Earth Day...

When, really, are we going to start, as a society, taking responsibility for our stewardship? When will the planet that we live on become a priority over profits and convenience? When will we decide to turn the light of when we leave the room? Or to put solar panels on the roof instead of buying that new SUV? When will we decide that we cannot allow more nuclear power plants to be built, and be outraged that it is still even a conversation? When will we stop dumping our crap into the ocean? When will we commit to going without, even just a little bit, to facilitate all of this? When will we? I'm waiting with baited breath...suffocating.

XOXO
Yvette

Seed Library At Venice High School!

When we first moved to the west side of Los Angeles about 15 years ago, Venice High School looked like a prison. The whole place was run down and falling apart - in the front of the school, there was a wrought iron cage surrounding a statue of alumni Myrna Loy to keep her from being vandalized, and there were bars on all the windows. The tennis courts had giant cracks in the asphalt. God knows what the classrooms were like inside.

But our story begins with the 60,000 square foot, fallow, weedy, filled-with-trash area on the western edge of the school, where, in March of 2001, a group of amazing people had had enough, and The Learning Garden was established. It has since become one of the country's largest and most successful school gardens. The Learning Garden boasts organic produce grown by students, a culinary program, tai chi and quigong classes, a large medicinal plant section in conjunction with Yo San University of Chinese Medicine, a California Native Plant and Cacti garden, and a community garden. Last December, they embarked on a very exciting project - The Seed Library of Los Angeles. For a $10 membership fee, gardeners can "borrow" the seeds of specific edibles. Each borrower commits that part of the resulting crop be allowed to go to flower and seed, allowing the borrower to return the seed stock to the library. There are occasional seed saving workshops, open to the public, which you can find out about by going to their blog (HERE).

Also, be sure and visit The Learning Garden on April 30, when Mar Vista hosts it's annual Green Garden Showcase.

I have to say that in recent years, the school has flourished. The cage around Myrna has been removed, everything is freshly painted, and albeit there is a definite police presence that remains due to gangs, it is a wholly different place. Perhaps it was something to do with the garden. Perhaps not. Either way, songbirds and bees and growing things can't hurt, can it?

XOXO
Yvette

The Cost Of A Global Food Chain

I mentioned in my last post that we planted garlic...did I mention that I-LOVE-GARLIC??

Here is what we did this year when we put the bulbs in the ground:

Our soil was not draining very well, so along with lots of compost, we (ok, FRED) dug in some cactus mix to loosen it up. Also, plenty of worm castings and a little handful of bone meal for each bulb. We'll see what happens. Last year we got a nice crop, but the bulbs were pretty small. Hopefully this year will be better!

On another note, this is an incredible article from the Los Angeles Times about the true cost of food...garlic is one of the subjects of the article. Please take the time to read it HERE. This is required reading. There will be a test at the end of the semester, which will count for 1/3 of your grade!

XOXO
Yvette

Live From The Mar Vista Farmer's Market

It's been a while since my last post...I was ill with pneumonia, which put the brakes on everything, including the garden! Nonetheless, all is well and BTL is back in force!

The Mar Vista Neighborhood Council granted a Farmer's Market booth to the Green Committee, and I am lucky to be representing Beyond The Lawn today to answer questions about home vegetable gardens. With me today is GoSolar, Mar Vista. James and John founded this group with the goal of transforming Mar Vista into a 100% clean electricity community by 2018. They have started a community solar program for residents to organize purchasing / leasing for group solar discounts. There is an event on Saturday, July 25 at 6pm, at 12024 Venice Blvd. to kick off the program with Councilman Bill Rosendahl. Be sure to get there early as our fabulous local restaurant The Curious Palate is providing hors d'oeuvres!!



Also happening this week is the Water Wise Use Expo:

Learn easy ways to save water and money in your own home.

The CD11 Empowerment Congress Environmental Committee invites you to their Wise Water Use Expo. The event is co-hosted by the Mar Vista Community Council Green Committee & Venice Neighborhood Council Environmental Committee.

The event will be held on July 21st at the Mar Vista Recreation Center. Table presentations will begin at 6:00 pm and speaker presentations will be from 7:00 to 9:00 pm.

The evening is designed to further awareness of the drought crisis that we face as a community and provide information and tools to embrace water conservation. There will be three guest presenters who will then offer a panel discussion and Q&A.

