Huglekultur Now

On March 26th, with the help of high school students from Martinez, we began building the first Huglekultur bed at CACG.
You will find some wonderful information on Huglekultur at Paul Weaton's site http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/ This site explains the purpose and principals behind the technique much better than I could. Here are some photos to illustrate our interpretation and progress into the project at CACG.

We started off with lunch

This is the site with a pile of brushwood sitting there

Most of the woody material to be incorporated into the Huglekultur bed was generated at the garden over the past year. There is bark from garden bed tree rounds, Sunflower stalks, old stakes, Mulberry trimmings and the prunings from the Black Locus trees that surround the garden on the East and South sides.

Woody material moved to the side before digging began

Now we dig a large hole down to the sandstone

That's me, David, with the unusual hat

Pastor Terry Murtha (center) helped us dig

Digger Daniel marks the perimeter

 

We ended the excavation after about 80 minutes to allow for another class in the schedule.
We must be half way complete with the digging. The goal is to stop at the sandstone layer. This layer is at about 4 inches near the parking lot end of the garden. Here in the middle it appears to be around 12 to 16 inches.
Hopefully there will be a second bout on this project and we hope that the students can return next month to complete the excavation and begin filling with soil and wood.
Regardless we are very grateful for their enthusiasm and energy in moving this project forward. Well done. Hope to see you again.

Happy Spring,

David

Valentine Trees

On Saturday February 16th an enthusiastic assemblage of Permaculture activists (read: Happy Permies) planted 9 fruit trees in a circle that will surround the Gathering area at CACG. This area will be perfect for Yoga, Tai Chi, music and other celebrations. It really is a big step forward in our evolution. The trees are positioned about 10 feet apart in a 60 foot diameter circle. Tree height will be kept to around 12 feet max.


The Gathering Area before planting

Nathaniel drilling into the sandstone

Over most of the planting area we only have 4 to 6 inches of soil over solid sandstone. We are building soil by adding layers of mulch. Still we wanted to encourage root development downward and so chipped into the concrete like sub strata.

Mike using an electric breaker to loosen the sandstone

Nathaniel and Erin digging holes for trees

5 gallon size wire basket

Bare root tree in wire basket with a support stake in the hole

Trees were planted high to avoid root rot. This is in case the pockets in the sandstone fill with water which sits for a while.

Erin beside a newly planted Gala Apple tree

New plantings being watered

Hope you can see the new trees here

New Nectarine ready to grow

Granny Smith Apple, Early Elberta Peach and Gala Apple

We also added a Myer Lemon tree to what is becoming the citrus area in the top Center Ave. side corner. It is positioned between 2 Lime trees.

Ben digging a hole for the 5 gallon Lemon tree. The soil is extremely thin in this area.

There are more photos from Saturday on Jim's Blog

Gratitude
It is important to note, with much thanks and gratitude, that all the trees, wire baskets and stakes were donated or purchased with funding from supporters of the Center Avenue Community Garden.

More to follow ... just wanted to get this exciting news posted.

May you feel the love in this garden,

David
 

Valentine Bees

It has been a while since I posted an update on MPC and the Center Avenue Community Garden. There is quite a lot to catch up on so I might have to split into two posts. That way I'll get something out today!

Jennifer and Mike getting a workout

Grateful for Terry and his tractor

We have been busy spreading tree chips at CACG. We are using them to build soil, hold moisture and suppress weeds. About 8 truck loads have been spread already this year. Permie or not we certainly would not have been able to accomplish this feat without the help of Terry and his tractor.

At the top end of the garden we have begun the planting of a Fedge, a food hedge. This will be mainly Raspberries and Blackberries.


Brenna, Colin and Karen collecting transplants from our Raspberry patch

Karen planting short rooted divisions a few feet from the parking lot to form the beginnings of our food hedge

We have lots of Sunchokes or Jerusalem Artichokes to share. There is a bucket of them under the chalk board so please help yourself. There is still more in the ground!

