Green Gal

This 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. 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...

I have been visiting the Alviso Adobe Community Park in Pleasanton, CA, since it opened in 2008. This video documents my amazing journey of learning experiences there, and it also serves as a way to share about the park's history and beauty. I have written a lot on this blog about my experiences at the park. Please click here to view those posts.

My best friend Alexys has this quote on her Facebook wall, and I feel like sharing it with the world. The imagery makes it wonderful, and the message is inspiring. The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities. -- James Allen May your dreams be nourished with rain, warmth and listening to your soul's inclinations. The acorn could never believe that within it a great oak tree would grow. Foster the oak tree within your heart. Dream, and act. -- Some pictures from last Saturday's herb walk: Chadwick Garden Madrone tree Edible Madrone berries Happy Sunday! Green Gal

It's raining in Santa Cruz this morning. Outside is foggy and wet, while I'm nice and warm in my dorm room. Perfect for story time! Last Wednesday, I received an email from a woman who works with the Natural History Museum in Santa Cruz. I had learned about the museum while searching online, and was planning on riding my bike there on Thursday anyway, so her timing was perfect. She'd come across my blog and thought I'd be interested in volunteering and helping with a project. She wrote, You might want to consider volunteering with us. We are going to be creating an Ohlone garden with CA native plants that grow locally and were used for food, dye, basketry, medicine. So we need to make a list of such plants and their uses. Any help you might give us would be appreciated. Let me know if you would like to work on such a list. Of course, I told her I'm interested, so I met with her on Thursday when I visited. She gave me a tour of the Ohlone exhibit in the museum, which...

Lower Campus this morning Earlier this quarter, I was looking through the Recreation guide for interesting classes or workshops to register for and I came across an Herbology class through the Holistic Health Program. I am fascinated by ethnobotany--how different cultures use or have used plants, both medicinally and in general--so this class appealed to me immensely. My family and I have been utilizing holistic medicine (homeopathy, accupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine) since I was a child, so the class appealed to me as something I'm familiar with. I signed up for the three-day class and looked forward to learning about herbology in a more detailed and formal way than I had ever before. Thursday was the first day of the class, and I took about 15 pages of notes in my small green notebook from 6-9 PM about a bunch of different plants and their uses, the history of herbology, what the difference between food, herbs and pharmaceuticals is, and what questions to ask when identifyin...

On Saturday, I returned home from a little more than a week of vacation in the Sierra Nevada mountains. I had an interesting and enjoyable time venturing around Twain Harte, Sonora, Columbia, Murphys and Pinecrest. Here's a brief recap of the first few days of vacation: Thursday, July 1 I drove up with my grandparents and their dog Simba. We stopped at their favorite pie stand along Highway 120, at Jack Tone Road. My grandma bought two frozen cherry pies and a cantaloupe. My mom and sister surprised everyone by showing up past dark at my aunt's cabin that evening! That night, my cousins and I slept on the deck on cots, under the stars. I woke up to birds chirping and their dog Chester barking. Delightful! Friday, July 2 My cousins Ben and Nick, my cousin Ryan, his friends and I hiked around Pinecrest Lake , a moderate hike of 4 miles. Ben set a quick pace and we soon lost Ryan and his friends. It was a great hike that definitely pushed me, which is good since I'm going BA...

On Thursday, I celebrated my 18th birthday as well as the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day in 1970. My mom took me hiking in the morning since school didn't start until 10:40 (thank you STAR testing!). At lunch, my Environmental Club had an Earth Day party and we ate leftover popcorn and had cookies from the night before when we'd shown the film FLOW to the public--at least 100 students attended (most for extra credit) and the event was a huge success. Thursday evening, my family went out to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant and then at 7:00, we all attended a lecture titled "Sustainability: Then and Now." The City Naturalist Eric Nicholas spoke about how sustainbility was a necessary aspect of life for the Ohlone people who once lived in this abundant valley we now call home. (For more information about the event, see this article: Pleasanton Take Steps toward Sustainability .) After the event, we went home for vegan, gluten-free cake and some prese...

I went out into the backyard this afternoon and was pleasantly surprised to see that a tulip had grown up out of a pot without my knowledge! I had tulips planted in the pot last year and this year have so far only seen green leaves, but no buds. I couldn't believe it! I can't wait until it blooms. Here some pictures from my backyard... Click here for some information about the medicinal properties of dandelions ! Copyright 2010 Green Gal

I could try and describe to you what a lovely Saturday morning I had with my mom and sister, but it probably wouldn't do. So instead, I'll post some pictures to give you an idea... Happy Saturday! Green Gal --- Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads. -- Henry David Thoreau

I always come across interesting articles that I want to share on my blog, but it always feels insubstantial to post just one link unless the topic is something that I have time to elaborate on for an entire post. So as a solution, I’ll post links to some of the most interesting posts/articles I’ve come across this week, along with some short quotes from the post. Ancient Greenland gene map has a surprise by Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor on February 10 “The DNA gives strong hints about the man, nicknamed Inuk. "Brown eyes, brown skin, he had shovel-form front teeth," Eske Willerslev, who oversaw the study, told a telephone briefing. Such teeth are characteristic of East Asian and Native American populations.” Herbs 101 by Progressive Pioneer on February 10 "I really do feel so empowered when I learn about simple things I can do to keep us healthy. I feel like there can often be a lot of fear in our culture about taking your health into your own hands, but who el...

I have found that walking can slow down time, force you to live at a slower pace for a bit and make you aware of your surroundings. Driving is so fast and so much about what's next, where you're going, how fast you can get there. Walking is about the journey, or at least it lends itself to be. I've been walking to and from school when I've had time and it's a lovely mode of transportation when you can slow down and appreciate your environment. Part of my walk home takes me through a park which I have been in thousands of times but have never truly slowed down to appreciate. When I ride my bike, I have hardly enough time to appreciate the sunlight on the leaves, the curve of the paths, the bark on the various trees or the hills and dips of the grassy knolls. Walking offers you quiet time to think and observe. It creates a sense of place. Fall 2006, A picture I took at the local pumpkin farm. Reduce Footprints's Change the World Wednesday challenge for this ...