This post is a bit late & I have since finished my VISTA term at The Garden Project (last friday). Anyhow, I haven't done a recap on the awesome community garden tours we had two weeks ago!

Tuesday the 27th was the bike tour:

at Clifford Park Community Garden

Thursday the 29th was the bus tour:

flockin' to mint lemonade @ Spartan Village Community Garden

bus in background @ Intrnl Garden at Cedar Creek

Ryan w/ the peeps

it was really awesome to have filled the bus up for this tour! gardeners & tour goers were excited and there was a lot of food from the garden to be shared with everyone. yum. its interesting to see all the different models of organizing a garden & that they were all thriving and well cared for. it gives me a lot to look forward to for next year's growing season and all the wonderful people i will meet.

so, the recap about finishing my 10-week position. it went fast! faster than i expected it to. i learned a lot about gardening and being part of an organized, progressive, & successful non-profit organization. i'm sad to be done, but looking forward to wherever i end up next. & also, my memory is already a little foggy about anything else i had planned last week to blog about for this post. i'm in ohio this week, so i guess you'll hear about that tomorrow. peace.

:: RED CLOVER ::

a couple weeks ago, when steph was up from North Carolina, she was telling me about red clover. it's also called "purple clover" because really, it's more purple than red.

benefits: it is "recognized for supporting critical hormone levels within the body in both men and women, without having any negative side effects" (flora health: herb & blossom).
well, that sounds quiet amazing.
use: i tried it as a tea because all good things can be a tea, so i think. websites (shaky sources, i know) say to brew 1t of dried herb & blossom. i collected red clover blossoms and drank them fresh (aka too lazy to dry them). i put a small handful in each cup (about 10 blossoms) - fresh plant matter is less concentrated than dried. then i used the blunt end of a knife handle & smashed the blossoms to make sure i got all the goodness, before i strained them out. i added dried mint for flavor & dried raspberry leaves because they are good for uterus muscles & pain relief (yogi tea). the tea had a nice flavor, minty and a bit of honey flavor from the red clover. i don't know if it was effective, as i wasn't trying to cure anything. i'll try it again when i have cramps or bad vibes.

to identify: so the blossom/flower has purple tipped petals, the inner part being white. the blossom is also a little puff, or sphere. the leaves have a lighter green "v" on them. they're quiet common & pretty easy to identify once you have seen one. they grow in bunches, it seems to me. also, red clovers produce honey, though not as much as white clovers (which look about the same but white & smaller).

isoflavones
healthy new age

week 8

duck bath among so much more @ Thomason Family Farm.

amazing tomato trellising @ St. Joes Hospital in AA,MI

blogging has become a bit more lost in the jumble of things as work has picked up again. last night I went to Growing Hope's (in Ypsilanti, MI) Tour de Fresh. it's a tour of community gardens, urban farming, & such throughout the area. you could pick between biking or driving the tour route. i biked. it was a 10mi route & we visited 10 different places. it was really amazing to see gardens at homes & all the experimentation of what works & doesn't. not to mention, the enthusiasm and dedication that drives everyone and what they are doing. I was especially wowed by St. Joe's Hospital hoop house & their tomato trellising techniques. essentially it is a string fastened securely to the tomato vine & tautly to the roof of the hoop house. it makes for beautiful, straight lines and organization. those were also some well pruned plants! additionally, the EMU Giving Garden is a great initiative on campus. you can tell there is a lot of dedication in that garden too from the people & their plots. overall, everything was really cool and well done.

so, if you think all that sounds great & you're feeling bummed you missed out - have no fear! next week The Garden Project (Lansing, MI) is having its community garden tours. bikers, be ready tuesday 27 @ 5:30p. bus-ers, thursday 29 @ 5:30p. more info at our website or find us on facebook & RSVP (search The Garden Project).

