November Nights

We look forward to a beautiful Full Moon on November 17th

The November moon is often referred to as the Hunter's Moon in England or a Beaver Moon in the Native American tradition. 

November Movie Night 
Friday November 22nd 6-9:30pm
2421 Center Avenue, Martinez, CA 94553
RSVP required as space is limited: davidmudgegardens@yahoo.com
Bring your own dinner/snack and some to share if you are so inclined or dine earlier and just bring yourself :) We will socialize before the movie starts at 7pm. Perhaps a discussion afterwards.
Symphony of the Soil, 2012, 103 minutes
Drawing from ancient knowledge and cutting edge science, Symphony of the Soil is an artistic exploration of the miraculous substance soil. By understanding the elaborate relationships and mutuality between soil, water, the atmosphere, plants and animals, we come to appreciate the complex and dynamic nature of this precious resource. The film also examines our human relationship with soil, the use and misuse of soil in agriculture, deforestation and development, and the latest scientific research on soil’s key role in ameliorating the most challenging environmental issues of our time. Filmed on four continents, featuring esteemed scientists and working farmers and ranchers, Symphony of the Soil is an intriguing presentation that highlights possibilities of healthy soil creating healthy plants creating healthy humans living on a healthy planet.

Another November Night ...

Our November Crop Swap

November 27th, 2013

333 Center Ave, Pacheco

Arrive at 6:15 trading starts at 6:30
Since it will be dark we will have lighting. 

We know that it is the day before Thanksgiving. We also feel that we need to be consistent with holding this space so that everyone can be assured that we will be hosting the Crop Swap on the 4th Wednesday of each month.
However the 4th Wednesday of December coincides with Christmas Day so we will be skipping that date. No Crop Swap in December. We'll be back in January!

A note from Jennifer, our relentless recycler and community builder, who initiated and manages each Crop Swap ...

This month we will be trading fall vegetables, fruit, seeds, plants, honey, eggs, home made canned goods, recipes, as well as books, DVD's, CD's, music, magazines and gently used clothing. 

We will also have a BonFire and hot chocolate to celebrate the changing of the seasons. If you have any questions please call me at 925-360-4762

Thank you to everyone who participated in last months Crop Swap. Not only did we still have plenty of crops to share we collected over 40 Coats and sweatshirts and 10 blankets for the homeless.

Thank you, Jennifer

Another local non-nocturnal date


 Permi Blitz 2013 
 
Saturday, November 16th, 9am-1pm
Rogers Ranch Community Garden, Pleasant Hill

Taught by permaculture specialists through hands-on activities, this year’s Permi Blitz workshop is all about taking easy, sustainable practices into your own home. Learn all about composting and worm casting, seed saving, how to build an herb spiral, and how to make your own delicious almond milk (and bring some home with you)!
Coffee, tea, snacks and a healthy lunch will be provided.

Space is limited. Register at www.SCOCOPermiBlitz2013.eventbrite.com
 

Got Scratch?

Henrietta and Egglintine have just gone through a molt period. This is a normal part of their laying cycle whereby their systems basically take a rest. They stop laying and loose a lot of feathers. Their natural laying cycle is orientated to an increasing day length. As the day length decreases they stop laying. Same avian physiology as wild birds who generally build nests and lay eggs in spring.

Happily their plumage is recovering and they we open to being photographed.

At CACG

We planted onion sets and Beets at CACG this week.
 The local Fruitless Mulberry  (Morus alba) trees have entered their season for pollarding.

"Pollarding trees" means cutting them back nearly to the trunk, so as to produce a dense mass of branches.  Today, usually for aesthetic purposes and/or to keep a beloved tree from outgrowing its bounds, necessitating removal. But traditionally, it was done for other reasons: the cut branches were either fed to livestock (fodder), burned as fuel or used to make furniture.
We will have the wattle panel maker set up soon and you are welcome to come by and build a section.
We also have a plan to build a nest like structure made from Mulberry limbs in the garden. More on that soon.

Wanted

We are looking for a display cabinet structure to start our own Little Free Library at the garden.

You can see more of the concept behind this community building project at: littlefreelibrary.org
Or if someone would like to build one for us that would be wonderful. There are plans on the website. There is also a gallery which showcases many beautiful and creative designs.

I hope you will enjoy some some wonderful November Nights this year.
David
925 286 7225

Evolving CACG "I Love That"

Now at three and a half years into the development of CACG I believe we are being guided to begin a new planting. I have some friends that punctuate almost every statement with “I love that” and I’m feeling the same way about the evolution of CACG. So to these new directional seeds I say “I love that”.

