tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63068001307667592802024-02-10T02:14:37.810-08:00Green GalGreen Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.comBlogger283125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-17935884692408690122021-03-14T22:31:00.000-07:002021-03-14T22:31:36.580-07:00Green Gal Blog is Moving to a New Home<div>The Green Gal blog is moving to a new location! From January 2009 to early March 2021, the Green Gal blog was hosted here by Blogger at <a href="http://greenbeangal.blogspot.com/">http://greenbeangal.blogspot.com/</a> </div><div><div><br /></div><div>Starting today, March 14, 2021, all new Green Gal blog posts will be posted on my website at <a href="https://www.greengalgrows.com/blog/ ">https://www.greengalgrows.com/blog/</a></div><div><br /></div><div>To subscribe to updates from the new blog, <a href="https://blogspot.us16.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=94a5965c2ad7d1e7e93c41f30&id=363b548a3e" target="_blank">please join my e-newsletter mailing list</a>. I send out a newsletter on the 15th of each month that includes my recent posts and other resources related to all of the things you've come to associate with Green Gal--and more! </div><div><br /></div><div>I feel bittersweet about migrating to this new site for the blog. The Blogger site has been a familiar place to login and write to my heart’s content since I was 16 years old. But just as this blog has matured with me over time, it is now time to migrate to my own website. </div><div><br /></div><div>Fortunately, the archive of posts on this Blogger site will remain available, and over time I will migrate some of the best and most relevant articles to the new blog.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thank you to everyone who has supported my blogging journey over the past 12 years! I look forward to continuing to write and share with you at the new website.</div></div>Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-2389785482041563872021-03-04T10:59:00.002-08:002021-03-04T11:12:20.462-08:00Simplify to Amplify<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nspt157qtbQ/YEErjqjV6MI/AAAAAAAAGQw/zxnR_BTBZbY5xg2LhwmVQCKI7LNfFaiJwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2047/IMG_1202.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2046" data-original-width="2047" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nspt157qtbQ/YEErjqjV6MI/AAAAAAAAGQw/zxnR_BTBZbY5xg2LhwmVQCKI7LNfFaiJwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_1202.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>When we prune a fruit tree, we simplify the branches in order to amplify the available sunlight to those remaining. Removing branches also directs the tree's energy to the remaining buds so that the tree can grow bigger and stronger and produce larger and healthier fruit. <p></p><p><b>We simplify to amplify.</b></p><p></p><p>Lately, I've been reflecting on how this principle applies to many aspects of my life. It can be satisfying to simplify, such as when you de-clutter your home and finally donate all of the things you no longer need or want. What remains are the items you truly value, and you can better appreciate and use them because they are no longer buried by all the extra "stuff." </p><p>Perhaps this feeling is familiar to you if you went through this process within the past year during the pandemic. Spending so much time inside our homes has helped some of us recognize how much "stuff" has accumulated that we don't need anymore. Hopefully we also learn to reduce how much stuff we bring into our homes so that we don't need to de-clutter as often.</p><p></p><p>Here are some other ways I see this principle working well in my life:</p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>Following intentionally on social media</b></h3><p>I recently unfollowed more than 200 accounts on Instagram and Facebook in an effort to amplify the posts of those that I really want to hear from. As I've been spending less time on social media lately (thanks to the Screen Time settings on my phone!), I want to be sure the content I see when I am logged in adds value to my life. Unfollowing those accounts has helped me listen more to the people I'm still following. </p><p>In addition, I'm being more intentional about the new pages I follow, seeking out folks whose posts not only add beauty to my feed but also educate me, challenge my assumptions, make me think critically, and help me be a better person. In simplifying the volume of content that the algorithm can show me, I'm amplifying the voices that remain.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>Shorter daily to-do lists</b></h3><p>Each day and/or each week, I've been identifying 3-4 highest priority action items to focus on and get through before I look back at my long, never-ending to-do lists. I do this for my housekeeping chores, my personal writing projects, and for each of my consulting clients. </p><p>The mountain of tasks on my big to-do lists can feel overwhelming. When I haven't taken the time to prioritize in advance, I often experience analysis paralysis and choose whatever seems easiest in that moment. Often those easy tasks are not the most important or urgent, though. </p><p>It makes a huge difference when I take a few minutes to review my lists, identify the priorities, and then only look at my short list until it's complete. And when a new task comes up, I do a quick analysis of whether it needs to happen urgently, soon, or later, and I place it accordingly on the big list. This helps make my daily and weekly reviews simpler, as well. </p><p>With these easy adjustments to how I plan my days, I've simplified my scope so that I can use my time effectively on the most important priorities first.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>Using fewer words</b></h3><p>Although I struggle with this one, I know that editing my writing to say what I mean in fewer, more potent words is more effective. Instagram's character limit has helped me stay succinct when posting there, and I've even considered creating a word limit for myself on my blog for this same reason. Simplifying our communication amplifies what we truly mean.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>Access to fewer books and toys</b></h3><p>I've found that Little L can better engage with his toys and books when there are fewer of them available. I've been rotating his toys every couple of weeks and rotating his books weekly, and I keep only a few accessible to him at a time. He can more easily find the toys he wants and plays with them longer when there aren't as many within reach.</p><div><br /></div><div>These are just a few of the many ways I see this principle showing up in my life. When we simplify--reduce the clutter, the noise, the superfluous--we can better see, hear, enjoy, and focus on what remains. And in the case of pruning a fruit tree, we let the light shine in and grow bigger, sweeter fruit! </div><div><br /></div><div>How do you see this principle working in your own life?</div><p></p>Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-30782877074476470012021-02-17T11:25:00.001-08:002021-02-17T11:25:42.701-08:00Seedling UpdateWatching seeds sprout into seedlings and grow into plants never ceases to amaze me. The joy and wonder of new life!<div><br /></div><div>The first little brassica seedlings emerged on February 12, and I posted about it on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CLM1RdUBnus/" target="_blank">Instagram here</a>. And then two days later, the scallions began germinating, so now I've got broccoli, kale, and scallion babies photosynthesizing by the window. Some of the brassicas (broccoli and kale) seem to be getting a bit leggy, making me wish I had an outdoor greenhouse. The seedlings get a lot of sun in this window, but they still seem to be reaching a bit.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QwXm7NXcURU/YC1tAd4G4rI/AAAAAAAAGN0/h_kWtfynetU7Ac4qPe8bNBEUB5c_e7hcACLcBGAsYHQ/s800/IMG_0742.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QwXm7NXcURU/YC1tAd4G4rI/AAAAAAAAGN0/h_kWtfynetU7Ac4qPe8bNBEUB5c_e7hcACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0742.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Scallions on the left, kale on the right.</div><br /><div><div>With our strong wind gusts here in Reno, we'd need a sturdy greenhouse that wouldn't blow away. We're dreaming up designs for next season and thinking about where a greenhouse might fit in our little backyard.</div><div><br /></div><div>One idea is to place it where our hot tub currently sits. This hot tub came with our house and we've never used it. It drained while we were away--a pipe probably froze and burst. It's probably for the best since it was wasting energy and water, but now the question is what to do with it. Green Guy's aunt and uncle filled their old hot tub with soil and grow veggies in it. This morning I was envisioning a sort of cold frame for seedlings, if we were to remove the lid and put some sturdy plastic or a glass lid over the top. What other creative ways could we repurpose it in the short-term? Eventually I think we'll get it hauled away and build a greenhouse in its place.</div><div><br /></div><div>But back to the seedlings: you'll notice it's getting crowded in some of the cells. I'm planning on thinning the brassicas down to one sprout per cell later today, using hair cutting scissors for precision. I planted multiple seeds in each cell so that I could thin to the strongest one, and for the old seeds I sowed, it helped increase the probability of germination.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G2Ez-nTPKAw/YC1tGVtukCI/AAAAAAAAGN4/2qdeojVaydc3DLputFNVYVO8s06aW3C1QCLcBGAsYHQ/s800/IMG_0738.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G2Ez-nTPKAw/YC1tGVtukCI/AAAAAAAAGN4/2qdeojVaydc3DLputFNVYVO8s06aW3C1QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0738.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CgptfWDfim4/YC1tGTP9V8I/AAAAAAAAGN8/AGJDiNV38oILbtTY6A6Q-Pyo9jML_icIgCLcBGAsYHQ/s800/IMG_0739.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CgptfWDfim4/YC1tGTP9V8I/AAAAAAAAGN8/AGJDiNV38oILbtTY6A6Q-Pyo9jML_icIgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0739.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I'm sowing more seeds this coming weekend, hoping that all these seedlings make it once I plant them out in March. The soil may still be too cold by that point, so I may be growing them indoors longer than planned.</div><div><br /></div><div>(Side note: I'm considering getting panda plastic/silage tarp to help warm up the soil and suppress weeds before planting out, but the thought of so much plastic gives me pause--if I'm going to get some for this season, I should order it now to make it worth it. I know many market gardeners & organic farmers use silage tarp--I used it in 2018 and it was amazing--so I'm really torn. I think it would make my life a lot easier in the garden, and it's reusable if I take care of it. What to do!?)</div><div><br /></div><div>This is all part of the learning process in this new garden, and honestly I'm just having so much fun growing these little plant babies! That alone makes it worth it in my book.</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A0ExP7LU-LU/YC1tGXGFsHI/AAAAAAAAGOA/pnSJP5W0C-UgN7RNTrTJdSXwbP36wClSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/IMG_0744.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A0ExP7LU-LU/YC1tGXGFsHI/AAAAAAAAGOA/pnSJP5W0C-UgN7RNTrTJdSXwbP36wClSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0744.jpg" /></a></div></div></div></div>Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-42591158038370938512021-02-08T08:30:00.001-08:002021-02-17T11:18:34.627-08:00Sowing seeds is an act of hope & intentionSowing seeds is an act of hope & intention. In these uncertain times, planting seeds invites joy, wonder, & anticipation. There's still uncertainty, but with care & attention, we can cultivate new life. And if we're lucky, we get homegrown tomatoes!<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8CWYEljD7YU/YC1q4-m-B2I/AAAAAAAAGNg/_E6iabK8ydAbm4S3a3-FrVcJsJGJ5x1pQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0484.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8CWYEljD7YU/YC1q4-m-B2I/AAAAAAAAGNg/_E6iabK8ydAbm4S3a3-FrVcJsJGJ5x1pQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0484.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div><div>Yesterday, the 2021 growing season officially began here! I sowed my 1st round of seeds to start indoors by our sunny sliding glass door. I also finished most of my crop plan for 2021.</div><div><br /></div><div>Our growing season in Reno is short & hot. According to <a href="https://naes.agnt.unr.edu/PMS/Pubs/2010-3168.pdf" target="_blank">UNR Cooperative Extension</a>, Reno has 90-120 frost-free days. The average last frost day is May 15, & the average 1st frost day is September 15--although this doesn't account for our specific microclimate. Since it's only our 2nd year in this house, I am just starting to collect data about our seasonal growing patterns so I can plan better in years to come.</div><div><br /></div><div>I enjoy crop planning--it combines my love for planning & organizing with my passion for growing food. For those who are new to crop planning or who like to geek out on it, I posted a series of story updates about my crop planning this year versus when I was managing my market garden in the Santa Cruz Mountains in 2018. I also posted about my indoor seedling setup & process for sowing seeds, which I learned at the <a href="http://casfs.ucsc.edu/" target="_blank">UCSC Farm & Gardens</a>. Find the series of updates in my <a href="https://www.instagram.com/greenbeangal/" target="_blank">"Crop Plan" story highlight on Instagram.</a></div><div><br /></div><div>My crop plan this year is simple, written on graph paper, & subject to change--as all crop plans must be since we can't control the weather!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cLsu2yO6Akk/YC1rRkXOrtI/AAAAAAAAGNo/Ne9Jc9umzuwnqcjp2w0N2dGcuBId4_jlwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cLsu2yO6Akk/YC1rRkXOrtI/AAAAAAAAGNo/Ne9Jc9umzuwnqcjp2w0N2dGcuBId4_jlwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0300.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div>My crop plan in 2018 was complex, full of calculations to meet my production goals, & created in Excel. It was also subject to change but keeping up with it was key so I could produce enough food for the families in my small CSA program. I also learned this method at the UCSC Farm & Gardens and, in my <a href="https://www.instagram.com/greenbeangal/" target="_blank">"Crop Plan" story highlight on Instagram</a>, I share online resources to approach crop planning in this more goal-oriented & detailed way. It's an excellent approach if you're planning to grow the majority of your family's food, or if you have production goals through a market garden or farm.</div><div><br /></div><div>Whether you crop plan or not, what are you growing in 2021?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CLC7BMYBUHM/">See more photos and join the conversation in the comments on the original post here on Instagram</a>.</i></div></div>Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-70232188760232786772021-02-06T20:07:00.000-08:002021-02-06T20:07:52.874-08:00Self Care <p>Self care is essential. It makes life more enjoyable; equips us to face life's challenges; provides an opportunity to connect more deeply with ourselves; and it allows us to bring our best selves to our many roles--as parents, partners, friends, children, colleagues, etc. The concept of "self care" can seem like something you have to find extra time for or prepare for in some special way. While it can look like that sometimes, it can also be so much more simple and woven into your everyday life through things you already do. And it's powerful.</p><div>Prioritizing yourself and your needs (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual) allows you to be more present and grateful and joyful, both for your own personal experience of your life and in how you show up for the work you do in the world. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pFTF4kPZTQk/YB9KK3R1XCI/AAAAAAAAGJ4/L0-MJ4EPztUDue88apDRjczAO_erPTCyACLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/prioritizing-yourself.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pFTF4kPZTQk/YB9KK3R1XCI/AAAAAAAAGJ4/L0-MJ4EPztUDue88apDRjczAO_erPTCyACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h400/prioritizing-yourself.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>As parents, the work of raising children is to not only keep our little ones safe and happy but to also teach them ways to be and relate in the world--which includes modeling for them how to treat ourselves and others. They watch everything we do--what do our self care practices (or lack thereof) teach them about how <i>they</i> should treat <i>themselves</i>?</div><div><br /></div><div>As changemakers weaving a better world, our work is to be the change we wish to see (as Gandhi says) in all aspects of our lives. Each aspect of our own life that we can bring into alignment with our values serves as a thread to strengthen and grow the more regenerative and just world we are co-creating. As we know, we can't make all of these changes overnight--but how will our culture change if we do not first change ourselves?</div><div><br /></div><div>Being the change we wish to see includes being intentional about how we show up for ourselves while we're showing up for the planet and all of its current and future inhabitants. The systems of capitalism and colonialism and patriarchy continue to inflict so much pain and violence on people and nature--and these are the same systems that tell us that self care is selfish, that self care is unproductive, or that if we do practice self care, its only redeeming quality is that it makes us better workers and providers. These are myths perpetuated to keep these systems in power, to keep us working so hard that we don't have capacity to consider if this is really the kind of society and world that we want for ourselves and our children.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Masculine & feminine energies</b></div><div>I recently listened to a series of inspiring interviews called t<span style="background-color: white;">he Vibrant Mama Summit, hosted by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/kateborsato/" target="_blank">Kate </a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/kateborsato/" target="_blank">Borsato</a><b>,</b> and it synchronized perfectly with some recent shifts in my life (described below)</span> that made self care so clearly necessary. Kate interviewed Jessica Flint, Founder of <a href="https://www.recoverywarriors.com/" target="_blank">Recovery Warriors</a>, who spoke about masculine and feminine energy in the context of motherhood and self care. I'm also reading <i>Nature and the Human Soul</i> by Bill Plotkin, and he talks about this as well. </div><div><br /></div><div>Given that gender is not a binary and that gendered language can be exclusive and problematic, I wonder if there are better terms to use in understanding this metaphor. For some, these gendered metaphors add additional depth and clarity and resonate with their lived experience. But ultimately this concept is describing elements of humanity that don't have to be gendered in this way if that doesn't resonate with you. Where possible below, I'll use "'doing' energy" instead of masculine, and "'being' energy" instead of feminine.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the interview, Jessica Flint explained that everyone has both masculine and feminine qualities. The masculine part of ourselves, which is dominant in modern society, emphasizes doing and action. Many of us, perhaps most of us, feel this continual pressure to do more and be more productive. Many of us have been conditioned to emphasize the importance of productivity since our earliest years of schooling. Bill Plotkin talks about how this emphasis on productivity (and ultimately, GDP or other monetary measures) is a pillar of "egocentric society," which focuses on material wealth and social status at the expense of nature, people, and true human connection to self, community, and the natural world (of which we are part). </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_uuZUPtBRN8/YB9WGSprXiI/AAAAAAAAGKM/sW22IvA7qxEghnnhCWYJo0aHnaQU696kACLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/yin-yang.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_uuZUPtBRN8/YB9WGSprXiI/AAAAAAAAGKM/sW22IvA7qxEghnnhCWYJo0aHnaQU696kACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h400/yin-yang.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>While this "doing" energy that we all have is a valuable and necessary part of being human (and has allowed us as a species to accomplish so much!), the dominant emphasis on this part of ourselves, combined with the societal pressure to suppress and deny our "being" energy, is a contributing factor to so many problems in the world. Charging forward with our actions without being receptive to feedback or listening to the pain of others as a result of our actions is what happens when we exclusively embody "doing" energy and ignore our capacity for "being." Think environmental degradation and unregulated carbon emissions in the name of profits; or coming across land and stealing it, slaughtering the indigenous population already residing there in the name of manifest destiny; or giving your executives raises during a pandemic while cutting employee wages. An overemphasis on this "doing" energy in society can lead to action without presence, without emotion or empathy. </div><div><br /></div><div>These are examples of unfettered "doing" energy wreaking havoc. But obviously we also know that doing and thinking and contributing to society can all be wonderful, necessary things. This "doing" part of ourselves, though, isn't all that we are here to experience as humans--and in excess without the balance of "being" energy, it has proven to be harmful to life and humanity itself.</div><div><br /></div><div>As a balance to the masculine/"doing" energy we carry, feminine energy is about being, receiving, and feeling. When we allow ourselves to embody our "being" energy, we can actually feel our emotions without suppressing them, we can be comfortable with receiving the nurturing care that we need without feeling guilt that we aren't doing something "productive." We can sit with ourselves and simply be. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r0FQaf_b8bg/YB9kynJ9owI/AAAAAAAAGLE/KsqAxeyTvYk3Fyw8a5bFH-WralyDL-XUwCLcBGAsYHQ/s595/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-02-06%2Bat%2B7.55.31%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="594" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r0FQaf_b8bg/YB9kynJ9owI/AAAAAAAAGLE/KsqAxeyTvYk3Fyw8a5bFH-WralyDL-XUwCLcBGAsYHQ/w399-h400/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-02-06%2Bat%2B7.55.31%2BPM.png" width="399" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdd1mAznzbN/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;">By France Corbel</span></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Living in a society that emphasizes "doing" means that even when we do practice "being," such as in meditation or mindful moments, we often justify doing so because it will help us be more productive later. It is true that embodying our feminine "being" energy through a practice like meditation helps us later to embody our masculine "doing" energy through our work or other responsibilities. This is the balance of these two parts of ourselves. </div><div><br /></div><div>The key is recognizing that we are often off-balance, skewed in the direction of "doing" energy due to the society we live in. When we recognize this, we can create balance by placing intentional emphasis on "being" energy for its own sake, not simply to serve our "doing" energy. <i>Our self care can be for ourselves, without needing to justify how it will allow us to serve. </i></div><div><br /></div><div>I'm still wrapping my head around all of this, so I welcome your comments, insights, and resources for how to better understand these elements of ourselves and how we seek balance, knowing that it's always an evolving dance.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VWUas5fV-NA/YB9lgSzVkxI/AAAAAAAAGLM/myF9xVkb-EgujNLAQlM99WosLytH65dLgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/self-care-for-you.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VWUas5fV-NA/YB9lgSzVkxI/AAAAAAAAGLM/myF9xVkb-EgujNLAQlM99WosLytH65dLgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h400/self-care-for-you.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Self care is essential, effective self care is connecting</b></div><div>All of this is to say: Self care is essential. It's essential for the sake of our own personal experience of a richer and more connected life, in which we can feel our feelings in healthy ways, process them, and grow in our personal development journey. It's also essential for us to be more present and effective in our relationships and in the work we do in the world. </div><div><br /></div><div>We are most effective when we practice self care. Effective self care brings us into the present moment so that we can feel, sense, and connect with what is happening within and around us in a deeper way. Even if only for a moment, self care is connecting: to ourselves, to our sense of place in community, to our sense of place in nature, and to the "more than human world" of plants, creatures, earth, wind, fire, water, sunlight, and beyond.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>If you're looking for ideas, here are some simple yet effective and connecting daily self care practices:</div><div><ul><li>Be mindful and engage your senses when you're eating, drinking, walking, showering, brushing your teeth. Really savor your morning coffee, notice how nice the hot water feels in the shower, smell the minty freshness of your toothpaste as you brush your teeth. Experience your everyday routines in new ways simply by paying attention.</li><li>Express gratitude, verbally and/or by writing it down. The more you are present in your day (such as the examples above), the more you'll find to be grateful for.</li><li>Eat your lunch away from your desk and phone--gaze out a window or read an enjoyable novel or simply daydream while you eat.</li><li>Wash your face, brush your teeth, brush your hair, take a shower. Ideally we all do these every day and then do additional self care, but in COVID times and especially with a little one at home, I know I'm not the only one who misses some of these each day. Prioritizing them can make a huge difference in how you feel about yourself as you go about your day.<br /></li><li>Write down your thoughts, to-dos, dreams, and fears. I learned many years ago the power and magic of writing things down when they're in my head. From jotting down to-do list items or a grocery list, to free-writing about my dreams and worries, writing can help us process things, see them clearly, tell the universe what we want to create, and clear our mental space so we can be present. For things you want to return to and sort later, put them somewhere safe (email yourself, write them on a post-it on your desk that you won't lose, keep a notebook you revisit weekly or more). For fears or frustrations that you want to get out of your head and process out of your system, write it all down and then tear it up and recycle it--or save it to revisit a year or two from now if it's something significant that you think you'll want to reflect back on. <a href="https://juliacameronlive.com/basic-tools/morning-pages/" target="_blank">Morning pages</a> are a wonderful tool for all of this.