I travel the world looking at garbage. Plastic garbage. This is my job. Our NGO quantifies plastic density in the oceanic gyres, but because all would-be plastic patches are land born, we study garbage wherever we can. When I arrive in a new country, I’m keen to investigate waste management infrastructure because I believe, as does our organization, that pollution is a symptom of poverty and poverty is a symptom of pollution. Environmental catastrophes are created by humans and require solutions that have a positive effect on human quality of life. This is my mantra.

Cape Town is an extremely diverse and complex city. Eleven different languages are spoken in South Africa, and the population is composed of African blacks, whites and “colored.” Colored has a different meaning here – it denotes being of non African descent and of mixed race. It’s not derogatory. Coloreds speak Afrikaans and English as do Whites – for the most part. Blacks speak several languages including Xhosa, the language of Nelson Mandela and this the language we hear in the slum villages. But language can change from block to block at times. Many of the the coloreds are of Malaysian slave descent and comprise the Muslim community and some of their communities are within a stones throw of the shanty towns, though the two cultures rarely, if ever, mix in the townships. Affluent blacks, whites and coloreds do mix in the higher income parts of the city, as well as in the workplace and in politics.

What characterizes any metropolis in South Africa is this shantytown slum situation on the outskirts of the city. It’s quite possible to go from Dolce and Gabbana to abject dirt floor subsistence squatting in tin shacks within a five minute drive. America is very good at making poverty invisible, but here, squatter villages line the highways and are the first thing a traveler is confronted with driving from the airport into the city.

Cape Town in general has security issues – mainly theft rather than violent crime (but confrontational robberies are not uncommon) which is to be expected when have nots live close to haves. As a white person, it is unwise to go into the shanties without a guide. But I was not content to see these places from locked car doors at fifty miles an hour.

Laura the Amazing.

We met Laura outside of a ritzy shopping center in the money part of Cape Town. She grew up in the townships (slums) and was lucky enough to get a scholarship for a university education. Laura has been guiding for over a decade. Her presence commands respect and she has an exceptional power and charm that exudes from her being. For 350 rand, about $50 US, she agreed to show us around the townships. This is how she makes a living. And some of the money goes to support a breakfast program she runs out of her house to feed children before school. No school means no free breakfast and the incentive is enough get kids motivated. As she sees it, the only way to break the cycle of AIDS and poverty is through education – 60 percent of blacks are unemployed and there are 9 million people that have HIV (that have been tested) in South Africa – that’s about 1 in 5.

At first, Laura was trying to figure out what we could handle. We explained that we worked for an NGO on pollution issues and said that we didn’t want the sanitized tour. As I sat in the front seat of her white Mercedes driving north, she started explaining all that we would see. Her knowledge of her country, it’s complexities, issues and histories were out of this world. School was in session as I feverishly took notes on my iPhone as we drove.

Langa was our first township. We entered a typical apartment shared by three families. Three twin beds in a single room, windows without glass, exposed wires and heaps of garbage outside. Residents here pay 20 rand a month (about three dollars) to rent these places. Everything is dirty but the tap water is clean. Though meager, an exceptional amount of care is taken in the dwellings. Beds are made and the floor is swept. But the close quarters make for hard relations – sex for example – sex is something that often occurs in front of children, or as Laura describes it, “they are witness to deeds that exceed their tender years.” Typical motherhood occurs at 14-16. HIV is a major problem and as Laura says, “We bury 100 people every Saturday.” But she’s quick to say it’s not all doom and gloom. Twenty years ago the beating of women and child molestation were common practices. But now, there are legal consequences for such actions, an improvement made from having women in political power. Still, the poverty is pervasive and most here subsist on 500 rands a month ($70) or less. In order to be considered a “worker” by a bank, a family must make ten times that a month. Then, credit and things such as a mortgage becomes possible. For most families here, this not an achievable goal any time soon. But what’s dominant here, beyond the plastic garbage and dirt, are the smiles of children – something that is beautiful anywhere in the world.