Water conservation information tables will provide information, give aways and exciting water solution raffle items:

Aqua~Flo has donated a smart sprinkler controller
Ballona Institute has donated a $25 gift certificate for merchandise at the Shallow Water Nature Store in Playa del Rey
EcoRain has donated a Double Tank & Downspout Filter to infiltrate water from the roof via a downspout
Gardenerd has donated a 1-hour vegetable garden consultation
Gary's Greenery has donated 2 one hour home consults on sustainable landscape design
G3LA has donated 2 tickets to their Ocean Friendly Garden
Workshop
Ironweed Films has donated copies of the films “Running Dry” and “The American Southwest: Are we Running Dry?”
RainBud has donated a rain barrel
Kohler has donated a dual flush toilet and low flow showerheads
L.A. Rainwater Harvesting Program has donated an early adopter rain barrel hook up
Smart Faucet has donated two water saving faucets
Surfrider Foundation has donated an on-site landscape assessment and hands-on help
Sustainable Solutions has donated two Caroma dual flush toilets
Sustainable Works has donated a tote bag filled with eco solutions
Theodore Payne has donated a one year membership which provides a 10% discount as well as books on Theodore Payne and California Wildflowers
TreePeople has donated two tickets for their summer series at S. Mark Taper Foundation Amphitheatre in Coldwater Canyon Park


Guest presenters are:

Ed Begley, Jr. – actor, author and environmental activist. As environmental issues become more pressing, there are two possible responses: forget it and hope that government and corporations will figure it out, or take action yourself. In the “take action yourself” camp, a few individuals are leading the way. One such person in California is Ed Begley, Jr. Environmental lawyer and long-time friend, Bobby Kennedy, Jr. has said “Ed has a greater sense of social obligation than anyone I know. He’s like a West Coast cadet who gets up every morning and says ‘reporting for duty’”.

Kevin O'Donnell of thread collaborative, a sustainable design strategist and presenter for Al Gore’s Climate Project. Kevin was trained by Al Gore to give his An Inconvenient Truth slide show. As a member of the non profit group, The Climate Project, he presents customized versions focused on the relationship between buildings, landscaping and climate change.

Green Gardens Group LA (G3LA) – G3's focus is to change the paradigm of the beautiful Southern California landscape from the water and resource-guzzling gardens of today to the climate- and place- appropriate sustainable ideal of tomorrow. Their organization is devoted to educating homeowners, design professionals, and the local community in the latest eco-restorative landscape techniques and promoting the principles of low-impact development.

The Council District 11 Empowerment Congress was organized by Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl to bring together the genius, the energy, and the commitment of our neighborhood leaders. The 11th District is bounded by Mulholland Drive on the north, the Pacific Ocean on the west, Imperial Highway on the south, and (roughly) the 405 Freeway on the east. It encompasses the distinct communities of Brentwood, Del Rey, Mar Vista, Marina del Rey, Pacific Palisades, Palms, Playa del Rey, Playa Vista, Venice, West LA and Westchester.



XOXO
Yvette

Some Great Links!!!!

Have You Read The Omnivore's Dilemma?
If so, do you just not know WHAT TO EAT ANYMORE?
Here's a great website for you that is a resource for grass-fed beef, lamb, goats, poultry, dairy, and wild edibles. It lists farms and markets by region that carry pasture based food:

Eatwild


Eco Friendly, Reusable Dry-Cleaning Bags Anyone?
Our Mar Vista Green Committee is teaming up with some dry cleaners in the area who will allow us to bring our own bags, leave them there, and pick them up later with our clean laundry. Did you know that 350 million pounds of single-use plastic bags end up in landfills every year??? Green Garamento, who sells the bags, will send one free bag to you (you pay the shipping). All the info is on their website...click on "get free bags" in the consumer section of their website to learn more!!!

LINK!!

FYI, here is a dry cleaner in Venice who will accept reusable bags:

Del Mar Natural Cleaners
701 Washington Blvd.
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292
310-482-0060
Cross Street: Oxford St


And, last but not least, journalist Emily Green has started an incredible blog about water conservation in the West. She writes for the Los Angeles Times, and many other newspapers, primarily about dry gardening and urban water usage. Check out this site - it is packed with science and information, and is beautifully written to boot:

Chance of Rain

XOXO
Yvette

Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase - The Aftermath!

Filmmaker Samantha Lyon came to The Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase Tour and created this wonderful video. Her incredible and brave work can be seen at Videos For Justice. It was an honor to be a part of one of her projects, and to have been included in this Garden Tour.

