Submitted by JuliaWilliams on Fri, 05/17/2013 - 5:56pm
"What’s setting Penrose apart from other urban agriculture efforts going on in Detroit is the combination of having residents, a nonprofit and the developer all working together to rebuild a neighborhood using the growing of food as part of the foundation.
“I haven’t heard of anything else quite like that going on,” says Malik Yakini, chairman of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network. “I think it is unique.” Read below the fold...
Another "globalization" (Agro-Looting) nightmare. This one hits very close to home, viz., my frequent bowls of quinoa at home, and my love for asparagus.
I'm cautiously optimistic that a significant portion of the second garden is going to recover from the little rainstorm we had, so it's time to think about stakes, trellises, and cages.
I have stakes, nothing to buy except something to tie the squash and beans to the stakes with - so what's best to use for tying?
I could, if it's truly a much better option, construct some trellises, as I have scrap bits of this and that lying around, but I'm lazy and don't really want to do this - am I later going to regret using stakes instead? Read below the fold...
While lambert is spending his Memorial Day weekend planting his garden, I thought I'd brag on my here-in-Florida-where-you-plant-at-Easter garden a bit (hence the cute little bunny rabbit). Read below the fold...
The Greening of Detroit, one of the nonprofit groups that works with local growers, estimates there were more than 1,000 family, school and community gardens in the city in 2011.
They’re called that for a reason. Summer or winter, they’re a bad place to be. The climate is unpredictable and extreme, as in -40°F to 116°F, and you can look forward to the thunderstorms and blizzards.
Steep slopes, loose dry soil, slick clay, and deep sand. Lots of fossils, so people who hate the idea of evolution must also hate the place. The Lakota knew they were looking at fossils, that the area must have been underwater at some time and the petrified bones and turtle shells they found belonged to species that no longer existed. Read below the fold...
Now that it's Xmas carol season, I would like to suggest that maybe it's time to change the lyrics to those beloved carols.
"Jingle bells / Hippies smell / Must suck for you they're right..."
"I'm dreaming of a fair Charistmas / With no one dying of monoxide poisoning because they had no heat and their kids were freezing and they lit a charcoal grill in their car to stay warm / With food banks empty / because no one's hungry / especially little kids who should never go hungry in this country because that's just wrong..."
"Rudolph the commie reindeer / Had a very weird idea / That people shouldn't get crapped on / And laws should apply equally to everybody regardless of their bank account..." Read below the fold...
23.5' diameter, 14' at the peak. 3/4" EMT as the frame, bolted together. It's sitting on weed barrier, but I didn't do a very good job leveling the site and now I'm thinking I need to move the damn thing and put in some base material. But maybe not. Read below the fold...
This is a very interesting interview on thinking strategically about resilience with Lisa Fernandes, a permaculturalist from down south in Portland. Listen to it all.
I wrote a large check last night for my 2010 income taxes. The fab GF and I each had to file extensions this year because of this funny law that was passed in MARCH ferchrissakes that forces registered domestic partners (or those of us who have a legal relationship equivalent to RDP) to pool income, divide the total by two, and then use this total to figure income tax.
We can't split deductions, of course. And she's getting a refund, though not enough to offset the amount on that check I wrote. Yes, the law is structured to force us to pay more taxes than hetero people who are married couples. Intentionally. Cause everyone knows teh gaies are rich rich rich.
Well, I have to Come Out. I'm a convert. It's my new religion and like any convert and evangelical, I can't stop talking about it. But dammit. This is working. So let me share. If you are bored with me, just absorb this simple part: stop cooking your food. Just, stop. Obviously you should be buying organic, local, and not-GMO. But damn, people. I laughed at Madonna when I read she went on this program, and now I feel ashamed for mocking her for what works. I always though hollywood drugs kept her in shape. Now I know. Read below the fold...
This is a great performance. Ignore the dancing. I don't mind Cyndi Lauper's chicken dance (when she walks around jerking her head back and forth) as it just seems natural, but here she seems physically uncomfortable.
But not vocally. Vocally, she is superb.
Her interpretation of this song forces me to reconsider it---I am not a fan of Joni Mitchell, though I understand why people would be. But this version of this song causes me to think Deep Thoughts once the song has stopped reverberating throughout my entire self.
And when someone has found the thing she is supposed to do, that calls the best from her, well, that is glorious and to be celebrated. Read below the fold...
