Thursday - August 28,  2003                                                        posted 6:45 AM PST  

One study published in June found that people who were exposed to nature recovered from stress more quickly than others who weren't; what's more, the positive effects took hold within just a few minutes. Dr. Ulrich's research has showed that hospitalized patients whose windows looked out at landscape scenery recovered from surgery more quickly than those without such access. Other studies have found that simply viewing a garden or another natural vista can quickly reduce blood pressure and pulse rate and can even increase brain activity that controls mood-lifting feelings

A growing body of evidence suggests that humans are hard-wired not just to enjoy a pleasant view of nature, but to actually exploit it, much like a drug, to relax and refresh after a stressful experience. Our earliest ancestors, Dr. Ulrich theorizes, likely needed a way to swiftly recover from a traumatic experience such as a hunt, a battle or an attack from a wild animal. "You can imagine that those who could look out at the open savannah, seeing its safety and tranquility, and quickly feel calm but also alert to their environment would likely have a survival benefit over others," Dr. Ulrich says. . . .

"The gardens of the ancient Egyptian nobility, the walled gardens of Persian settlements in Mesopotamia, and the gardens of merchants in medieval Chinese cities indicate that early urban peoples went to considerable lengths to maintain contact with nature," according to Texas A&M's Dr. Ulrich. More recently, Harvard zoologist Edward O. Wilson has written extensively on this natural affinity, which he calls "biophilia" and defines as a partly genetic tendency by humans to respond positively to nature.  (Via JBB Musings)

DIY SOLAR SHOWER

The guys are using an old wood trellis, some salvaged metalwork and bricks to put together an outdoor solar shower. But as you can see, they've only screened in one side.  So there's two more to go....

 Temporarily for our hot water, they are using a black garden hose, but eventually, we would like to hoist a black drum of somesorts overhead to heat the water.  But we'll be needed a welder for this so it will just have to wait for the time being.

The used water that flows out the bottom is reclaimed and drained into the compost pile to help speed up the decomposition process.  After the building process is complete, we'd like to cover the shower with a rambling Poets Jasmine. 

Lately, we've been busy making sure the place is neat and tidy because on Sunday we are giving a tour to a group who are participating in Permaculture Design Course.

Creating abundant, locally self-sustaining human settlements is the aim of Permaculture. This does not mean, however, that we must abandon our cities and move to the country in order to get away from the pollution of modern cities. Instead, we must work to transform our cities from within. It is through making our cities sustainable that we preserve wilderness. Join us in an exciting process of renewing and remaking our cities!  (EarthFlow.com)

And finally, don't forget to check out our latest July-August newsletter.  Enjoy!
 

Weather Report: Warm.

Monday - August 25,  2003                                                        posted 7:41 AM PST  

On Saturday, our local PBS station was re-airing WATER, THE DROP OF LIFE, which got us to re-analyzing ways we could save even more precious water.

The following is a quote from the show which included the insightful statements from Kofi Annon, Queen Noor of Jordan, Dalai Lama, Ted Danson, and others.

"So, there is a reverence, which we do not have in our society. We have a respect, you know, we clean up our mess, or we should. We have a respect about how water comes and how we should preserve it. But that spiritual relationship with the world, with the plant world, or with the ground, or with water, we do not have. And that is a lesson -a huge lesson- for us I think, in the West. To be able to take these rituals and get a sense of reverence which we do not have now."  ~ Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop ~

Weather Report: Warm.

Friday - August 22,  2003                                                        posted 6:01 AM PST  

Speaking of smells.... We are trying to squeeze in some fragrant scented bushes and vines into the yard.  So, the other day we purchased an Arabian Jasmines and a Poets Jasmine.  Both are "edible" in the sense that you can use the flowers to make teas and even perfumes!  We hope that by next summer we will be sipping on tea and the exotic scent of jasmine will fill the summer nights air. 

The smells of flowers and herbs in the garden is quite intoxicating, if we are having a stressful day one just needs to brush pass the lemon verbena or African blue basil to get a dose of aromatherapy....  inhale... aaaaaah.

Weather Report: Nice, slightly chilly in the mornings and evenings.

Thursday - August 21,  2003                                                        posted 7:48 AM PST  

Also we planted a variety of cukes like we do every year.  But again, this year was a strange one for the cukes too.  Oddly enough, while the green ones produced well the heirloom lemon cucumber harvest was pretty pathetic. Last year we had loads and loads of crisp lemon cukes...

We are eating the last of the corn, trying to stretch out this sweet experience as long as possible.  We love corn on the cob so much, I might be tempted to buy some organic corn on sale just to satisfy our cravings.