<br /></li><li>Drink water. If you struggle with this, try using a large reusable water bottle with a built-in straw, or put glasses of water in different rooms in your house that you frequent often, or set a reminder on your phone or calendar.</li><li>Take vitamins: I've started setting out my vitamins on top of my planner each night so that I'll remember to take them in the morning after breakfast when I look at my planner. Put them somewhere you already look each day, preferably at the same time. Weaving new routines into existing routines helps build habits!</li><li><span style="background-color: white;">Step outside for 5 minutes to breathe, feel the temperature of the air, and notice what animal, insect, or human life you can see or hear. If you have more than 5 minutes, go for a walk or bike/drive to a nearby park or trail with the intention of really paying attention to what the outside world has to offer your senses. You can do this while walking/biking/hiking/running for exercise, too, but also take a few minutes to slow down and pay attention while you're out there.</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white;">Exercise: even just a short walk or some stretching in your living room is so good for your body and mind. I try to walk Liam in his stroller around our little neighborhood as many days a week as possible. I always return home refreshed, rejuvenated, and Liam seems happier after our walks, too.</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white;">Start a creative project, perhaps with no intention of sharing it with anyone else. Take the pressure off--your art does not need to be perfect, even if you <i>do</i> share it. (I need this reminder as much as anyone, especially while writing a blog post!)</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white;">Leave your phone in the other room, or download an app that helps you limit your time on social media, or spend the last 30 minutes of each day doing something other than staring at a screen of any kind.</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white;">Read a novel or inspiring nonfiction book before bed, or during lunch, or whenever you notice yourself scrolling mindlessly on your phone. In addition to reading your favorite kinds of books, challenge yourself to read books by authors who are different from you or different from the authors you tend to read. A quick Google search will yield lists of books by authors who are Black, Indigenous, people of color, LGBTQ, from other countries, from a different part of your country, politically different, etc.</span></li></ul><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jdzC8R4pUO4/YB9YRVoLSXI/AAAAAAAAGKs/U_Ra55B5AZs43AEmzhkuwJm5iiF2LnbNQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/self-care-ideas.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jdzC8R4pUO4/YB9YRVoLSXI/AAAAAAAAGKs/U_Ra55B5AZs43AEmzhkuwJm5iiF2LnbNQCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h320/self-care-ideas.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yX277hPaAog/YB9YRfIadrI/AAAAAAAAGKo/_0L0AoE9_206tv3TPI6ZHiZaNFC-9_8UACLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/self-care-ideas-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yX277hPaAog/YB9YRfIadrI/AAAAAAAAGKo/_0L0AoE9_206tv3TPI6ZHiZaNFC-9_8UACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/self-care-ideas-2.png" /></a></div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Why self care now?</b> </div><div>It's taken me nearly 10 months of parenting to truly <i>get</i> the necessity of <i>intentional</i> self care. I say intentional because prior to now, I did practice self care when I found myself with extra time to do so, or when someone reminded me to. But for most of my adult life--except for a few specific periods of time when I had a regular writing practice--I haven't prioritized my self care. Most of the time, I wasn't adding it to my calendar or thinking each evening about how I would show up for myself the next day. It wasn't integrated into my routine. Self care was an afterthought, after all of my other responsibilities.</div><div><br /></div><div>About a month ago, I started to reconnect with parts of myself that had been hidden beneath the whirlwind of learning, growth, exhaustion, and profound joy that came with having a baby. By around 9 months old, Liam was able to play independently for long stretches of time, and I discovered that I could read in the rocking chair while he crawled around and played. Liam's development in this way opened up the possibility of spending more time doing things I wanted to. </div><div><br /></div><div>I started writing. I revisited the <a href="https://courses.8shields.com/store/w2P7H8au" target="_blank">Renewal of Creative Path process</a> developed by the <a href="https://courses.8shields.com/" target="_blank">8 Shields Institute</a> that I first did in college and re-discovered some core themes of connection that I'm inviting into my life this year. I started making the connection between parenting and my love of teaching and the importance of nature connection, especially for children. Ideas have been flowing about how my Green Gal blog and related social media accounts could serve as a creative outlet for myself while connecting with other parents and/or changemakers. </div><div><br /></div><div>And then a few weeks ago, Green Guy's work schedule shifted significantly and we headed to the Bay Area so he could go into the office, upending the lovely routine we were in and leaving a lot less time for me to be creative. After the first week of watching Liam mostly on my own, even with help from safely masked family members, it became so clear to me that something needed to change. </div><div><br /></div><div>I was overwhelmed. I felt depleted at the end of the day. It didn't feel good.</div><div><br /></div><div>In response, I adjusted my work commitments temporarily, thanks to my flexible and understanding clients. But more importantly as a long-term shift, I started prioritizing self care in an intentional way--not leaving it until the end of the day or the weekend, but scheduling time for it during Liam's first nap of each day. </div><div><br /></div><div>Spending that first nap doing what I want to do has made a huge difference. I feel more relaxed, present, and happier. When I'm doing something and Liam crawls over and reaches up a hand as if to say "let's play, Mama!" or wants some milk or needs a diaper change, I am able to put aside my book or laundry or whatever I'm doing and be fully with him. My well was replenished earlier in the day and I have plenty to share. It also helps that Liam is a playful, sweet, and smart kid who is a joy to play with and watch! Just being present (a simple form of self care!) and watching him explore his world can often ground me and help put things into perspective if I feel myself getting overwhelmed. </div><div><br /></div><div>This doesn't mean I don't get ever get irritated or frustrated or overwhelmed (like when Liam throws his spoon for the third time in a row or tries to flip over on the changing table), but the intensity of those feelings is significantly less when I've taken care of myself that day. I'm able to take a breath, ground myself in all that I'm grateful for, and face whatever challenge has come up with more patience.</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HmzPa9d2Wz4/YB9X2QR87OI/AAAAAAAAGKg/kpW4WSZeFd8hWtEleMiKTZYIHj8PGut7QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_0121.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1761" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HmzPa9d2Wz4/YB9X2QR87OI/AAAAAAAAGKg/kpW4WSZeFd8hWtEleMiKTZYIHj8PGut7QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0121.HEIC" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Some of the books we read this past week. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CK12WHYB1P_/" target="_blank">See a post about this on Instagram</a>.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Self care is not one size fits all</b></div><div>I recognize that many, many parents--especially those who are now full-time parents and full-time employees in a pandemic--cannot devote their child's naptime to self care like I've been doing lately. That doesn't mean they can't prioritize self care, but it certainly looks different if you're working full time and raising children and keeping the house clean and doing all the things. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm incredibly grateful for the privilege I have that allows me to work part-time and stay home full-time with Liam, which is challenging at times but offers me enough breathing room to prioritize my self care relatively easily. I am in awe of the full-time work-from-home parents whose children are doing remote schooling. They need self care more than any of us--but I know many are not in a place right now to even feel like they have time to <i>think</i> about self care. (Note: <i>New York Times Parenting</i> just published a series call<span style="background-color: white;">ed "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/02/04/parenting/working-moms-coronavirus.html" target="_blank">This is a Primal Scream</a>" rel</span>ated to the crisis of parenting in the pandemic that is disproportionately affecting moms and people of color.)</div><div><br /></div><div>We are all in different stages and seasons of our lives, so self care naturally looks different for everyone--and it looks different at different times in our own lives. What we have in common in this society, though, is that most of us aren't <i>prioritizing</i> our self care often enough. </div><div><br /></div><div>I invite you to consider when and how you can bring more self care practices into your life. The earlier in the day, the better. Start with something small, like savoring your morning coffee, and notice where else you have capacity to be more present, more connected, and more intentional with how you spend your time.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thank you for taking the time to read this! This started out as an Instagram Story update that I wanted to elaborate on in an Instagram post. It quickly grew beyond that scope and kept evolving. There's even more I could say, but isn't that how it always is when we write about topics that are relevant and interesting to us? </div><div><br /></div><div>Take care, </div><div>Green Gal</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Resources & Gratitude</b></div><div>Thank you so much to everyone who has affirmed the importance of self care for me over the years. Below are some resources related to the topics covered in this post if you'd like to dive deeper or hear from others:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Visit my <a href="https://www.instagram.com/greenbeangal/" target="_blank">Self Care Story highlight on Instagram</a> for more resources & inspiration.</li></ul>Human Nature & Connecting with Purpose<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i><a href="https://www.animas.org/books/nature-and-the-human-soul/" target="_blank">Nature and the Human Soul</a> </i>by Bill Plotkin</li></ul><div>Inspiration & Creativity</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://mailchi.mp/womenwhoareuptosomething/dabbling-in-giving-to-yourself" target="_blank">"Dabbling in Giving to Yourself"</a> by Bernadine Rosso, <a href="https://www.womenwhoareuptosomething.com/" target="_blank">Women Who Are Up to Something</a></li><li>Elizabeth Gilbert (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/elizabeth_gilbert_writer/" target="_blank">@elizabeth_gilbert_writer</a>)</li><li>Morgan Harper Nichols (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/morganharpernichols/" target="_blank">@morganharpernichols</a>)</li><li><i><a href="https://juliacameronlive.com/the-artists-way/" target="_blank">The Artist's Way</a> </i>by Julia Cameron (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/juliacameronlive/" target="_blank">@juliacameronlive</a>)</li></ul></div>Motherhood/Parenthood/Womanhood<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Dr. Angel Montfort (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/drangelmontfort/" target="_blank">@drangelmontfort</a>)</li><li>Emma Hicks (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/emmahicks.cc/" target="_blank">@emmahicks.cc</a>)</li><li>Karrie Locher (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/karrie_locher/" target="_blank">@karrie_locher</a>)</li><li>Kate Borsato (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/kateborsato/" target="_blank">@kateborsato</a>)</li><li>KC (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/milestones.and.motherhood/" target="_blank">@milestones.and.motherhood</a>)</li><li>Shauna Casey (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/wellrootedfamilies/" target="_blank">@wellrootedfamilies</a>)</li><li>Shelly Robinson (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/raising_yourself/" target="_blank">@raising_yourself</a>)</li><li>Shunta Grant (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/shuntagrant/" target="_blank">@shuntagrant</a>)</li><li><span style="background-color: white;">"</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/02/04/parenting/working-moms-coronavirus.html" target="_blank">This is a Primal Scream</a><span style="background-color: white;">" (<i>New York Times Parenting</i>)</span></li></ul></div></div></div>Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-90659951948893269962021-02-02T12:39:00.000-08:002021-02-02T12:39:17.741-08:00The Tale of 2 Peter Rabbit Bedrooms<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jI4ntQ3F5WM/YBm16xzHxwI/AAAAAAAAGIA/3pVZu8LwGwov7e8KhsM3NgsrcWf7JvyAgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/6CAA4B27-4FB3-4061-988D-59514E559849.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1439" data-original-width="1440" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jI4ntQ3F5WM/YBm16xzHxwI/AAAAAAAAGIA/3pVZu8LwGwov7e8KhsM3NgsrcWf7JvyAgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/6CAA4B27-4FB3-4061-988D-59514E559849.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p>"'Now my dears,' said old Mrs. Rabbit one morning, 'you may go into the fields or down the lane, but don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden...'" - <i>The Tale of Peter Rabbit</i> by Beatrix Potter, first published in 1902.</p><p>When I was growing up, I had drawings from Beatrix Potter scenes hanging in my bedroom. I also had a giant illustrated book of Beatrix Potter stories. And in my dad's potting shed there hung a framed sketch from <i>The Tale of Peter Rabbit</i>. My dad drew all of the drawings--and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj8wBPggEIf/" target="_blank">he built the potting shed himself</a>.</p><p>In February 2018, I <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BfjP4idHhyI/" target="_blank">posted about one of the drawings on Instagram</a>, writing "One day I hope to have children and hang it framed on their wall." This hope has come true, and that drawing and the one from the potting shed have adorned my son's nursery walls since before he was born.</p><p>As you can see if you scroll through the photos below, Liam's entire nursery theme emerged from those 2 drawings, made more than 20 years ago by Liam's Papa, my dad. The baby shower that my mom, her friend, and my sister hosted last February was also Peter Rabbit themed.</p><p>As a gardener who studied literature in college and given these connections to my childhood, it's no surprise that this is the nursery theme I selected. I had fun searching for Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit decor, and family members have helped by gifting us things they found, too. We have even more Peter Rabbit objects than are shown in these photos, including a ceramic night light (since put away to protect it from our curious boy), a crinkle book and board book, and more. I got really into the theme, as you can tell!</p><p>If it's been awhile since you last read any Beatrix Potter--or if you've never had the pleasure--Project Gutenberg has <a href="http://gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/292" target="_blank">the collection of illustrated stories available online for free here</a>.</p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g33KSOIQBbc/YBm3KgDXbRI/AAAAAAAAGII/V68-yTNZ4wgOUAy4g2GyQXOTJygMU7uJgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/442A05BA-404D-4375-A214-718AC7A24C62.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1440" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g33KSOIQBbc/YBm3KgDXbRI/AAAAAAAAGII/V68-yTNZ4wgOUAy4g2GyQXOTJygMU7uJgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/442A05BA-404D-4375-A214-718AC7A24C62.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0pIm43hn7Lw/YBm3LqLTmmI/AAAAAAAAGIY/2xYheXSGC1UFlIEOZhDTkrpIreiofFzjwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/858CA588-2D13-4390-A7C1-5EF958A62DBB.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1440" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0pIm43hn7Lw/YBm3LqLTmmI/AAAAAAAAGIY/2xYheXSGC1UFlIEOZhDTkrpIreiofFzjwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/858CA588-2D13-4390-A7C1-5EF958A62DBB.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OKXtSo1FoTk/YBm3Koxr02I/AAAAAAAAGIM/mfyuS9ZNKg8OjBYWF0qjP3pecRj04-aiACLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/1753A41A-3C41-46E1-9BAC-DF713EEB3BA2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1440" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OKXtSo1FoTk/YBm3Koxr02I/AAAAAAAAGIM/mfyuS9ZNKg8OjBYWF0qjP3pecRj04-aiACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/1753A41A-3C41-46E1-9BAC-DF713EEB3BA2.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(Yes, that's a Peter Rabbit cloth diaper!)</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hFkPijI4Q-4/YBm3Kpiz4oI/AAAAAAAAGIQ/Ixx54EnXXJsuktwQD-C4DwJe-NLb03goQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/453308D0-FE67-4A0B-B841-5BBA80F51943.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1440" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hFkPijI4Q-4/YBm3Kpiz4oI/AAAAAAAAGIQ/Ixx54EnXXJsuktwQD-C4DwJe-NLb03goQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/453308D0-FE67-4A0B-B841-5BBA80F51943.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0OWFUFo9kj0/YBm3MDRuSzI/AAAAAAAAGIc/u8Ys-6Yz0OUIP2Fxvj6VPMeDaC34LaoPgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/B3B651F0-1162-4A29-BD31-C336F00E6C3F.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1440" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0OWFUFo9kj0/YBm3MDRuSzI/AAAAAAAAGIc/u8Ys-6Yz0OUIP2Fxvj6VPMeDaC34LaoPgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/B3B651F0-1162-4A29-BD31-C336F00E6C3F.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nkqMMkSRZYQ/YBm3N1omgUI/AAAAAAAAGIo/3-q5E5ylCpQLB6lsHCKYwGPjNuSysYi_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_0142.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2044" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nkqMMkSRZYQ/YBm3N1omgUI/AAAAAAAAGIo/3-q5E5ylCpQLB6lsHCKYwGPjNuSysYi_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0142.HEIC" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LAuhKA0jWrU/YBm3OOUdh_I/AAAAAAAAGIs/UgK8Z-c3jj4s-r31A6hYLU2kOW_lh4sXgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_0143.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2045" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LAuhKA0jWrU/YBm3OOUdh_I/AAAAAAAAGIs/UgK8Z-c3jj4s-r31A6hYLU2kOW_lh4sXgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0143.HEIC" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YRK3U61JRXE/YBm3OepQ_pI/AAAAAAAAGIw/jQkHr6hs8iMS0rozq0r8UszKVQwZWi7NQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_0146.heic" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2046" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YRK3U61JRXE/YBm3OepQ_pI/AAAAAAAAGIw/jQkHr6hs8iMS0rozq0r8UszKVQwZWi7NQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0146.heic" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Ffh9O9zmw0/YBm3ORTdp9I/AAAAAAAAGI0/29LDAYOaVzINsujlnyReUeT2RDy3KV3uACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_0149.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2040" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Ffh9O9zmw0/YBm3ORTdp9I/AAAAAAAAGI0/29LDAYOaVzINsujlnyReUeT2RDy3KV3uACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0149.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y8Ej2rJvbQQ/YBm3Oxc_8pI/AAAAAAAAGI4/AXute28yRjsAiePwDstvac_VNkYNYINIgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_2930.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2047" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y8Ej2rJvbQQ/YBm3Oxc_8pI/AAAAAAAAGI4/AXute28yRjsAiePwDstvac_VNkYNYINIgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_2930.JPG" /></a></div><br /><p>Thanks for reading and Happy February!</p><p>Green Gal</p>Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-31818284593291845812021-01-03T16:30:00.039-08:002021-01-03T16:30:05.142-08:002020 Gratitude & 2021 Intentions<p>Happy New Year! My goodness, it's been awhile since I posted to this blog. Since my last post in March 2019, a lot has happened both in the world and in my life. One thing I love about this blog is that it has been a place to share life updates as I've grown up and taken on new identities--from <a href="http://greenbeangal.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-im-making-this-blog.html" target="_blank">high school environmentalist</a>, to <a href="http://greenbeangal.blogspot.com/2012/09/why-i-love-public-transportation.html" target="_blank">eco-groovy college student</a>, to <a href="http://greenbeangal.blogspot.com/2015/12/2015-in-photos.html">young adult sustainability professional</a>, to <a href="http://greenbeangal.blogspot.com/2017/04/farm-apprenticeship-week-1.html">organic farmer/gardener</a>, and now to green mama committed to raising my child to advocate for equity, justice, and respect for all beings and nature. </p><p>I love that this blog continues to offer me a place to reflect on my life, share insights and ideas, set intentions, and revisit the thoughts of my younger self. It's entirely possible this will be the only post I share here in 2021, as life with a baby-going-on-toddler gets more and more fun and busy! But at least this post can be a snapshot in time that I can look back on in the future, as well as share with my little one when he's older so that he can get a sense of what life was like in the year he was born.</p><p><b>Life Update & Gratitude</b></p><p>In April 2020, Green Guy and I welcomed our first baby to the world. He has many nicknames, but for this blog we'll call him Little L. He was born in an historic year, shortly after the U.S. began locking down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In his life so far, he's been an unknowing witness to an historic Black Lives Matter movement, an election year unlike any other, and a pandemic marked by incredible tragedy; widespread awareness and appreciation for what really matters in life; and an entirely new way of life under quarantine. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HaIgPcCe494/X_JGUJa-ifI/AAAAAAAAGFs/MWeBVZSgEbQwMC_Q9WzFkcGUhtR9AWgRQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_2485.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HaIgPcCe494/X_JGUJa-ifI/AAAAAAAAGFs/MWeBVZSgEbQwMC_Q9WzFkcGUhtR9AWgRQCLcBGAsYHQ/w300-h400/IMG_2485.HEIC" width="300" /></a></div><p>For him, though, life has always been primarily experienced in our cozy house; visits with others have always included masks and distance or phone/computer screens; groceries and clothes and toys have always been delivered to our doorstep by hardworking delivery drivers (we owe an incredible debt of gratitude to these folks!); and Mama and Daddy's work has always been from home. Little L has never been inside a grocery store or any public building other than healthcare facilities. We can count on one hand the number of family members (including us) who have held him. He's never been on a playdate with another child or played at the park or had a professional portrait taken--although our phones have 100s of amazing moments captured in photo and video! </p><p>But Little L doesn't know that he's missing out on anything. He's happy and giggly and thriving and learning new skills everyday. Although as his parents we wish he could have those "normal" experiences like most children who've come before him, we are so incredibly grateful for the many silver linings of 2020:</p><p>Green Guy has been working from home since February, so he's been able to spend far more time with Little L than he would have if he were driving to work each day. We spend lots of time on Facetime and Zoom with family, more than we probably would have if there wasn't a pandemic. It became clear before he was even born that we wouldn't be sending him to daycare around 6 months old, though that had been the original plan. Instead, I've found time to work from home during his naps and independent playtime, and although I wonder how the lack of social interaction with other kiddos his age will affect him, right now I'm so grateful that he's home with us all day. We spent a lot of time in nature in 2020, visiting local reservoirs and going on walks in the neighborhood and growing food in the backyard. We may not have discovered some new spots if we weren't trying to avoid crowds, and being cooped up in our house all week, month, year-long motivated us to go outside and explore on weekends.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_DTa4GWLCCk/X_JGCsR23JI/AAAAAAAAGFk/OWCfYc3-0sg6zbwZyTjA-lO-CKAe_CT4wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_5676.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_DTa4GWLCCk/X_JGCsR23JI/AAAAAAAAGFk/OWCfYc3-0sg6zbwZyTjA-lO-CKAe_CT4wCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/IMG_5676.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>We also recognize that we are incredibly privileged to have jobs that allow us to work from home, that we have a home of our own that is safe and warm, and that we can afford to pay the extra delivery fees and tips so that literally all of our food, clothing, toys, and other goods can be delivered to our house. Of course 2020 was difficult for us, perhaps most especially because we couldn't share our wonderful child in person with family in the ways we all imagined. But the perspective I continue to return to is that we'd rather miss out on some special moments now in order to keep everyone healthy and safe--which will allow us to have many, many years of special moments with our loved ones in the future. </p><p><b>Intentions for 2021</b></p><p>I believe there is magical power in the act of writing out intentions. In my experience, putting your vision into words and sharing it with the universe increases the likelihood of it coming to fruition. I'm keeping my list of intentions brief this year and giving myself grace, knowing that a) raising a child is full of unexpected joys and challenges and new directions, and b) this pandemic is far from over, especially living in the U.S. with a young child who can't receive the vaccine anytime soon. </p><p>Usually I'm an advocate for creating measurable goals with an action plan, but as we learned in 2020, it can be really disappointing when reality doesn't meet our expectations. So for 2021, my intentions include:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Write more--even if it's just a quick gratitude statement each day.</li><li>Create and follow more organized routines--particularly for household chores, meal planning, and weaving more fun and creative activities into our daily lives. I've already created an organizational binder, got a <a href="https://www.ivorypaperco.com/product-page/natural-peach-ivory-paper-planner-daily-weekly-amp-monthly" target="_blank">new planner for 2021</a>--thanks Green Guy!, and purchased a copy of <i><a href="https://cleanmama.com/books/" target="_blank">Clean Mama's Guide to a Peaceful Home</a></i>. Can you tell I'm currently most excited about this intention?</li><li>Create or purchase more intentional gifts for loved ones' birthdays and holidays, and send birthday cards on time. This is included in the organizational binder but feels important to specifically name as an intention, especially since we can't always celebrate our loved ones' birthdays in person these days.</li><li>Spend more time outside--even if it's just in the backyard, but hopefully also exploring local rivers, lakes, and hiking trails.</li><li>Grow more food in our backyard and begin teaching Little L about the joys of gardening!</li><li>Stay grateful and spread joy, generosity, and love as much as possible!</li></ul><div><br /></div><div>What are you grateful for from 2020? What intentions do you have for the coming year? </div><div><br /></div><div>I wish you joy, adventure, and good health in 2021 and beyond!</div><div><br /></div><div>Thank you for reading,</div><div>Green Gal</div><p></p>Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-48398253287871034512019-03-26T12:07:00.001-07:002019-03-26T13:35:18.188-07:00Protect Backyard Beekeeping in Nevada: Oppose SB389Nevada Residents: On March 21st, the state legislature introduced <a href="https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/80th2019/Bill/6711/Overview">SB389</a>, a bill that will - if passed - make it ILLEGAL to keep backyard bees in urban and suburban areas.<br />