on a more individual note, its been over a year since i graduated undergrad. i was thinking about how different, and how much better, it feels to be where i am now. i am no longer defined by my area of study & don't have to fight to take both science & english classes (how silly the division is between those areas of study). i suppose this is growing up, but it is nice to feel totally free. my decisions about what to do with my life & how to live are up to me. i'm not contained within a school schedule for once. the only restraints are money & time. so, perhaps that doesn't sound starkly different from being a student, but this is also the first time where my life and my work overlap in important ways. i'm not just doing homework and striving for an ambiguous future. i'm right here & now and my work is fulfilling those ambiguous things i was working toward. also, i'm not waiting any more as i was most of last year. be it to heal from surgery or get a tooth implant or for timelines and lifelines to run parallel. and so i say, hurrah to that.

fotos from the garden

bird poop tomato. don't worry, it's still good!

zucchini-bonanza!

zinnia flowers, so pretty.

you avid readers, it has been awhile! I've been reflecting on only have 3 more weeks before my VISTA term is ended. the looming thought of unemployment makes me sad and a bit uncomfortable. But, while I truly enjoy this job, I also strongly want to move to Portland by the end of August. if I can both move & get a job in PDX, I will be very thankful indeed. to come, lists! 01. things to do in MI before moving 02. things to do in PDX.

it's zucchini season! hurrah! a gardener at Towar already harvested a bucketful of them & was so kind as to give me some. I will be making bread tonight. I think zucchinis are quiet cute in the way they grow from the plant (see 2nd foto above).

tah-dah! so, I finished the community garden tour poster early last week & it has since gone to the printer & into the windows of Lansing businesses. if you live in the Ingham area, you should come on out! details:

July 27, 2010 Bike Tour @ 5:30P Location: Letts Comm. Center
1220 W. Kalamazoo
Lansing, MI 48915

July 29, 2010 Bus Tour @ 5:30P
Location: Foster Resource Center
2401 Marcus Street
Lansing, MI‎ 48912

pest management: it works!
I have a hard time catching cucumber beetles, because they are smart & quick to fly away. i'm having great success with an oil & soap spray. the spray makes it harder for the bugs to fly away, so I can catch them and oil smothers the bugs anyways. I feel a bit destructive killing bugs, but it must be done. on that note, only use spray if you are sure there are destructive plant eating bugs. the spray is indiscriminate & will kill the bugs it comes into contact with.
recipe:

1T oil (I used canola)
1T biodegradable liquid soap
1C water

mix all ingredients in a spray bottle & give it a shake.
you're all set to defend plants from bugs!

a foto of our bug foe. you can see he has been sprayed from the bubbles on the leaf.

:: PURSLANE ::

last week, my co-workers pointed out this weed to me. it grows in abundance all over, especially between cracks in driveways & such. lucky for you & me, it's super nutritious! it contains omega-3, vitamins a & c, and a cup of it contains 7 calories.

to identify it, it has a pinkish stem akin to radishes. the leaves are green and droplet shaped, as well as thick & meaty in texture. additionally, all the stems grow out of a central point, creating a swirl or star. taste is best in fresh picked, younger plants. before you pick it, be sure it hasn't been sprayed with weed killer & the like. once you're sure, give it a rinse & you're good to go.

this is a tough weed to beat, best for you to befriend it & eat it. breaking the stem promotes the plant to go to seed. plus, seeds stay viable in soil sometime up to 30 years.

i cooked some up in olive oil with salt & pepper. i added it to a pre-made lentil meal i had from the store. the plants i used were older and the taste was a bit bitter. seems its popular in stews. next time i will probably use it in a salad.

references:
this garden is illegal
praireland community supported agriculture
university of Illinois extension

picked from Demo garden, raspberries with yogurt

late post, but lots to show. so, here is my piece of graph paper that shows how the food bank plot at Towar is laid out. the brown filled in areas represent the little pathways between each row of plants. the dates are: day planted to expected harvest date.

when i planted acorn squash, i had read that putting aluminum foil around the base of the stem deters squash borers. so far it seems it is working. the two fotos on the left show the aluminum and then the plant with its hole-free leaves. the foto on the right is from the row of hubbard squash i planted later and used as a control group to compare the acorns squash to. i have found lots of cucumber beetles (little yellow striped ones) and some CO beetles (orange heads, black stripe bodies) on the hubbards and no squash borers yet. today i made a mixture of water, dab of liquid soap, 1.5t of garlic powder, and 1t of cayenne pepper in a spray bottle. i have yet to spray the plants, but we'll see if it keeps away all the little munchers.