Part Two – Christmas in a squatter’s camp.

Editor’s Note: This is part 8 in a special series. Voyage with Stiv and catch the exclusive each week here at EcoSalon during his months-long journey into the heart of the South Atlantic Gyre and beyond.

Images: Stiv Wilson

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If you’ve got a green thumb but are burdened with a dark, shadowy yard, then you need to check out this clever idea. One of the brainiacs over at Instructables devised an easy way to make a mobile vegetable cart so you can chase the sun around your backyard to give your seedlings all the light they need.

You don’t have to be a master builder to put this cart together. Run to the local home improvement store and grab some plywood, wood screws, wheels, axles, and a few other goodies. The detailed post gives you exact measurements of the materials you’ll need and step-by-step directions on how to put the cart together.

Once assembled, don’t fill the bed of the cart with 25 bags of potting soil – it will be too heavy too move. Instead, take a cue from the designer who recommends, “a layer of lucerne, a layer of fertilizer, a layer of pea straw, a layer of fertilizer, a layer of dirt, and compost a layer…” and so on.

If the sunlight in your growing area is a moving target, this is a great solution for dealing with it. Mobile vegetable carts are also a terrific idea if you’re the kind of person who likes to mix up the look of her backyard on a whim. Put together a couple of these bad boys and go nuts “redecorating” the next time your landscaping starts to bore you.

The post Chase the Sun with a Mobile Vegetable Garden appeared first on EcoSalon.

You’ve heard the old refrain: if walls could talk. But what if your walls could live?

Vertical gardening is a growing trend that’s popping up in museum exhibits, retail stores and private residences around the world.

In addition to being beautiful, vertical gardens are low-maintenance and can thrive both indoors and out, so no matter your climate or space limitations they are easy to grow. The environmental benefits of a vertical garden include improved air quality by purifying air naturally, decreased storm water run-off and organically created humidity.

Conceived by French botanist Patric Blanc, vertical gardens typically consist of a sturdy frame, modular components to hold the plants and felt fabric for the plants to adhere themselves to. Very little, if any soil is used, making vertical gardens lightweight and easy to move.

The best types of plants for a vertical garden are those that are durable, have shallow roots and don’t require a lot of water, such as succulents and moss, though you can also grow flowering vine-plants, veggies like lettuce and even fruit such as strawberries.

If you’re interested in growing your own vertical garden, ELT EasyGreen living wall kits are easy to use and include everything you need but the plants. For the DIYers out there, Lowe’s has comprehensive instructions and a list of materials you need to build you own vertical garden from scratch.

For more ideas, inspiration and pictures see Apartment Therapy’s vertical garden roundup. And don’t forget to check out Susan’s post on three container gardens that may change your life.

Image: Jill Clardy

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I admit, I’m an impatient person though I prefer to view myself as a fan of efficiency. I sigh when a driver in front of me insists on waiting for the seas to part before attempting to cross a lane and recently, when making a shopping return, I insisted on re-hanging the items for customer service in order to shave off three minutes.

You’d think that this impatience would naturally make me and other type-A people far from gardening candidates, but there are a number of plants that are perfect for us that either grow quickly, offer great returns, or are simply worth the wait. Sunflowers, basil, and the butterfly bush are my top three.

From 0-5 Feet in Under 70 days

Sunflowers require very little care other than occasional watering, they can survive the heat and I like the fact that they can go from 0-5 feet in under 70 days. And talk about sustainable: you can enjoy their  bright colors, surround yourself with multiple pots to create a fortress and when their season has come to an end, sunflowers can be dried and displayed, their seeds roasted and eaten or harvested for next season.

Pesto Anytime

Quick growing, tasty, and aromatic, basil is actually a member of the mint family. Basil grows well indoors and out, which makes it perfect to keep near the kitchen. According to herbgardening.com, leaf production slows or stops on any stem that flowers, so you should pinch off flower buds to keep the plant in production or leave some to bloom for decoration or seeds. For a fantastic pesto recipe, try my very favorite from the Mossewood Cookbook.