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Honeybees pollinate our local food crops--those grown on farms as well as in our backyard gardens.<br />
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We need more honeybees, not fewer. Honeybees are not like wasps or yellowjackets--they don't harm humans unless provoked.<br />
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<b>If you live in Nevada, please <a href="https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Opinions/80th2019/">submit your comments in opposition to SB389 here</a>, and <a href="http://chng.it/KMCLBy4JcD">add your name to the petition </a>organized by the <a href="http://www.northernnevadabeekeepersassociation.org/">Northern Nevada Beekeepers Association</a>. </b><br />
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Link for public comment: <a href="https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Opinions/80th2019/">https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Opinions/80th2019/ </a><br />
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Sign Petition by Northern Nevada Beekeepers Association: <a href="http://chng.it/KMCLBy4JcD">http://chng.it/KMCLBy4JcD</a><br />
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Here's what I wrote as my petition comment:<br />
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<i>We need more people raising honeybees so that urban and suburban folks who are growing their own food or growing food to sell in their community can have an ample supply of honeybees to pollinate their crops. Honey bees are not aggressive toward humans unless provoked, and they provide so much good for our local communities. Local honey helps with seasonal allergies, it's delicious, and local products reduce our carbon footprint related to food miles. More backyard beekeeping--not less!</i><br />
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Please share this post!<br />
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<br />Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com0Reno, NV, USA39.5296329 -119.813802739.1378849 -120.4592492 39.9213809 -119.16835619999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-52151830808094746502019-02-22T23:09:00.000-08:002019-02-22T23:53:48.963-08:00Talking Biomimicry with Lily Urmann of Arizona State University’s Biomimicry Center [2019 Video Interview]<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This morning I had the pleasure of interviewing Lily Urmann, my dear friend and fellow UCSC sustainabilibuddy graduate. We spoke about one of her favorite favorite subjects: Biomimicry.<br />
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<a href="https://biomimicry.org/what-is-biomimicry/" target="_blank">The Biomimicry Institute</a> describes biomimicry as "an approach to innovation that seeks sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies. The goal is to create products, processes, and policies—new ways of living—that are well-adapted to life on earth over the long haul. The core idea is that nature has already solved many of the problems we are grappling with. Animals, plants, and microbes are the consummate engineers. After billions of years of research and development, failures are fossils, and what surrounds us is the secret to survival."<br />
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Lily is fully immersed in the study and development of programs related to biomimicry at Arizona State University. The work of the <a href="http://biomimicry.asu.edu/">Biomimicry Center at ASU</a> is at the forefront of biomimicry education, and it's inspiring in many ways, so I wanted to create a way for her to share with you all, too.<br />
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Lily and I met at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where we both went to school and worked in the campus <a href="http://sustainability.ucsc.edu/" target="_blank">Sustainability Office</a>.<br />
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Lily is passionate about creating systematic change through community collaboration, student involvement, and education.<br />
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Her undergrad thesis was titled, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/23825250/Integrating_Biomimicry_into_Higher_Education_Designing_and_Developing_a_Biomimicry_Minor_at_the" target="_blank">"Integrating Biomimicry Into Higher Education,"</a> and she is currently enrolled in the <a href="http://biomimicry.asu.edu/education/asu-online-masters-degree/" target="_blank">Arizona State University Biomimicry Master's program</a>.<br />
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She's also helping to launch their first on-campus undergraduate biomimicry program as the Program Coordinator for the ASU Biomimicry Center.<br />
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I invited Lily to talk with me about the fascinating world of biomimicry—what it is, why it’s inspiring to study, and how biomimicry can help us solve some of the issues we face in the world.<br />
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<b>Watch the full interview below or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VkmNVL8tPI&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">on my Youtube channel</a>.</b></h3>
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5VkmNVL8tPI" width="560"></iframe></h3>
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In this talk, we discuss:</h3>
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<ul style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">
<li>What biomimicry is</li>
<li><a href="http://biomimicry.asu.edu/" target="_blank">The Biomimicry Center at Arizona State University</a></li>
<li><a href="http://biomimicry.asu.edu/education/asu-online-masters-degree/" target="_blank">Biomimicry Masters Program at ASU</a></li>
<li>New Biomimicry Undergraduate Program at ASU starting this fall 2019</li>
<li>Some inspiring examples of biomimicry, like shark skin and lotus leaves</li>
<li>Unexpected learnings in her journey studying biomimicry</li>
<li>Advice she would give her younger self -- stay positive and focused on solutions!</li>
<li>3 spheres of biomimicry: (Re)Connect, Emulate, and Ethos</li>
<li>Humanitree: A social networking project she's working on based on the "wood-wide web" networks of forests and trees</li>
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An inspiring excerpt:</h3>
"I find hope in a bee colony and a leaf on a tree and the way that the sand moves with the water and how the ecosystem interacts with different keystone species. And understanding nature gives me hope because there are so many examples of success out there. Everything that's around us, everything that surrounds us is the secret to our survival. From the tiniest bee and leaf and organism like bacteria to hawks and birds and the way that mountains move, it's incredible to me. I'm constantly amazed by the genius of nature, and I think tapping into that curiosity and being fueled by that curiosity is something that keeps me going on a day-to-day basis." - Lily Urmann<br />
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<br />Resources mentioned in this interview </h3>
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<li><i><a href="https://biomimicry.org/janine-benyus/" target="_blank">Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature</a></i> by Janine Benyus</li>
<li><a href="http://enviroslug-sec.org/" target="_blank">UCSC Student Environmental Center</a> and <a href="http://enviroslug-sec.org/earth-summit" target="_blank">Earth Summit</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL1zbAJIaDI" target="_blank">"John Warner - Intellectual Ecology, Green Chemistry | Bioneers"</a> (Video): This is the talk that got Lily hooked on biomimicry!</li>
<li><a href="https://biomimicry.org/design-challenges/" target="_blank">Biomimicry Institute Design Challenges</a> and <a href="https://innovation.biomimicry.org/team/windchill/" target="_blank">off-grid refrigeration project</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.eslp-enviroslug.org/" target="_blank">Education for Sustainable Living Program (ESLP) </a></li>
<li>Lily’s thesis: <a href="https://www.academia.edu/23825250/Integrating_Biomimicry_into_Higher_Education_Designing_and_Developing_a_Biomimicry_Minor_at_the" target="_blank">"Integrating Biomimicry into Higher Education: Designing and Developing a Biomimicry Minor at the University of California, Santa Cruz"</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.asknature.org/">www.AskNature.org</a>: Like Google for nature! This is a great resource site that contains thousands of biological organisms with their relevant strategy/function, where one can look up "how would nature ____?"</li>
<li><a href="https://asknature.org/strategy/scales-manipulate-flow/" target="_blank">Shark skin structurally prevents bacterial growth</a></li>
<li><a href="https://asknature.org/strategy/surface-allows-self-cleaning/" target="_blank">Hydrophobic lotus leaves</a></li>
<li><i><a href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/09/26/the-hidden-life-of-trees-peter-wohlleben/" target="_blank">The Secret Life of Trees: The Astonishing Science of What Trees Feel and How They Communicate</a></i> by Peter Wohlleben</li>
<li><a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/suzanne_simard_how_trees_talk_to_each_other?language=en" target="_blank">"How trees talk to each other"</a> (TED video) by Suzanne Simard, who studies how trees communicate, and is the basis for the HumaniTree project. </li>
</ul>
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<b><br />More about the Biomimicry Center from Lily</b></h3>
“The Biomimicry Center recently finalized a complete remodel of our ~2000 s.f. space, as a classroom, office, and showcase. We have designed the space biomimetically ("inspired by nature"), seeking to feature the most sustainable products for the built environment that meet our design needs.<br />
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"From using only <a href="https://purebondplywood.com/product/purebond-plywood/" target="_blank">PureBond plywood</a> that is based on the life-friendly chemistry of a Blue Mussel, to <a href="https://www.walalight.com/" target="_blank">WalaLights</a> circadian rhythm lighting (and everything in between), we are one of the only biomimetic office spaces in the world.<br />
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"The core concept of biomimicry is emulating nature’s strategies and the deep patterns that govern the natural world, known as Life’s Principles. The Biomimicry Center used these Principles as a guide throughout the remodel process to create an office space that, among other things, consumes less energy and material, adapts to changing conditions in order to accommodate a wide variety of activities, and uses life-friendly chemistry. The result: a space that is beautiful, healthy, and sustainable.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Kbwvm-DFgbQ/XHDfSV11jXI/AAAAAAAAFYI/bWz5qGf7YBg0p4B3OGJsRhECRDykh1LowCLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-02-22%2Bat%2B9.50.29%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="1080" height="183" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Kbwvm-DFgbQ/XHDfSV11jXI/AAAAAAAAFYI/bWz5qGf7YBg0p4B3OGJsRhECRDykh1LowCLcBGAs/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2019-02-22%2Bat%2B9.50.29%2BPM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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"You can explore our space virtually and learn more about each element of the design here: <a href="http://biomimicry.asu.edu/about-us/the-center-space/">http://biomimicry.asu.edu/about-us/the-center-space/</a><br />
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"I also post some interesting content to the Biomimicry Center Instagram (videos and images of biomimicry examples and research that is happening at ASU): <a href="http://instagram.com/thebiomimicrycenter" target="_blank">@thebiomimicrycenter</a><br />
<br />
"<a href="https://biomimicry.org/" target="_blank">The Biomimicry Institute</a> is the nonprofit that focuses on outreach and education, and they have a lot of great resources for anyone interested in diving deeper into biomimicry.<br />
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"Anyone can also feel free to reach out to me if they would like to connect!" Connect with Lily at <a href="mailto:lilyurmann@gmail.com" target="_blank">lilyurmann[at]gmail[dot]com</a>.<br />
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Thank you for watching and reading! I hope to interview more of my inspiring, world-changing friends soon. If you enjoyed this video, please let me know with a comment or an email.<br />
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Peace,<br />
Green GalGreen Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-64584362500470178372019-02-17T19:09:00.000-08:002019-02-17T19:09:05.199-08:002018 Garden Harvest Report & ReflectionsNine months ago, I harvested my first vegetables from Green Gal's Garden. That initial harvest on May 20 consisted of nine heads of bok choy. Although the harvest that day was small and too early for my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, it was a momentous occasion.<br />
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Planting the bok choy transplants </div>
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Momentous because, with a little bit of my help, some living beings had rooted themselves in the garden soil and gathered sunlight and nutrients and grown from tiny seeds in my small greenhouse to edible vegetables. The miracle of seeds growing into plants has been happening for a really long time on this planet, but observing and supporting this process continues to be magical and profound. The process of photosynthesis is intimately tied to the lives of every human on earth.<br />
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Bok choy seedlings in the greenhouse</div>
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Nine months later, I look back on all of the vegetables and herbs that I harvested in the garden from May 20 until November 8, 2018, and I am in awe. It's remarkable to experience what happens when you decide to make a dream into reality. The results of my market garden in 2018 far surpassed what I could have imagined last February when I worked on my crop plan and marketing plan and CSA membership agreement.<br />
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<h3>
Thank You</h3>
I am incredibly grateful to everyone who made the garden grow last year. Although I planted the seeds and set the irrigation timer and handled the actual gardening & selling of crops, there was a team of people who helped in so many ways to make it all come together--from the generous offering of land and soil where the garden grew, to financial contributions, to weekends in the heat digging beds, to the commitment made by some brave & incredible folks to receive veggies & flowers from a young farmer for 20 weeks, and all of the countless other contributions large and small.<br />
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I am in awe of the commitment, love, encouragement, and hard physical labor that my family and community provided in order to make it possible for me to grow my garden and provide fresh, local, and organically grown produce & flowers to people in my community. Thank you, thank you, thank you!<br />
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Throughout the season, I kept detailed harvest and sales records so that I could look back at how much I actually grew and sold throughout the harvest season. This data is displayed in a series of charts below, along with some of the best photos of the garden's abundance. I provided some big picture data for all crops and then focused on some of the crops that grew the most.<br />
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To provide some context, Green Gal's Garden was about 500 square feet in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California and produced a biweekly box of veggies for 3 couples and one individual, as well as weekly boxes for one couple. The CSA season was 20 weeks. I also sold surplus veggies and flowers to others in the community through direct sales on a case-by-case basis when I could.<br />
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August 2</div>
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<b>Total Harvest 2018 for crops sold through CSA & Direct Sales</b></h3>
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Different crops are sold by the pint, the count/each, the bunch, or by weight. As a result, it's challenging to combine this data into one number, which is why the data is split up this way.</div>
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<li>Pints of cherry tomatoes: 40.42</li>
<li>Peppers (does not include peppers sold by weight): 101.33</li>
<li>Flower bouquets: 9</li>
<li>Bunches of greens & herbs: 235.75</li>
<li>Pounds of vegetables: 156.5</li>
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June 17</div>
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<b>Total Harvest 2018 for everything harvested</b></h3>
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The data in the following graphs includes all garden products (vegetables & flowers) that were harvested, not just products that were sold through CSA or direct sales. Products that weren't sold might have been blemished in some way, or there may have been surplus vegetables that we harvested to keep the garden producing. You have to harvest existing veggies & flowers in order for the plant to produce more as the season goes on. Otherwise the plant will convert its focus from growing the part of the plant that we humans like to enjoy toward producing seeds for the next generation and the crops will no longer be yummy or last in a vase. Anything we harvested but didn't sell went home with us or was gifted to friends and family.<br />
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August 16</div>
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All sales record types combined. Peak season was in August.</div>
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August 9 Harvest for CSA</div>
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Focused on the three crops that were harvested the most and recorded as bunches</div>
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June 17. This kale bed produced the entire season and actually continued growing after we removed the irrigation lines in November. A couple of weeks ago, I heard it was still producing. Kale yeah!</div>
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Sweet peppers were sold by weight, but spicy peppers (which are typically much smaller) are sold by each pepper. The y axis on the left corresponds to the orange sweet pepper data in pounds. The y axis on the left is by count of peppers and corresponds to the red hot pepper data.</div>
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Cherry tomatoes were sold in pints, and all other tomatoes were sold by weight.</div>
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August 28</div>
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<h3>
Looking Forward</h3>
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I learned a lot this last year about gardening, running a business, and selling vegetables and flowers. I also learned about the importance of balance and downtime and what it feels like when I'm busier than I would like to be. In addition to the garden & CSA, I also provided marketing consulting to two clients, held a part-time university position (3-4 days/week), and planned my November wedding! Oh, and we moved to Reno in December the day after we returned from our honeymoon to New Zealand. 2018 was a big year for me.</div>
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As I embark on new adventures in Nevada, I am being cautious with my time and carving out space in my weeks to be creative in new and unexpected ways, without obligation or goals or deadlines. I'm reading and writing my way through <a href="https://juliacameronlive.com/" target="_blank"><i>The Artist's Way</i> by Julia Cameron</a>, and it has been a delightful and refreshing experience so far (I'm on week three). </div>
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I also attended the Nevada Farms Conference this week in Reno. During the three days, I not only learned a lot about things like the benefits of high tunnels in desert farming, but I also met some awesome people who are involved in the food system in different ways. For instance, I spoke with some of the farmers market managers in the area. After some encouraging conversations with them and others at the conference, I'm going to pursue a dream I've had for awhile: get my cottage food certificate and start selling my sourdough bread! I'm figuring out the legal logistics now and will be announcing my official launch date as soon as I can!</div>
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Inside one of the high tunnels at <a href="http://www.lattinfarms.com/" target="_blank">Lattin Farms in Fallon, NV</a>, during the Nevada Farms Conference</div>
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<h3>
Unlearning "productivity" as the ultimate goal</h3>
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As I explore the Reno area and all that it has to offer, I'm inviting new opportunities while remembering the lessons I learned last year about balance and "me" time so that I can continue this work sustainably in the long-term. </div>
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I'm working on unlearning the social conditioning that has trained me to see everything I do as either productive or unproductive toward my career advancement or other goals. By relinquishing this dichotomy and recognizing that simply existing and letting myself be creative without any particular goal is valid and actually necessary to lead a fulfilled life. </div>
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I say this as someone who is constantly setting goals and working to accomplish them, and I recognize the value in that mindset. But I'm also learning that it is not always healthy to consider every action within the context of productivity--which in this society has its roots in capitalist notions that seek maximum profit, often regardless of the repercussions affecting the people or natural resources that create that profit.</div>
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While my goals are in pursuit of what I believe to be a greater good than simply making money, I live and work in a capitalist society. Inevitably we are all affected by the values and emphases of our economic system, which can be damaging to us psychologically in ways that we aren't even aware of. </div>
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The daily grind that prevents many people from enjoying their life except maybe on weekends is an obvious example, but the way we relate to each other and how we treat ourselves are also affected by the emphasis on productivity that our society has adopted as the cultural norm.</div>
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It's an interesting balance to be trying to reach goals but also deconstruct the notion that everything must be tied to a goal or be measured on how productive it is. </div>
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I am certainly not the only person exploring this, and in fact, I owe a debt of gratitude to the many people online and in my life who have taught me how to examine social assumptions more critically and recognize where social conditioning has created unjust and problematic biases about what is normal. </div>
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I'm actually attending <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.com/economy/" target="_blank">two workshops in the coming months hosted by Santa Cruz Permaculture</a> looking at how we can create opportunities, economic models, and careers that re-center the emphasis on justice, equity, and planetary health. </div>
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I re-share this whenever I see it on social media. Artist unknown.</div>
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I recognize that what I just described is not something most people in mainstream society are talking about. I'm not advocating for communism. I'm not saying everyone should quit their jobs and sing kumbaya. </div>
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But I am saying that there is value in thinking critically about how our society and economic system are affecting us in ways we are not okay with. Once we are aware of these issues and don't simply take them as necessary to human existence, we can identify real strategies in support of equity, opportunity, justice, and environmental health.</div>
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I'm still learning how to process all of this, and I am grateful for your patience in reading my thoughts about it. I have a lot to learn and look forward to all of the learning and new adventures that I will experience in 2019. </div>
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If you'd like more regular updates about what I'm up to, thinking about, baking, and growing, please follow me on <a href="https://instagram.com/greenbeangal" target="_blank">Instagram @greenbeangal</a>.</div>
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Thank you for reading!</div>
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Green Gal</div>
Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-15019268633402517062019-02-02T18:23:00.000-08:002019-02-02T20:05:02.187-08:00Tour of River School Farm in Reno, NVColorful chickens, roosters, and two curious goats make up the welcome party that greets visitors to <a href="http://www.riverschoolfarm.org/" target="_blank">River School Farm</a> in Reno, Nevada. I had the pleasure of meeting these farm animals, as well as Farmer Tom, during a first Friday farm tour on February 1, 2019. It was my first behind-the-scenes introduction to Reno farming, and it left me feeling hopeful and inspired to get involved with the local food system and begin growing my own food here in the high desert.<br />
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The River School Farm is nestled between the Truckee River and a business park west of downtown. It was established in 1992 and features an event space with a firepit and stage, outdoor kitchen, a nursery in spring/summer, greenhouses, spaces for workshops and classes, compost piles, chicken coops, and more. It's a community gathering place, home to a cohousing project, and an educational space. Learn more about all of the offerings and services River School Farm provides on their <a href="http://www.riverschoolfarm.org/about/" target="_blank">website here</a>.<br />
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During the tour, Farmer Tom introduced us to the chickens, goats, ducks, compost worms, and plants that live onsite. He shared stories about chickens that have laid eggs in hidden places around the farm without anyone knowing until the baby chicks hatched and starting peeping. Every full moon, he said, River School Farm hosts an event featuring drumming and dancing around the fire pit in their event center. "We're the Reno pagans," he said with a grin.<br />
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Throughout the tour, Farmer Tom engaged all of our senses and brought the farm to life. He invited us to smell the compost. We all tasted tatsoi and violas from the cold frame garden on the south side of one of the buildings.<br />
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We felt the warmth coming off of the heat mats in the greenhouse. The Truckee River flowed with white noise nearby. As we approached a large circular structure at the entrance to a sloped path, he encouraged us to make a wish as we walked through the "moon gate." "It just might come true," he said. "But you can't tell anyone what you wished for."<br />
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I learned that the Truckee River is one of the few rivers in the world that doesn't flow into the ocean. Instead, it flows into Pyramid Lake. The more I learn about this place we now call home, I gain deeper appreciation for its beauty, the stories that shape it, and the natural history that defines its unique niche on earth.</div>
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As someone new to the region, the tips and tricks that Farmer Tom shared about how to grow food in Reno was really helpful. Some of my favorite strategies included:<br />
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<li>Of all the fruits to grow in Reno, grapes are the best because they flower late enough that they won't get killed with frost. Grapes also have enough sugars in their fruit that if they aren't harvested before the first frost, the sugars will keep them from freezing.</li>
<li>You can grow many types of apples here. River School Farm grows enough apples each year to produce nearly 60 gallons of juice and enough storage apples to last until spring. Tom recommended the varieties 'Yellow Delicious' and 'Newtown Pippin.'</li>
<li>Remay cloth and hoop houses help protect cold season vegetables in the winter. When it's less than 29°F, Farmer Tom uses remay cloth inside the hoop houses. Shade cloth over the top of hoop houses and opening up the hoop houses on all sunny days (even in winter) help prevent overheating of crops. Ideally, fans also help cool down hoop houses in summer.</li>
<li>In winter, you can germinate seeds in a simple greenhouse in a sunny south-facing spot with the help of heat mats.</li>
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In addition to visiting the River School Farm property, we also toured the Patagonia Farm/Garden a few blocks away. This small strip of earth is nestled against the Patagonia distribution warehouse, and all of the food grown there is sold to the Patagonia cafeteria. River School Farm doesn't have to pay for the land or water, and they have a guaranteed market just across the parking lot.<br />
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I highly recommend joining Farmer Tom for a <a href="http://www.riverschoolfarm.org/farm-tours/" target="_blank">first Friday farm tour</a>! It's only $10 per adult, and it is well worth the fun and learning that you will gain by spending an hour at the Farm.<br />
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I plan on returning to the farm soon for a volunteer work day, and I look forward to more opportunities for learning and meeting new folks through this wonderful community resource. I also can't wait to see this farm in the spring and summer months as the vegetation becomes more vibrant! <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/riverschoolfarm/" target="_blank">This photo album</a> shows the farm throughout the seasons.<br />
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I'm grateful that folks like Farmer Tom are open to sharing about the work they do. It is inspiring and gives me hope that I will be growing my own garden again very soon.<br />
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<b>Yes, We Moved to Reno!</b><br />
Green Guy and I moved to Reno mid-December from the Bay Area, and it has been fun to learn more about Reno as we settle in. Before we visited for the first time last year, the only thing we associated with Reno was the casinos. After visiting and now living here, we're discovering how much more there is to this place than we could have imagined.<br />
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There are rivers and lakes and magnificent mountain views. The university has extension courses, public lectures, and events that we look forward to attending. People are growing food and community here in many ways. Our adventure here has just begun!<br />
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Stay tuned for an upcoming blog post documenting Green Gal's Garden last year. I've finished compiling harvest records for everything harvested and sold, and I look forward to sharing those details with you all soon. Happy 2019, everyone!Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com0Reno, NV, USA39.5296329 -119.813802739.1378849 -120.4592492 39.9213809 -119.16835619999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-50168461125053111832018-07-19T16:08:00.000-07:002018-07-19T16:08:26.106-07:00CSA Guest Post: Why is Food More Flavorful Abroad?<div>
The Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program through <a href="http://greenbeangal.blogspot.com/p/green-gals-garden.html" target="_blank">Green Gal's Garden</a> is in full swing--we are already in week four of the twenty-week program! CSA boxes in the past month have contained a variety of veggies, such as chard, kale, summer squash, cauliflower, scallions, basil, dill, oregano, mint, rosemary, lemon balm, eggplant, spinach, cilantro, rhubarb, peas, flowers, blueberries, and more! The tomatoes are still green on their vines but there are hundreds of them, the corn is nearly ready, and the peppers are tempting me with their size but haven't started coloring up yet. So much deliciousness still to come! (See the latest photos from the garden on <a href="http://instagram.com/greenbeangal" target="_blank">Instagram</a>.)</div>
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I'm grateful for so much these days--the potential contained within seeds, the land I am able to farm this summer thanks to the generosity of soon-to-be-family, the encouragement and support from those who believe in my dream and have helped the garden grow. </div>
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On harvest days like today, I am particularly grateful for my supportive, enthusiastic, and friendly CSA members. I love harvesting veggies for them on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and seeing photos of the delicious meals they create with the food grown in the garden. Without them, Green Gal's Garden would have no one to share its bounty with and far fewer resources to make everything possible.</div>
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My dear friend Elly is one of my CSA members--she and her husband Aidan were actually the first people to sign up for the CSA! They just returned from their honeymoon to Italy (congrats again, you two!), and the other day Elly texted me expressing some thoughts that they'd had while eating delicious food in Sicily. I encouraged her to compile her thoughts into a blog post, and she did! Not only was she the first CSA member, but she's the first CSA member to write a guest post for the blog--and hopefully not the last! </div>
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<b>CSA Guest Post: Why is Food More Flavorful Abroad?</b></h2>
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My fiancé Aidan had been to Italy twice and often mentioned how the tomatoes, pasta, meats, and gelato did not compare to anything he had ever tasted in the United States. I thought to myself, "Sure sure, I bet it's good but how much better can it really be!" Oh man was I wrong. Our recent honeymoon to Sicily sent my taste buds soaring! </div>
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The first dish I ordered there was a typical Sicilian appetizer consisting of cooked tomatoes, olives, eggplant, onion, capers, and celery called caponata. Immediately I noticed how perfectly ripe all of the ingredients were and how even the olive oil the produce was cooked in packed amazing flavor. "Wow," I thought, "this is how food is supposed to taste like!" Throughout our trip the vegetables, meat, dairy, fruit, and herbs continued to captivate my senses. </div>
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<i>Photos of flavorful food in Italy</i></div>
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When I finally returned home I reflected on the experience. "If produce can taste that amazing, why does food in America taste so bland in comparison?" Unfortunately, Americans are all about having things bigger and faster. The average American consumer wants produce that may be out of season, larger in size, blemish free, perfectly shaped, and brightly colored. This forces many farms to grow food that has been genetically bred to meet American standards, sacrificing lots of flavor in the process. Often times these types of fruits and vegetables produce larger yields and are therefore more desirable for the farmer to grow in order to maximize profits. While it is understandable that large farms choose to make more money over a more flavorful product, it made me really appreciate the importance of my local small scale farms. </div>
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I’m grateful to have the opportunity to get really flavorful food from my local Green Gal's Garden as well as from the many farmer's markets offered in my area. I've become inspired to support these protectors of produce varieties, lovers of food, and all around good people even more now that I’ve returned home. </div>
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If there is one thing I learned in Sicily it's that good food in good company is the best way to enjoy a really good life. </div>
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Buon appetito! </div>
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Elly</div>
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Thanks for reading, and happy summer!</div>
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Green Gal</div>
Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-29974053769741110832018-04-17T16:43:00.004-07:002018-04-17T16:43:47.119-07:00Being the Change this Earth Week: A SpeechHappy Earth Week! I was invited to speak at my high school, Amador Valley High School, in celebration of Earth Week today. It's been awhile since I visited the place where I spent four years of my life learning and exploring my identity as an environmentalist. I actually started this blog while attending Amador Valley High School! Below is the text of my speech that I used as a reference this afternoon. What I actually said varied slightly, but here's the gist:<br />
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Hello, my name is Melissa Ott, and I graduated from Amador in 2010. I’d like to thank the organizers of Earth Week for inviting me to speak to you all today. Before I begin, I would like to a take a moment to acknowledge that we are standing on indigenous land and honor the Muwekma-Ohlone people who cared for this beautiful valley for generations before it was settled and renamed Pleasanton. The descendants of the Ohlone are still alive today, some of them in the Bay Area working to gain recognition and access to their ancestral homelands. I am grateful to all people who have not only called this land home but have tended to it and cared for it so that it can remain beautiful for generations to come. As part of this, I also ask each of you to think of one thing you are grateful for, something that you love about being alive on earth. You can write it on a piece of paper if you wish.<br />
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In this talk today, I’ll tell the story of what I’ve been up to since my time at Amador, and throughout, I’ll share key lessons I’ve experienced related to Earth Week that go beyond traditional “green tips.”<br />
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<i>Me with my trusty bicycle off to high school sometime between 2007-2010. This photo was probably taken around the time this blog was started!</i></div>
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I’ll actually start my story the night that I graduated from Harvest Park Middle School. A fellow student gave a speech at the ceremony, and in her speech she shared a quote by Gandhi: Be the change you wish to see in the world. That night at dinner, I opened a gift from my parents: a necklace that had the same Gandhi quote inscribed on it. They had no way of knowing the student would share the same quote or that it would become one of the leading quotes of my life. I have taken this suggestion from Gandhi to heart and not only to heart but to hand, finding ways to bring my desire for change in the world into reality through action and example. Certainly I am not perfect at always being the change I wish to see. If it were easy to do this, we would live in a very different world. But I return to this quote as a touchstone, a reminder of how I want to live my life, and I try to make decisions at the daily level, career level, and lifestyle level to reflect the values that I hold and the vision I carry for our future. <br />
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At Amador, I was involved in numerous clubs, including the Environmental Club and Human Rights Club. By finding clubs that I cared about and learning skills such as hosting events or garden work days, I began my journey of linking passion with practicality, interest with resume-building skills that also allow me to get things done and be the change in tangible ways. We each have dreams and visions, but without the tools and skills to achieve them or to even begin to work toward them, we can feel trapped in having to choose the path that is familiar.<br />
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<i> Me and other students digging out existing vegetation at Mohr Elementary School as part of a garden project I co-coordinated through the AVHS Environmental Club back in the day.</i></div>
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I love that I was invited to speak about green tips here today because in 2009 when I was a junior at Amador, I started a blog called Green Gal with a mission to share green tips specifically for high school students and young people. At the time, most green tips I could find were focused on adults who made decisions like which washing machine to buy. There weren’t as many resources online for sustainable living as there are today, which is why I’m sharing beyond the traditional green tip today. I do still write on the Green Gal blog, and it’s actually the website for my small business that I’ll describe later.<br />
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One thing I began to learn through my involvement with clubs and my blog and other opportunities when I was in high school was that effective social and environmental change is not based on compassion and passion alone. We must be equipped with resources and skills, work with others who have complementary skills, and plan out our work. I continued to learn skills through work that I cared about throughout college, and I am still learning and finding new ways to work with others, stay organized, and work toward my goals.<br />
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After graduating from Amador in 2010, I attended UC Santa Cruz and studied English literature to be a more effective writer. I practiced critical analysis in the context of something I cared deeply about--the written word and the stories and narratives of humankind that can teach us so much about the human condition. At the same time, I found a job on campus in the Sustainability Office and brought the skills I’d gained at Amador related to organizing events and doing outreach to eventually become an outreach coordinator, working with a team of students to achieve goals related to educating and engaging students at UCSC. UC Santa Cruz has something like 15 environmental organizations, and by doing work that related to engagement and outreach, I learned about each one and began to weave a web of connections that made my work more successful and also strengthened the community among the many sustainability advocates at UCSC.<br />
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But one challenge I faced time and time again while organizing for sustainability at UCSC was this apparent divide between the social justice organizations and the environmental organizations. Although we’re probably all familiar with the three pillars of sustainability--which has many variations but for now we’ll name as environment, economics, and people--the three pillars rarely come together to examine how our individual work is strengthened in collaboration with the other pillars As a white woman who had been raised in a community and family where sustainability was at least discussed and celebrated to some extent, I had no idea about the history of environmentalism and conservation work in this country that has marginalized, silenced, and displaced people of color and poor people.<br />
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This is the subject for a much longer talk and something that I continue to learn about and grapple with, but the point I want to make is that it isn’t enough to care about the environment and wonder why others in our communities and in communities beyond our communities don’t seem to care. They might actually care more than most people if their livelihoods and lives of their families are going to be affected first by issues like sea level rise, hurricanes, and severe weather events like drought, heat waves, and frost at unexpected times. What looks like environmental protection to some of us might look like a prioritization of resources and efforts toward other species while our own human species is being poisoned and killed by the actions or inaction of fellow humans. Flint, Michigan and the toxic lead water that still has not been resolved is one example where an environmental issue has a direct affect on people, many of whom are people of color.<br />
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Another example at the micro level that has been documented and studied by the People of Color Sustainability Collective at UC Santa Cruz is the way in which environmental advocates inadvertently alienate other students whose families have been “sustainable” for generations but are not acknowledged because their practices aren’t the trendy or mainstream environmental methods. For instance, imagine you grew up somewhere that didn’t have recycling bins and you have no experience with sorting your waste. You come to UC Santa Cruz and go to throw something away, and another student notices that you “put it in the wrong bin” and admonishes you for doing so and explains to you how you did it wrong. This happens at UCSC often. Now imagine the same student who didn’t put her recyclables in the right bin reflects on how her own family has practiced reuse and reduce for her entire life--reusing a butter container for salsa and handing down clothing to siblings instead of getting new clothes--and yet her family has never received any brownie points or credit for being sustainable because for her family, this was necessary to save money. When we talk about sustainability, there are inherent elements of privilege and cultural norms at play that we must be conscious of in order to create an inclusive movement that can one day be the norm without making people feel ashamed or unappreciated.<br />
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So I attended UCSC and worked in the Sustainability Office until I graduated in 2014, at which point I was invited to stay on as a staff person, where I worked for a few years. And then last year, I left my job at UCSC to live on a farm for six months as part of an apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture, one of those decisions that felt very much like a response to Gandhi’s quote to be the change I wish to see in the world. The farm is at UCSC and along with nearly 50 other beginning farmers and gardeners, I learned, worked, and lived at the farm and gardens. We cooked for each other, shared a common space, and learned not only technical skills and knowledge about farming but also learned how to work with our hands all day in the sun. After spending years of working primarily behind a screen in the Sustainability Office, being outside every day was wonderful and challenging and hugely educational and I would highly recommend it. The program ended in October, and I was fortunate enough to gain access to a small plot of land in the Santa Cruz mountains to start a market garden, or mini farm that is hand-cultivated with spades and forks.<br />
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<i> Smiling with some friends in the UCSC Farm Center during the Apprenticeship.</i></div>
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With the support of my family and community I've chosen to pursue a career in farming that is supplemented by the independent consulting work I am doing through a small business I started in November. Farming is not for everyone and I'm still learning how I can best participate, but for more than a year I felt very much called to spend time in the garden and to fill a need that is being experienced in the farming world for young people to get involved. Most U.S. farmers today are more than 50 years old, and if young people who care about growing organically and in biodiverse ways don’t start getting involved, the farmland in this country is going to continue to be turned over to large corporations who care more about their bottom line than whether or not the food they’re producing is nutritious and grown in a sustainable way.<br />
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In addition to the farming and consulting business I’ve launched, I recently got a part-time temporary position at Stanford University, doing similar sustainability work that I was doing at UCSC, but this time in their housing and dining department. Although in my ideal world I would be able to focus on my farming work, the realities of living in the Bay Area is that farming at the small scale I’m at is not enough to live on. Stanford is also an inspiring place with lots of successful sustainability efforts taking place and I am grateful to be working there. Although my position ends in mid-July, I am getting to know folks at Stanford and hope to keep my opportunities open there. There are numerous creative ways to pursue your dreams by supplementing them with income from other sources and creating networks of opportunity wherever you are.<br />
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<i>My first day at Stanford back in March.</i></div>
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I want to share some closing thoughts before we do a short activity. When we celebrate Earth Week, we often think of the planet and nature and perhaps polar bears and other endangered species. What if we could change the narrative around Earth Week, even just for ourselves, to remember that people are the reason we even have to have an Earth Week. Our relationship to our home planet and the many species and resources that have been exploited by humans for generations is the reason we have to stop each year and say, hey let’s remember to be grateful for Mother Earth and let’s try to turn off the sink when we brush our teeth! But there is so much more to it than that. It’s about changing how we see the world, reframing the narrative of what has value in the world and what deserves respect and compassion.<br />
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The narrative that says it’s okay to exploit the resources of the earth for our own use comes from the same place as the narrative that tries to normalize sexual assault, racism, sexism, transphobia, and other forms of violence and discrimination that are learned and perpetuated by people choosing to reinforce them. You and I have been taught narratives about what is normal and right, just as generations of humans have been taught before us. But what we often forget is that we write and create the narrative and reality of the world in our everyday choices. Some of us have more choices than others--some have the means to decide to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Others live in such a way that they are already "sustainable" because they don’t have access to enough resources to ever be able to be wasteful. Although this could look like sustainability, it's actually a lack of adequate resources. Some of our voices also shape the narrative more easily than others because of the way the narrative has been told and believed for so long. The narrator controls the narrative and those in power often pass the microphone to those who look like them and have the same worldview. But we are each creating our world every moment. If we are fortunate enough to have a microphone in front of us, figuratively or literally, we can move the microphone from our own mouths and turn it toward the folks who have been shouting for years without being truly heard.<br />
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Every day, we choose how to react and act and contribute and support one another in our world. And some days, it’s really hard to face the reality of our world and the countless issues that we face, but we have a choice of whether we want to tune those realities out or if we want to face them and find a way forward that provides meaning and value to our lives. There is a concept called the Spiral of the Work that Reconnects by Joanna Macy and others, which is a metaphor for how to approach the hard truths of life and not turn away. It’s a spiral that returns to the start over and over throughout our lives, and the process first grounds in gratitude, then moves to honoring our pain for the world, then transitions to seeing the world in new ways or gaining new perspectives, and then moves toward going forth and taking action. In each of these steps, we can remember Gandhi’s quote to be the change we wish to see in the world.<br />