It nice to know that we aren't the only ones with finicky veggies.  We have heard stories from fellow gardeners in the area that certain things aren't doing well either... hearing that makes the "failures" a bit easier to swallow... "Failure" isn't the right word, more like learning experience. So, yes indeed, it's been a successful learning experience.  And there's always next year to look forward to! 

Weather Report: Dreadful heat has broken! Back to our regular scheduled weather.

Monday - August 18,  2003                                                        posted 11:28 AM PST  

Last Friday we made our 8 week grocery shopping trip. Due to the wonderful blessings of fresh veggies and fruit we only spent a little over $400. Now, this is not to say around week six or seven, we may run out of something if we happen to be eating more of this or that and I'll have to pick up an item or two. But basically we've pretty much gotten the hang of bulk shopping. To keep the dry storage items free of little surprises (namely, creepy crawly things), we sprinkle a small amount of DE ( Diatomaceous Earth) in the bins. This helps prevent weevils and other hungry critters from invading our food lauder.

DE is a great natural repellant for fleas, flies and all pesky insects. We use DE on our cats for natural flea control. Each week we give them a dusting of DE, along with adding a teaspoonful to their food. Amazingly, this simple method works, along with giving our cats a apple cider vinegar bath each week which gives them a healthy shiny fur. A local horse farm in the area uses huge amounts of DE to successfully control the flies.

Weather Report: The heat continues, no end in sight.

Friday - August 15,  2003                                                        posted 6:02 AM PST  

.... or I should say them running into me!

Along with the increase in wildlife, there is a pesky little creature that is around more often. Due to the increase humidity we are experiencing a rise in mosquitoes - oftentimes waking up during the night to hear that awful high pitched humming sound buzzing near the ear which can drive anyone practically insane. Ah... it brings back fond memories a few summers back of our 8 day unguided canoe journey down the Green River in Utah. (It's not "green" BTW - just thought I'd add that! ... see more photos)

Anyhow, the job of cleaning up all the tomatoes is finally finished and we're cutting them back to the new growth, so hopefully we'll get a second flush harvest since many of the tomatoes are sprouting up new growth from the bottom.

We ordered our bulk seeds for Fall. Even though we try and save as many seeds as we can, it's hard to save enough to use throughout the year.   So, unfortunately, we still have to buy some seeds. A lot of it has to do with the limited space we have because we are only able to allow certain beds to go to seed.

Thanks to the continuous generous contributions from friends, we are supplied with enough jam and mayo glass jars to house our collection of seeds. This month we decided to join the folks at SSE {Seed Saver Exchange} - so I suppose you could say we are now members of SSE.  Looking forward to be a part of this wonderful group of people.

On another subject relating to what's in the news - namely the big blackout on the East Coast - it sure makes you think how much we are dependant on the grid.  Though I know it's a terrible inconvenience, it was sort nice to see thousands of people walking over 59th Street Bridge instead of bumper to bumper cars.

We've had some response on our forum to Help! City objects to veggies in front yard -  Glad to see the chattering going on, the forum is not dead after all!  ;-)

Weather Report: Hot and humid. Where's the dry heat?????

Thursday - August 14,  2003                                                        posted 6:31 AM PST  

It's been another strange year to say the least, everything's been about 4 weeks behind schedule. So we have had two strange summers in a row.   Last year around this time (Aug 12) we have documented in our garden journal that it rained!

Our goal is 6,000 lbs - will we make it?  I dunno... Stay tuned.

GREASE CAR

On another subject, with gas prices the way they are and with us looking into purchasing other car (given that our pea soup VW bus on its last legs, er wheels), we've been discussing the possibility of going bio-diesel. We are in a perfect/ideal situation since we deliver to restaurants practically every day. We already pick up kitchen scraps for our worms, rabbits, ducks and chickens so why not veggie oil to fuel our car?

But we getting a little ahead of ourselves here. We have a lot more researching to do.  And first, we must finish the projects we've started, but it's a goal to shoot for in our path to freedom.  Have any of our readers converted to biodiesel?  If so, tell us of your experiences - please post in the comment box below.

Anyhow, we rescued the little guy/girl from the playful ambitions of our cat and released it back outside to rejoin its family.  Right now it's on the roof chirping to mama to come.  Good luck little fella!

Weather Report: Hot and humid.

Wednesday - August 13,  2003                                                        posted 7:54 AM PST  

UN-TILLED POTENTIAL

The editors of PTF are finally back on-line after being struck by the latest curse of the WWW -- virus or worm, or whatever they are calling it this time.  Luckily one of the gals is knowledgeable on the anatomy of computers and spent a few hours de-worming our computer. 

