free digger
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Some Green in Front
I’m happy to report that Juniper and my front yard has gone from this to this. Most of the red and yellow you see are pansies. The red pansies are actually a deep copper-color, but I shot this at twilight after work a couple of hours ago, so the color is a little off. The green is a mixture of annual rye and crimson clover that we sowed for green manure. It’s kind of spotty, but at least it’s more alive than the neighboring lots.
So as you can see, I’ve been gardening. Just not writing about gardening. My first big project at my new job finished up last week—it went well—so I’m a lot less anxious and I have more mental space to write.
Click here for a few more pics of the front yard. This weekend we’ll be starting on the back.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Bears Against the Beast
The Daily Gotham is one of my daily reads. While sometimes when reading it I feel it things activism begins and ends with the Democratic Party politics, it’s well-written and well-reported. And I marvel at the ability of the small staff of writers to be everywhere in the city. So I especially appreciated this write-up of a recent news conference at Brooklyn Bears Community Garden to announce a new lawsuit against the Atlantic Yards development. It really is true that this tiny expression of beauty and ease on Planet Earth has been such a powerful focus for opposition to brutal development.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Harlem Community Garden in Extreme Jeopardy
Over the winter, there has been an occupation of the Nueva Esperanza Community Garden in East Harlem. It seems that developers always go after gardens in the winter, when they get the least use and look the most bare. With the quickening of the sap, these developers realized that they needed to move quickly. This post from Curbed provides a good account. The organizers, my friends and heros at More Gardens!, are asking supporters to call the Mayor at 311 and ask that the four city oned lots and the $12 million money being given to the developers be withdrawn until:
1- community garden is included in the plan
2- at least 50% low income and 30% middle income units are included in the plan
3- the developers meet with affected community groups and meet their needs
I’ve pasted the full account below.
Seeding Ground
Sorry for not posting for a while. A) It’s been winter. B) I moved. C) I changed jobs. D) I turned 50.
My life has been a whirlwind of change, and it’s been hard to stop and catch my breath, much less blog about it.
But things are settling down and I look forward to gardening and blogging. In fact, this Saturday Juniper and I broke down in our front garden. That’s Juniper with the rake. The soil turned out not to be so bad, although it does have a lot of rubble in it, as you can see by those piles next to the house. And that was just the first pass. After turning up the soil and raking it, we sowed winter rye and crimson clover. Both are classic green manures, that we’ll turn back into the soil after they’ve had a chance to grow for a while. I’m especially looking forward to the clover, which has beautiful bright red flower heads. It’s a legume, so it should also fix some nitrogen for us.
As usual, exciting and frustrating news on the political community garden front. I’ll post about them separately.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Fuschias and Wild Parrots
I watched the Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill over the weekend. It’s a very touching film about Mark Bittner, a man who developed a relationship with a flock of feral cherry-headed conure parrots in San Francisco. Judy Irving is the director. The film touched on many Buddhist themes, including right livelihood and the circle of life. However, what I found most intriguing was the issue of sustaining a non-native, out-of-place species. While he later recanted, Bittner say that he just wasn’t interested in native birds. The parrots are lively and sociable, yet still being wild. For me, I wouldn’t say the native birds aren’t as interesting, there is something about the parrot’s raucous being that is compelling, and in the context of a cosmopolitan city like San Francisco, very appropriate. But they’re still a connection to nature. It was very satisfying to see the parrots among the other non-native plants that grow in the beautiful gardens along the steps of Telegraph Hill: fuschias, flowering cherries, strawberry guavas, roses. I’m not arguing against being wary of invasive plants that do disrupt ecologies: barberry, loosestrife, melaleuca. But I haven’t heard of, say, fuschias escaping and taking over acres of California oak savanna. And fuschias are so very lovely.
For instance.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Calendulas in January
Freaky warm weather. I took these pictures of a calendula and a pansy in bloom on January 14 in Brooklyn, New York. I’m glad I’m moving to higher ground.