Fruit Gathering, Food Not Bombs and Biofuels

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Last week I took students from Los Angeles Leadership Charter School walking in residental area of Silverlake mapped by Fallen Fruit and talked to them about indigenous culture in Los Angeles for the last 10,000 years. Although we ate no native plants, many students tasted kumquats for the first time. The field trip was coordinated by the nutrition network(a program from my former Community College, (Los Angeles Trade Tech). The students also toured Food Not Bombs facility, AgLago, and Lovecraft Biofuels.

Garden Greens

In response to recent raids on Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries, I have included this salad. Thankfully the number of dispensaries has increased 2,350% in one year, so stoping more than a few would be a massive operation. Although some people report stomach discomfort from eating raw cannabis leaves, due to microscopic thorns, I find them quite pleasant. Somewhat spicy with a rich buttery flavor. Ingesting cannabis can be more effective treatment with stronger results, although for maximum strength, the flower tops are the most highly recommended.

This salad was made with california walnuts along with other spicy greens like mesclun, mustard and some kind of purple lettuce, balanced with red oak lettuce, and roma tomatoes, all from the backyard except the walnuts. My favorite dressing I have tried thus far is ranch.

Farmlab and Truth

Farmlab Schedule


Begining last December, Not A Cornfield inc. has initiated a "salon" with different activists and artists each week. The first was Fritz Heag, an artist worknig on a project to redesign typical lawns into "edible estates". Fritz gave an informed history of the from lawn begining with English nobilty and finding it's way into surburbia. He carefully selects applicants who will continue upkeep and are friendly with their neighbors. He plans to complete 7 "estates" over the next year, one in each of the 7 climate zones of the US.

Other speakers include Friends of the LA River, Ballona Creek project and most recently "Helen Samuels will discuss her experiences working with young people on collaborative cultural restoration projects, environmental justice issues, and related topics". This has been the most inspiring speaker thus far that i have seen here. Her ability to connect social and environmental issues so seamlessly, it was truly a breath of fresh air. Her visit also facilitated an interesting discussion about american youth.

Also this past Saturday, I was able to visit the LA Eco Village for a slideshow by Kat Steele, founder of the Urban Permaculture Guild, who was one of the one thousand people chosen by Al Gore to give his slideshow presentation to people all over the country, in effect being able to reach more people who did not see Al Gore's movie, and create a dialouge that would not often be present in a movie theater.