We also have Swiss Chard, Lettuce and kale to share.

There are more great, current photos and information on the garden at   Jim's Blog   Thank you Jim!

Something a little different...

I like Almonds and especially Almond Butter so it was disturbing to learn that California’s raw almonds are no longer truly raw.  The USDA, at the request of the Almond Board of California, has been requiring that raw almonds be treated using a process that the industry generously describes as “pasteurization.”

The rule mandates either the gassing of almonds with a toxic fumigant (propylene oxide) or treatment with high-temperature steam-heat. The scheme imposes significant financial burdens on California small-scale organic and conventional growers, lacks scientific justification, damages domestic almond markets, and does not address the agricultural practices used on the industrial-scale almond orchards where the only documented Salmonella outbreaks have occurred (the rule has been justified as a food safety measure).  

And the treated almonds can still be deceptively labeled as “raw”!  No labeling in retail outlets is required to alert you to the treatment process.

A group of committed almond growers in California is challenging the treatment requirement in federal court.  These farmers are seeking to overturn the rule and return truly raw California almonds to the American marketplace. 

The Cornucopia Institute has been helping the California almond farmers involved in this fight.  Cornucopia has prepared educational materials on this issue, including a fact sheet available on Cornucopia’s website, www.cornucopia.org.

A pollinator is required for the Almond crop. Commercial growers in the Central Valley use Honey Bees. It's a huge crop, 740,000 acres, and it has been said that 3/4 of the nations bee hives are in California around Valentine's Day. That is about 1.5 million! It's sad to know that bees are trucked in from all over the country and fed sugar water for weeks to boost the numbers. This is because it is not warm enough in February to sustain colonies of the size required to service the monocultured Almond crop.

Here is a report from UC Davis that offers a glimmer of hope regarding the role of native pollinators.
It's a little heavy duty and you may not need all the details but you can get the picture.

At home in Martinez my 5 bee hives are doing well. I lost one in November. That is not surprising but I'm not sure of the cause. Other local bee keepers have told me that they too have lost hives. This loss in winter seems to be normal  now. One commercial beekeeper reported that he now expects to loose 30% of his hives over the winter period form various causes.
 Is this CCD?
 Well is is hard to say exactly what has created this situation. Could be mite infestation or the presence of chemicals. The whole picture is still fuzzy but it is clear to me that the bees are the "Canaries" in our environment and they are telling us something.

Inside the bee hives the queens are laying more and more eggs each day.

Here is an overview of what is happening in February.

Mid February is a time of building brood numbers in preparation for the main nectar flow which will hopefully begin next month.
There is limited nectar and pollen outside to forage.
There are fewer bees to go out foraging.
The brood nest is growing and needs to be kept warm which means bees have to stay home to accomplish this.
Bees turn to their stocks of honey and pollen that they stored away last summer. This is why we leave them honey for their own use.

This is the view from our kitchen window taken on February 10th 2013. This bee hive is known to us as The Kitchen Bees. It sits at window sill level on a 300 gallon rain water harvesting tank that is topped with recycled deck boards. It is very educational and great entertainment.

My BEEK friends (that is a contraction of Beekeeper and Bee Geek) report that 2012 was a poor honey year. It seemed that the bees were working and just not putting away much honey by comparison with other years. The dry winter last year might have been a contributing factor. Less moisture in the soil translating to less growth and abundance in trees and plants generally.

A New Book For Your Library

Teresa and I took a Permaculture Design Course at Merritt College in Oakland some years ago.