Samm's mother, Elisa, has created a really wonderful blog for her Westside neighborhood, Reynier Village. Here is the LINK. She said that she was inspired by the community involvement in Mar Vista, and wanted to start bringing people together in her neighborhood as well. It seems as if we are starting micro climates in Los Angeles, a city so huge and so unmanageable that the individual, and the neighborhood, can be lost. It's encouraging to see what people are doing - to see them reach out and grab each others' hands...

Lastly, Sherri Akers, who is the co-chair of the Mar Vista Neighborhood Council Green Committee, and one of the main creators of the Garden Tour, was interviewed on the LA talk radio show "Green 'n' Easy Living". She talks about how the Green Committee came to be, and how the Garden Tour happened. She is joined by Joseph Treves, who reveals how he helped to start our local Sunday Farmer's Market. This is really community at its best. We are so lucky to be a small part of it.

XOX
Yvette

Tear Up Your Lawn And Vote As If Your Life Depended On It!

XXX
Yvette

WTF??

People come by and smile (or frown or look at it quizzingly) and say words like "revolutionary" "subversive" "weird" "fabulous" "horrible"...

I love how people respond to our garden, and our project, but really, what is so subversive about growing our food? What is so "revolutionary" about feeding ourselves when we need to eat to stay alive? What is so "weird" about not relying on corporations to do the job of sustaining our family in it's most basic function: eating! What is so "fabulous" about simply being independent? Have we really sunk that low? Can I tell you that every time I give one of our neighbors a little something - be it a handful of basil, a squash, or even a little radish or a strawberry, that they suddenly smile.

Yes, I am proud of every bit of everything that we grow. It makes me feel SAFE that we grow about 80% of our veggies. It makes me feel like part of the world that we picked about 8 million apricots off our across the street neighbor's fabulous tree and canned them. It makes me feel saddened and depressed that this is such a big strange deal. Did Laura Ingalls' neighbors think they were "subversive"? What a world.

Especially today...just take a look at this:
New Salmonella Outbreak

Now who's weird?

XXX
Yvette

More Thoughts On Saving Seeds...

This tomato plant came from seeds that Fred saved from last year's tomatoes by cutting a tomato in half, squirting the seeds onto a paper towel, letting it dry out, and then storing it in the garage (cool and dark), in a bag. So simple. Now we have a half a dozen Purple Cherokee plants! This practice is not only efficient and simple, but it has a deep hand in protecting the diversity of edible plant life on the planet. If you think this is waxing too poetic, just read the following article in Vanity Fair this month about Monsanto's Harvest Of Fear, which already un-feeds the world with its genetically modified terminator seeds (these are seeds that are manufactured to produce a sterile crop, thereby disallowing farmers to save seeds for the following year, thus forcing them to buy more seeds), toxic pesticides (buy any Roundup lately? If so, you're killing the fish!) and then tell me if small acts like this aren't of supreme importance! We've already started to see signs of impending mass-starvation due to farmers turning away from staples and onto corn for bio-fuels, raising the prices of rice and wheat so high that rural, third world folks will no longer be able to buy food. Now they're after milk as well.

If you're reading this and you want to know more, a new documentary was aired in March on French television (ARTE – French-German cultural tv channel) by French journalist and filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin, The World According To Monsanto, a documentary that most Americans won’t ever see. The gigantic biotech corporation is threatening to destroy the agricultural biodiversity which has served mankind for thousands of years. Please watch it. You'll be rushing to plant some tomatoes.

XXO
Yvette

BoDeeToes

My dear friend and forever pal Annick turned me onto the incredible non-profit organization, Seed Savers Exchange. We've been ordering their fantastic heirloom seeds, and using their planting guides, which are a must!

Last weekend, we planted potatoes with the help of this LINK!
I can't wait to dig them up and cook them!




Exploring the Seed Savers site has really peaked my interest in the idea and importance of preserving the diversity of the foods we eat. It becomes extremely political, especially if one takes into account the race to corporatize the very essence of farming by GMO'ing as many crops as possible. This was a huge impetus to start this garden, as neither Fred nor myself wishes to put the Mind of Monsanto into our mouths. This year, Fred is growing Purple Cherokee tomatoes from seeds he saved from last year's plants. It is incredibly satisfying, and truly completes elegance of the plant-eat-compost circle.

The whole subject of saving seeds borders on the apocalyptic, if you really research and consider what is going on with our food supply. It is such a huge issue that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) have created an organization called The Global Crop Diversity Trust, which is basically a giant seed vault in the Arctic, designed to protect the world's seed supplies in the event of global catastrophe.

To find out more about the The Global Crop Diversity Trust's Arctic Seed Vault, watch the 60 Minutes story on their homepage.