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I’ll leave you with a suggestion to consider what is one thing you wish to hold yourself accountable to do that reflects a change you wish to see in the world. Remind yourself of the thing you were grateful for at the beginning of my talk. How can you change one thing in your life to support a future where everyone can experience and be grateful for that thing? Write your commitment on a piece of paper, sign your name, and hang it somewhere where you will be reminded of it. What is one specific thing you can do starting today? How will you be the change you wish to see this Earth Week?<br />
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Thank you so much for your time!Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-23071617875490694372018-02-28T15:40:00.000-08:002018-03-06T11:14:09.684-08:00Garden Update & Equipment Needs for 2018Who else is ready for the weather to warm up the soil for our spring gardens? I've spent so many hours looking at seed catalogs and seed packets lately, I just can't wait for tomatoes and peppers!<br />
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Despite the cool temperatures lately, the 2018 growing season has officially begun for Green Gal's Garden! We sowed our first round of seeds on February 18, including three varieties of basil and one variety of cauliflower. The first seedlings sprouted up out of the soil on February 24, and more continue to sprout and grow happily in their little cells of potting soil.<br />
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I'm planting another round of seeds this week, and I finally finished my crop plan (just yesterday actually!) so now I have a schedule of what's getting planted when and how much and when it'll eventually get transplanted and then harvested.<br />
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I printed it out to have a physical copy to refer to (see below), but it will be a living document on the computer that will get updated and changed as the season progresses.<br />
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I'll share more about the crops and varieties I'll be growing this season in a future blog post--or <a href="https://www.instagram.com/greenbeangal/">follow along on Instagram as I sow more seeds</a>!<br />
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To protect the baby seedlings from frosty nights, I've been moving the tray of plants back and forth between the small four-shelf greenhouse on our porch and our laundry room, where we have a grow light set up.<br />
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Eventually, young seedlings will spend all of their time in the porch greenhouse, which has a zipper so I can give them access to fresh air during the heat of the day.<br />
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When the volume of seedlings becomes more than I can handle in the small greenhouse, I'll need to get a larger greenhouse to keep up at the Garden.<br />
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Plants will still start their lives here on our porch and then they'll move up to the Garden once new seedlings need to take their place.<br />
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Once the seedlings are big enough and almost ready to move into the earthen soil, I'll move them outside for a short while before planting them into the ground.<br />
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March 18 is my target date to get some seedlings and seeds into the soil up at the Garden, which means we'll be double digging the beds a week before that. At that time, I'll add organic amendments to the soil based on the soil test results I received in late fall. <br />
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That's only a few weeks away (!), so I'm currently in the process of making sure I have all of the equipment and tools necessary to irrigate, weed, provide frost protection, and support the healthy development of a whole bunch of young plants outside of the comfort of a greenhouse.<br />
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As part of that process, I've put together <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-78dSVvn1ACYMy8q6Pce6vNVANltfs_owvTrztpqpTk/edit?usp=sharing">this spreadsheet of some tools and equipment</a> that I need to buy. (Note: This is a partial list that only includes items I'm willing to buy used. Other items like remay/row cover, soil amendments, compost, twist ties, and a lot more, are best bought new, and I already have a pretty good idea of where to source them.)<br />
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I'm sharing this spreadsheet publicly in hopes that you all can help me find these items for either free, used, or at an affordable rate from a local source.<br />
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If I have to, I'll order from Johnny's or Amazon, but I have a feeling that there are folks in my network and community who might have some of these items lying around, needing a new home. <br />
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Another way to support my small business is to donate money through the PayPal link below or by mailing a check made out to Green Gal's Garden to the mailing address below. If you want the funds to go toward a particular item, let me know.<br />
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To donate through PayPal, select "pay a friend" here: <a href="https://www.paypal.me/greenbeangal">https://www.paypal.me/greenbeangal</a><br />
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To donate through Venmo, go to <a href="https://venmo.com/greenbeangal">https://venmo.com/greenbeangal</a><br />
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To donate by check, payable to "Green Gal's Garden," mail it to: Melissa Ott, PO Box 721064, San Jose, CA 95172<br />
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Please share this blog post or the spreadsheet link with your networks and anyone you know who might have any of these items. Thank you!<br />
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To learn more about Green Gal's Garden, please visit <a href="https://greenbeangal.blogspot.com/p/green-gals-garden.html">https://greenbeangal.blogspot.com/p/green-gals-garden.html</a><br />
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For more Green Gal updates, please <a href="https://www.instagram.com/greenbeangal/">visit and </a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/greenbeangal/">follow my Instagram page @greenbeangal</a> or <a href="http://blogspot.us16.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=94a5965c2ad7d1e7e93c41f30&id=363b548a3e">sign up for my email newsletter</a>.<br />
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Thank you, and happy almost-spring!<br />
Green GalGreen Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-33875646560789521162018-01-04T14:55:00.000-08:002018-01-04T14:55:50.220-08:00Reflecting on 2017It's been almost 3 months since I said goodbye to my beautiful farm-ily and graduated from the UC Santa Cruz Farm Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture.<br />
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Life since then has been a whirlwind of organizing to-do lists and timelines, adjusting to more screen time, balancing new responsibilities and projects without the structure of a 9-5 job, and reflecting on this past growing season of learning, growth, and community.<br />
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Since October when I packed up my tent cabin overlooking Monterey Bay and closed a profound chapter of my life, the ideas that had sprouted into dreams and were woven into goals during my time at the UCSC Farm soon became integral to the fabric of my daily life.<br />
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The vision I crafted as I dug potatoes and planted ranunculus and cooked meals for 45 of my favorite people has begun manifesting as tangible stepping stones into the future, each leading to deeper understanding of the purpose and potential of those dreams.<br />
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No doubt, I have days when fear makes me question if my decision to dive headfirst
into self-employment, start a mini farm, and try to start a small
baking business is ridiculous...<br />
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...but when I reflect on all of the growth, discovery, and change that I have experienced since I left my awesome job at the UC Santa Cruz Sustainability Office last April to start farming, it makes me excited and encouraged to continue moving forward in this new direction. At the very least, I know I'll be well-fed in 2018 with fresh produce, sourdough bread, and support from my community.<br />
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<h3>
Green Gal's 2017, in Summary </h3>
I got engaged to marry the love of my life in March in a blossoming orchard off Highway 120.<br />
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From April to October, I lived, worked, and learned at the UCSC Farm and Gardens through the <a href="https://casfs.ucsc.edu/apprenticeship/">Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture</a>. I learned and experienced more than could possibly be stated in this blog post, but there are a few glimpses into my life on the farm in <a href="https://greenbeangal.blogspot.com/search?q=apprenticeship">prior posts</a>.<br />
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I baked a whole lot of sourdough bread, experimented with different loaves (tomato basil was a personal favorite), and I learned how to bake many loaves in succession, many times baking enough for 50 people in one day.<br />
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I completed my first Permaculture Design Course and received my Permaculture Design Certificate through <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.com/permaculture-design-course/">Santa Cruz Permaculture</a>. <br />
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Green Guy and I adopted two cats, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BcYbrRqF1Jb/?taken-by=greenbeangal">Cooper and Coffee</a>.<br />
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I dreamed of starting my own garden from the slopes of the Up Garden.<br />
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I led two fun and well-attended sourdough 101 workshops: <a href="https://greenbeangal.blogspot.com/2017/10/sourdough-101-and-new-bread-market.html">one at the UCSC Harvest Festival</a> at the Farm and the other in the UCSC Village Kitchen through the Food Systems Working Group. Thanks to everyone who participated!<br />
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I shared my 150-year-old sourdough starter with dozens of people through the two workshops, among my apprenticeship cohort, and beyond. <br />
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I broke ground on a very small market garden in the Santa Cruz Mountains and sowed cover crop to prepare the ground for spring planting. I named the garden <a href="https://greenbeangal.blogspot.com/p/green-gals-garden.html">Green Gal's Garden</a>. <br />
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I got my first business license for <a href="https://greenbeangal.blogspot.com/p/green-gal-consulting.html">Green Gal Consulting</a>, which provides marketing, outreach, event planning, workshops, and organizational services in the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas with a mission to support projects, programs, and small businesses that connect people to place, the natural world, community, and themselves. Part of this process also included getting my first P.O. box and business banking account, becoming a coworking member at NextSpace, and biking all over San Jose to process paperwork to become official.<br />
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I began working with my first client, <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.com/">Santa Cruz Permaculture</a>, to support outreach, marketing, social media, and more. (I'm looking for additional clients, so <a href="mailto:greenbeangal@gmail.com">please email me</a> if you're interested in learning more!)<br />
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I've found out what it's like to be self-employed and set your own hours. I learned that my weakness is sleeping in, but I actually get a lot done in the early morning if I wake up and start working right away. I am still not quite sure what my optimal working hours are, and learning more about this for myself is one of my 2018 goals.<br />
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I spent a lot of time planning Green Gal's Garden, including creating a <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSchuR0lrl_B6XCEpFeIbgDGI89MiaFrNL3SJ56AaXKU_PEf5w/viewform">marketing survey that is still open for feedback</a>. I'm looking at you, reader!<br />
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I submitted my first soil test for Green Gal's Garden and received results that made me smile; guess what kind of soil we have up there! I still need to sit down with a trained eye to identify my next steps for improving the soil.<br />
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I put together a comprehensive cash flow analysis for the consulting and garden aspects of the business, which made me incredibly grateful for the years I worked in the UCSC Sustainability Office supporting accounting and budgeting for the Office and Carbon Fund. So. Many. Spreadsheets.<br />
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I registered a business license for Green Gal's Garden in Santa Cruz County and signed a lease for the land. Vegetables will be planted and packed into CSA boxes, fruit trees will be maintained and harvested from--it's really happening!<br />
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I bought some equipment for the garden, including a backpack sprayer for fertigation (fish emulsion, yum), a digital scale for weighing and pricing, and a first aid kit. <br />
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I started and have made good progress on a detailed crop plan and timeline for the 2018 growing season. It's a big project that's currently marked as URGENT on my to-do list because once it's completed, I can move forward with identifying pricing, signing up CSA customers, and placing orders for seedlings.<br />
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If you live in Santa Cruz County or Santa Clara County and are interested in learning more about the CSA once the details are available, <a href="mailto:greenbeangal@gmail.com">please let me know</a>. I also plan to sell surplus veggies beyond the CSA through my <a href="http://blogspot.us16.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=94a5965c2ad7d1e7e93c41f30&id=363b548a3e">email list </a>and/or a website (to be determined).<br />
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<h3>
What about the bread business you've been talking about for months, Green Gal?</h3>
As many of you know, in 2017 I also put a lot of thought into starting a very small, locally sourced, organic bread business. I'm waiting until Green Guy and I live somewhere that I can obtain a cottage food operator's license to sell bread from my home kitchen.<br />
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As soon as I'm able to do this (which is tricky because we're currently renting an apartment on a short-term lease), I will let folks on my email list, social media pages, and this blog know. Believe me, when my bread is for sale, you will hear about it from all directions!<br />
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For now, I'm focusing on consulting work (which could include sourdough <i>workshops</i> if you're curious about learning how to bake bread) and market gardening/farming. I'm also hoping to get a gluten-free sourdough starter going so that by the time I do start selling my bread, I have at least one really delicious gluten-free sourdough recipe to sell.<br />
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Happy New Year, and as always, thanks for reading!<br />
Green GalGreen Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-88495712827752879052017-11-28T10:01:00.001-08:002017-11-28T10:01:26.535-08:00Giving Tuesday: Regrow Puerto RicoHappy Giving Tuesday! If you haven't already, I invite you to please support an important cause led by four of my dear friends from the UCSC Farm Apprenticeship! They are raising funds to support a more sustainable food system in Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria. They have raised 75% of their $17,500 goal; <a href="https://www.generosity.com/emergencies-fundraising/regrow-puerto-rico--2">help them get to 100%</a>!<br />
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They write, "After learning that 80% of crop value has been wiped out, we think supporting our agroecological family in Puerto Rico is the best way we can contribute. We want to contribute to farmers, seed savers, and food justice organizers who believe in growing methods that do not use pesticides, that rebuild the soil, that attract beneficial insects, that grow healthy food, that believe that access to locally grown food is a RIGHT that everyone should have on the island (and around the world.)" <br />
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Please watch this video to learn more and hear directly from my four inspiring friends and fellow members of the Center for Agroecology & Sustainably Food Systems (CASFS) farm-ily:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="281" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fgreenbeangal%2Fvideos%2F1303116389814889%2F&show_text=0&width=560" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="500"></iframe>
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Every donation makes a difference! Please also share the video with your networks.<br />
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Donate: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/regrowpuertorico">tinyurl.com/regrowpuertorico</a><br />
Connect: <a href="http://facebook.com/regrowpuertorico">facebook.com/regrowpuertorico</a><br />
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Film transcript: "Somos Gaby y Crystal. Boricuas nacidas y criadas en Puerto Rico. We are Arielle and Fernando, future residents of the island. While we were studying with the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems on the University of California Santa Cruz campus, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, exposing its food system’s vulnerability. As part of the agroecological community in Puerto Rico, we are in contact with several farmers and food justice organizers. We are in discussion about the needs on the ground to regrow in an even more sustainable way. With your help, we are supporting a more resilient food system in Puerto Rico. Regrow Puerto Rico!"<br />
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Thank you to the beautiful CASFS Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture Class of 2017 apprentices for letting me film you during harvest morning. Thank you also to Green Guy for the photos of the damage caused by Hurricane Maria that he took a couple weeks after the storms while helping get new Tesla Powerwalls set up for folks in Puerto Rico.<br />
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Happy Giving Tuesday!Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-54043161423511033692017-10-02T12:47:00.001-07:002017-11-28T15:36:16.384-08:00Sourdough 101 Yesterday afternoon, I led a workshop about sourdough bread at the UC Santa Cruz Farm & Garden's Annual Harvest Festival. (Fun fact: Green Guy and I met at this same event five years ago when we were tabling for student sustainability organizations!) A whole lot of people showed up to the workshop, and nearly everyone was able to take some 150-year-old Yukon sourdough starter home with them. I received the starter from a coworker's mother-in-law a couple years ago after baking with my own homegrown starter for a few months. It's resilient and amazing to bake with!<br />
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If you're particularly intrigued by sourdough and live in the Santa Cruz area, you're invited to sign up for another workshop that I'm leading October 11 at UCSC. It's $5, and it's limited to 12 participants; <a href="https://apm.activecommunities.com/opers/Activity_Search/4396">sign up here</a>! By signing up for the workshop, you can join me on a journey into the wild world of sourdough, an ancient and delicious fermentation art that is easy and fun for folks of all ages! Participants will learn how sourdough starters are created, how to feed them and keep them "alive," and how to prepare and bake delicious loaves of sourdough bread at home. You'll take some well-established sourdough starter home with you, and fresh sourdough bread baked right on the Farm will also be available for tasting!<br />
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Before I launch into what I did in my workshop, I want to share a quote I just came across while reading on the bus this morning. It's by Amy Halloran in her book <a href="http://www.chelseagreen.com/the-new-bread-basket"><i>The New Bread Basket: How the New Crop of Grain Growers, Plant Breeders, Millers, Maltsters, Bakers, Brewers, and Local Food Activists Are Redefining Our Daily Loaf</i></a>: <br />
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"How we eat is ingrained in us as individuals, and in our cultures. For millennia, bread provided the bulk of our calories. That's why <i>breaking bread </i>means more than just sharing food. When we work for a living we are <i>breadwinners</i>, and <i>dough</i> often means 'money.' These terms are so ubiquitous that they have become almost invisible metaphors. And the process of growing bread is almost invisible, too. Pictures of wheat stalks grace cracker boxes, but most people don't know the first thing about grains or how we grow them."</blockquote>
Her book brings that invisible world to light, and I'm feeling inspired and excited to find local grain growers and experiment with their flours. I just picked up some local flour from <a href="http://www.pieranch.org/">Pie Ranch</a> in Pescadero, where they grow and mill their own grains, in addition to many other projects from veggie production to fruit trees to pie baking to farmer and youth education to food justice to supporting native foodways to barn dances, and more!<br />
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In the workshop, I also shared a quote by Sandor Katz from <a href="http://www.wildfermentation.com/the-art-of-fermentation/"><i>The Art of Fermentation</i></a>. I don't have the book with me right now as I write this in the Stevenson Coffee House at UCSC, so I can't include the quote, but he essentially points out the relationship between "culture" and "cultivation" and the passing of food and farming knowledge and fermenting starters from generation to generation. Just as we share a common cultural vocabulary related to bread as Amy Holloran writes, we also share cultures with each other literally when we pass along sourdough starter to friends and neighbors. Just as the sharing of seed stories and their journeys from person to person and garden to garden are significant in how we relate to seeds as living entities that we have a mutual relationship with, the passing of sourdough starters from person to person and kitchen to kitchen can connect us so much more deeply with the loaves of bread we enjoy. It's also empowering to recognize that we can foster and bake our own deliciously local sourdough bread and share the means to do so with our friends and neighbors for simply the cost of time, flour, water, and electricity.<br />
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Also at the beginning of the workshop, I briefly reviewed the science of fermentation and sourdough. My level of knowledge around this subject is limited (but I'm working on learning more!), so I essentially explained that flour and water mixed together become a sourdough starter when air bubbles form and froth from the creation of carbon dioxide. The wild yeast on the grains you're mixing in water, along with wild yeast from the air, are interacting with bacteria to break down sugars in the grain. <br />
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For more about the science of sourdough and a little history, here are two NPR stories:<br />
<ul>
<li>"<a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/03/07/148120591/into-the-wild-science-of-sourdough-bread-making">Into The Wild Science Of Sourdough Bread-Making</a>"</li>
<li>"<a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/10/28/499363379/discovering-the-science-secrets-of-sourdough-you-can-help">Discovering The Science Secrets Of Sourdough (You Can Help)</a>"</li>
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After discussing some background information, I launched into my demonstration, using my favorite bread recipe: "<a href="http://www.theclevercarrot.com/2014/01/sourdough-bread-a-beginners-guide/">Sourdough: A Beginner's Guide</a>" by the Clever Carrot. She does an excellent job explaining how to prepare sourdough bread with an easy-to-make loaf that is delicious. I essentially walked through her process and showed the different stages of starter (fed and unfed) and dough (just mixed and some that had been sitting for hours). I also showed how I mix spices and herbs into my dough at the same time that I add salt, as well as how I fold spices, herbs, and even things like peppers, garlic, and olives into my loaf when I shape it. After walking through the demo, folks got to come up and try some bread I baked that morning as well as get their own jar of starter. Special thanks to Green Guy and my Aunt Laurie who was in the audience for helping me with distributing these treats to folks while I answered questions. (Thanks Uncle John for helping with cleanup after, too!)<br />
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Before the workshop, I printed about 20 copies of a handout about how to care for your sourdough starter with some additional tips and resources. Because nearly 50 people showed up to the workshop, I had folks sign up to receive their handout via email. Here's the information I shared on the handout:<br />
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<u>Taking care of your 150-year-old starter</u><br />
These guidelines are based on my experience with the 150-year-old starter. If you make a new starter or get one from someone else, you may need to feed it more often and take it out of the fridge to bake with farther in advance. <a href="http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-your-own-sourdough-starter-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-47337">This article from The Kitchn</a> has some general guidelines for taking care of "younger" starters.<br />
<ul>
<li>Always feed your starter equal parts water and flour by weight. If you don’t have a scale, look up conversions online. Remember: one cup of water is not the same weight as one cup of flour!</li>
<li>Keep your starter in the fridge when you don’t plan on using it anytime soon.</li>
<li>Take it out of the fridge to feed it at least once a month to keep it alive. At a minimum, feed it 1 ounce of water and one ounce of water, stir and let sit for 12 hours with the lid ajar. Then you can put it back in the fridge, or use it.</li>
