March Against Monsanto
This week’s tip is for a worldwide protest against Monsanto and GMO crops.
Waste Not, Want Not – Food Waste Reality Check
I had the pleasure of attending an event last night called Getting Wasted, which focused on how much food is wasted in our country. From farm to table and from table to trash, we throw away a lot of food. A gathering of experts shed light on the subject. It was enlightening and informative, and I'd like to share some highlights with you. 40% of all food in the U.S. is wasted. What? How? My first thought was, sure - farmers…
March Against Monsanto – This Saturday
We garden for many reasons, but whether it's a hobby, habit or homesteading way of life, gardening has a purpose. It feeds us. What's more, it gives us the opportunity to control where some of our food comes from. I do it to avoid pesticides, to assure that the methods used to grow my food are sustainable, and to reduce my carbon footprint (fewer miles from farm to table, less pollution from chemicals, lower water usage through bio-intensive planting methods).…
Two Tips for Spring
This week’s tip comes from avid gardeners who wrote into Organic Gardening Magazine.
Photos by Andrew Cheeseman
Oh Sweet Goodness: First Honey Harvest
We couldn't stand the suspense any longer. Our bees were filling up frame after frame of their hive with golden nectar and we wanted to share the experience. So we donned our suits and veils and harvested a single frame for ourselves. Oh, sweet goodness! The frame was heavy with precious cargo, with each hexagonal cell covered in wax capping to let us know that it's ready. Open cells of comb are not ready; bees wait until the moisture content…
Repair Café
Instead of throwing away that rusty or broken hand tool, why not bring it to a repair café and get it fixed?
Millet turning darker at the tips
Millet Update and Spring Colors
We planted millet in late February and planted it out last month and already we have an update! While many of the plants were destroyed by curious cats, the remainder have sent up impressive stalks of grain. This being our first time growing millet, we weren't sure what to expect. It's always fun to try something new and see what happens. Here's what we found in the garden yesterday: Millet apparently is a short crop, only reaching about 15" tall.…
Mint adds brightness to this delicious appetizer or side dish.
Recipe: Fava Bean Crostini
What do you do with all those fava beans from your winter cover crop? The possibilities are endless, but when you're in the mood for something sophisticated, try this fava bean crostini for a bright spring delight. It is based on a recipe from Susie Middleton's Eat Your Spring Veggies: Five Fresh Dishes in Oregon Live. Instead of shallots, we used some of our freshly harvested, young green garlic. Check out this satisfying treat: Ingredients - for 2 Kosher salt 1 pounds…
2013 Clean Fifteen
The Environmental Working Group’s 2013 Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen list you can choose organic where it matters most.
Raised Bed planter (getting 10 minutes of shade from the palm tree overhead)
Easy Patio Garden
One of my Santa Monica College students wanted to put in a starter garden to try out her new found skills on a small scale. She didn't want to invest in landscaping or permanent raised beds just yet. After a consultation and some thoughtful deliberation, we landed on a patio garden with a pre-fab raised bed. The patio was level concrete and brick, eliminating the need to level out uneven ground (saving on labor costs). There was no grass to…