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













 

Full Harvest Moon

Sowing Seeds of Community is the title of an article that appeared in the September 27th edition of the Martinez Gazette. Thank you Jennifer for acting as our spokesperson. Jennifer set this up in a noble attempt to inform more local people and perhaps engender greater participation. Thanks also to Greta Mart for writing such a great article.

Jim has also done a great job at getting the word out with his Common Ground Blog. He always has current updates posted and I just wish I could keep up with him in my blogging!
We have a lot of Kale at CACG and you might like to take a look at Karen's Baked Kale Chips on the Sept. 28th post.

In the garden this coming Friday Oct. 5th

Please join us at the Center Ave. Community Garden for a Family Bon Fire to welcome the fall season, to embrace the principles of Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share in a spirit of support, enthusiasm, compassion and sharing. All are welcome.

 

Friday October 5th 2012 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm

333 Center Ave., Pacheco

 

Please bring your own chair, coffee mug and musical instruments

 

Cookies and Hot coco will be provided. Donations are welcome

Today we harvested the remainder of the potatoes in the potato towers. Not a huge harvest, perhaps 10 lbs and certainly more than we put in as seed.
We also finished off the sunflower harvest.
 Some stalks have been left standing in the hope of growing peas in the same area and using the old sunflower stalks as support.

Karen topping the sunflowers in the "Thanks" bed

The new, previously loved, wagon that appeared in the garden was used by the big kids to collect sunflower heads.

We have saved some for seed and will have a surplus to share as edible sunflower seeds later in the year.


A better view of the Garden Wagon

Sand Box
Also a new arrival in the garden is the Sand Box.
This somewhat temporary and inexpensively constructed feature was initially conceived to make use of the surplus sand remaining from the brick entrance work. Soon after it was in place, perhaps two days, the lid was lifted to revel that someone had beautifully crafted the words "THANKS" out of twigs.

Gratitude meets Art

Next we found ...

The latest is ...

Garden Elevation
Thanks to Eric and his Smart Phone we now know the elevation of the garden. It runs from 50 feet at the lower end to 64 feet at the parking lot end.

Water Bill
Our water bill was $273 for the past 2 months, about $136 per month. The previous 2 months averaged $100 per month. I expect we will see a decrease in the next billing as we have cut back watering to every other day in some areas.

General Election
Decisions, decisions! More taxes or more education? What will new jobs look like? How can I apply Permaculture Principals to my decision making process?

This verse from an old Joni Mitchell song keeps coming to mind:

Land of snap decisions
Land of short attention spans
Nothing is savored
Long enough to really understand

And especially this second part of the verse .....

In every culture in decline
The watchful ones among the slaves
Know all that is genuine will be
Scorned and conned and cast away

Dog Eat Dog

Permaculture Convergence
The 2012 NorCal Permaculture Convergence: Building Bioregional Resiliency is being held at Green Friend Farm in Castro Valley. This looks very interesting ... and it is local this year. Certainly an entertaining and educational event well worth checking out. And Jeff Lawton speaking! We have screened a couple of Jeff Lawton's vidoes at our movie nights. You might like to click Here and go to the "Greening the Desert 11" tab.

Martinez Permaculture Center News



Front garden at 2421 Center Avenue

In this photograph of the front garden taken in mid September we can see Sunflowers, Collards, Corn, Tomato and Amaranth growing together.

Here is a peek at the back garden in July

Here is a view of a green pumpkin supported by a Maple tree in July.

And another of the same Pumpkin ripe in late September.

These are Golden Delicious apples from our tree going into storage for a couple of months.

Golden Delicious harvested on Sept 12th

The chickens and bees are fine and I will have more news on them in the next post.

The six chicks hatched on May 4th are now 21 weeks and soon to begin laying.

The honey harvest has been slow this year. More next time with photos.

Thank you for taking the time to check in and read this.

David

Once on a Blue Moon

I think the Full Moon on Friday will be called a Red Moon ....but it is the second full moon in the month of August!

At CACG we have been continuing to plant our cool season crops. Often using saved seed from previous cropping at the garden. For example Kale, Brocolli, Carrots, Swiss Chard, Lettuce and Fava Beans have been planted with saved seed.
A layer of straw on the surface denotes the location of newly planted seed.
Our Shelling Peas planted on Aug. 12th are showing above ground.


Peppers, Tomatillos and Carrots from the beds just behind the notice board

Ready to harvest in the garden at the moment you will find:
Tomatoes, Squash, Tomatillos, Carrots, Eggplant, Swiss Chard, Peppers and Sunflowers, all in plenty!
You may find some: Beets, Watermelon, Corn and beans ... generally in lesser supply but there if you can find them.

It will be easier to direct readers to specific crops or tasks when we get the beds named. If this is a crazy idea blame me because I was the one who thought of it. Instead of numbering the beds, which I agree would be very logical, we are going to try naming the growing beds with words that evoke an uplifting, positive tone. Thus every time we speak the affirmative sound we are lifting ourselves plus sending out that level of vibration to all people and all life in the garden. Given that we want positive vibrations around our food and medicine one place to look for the evidence that some benefit may occur would be the work of  Dr. Masaru Emoto in relation to the effects of our thoughts on water.

Angelina has been painting "Name Tags" for the garden beds. Names such as "Optimism"  "Hope"  "Harmony" and "Gratitude"  Thank you Angelina!

Busy painter that she is Angelina also painted the sign for our newly established "Lost and Found" box now located in the Storage Area.  If you find a water bottle or sunglasses in the garden this would be the place to put them. Right now we have a black purse with what appear to be bike lock keys in our Lost and Found box. I hope it stays empty, but it just might help someone get their lost possessions back.

We are going to keep the fire pit where it is for now. One day it will be in the center of our circular gathering area surrounded by fruit trees, but for now we are just visioning that. Here we see Jim adding another course of bricks.

Next Saturday we are planning to cover the whole top of the garden area, including the fire pit vicinity, with tree chips. This mulch will cover weeds and begin breaking down to make soil with the fall rains. We get chips delivered free by Bartlett Tree Experts.

The compost bins gained 25% additional capacity last Saturday. With 2 larger bins we will be able to get the piles hotter. We don't have any finished compost at this time ... but it will not be long!


Many kitchens in the area are busy canning Peaches and Nectarines at the moment. They are now ready to pick, and delicious!



Local Peaches







 

Our Kitchen ....

 

Is bottling something else; Honey!

 

We have just begun the main honey harvest. Here Teresa is bottling a small amount of raw honey that was a sampling from two of our hives at MPC. We are calling it the Blue Moon Special blend :)

What happened to Little Bit and her eggs?

Eggs hatched on May 4th

 Only three of the six eggs were fertile. One chick only lasted a couple of days. We were left with just two chicks from the six eggs that Little Bit had so diligently sat on for 21 days. Little Bit was such a good mother when she went through this cycle last year that we decided to buy four day old chicks for her to rear. These were two Plymouth Partridge Rocks and two Buff Brahmas.

Two Partridge Rocks on left

Here are the girls at 16 weeks relaxing in the compost bin. Little Bit is on the far right.

 

Check Out This:

 

Bill Merrill is from Fremont with a lot of local practical gardening experience and about 79 videos on You Tube. Most of them are about gardening and sustainable practices. I find them very informative. Here is a link to his GreenGardenGuy1 Channel and some tips on pruning Raspberries.

 

Also .... be prepared to be inspired by the video in this link to Permaculture Artisans in Sebastopol CA. They have started a Permaculture Neighborhood Center! Is That similar to what we have done at CACG?

 

Jim's Blog

 

Jim has a wonderful stream of current and interesting information in his blog

Well worth a regular visit to see his photos, his cute kids and find out what is happening at CACG.

 

Movie Night

 

About ten of us watched Jeff Lawton's Urban Permaculture DVD last Friday evening. It is 90 minutes long and very information rich. A couple of people commented afterwards that they felt overwhelmed by the volume of information. Even a little depressed. I can understand this. Jeff Lawton has been practicing Permaculture principals for a long time and is an enthusiastic master of his craft. As beginners we are not expected to be as skilled at drafting  the design or as eloquent at integrating so many elements. We have to begin simply ... so that we can "Simply begin".

 

We can all do a little something. It doesn't have to be a complex multi faceted system right from the start. Small examples might be: Composting. A worm bin. Water catchment or water recycling. Growing our own herbs. Permaculturists promote the concept of taking small sustainable steps.

 

No need to be overwhelmed. Could it be that the purpose of the movie was to inspire ... not to intimidate. 

All who watched 'Urban Permaculture' are to be congratulated for the place that they are in now.  They chose to spend Friday evening building community rather than with Batman or another more popular escapist movie. No offence intended to Batman, the movie, the producer, director, audiences or World wide fan base. I recognise that he is saving humanity in his own way :)

Could it be said that Urban Permaculture demonstrates in a practical way that we can all be Heroes. And perhaps live a little Happier Ever After! 

 

************

Hope you enjoy the beautiful Moonlight!

 

David

New Moon Summer Harvest Potluck

On Friday August 17th 2012 we enjoyed our first real celebratory sit down meal at the Center Ave. Community Garden.

6:15pm Guests arrive and pass by the Welcome Table

The dinning table is set up and waiting

Teresa, Jennifer and Angelina planned this event down to the fine details and did an outstanding job! It was always in the master plan to offer organized community dinning in the garden from the beginning. It just took the determination and dedication of these three ladies to actually make it happen. Well done and thank you.

Close up of the beautifully prepared table in the evening light

Most of the guests brought their own plates and silverware. There were no paper products used. We had some backup plates for the unprepared and with this being a potluck it was a virtually waste free event. There was almost no trash generated by this gathering.

There was a raffle which included a $50 Navlets gift certificate, dried Plums from a tree in Pacheco, Home made Pesto, local honey, Reiki and Hypnotherapy sessions and Permaculture books and DVD's.

The proceeds from the raffle amounted to $120. Very helpful and timely for us as our garden water bill is currently running at about $100 per month.

Brenna, Karen and Colin minding the instruments

At 8:30 we moved to a fire pit that was prepared and tended by Tyler and his assistants as a gathering place for some music and drumming

The Musicians were of a very high caliber. Thank you for the songs from your Heart!

Teresa, Mike and Jennifer as the background rhythm section

Recycled used bricks some of which will be used in the entrance paving tomorrow

We would also like to thank Pastor Terry of the First Baptist Church of Pacheco for the use of chairs and tables plus many other little, and not so little, contributions to the event. Also to the group of good spirited helpers that moved the chairs and tables back into storage after our closing circle. It did feel like a community pulling together. Thanks to all who gave to this dinner and whose names are not mentioned here. You are all appreciated and valued.

The morning after

The bench in this last photo is the one made from a pallet featured in Jim's blog  Scroll down to his post on August 16th and view images of Jim and Mike building this amazing child's bench out of a used pallet!

Also in CACG

Jim set up this note book in the greenhouse to document plantings.

In an attempt to communicate what needs doing in the garden each week a chalkboard has appeared close to the storage area. This is for folks that can come to the garden during the week wanting to participate. We want helpers and need to take steps to communicate with those that cannot join us on Saturdays. The challenge is going to be how to describe in enough detail the relevant tasks ... but we will try!

Don't forget movie night next Friday August 24th. Details on the Events page.

With all good wishes,

David