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Saturday, January 14, 2012

The New Year 2012

CACG has been in existence for 18 months now. We have come a long way from the vacant lot of June 2010 when we began.

Day 1 Our first load of tree chips arrived on June 29th 2010


This is the garden today . . .


Mid January Carrot harvesters. David's Daughter Sam on the right.


Our vision for the future is more of the same in the lower section where we are growing the food in raised beds.

This spring we will add some potato towers and a section close to the green house for growing corn, beans and squash in ground.
We may be able to create the Huglekultur bed with the help of some school children if the project is approved with the school administration and time allows. What is Huglekulture?

We will also be starting the Herb Spiral and Edible Weeds plantings.

We are going to grow Scarlet Runner Beans on the, not quite finished yet, mulberry arch at the the Flame and Center Ave. corner.

At some time in the unspecified future....
- For the upper part of the lot we have in mind a gathering space. A 45 foot circular area surrounded by fruit trees that would be ideal for music, yoga, picnics and meetings.
- A natives area.
- An open air classroom.
- Mushroom growing.
- A solar oven.
- A gazebo made of rustic lumber in the middle of the garden.
- Some demonstration of rainwater harvesting.

Teresa carrying a typical selection of
 trimmings to the compost pile
On January 14th we weeded the beds and removed grass and frosted plant material. Actually there has not been much damage from the nightly frosts over these past few weeks. We water occasionally when the soil gets really dry and that helps reduce stress on the plants when the frost hits.
There are some aphids on the Swiss Chard and the Fava beans. Last year we had an abundance of Ladybugs feasting on them. Not so many this year but I did notice a very small bird that I believe to be a Bush Tit working its way through the row of Fava beans picking off aphids.

Winter evenings are ideal for gathering around the fire to engage in some community building activity. Last night we screened the movie "Greenhorns" at MPC. Ten people attended and we enjoyed a wonderful discussion afterwards. In our minds the movie comes second to the act of getting like minds together to support, educate and enthuse each other.

We could have made it a Seed Saving Party ... another great opportunity to gather and talk. Well we did that this morning. In the luxury of a warm January sun we sat at a table in CACG and winnowed seeds that we harvested last year.
Karen, Brenna and Ron removing kale seed from
dry seed pods. The whole seeding heads were
cut and dried last August and stored in a bag.

We chatted and in a very pleasant, humble and collaborative way began the whole cycle of life again. Some seed trays were placed in the green house. These kale starts will be ready to plant out around the end of February. We also have trays of Lettuce, Broccoli and Swiss Chard starts growing in the green house.

At the end of December we asked a question at the notice board. We asked "What are you grateful for in 2011" These are the answers we received.


Now we have a posting that asks "What are you hopeful for in 2012?"
Perhaps you have something to write there.

As you must surely have noticed, it has been so dry this winter! One of the consequences is that we have had difficulty in staking our snap peas. It is really hard to get the sticks deep enough in the soil to provide sufficient support for the pea vines when fully grown. We tried making holes with a hammer and forming stake. That was just toooo much work for Permaculture minded folks. Some rain would help to soften the soil. Rain is what we were expecting when we gave up trying to stake them over a month ago. This photo tells the story.


On January 21st we are taking a Field Trip from the garden to visit the CRFG Scion Exchange in Oakland. The carpool will leave CACG promptly at 11am.

The next full work day in the garden will be January 28th.

At MPC:
On February 17th we are screening the movie "The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil"
Not a new movie but very relevant to the mission of MPC and CACG. We think you will find it inspiring. Thank you Ron for loaning it to us.

In the past month we have lost 2 bee hives at MPC. This was not such a surprise as they were both weak hives. Before all the publicity about bee ailments and Colony Collapse Disorder it has always been normal for some colonies not to make it through the winter. Both failed hives had supplies of honey. I harvested honey from one hive to crush and strain for human consumption. Thank you bees. The honey from the other hive was donated to another small colony in Pleasant Hill. This hive originated from a very late swarm and, while very active now, has limited supplies and a comparatively low number of bees. Extra honey, their natural food, will help them build their brood numbers in this unusual weather pattern which might produce a late, wet winter. I prefer not to feed sugar water.

Well that's it for now.

Thank you for visiting this blog.

Peace,

David

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