One good thing that came from this worm was that we didn't received the flood of spam mail that we receive practically every day.  I guess a lot of the Spammers' computers got infected with the worm and didn't get to spit out their daily junk.  I HATE e-spam!  It's a waste of time sorting through all that junk. 

Anyhow on the bright side, not being able to surf or update the news and such gave me some extra time to help in the garden.  The garden is in a state of dramatic flux - as we near the end of the Summer crops and prepare for the Fall.

We gals were assigned to cutting out all the mosaic and mildewed leaves from the squash and cucumber plants.  It's a nasty tedious job, especially when its hot and you're all sweaty - the fuzzy little hairy spines on the plants start to irritate your skin and it feels like hundreds of little pin pricks going into your arms as you reach in and cut the diseased leaves.  Besides, those fuzzy, annoying hairs get onto your clothes and they seem to multiply everywhere.  Yep, I know... we definitely should have worn long-sleeves, but it was just too hot.  Well, I shouldn't complain really.

Next job on the list is cleaning the blighted tomato leaves and that's another messy task!  But that's the price one pays for growing organic.  But, it's worth it.  Even though it takes time, it definitely helps stop the spread of disease along with, of course spraying with compost teas and other natural concoctions.

Are you surrounded by lawn nazis? Apparently one of our readers has the city on her back for growing veggies in her front yard.  Read the scoop at Help! City objects to veggies in front yard

My grandmother, who lives in Louisiana just sent me an article from a New Orleans paper that profiles a woman who grows veggies in her front yard.   Here are some snippets:

 You don't need acres to live off the land. With careful planning and creative use of space even New Orleans' compact yards can become self-sustaining farms of food and flowers.....

Yank's gardens at her Bungalow-style shotgun double in Lakeview demonstrate how much food can be grown -- in an attractive way, even -- in small spaces. She practices permaculture, a way of intensively using space to develop a self-sustaining home farm of fruit and vegetables, mostly perennials and fruit trees mixed with perennial flowers for cutting

.....Growing food instead of grass in yards is a trend creeping across the nation. But, it's really not new, Yank said. The whole idea of the lawn came out of 19th century England, a green symbol of wealth.

Her neighbor's haven't objected, Yank said. For one thing, her gardens are tidy. But, she said, the front garden adds to the vibrancy of the neighborhood, since it means she is in the public space with neighbors.

Weather Report: The heat is on !  Clouds are rolling in, going to be humid.

Monday - August 11,  2003                                                            posted 7:02 AM PST  

One clue we do have is that the plants must have been planted by seed by one of the guys - but, unfortunately the tags disappeared when the plants were seedlings... and there's no seed package to trace it back to.  So then, we can only conclude it must have been received in a seed exchange.  But it still does not bring us any closer to solving the mystery!

Would anyone like to be 'Sherlock Holmes' for a minute and take a crack at solving the identity of this mystery plant?   

 Otherwise I'll just mosey on down to the "Name That Plant Forum" and see if they can help.

In other news, the past couple days have been real scorchers with temps over 100º and the heat has been brutal towards the plants.  We have to cover some parts of the yard with temporary shade cloths to keep the leaves from scorching. 

One part of the yard especially needs to be protected since the guys cut down the 20 foot ornamental peach tree - yikes, what a shock!  It certainly changes the micro climate of that part of the yard -- from shade to sun, but in its place we planted an Anna Apple which we hope will grow and fill the large void of the once lovely ornamental peach tree.  Meanwhile we'll just have to get used to the stark emptiness.

Weather Report: Brutal hot temps - 105º  No relief in sight.

Wednesday - August 6,  2003                                                            posted 7:35 AM PST  

It overwhelms our neighbor's backyard so much, that even his grass is dying - nothing can grown under its dense shade.  Now from about 4PM the haunting shadows are creeping into our backyard garden and are contributing to the evil mildew and blight that runs rampant in the garden.  And besides, only a handful of pecans are harvested from this tree each year because the crows and squirrels beat us to the delightful nuts before they are even ripe. 

The future doesn't look bright for this tree and it's just a matter of time... there is ooze coming out of the bark and half its roots were cut when the school dug the trench to put in the concrete fence. 

One of the two neighbors living there (it's a two house property) wants it taken down for fear it will fall.  However, being a renter, she is unable to get the owners to take care about the problem.  So, we'll just have to see... hoping that when the Fall and Spring winds come howling down from the canyons and high deserts that it doesn't fall the wrong way.

Weather Report: Dry heat, temps in the low 90's.

