I slavishly read every single word this man writes. It’s so irritating.
Read this, and plant something right afterward. I’m sprouting sunflower seeds. Damn fossil fuels.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html?_r=1&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin
Victory from oil dependence. Victory from having to buy unhealthy food at high prices. Victory from shopping at big box stores. The event was put on by Slow Food Nation and was quite the media circus. Of course Alice Waters was there (did you even have to ask?_) Gavin Newsome and his stepford girl were there, the NY Times was there.
Even my permaculture class was there. We decided that it would be a good idea for the class to experience food justice in its most public form. Plus they gave us cool t-shirts and lunch. There were literally dozens of photographers, journalists, and onlookers all witnessing a phenomenal event. The first food garden to be planted in a public space in San Francisco since 1943.
I volunteered to help John Bela and his crew of carpenters and urban farmers set up for the event. There was a lot to move around and put into place before the cameras started to roll. I actually got to MOVE DIRT WITH A JOHN DEERE FORKLIFT. It was awesome!
it's time to get this beast in gear
My three-year-old godson would have LOVED to tag along to help with the heavy liftin’. It was a lot of hard work, but it paid off. On Saturday, the whole class rallied and we planted our keyhole beds with corn, beans and squash (all grown by Green Gulch and City Slicker Farms). This classic combo is one of the defining “guilds” in permaculture and is sometimes refered to as “the Three Sisters”. The native people of North America had this all sorted and nowadays, smart folks can see these ‘sisters” as an example of plants that grow together to help each other out.
A threesome that actually works without any drama.
The beans climb on the corn which shades the vines as they grow. The bean flowers actually attract pollinators to the squash vines which function as the “skirt” around the whole planting, conserving moisture in the soil by shading the roots. These sisters are doing it for themselves. And we helped.
The class was stoked, and by mid morning, we had the whole thing planted and watered in.
getting the three sisters all hooked up
The organization planned this garden to showcase local, urban food production for the “Come to the Table” Slow Food event at the end of August: http://slowfoodnation.org/
Check out the future of food. It’s a deep-rooted issue.
civic center plaza - in my hometown
Posted in Deep-rooted issues, Growing Food
I’m a sucker for a seed catalog, so when Franchi Sementi began offering seeds for an Italian annual called “Sculpit” or “Stridolo” I bit the bait. The plant, Silene inflata, is super easy to grow and, according to one seed source it’s a ” rare annual bushy plant with thin delicate, slightly aromatic leaves. Leaves are eaten raw in salads or cooked in risotto and soups, even as a flavouring for omelettes, quiches and stuffing.
So Italian that there is even an annual Stridolo Fair.” So Italian that most Italians I know have never heard of it. Including my entire family both here and in Italy.
I must say, I can picture it growing along Italian roadsides and in the rocky fields so common in Abruzzo and Molise. It’s an beneficial insect attractor, and I had it interplanted with my peas this year. I noticed masses of bees raiding the blooms, and the inflated calyxes puffed and nodding in the wind. The leaves are okay in a salad or a frittata, but nothing special. It seems more like a foragers kind of food. That said, it looked great interplanted with my pea vines. And, it made a nice texture/color/flavor addition to my salad mix.
I’m going to leave it in for the season. There’s something about seeing the olive shaped leaves and comic balloons decorated with simple white petals that is almost appealling enough to warant a full-on “sagra di stridolo” in my corner of the world.
Posted in Growing Food, Plants with Benefits
He’s just so persuasive. It irrates me that I have to agree with almost everything this man says.
Gardens with Benefits 
You must be logged in to post a comment.