XXO
Yvette

Defiant Gardens

When we (read Yvette) originally planned the garden we were thinking of it a great way to save water, enhance the neighborhood, know our food and it's contents, and reduce our involvement in the corporate food chain. I think I can safely say that we've been successful on all points and more become apparent every day. The one thing we tacitly knew was that in one way or another there was a sense of defiance involved. From snubbing the big-box retailers to breaking from the preconception of the suburban front yard.

As we've all seen over the last 7 years 1 month and 28 days, things don't look very good around here. Tainted meat, vanishing fish stocks, genetically modified everything, a divisive social and political climate, Hummers, etc. You get the point. It is with this background noise that we all live and breathe. It is with this background in a more extreme form that incredible human moments can occur. And more specifically, so can gardens. 

I happened across the internet extension of a book entitled Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in Wartime by Kenneth Helphand. Mr. Helphand describes Defiant Gardens as those created in difficult times and possess the ability to adapt to those circumstances. He continues to state, "...they can also be viewed from other dimensions as sites of assertion and affirmation." I couldn't agree more. The focus of the book are gardens related to wars in the first half of the twentieth century. The web site acts as a continuation by incorporating gardens from Vietnam, prisons, Afganistan, and Iraq. Be sure to look at the letters from G.I.s and the articles about the Japanese-American internment camps.

Link > Defiant Gardens

Radical Simplicity

Our friend Jim Merkel spent the night last week after being stranded at the airport, on his way home from two months of sailing the length of Baja, Mexico. Jim was a panel speaker at the Do It Now: Live Green show I co-curated at Otis College Of Art And Design last year. He is an incredible, gentle, warm, compassionate guy, and his book, Radical Simplicity is an absolute landmark. He lives in a cabin on 10 acres of forest in Vermont, grows his own food, and is a brilliant recovering engineer. Here's the skinny on Jim:

"Originally a military engineer and arms trader, Jim Merkel changed his life at the time of the Exxon Valdez disaster, quitting his job and devoting himself to environmental service and world peace. He downsized his life and 14 years later continues to volunteer and live on $5,000 a year.

Jim founded the Alternative Transportation Task Force in San Luis Obispo, California, and held an elected Sierra Club position while honing urban simple living skills. He lobbied in Washington for wilderness, peace, and Native American rights. In 1994 he received a fellowship to research sustainability in Kerala, India, and walked in the Himalayas. The following year he founded the Global Living Project (GLP) and initiated the GLP Summer Institute to discover what a “fair share" of Earth each individual might be entitled to. With plenty of help from friends and his partner, Rowan Sherwood, a permaculture home and demonstration site were designed and built. He instigated a Cycling for a Sustainable Future speaking tour that has logged over 12,000 miles and delivered hundreds workshops on sustainable living.

At the top of Jim’s cycling career, he earned three silver medals in the Empire State Games and raced in the Nationals. Cycling continues to be his primary transportation both around town and for adventures -- to Mexico, across Canada twice, and through Europe and India. His passions include wild edible plants, wilderness, and making homestead improvements from articles found at the dump."

His book is essential reading for anyone interested in living equitably in the world and getting the most joy for the buck. It'll make you want to sell all your stuff, in a good way.

XXO
Yvette

Beating Your Meat

Doubtless everyone has heard about the giant meat recall, spurred on from secret footage shot by the Humane Society.
You can see the footage here:

Sound Of Fury

But Beware - this is one of the most upsetting things I have ever seen.

Nonetheless, here is a great article by Mark Bittman, the indomitable food editor of the New York Times. I am not a vegetarian, but all our meat, for quite some time, has come from sustainable farms that grass-feed their free-range animals. Still, this last week has convinced me that we eat way too much meat. This article will illustrate...

Rethinking The Meat Guzzler





XOXO Yvette

Another Reason To Grow Your Own

The Environmental Protection Agency gave the go-ahead for one-year use of a new agricultural pesticide Friday, saying its own scientific review overrides health concerns expressed by more than 50 chemists and other scientists.

Methyl iodide, also known as iodomethane, will be allowed to control soil pests "under highly restrictive provisions governing its use," the EPA said in a statement.

Because it's a fumagant, we can expect both air and groundwater poisoning, not to mention that they're using this crap on strawberry fields. The strawberry is one of nature's most porous fruits (this is why it is one of the most important foods to buy Organic Only. You can't wash the stuff off if it's inside.

For more info on this brilliant act by our amazing and gifted EPA, who always puts the environment and it's living creatures first, go to:

Please Poison Me!!!

XXO