Late October Sunflower

Through Life in general we can be assured that change is necessary and constant. I feel that these CACG changes are gentle and joyful evolutionary shifts rather than a cataclysmic breakdown forcing radical change. It might be seen as the example of the forest flora and fauna adapting to a new stage of habitat development rather than recovery after a forest fire.  “I love that”.

A friend of mine reminds me not to ‘over think it’ when I write something for the blog …..       I can tell you that is out the window on this one :)

What is “Evolving” at CACG?

We note that consistent, responsible weekly management of the garden beds has landed in the hands of less than ten extremely dedicated friends. I am honored to work alongside these folks. I will not name them but they know who they are! These few have done much more individually than we know of collectively. They hold the vision with me of where the garden can lead us as a community.

The Center Avenue Community Garden concept has always been mindful of, and open to, other aspects of sustainable, resilient and happy Community Building.

Because of the gift of land as an available resource and my own gardening bias the edible and medicinal components have triumphed and formed the structure giving what is to follow a “There, there”  Other aspects of Permaculture not initially expressed in the launch of CACG would be, not in order of importance: Finance, Energy, Transport, Art, Education and Health plus a few others. “I love that”

Pioneers of the Garden September 11 2010

Initially we had more volunteers on a weekly basis and even though many only participated once or twice we were still able to add features and maintain the raised beds and perimeter plantings. Many came to learn about raised beds, what crops we were growing, when to harvest and how to eat them. They took the knowledge home to apply in their own space and that is a success for CACG. I hope this continues to happen because …. “I love that”

Calendulas. Good cover crop ... bit out of control!

This summer we have not been able to fully utilize the planted areas mainly because of fewer hands on Saturday mornings. We know that Saturdays are not good for some would be volunteers and we hold the space to be able to offer a weekday afternoon and or evening in the future. That would be ideal and at this time none of our ‘core’ group that know what needs to happen can commit consistently to that time in order to instruct drop in helpers as to what needs to happen that day. The slate by the storage area might offer some guidance yet there is only so much we can write on there (not enough details).

This underutilization of the raised beds combined with a burgeoning water bill ($345 for July /August) directs us to ‘edit’ our planting plans for the 2014 season by omitting the Tomatoes and Corn, Beans and Squash in ground planting areas.

We can look forward to a more vibrant, well cared for and financially sustainable raised bed section in 2014. “I love that”

Another Facet of CACG Evolution

While numbers of gardening participants have dwindled this year we have enjoyed strong participation and are inspired by the attendance at our community gathering type activities. These include the Burlap Sack Giveaway,  monthly Crop Swap, Kids Craft Evening and events centered around the barbeque pit. Not to forget the Movie Night which will resume soon. We plan to host more of these events in the future as a means of building community.

Even More Growth

This Spring and Summer the New Leaf students helped us build a Huglekulture bed as part of their curriculum.

I often hear the question ”Why don’t you get more school children involved”?

We have invited school groups. The challenge seems to be fitting it into the school curriculum requirements and just simply finding the time to visit CACG.

Daisies Growing

Our neighbor Elizabeth Mohr with Girl Scout Daisy troop33337 has contacted us regarding focusing their activities on one of our raised beds to further their Green By Nature philosophy. “I love that.”

This is a new direction for us because to date no specific area has been assigned to anyone. It has been decided that the “Thanks” bed best suits their purpose and the Girl Scouts will soon be taking responsibility for that area. They are likely to be helping in other areas of the garden and join us with the spirit of sharing. We will have a small sign set up to inform others of the educational function of this designated area.

Perhaps another local group will be willing to adopt another raised bed or specific area and this could be a great way forward for us!

The "Thanks" raised bed

However CACG is growing I’m continuously touched by stories of how people have found sanctuary, clarity, wisdom and some inner peace during a visit to the garden.

I am encouraged and inspired by those who hold the vision with me. Those who know, without the words to describe exactly how, that this park like space is an important oasis and common ground to bring our neighborhood together, to educate, open hearts and minds and remind us that together we can evolve and thrive.

 …. And I just love that!

David

What Are You Grateful For?

We held our Center Avenue Community Garden 2nd annual Harvest dinner on September 27th.

Our intention was to celebrate the abundance of the garden with a potluck dinner that generated zero landfill. Everyone brought their own plate and silverware plus a dish to share. We received $30 in donations. Many thanks to all who helped with the organizing, preparation and cleaning up.
There was an impromptu live theater performance.