Tuesday - August 5,  2003                                                            posted 7:26 AM PST  

The problem is -- the cabinet that's temporary storage for these items quickly fills up and I have to make the painful decision of what to throw away (well into the recycle bin, so I guess that lessens the pain a bit)

What's ironically funny to this whole scenario is that when you clean-house and finally rid yourself of the excess, a few days later you happen to need the stuff you just threw out. Then you are right back to square one, keeping everything and telling yourself that you're NEVER going to let this happen ever again. But then months pass and as you open the kitchen cabinet and duck when a mountain of plastic and glass containers spill out all over you and onto the floor you know then that you're going to start that crazy cycle all over again.

Our home is an old fixer-upper bungalow style home with lots of wood panel and flooring. The previous owners rented out the place and it was in pretty bad shape when we bought it. We've been fixing it up a little at a time over the years, though it still needs a lot of work! Besides its faults of not having many closets, one of the things I love about this old house is it's large windows and wood floors.... that's is if you can get to them. Luckily the previous owners didn't linoleum every room - leaving the study, one bedroom, the living and dining room with the natural wood flooring. But they carpeted the bathroom (and underneath that is linoleum -- wall to wall carpet in a bathroom is NOT recommended!) and linoleum-ed (such a word?) the laundry, kitchen and two bedrooms. Taking off the old linoleum is not very exciting work, though I have to say that I love to see the wood emerge from underneath. It's like unearthing a treasure of some sorts. It's a slow and tedious process (especially since I don't want to use any chemicals) just using a simple hive tool and the inch-by-inch process of uncovering the beautiful hardwood flooring.

If tacky linoleum over beautiful wood floor doesn't leave you shuddering, these people painted with "blah beige" over all the lovely redwood paneling in the living and dining rooms! The beautiful marble brick "fireplace" was painted a hideous red.

Fortunately it wasn't as horrible as our twin house a few doors down (the family that built our home also built an exact twin a few doors down) There, someone painted the hardwood floors fire engine red! Yikes! I sometimes wonder in disbelief what on earth were these people thinking - covering over all this beautiful wood. Luckily when we first moved in, we quickly restored a lot of the wood and regained the beautiful marble brick fireplace.....  ahhhhh...
 

Weather Report:  Warm, thankfully low humidity.

Monday - August 4,  2003                                                            posted 4:11 PM PST  

     Growing vertical                       Front yard                       Vegetable jungle

WMC NOT WMD

"Using our hands as weapons of mass creation," is a term coined by Jules Dervaes, and I think it's a wonderful saying.   There's so much destruction in the world that you see and hear on the news -- things like such and such was destroyed or bombed, another attack in the Mideast,  the search for WMDs, and so on. 

Obviously, it's so much easier to take the path of destruction than creation  Have a problem?  Solution, just tear down the building or people.

Whether one creates a masterpiece of canvas or a gorgeous garden the essence of creation is a powerful force.  So here's to all you creators out there! 

Yeah, I bet you are wondering why in the world did we leave a 10 acre, beautiful rolling green hilled, pine treed property for a small lot in the city.  Well, it's a long story...  but to keep it short --  we thought our Pasadena situation was to be temporary and in couple years we were planning to leave and purchase some rural property to start gardening and beekeeping once again (we had a successful beekeeping, honey business in Florida)

Well, years passed and we still found ourselves in Pasadena and plans weren't  working out.... or so we thought! We wanted to go back to the land and weren't content with our situation here in the city, no siree!  Then one day it dawned on us that we should make the best of the situation we had.  We were, no doubt, skeptical at first with this idea.  We can't grow our own food, we can't become sustainable because we need more space!!!!!  Although, we did have a small garden, but we weren't relying on it for our "daily bread" so to speak and we were already living a pretty simple life.  So we decided to stop wanting what we didn't have (yet?) and make the best of what we did. 

I think that growing one's food in such a small space is definitely more challenging than having acres and acres.  Everyone is looking for the "if only" but the "if only" is NOW.  Urban Ag and Homesteading is the wave of the future.  People are growing food in every available open space and are learning to become self-sufficient without having to pack up and move to the country.  The "back-to-the-land" movement happened in the 70's but now a new revolution is underway of sustaining-the-cities. 

Whoops, got a little side-tracked there....  Anyhow, the guys are spreading it out into the driveway and garden pathways.  But before spreading the fresh layer of mulch, they're digging out the trampled on old, decomposed mulch that has now turned into a rich, wonderful, dark soil which they'll put into bins to be used for potting soil.  

Well, after wiping the sweat off the brow, drinking a huge glass of water  it's back to work....

Weather Report:  Warm, but breezy.