Our teacher was Christopher Shein and now he has published his first book:

The Vegetable Gardener's Guide to Permaculture: Creating an Edible Ecosystem

The book is about living in harmony with both nature and neighbors to produce and share an abundant food supply with minimal effort. Christopher highlights everything you need to know to start living off the land lightly, including how to create rich, healthy, and low-cost soil, blend a functional food garden and decorative landscape, share the bounty with others, and much more. It's inspiring, easy-to-follow, information-packed, practical and will help you transform your garden into a food forest that feeds you for years to come.
I was fortunate to attend his book launch at The Ecology Center in Berkeley on February 7th and am delighted to announce that Christopher will be coming to MPC one evening in March to share his knowledge of Permauclture with us. Date to be arranged.

 

Christopher has started dozens of community, school, and market gardens. He teaches permaculture at Merritt Community College where he helped develop the award-winning student farm. He also owns Wildheart Gardens, a permaculture landscape business that designs and builds sustainable gardens. He is a gentle, wise soul and I think you will enjoy just being around him and his earthy energy. Will let you know the date as soon as possible.

There is more to add regarding seasonal and garden news but this might be a good time to stop, post this, and work on another missive to post within the next week.

Here is advanced notice of a Garden Awareness project that Jennifer has conceived and organized to bring attention to the garden, build community and share the surplus.

         BURLAP SACK GIVEAWAY

When: March 9th 2013
Where: Center Ave. Community Garden
333 Center Ave, Martinez

Time: 11:00 am to 3:00 pm

Center Ave. Community Garden and Republic Services will be giving away burlap sacks for free. If you would like the sacks for sheet mulch, planting, bee keeping of crafts or whatever stop by and get some.

 

Yuletide

On Friday November 30th we enjoyed our first community collaboration with the First Baptist Church of Pacheco on who's land the CACG is thriving. It was a bon fire and carol singing evening. We are glad that we went ahead despite rain for a large part of the day. Our decision to proceed was to be based on the ability to light the bon fire ! We did manage to light the fire and throughout the evening we continued through a few showers.

 

The church provided the chairs coffee, hot water, franks, condiments etc. Some people brought their own so we had a variety of sausages.

Many sausages were sacrificed to the fire.

There is an art to keeping your sausage on the stick!

There is something primal about community gathering around a fire at night to feed. Something generations have been doing for eons, and it still feels comforting and fun.

Movie Night

On December 14th we are screening a selection of videos about cob building. Please see the details in the right side panel.
We are hoping to build a cob oven at the garden one day.

There is a an enthusiastic group of natural builders in El Sobrante called Vertical Clay and they are offering this workshop next month ....

The Natural Plasters Intensive a three-day workshop that is applicable both to conventional and to natural buildings, and is a thorough introduction to the possibilities of beautiful finishes made with natural materials.  We will talk about the basics of plaster design and mixing and how to prepare different kinds of walls for plaster.  We will work with the two basic categories of natural plaster--earth and lime plasters-- in several different forms, and we will apply plaster on both natural and conventional wall surfaces.  January 25 - 27, East Bay.

For more information or to register visit www.verticalclay.com

What Is This Flower?

Calendula   kah-LEND-yew-lah
The yellow and orange flowers are thriving all around the garden and especially in the Peace bed where these photos was taken on December 3rd.

Some History

Though originally used by Indian and Arabic groups, calendula was also valued by the Egyptians and Greeks. In India, marigold wreaths crowned the gods and goddesses. The Egyptians believed it was a rejuvenating herb and the Greeks utilized it for culinary purposes. By the American Civil War, one of the modern uses, wound treatment, was being developed on the battlefield.

Swiss Chard to the left

About Calendula

 

Calendula color through the winter months

| 

 

 In cooking, Calendula is used primarily for color.  The flower petals can be added to butter, cheese, soups and rice to add saffron-like color.
The flowers are also useful as decoration on salads or around dishes.
In our climate Calendula does not like the very hot days of late summer and generally blooms less at this time. However the amount of water that the vegetable beds require works very well for Calendula plants.

What is in Season now at CACG?

