Knit for Nature

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Calling all Knitters. Sick Penguins need sweaters. Knit and purl, Darlings. 

For those wishing to donate a jumper, the island’s Penguin Foundation has created a handy knitting pattern guide. "Jumper" is Australian for sweater. 

If you cannot knit, send a bit of money. They probably need the money more than they need the jumpers. Just my opinion. Money is always in good taste. 

Jumper Contest Winning Entries

If you love Penguins as much as I do, consider making a trip to see the Penquin Parade. Failing that, knitting a Penguin Sweater is a great way to pass knitting knowledge to a new generation and teach love of nature and geography. Get busy. Be Happy!

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Pipe Dreams

Author: Vinay Magadi

"I am a resident of Bangalore. I graduated from Christ College, Bangalore (now Christ University) in 1989 with botany and zoology as my subjects.

In my childhood, we had a huge garden and all that we wanted, we grew in the garden. I had to shift to terrace gardening due to lack of space in our current residence.

I have grown a wide variety of vegetables like Maize, Kidney beans, ChowChow, Bush beans, Purple beans, Tomatoes, Cherry tomatoes, brinjals of different varieties, various greens, amorphophallus, Okra etc. in the terrace successfully."

Today I can say that with my pipe garden I can grow 14-22 vegetable plants in a footprint of 1 square foot.

You can read more and see more photographs at the link. I am going to try this for Strawberries.

“I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden.” - Ruth Stout

Edible Gardens

I like gardening - it's a place where I find myself when I need to lose myself. - Alice Sebold

Edible Cities is a new book about gardening in unusual urban spaces. New to me that is. It is out in a paperback edition.

You can have fresh Herbs, Fruits and Vegetables without pesticides and with fabulous flavor. You can have them if the only space you have to garden is a sunny window, a wall, a balcony or an abandoned building next door.

Trust me, your own homegrown Oregano will have a flavor that is intoxicating. Fresh or dried, your Oregano will surpass any dusty commercial pulverized Oregano you can buy in the supermarkets. I thought I did not like Oregano. And then I grew and dried my own.

Did you know that it is easy to grow Mushrooms at home? Oh the possibilities are many and fascinating.

In side the book you will find:

• Principles of permaculture
• Worldwide examples of urban gardening projects
• Ideas for flats and balconies
• Green roofs
• Vertical gardening and urban beekeeping
• Guerrilla gardening and successful community projects
• Illustrated practical techniques with clear instructions

Scorzonera

A few plants that will grow in a sunny window:

Watercress (Nasturtium officinale)

Mustard cress (Lepidium sativum)
Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris ssp. vulgaris)
New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia tetragonoides)

Parsley (Petroselinium crispum)

Peppermint (Mentha piperita)

Lettuce (Lactuca sative)

Scorzonera (Scorzonera hispanica)

Fallen Fruit Park with Update: Neighborhood Infusions

UPDATE: I did more research about Fallen Fruit artists cooperative. I think the ongoing INFUSIONS project is fascinating. It is a new frontier for this Community Artist.

An ongoing project by Fallen Fruit, in collaboration with Greenbar collective organic distillery in which we pick the fruit we find on a certain street or locale, infuse it in vodka, and name it for the neighborhood.  We’re interested in the essence of that place, to think about its unique qualities but also look at it as a template for creating more livable and individualized neighborhoods. The question Neighborhood Infusions asks is tinged with irony: can you capture the essence of a place in a bottle?  The work is served off the wall by docents (rather than bartenders), who take time to interpret its implications for those interested in consuming it.

I found the City Farmer News website. It seems to be The Blog about urban farming. Those with an interest must go there. I found this new work of art there - a Fruit Park. I have been envisioning turning the many pocket parks in Philadelphia into mini fruit farms. I cheered when I saw that I am not alone in my thinking, planning, plotting ...

Grand Opening On Saturday, January 5, 2013 At Del Aire Park

Press Release
Dec 26, 2012

The trees were planted with the support of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission Civic Art Program and the guidance of Fallen Fruit, an artists’ collaborative founded by David Burns, Matias Viegener and Austin Young, whose mission is to unite communities through the creation of sustainable public art projects. Del Aire residents planted 27 fruit trees, eight grape vines, more than 60 trees were given away to neighbors. Once the trees bear fruit, all park visitors will be encouraged to pick from the new edible landscape at harvest time. Within three years, the trees are expected to be completely sustainable and drought tolerant.

