organic panic

art yard and craft hard

With warm regards, I hold to the house hold that produced such a well thought event on a nice summer afternoon. It couldn't have been better having no less than 2 picnics / bbq's, but a brand new skatepark in highland park, los angeles...schucks

featuring . . .

- - Succulent arrangements & repurposed art for sacred garden spaces
by Steve Mixdorf marking the official launch of Tao Spaces.
taospaces.com

- - See Andrew & Jennifer Draper's beautiful Vegetable and Herb gardens
and native plant garden, deck, tiled patio, pergola, and sheet-mulched
areas and/or talk to Andrew, Jen, Paul, and Steve about your gardening,
hardscaping, landscaping, remodeling, and catering ideas and
possibilities. beautygrows.com gatherparties.com

- - Rocket Stoves, solar cookers, tomato cage art, and more by Ray
Cirino - L.A. Times featured treehouse builder, cob expert, and
permaculture enthusiast. Ray is also well known for his large scale
Water Woman art project enjoyed by many at the Burning Man Art Festival
since 1996. raycirino.com

- - Chinese Lanterns and other Stained Glass art by Linda Parker.
lindaparker.org

- - Illuminated Wire and Fabric sculture by Sean Sobczak.
sandmancreations.com

- - Beautiful sculptural turned wooden bowls by Mark Fitzsimmons.
http://treecycler.org/

- - Unique hand-crafted meditation bowls by Greg Vineyard.
www.vineyardcreative.byregion.net

- - Abstract fine paintings on repurposed glass panels by Jason
Schaper. http://www.jasonschaper.com/

- - Handcrafted jewelry by Lisa Wahpepah with proceeds benefitting the
non-profit Descendants of The Earth and their work to preserve the
earth, indigineous tribal practices, and Native American ceremony.

- - And much much more: Fine Art by Nial McGaughey and others.
Biodiesel/WVO demonstration by Jennie Gaio. Electrical Conduit creations
by Paddy. Energy saving bulbs by Elizabeth Vejar. Too much to list.

One of my favorite foods since childhood is artichokes. I was recently informed (yesterday) of the difference between an artichoke and a cardoon. They are both in the thistle plant family. The cardoon is propagated for it's stem rather than it's flower (as opposed to artichoke). I have found the stem of the artichoke to be better or as good as the infamous heart. Boil or steam as much of the stalk as you can with the chokees until it is soft. Try it with a maple syrup butter sauce or olive oil, garlic and fennel. Ranch dressing works too.

The leaves as also edible but bitter depending on the variety, eaten by the romans for lower blood cholesterol and improving liver function. It has been labeled "noxious" in California and Australia, aka people consider it a weed.


http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Cynara+cardunculus

carrot puddin pie

basic ingedients:

a few carrots

a few dates

a few walnuts

stumbled upon this recipe after buying too many dates at the culver city farmers market. Take a few carrots and a few dates and pulverize them. Either mortar and pestle or cuisnart. Then take some walnuts and crush them evenly into what ever you use as the pie dish. Then pour in carrot puddin. Simple and easy, add variation.

bad lawns and path to freedom

rainwater harvesting students with brad lancaster

interior decorating on homeless hillsides

What does interior decorating have to do with the homeless. Well, everything. For starters, dome village has been essentially evicted, auctioning their fiberglass walls and roofs on ebay to the highest bidder. I have attempted to live on a private feral hillside consisting of some almond and fruit trees, a dilapidated shack without any pathway for about 1/4 of an acre. While I was able to begining to make trails, irrigation canals, earthbag domes, bathrooms and kitchens, no sooner than a few days after i put up a tent, complaints from the property owners and neighbors claiming "it looks like a homeless village down there" or "there are clothes everywhere". Needless to say I was saddened to see how one temporary housing unit and a few garments can change perceptions so rapidly.

It was as much a blessing as it was a curse. A realization came to me that these concept eco utilities and food forests would better serve the community in a more accessible place to a diverse group of people who might find eco utilities useful, and be inspired to create or improve their own habitat. I realize that this is more easily said then done, and social trends can be difficult to predict or influence, but there is a need for examples. Several locations in urban areas of Los Angeles are being scouted and developed by a professional team of misfits to inject pro biotic energy into the air, water and soil.

Gaia Tourism

After 3 long weeks I am back in Los Angeles, California. After visiting cities, towns and hamlets up and down the west coast, using several different modes of transport, I have been reinvigorated with new ideas, old thoughts and good food. I quite a few projects lined up, both digital and reality based to keep me busy for the next 6 months. Some of the places I have visited;

Lost Valley

Portland

Sebastapol

Mt. Shasta

Permaculture Army

SF Critical Mass

Coyote Creek

san juan buatista

Cal Poly

Earthflow

Introduction

http://farmerbarter.googlepages.com

Welcome to a new community space where people can exchange ideas and goods with one another freely. It's not just for farmers or traders, anyone can participate. While this project is based in Los Angeles County, anyone can participate. Have a loquat tree that needs to bee picked, make a comment, have extra compost, tools or rocks? Make a comment. Meet up with other locals, with similar interests or interesting recipes, post other resources and networks. Fossil fuel free transportation, biodegradable or reusable containers, organic foods and garmets, and all other renewable resources are recommended and encouraged.

Please direct any questions comments or concerns to the box below

Mike Davis serves a cold dish of reality for Los Angelinos, who may have fears deeply rooted in superstition and hysteria, among other misconceptions. Examining the likes of good weather, bad disasters, and ugly suburbs mike manages to pen a sharp social history, and informed ecological study of one of his favorite topics and home, southern California. From letting Malibu burn to tenement apartments and the bubonic plague the stage is set for a revelation of fact and fiction as he examines hundreds of novels and dozens of movies of disaster in Los Angeles. Together with his other southern California literature, "Magical Urbanism" and "City of Quarts" he is on the way to map out a new history from the propagandistic textbooks barely suitable for toddlers picture books.

Although the first free workshop was this last weekend, the next two are quickly approaching. Mark's raw milk presentation was amazing, David was able to explain permaculture very quickly with an informed global environmental background.

The next two workshops will be more hands on. Farming techniques and natural building respectively. Please come along and bring a friend or two, an instrument and or food n drinks.

See you there

Permaculture Workshops

~www.sustainablehabitats.org~
~www.gaiajournal.blogspot.com~

Day one. Saturday march 3, 2007-
10am – 4pm - info@sustainablehabitats.org

This Free Introduction to Permaculture Class is an outline of the
science and art of Permaculture. It will define the term, its history,
its founders and the curriculum of the design course certificate, its
ethics and foundations. It will describe the benefits and show some of
the most important work undertaken by permaculture designers.Learn the
truth from one of America's leading experts on raw milk. Mark McAfee,
is regarded by many in the industry as the foremost expert in raw milk
safety and raw dairy product markets and technology.
Contact / rsvp . . . david . . . 323 . 667.1330
~
Day two. Saturday march 10, 2007
10 am – sunset - info@sustainablehabitats.org

Come to silverlake where a community food center is being created in a
residential neighborhood. Learn sheet mulching and planting techniques
and tips on garden design.
Contact / rsvp . . . david . . . 323 . 667 . 1330
~
Day three. Sunday march 11, 2007
Sunrise – sunset – taylorist@gmail.com

Join us in highland park for food and drinks, the basics of earth bag
construction techniques, native plants, swale building in an
educational setting. Bring potluck food, family, pets and any tools
and skills that you have.

Contact / rsvp . . . Taylor . . . 310 . 429 . 1283
~

Fruit Gathering, Food Not Bombs and Biofuels

http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.photo.gif

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.