Swiss Chard. At its best now in the cool weather. To harvest cut off individual leaves. Some people do not like the stem which can be stringy. If you are making a smoothie then it doesn't matter otherwise cut the stem out and compost it. The leaves can be steamed on their own or mixed with kale or Collards. If steaming with these partners put the Chard in the pot late and steam for just a couple of minutes. The Kale's generally have tougher leaves that take longer to break down. You might also add Mint or Nasturtium leaves for a different flavor.
Swiss Chard can also be used as salad leaves. They can be raw leaves in the bottom of a bowl with soup poured over them.
The leaves can be used in a sandwich or an omelet.
I'm not much of a cook but these are just a few simple ideas, and I'm sure there many more possibilities. Enjoy!

There isn't much to plant at the garden in December except onions, leeks, chives and garlic.
There is some thinning of the group seeding of Lettuce, Broccoli, Kale and Swiss Chard. The thinnings can be eaten or transplanted to spaces recently vacated by summer crops.

We did replant the Potato towers recently. Hopefully we will have a crop in May of next year.

 

What happened to the children's wagon?

 I think it went the way of the teeter totter. Don't suppose the person, or persons, responsible for its removal are reading this ... but if they are it would be very community minded and totally in the spirit of the holidays if they returned or replaced it :)

 

Wishing you all a joyful and meaningful holiday season, whatever you celebrate. May your thankful open hearts find time to count blessings and reflect on what is waiting to be born in you for the New Year ahead.  David

 

Thanksgiving

I hope you have enjoyed Thanksgiving Day.

I just wanted to express my thanks and gratitude for all the support received by the community garden. It comes in many forms and I might have missed some but here are a few. People have supported the garden and community by:
Working in the garden. Everything from shoveling manure and tree chips to making signs, winnowing saved seeds planting, weeding and harvesting. Wattle making. Building raised beds.
Making financial donations to help cover the cost of water, irrigation supplies, gopher barrier wire netting, plants etc.
Making material donations such as plants, seeds, the green house, hoses, teeter totter, used fence boards, tree rounds and chips.
Organizing events such as the Full Moon Harvest Potluck Dinner and the Bonfire gatherings.
Promoting our activities on social media ( Face Book) and local listings such as Local Harvest
Promoting our activities by writing or initiating articles for the Martinez Gazette and Martinez Patch
Starting a blog such as Jim Mannion's garden blog
Stopping by to say hello and voice appreciation for the project.
Honking and waiving while driving by on Center Avenue.

Thank yo uall for the many ways that a community comes together to define, nurture and strengthen its self.

These photos from Jim's Blog on September 2nd 2012

This upcoming workshop will contain a lot of infromation about rain water storage in tanks.
Rainwater Harvesting for Public Schools

Saturday, December 1, 2012 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM (PST)
The Oakland Rain Barrel Program (ORBP) will hold an informative, hands-on workshop at Skyline High School, led by the Watershed Project and DIG Cooperative Inc.
This workshop will showcase the ORBP's newly built cistern project of two 'daisy-chained' 2,825 gallon tanks and will cover the full range of rainwater harvesting that can be applied to any
school or residence, from 50 gallon barrels to 620 gallon tanks and rain gardens.

The workshop can host up to 50 people, so space is limited, and registration is required so we can accommodate all participants.

If interested, we encourage you to register ASAP while space is available - this event will fill up quick!
For more information on the workshop and to register, visit:
http://skyline-rainwater-workshop.eventbrite.com

An event reminder with exact location details will be sent via email to all registered participants.

Thank you!

--
Ingrid Severson
510-459-0584
ingrid@dig.coop
www.dig.coop
DIG Cooperative Inc., CCL#934853


Movie Night

We are still deciding on the next movie to screen. We were hoping for early December but know that December is fast approaching.

