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

Hot Mid August News

Harvested Sunflowers

On Friday August 17th we are having our first New Moon Summer Harvest Potluck gathering.
More details on our event page: http://www.martinezpermaculturecenter.com/mpc_event_calendar.html

And farther down the right side of this blog.

We look forward to meeting you there.

Introduction to a new blog!
As a wonderful addition in our ability to share information and build community we now have a second blog.
Jim Mannion and his family have been very active participants at CACG for many months. They have contributed financially and also with their sweat and creativity. They are also part of a dedicated team of waterers that cover the areas not serviced by our automated irrigation system.
Now Jim has started his own blog to offer us his perspective on CACG, food, family and living locally. He is very well qualified to report on the happenings of CACG and his family's experience.

Well done and thank you Jim!

Here is a link to his interesting blog that I hope you will take a look at:
http://centeravecommunitygarden.blogspot.com/


Bob, in addition to being a mine of information on herbs, has been involved in construction projects at CACG. Here is a typical image of Bob refurbishing a recycled water valve for the garden's second hose bib.

Here is Bob on another project in July. Bob, on the left with Terry and Moctar building the garden entrance at the parking lot end. They are leveling sand over rock to set used brick paving.

 Pastor Terry has been a wonderful support to this permaculture garden. His construction skills and quality of craftsmanship keep us all on our toes. The white arch was recovered from a garden at JFK University that was being dismantled about two years ago. We have two table grape vines started with the intention to cover the arch in the next couple of years.

Mike painted the arch and his wife Jennifer has construction skills also!
She built this bench for the greenhouse herself with recycled lumber from the pile of boards at the garden. The boards were donated from an almost new fence that caught fire on Fuscia Ct. just down Center Ave. A very creative use of local resources and landfill reduction.

Jennifer and her bench about to move into the greenhouse

Planting at CACG
We have begun to plant our cool season crops: Beets, Kale, Peas, Lettuce and Swiss Chard. These crops will give a yield in the fall and or winter.
I know this seems like a strange time to be planting in this August heat but this is the best time to get these crops started. More on what we are planting in which areas in the next post.

For more information on what to plant when please visit:  http://ecologycenter.org/factsheets/planting-times.pdf

Here is another one based on Pam Pierces "Golden Gate Gardening"  (A very useful book)
http://www.ecologycenter.org/factsheets/eastbayplantingguide.html

This is just a guide and not an absolute in my view ... but it is helpful.

The Bay Area Seed Interchange Library (BASIL) website will broaden your vision!http://www.ecologycenter.org/basil/index.html
And I could not fail to mention the most excellent work of our friends at the Richmond Seed Library http://www.richmondgrowsseeds.org/

Angelina painting garden signs

Corn Beans and Squash

Our patch of the Three Sisters: Corn, Beans and Squash has grown quicky.

This is the day of planting April 21st 2012

The soil was double dug and compost added

Ysidro and Jennifer planting

We did spread a couple of loads of horse manure on this site last October in the hope that through the winter the manure would break down and be ready for planting by May. The winter was so dry that there was hardly any noticable decomposition. The best option of digging ridges into the Nature Prepared soil was denighed us so the next best plan seemed to be double digging then adding compost to create the ridges.

May 5th  Kim watering

May 26th  Yoko watering

Perhaps next year we will be able to utilize water pumped from under the church building to water our Corn Beans and Squash.


June 9th  Angelina watering

Many thanks to the regular watering crew. This area is hand watered and a dedicated team of garden participants has done and excellent job of watering.

Pumpkins on July 14th

Finally some photos of  Gabe, Joe and Elsie with harvested pumpkins on July 28th.