<li>To use the starter for bread or other goodies that require an active starter, take it out of the fridge and feed it at least 7 hours before you need to use it in your recipe. Feed it as much as you’ll need for the recipe, making sure you’ll have enough leftover to keep in your jar. Always leave the lid ajar or not tightly closed when it’s not in the fridge so that carbon dioxide can escape.</li>
<li>If your starter develops a sour smell or a thin layer of liquid, do not fear! You can pour off the liquid (or not) and feed it. It should bounce back soon and be better than ever.</li>
<li>Don’t forget to explore sourdough pancakes, waffles, pizza dough, and other tasty treats! If you find yourself with extra starter and aren’t sure what to do with it, look online for inspiration.</li>
<li>Share your starter with friends and family who express interest in sourdough, and make sure to give them enough information to feel confident about keeping it alive. Host your own workshop with them!<u><br /></u></li>
</ul>
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<u>Ingredients for the beginning sourdough loaf</u><br />
<ul>
<li>Active, fed sourdough starter</li>
<li>Flour</li>
<li>Water</li>
<li>Salt</li>
<li>Olive oil</li>
<li>Cornmeal for dusting the bottom of your Dutch oven or pan (could also use flour)</li>
</ul>
<u>Basic timeline (varies by recipe)</u><br />
<ul>
<li>Hour 0: Feed your starter the weight of flour and water needed for your recipe. For the recipe used in this workshop, you’d need 5.35 ounces of starter, which is roughly equal to 2.7 ounces of flour + 2.7 ounces of water. It doesn’t hurt to feed a little extra; always make sure you’ll have enough remaining in the jar to keep your starter going. You may want to feed the starter in a separate bowl if you’re making a lot of bread so that it doesn’t spill out of the jar. Always keep some amount in the starter jar when you do this.</li>
<li>Hour 7: Check to make sure your starter is frothy and bubbly. You can scoop a small amount into a cup of lukewarm water, and if it floats, it’s definitely ready to make your recipe. If it sinks, give the starter more time before preparing your recipe. You can feed the starter up to 12 hours before making your recipe, but 7 hours seems to be the minimum amount of time needed for it to froth up. Experiment with this, and keep in mind that on hot days or during the day, fermentation happens much more quickly than on cold days or during the night when it’s cooler.</li>
<li>Hour 19: Assuming your starter was ready to make your recipe at hour 7, let the dough rise for a minimum of 12 hours, or until it’s doubled in size (which can happen quicker in warmer temperatures). Carefully scoop the dough onto a cutting board, making sure to get as much of the dough from the sides of the bowl as possible. You can use a bench scraper for this, or your hands. You can add additional ingredients at this time if you wish. Shape the loaf and place it in your Dutch oven on a thin layer of cornmeal.</li>
<li>Hour 20: Check that the loaf has grown. If you have time and it hasn’t gotten larger, wait another 30 minutes or move the Dutch oven to a warmer place. When it’s ready, score the top of the loaf so that the inside of the loaf will cook more evenly. How you score the loaf affects how it bakes; experiment with this! Multiple scores lead to a wider and flatter loaf. One score leads to a taller loaf. Criss-cross scores can be beautiful. Add salt, herbs, or spices to the top if you wish. Place the entire Dutch oven with the lid into the preheated 400 degree oven.</li>
<li>Hour 20 and 20 minutes: Remove lid from the Dutch oven.</li>
<li>Hour 20 and 50 minutes: Open the door to the oven slightly. This helps the crust develop, but it isn’t required. If the loaf looks ready at this time and you don’t want to leave the door open, you can take it out.</li>
<li>Hour 21: Take bread out of the oven (unless it is still very pale and needs more time) and place on a cooling rack.</li>
<li>Hour 22: You can slice and eat your bread now! (The bread continues to cook after you remove it from the oven. Slicing too early leads to gummy texture inside.)</li>
</ul>
<u>Additional items needed for making sourdough bread</u><br />
<ul>
<li>Scale (strongly recommended) - I use <a href="https://eatsmartproducts.com/collections/kitchen-scales/products/eatsmart-precision-pro-multifunction-digital-kitchen-scale-w-extra-large-lcd-and-11-lb-capacity">this one by EatSmart</a>.</li>
<li>Butter knife or chopstick for mixing starter when feeding</li>
<li>Spoon for measuring out flour</li>
<li>Mixing bowl and small pitcher for measuring out water</li>
<li>Oven and oven mitts</li>
<li>Dutch oven / large cast iron pot (strongly recommended but not required)</li>
<li>If not a Dutch oven, then a baking sheet or loaf pan</li>
<li>Sharp knife for scoring the loaf, or a lame for more precise scoring</li>
<li>Sufficient time and forethought – you need to feed the starter ~22 hours before your bread will be ready!</li>
</ul>
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Green Gal</div>
Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-46769551552475568102017-07-24T20:05:00.001-07:002017-11-28T15:41:29.035-08:00I Love Lavender! History, properties, uses, and homemade treatsThis afternoon in the Farm Garden, I led a Garden Talk on my new favorite flower: Lavender! Everyone currently working in the Farm Garden took turns last week and today presenting for 10-12 minutes each on garden topics of our choice. Other apprentices shared about topics like quail, African and African-American traditional foods and crops, compost worms, the impact of colonialism and forced removal on Native American traditional foodways, the "Language of Flowers" and their meanings, mycorrhizal fungi, and more! I chose lavender because I've been collecting and drying bunches of lavender in my tent cabin for a few weeks, and as I learned more about its uses, I was blown away by its incredible range of uses, both medicinally, culinary, and beyond.<br />
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I've adapted my presentation into a blog post to share with you all below. In addition to presenting on lavender, I also brought some different lavender varieties, books with recipes and information, lavender essential oil, a lavender tincture some of us apprentices made, lavender lemonade that I made this weekend, and a big batch of lavender shortbread cookies! The lemonade and cookies turned out really great, so I've included the recipes I used at the end.<br />
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I set up the picnic table in the Farm Garden for my presentation. Pictured here are only 20 of the 70 shortbread lavender cookies I baked last night. </div>
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I started off my garden talk with an excerpt from the 1584 poem <a href="https://fromtroublesofthisworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/15/a-nosegay-always-sweet-by-william-hunnis/">“A Nosegay, Always Sweet: For Lovers to Send for Tokens of Love at New Year’s Tide” by William Hunnis</a>. It references numerous flowers and their associations in Elizabethan London culture at the time:<br />
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Lavender is for lovers true,<br />
Which evermore be fain,<br />
Desiring always for to have<br />
Some pleasure for their pain;<br />
And when that they obtained have<br />
The love that they require,<br />
Then have they all their perfect joy,<br />
And quenched is the fire.<br />
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The complete poem can be found <a href="https://fromtroublesofthisworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/15/a-nosegay-always-sweet-by-william-hunnis/">here</a>. <br />
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<b>Origins and Stories </b><br />
Lavender is in the Lamiaceae, or mint, family, and it is native to the Mediterranean region, the Arabian Peninsula, Russia, southwest Asia, and India. It has been used in human cultures for more than 2500 years. Some of its earliest uses included mummification and perfume by the Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Arabic peoples. Tutankhamun was buried with perfume jars believed to have contained lavender.<br />
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It is referenced in the Bible as “spikenard,” and one tradition says that the first lavender bush grew in the Garden of Eden and was carried by Adam and Eve with them when they left.<br />
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It was used by the Romans as an oil for bathing, cooking, and scenting the air and public baths, and by the Greeks as medicine.<br />
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Because extracting the oil is difficult, it was historically reserved for royalty. I came across numerous stories of kings and queens who greatly enjoyed lavender. One of the most interesting stories is that Queen Elizabeth I hired a full-time "herb strewer" to scatter flowers and keep lavender well-stocked for tea. The queen was said to drink up to 10 cups of lavender tea daily to treat migraines.<br />
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During the Great Plague in London in the 1660s, people wore lavender on their wrists to protect from disease because it seemed that glove makers who added lavender to their leather rarely contracted the deadly disease. Lavender is also one of the ingredients in “4 Thieves Vinegar,” which is supposedly the vinegar mixture drunk by thieves during the plague to ward off the disease while they stole from graves and homes of the dying. It actually does contain antibacterial and antiseptic properties, so there was something to this!<br />
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Moderns studies have suggested that men in general are most attracted to the scents of lavender and pumpkin, and in Elizabethan England, lavender had a similar reputation. In Shakespeare’s <i>The Winter’s Tale</i>, Act 4, Scene 4, lavender's known association as an aphrodisiac for men is referenced in lines by the character Perdita when she says to Polixines and Camillo:<br />
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Here’s flowers for you;<br />
Hot lavender, mints, savoury, majoram;<br />
The marigold that goes to bed wi’ the sun,<br />
And with him rises weeping: these are flowers<br />
Of middle summer, and I think they are given<br />
To men of middle age. You’re very welcome.<br />
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Lavender is grown commercially today for use in perfumes, lotions, and other products.
It has been a foundational oil in the perfume industry for centuries.<br />
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The name lavender and its scientific name Lavandula come from the Latin word “laver,” which means “to wash.” There is also a similar Latin word that means "livid, or bluish," which could be a possible origin, as well. The cultivated plant can range from deep purple to “lavender” to pale pink and white.<br />
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<b>Uses & Properties</b><br />
The leaves and flowers can be used for a number of purposes, both medicinal and culinary. Medicinal properties include providing pain relief, anti-bacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, anticatarrhal (or reducing excess mucus), antispasmodic, aids in digestion and gas relief, calms and strengthens the nervous system, deodorant, helps with breathing, circulation, gynecological issues, and soothes and heals inflamed tissues. Lavender can be applied topically to treat skin conditions, as well as made into teas and tinctures. Lavender baths can help ease tension and stress, as well as relieve muscle pain, irritability, and restlessness. Lavender sprigs can be rubbed on teeth and gums as a natural toothbrush and cleanser.<br />
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Its culinary uses are similarly expansive. It can be infused into olive oil, coconut oil, vinegar, fruit juices, honey, milks, and alcohols. It can be added to pesto, soup, stir-fries, sauces, marinades, cocktails, smoothies, sorbet, ice cream, and ground into salt or sugar mixtures. It is one of the ingredients in Herbs de Provence. The stems can also be used to skewer meat or veggies on a grill. It can also be baked into cookies, scones, cakes, and other baked treats.<br />
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The lavender shortbread cookies were a huge hit! I'd definitely make them again. See the recipes for cookies and lemonade at the bottom of this post.</div>
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For the lavender lemonade, you infuse honey with lavender flowers before mixing with lemon juice and water. </div>
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Lavender can also be brewed into beer for aroma by adding dried flowers in the last few minutes of the boil and/or by adding it to the fermenting vessel 3-7 days before bottling or kegging the beer, which is similar to “dry hopping.” My fiance Green Guy and I experimented with this recently by adding dried lavender flowers at the end of the boil for a Belgian Blonde Ale. We are bottling it next week and look forward to trying it! People have been adding lavender to beer since at least the 1600s.<br />
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As an herb or when distilled into essential oil, lavender can be added to baths, soaps, lotions, foot soaks, and massage oils. It can also be infused into vinegar as a cleaner due to its antiseptic properties and refreshing scent, and it can be used as an insect repellant. It’s also commonly used as a sachet to place in dresser drawers and as a potpourri.<br />
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Books and online resources (see "Sources" below) provide countless recipes for all of these uses. It’s important to pay attention to details in these recipes, such as whether it's calling for dry or fresh lavender. Fresh lavender has a shorter shelf life and affects how you process products like infused oils and cordials, for instance. Dried lavender is also more potent, so you would use less of it than fresh lavender.<br />
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<b>Different types of lavender</b><br />
There are many different types and cultivars of lavender. We have a number of lavender plants in the Farm Garden, and even more in the Up Garden, including:<br />
<ul>
<li>Lavandula angustifolia (English Lavender): “Violet Intrigue,” “Hidcote,” “Dwarf Munstead,” “Mustead." English lavender is most commonly used in culinary recipes because it has a sweeter scent and taste.</li>
<li>Hybrid between angustifolia and lanata: “Lisa Marie”</li>
<li>Lavandula intermedia (also referred to as Lavandins or French lavender): “Du Provence,” “Grosso.” French lavender is more astringent and contains more camphorous oils than English lavender; it is good for use in cleaning products and for numerous medicinal uses. It is commonly used in perfume.</li>
<li>Lavandula stoechas, or Spanish lavender, is a distinct lavender with a plume on top of the flower. It is less frost hardy and has the highest camphor oil. </li>
</ul>
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In the Up Garden, we have a Lavender Lounge with multiple varieties of lavender, a small area to sit, and this sign. </div>
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<b>How to grow and harvest</b><br />
Lavender is a wonderful plant to grow, not only for the many reasons listed above, but also because bees love it! It is grown best in Mediterranean climates in full sun with well-drained soil. It is drought tolerant and best propagated by cuttings or division. It blooms in the summer, and by harvesting flowers throughout the summer, it can extend their
blooming season. Plants can also be pruned lightly to promote branching
in spring. For cut flowers, it should be harvested when half or less of the blooms are open. For essential oils, it should be harvested right before blooming at the peak of the day’s heat. Culinary and medicinal uses may call for buds, blooming flowers, or stems.<br />
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Now do you see why lavender is my new favorite flower? I'm excited to try more recipes with the lavender from the Farm, including a relaxing foot soak after a hard day's work!<br />
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<b>Sources and Resources</b><br />
Central Coast Lavender & Apothecary. <a href="http://centralcoastlavender.com/">centralcoastlavender.com</a>. <br />
<br />
deBairacli Levy, Juliette. <i>Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable</i>. Emmaus: Rodale Press, 1976. Print.<br />
<br />
Fisher, Joe, and Dennis Fisher. <i>The Homebrewer's Garden. </i>North Adams: Storey, 2016. Print.<br />
<br />
"Growing Lavender." Bonnie Plants. <a href="http://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-lavender">bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-lavender</a>. <br />
<br />
"Lavender: 12 Uses Beyond Potpourri." Living on a Green Thumb. <a href="http://livingonagreenthumb.wordpress.com/">livingonagreenthumb.wordpress.com</a>. <br />
<br />
McBride, Kami. <i>The Herbal Kitchen. </i>San Francisco: Conari Press, 2010. Print.<br />
<br />
Purple Haze Lavender. <a href="http://purplehazelavender.com/">purplehazelavender.com</a>.<br />
<br />
Waring, Philippa. <i>Lavender: Nature's Way to Relaxation and Health.</i> London: Souvenir Press, 2011. eBook.<br />
<br />
Weirslane Lavender. <a href="http://weirslanelavender.ca/">weirslanelavender.ca</a>.<br />
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<b>Recipes</b><br />
<br />
<i>Easy Lavender Shortbread Cookies</i><br />
<a href="http://www.agardenforthehouse.com/2015/06/easy-lavender-shortbread-cookies/">Adapted from a recipe by Kevin Lee Jacobs, A Garden for the House</a><br />
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Ingredients for about 4 dozen, 2-inch diameter cookies<br />
<ul>
<li>8 ounces Earth Balance softened to room-temperature </li>
<li>8 ounces coconut oil softened to room-temperature (original recipe calls for 16 ounces butter)</li>
<li>8 teaspoons fresh lavender buds, or 4 teaspoons dried</li>
<li>1 cup sugar</li>
<li>4 cups all-purpose flour, scooped and leveled</li>
</ul>
Optional Adornment<br />
<ul>
<li>2 cup confectioners sugar, blended with just enough water to achieve a spreadable consistency</li>
<li>Lavender petals and/or buds </li>
</ul>
1. In the bowl of a standing mixer outfitted a paddle, beat the lavender, sugar, and butter at low speed until smooth.<br />
2. Then add the flour and beat until combined. Mixing is complete when there are no visible lumps of butter/oil in the dough.<br />
3. Form the dough into a rough ball, return to the bowl, cover, and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.<br />
4. Roll the dough into a 1/4-inch thick circle; cut out cookie shapes with a round, 2-inch diameter cutter.<br />
5. Using a flat spatula, transfer the rounds to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Chill for 30 minutes before baking.<br />
6. Bake on the middle rack of a preheated 300 degree oven just until the sides of the cookies begin to color — 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely on the baking sheet.<br />
7. Decorate with the optional glaze; sprinkle with lavender petals or buds. Serve on a platter with lavender sprigs if possible.<br />
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<i>Lavender Lemonade</i><br />
<a href="https://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/lavender-lemonade-with-honey-recipe">Original recipe here</a>. Special thanks to my sister <a href="https://www.facebook.com/jeunegal/">Jeune Gal</a> for drawing the design of this recipe handout that I made for my presentation!<i> </i><br />
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Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-54055499393375231172017-07-13T18:48:00.001-07:002017-11-28T15:51:13.189-08:00Farm update & two garden poems by Jeune GalLife on the Farm has been so busy lately! Our twice-weekly <a href="https://casfs.ucsc.edu/community/produce-sales/farm-and-garden-market-cart.html">market cart</a> began a few weeks ago, which means that on Tuesday and Friday mornings, we begin harvesting flowers, veggies, and berries at 7:30am for our market stand at the base of campus.<br />
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Two of my lovely fellow apprentices load flower bouquets into the box truck to go to our market cart around 10:00am on harvest morning. We harvest flowers and make bouquets in the Farm Garden that are sold at our cart. We also harvest veggies to sell at cart. Other garden/farm sites in the program make bouquets or harvest veggies for our CSA program.</div>
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My chore rotations lately (dish patrol and kitchen patrol) have also been more time consuming; they included setting up our post-meal dish station, drying and putting away dishes, putting away food from meals, and washing dishes used to serve food. I was also on a subrotation for three weeks focused on propagation in the greenhouses and hardening off tables. Along with three other apprentices, I was responsible for sowing seeds, pricking out plants into larger containers, watering and keeping baby plants alive! It required a good amount of time during the day and week, and in the process, I learned a lot about how to care for plants from seed to seedling ready to move into the "real world" of the garden or field bed.<br />
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I've also been starting to brew up some ideas of what I might do after the apprenticeship, which is a little more than halfway over already! Ideas include launching a small business that would allow me to make some money from baking bread, growing food and flowers, creating art and crafts, making jams and jellies, and gardening. I'm also envisioning finding a gardening or garden education job after this program. Regarding the business idea, I've begun researching what it really means to start a business, what logistical steps I need to get through (licenses, permits, etc.), and what I can be doing now to develop a strong business plan, including how to finance it! On top of all of these activities, I've been working a couple hours a week doing landscaping at a nearby home garden.<br />
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I baked my first pie recently, a blueberry pie with berries from the Pleasanton Farmers Market! It could be the first of many since I had so much fun making it, and it was yummy.</div>
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I made my first batch of spicy dill "quick pickled" cucumbers, using cucumbers from Green Guy's backyard. It was a great way to make something interesting out of a crop we had excess amounts of, and I was able to share the spicy sour deliciousness with my friends at the Farm!</div>
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A fellow apprentice helped me bake some bread the other night when I had a meeting. I prepared the doughs and he shaped them and added rosemary. I baked them when I returned from my meeting, and we served them at lunch the following day. They were an aromatic and scrumptious outcome of teamwork! </div>
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Finally, we have our one assignment of the program due soon, a partial CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) crop plan for a fictional farm or garden. It involves a lot of spreadsheets and poring over seed catalogs; I'm having a lot of fun with it!<br />
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So many exciting things going on every day here! I've been trying to post photos and captions regularly to Instagram and Facebook, so if you are wondering what I've been up to since it's been pretty silent here on the blog, check those pages out: <a href="http://instagram.com/greenbeangal">Instagram.com/greenbeangal</a> and <a href="http://facebook.com/greenbeangal">Facebook.com/greenbeangal</a><br />
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<b>Garden Poetry by Jeune Gal</b><br />
A couple weeks ago, my sister <a href="http://jeunegal.blogspot.com/">Jeune Gal</a> rediscovered and shared two beautiful garden-related poems with me that she wrote in January 2015. She asked me to share them with you all on my blog, so here they are!<br />
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<u>"Garden Meditation"</u><br />
Breathe in courage, breathe out fear. Open your mind and soul and all will be clear. The trees and the weeds feel yourself present. This is real. Let your soul sit with the flowers. The garden will help you heal. Talk with the basil, the kale and release negativity as you exhale for the lady bugs and the leaves shall take with them the air that you breathe. The birds sing their songs to you, my child. When you listen with your heart you’ll see that the wilderness isn’t so wild.<br />
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You are the Earth. The Earth is you. You are the sun, the sky, the moon. Welcome to the clouds, to rain and shine for in Earth’s garden all are welcome. Everyone, every kind.<br />
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<u>"Message from an Earth Fairy"</u><br />
Gratitude for this day, for this life, for this body. In the garden I shall pray<br />
to God, to the Universe, to our planet, our Earth<br />
I give thanks for my life, my birth.<br />
For the trees, for the oceans, for the cats and the dogs.<br />
For warm sunny weather, for the rain and the fog.<br />
For the beauty of summer, spring, winter, and fall. As I sit in the garden, I hear a faint call.<br />
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A voice becomes clearer from a path of daisies it seems. I see an Earth fairy looking over at me.<br />
Her presence is brief, for most humans can’t see her. She smiles at me and says with a whisper:<br />
<br />
Don’t worry my dear, for the world will be fine. Just be who you are and value your time. For while you see death, destruction, and darkness, there is so much more light. Light you have the power to harness. Just open your heart and find different ways to find the beauty and light in each and every day. Us fairies are everywhere. We are hard to see, but we live in spirit in the flowers and trees. Everything is alive, here to inspire and heal all of the pain and the sorrow, all of the sadness you feel. Every plant, every flower, every minute, every hour, nature is waiting for you to bring you light and power. When you are in tune with the plants and the Earth that surrounds you, you can feel the light in everything around you. So stop by the garden to meditate and to feel. We love to see you at peace, nature will always help you heal.<br />
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You can find <a href="http://jeunegal.blogspot.com/">Jeune Gal's blog here</a> or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/jeunegal/">follow her on Facebook at Facebook.com/jeunegal</a>.<br />
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Thanks for reading, and happy summer!<br />
Green Gal Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-67510855501476243192017-06-01T21:45:00.000-07:002017-11-28T15:53:51.072-08:00Farm Apprenticeship Week 8 Reflection<i>An apprenticeship update & an exploration of what our
treatment of weeds perhaps reveals about the limits we place on
compassion</i><br />
<br />
It's already week eight of the
Apprenticeship; time has truly flown by here at the farm and gardens!