The Fruit Park, which was funded through a creative use of county civic art dollars, is part of a larger plan by Chairman Ridley-Thomas to see community gardens planted in every unincorporated area in the Second District. So far, new gardens have been established in Florence-Firestone and Lennox, and locations and funding have been identified for gardens planned for Willowbrook, Athens and Baldwin Hills.

Can Farming in the City Feed Us?

I live in Philadelphia. The urban gardening movement is strong here. Just like London. I am inundated with Roma Plum Tomatoes from one plant grown in my tiny backyard. I am giving them to neighbors.

In other news, City Farmer News has received another award for their coverage of sustainable and urban agriculture and related urban planning. Greenys interested must go there for good information about the subject. And try this site too. 

The Christian Science Monitor has an excellent article about urban agriculture helping the working urbanite to fresh food self sufficiency. And the photo below is part of an excellent slide show that helps us understand the vastness of our food chain. Do you know that 60% of the apple juice sold in the US comes from China?

Could city farming be a solution for Bangkok’s urban poor?

A group of nutritional experts say the trend could be harnessed to improve access to food for Thailand’s growing numbers of urban poor. 

By Flora Bagenal, Correspondent / August 10, 2013

The garden was set up in 2003 by a group of janitors who decided to use empty space on the building’s roof to grow food to take home to their families. In the 10 years since, it has blossomed into a fully functioning urban horticulture center, complete with trellises crisscrossed with vines and rows of potted herbs and spices. It covers an area roughly 4,000 sq. meters (about 4,300 sq. feet), that otherwise would be an expanse of unused concrete.

The guerrilla garden is one of several small city farms dotted around Bangkok. And now, a group of nutritional experts say the trend could be harnessed to improve access to food for Thailand’s growing numbers of urban poor. 

Egg Money in the Sustainable Farming Universe

Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post

It is not so easy being a Chicken farmer. This young woman is doing it. Shelby Grebenc has been raising chickens for both eggs and meat at her family's Adams County farm. In this 2011 photo, she holds Chipmunk, one of her Americana hens.

You may be tired of reading about Chickens and sustainable agriculture but I am probably not going to stop writing about it. Hey, it is my Blog.  

My Babcha helped raise a family of six with her chicken and egg money in the early 1900s. All they had was an acre in the country. I think I really may get some Hens. Ever had a fresh country Egg? Delicious. 

Ms. Shelby has plenty of peppery and wise things to say about Life, Salesmanship and Chickens like this quote below. Go to the article at the Denver Post if you want to know more:

"If you want sustainable, wholesome, pasture-raised organic, hormone- and antibiotic-free food, you have to support it. You can not get these things by talking about it and not paying for it. The next time you shop at a farmers market, think about what it cost me to grow it. Don't ask me to take less and then tell me you can get it cheaper at a big-box store. I know you can — but it will not be as fresh or as good as what I have, and you won't make me cry."

"Rice is the best, the most nutritive and the most widespread staple in the world." - Escoffier

 There seem to be but three ways for a nation to acquire wealth. The first is by war, as the Romans did, in plundering their conquered neighbors. This is robbery. The second by commerce, which is generally cheating. The third by agriculture, the only honest way, wherein man receives a real increase of the seed thrown into the ground, in a kind of continual miracle, wrought by the hand of God in his favor, as a reward for his innocent life and his virtuous industry.    Benjamin Franklin

I wonder about the world food supply and the effect of global climate change on agriculture. Our corn harvest in the USA is seriously affected by sustained drought.  About 80 percent of our agricultural land is experiencing drought. I wonder what this will do to the price of milk and eggs. Global climate change is a bread and butter issue. 

I found this press release from the United Nations comforting.

19 November 2012, Rome - Global rice production for 2012 is forecast to outpace consumption in 2012/13, resulting in an upward revision of 5 million tonnes in 2013 closing inventories, according to a new forecast by FAO's  Rice Market Monitor issued today. 

"Compared to last year, world rice carryover stocks are expected to rise by 7 percent, or 10 million tonnes, to a new high of almost 170 tonnes, marking the eighth consecutive year of stock accumulation," says the RMM. "As a result, the world rice stock-to-use ratio is forecast to rise from 33.6 percent in 2012 to 35.5 percent in 2013.

I wonder how many rice farmers in Africa are beautiful women.  I love Rice. So this is good news to me. There certainly is lots to think about. So I am going to keep thinking "aloud" about it and relaying what I find. I am particularly interested in urban farming.

Learn how to cook rice and get rice recipes with pictures and directions for the beginning cook at this this wonderful blog: