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

Winter Solstace

Karen removing the remains of the super producing Sun Gold Tomato

 The frost in mid December finished off the Squash, Tomatoes and Basil. Even the Tomato plants we hoped to over winter in the green house died. Now the good news is that we have plenty of greens, Kale, Collards, Mustard and Turnip tops, and the frost has made a huge difference to the flavor. The cold weather has enhanced the taste dramatically and I invite you to try some of these delicious greens. You might try steaming them or sauteing with garlic and/or onions and your favorite oil. The Lettuce came through the frost quite well, the reddish leaved Lettuce is named "Rouge D' Hiver".
There is also Onion leaves and Swiss Chard to harvest.

NEW POSTS ON THE CORNER

Terry drills a 2" hole in the 6' long Redwood log



We have been working on the entrance at the corner of Center Ave. and Flame Drive. The plan is to create two rustic gate posts with an arch to grow beans on.



Kent drives in a length of steel pipe. 20" into the log with 26" to go in the the concrete pier.



   We tried not to use concrete but the consensus was that it was necessary in this case.

Terry's tractor was doing the lifting. All this happened on December 10th 2011

A funny twist to the day was that we dug these holes more than six months ago and covered them with tree rounds. Upon removing the tree rounds we discovered that gophers had used the two empty below ground spaces as repositories for their tunneling activities. Read: the holes were filled in again.

                                      



The scene late in the day with the concrete poured and the posts braced





David attaching the recycled split rail redwood fence one week later.



Kiel tying off mulberry limbs

On New Year's Eve we began constructing the arch behind the posts. Thanks to Kiel, Jennifer and Mike, Ron and Donna for their help. Hopefully we will make it look attractive with runner beans growing on the structure next summer.

IN THREE WEEKS ...

We, the Martinez Permaculture Center,  have been invited to attend the local Golden Gate Chapter California Rare Fruit Growers (CRFG) Fruit Wood Scion Exchange, their biggest event of the year. They would like the California Rare Fruit Growers community, and the general fruit loving public, to become more acquainted with community food programs and food for justice activities.

More details here

http://www.crfg.org/chapters/golden_gate/scionex.htm

If someone would like to represent us at this event please let me know at davidmudgegardens@yahoo.com

We are also thinking of making this a car pooling Field Trip from CACG. Again if you are interested please let me know.

AT MPC

We lost Sadie our almost 3 year old hen in December. She had stopped laying and appeared under the weather for a couple of weeks. Her laying pattern was erratic with very thin shelled eggs that were most often broken. We feel it was her time. Thank you Sadie. Now we have 7 hens. Laying is naturally diminished in the winter and will step up with the increasing day length. We currently find 2 to 4 eggs per day, always in the nest box. Thank you Girls.
The bees are less active at this time of year. However our strongest hives (those with the greater number of bees) are sending out many foragers in the middle part of the day. The weaker hives need the bodies at home to keep the brood warm. This is a testing time for the weaker colonies. Those with low bee numbers and smaller supplies of honey may not survive the length of winter and the dearth of incoming food supply. We have one such hive that is marginal. We do not use chemical treatments and we try not to feed our bees. One course of action is to combine two colonies. I will take a look inside the hive one of these warmer days and report back.
Not much point in bragging about how much water we have harvested in our rainwater tank during this unusually dry season. But we are still committed to the concept!

Have a bright and joyful celebration of the New Year.