This evening in the Farm Center I'm surrounded by apprentices playing
charades, others prepping for tomorrow's meals, and bouquets of fragrant
and enticing flowers from our flower and bouquet class yesterday.<br />
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Earlier
today, I learned a bit about how to grow peppers as well as the many
different kinds of peppers in the world. (The article we read and reviewed this
morning is <a href="https://casfs.ucsc.edu/documents/for-the-gardener/peppers.pdf">available online here</a>.)
We will be growing 67 different varieties of peppers in the Chadwick
Garden alone this season, totaling more than 1500 individual plants
throughout the garden! These will all be planted by hand. Sometime next
week, we've been promised a dried and smoked pepper tasting session, as
well as a potato and garlic varieties taste test. I'm so excited to try
multiple varieties of some of my favorite foods!<br />
<br />
To get another glimpse into my life on the farm, <a href="https://ucscsustainability.blogspot.com/2017/05/june-2017-sustainability-profile.html">you can read the profile interview I was featured in for the Sustainability Office newsletter here</a>.
For years, I helped select folks to profile for this section of the
newsletter, so it was fun to be on the other side. This
profile is so hot off the press that the newsletter itself hasn't even come out
yet, but the article's live on the blog, so you can get an early
reading.<br />
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And now, for some reflections, a harvest compiled from meandering garden thoughts, which sprout up
throughout the day and sometimes flower and fruit into ideas (perhaps)
worth sharing. This compilation weaves together thoughts about nature connection and place-based learning and human relationships, which occurred during hours of weeding and clearing brush in the Chadwick Garden in the last couple of weeks...<br />
<br />
We are continually in conversation
with non-human life and nature--and of course, we are of nature. We
continually choose the tone and possible results of our conversations
and communication with the natural, plant, and animal world, just as we
choose how to communicate with fellow people. Do we know our neighbors,
the plants and animals we share our neighborhood with? Do we see
individuals when we look at a forest, a meadow, a garden bed--or do we
just see a general group of something other than ourselves without name
or distinction? Do we know the names of these beings, the human name we
have given them? Have we ever considered what name they would give
themselves if we could understand their language better? When we see an
unknown plant or one that we've been told not to cultivate, do we only
see weeds or do we recognize potential for an unknown use or value or
simply validity in existence? Do we immediately and without question see friend or foe in the unintended
guests in the gardens of our world?<br />
<br />
It seems that we tend to care for what we know and understand. What's <i>famil</i>iar is more <i>famil</i>y
to us than the unknown, whether person, place, or non-human being.
Think of a plant you love, whether to eat or grow or smell or look at.
If that species was threatened or someone were about to squash it with
their boot or you saw someone treating it as a weed and ripping it out
of their garden, how might you react? Even if you aren't phytophilous,
or a lover of plants, would you not stand up for your favorite vegetable
or fruit if someone suggested eradicating its entire species? And when
we know a place intimately, we carry our stories and
others' her/their/his-tories from that place. In doing so, we also care
for it in a way that we might not care about a place we've never met or
known or experienced as a real true place with a history. All of this
is to say: what if we each got to know one (or two or twenty!) more
plants or places or animals or people in our nearby world? What if we
met each plant or place or animal or person as worth knowing and caring
for? What if we paused to wonder and find out what kind of tree grows
outside our favorite cafe, what kind of bird we hear through our bedroom
window at dawn, what is the life story of our new neighbor, who were the previous occupants of our neighborhood? What if we were
more curious and open to being familiar--family--with more of the beings
and histories who live just beyond our front doors?<br />
<br />
Within
this series of questions and thoughts, I've been reflecting in
particular on my relationship with plants--the wild, the "native," those
indigenous or well-established in this locale, those brought as
immigrants and colonizers with people who might have looked like me, and
those cultivated by humans for human purposes. I have reflected on how
we see and use and know them, including the plants whose human use we
have forgotten or not yet discovered or whose purpose is deeper and more
vital than human use. Life in general and human social life
specifically are patterned, and so the way we interact with nature,
plants, animals, land, and the non-human world is similarly patterned to
how we see and treat other humans.<br />
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Starting with the "weeds," or
uninvited guests, that I pull from the gardens here or the various
gardens I've cultivated in the last couple years, I wonder about them
and their names and what it would be like to give them their own space
to grow and what benefit that would provide to the ecosystem of the
garden. I have personally witnessed a hummingbird stopping to
investigate a dandelion in a garden, so I know not everyone looks down
on the plants we have deemed "weeds."<br />
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<b>I am challenging myself to learn and become familiar with the many plants, weeds included, that I come in
contact with--not just the cut flowers and vegetable crops we cultivate
here, but also the many pollinator perennials and edge plants that have
so much to teach us about our relationship with all beings. We push
these neighbors to the margins of our gardens, and we do the same with
those we do not know or understand in our lives or communities or
nations. What if I changed how I view weeds? What else could shift in my
compassion for all beings of the world?</b><br />
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Here's
me grinning with my amateur bouquet of dahlias, agrostemma (corn
cockles), raspberries, achillea (yarrow), and other plant beings during
flower class on Wednesday. After writing this post, I now feel inspired
to attempt to make a bouquet of weeds and wild plants to showcase them
in a way that is unexpected and compassionate.</div>
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Thanks for reading!</div>
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Green Gal</div>
Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-17902456269320129972017-05-09T22:06:00.002-07:002017-11-28T16:01:09.216-08:00Four snapshots of life in the UCSC Apprenticeship in Ecological HorticultureThe weeks pass by so quickly here, each day filled with learning the "why" behind the "how," engaging in interesting discussions with new friends, working, and getting "schooled up" (as Orin Martin would say) in how to be effective and skilled technicians in the art of gardening and farming. Each day could become its own blog post with the story of what was learned, practiced, discovered, and enjoyed. Today's update is a series of quotes, thoughts, and tidbits, a somewhat brief glimpse into my daily life here.<br />
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<u>The Cultivation of the Gardener</u><br />
Each week, we have readings due on Wednesday that relate to the topic of our class for that day. One of our readings recently was titled "The Cultivation of the Gardener," written by a few CASFS (Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems) staff a number of years ago. The article describes the biodynamic French Intensive horticulture system brought to UCSC by Alan Chadwick in 1967, and the authors reflect on the philosophy of this system. Here is a quote from the article that I particularly loved:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"The Gardener does not create the Garden. The Garden creates the Gardener. -- Alan Chadwick</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"This quotation exemplifies the biodynamic French intensive approach to horticulture. It conveys the full value of the relationship between human beings and nature, and between the gardener and the garden -- a position of stewardship and enhancement rather than dominance and exploitation. It suggests that perhaps the purpose of farms and gardens is not solely to produce food, but also to serve as multi-dimensional focal points for a society to maintain the productivity and fertility of land and culture. Within the construct of a garden there is room for a blending of aesthetic and productive environments that provide for contemplative moments, scientific discovery, inspiration, philosophic discussion, and space for people to live, learn, and work." -- Orin Martin, Jim Nelson, Dennis Tamura, Mary Kay Martin, Louise Cain</blockquote>
<u>Social Systems</u> <br />
During week three, we spent a day discussing, learning, and reflecting
on social systems and how they impact and are impacted by our food
system. We examined how the roots of our food system have been
fertilized and grown according to the influences of colonialism, land
theft, classism, racism, white supremacy, xenophobia, patriarchy, and
other forms of oppression. Think of the forced removal of Native
Americans from their ancestral homeland so that white men could declare this a nation of "liberty and justice for all." Those
same lands were then cultivated and farmed by African slaves and their
descendants, filling the pockets of white landowners who were the only
people in this country who could vote for many, many years. Think of the
Mexican farmworkers who endure backbreaking labor to harvest so much of
the food that ends up on your plate. Think of how these folks are
portrayed in popular media and in the rhetoric of our politicians.<br />
<br />
With
these roots, it's no wonder that the fruits of our food system include
labor exploitation, unequal access to healthy food and land, unequal
exposure to toxins, loss of ancestral foodways, and forced migration and
displacement. Consider who can afford organic food, who can afford to
grow organically, who "owns" patents on seeds, and which communities are
miles from any fresh and affordable produce. We have to know where we
come from and how we got here in order to make any kind of change in our
food system.<br />
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The following week, social permaculturist and wonderful
human being <a href="http://www.pandorathomas.com/bio-and-cv/">Pandora Thomas</a> came to speak, and she shared the concept of
"sankofa," a West African word meaning "we must know where we come from
in order to move forward," or "go back and get it." We each personally have sankofa stories--where and who we come from and whose shoulders we stand on, in a familial way and in the progression of various movements and human projects that have a rich history of people contributing to the future through their life's work. And also as a
society we carry collective "sankofas" that must be understood in order for us to move forward without continuing the same systems
of oppression that got us here. What is your sankofa story? Who stands behind you and who behind them in the lineage of your life or your life's work? And once you've grounded yourself in your personal sankofa, which societal sankofa of human history do you wish to better understand so that you can do your part to move us forward toward a better world?<br />
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<u>Today's Activities</u><br />
On a micro, practical level, here's what I did today: I learned a whole lot about and planted many potatoes in the Chadwick Garden/Up Garden. With a few others, we planted ~500 seed potatoes of many, many varieties in trenches along the main slope! Some were early season potatoes to harvest as "new" potatoes, others were mid-season potatoes to harvest as "creamer" potatoes, and we also did a bed of fingerling potatoes, which will be harvested last of the four beds we planted today (potatoes grown until they are fully starched up and at the end of the growing season are "storage" potatoes that will store longer). I'm so excited to harvest the spuds! I also harvested some delicious-smelling garlic today, which will dry and cure in a greenhouse for a few weeks. I finished off the day in the garden by helping weed a rose bed. A grand day in the garden!<br />
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<u>The Magic of the Up Garden</u><br />
Yesterday, we started our first official week of rotation. The past month has been our "basic block" in which we were split into two groups between the Farm Garden and Up Garden/Chadwick Garden (and then switched after two weeks) to learn basic skills like bed prep, transplanting, seed sowing, and to get into the rhythm of the program. We also had one day in the field last week, which involved learning about and then watching tractor demonstrations with various implements. I didn't expect to be so stoked on the tractor demos, but they are quite marvelous machines that make quick work of projects that take us human beings all day to complete. I've uploaded videos from the mechanical tillage demo day to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/greenbeangal/videos/?ref=page_internal">my Facebook page here</a>.<br />
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My first six-week rotation is in the Up Garden, the most magical place in the world. The biodiversity up there is unbelievable, with perennial flowers and roses and fruit trees and long, steep annual veg crop beds, nearly every nook and cranny filled with cultivated life in its three acres of loveliness. Trees and shrubs create shaded tunnels along pathways, and when the air is warm, the roses and orange blossoms and lavender and all the flowers emanate the most delicious fragrances while bees and birds and other pollinators dance and buzz around. I've learned to slow down and enjoy the scents and beauty of the garden when I go to retrieve a wheelbarrow or refill my water bottle. I savor the droplets of water from a sprinkler on a hot day, I smell roses as I pass so that I can find my favorite one, and when I've got my hands in the soil, I pause to appreciate its wonderful tilth, or workability, and its amazingly well cared for and fluffy structure. <br />
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The people who work in the Up Garden--Orin, Sky, Ella, and Evan--are also delightful garden creatures, with a beautiful sense of humor that often feels familiar and similar to the sense of humor I grew up with. There's a continuous stream of little jokes and jabs and grins that is contagious. They also have some great and practical sayings, and the lead instructor in the Up Garden, Orin Martin, is well known for having a particularly wonderful way with words. He also seems to know everything about gardening, which is usually what he is describing in his eloquent, playful, and memorable way. For instance, yesterday afternoon Orin began an introduction to our rotation in the Up Garden by stating, "We are here, in fact, here we are." This was followed by a reflection on why we are here, but even that first statement on its own says something about what it's like to be in the human and plant community of the Up Garden. There is a call to be present and alive and engaged that is not only spoken and written on a whiteboard on the Chalet porch but also felt and permeating the gardenscape. There are scraps and boards of poetry throughout the garden, a sense of joy and lightheartedness and respect and compassion that is felt even when no other humans are around. If you are ever near Santa Cruz, come and visit this garden up on the hill, which is celebrating its 50th glorious year this year. You will not regret it.<br />
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As I've been sitting here in the Farm Center writing this evening, my friends and fellow apprentices have made popcorn and delicious shallot flat bread to share. The scent of something baking in the oven is wafting this way and I notice others are completing their readings for tomorrow. I must join them now and sign off the computer for the night. Thanks for reading!<br />
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For more photos of my adventures here at the farm and gardens, please visit <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/greenbeangal/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1135096936616836">my Facebook photo album</a> or <a href="https://www.instagram.com/greenbeangal/">find me on Instagram</a>.<br />
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Green GalGreen Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-58877421373164270722017-04-26T20:52:00.001-07:002017-11-28T16:03:54.681-08:00Farm Apprenticeship Weeks 2-3My legs are sore, my vertebrae crack when I stand up straight or stretch, my hands are scraped and blistered, but I've got the biggest smile on my face--kinda like the grin on my childhood face below! It's been two and a half weeks since I moved onto the UCSC Farm, and I am in love with life, this land, the view, the many plants we tend, and the community of ~50 people that I spend nearly all of my time with when I'm not sleeping in my canvas tent cabin overlooking the Bay.<br />
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Since my last blog update, I've done all of this and more:<br />
<ul>
<li>learned a bit about temperate zone deciduous fruit trees from Orin Martin</li>
<li>transplanted flowers into beds in the Chadwick Garden/Up Garden</li>
<li>labeled many plants for the <a href="http://casfs.ucsc.edu/news-events/events/index.html">plant sale this weekend</a></li>
<li>weeded and added more roses to a perennial rose garden</li>
<li>learned about Alternative to Violence Program and practiced nonviolent communication during a workshop</li>
<li>got to know new friends better </li>
<li>read about and heard lectures and saw demos on both cover crops and tillage & cultivation</li>
<li>skimmed cover crop with both a machete and a spade</li>
<li>pulled cover crop roots out of the ground on a slope and then pushed a ball of cover crop greens up the hill to a wheelbarrow</li>
<li>pushed a wheelbarrow around the hilly Up Garden with various loads</li>
<li>witnessed single-digging and double-digging</li>
<li>helped single-dig a bed in the Up Garden</li>
<li>stayed up late playing cards and board games in the Farm Center</li>
<li>baked three loaves of sourdough one day and six on another</li>
<li>spent 12 hours cooking three meals with another apprentice, featuring a lot of kale and beets!</li>
</ul>
<b>You can <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/greenbeangal/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1135096936616836">view all of the photos from my time on the farm in this album</a>, and the captions contain more information about what I've been doing and learning.</b><br />
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The view from the farm fields today with Monterey Bay in the distance. It's still unbelievable that I live here.</div>
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This past Saturday was my 25th birthday and Earth Day, so I celebrated a quarter century on this beautiful planet with nearly everyone in my family as well as close family friends and neighbors I grew up with. Among the generous gifts I received was a very special photograph from my dad's mom, who is also a gardener. Taken in May 1942, it shows her with her brother and grandfather (an organic farmer) on his farm in Minnesota. She wrote a note to accompany the photo, which reads, "[My grandfather] had pulled the wagon of manure with his tractor and I had used the pitchfork to distribute the manure between the rows of his field. I don't remember what he planted but it could have been corn. I wrote on the back of the picture it was the best day of our vacation. We had gone back to Minnesota from California for a week." My great-great grandfather Hank, who was born in 1875, was 67 at the time the photo was taken, and my grandmother was nine. She continued in her note, "I hope this picture reminds you the organic gardening genes are still alive and living in you."<br />
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I have the photo sitting on a card table (which belonged to my mom's grandfather) in my tent cabin. I love knowing that the knowledge, practices, and gardening/farming habits that I am learning and doing are part of my heritage. We all come from farmers eventually in our ancestry; it's so special to me that I don't need to look too far to find gardeners and farmers in my close family. Both of my parents, both of my grandmothers, and other family members that I've grown up spending time with are gardeners. My great-great grandfather Hank was an organic farmer, and I imagine that there are many other people in my relatively recent ancestry who farmed land, knew how to bake sourdough bread, canned surplus veggies, and maybe even kept chickens! In my generation, I know that at least one of my cousins is keeping a backyard garden, and last year, my cousin Jack participated in this Apprenticeship at UCSC and now he's farming near Santa Barbara. Growing food and flowers, taking care of the soil and our fellow people, and knowing the joy of fostering plant life are all human practices that I am blessed to experience and feel deeply connected to through my family. I am so grateful to my fellow gardening and farming family members who continue to inspire, encourage, and support me in my journey.<br />
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Until next week,<br />
Green Gal Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-26970898883661355592017-04-17T19:01:00.003-07:002017-11-28T16:11:51.284-08:00Farm Apprenticeship Week 1Woah, an entire week of the UC Santa Cruz Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture has already come and gone! It was a full week of meeting new people (40 apprentices plus the staff!), learning all of their names, getting used to group meals three times a day, enduring the cold of my tent cabin, and enjoying the beautiful view. Since last week was the first week and here in Santa Cruz we had rainy skies and saturated soils almost every day, we spent a lot of time inside the Village A3 building meeting everyone, learning about the program and policies, and getting trained on food safety and how to avoid ticks, mosquitos, bee stings, and black widow bites. Oh my!<br />
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One of the many perks of living on a farm--abundant flowers to decorate your tent cabin!</div>
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Early in the week, we prepared our spade and fork. They come with a plasticky shellac on the wood, which we removed and sanded down so that we could apply linseed oil instead. This should make the wood last longer than the shellac would have. We also sharpened our spades. Some of us also used a wood burner to carve into our handles to make them identifiable and unique.</div>
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Fortunately, they didn't keep us indoors the whole week! Half of the group spent some time in the Farm Garden (the hand cultivated garden at the main farm), and the rest of us spent some mornings up in the magical Chadwick Garden, <a href="http://casfs.ucsc.edu/about/History%20and%20News%20Archive/">where the first UCSC student garden began fifty years ago</a>. Up at the Chadwick Garden--or the Up Garden as its called by people who apprentice, intern, and work here--I planted cabbage seeds in the greenhouse, learned from Orin Martin about the parts and yearly growth cycles of fruit trees, heard some history of the Chadwick Garden, and learned a little about cover crops. You can read about the history of this garden and the apprenticeship program on the <a href="http://casfs.ucsc.edu/about/History%20and%20News%20Archive/">CASFS website here</a>.<br />
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A small glimpse of the Chadwick Garden, with the chalet in the distance where we eat lunch when we're working up there, as well as experience stories and educational talks with Orin Martin and other Chadwick Garden staff</div>
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One afternoon, we also spent some time with Rick Flores and Julisa Lopez learning about the Amah Mutsun Relearning Program at the Arboretum, traditional ecological knowledge, and the California landscape management and care provided by indigenous people for thousands of years before European contact. <a href="http://arboretum.ucsc.edu/education/relearning-program/">Learn more at the Arboretum website here</a>.</div>
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Friday was Compost Friday, which meant we spent all day focused on the wonderful world of compost, microbes, macro-organisms, carbon and nitrogen ratios, and more. We had readings due that morning (some of which are <a href="http://casfs.ucsc.edu/education/publications-education.html">available online here</a>), spent time with Christof Bernau in A3 learning about compost, and then watched a pile-building demo in "compost row" in the Farm Garden. After lunch, we split into the two garden groups and built our own piles. My group's pile was a "vegan" pile, meaning it had no animal manure in it. It consisted of some straw, lots of "greens" or recently chopped cover crop, coffee grounds and filters, and soil. We used machetes and spades to chop up the cover crop into smaller pieces to increase surface area and thus decomposition rate, so we named the pile Caffeinated Chopped Salad. It was quite an accomplishment!<br />
