Tag Archives: urban gardening

Musings From an Amateur Jam Maker

25 Saturday Aug 2012

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My first introduction to canning was in college. My housemate and friend worked at an organic farm on the edge of town. Part of his pay was a full share in the CSA. Every week he brought home not only a box packed full of produce, but often the extras gleaned from the rows that week. And so, we did some canning.

A few years later, I moved back to Los Angeles, far away from farms on the edge of town and seasonal eating, and it was a while before I rolled up my sleeves and put a big pot of water onto boil again.

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Upon Return

11 Saturday Aug 2012

Posted by in Altadena, Garden

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As we were getting ready to leave for our two-week trip to Virginia, I had to make sure the garden was ready to be taken care of by someone other than myself. I mulched. I sprayed the watered down milk on the squash leaves to slow down the powdery mildew. I heavily harvested the basil. I printed out detailed instructions. I gave away what we couldn’t eat. I packed six ripe tomatoes and two cucumbers into our carry on luggage. Who could part with the summer’s first ripe tomatoes?

As I spent these final moments in the garden, I gazed at the nearly ripe cantaloupes, the first of the eggplants elongating, the reddening bell peppers, and the tomato plants heavy with fruit just beginning to turn red, and I thought, we have to remember to plan our trip earlier in the summer next year. It is hard to leave in the hands of another, the garden you have carefully tended to, especially at the moment it starts to produce so much produce you have the delightful problem of figuring out what to do with all of it.

And so, we left and came back two weeks later….

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Chard “Trees” and Other Tales from the Square Foot Garden

07 Saturday Jul 2012

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It is easy for me to remember when I sowed the seeds that have become these unstoppable Swiss chard plants (there are two). It was September of 2010. I was pregnant and still managing the “all day” sickness as I hosted a square foot gardening workshop in my backyard. I was new to the idea, and in return for being host, I got my very own square foot garden bed. Not much took off in the bed that fall. The adjacent nectarine tree had not been pruned recently and shaded the bed too much. The swiss chard, however, thrived.

The bed was planted the following spring, but having a newborn usurped any energy I had for the garden. Again, not much grew, but the Swiss chard kept going, and going, and going. Continue reading →

Morning Puttering Ends With Pesto

01 Sunday Jul 2012

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There are few things I find more enjoyable than puttering in the garden in the fresh air of the early morning. Everything is mostly still quiet, save for the birds chirping and the bees buzzing. I go from bed to bed checking to see that things are moving along as they should be.

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The winter squash are beginning to set fruit. I am not sure which variety is which. All the vines are tangled together at this point. As they begin to grow, their distinct colors and shapes will reveal who they are.

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Neighborhood Jam

26 Tuesday Jun 2012

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The tree from which my apricots came.

I pull up to the house where my daughter is taking swim lessons for the summer. It is the first day. One of the first things I notice is a spectacularly large apricot tree in the front yard, and it is loaded with ripening fruit. At the end of that first lesson, I find myself asking her teacher (whom I just met that day) if I can pick fruit when they are ripe. I come back the following week, fruit picker in hand, and pick enough apricots for two batches of jam. I have so many left over, I offer them up to my fellow RIPE members.

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Taking Stock

12 Saturday May 2012

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The other morning, as I was trying to get out back to water the newly planted seeds, my four-year-old daughter was asking me to play with her and she couldn’t wait one more minute. I told her I would be done shortly and that it was important that I water now, so that the plants wouldn’t die in the heat coming later in the day. To that she asked, “If the garden dies, will we die?” This was coming from the girl who accompanies me every week to the grocery store and helps me load up the basket.

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There’s Something About Carrots

06 Sunday May 2012

Posted by in Food Politics, Garden

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I’ll never forget his face after telling him that hamburger came from cows. His lips curled into a smile, his eyes squinted, a giggle escaped from his mouth as he said, “Nah, you are kidding!”

Many years ago I sat at a table with four preschoolers and had this exchange. I don’t remember how we arrived at the subject, but in that few minutes, I discovered that one of my students believed that juice came from a can and hamburgers from McDonald’s. In that moment I decided it was time for a field trip.

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Acts of Defiance

23 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by in Food Politics, Garden

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The little ones that have sprouted.

Some things are so easy: zucchini, winter squash, lettuce, carrots, chard, beets…even tomatoes. Some things are not, one in particular: peppers. I am having a go at getting these things to germinate. In my first attempt, I planted five varieties, a total of 15 seeds. I have three surviving plants. For round two, I planted 4 varieties, a total of 32 seeds. Six have sprouted, representing three of the four varieties. I had to abandon the warming pad because I had other veggies already sprouting that needed sunlight immediately. I have no good indoor place with direct sunlight. Luckily, several days of very warm weather helped some of those seeds to do what they do. But, why not the others?

I made a commitment to plant everything from seed this growing season. Aside from producing a garden full of delicious fruits and vegetables, growing from seed, heirloom and organic, feels like an act of defiance, a way to give the finger, so to speak, to companies such as Monsanto and all the legislation and regulation that support their practices. Continue reading →