BASIL Seed Swap

Friday night was the Bay Area Seed Interchange Library's 14th annual seed swap and potluck. While I did not win any raffle prizes, alas — I was especially hoping for the potted Cascade hops, though Oak Barrel has promised to call me when their rhizomes arrive — I did arrive home with a full belly and a bunch of new kinds of seeds to try.

MLK Day Volunteer Events with Urban Tilth

This Monday, people all over the country will be volunteering in their communities as part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Day of Service. You can find local volunteer opportunities at: http://mlkday.gov/

If you're local and want to spend a few hours working for food justice and sustainability (or just enjoy gardening, music, art, and community), consider joining Urban Tilth and a few hundred volunteers at the Richmond Greenway to plant fruit trees, build a market stand, plant spring gardens, rebuild a medicinal garden, and more.

The Poison Garden

photo courtesy The Alnwick Garden

A while back, a group of preschoolers visited my garden during their afternoon walk. While most of them pointed out butterflies, identified plants they grew in their school garden, or told me what vegetables they liked and hated, one young fellow came over and asked, "Do you have any poisonous plants?"

Kid: if you're a reader of this blog and haven't showed up on any no-fly lists yet, ask your parents to take you to the Alnwick Castle and its gardens the next time you're in northeast England. You might recognize the castle already; it showed up as Hogwarts in the first Harry Potter movies. The Alnwick Garden is even better — quite possibly the coolest castle garden around. It boasts one of the world's largest treehouses, night time light shows, and The Poison Garden, where skull-and-crossbones gates guard over 100 plants of varying deadliness. (And also marijuana.)

The Duchess of Northumberland says on the garden's website, "I wondered why so many gardens around the world focused on the healing power of plants rather than their ability to kill... I felt that most children I knew would be more interested in hearing how a plant killed, how long it would take you to die if you ate it and how gruesome and painful the death might be." My kind of lady.

Yes on CA Prop. 37, and Food Policy Action

Yes on CA Prop 37

If you're in California, remember to vote yes on CA Prop 37, which requires that GMO foods be labeled as such. Because no matter where you stand on GMOs in general, consumers should have the right to know what they're buying.

Opponents (lead by Monsanto and DuPont) are putting out a staggering amount of misinformation around this one, so please take a few minutes to review the facts at:  http://www.carighttoknow.org/

Got similar issues on the ballot in your area? Post them in the comments. 

Food Policy Action

For anyone concerned with food policy in the U.S.:www.foodpolicyaction.org makes it easy to see where your senators and representatives stand on food policy issues. The site also covers pending bills, rules, and guidance.

Full disclosure: A friend of mine is a scientist working for EWG, whose president sits on the board of directors of Food Policy Action.

Food: An Atlas

Update: the project reached its goal and will be funded and printed! They're now working towards stretch goals increase the print run. 

I pretty much had to sign on as a backer of Food: An Atlas. It combines so many things that I love: food, information graphics, alternative publishing models, local independent organizations ... oh, and the cover and book design are by one of my local independent designer friends (queridomundo.com).

And come on: it's got a map of America's "Beershed" (the sources of the ingredients that go into beer). Which reminds me: if you're local and homebrewing, let me know — I want to come over and take pictures.

America's Beershed. From Food: An Atlas via Edible Geography

From the project's Kickstarter page:

"Food: An Atlas is a collection of over 60 maps (and growing!) cooperatively-created by the guerrilla cartography community.... Dealing with subjects as varied as global cropland distribution, Los Angeles’s historic agrarian landscape, community supported fisheries in Massachusetts, the redistribution of food surpluses in Italy, and Taco Trucks of East Oakland, its chapters focus on food production, food distribution, food security and cuisine."

Map section: Urban Agriculture Projects in San Francisco. From Food: An Atlas via Kickstarter.com

The Kickstarter campaign ends on Tuesday, and the project has almost reached its goal. (For those unfamiliar with Kickstarter: it's a way to crowdsource project funding. Like PBS, you generally get a thank-you at each pledge level, plus the warm fuzzy feeling of making something awesome happen. Unlike PBS, it's all-or-nothing: if the project reaches its funding goal by the deadline it sets, your credit card gets charged at that time; if it doesn't reach the goal, one gets charged.)

A $10 pledge gets you a digital copy of the book (and your location gets added to the collaborators map in the atlas itself); a $25 pledge gets you that plus a copy of the printed book (estimated delivery in December). The money goes to cover the printing costs, and any profit gets donated to a food justice organization. (The collaborators are all donating their time.) Read more about the project on its Kickstarter page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1276177353/food-an-atlas-0

Bee talk this Thursday, Oct 18

Want to learn more about native bees? Professor Gordon Frankie will be giving a talk this Thursday in Berkeley about the relationship between native bees and native flowers, and how to plan a bee-friendly native garden. If you can't make it, visit his group's website and guide to bee-friendly gardening at helpabee.org.

The talk is sponsored by the Golden Gate Audubon Society: more details at goldengateaudubon.org/education/speaker-series/.

Thursday, October 18, 

7 pm refreshments, 7:30 program

at Northbrae Community Church

941 The Alameda (btw Solano and Marin)

Free for GGAS members, $5 for nonmembers. 

The Little Farm

"Auntie Claire! Thursday! Little Farm! Cows! Little Farm! Mooooo!" LMC is one seriously excited 18 month-old. She and her mom are regular visitors to the Little Farm in Tilden Park, bringing lettuce and celery (the only treats allowed) to feed the cows, goats, and other residents.

Local class on raised bed gardening

Note from Claire: I am NOT involved in this class and don't know the teacher, but since a number of folks have asked for advice on getting started with raised bed gardening, I thought I'd pass the information along.  

See the original posting in the Ecology Center's calendar:
http://ecologycenter.org/calendar/event.php?title=How+to+Build+a+Raised+Bed+to+Grow+Your+Own+Food+and+Flowers&eventID=39387


Saturday, September 29, 2012
How to Build a Raised Bed to Grow Your Own Food and Flowers

This event is part of "Reclaim, Rebuild, Reskill: a Series on Growing Your Resiliency".

Come learn how to build raised beds from designer and carpenter Matthew Wolpe. We'll be building a bed from reused redwood for the food pantry garden at People's Victory Garden. The class will cover raised bed design basics, building techniques, and tool safety. Participants will leave with information on a variety of materials and methods to build your own raised beds. Resources for getting started with growing will be on hand as well. Space is limited. Pre-registration ensures a spot.

Time: 1pm - 4pm.

Location: People's Victory Garden - Telegraph Ministry Center, 5316 Telegraph, Oakland.

Cost: $20 general, $15 EC members, no one turned away for lack of funds.

Info: 510-548-2220 x239, register@ecologycenter.org, http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/266220.