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I really appreciate that we had multiple opportunities to learn the key concepts and details through the readings, lecture, demo, and hands-on opportunity to build our own pile. We will continue to learn about compost throughout the program, and this morning we actually measured the temperature in the piles and uncovered some of them to take a peek. We also spent some time today removing cover crop from underneath some fruit trees and then transplanted peppers, leeks, flowers, and more for the annual <a href="http://casfs.ucsc.edu/news-events/events/index.html">Farm & Garden Spring Plant Sale coming up the weekend of April 29-30</a>. If you're local, you should come by to say hi and buy some plants for your garden!<br />
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If you come by, you might just see one of the very friendly farm cats, too! Here are two of them. There's also a black one named Millet and two up at Chadwick named Buster and Posey.<br />
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Spencer AKA Beans AKA Frijoles<br />
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Nanuk</div>
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Thanks for reading! If you want more regular updates, check out my Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/greenbeangal/">https://www.instagram.com/greenbeangal/</a> or Facebook at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/greenbeangal">https://www.facebook.com/greenbeangal</a>.</div>
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Green Gal</div>
<br />Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-70529493267694386892017-04-09T16:32:00.003-07:002017-11-28T16:30:41.740-08:00Let the farm adventures begin! The newest chapter in the adventures of Green Gal has officially begun! Yesterday, I moved into a tent cabin at the UC Santa Cruz Farm, where I'll live, work, and learn for the next six months. I'm participating in the Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture, a program hosted by the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems that is celebrating its 50th year. Back in December when I received my acceptance letter, I <a href="http://greenbeangal.blogspot.com/2016/12/ucsc-apprenticeship-in-ecological.html">shared a post about why I applied to this program</a>. I can't believe it all starts tomorrow and that I will be waking up this unbelievable from my tent cabin door view every morning from now until October! If you can't tell in this photo, you can see Monterey Bay glimmering in the sun.<br />
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I've met a few other apprentices so far, and I look forward to meeting the rest of the folks tonight for our welcome dinner and tomorrow for our first day! There are 39 of us this year, and we come from all different backgrounds and places around the state, country, and world. We'll be cooking and enjoying meals, learning, growing food, making compost piles, selling produce & flowers, and creating community together. I'm so excited for what's ahead!<br />
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This afternoon after my family and Green Guy said goodbye for now, I decided to test out the solar-heated outdoor shower, which is connected to a solar panel. It was the most wonderful shower experience I've ever had, and the water actually got pretty hot!<br />
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Huge thanks to my family and Green Guy for helping me move in and make sure I have all that I need to start my apprenticeship off right! Thanks also to Green Guy and my mom for taking some awesome photos of my move-in weekend.<br />
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I hope to write at least weekly on the blog so that you all can follow along with my journey. I'll also be posting photos often to Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/greenbeangal/">https://www.instagram.com/greenbeangal/</a>.<br />
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Thanks for reading!<br />
Green GalGreen Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6306800130766759280.post-25772763500067973002017-04-02T10:16:00.000-07:002017-12-27T17:51:25.296-08:00Reflections on Santa Cruz Permaculture Design Course Fall 2016 - Winter 2017A few weeks ago on March 11, I completed* a six-month Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course through <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.com/">Santa Cruz Permaculture</a>, which is directed and taught by my good friend, co-mentor, and UCSC colleague <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.com/about-us/people/#DShaw">David Shaw</a>. He had strongly encouraged me to participate in the program after learning that I was applying to the <a href="http://greenbeangal.blogspot.com/2016/12/ucsc-apprenticeship-in-ecological.html">UCSC Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture</a>, which I have since been accepted to and will begin on April 10! David shared with me that prior to his time as a CASFS apprentice in the early 2000s, he had completed his PDC and found that it provided him with a valuable whole systems design framework through which he could experience the CASFS apprenticeship.<br />
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I am so grateful that David shared this advice and that I signed up for the course. I got to know some amazing people, learned some new methods for observing the world around me, found out about some really practical methods for designing systems that make a whole lot of sense, had my interest piqued about even more, and cannot wait for my next opportunity to design a space with what I learned in the course!<br />
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<i>(*I still have three days of the course to make up from a couple
weekends when I wasn't able to attend, so I haven't
yet received by certificate, but I did complete my design project with
my cohort. I will be able to make up those days during the next course.)</i><br />
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The Permaculture Flower (<a href="https://permacultureprinciples.com/flower/">source</a>)</div>
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I've been helping David promote the <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.com/education/permaculture-design-course/">next six-month course</a>, which begins next Saturday, April 8. As part of this outreach, I've harvested some photos, quotes, and personal anecdotes to share on my blog and eventually on his website to provide a sense of what it's like to participate in the PDC through Santa Cruz Permaculture.<br />
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So, what is Permaculture & Whole Systems Design? The <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.com/education/permaculture-design-course/">Santa Cruz Permaculture website</a> explains that permaculture is an ethically based whole-systems design approach that uses concepts, principles, and methods derived from ecosystems, indigenous peoples, and other time-tested systems to create human settlements and institutions. It’s also been called “saving the planet while throwing a better party.”<br />
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Permaculture has <a href="https://permacultureprinciples.com/ethics/">three ethics</a>: Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share. There are also ~12 principles (Holmgren and Mollision each have different ways of describing them), and you can learn more about them and the three ethics at <a href="https://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/">this website</a>.<br />
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The 12 Permaculture Principles, as articulated by David Holmgren. <a href="http://thepermacultureschool.org/permaculture-principles/">Read a complete description of these on ThePermacultureSchool.org</a>.</div>
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There are PDC programs throughout the world, and while each course is a little different, they almost all follow an internationally recognized curriculum based on the writings and teachings of the "founders" of permaculture, Bill Mollinson and David Holmgren, who introduced their concept of permaculture in the 1970s in Australia. You can <a href="https://treeyopermacultureedu.wordpress.com/about/history-and-mollisons-inspirations/">learn more about the history of permaculture on this website</a>.<br />
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The Santa Cruz Permaculture Design Certificate course takes place every six months--April to September, October to March--and features numerous local and regional Guides, or guest instructors, each with their own areas of expertise and passion. David has done a remarkable job of not only leading workshops himself throughout the course but
also curating a fantastic team of guides who are knowledgeable, passionate, and
well-connected in their areas of expertise. <br />
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The course provides an overview of many different topics within
permaculture during weekend-long sessions once a month, and participants have the option of camping overnight at the property in Felton where the course takes place. The many topics covered in the course are described in more detail below. Throughout
the six months, participants also work in small groups to put together a
fairly comprehensive permaculture design project for real-life properties and people
in the Santa Cruz area and surrounding region. My group designed a permaculture garden at a winery in Gilroy because the three of us live on the other side of the hill, but most of the projects were in Santa Cruz County.<br />
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This element of the
course provides a practical and experiential learning opportunity that
is crucial to really understanding the application of the many design theories and technologies explored in the course. It's
one thing to understand a concept from a book or class and another thing
entirely to actually apply that learning to a design for a property and
client in the real world. It also provides participants with a sample design for the beginning of their permaculture portfolio.<br />
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<b>Overview of the Course Month-by-Month:</b><br />
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<u><b>October 8-9, 2016: Introduction to Permaculture Design and Nature Awareness</b></u><br />
The first weekend of the program focused on introducing the ethics and principles of permaculture, including <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.wikispaces.com/Home#Design">design processes and methods</a> for articulating client goals and desired outcomes for a particular design. We also learned about ecology and patterns found in nature.<br />
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David also hosted a world cafe in which we had a chance to get to know one another and explore our goals in participating in the design course. It helped us as a cohort develop a sense of community and self-awareness about what we hoped to gain, as well as contribute, and the endless possibilities that could arise from our learning and growing together in the coming months. The questions he introduced during this world cafe are outlined in the introductory section of the <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.wikispaces.com/1.1+Creating+a+Learning+Community">Santa Cruz Permaculture Wikispaces website</a>. This wiki is managed by David, with contributions from current students, course guides, and folks on "the Acorn," which is the teaching assistant cohort, made up of people who recently completed their PDC. Throughout this blog post, I'll link to relevant sections on the Wiki.<br />
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During the first weekend, we also spent some time practicing nature awareness and observation, an integral part of the initial design process when getting to know a property or space that you hope to design. Design team project ideas were also brainstormed and teams were formed during the first weekend.<br />
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<u><b>November 5-6, 2016: Restoring Watersheds & Soils</b></u><br />
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The second weekend of the course focused on watersheds, water catchment, understanding climate and microclimates, and the characteristics and management of healthy soils. We spent a full day with <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.com/about-us/people/#LNeilsen">Lydia Neilsen</a> learning about <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.wikispaces.com/Home#Water">watersheds</a>, methods for water catchment and reuse, and how to slow, spread, and sink rainfall to rehydrate the earth. Lydia is a wonderful teacher, full of passion and knowledge about water, how it flows on the land, and how we can better design our landscapes to sink the water into the ground. We learned about greywater, rainwater catchment systems, incredible properties of water, as well as how to design a berm and swale on contour and then built it by hand as a group (pictured above and below).</div>
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The second day of this weekend was spent with <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.com/about-us/people/#JValenzuela">John Valenzuela</a> learning about <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.wikispaces.com/Home#Soil">soils</a>, which included an overview of the different major climates on earth, how climates affect decomposition and soil development, and an introduction to all things compost. Like Lydia, John is overflowing with knowledge, stories, and passion that make his lessons engaging and memorable. After class time outside learning how to develop and support healthy soils, we built a compost pile and worked in the garden with John.</div>
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<u><b>December 3-4, 2016: Social Permaculture</b></u><br />
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The third weekend of the course took place shortly after the presidential election, which provided a fitting opportunity to explore the "<a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.wikispaces.com/Home#PeopleCare">people care" ethic of permaculture</a>, including social permaculture principles, non-violent communication, <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.wikispaces.com/17.4.2+Open+Space+Technology">Open Space Technology</a>, the Work that Reconnects, issues related to <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.wikispaces.com/Diversity%2C+Equity%2C+%26+Inclusion">diversity, equity, and inclusion</a>, and how to foster resilient communities.<br />
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We spent the morning with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/palika-benton-4385142a">Palika Benton</a> and David on Saturday learning about the <a href="http://www.joannamacy.net/theworkthatreconnects/the-wtr-spiral.html">Spiral of the Work that Reconnects and the teachings of Joanna Macy</a>. After diving into concepts like The Great Unraveling and the Great Turning, we participated in a series of pair share and reflection activities that allowed us to experience the four "gateways" of the spiral: 1. Grounding in gratitude, 2. Honoring our pain for the world, 3. Seeing with new eyes, and 4. Going forth. It was a powerful experience and remains for me one of the most memorable activities from the course.<br />
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Later that day, we practiced non-violent communication with <a href="http://www.nvcsantacruz.org/aviva-rick-longinotti/">Rick Longinotti of NVC Santa Cruz</a> (below). The recent election provided a relevant opportunity to practice some real-life scenarios, including how to speak with and really connect with folks on the opposite side of the political spectrum. <br />
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Palika and Rick, like all of the guides in the course, are wonderful teachers whose unique passion, experience, and presence make the PDC course content come alive.<br />
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On Sunday, we explored social permaculture principles, how to design for mitigating disaster, and participated in an Open Space Technology in which we created the agenda and led discussions and on-the-spot workshops on topics that were of particular interest to us. I hosted a session exploring how to build neighborhood community resilience, which included discussions about what it looks like and feels like to know your neighbors, the value of spending time in our front yards, and how simple gestures like inviting neighbors over for a potluck can initiate long-term friendships with those who live nearby.<br />
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Another student from my cohort, Kelsey "Kiki" Ringenberg, shared the following about the weekend: "I would really like to speak about our workshops that happened in December, Joanna Macy's The Work that Reconnects and also the Non Violent Communication. These two workshops were rather special to me because I think looking inward and focusing on our role is vital in making a change in our community. As the conscious ones, we are the warriors, and as warriors it is important to continue to look inward in order to build beauty on the outside."<br />
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<u><b>January 14-15, 2017: Home Scale Permaculture: Creating Natural Homes and Edible Landscapes</b></u><br />
Unfortunately, I had to miss this weekend for a work retreat, but I know that the group visited the UCSC Chadwick Garden to learn about designing edible landscapes, attended a scion exchange and learned about tree grafting, and <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.wikispaces.com/10.1+Natural+Building">built a cob oven</a> with <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.com/about-us/people/#JBjornson">Janine Bjornson</a>.<b> </b><br />
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<u><b>February 4-5, 2017: Broad Scale Permaculture: Integrated Animal Husbandry and Forest Management</b></u><br />
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In February, we visited the <a href="https://www.mountainfeed.com/">Mountain Feed and Farm</a> pilot aquaponics greenhouse (above), explored <a href="http://campjoygardens.org/">Camp Joy Gardens</a> (below) to learn about raising chicken, goats, and bees, and then drove up the coast to <a href="http://www.markegardfamily.com/">Markegard Family Grass-Fed</a> ranch in Half Moon Bay to learn about holistic planned grazing.<br />
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Jim Nelson of Camp Joy Gardens gave us a tour that included a chance to hold chickens, pet goats, taste fresh honey, and walk around the beautiful gardens.<br />
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<a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.com/about-us/people/#DMarkegard">Doniga Markegard</a> gave us a tour of their ranch in Half Moon Bay, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Their website describes, "Our philosophy in grazing is to manage the cattle herd to simulate the large herds of Elk and Antelope which once roamed California’s grasslands. We accomplish this by keeping the herd moving with Holistic planned grazing, so as never to overgraze an area, but to stimulate growth and grass-land health through properly timed grazing. Watershed Stewardship is at the forefront of our management practices." Their methods not only produce "locally born, raised and processed certified grass-fed beef and lamb, chicken and pasture raised pork,"but also restore the natural ecosystem of their ranch.<br />
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The next day, we learned about winter fruit tree pruning with David (above) and Sudden Oak Life with <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.com/about-us/people/#LKlinger">Dr. Lee Klinger</a> (below). Dr. Klinger's work with Sudden Oak Life is fascinating and inspiring. Learn more about his methods for improving the health of oak and other trees based on his research at <a href="http://suddenoaklife.org/">SuddenOakLife.org</a>. <br />
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<u><b>March 4-5, 2017: Regenerative Community Development & Financial Permaculture</b></u><br />
During our last weekend of instruction, we spent the morning at the <a href="http://rcnv.org/">Resource Center for Nonviolence</a> learning about regenerative community development, Portland's <a href="http://www.cityrepair.org/">City Repair Project</a>, and other community designs and programs that foster resilient neighborhoods. Later in the day, we visited Riverside Community Gardens, which has a fruit tree orchard. Andy Moskowitz (below) of <a href="http://seedculture.org/">Seed Culture Labs</a> met with us to talk about the history of the orchard and how organizations like <a href="https://fruitcruz.org/">Santa Cruz Fruit Tree Project</a> have helped support this community project.<br />
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You can learn more about this orchard and other food forest areas in Santa Cruz on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SantaCruzFoodForest/">this Facebook page for Santa Cruz Community Food Forest</a>.<br />
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The last day of instruction for the course, we learned about <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.wikispaces.com/Home#FairShare">money, banking, and alternative currencies</a> with <a href="http://ek4t.com/about/about-marco-vangelisti/">Marco Vangelisti</a> (above). Most people don't truly understand the complex monetary and economic systems that control our society, so Marco dove right in and explained how money really works. He asked us to examine what the economy is really for, what's wrong with the current system, and what we can do as individuals to invest our money in alignment with our values. He also shared examples of alternative currencies, such as <a href="http://www.baybucks.com/">Bay Bucks</a> and <a href="https://berkshares.org/">Berkshares</a>. It was absolutely fascinating and pertinent to everyone's lives, and I think many of us were inspired to learn more.</div>
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<u><b>March 11, 2017: Design Presentations & Party!</b></u><br />
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On March 11, the three design project teams presented their designs to David, Lydia, and another course guide, <a href="http://www.terranovalandscaping.com/about-us/">Ken Foster of Terra Nova Landscaping</a>. The final design project includes a report detailing the site analysis, maps of zones, maps of sectors, an existing and suggested plant and animal list, a detailed design of one element, and some other requirements like a reference page and information about the client(s). Teams turned in these reports and maps and then presented for ~30 minutes about the project and design recommendations. After their presentation, each group received verbal and written feedback from David, Lydia, and Ken. It was really fun to see the results of everyone's hard work and creativity in designing the three different places.<br />
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One project focused on the NEST, the property where the PDC course typically meets. Another project focused on a couple's large home property in Santa Cruz County that includes orchards and gardens. The third project, the one that I participated in, designed a permaculture demonstration garden and food forest for <a href="https://www.sunlitoaks.com/">Sunlit Oaks Winery</a> in Gilroy. The permaculture garden at the winery that I drew for our project is pictured below. <br />
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After the presentations, those who had completed all classes in the course received their permaculture design certificates. We sang a song together as the certificates were handed out, celebrating how much we had learned and experienced in the past six months. After some advice about next steps from the course guides, we had a potluck and make-your-own pizza party using the new cob oven!<br />
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One of my design project teammates shared about her experience in the program, and I think many of us who participated would agree: "The Santa Cruz permaculture design course has allowed me to deepen my journey into permaculture. I have gained broad knowledge of many relevant topics related to sustainable human systems. Most importantly, I have come away with a new perspective of what it means to be fully human, and a desire to further this understanding." - Gabrielle Reese </div>
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The next course begins on Saturday, April 8--sign up now at <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.com/education/permaculture-design-course/">SantaCruzPermaculture.com</a>! For more photos from the course, visit the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/148267139@N08/">Santa Cruz Permaculture Flickr account</a>. For more information about all of the topics covered in this course, please visit the <a href="http://santacruzpermaculture.wikispaces.com/">Santa Cruz Permaculture Wiki</a>.</div>
Green Galhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04723346521794131232noreply@blogger.com2