"A Christmas Carol Sing Along"   Nov. 30th, 6pm at the garden

The First Baptist Church of Pacheco has offered to partner with the garden project to create "A Christmas Carol Sing Along"
This is to be next Friday November 30th at 6pm at the fire pit. 333 Center Avenue, Pacheco.
Jennifer will organise the CACG participation and the church will provide marshmallows and hot dogs. The church will also distribute mini fliers in the neighborhood and provide sheet music for us. I see this as a 'reaching out' and a bridge between the garden and church communities. It is also a community building opportunity and a chance to meet neighbors and have a good time around the campfire. Doesn't matter if you cannot sing, you don't go to any church or participate in the development of the garden ... just come over and say hello.

MPC

This photo taken in mid November shows the edibles growing next to the street at 2421 Center Ave.

At the bottom there are a few squash leaves to the right. Dino and Red Russian Kale with Swiss Chard leaves. Also late Lemon Queen Sunflowers, at the foot of which is more kale.

The Sunchokes (not shown) are ready to harvest now.

A late pumpkin in a Maple tree in the back garden making use of verticle space

 The new Martinez Permaculture Center website will be active soon.

In Gratitude,

David

First Rains

The rainfall in our garden during October amounted to 1.25 inches which is actually our average for October rainfall. We are Grateful!
With the cooler day time highs we have cut back the automated watering to once or twice per week and the magnificent team of hand waterers are also getting a break as they water only where and when needed.

Website

Our martinezpermaculturecenter.com site is not active at the moment. We were not able to fund the renewal fee with our current Internet service provider which is 372 dollars annually. We will look to building a replacement site very soon. Probably selecting one of the less sophisticated free sites that will be easier (for me at least) to work with.

Bon Fire

On October 5th we gathered for a Bonfire at CACG

There was music and song

Ysidro our Fireman

I feel like using the cliche "Don't try this at home"

We did check with the local fire department before attempting this event with a fire. Ysidro is a professional fire fighter and he managed the fire pit all evening. This included wetting the surrounding area before lighting the fire and dowsing the embers at closing.

Work then play

Erin and Nathaniel live very locally and regularly help in the garden. This is part of the Permaculture model where all is in balance because here they are seen resting.




We hope that next year we can have a regular gathering of this kind once per month. At the moment we are planning on the last Friday of each month. We will keep you posted and try to get the word out to as many as possible.

A Dr. Seuss reading for more garden workers

We do have one more such Bonfire event planned for this year!

Save The Date!

The First Baptist Church of Pacheco has offered to partner with the garden project to create "A Christmas Carol Sing Along"
This is to be on Friday November 30th at 6pm at the fire pit. 333 Center Avenue, Pacheco.
Jennifer will organise the CACG participation and the church will provide marshmallows and hot dogs. The church will also distribute mini fliers in the neighborhood and provide sheet music for us. I see this as a 'reaching out' and a bridge between the garden and church communities. It is also a community building opportunity and a chance to meet neighbors and have a good time around the campfire. Doesn't matter if you cannot sing ... just come over and say hello.

What's Happening at CACG?

Jennifer and Ron working in the greenhouse

The Corn Beans and Squash patch is dying back .... but not idle!

We are leaving the vegetative remains (haulm) in situ to act as cover for the Fava beans, Kale and snap Peas that we planted in late October.

Colin and Carlos planting Fava Beans

But I don't like Fava Beans!

Don't worry we don't expect to eat them all. Fava Beans are a cover crop which is especially useful for fixing nitrogen and creating mulch. If we get some beans to eat then that is a bonus. I admit that these beans are an acquired taste and confess that I detested them as a child. Here are some creative recipes for Favas. I like them steamed.

 We are harvesting: Eggplant, Tomatoes, Squash, Lettuce, Beets, Sunchokes, Carrots and Kale at the garden now in Mid November.

Recently we have been spreading a lot of tree chips to act as mulch
MPC
Here is  Lemon Queen Sunflower blooming at home, 2421 Center Ave. Martinez on November 9th. It was planted in August from this years seed.

Can you spot the Honey Bee in the flower?

More very soon.

Be nice to your neighbors!

David