Susan’s Pesto (Ironically not this Susan. Just coincidence)

Best served immediately, but it will keep refrigerated for 3 or 4 days. Yields: one cup. Total cook time: 10 minutes

1 cup well-packed fresh basil leaves
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 garlic clove, pressed or minced
1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts *
½ teaspoon salt

* To toast pine nuts, spread in a single layer on an unoiled baking sheet and bake in a conventional or toaster oven at 350° for about 3 to 5 minutes, until just slightly deepened in color.

Rinse and drain the basil leaves. In a blender or food processor, combine the basil, tomatoes, garlic, pine nuts, and salt and puree until smooth. You may need to stop several times to scrape the sides of the blender or processor bowl with a rubber spatula.

PER 1 OZ SERVING: 13 CALORIES, .7 G PROTEIN, .7 G FAT, 1.6 G CARBOHYDRATES, .1 G SATURATED FATTY ACIDS, .3 G POLYUNSATURATED FATTY ACIDS, .2 G MONOUNSATURATED FATTY ACIDS, 0 MG CHOLESTEROL, 135 MG SODIUM, 3 G TOTAL DIETARY FIBER.

Reprinted from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites, Copyright ©1996, Moosewood, Inc. Clarkson N. Potter, publisher, New York.

Portable Spring

In the northeast, butterflies begin to emerge with the warmth of spring. There are a number of flowers that will attract them that vary in size, color and scent. According to BirdsandBlooms.com, plants with different heights will draw a diverse crowd of butterflies as they offer nectar flowers at different levels. This can be accomplished by mixing plants with different growing habits, such as trailing, bushy and upright. BirdsandBlooms.com suggest a butterfly bush in a container with coral bells and garden verbena or sweet peas spilling over the edge.

Top Butterfly Picks for Containers:

Annuals

• Floss flower
• Globe amaranth
• Heliotrope
• Lantana
• Moss rose
• Salvia
• Sweet alyssum
• Sweet william
• Zinnia

Perennials

• Agastache
• Aster
• Butterfly bush
• Butterfly weed
• Candytuft
• Chrysanthemum
• Coreopsis
• Delphinium
• Dianthus
• Gaillardia
• Goldenrod
• Liatris
• Oregano
• Penstemon
• Phlox
• Purple coneflower
• Rudbeckia
• Salvia
• Scabiosa
• Sea pink
• Sedum
• Verbena
• Veronica
• Yarrow
• Wallflower

Please send us your favorite container garden combinations!

Image: Plutor

The post 3 Container Gardens That May Change Your Life appeared first on EcoSalon.

I grew up with a garden. My mother even made sure that I had my own plot (it consisted of mostly sunflowers and a few weeds). But not until recently did I really discover the joy of tending to plants. There’s something about gardening that invokes a raw feeling within you. Getting your hands dirty, digging in the soil, watching seeds turn to seedlings and eventually filling your plate with produce that you were 100 percent responsible for cultivating. But as urbanites know very well, finding the space and time to take part in the grow-your-own-food revolution isn’t always easy.

Rural dwellers with expansive plots that fit beautifully crafted beds are lucky, but there are many city residents out there crammed into tight spaces that barely fit their kitchen tables, much less a fully functional salad breeding ground. Enter yard-sharing.

The basic principles to yard-sharing are pretty straightforward: people come together to share space, skills and time in order to grow food. Community gardens have been around for decades, but the trend of sharing your backyard with a group of like minded people is fairly recent, and taking part is simple. All you have to do is find a space and the people to share it with.

The online community, Hyperlocavore, is playing a big role in spreading the word about yard-sharing, and helping to connect like-minded individuals. What’s a “hyperlocavore”? Simply a person who tries to eat as much food as locally as possible. Before this lifestyle might have been served by shopping at farmers markets or taking part in a CSA, but opting for a yard-share allows individuals who believe in eating locally the ability to make a more genuine connection with their food, as well.

