garden

copy this: vines and leafy vegetables as flowers

hops-flower-1

Tertin Kartano is a 16th century farm that doubles as a hotel and restaurant (or vice versa) in Mikkeli in Southern Finland’s lake region. Much of what Papita and Matti Pylkkanen and their staff grow and forage – from wild chanterelle to rowan berries – are used in the traditional Finnish manor-house cuisine, and in creating its very charming ambiance. I loved these canning jars cleverly arranged with vines (others have leafy vegetables and herbs) in place of flowers for the café’s outdoor tables. (I don’t think I’ve ever seen chicken wire used decoratively before…) The vines appear to be hops, grown to make Tertti’s incredibly delicious, crisp, slightly bitter beer. read more…

09.14.09 | comments | in cheap + great, copy this!, garden, outside, sightings |

on tomatoes and improvising

Maria Robledo

Maria Robledo

“I guess you win some and you lose some”, my friend Keith Stewart wrote in an email. “Last year was a winner. This year, I think, will not be.”

Like many farmers in the Northeast, Keith’s tomatoes have been hit hard by late blight, the same spore-born disease that caused the Irish Potato famine in the mid-19th century. The epidemic started with blighted seedlings sold to home gardeners by Walmart, Lowe’s, Kmart and Home Depot. Once the spores were released into the environment, relentlessly wet, windy weather encouraged them to spread and flourish: a perfect storm. A picture in the New York Times food section recently showed Keith hurling blighted tomato plants, that he’d grown from seed, into a deep pit (a grave, really). Keith estimates his losses will be around $40,000, which is not as bad as some.

Keith’s words remind me that to farm is to face uncontrollable forces – both natural and man-made – on a daily basis. Farmers solve problems, think on their feet, improvise constantly. Vulnerability and risk are part of the deal. read more…

08.09.09 | comments | in community, food, garden, nature, paths + processes, people |

d-i-y: pallet chair (and stool and lamp…)

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I’ve come across a number of posts about furniture made of pallets, those flat rectangles of rough hammered-together wood platforms commonly used to move bundled goods around by a fork lift. This lounge chair by Studiomama is a particularly good one; it has clean lines and looks like it would be comfortable – perfect at a beach house or on a patio. It is made out of two pallets and 50 screws, from an inexpensive, down-loadable plan. It would be great painted, or naturally weathered.

The ever-innovative Studiomama has other well-designed examples of pallet furniture read more…

07.29.09 | comments | in furniture, garden, hard, how-to, materials, plans, repurpose |

creating your (urban) homestead

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I am a farmer trapped in a city-person’s body, torn between love of urban and yearning to grow vegetables, keep bees, preserve food. I know there are a lot of us around.

Why should it be either/or? Although I’ve been figuring out country ways in my small city apartment for years, a new book has opened my eyes to possibilities I never thought of, and gives the wherewithal to do them. read more…

07.10.09 | comments (3) | in food, garden, how-to, inside, learn, outside, resources, resources books + zines, strategies |

buy, sell or trade produce at veggie trader

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Maria Robledo

The newly-launched website Veggie Trader is like Craigslist for homegrown produce. Sign up to post a listing describing the excess produce you have and what you’d like in return. Or just enter your zip code to see what your neighbors have available for sell or to give away. read more…

05.15.09 | comments | in community, food, free + flea, garden, services, share, strategies |

how to be a guerrilla gardener

There’s been a lot on the internet lately about guerrilla gardeners, people from all walks dedicated to stealthily transforming blighted, barren or plain ugly urban spots into planted oasis’s.  These are often ordinary, middle-class souls fed up with the lack of nature and beauty in their urban landscape, and willing to break the law,  shell out money for seeds, plants and supplies from their own pocket, and put themselves on the line (in effect, doing an end-run around bogged-down, bureaucratic local governments).  read more…

02.21.09 | comments | in community, garden, nature, outside, reclaim |

 
 
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