on tuesday, i sprayed the tomatoes, squashes, peppers (ryan's plot), and zucchinis (also ryan's) with diluted skim milk. the mixture prevents mildew from growing on the leaves. i'll have to take some fotos, but a plant is infected if you find a white dusty layer on the leaves. then the leaves shrivel up and die. mildew arises in poor air circulation, overcrowding of plants, or high humidity. you can also prune some leaves to help create better airflow.

in other news, apparently VISTAs don't get shirts like other Americorp members? Boo.

hello again.
on wednesday, i had a wonderful day. this week was a lot of wonderful days due to sunshine & rain and an easy going pace. back to wednesday - it was raining when i got up at around 9:30a. so i decided to go swimming before heading out to Towar garden, letting nature do the watering. i swam at MSU IM West, free indoor pool from 10:30 to 2P about everyday. i swam 40 laps, next week i'll try for 50 perhaps. when done with swimming at around noon, the rain had finished but there was still a good breeze.

at Towar, i cover cropped two back plots and mulched a little path - so that i can conveniently walk from my donation plot past the cover crops to mine & ryan's plot. hehe. i was quiet proud :p
the soil was recently tilled, plus the rain, making it easy to work with. took me about 2 hours as a i jumped back and forth between tasks.

we are trying Edamame as a cover crop. And to my limited knowledge, cover cropping is good...
01. at keeping weeds out by planting an intentional crop to cover the empty space = cover crop
02. to help with nutrients in the soil. some crops draw nitrogen towards the top of the soil, making for more nourishing soil the next planting season.

thursday, i spent inside getting down to business. i'm putting together the poster for the garden tours (july 27 &29). it's quiet fun & i love that i can go between working in the garden and then doing some illustration work.

on the left is the a tiny sketch that i made in less than a minute, just to get the idea down. then the drawing of the pepper, the carving of the stamp, and the print of the stamp. i scan the stamp to my computer & import to Illustrator (thank you live paint feature!). i just can't function in Photoshop, my knowledge is too limited. so the whole poster will be laid out in Illustrator and converted to PDF for the printer.

that's been my week more or less. should have the poster up here next week.

week 4

BEHOLD! gnomes shoes.

i was so happy to find garden clogs, they bring me joy when i wear them. the nature of garden accessories is somewhere between hideous, cute, and usually functional. overalls, straw hats, crocs, plaid, gloves, cargo shorts & so on. mostly, though, i find myself wearing dirt and mosquito bites. i'm also about 5 shades darker than usual. i feel like a golden pastry crust.

as the days go on, i'm in a muddle of thought over to do lists, tasks at hand, and general unawareness sometimes. but then i'll remember that this is my job and that i dedicate all day to gardening! i have the time to weed plots, sing songs, mulch every crevasse a weed could consider popping up, figure out how to build a trellis, get tangled in the longest garden hose i've ever used, sink into soil barefoot, and enjoy eating things right out of the ground.

i'm still trying to say hello to everyone and meet as many gardeners as i can and more so, to learn names. it's challenging and i try to push myself to have conversations with everyone, even when i don't really know what to say. but it's helpful to learn a little about everyone i meet, to remember them, to realize how important gardening is to some, and to sorta see where i fall in all of this. i think i might also consider going to the food bank at some point, to try and see the whole process of growing to giving.

airport garden. is by an airport, i saw a northwest red tail coming in for landing the other day. i'm still sad that the merger went with deltas branding and not nwa. i liked it better. there are also vast corn fields in all directions, around the gardens. at a barn down the road, it seems like a rock band is always having practice. it's a nice backdrop. i only tend to the plot pictured above, thank goodness. the soil is so hard on the surface. i struggled to dig deep enough to plant the tomatoes and potatoes. the gardeners there have the most amazing structures! most are some form of trellis or tripod for pole beans to crawl up, but also for tomatoes and peppers.

week 3

bbq eats, dinner last friday.

finished sign last friday, up at Towar.

hard to believe another week has gone by! time moves in a weird way, sorta like elastic stretched taunt and then snapping back.