As we all know, space isn’t the only obstacle to growing your own food; growing a garden from scratch, even if you have the space for it, can be daunting, which is why the support of a farm-savvy community is key. Sites like Hyperlocavore aren’t just making sure people find a green space to grow their own food in, but also feel empowered to do so.

There are also regional-specific sites focused on bringing locals together to cooperatively grow food. Portland has one. In fact, the city known for its commitment to sustainable food and lifestyles also has an Urban Farm Collective and Urban Farm Hub offer the latest and greatest of what’s going on with urban farms around the country, including some features on yard-sharing. But since yard-sharing hasn’t hit the mainstream yet, sometimes your best bet for meeting fellow gardeners and finding the optimal space is word of mouth and places like Craigslist.

Then there are those who know that their green thumbs will never develop but still want to make sure their garden space is being put to good use. What’s an eco-savvy home or land owner to do? Find a match for your garden. In Seattle Urban Garden Share is an online space that matches local gardens or garden spaces with seasoned gardeners. That means your green space is being put to good use, even if you don’t have the time to do it yourself. And even if you aren’t well versed in the skills of gardening but looking to find somewhere to learn, resources like this can be a great help.

Ready for locally, hand-grown veggies this spring? Start yard hunting!

Editor’s note: This is the second installment of Anna Brones’s new column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground. Each week, Anna will be taking a look at something new and different that’s taking place in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to culinary avant garde.

Image: Gabriel Kamener, Sown Together

The post Foodie Underground: Sharing Is Caring…at Least in Your Yard appeared first on EcoSalon.

I just moved into a new apartment where the previous owner raved about growing all kinds of vegetables on the terrace. He left his pots behind so I could do the same. Confession: I’ve never grown something edible in my life. Here’s hoping some good gardening karma got left behind too, because this year, I’m determined to grow a container garden of vegetables that will (fingers-crossed) yield the delicious result of fresh salsa. Luckily, all the ingredients needed for salsa are easy to grow – cherry tomatoes, onions, sweet peppers and cilantro.

About a week before you’re ready to plant your salsa garden outside, create a mini indoor greenhouse by filling a few old take-out containers or plastic salad or tomato containers halfway to the top with potting soil and plant your seeds inside. Cover them and wait for the first signs of growth. When your seeds sprout, plant the seedlings outside in pots or a garden following the spacing guidelines on the packets. Once outside, follow these tips to ensure each veggie grows well enough to earn a spot in your salsa (and doesn’t expose your less-than-green thumb).

Cherry Tomatoes:

Any kind of tomato will work as a base for salsa, but for novices cherry tomatoes are the easiest to grow. A large pot that holds 4 to 6 gallons of soil is best. The only other thing you’ll need is a simple bamboo stick or a tomato coil so as your seedling grows taller it will have something to lean on.

Onions:

You’ll need to keep your onions well-watered, and in the middle of summer you should see the bulbs start to form. Watch a video to learn how to harvest onions when the tops have fallen over.

Sweet Peppers:

Your pot of peppers should be kept moist, but never so watered that the plant is drowning. Once the peppers reach full size you can pick them and start cooking. However, the longer you let them ripen on the plant the sweeter they’ll be. If your pepper plant makes it through the summer bring it inside to keep it alive during the winter.

Cilantro:

In general, herbs are a lazy gardener’s dream because they’re easy to grow. Choose a pot or patch 18-inches wide and keep it in full sun, or light shade on the hottest days. Once your herb gets growing you can cut the leaves weekly for your salsa.

Image: jplust

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April showers bring May flowers – and an opportunity to give your garden a healthy drink without chipping away at your efforts to conserve water. Why not get some rain barrels and collect the runoff from your gutters that would otherwise go to waste?

Although any old 55-gallon drum or keg will do, there’s no reason to litter your yard with tattered or rusty castoffs. Instead, give your local water department a call – many townships offer water barrels free of charge to local residents. Those that don’t often hold workshops on other ways to conserve water, or offer incentives to citizens willing to secure barrels on their own.

