewelry

Drop your rings and chains into a dish of beer, then remove and polish to a sheen using a dry cloth.

8. Put Out A Fire

Although certainly not as effective as a real fire extinguisher, a can or bottle of beer can mimic one if the real thing is unavailable. Simply shake and spritz. Beer is mostly water. This works on small grill flare-ups too.

9. Soothe Tired Feet

Add somebeer to a footbath. Ice-cold beer with lots of carbonation can be soothing for tired feet.

10. Build A House


Earthship, a house in New Mexico, has walls made of alternating layers of cement and beer cans. You can do the same to create retaining walls for gardens and other landscaping. Earthship also contains a thermal-mass refrigerator that uses full cans of beer as insulation. The cans line the walls of the unit, helping keep the temperature constant while minimizing energy usage. A ceiling vent allows frigid desert air to flow in during the night. The beer absorbs this cold, but never freezes because of its alcohol content. When the hatch is closed during the day, the beer releases the coolness.

I may never go to PlanetGreen again! A terrible article! Offering ways to use beer other than sipping and enjoying. Now if the article's title was "10 uses for Budweiser or Miller" I would be fine with that.

Hammers are ready

PAY & SIT: the private bench (HD) from Fabian Brunsing on Vimeo.

Pay & Sit Park Bench Is A Libertarian Dream

Whenever we write about investing in bike lanes or sharing the road, drive-by commenters invariably complain that they are paying road taxes and they will share the road when cyclists and pedestrians contribute. Let's ignore the fact that cyclists and pedestrians subsidize drivers since road taxes only cover a small portion of the cost of maintaining our highways and roads, and suggest that in these tough times, everyone has to share the load. After all, any Tea Partier would tell you that nothing in the Constitution says that it is the job of the government to, say, provide a pedestrian with a place to sit.

That is why German photographer/ designer/ artist Fabian Brunsing has such a good idea with his Pay & Sit.

It is the perfect libertarian bench; supplied by private enterprise, it has spikes sticking up that make seating distinctly uncomfortable. Stick in a coin and the spikes disappear, for a set period of time. Then an alarm warns the sittee that the time is almost up and the spikes rise again. The owner of the bench would pay rent to the municipality, reducing the need for other taxes; everybody wins.

If this ends up being a reality and someone has the gall to install them, hammers and chisels will be drawn and the bench will "hammered into a plowshare."

A Farm Grows in Brooklyn

Green with envy

My Empire of Dirt: How One Man Turned His Big-City Backyard into a Farm

A Four vegetable planters: cucumbers, cantaloupes, peppers, and heirloom tomatoes.
B The garage, a.k.a. “the Barn”: tool storage, rabbit feed, chicken feed, six rabbit hutches, a slaughter station, a refrigerator, and four egg-laying coops.
C The field, in four beds: 1 Tomatoes, beets, celery, yellow squash, purple eggplant, and a fig tree. 2 Collard greens, cucumbers, and callaloo. 3 Cabbage, Japanese eggplant, white eggplant, rhubarb, leeks, garlic, onions, fennel, rosemary, thyme, and mint. 4 Corn, broad beans, basil, bok choy, and parsley.
D The duck run: a duck coop, a duck pond, and two wayward rabbit hutches.
E The chicken run: a high-rise high-capacity chicken coop and a livestock holding pen (on the porch).
F The potato crop: a raised bed technically known as a “drill.”

Why jealous? Okay I have the veggies growing - and looking great. But my own supply of eggs?
My own "farm" is great. Been living on greens of all kinds with summer squash, carrots, beets and green beans tossed in. Pole beans, cukes and tomatoes will soon be ready. Pinto, black and cattle beans are looking good. Potatoes, kale, turnips, parsnips, rutabaga and a few different winter squash will bring up the rear (season wise).

Hands three times normal size!

Okay, so I talk about balance and living in concert with nature. When will nature agree with me?
Right hand swollen like a beach ball after getting hit by a yellow jacket after, I guess, disturbing its nest.
You're supposed to eat insects, not me!

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Howdy Neighbor

Judy Garland - Howdy Neighbor (Happy Harvest) @ Yahoo! Video

Howdy neighbor!
Happy harvest.
May your 40 acres soon be fields of clover.
Yes, indeed, and plant a wish
With every seeden by and by
The sun and rain will make an etching
Of a million little green fingers
Stretching to the sky

More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/j/judy_garland/#share

Balance

Organic Farming's Balanced Ecosystems Naturally Control Pests Better Than Monoculture

There are myriad advantages that organic farming has over chemical agriculture, from the health of the land to the quality of your food. Now a new study in the journal Nature details one aspect of that: The way in which the more balanced nature of ecosystems in organic farming support a greater variety of insects, preventing any one pest from dominating.

Researchers from Washington State University examined insect pests and their natural enemies in potato crops and found that in organic fields the most abundant insect species accounted for as little as 38% of a field's insect predators. In conventional fields one species might be as high as 90% of all species.

In their potato test plots, they used Colorado potato beetles, and four insect species and three soil pathogens that attack the beetles. When the predators and pathogens were more balanced with the potato beetles the researchers found "significantly less potato beetles" and "we'd get bigger plants."

Washington State's David Crowder: "I think 'balance' is a good term; when the species are balanced, at least in our experiments, they're able to fulfill their roles in a more harmonious fashion." (Science Daily)

A balance in nature - nicely said. But this just goes so far some times. I used to think that my garden can feed my family and local wildlife - so no fences. This worked great until one year the local deer felt the need to shift the "balance" in their direction. Hence - fences erected and working!
Now as long as the insects follow the balancing rules I will be very very happy and willing to lose a few leaves of chard...