October 31, 2009
Really? This is amazing and I want to go. Now. Tonight. There are over 3000 pumpkins lit at 748 Beech St in Kenova, WV. Hands down best halloween decorations. And in the second photo doesn’t it seem like there’s a decorated chicken coop?
Hope you all had a good and perhaps even meaningful Halloween! xoxo
October 29, 2009
Every day I walk past lots that are full of broken glass, scraggly foxtailed grass and cracked cement. Typical city adornment. A lot of people have been taken with the idea of seed bombs and are lobbing tiny balls of hope over many fences within busy city borders. I looked around on Etsy because I am obviously fascinated about the breadth of homemade crafted goods people offer on there. Sure enough there were some seed bomb offerings, and I’m loving these by the shop Visual Lingual.
Now for those of us not living in the Midwest here is a recipe to make your own.
Seed Bomb Recipe:
5pts dry red clay (to hold them together until the rain)
3 pts dry organic compost (for seedlings nourishment)
1 pt seed
1-2 parts water
*Combine dry materials, add water until a paste is thick enough to form penny sized balls. Allow the seed bombs to dry for 3-4 days in the sun. For those of you in California the seeds from lupine and california poppies are great plants to use.
Now while I LOVE this idea, and would encourage folks to try it out, I have a few caveats.
*Make sure that the seeds are for local native plants only. I know cities aren’t exactly natural, but we can still hope to encourage the wildlife that need native plants to take up residence. It would be totally irresponsible to throw seed around from non-native invasive species.
*Please stick to lots and city cracks only. Do not bomb any area set aside for wildlife. The ecosystem is fragile and I’d hate for your enthusiasm to have catastrophic interspecies effects!
October 25, 2009
There are books out there that I read so slow, as slow as I possibly can, because I don’t want them to end. Ever. That’s how I feel about the book I’m reading right now by Derek Jarman. Derek Jarman’s Garden with incredibly moving pictures by Howard Sooley, was the last book Derek Jarman wrote before passing from AIDS in 1994. He began the garden in Dungeness, Kent in 1986 and transformed the bleak apocalyptic land facing a nuclear power plant into an inspired garden of plants, sculpture, symbolism and intention.
The whole book looks and reads like a dreamlike state. I can’t believe I haven’t read this until now. My highest recommendations.
Image by Urban 75
Image from Wikimedia
Image by tanetahi’s flickrOctober 22, 2009
First, let me apologize for my sporadic posting lately. My acupuncture program is really in full gear and honestly, I’ve just been too tired! But I’ve missed it here so it’s nice to be back this morning. These days whenever I’m at school I make a big cup of medicinal tea to put back in some of those nutrients I’m burning through while trying to pay attention. I thought I’d do a weekly herbal tea recipe here. Since everyone around me seems to be hacking with a cough or burning with fever I’ve been paying close attention if I feel even a bit run down. 
My favorite recipe right now for preventing a cold when I first feel it coming is elderberry and ginger tea with honey. For 1 strong steaming cup: At least 1 teaspoon dried elderberries (only the black, ripe ones!) and 2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger with a little honey or lemon to taste. Let it steep while covered for at least 20 minutes. It tastes so good and will make you sweat a bit to move that nasty cold out of your system. It’s also a really lovely purple color.
Tea cups print by Etsy shop Sollinero
October 18, 2009
A truly earnest sight on a cloudy day walk to school.
October 15, 2009
I love going to nurseries. I go there for work and sometimes on my day off, I go there again. Just recently I went to a nursery here in Berkeley that I’ve never been to before even though it’s been around for 20 years. I guess the stars finally aligned correctly and me and two other gardeners went there to check it out. They use 100% organic soil mixes, and they also grow all of the plants in Berkeley. Which means no shipping from So Cal or Oregon. Lovely, important. If you ever are visiting Berkeley it’s a must see, and if you’re here this week they are having a 30% off sale on all of their native plants. Check out their website and their blog to get better acquainted.
October 12, 2009
This is the asian pear that cost me $3 at the farmer’s market yesterday. I know, I know! I didn’t know it was going to be that much until I got up there and handed over the cash in shock. Yes urban farmer’s markets tend to be more expensive then the grocery store. What is it like outside of these limits? Anyone? So this fancy asian pear has had a photo shoot and it’s pal has already been consumed. In Traditional Chinese Medicine we learn that the fall is a really drying time for the lungs. This can lead to a hacking cough, a sore throat, dry skin and a scratchy throats. Their lovely solution for this problem is to eat steamed asian pears. Although I bet any old pear could make a stellar substitute. The beauty of this is manifold. You can eat them this way as a preventative medicine, as an aid to help with symptoms that already are ailing you and it tastes really good.
Recipe: Cut pear into slices and steam for about 10 minutes, covered. Traditionally you are to add rock sugar before serving. I drizzled mine with honey instead. So simple and really good. And the tickle in my throat is gone. Enjoy!
October 8, 2009
Maybe this is a little off topic, but maybe not. I mean a lot of us are in the middle of dealing with surplus apples right now. Fall is still new, so we’re celebrating it instead of bemoaning the cold weather and reading seed catalogs while dreaming of BLTs with garden fresh tomatoes. So in celebration of fall baking, and as a new way to use those canning jars you all have spent so much time with, I wanted to repost this link I found on For Me – For You, which was originally posted on Our Best Bites. The recipe for these single serving jar pies is here. I wish I was having one of these with my tea this morning!
October 5, 2009
I spent a few hours this Saturday wandering around the botanical garden. It was a perfect autumn day and there were hawks screeching overhead. Lovely. The gardens sit down in a canyon so when you look out from them it feels like you are surrounded by woods which is a great feeling of escape from the city. As I wandered through the sections from China, Japan, Australia, Mexico, Brazil… I realized again how lucky I am to live in this climate where almost anything will grow. Except for the most tropical of the tropicals which I look forward to visiting every time in the garden’s hothouse. I didn’t take a ton of images because I was too busy looking, but here are a few.
October 3, 2009
It’s finally feeling like autumn here. The light is shifting and the shadows are lengthening and the spiders are enormous and EVERYWHERE. This year I planted my front yard with tomatoes and everyday as I leave or enter my house I stop and look at them. They’re unsightly. They’re browned and drooping, but they’re speckled with bright yellow and red orbs. I’m itching to tear them out and am also reluctant to because here in the Bay Area you can eek out tomatoes well into October. I gleaned a huge container of them today and think that I’ll probably do that twice more and then out they go. My go-to recipe this year has been oven roasted.
Today’s version included my ever multiplying sun golds, a few stray early girls, some new tiny red onions, red pepper flakes and sea salt. Preheat oven to 400 and then after about 30 minutes they are perfect. As if cherry tomatoes needed more flavor!