If you’re feeling feisty, make your own rain water collection system for about the price of a lunchtime panini and iced chai tea. Position them underneath your gutters’ downspouts and snag the runoff during the next rainfall. As the smart folks at Sustainablog point out, even if you filter it first, the water you collect is better suited for drenching thirsty garden than slaking a parched throat.

If you’d rather just buy a rain barrel, there are some really neat ones available online. Go southwestern with a terra cotta rain catcher outfitted with its own spigot, or consider this swanky-chic barrel created by Dutch designer Bas van der Veer, and unearthed by Re-nest.

Images: majad3v and fhashemi

The post Use Rain Barrels to Drench Your Garden and Save Water appeared first on EcoSalon.

A weed is just a plant growing in the wrong place – a plant which, in many cases, could be used ease indigestion, fight the flu, treat poison ivy rashes and even make a tasty meal. They may mar otherwise perfect mats of green grass, but many weeds are chock full of vitamins, minerals and surprising healing abilities. So why throw away the medicine cabinet and free food in your yard? Check out the benefits of these 10 weeds including yarrow, purslane and kudzu.

(Of course, don’t consume any wild plants if you’re not 100% positive you’ve identified them correctly. This article is not a substitute for a good plant identification book.)

Dandelion

With its long, strong taproot, the humble dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is no favorite of those seeking a weed-free lawn. But not only does it have rather pretty little yellow flowers, it’s a nutritional and medicinal powerhouse. When young, its trademark saw-toothed leaves are a delicious addition to spring salads and can also be sauteed as a vegetable. They’re rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, folate and calcium. The flowers are also edible.

If you let your dandelions grow strong and proud, you’ll end up with large roots that can be harvested and dried as a medicinal supplement. Used commercially in many detox formulas, dandelion root acts as a powerful diuretic and kidney and liver cleanser.

Chickweed

Starry white flowers with cleft petals, dainty pairs of fuzzy green leaves and purple stems identify the star chickweed plant, which – along with its relatives common chickweed and mouse chickweed – is a great source of vitamins A, D, B complex and C. It’s also packed with minerals like iron, calcium, potassium and zinc. Chickweed (Stellaria media) has a delicate cornsilk-like flavor when eaten raw, and tastes like spinach when cooked.

Chickweed can also be finely chopped and applied externally to soothe irritated skin. An infusion made by steeping ¼ cup in a cup of boiling water for 15 minutes has benefits similar to dandelion root.

Yarrow

Tall and stately, yarrow (Achillea millefolium) bears fuzzy fern-like foliage and bouquets of tiny white or yellow flowers. Some of its other names, including Nose Bleed, Staunchweed and Bloodwort hint at one of its most prized abilities – slowing down bleeding. Found in meadows, pastures and roadsides across America, yarrow has long been used in herbal medicine not just for wound care but to increase appetite, ease indigestion and fight colds and flu.

The fresh leaves can be used as a compress with a little warm water, or even chewed up and applied to wounds if you’re out hiking or camping. A teaspoon of the dried leaves, added to a cup of boiling water and allowed to steep for 10 minutes, is said to reduce fever and help clear the sinuses.

Stinging Nettle

It looks harmless enough, but once you make the mistake of touching stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) with your bare hand, you’ll never do it again (unless you have arthritis – but more on that in a minute). This plant – often found growing near water – has a piercing sting with tiny needle-like hairs infused with several painful chemicals. But once it’s cooked, soaked in water or dried, the fibers are disarmed and the plant can be used both medicinally and as food.

Anemia, internal bleeding, eczema, bladder infections, prostate enlargement and bronchitis are just a few of the conditions that are often treated with nettle in dried leaf, tincture or tea form. But believe it or not, some people intentionally apply raw nettle leaves to arthritic joints to relieve pain. Scientists believe that it reduces levels of inflammatory chemicals in the body, interfering with pain signals.

And even if you don’t want to eat it, nettle can be a big help in a surprising way: as an extremely effective liquid fertilizer for the garden. Get an easy tutorial on its preparation from SeasonalGardener.com.