i attempted and failed at going to the free 10am session of yoga at hilltop, i know. so i think i'll switch gears and get back to swimming. both IM West & Circle have free (w/ msu id) indoor pools for usage.

as for work updates, i have noticed that i am getting sorta buff from all that compost shoveling and straw tossing. yay bi-ceps and sore muscles! my typical day starts at 11a either at the office or the resource center. from there i usually run an errand like picking up & delivering straw to a garden. so, straw is good for mulching, which helps discourage weed growth and attracts good predator beetles (vs bad beetles like the colorado potato beetle). also, you don't want to mulch with hay as that has a lot of seeds in it because its animal food. straw is straight up, well straw.
around 4:30, i inhale dinner and then either go to help distribute plants at the Foster resource center or look after the donation plots at Towar or Airport Community Gardens. i finish around 7 or 8 pm.

my fortune cookie today read:.unlikely, to say the least.

light dinner and paper work by the window. I am settling into the house and the new work schedule. I will try to do at least one post a week.

working a 40 hour week is really tiring, but I am happy to be outside and useful. challenges so far, telling the leeks and onions apart as babies and keeping my shoes dry. actually, that has been impossible with all the rain. mudcakes, an inch thick, build up on my shoes after planting, weeding, or building raised beds. I'm sorta resigned to it, as I don't like biking in rain boots. things I have learned so far, a lot... how to plan a garden plot & stake it, make raised beds, a little bit about companion planting, what the heck a garden hoe is for, and something of potatoes. i have planted: potatoes, onions, leeks, and collards.

my job is, more or less, to tend to three donation plots and work on outreach in those gardens. two of those plots are located in Towar Community Garden. I hold hours there Monday evenings, 6 to 8P. and one plot at Airport Community Garden, which I am at on Wednesday 6 to 8P. aside from that, I have been painting a sign for Towar and did a little design on the Garden Project newsletter. I have successfully biked to work & not gotten lost! so, I'm gonna keep doing that. Non-work related, I went to Tai Chi at Hunter Park on Saturday at 10A. It was nice, though I wasn't very focused. And I found free yoga at Hilltop on Tuesday mornings. And that is my life. I garden, I eat, I sleep.

With these posts, I want to narrow in a bit more on specific experiences. it would be a big help if anyone reading this would ask me questions, as they occur to you.

among other things, i think i'll scan in my garden planning sketches. maybe they're interesting or make my babble less confusing.

I finished reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I liked it, a quick read despite its 600+ pages. I'll probably read Middlesex, Penguin Lost, or Peyote Hunt next depending on what's not checked out at the library.

half a baby melon. quick lunch, no one seems to eat at GP. I'm boggled.


butterfly at Towar. tried to free it, no success.

so it begans -

I can't believe I just puked. I always think it will be beneficial to take a multi-vitamin for women and then no more than 3 minutes later do I feel completely ill. Thus, the throw up and why I'll stick to taking gummy multi-vitamins for adults.

This week I've started as a VISTA summer associate at the Garden Project. I feel that I will enjoy working here as far as people and the actual works go. It's a sigh of relief to finally be doing something that I pursued for so long and to not have to feel that irritating itch of want.

Yesterday started at 6:30a and I, with seven others, got sworn in as Americorp VISTA members . Of us eight, 3 went to REACH and 3 went to the Northwestern Initiative, and then 2 to the Garden Project. All are really cool organizations that I would love to be involved with.
Once at GP, three out of nine wore plaid shirts, the ubiquitous urban farming uniform. hehe.
We visited five community gardens and untangled a long hose. Overall, more driving around than I have in the past 5 years (so pretty much ever, I guess). I'll get into the swing of it, hopefully bike some of the commutes.

After work, I dorked out and went to officemax to buy a new binder for all my papers - bright yellow. I get pumped about organization- it makes things feel congealed and simple and somehow plays into this great idea of doing and being. I also got a mini comp notebook for all the note taking & garden planning, etc. A little log book, indeed.

Today I start at the resource center and help open Airport community garden (half of it is already open, we have to stake), one of the gardens I get to follow and look after. staking is measuring out each plot, which you figure out the measurements in advance on graph paper, and hammering in wood stakes to mark it. yup.