Jewelweed

If you make the unlucky mistake of brushing up against some poison ivy, don’t wander off – your savior is likely just a few yards away. Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) often grows in the same areas as poison ivy and can be used as its antidote. A substance called lawsone in jewelweed actually binds to urushiol oil, the component in poison ivy that’s so irritating, preventing it from binding with the proteins in your skin.

Jewelweed is typically the main ingredient in poison ivy soaps and creams, but you can simply chop up some of the stems and leaves, boil them until the liquid is orange and then freeze the strained liquid in an ice cube tray for quick, soothing relief.

Plantain

It’s not exactly pretty, but for the plantain (plantago) growing out of the crack in your sidewalk or the edge of your garden bed, it’s what’s on the inside that counts. This perennial weed (different from the banana-like plant of the same name) has a low-lying rosette of dark green oval leaves and cylindrical flower spikes, which produce seeds and seed husks used as the main ingredient in psyllium laxatives.

Mucilage is the magic word when it comes to plantain’s effectiveness. This slippery substance – contained within the entire plant – relieves sore throats and inflammation in the digestive tract. Plantain also has antibacterial properties, healing as it soothes. For colds and flu, add a tablespoon of fresh or dry plantain seed heads and leaves to a cup of boiling water, steep for 10 minutes, strain and drink several times daily.

Purslane

Want to add some more of those all-important Omega-3 fatty acids to your diet? Go out in your yard, snip some purslane (Portulaca oleracea) and add it to a salad. This succulent plant is commonly found in warm, temperate regions of the U.S. and around the world, and has been used historically as a remedy for arthritis and inflammation in Chinese medicine.

Purslane has more beta-carotene than spinach and can be used in much the same way in salads, pasta dishes, burritos, stews – just about any savory dish. It has a juicy, chewy texture and a mild sweet-and-sour flavor.

Peppergrass

Found in fields and roadsides in virtually every state of the union and much of Canada, “peppergrass” (Lepidium virginicum) is in the mustard family and has a flavor similar to that of arugula.  Sometimes called “poor man’s pepper”, peppergrass leaves can be eaten raw in salads or used to season soups and stews. The peppery flavor diminishes with cooking, so add it at the last minute.

Mullein

Got bronchitis? One of the best things you can reach for isn’t in your medicine cabinet, but growing outside your window. Mullein resembles the ornamental plant known as lamb’s ear, with soft fuzzy leaves that grow in a rosette pattern and tall stalks of flowers that can be yellow or white.

Mullein leaves are an expectorant, stimulating coughing to clear congested lungs. The dried leaves can be taken as tea or in capsules to treat a number of respiratory ills including athsma, and oil made with the flowers is a natural remedy for ear infections.

Kudzu

Anyone who has ever taken a drive through the South has seen the tenacious beast that is kudzu (Pueraria lobata). This vine was introduced to the U.S. from its native Japan to help control soil erosion, but quickly overtook everything in its path from trees to entire buildings. It’s a menace that can grow up to a foot a day during the summer, but at least it has a few good uses.

Kudzu, “the vine that ate the South”, is related to peas and the tender shoots take on the flavor of whatever they’re cooked with. The root, dried and pulverized, is used in place of cornstarch to thicken soups and gravies. Some people even fry the leaves and eat them like potato chips.

It has also been used in Chinese medicine for centuries to treat a host of ills including dysentery, allergies, migraines and diarrhea and it’s currently being researched for use in Western medicine as a treatment for alcoholism.

Images: Muffet, Calliope, The Equinest, Mick E. Talbot, Wikimedia Commons, Bob Richmond, Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Commons, Kitten Wants

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“Are you worried about the economy? If so, pay close attention, because in an economic meltdown, non-hybrid seeds could become more valuable than even silver and gold.”

That almost makes sense…until you discover these words came out of the mouth of a pitchman selling $150 packages of seeds in between Glenn Beck’s inveterate weeping about socialism-fascism-Nazism-[insert ism of choice]ism and Hawaiian birth certificates, and things take a turn for creepy.

Fear is a powerful motivator, and when millions of people across the country are waiting for Armageddon, advertising a “Survival Seed Bank” on the Glenn Beck show could be a slick business move.

The Survival Seed Bank website pushes the fear even further: “You don’t have to be an Old Testament prophet to see what’s going on all around us. As the meltdown progresses, one of the first things to be affected will be our nation’s food supply. Expect soaring prices along with moderate to severe shortages by spring. If you don’t have the ability to grow your own food next year, your life may be in danger.”

And yet – when you peel away the layers of paranoia and b.s., what this comes down to is motivating people to take control of their own food supply. In that sense, “˜crisis gardens’ aren’t all that different from the green movement that encourages one to grow whatever food one can at home. While the bogeyman for Glenn Beck viewers is a liberalism-delivered (I think that’s the right ism) apocalypse, for us it’s mammoth corporations destroying the environment while shoveling toxic Franken-food into our mouths.

The key here is for people not to hoard seeds until that fabled day when the sky falls, but to actually plant them. We can all benefit from the pleasure of eating more fresh-from-the-garden foods that don’t have to travel further than a few yards to our plates. Plant heirloom seeds, gather the seeds produced by those crops every season, and you’ll have more than enough to tuck some away for a rainy day.

You’ll be better off selecting your own heirloom seeds from a source like the Seed Savers Exchange than funding a Glenn Beck advertiser, but even the Survivalist Seed Bank sells heirloom varieties.

Image: OakleyOriginals

The post Glenn Beck and the “˜Crisis Gardens’: a Good Thing? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Have you ever fantasized about starting your own farm?

You need to read Farm City.

In this strange and wonderful tale it’s clear that the author, Novella Carpenter, didn’t exactly set out to go quite as far as she did into animal husbandry. It just sort of happened, as if it were an enterprise she fell willingly into, or was steered to by some invisible inner rudder.

It all starts innocently enough.

A few vegetables planted on a vacant lot tucked away in a forgotten pocket of Oakland, Calif. The dead-end street (the ghetto’s version of a cul-de-sac) is situated in a scruffy part of town within view of downtown and earshot of the BART trains. When Novella and her boyfriend Bill arrive, the street and its inhabitants have achieved a precarious balance of ordered lawlessness that seems oddly welcoming.

After the vegetables, Novella gets her defunct beehive up and buzzing, and before long we find her receiving a box of chirping baby “meat birds” from a baffled postal delivery person. Then a friend persuades Novella to take on her rabbitry, so she can travel. The next thing Novella knows, she and Bill find themselves out on nightly reconnaissance to some of the East Bay’s finest neighborhoods to dive for choice scraps in the dumpsters of famous restaurants – scraps they take back to feed their growing, and hungry, menagerie.

It’s quite a journey and as readers, we get the pleasure of taking it right along with her. She’s a gifted storyteller who knows how to hook the reader and pull you in. I couldn’t put the book down.

She’s both hilarious and deeply honest in describing the strange cast of characters who make up her neighborhood. She doesn’t judge their motivations and they don’t judge hers. Despite all their differences they learn to trust each other. But there’s no sugar-coating here. I live in Oakland, and the descriptions of the neighborhood are spot on. She’s not making this up.

Some of the most moving parts of the book involve exploring what it means to eat animals you’ve raised yourself. This is not something most of us will ever do, which gives me an immense amount of respect for this woman who is neither sentimental nor unflinching in the tasks that confront her.

It’s a huge responsibility to nurture another life along for the purpose of feeding yourself. Novella doesn’t take it lightly, and neither can the reader.

I think that we’re going to start seeing more farming and animal husbandry in urban population centers in the not-too-distant future. In fact, our survival may depend on it. I just hope I get to live next door to such a farmer. I’ll gladly put up with the noise and odors. Trade you some heirloom tomatoes for a pork chop?

The post Book Review: Farm City, the Education of an Urban Farmer appeared first on EcoSalon.