There was Story Telling

Lots of Gratitude here!

The food was local and wonderful for the most part.

The Crop Swap continues on the 4th Wednesday of each month.

These two images are from the July 24th Swap. In the True spirit of sharing the surplus Buttercup Farms brought over a large amount of surplus produce that might have been sold elsewhere.

Much Gratitude there!

The Sunchokes, or Jerusalem Artichokes are almost ready. They can be harvested in October but, in my opinion, are actually much more tasty in December or January when they have matured in flavor.

Sunchokes flowering in mid September

They can be stored in the ground to mature. Here they could be at risk from Gophers. Or stored in a bucket immersed and covered with sand or soil placed in a cool spot such as a garden shed.
Sunchokes are washed and then can be eaten raw, in a salad for example. They can also be steamed, stir-fried etc.  Here is a link to get you started on feeling Gratitude for Sunchokes.

These are the tubers - the part we can eat

There is so much more to be Grateful for ... and I will have to stop here for the moment and take a breath!

Happy Fall. Happy harvesting in Gratitude.

David

Harvest Moon

On September 13th we held our first Kids Craft Night at CACG.

Jim and Karen organized painting with watercolors.

Jennifer and Mike prepared easy to assemble 'kits' for making bird feeders from pallet boards and glass beverage bottles. As you can see 'some assemble required' and for some it was their first ever opportunity to use an electric drill.

This is what the finished feeder looks like. Most were proudly taken home. One was attached to a redwood post at the Flame Dr. entrance and on Saturday morning a variety of birds were feeding from it!

You might also like to view the photos on Jim's Blog


Under the guidance of my new mantra "Don't over think it" I'm going to post this shortened version and add to in over the next few days.

Full moon on Sept 19th

"You won't find the gift if you don't look for it"

In Gratitude,
David

Labor Day

Apologies that I've not been sharing much new information here on the blog. A friend suggested that the secret to being a consistent blogger is not to over think it. So with that 'thought' I'm going to update today!
Here are a few images from the most recent Crop Swaps.

Our Crop Swaps are held on the 4th Wednesday of each month.

Arrive at 6:15pm so that we can set out the produce and begin at 6:30 sharp.

You can stay and socialize of course but the swapping part is about over by 7pm.
Our intention is to share surplus and build community.
In addition to fruit and vegetables we usually have starts and seeds, plant pots and garden ornaments, tools, irrigation parts etc. We have even had honey, bees wax and eggs.

Thanks always to the folks that bring their surplus to the swap and for Jennifer and helpers who organize the promotion and setup.
If you don't have anything to share at this time don't let that stop you from visiting the swap. Most crops are seasonal. You may have something at a later date!

Photo by Art Rodgers

Photo by Art Rodgers

Last Saturday we continued to clean out the raised beds in preparation for planting winter crops. We are sowing peas and Fava beans. We have starts of Kale and Lettuce almost ready for transplanting from thinnings in other raised beds.

Colin and Brenna found several Carrots

Silver Queen Corn

Zuccini

Squash hanging in Buddleia

Raspberry Pruning

This is Tammy thinning the previously fruited growth in the Raspberry patch. On these Ever-bearing Raspberries we take out the old canes in early July and leave the new growth to produce in the fall.


This might be a good place to stop before I start 'Thinking' too much!

May you find peace in the garden. David

Share The Spare Day

Father’s Day Gift Ideas?

 

On June 8^th we enjoyed our second Burlap Sack Giveaway at CACG.

 

 About 400 used coffee bags were repurposed. These bags would have become landfill if not for the diligent recycling efforts of Marie Knutson recycling coordinator for Allied Waste Services and our own recycling maven and Cindy Lauper lookalike (although I don’t think I can say that here) Jennifer.

 

 Other previously owned items also showed up for sharing in the true spirit of “Sharing the Surplus”

We asked people what they planned to do with their sacks.

Over 90% said they would use them for gardening in some way.

Art and crafts were also mentioned. Use with chickens and beekeeping was listed a few times. One person took 30 sacks for use in classroom sack races. Should that be listed as sports?

 

If someone wants a large number of sacks in Contra Costa County Marie Knutson is the person to contact at 925 671 5814

 

Thank you Jennifer for initiating these sack giveaways.

 

Jennifer is also working on a regular monthly ‘Crop Swap’ at CACG.

More details soon.

Another doyen of the local recycling world is Doug. He recently made this seed box out of recycled wood and added a fine burlap handle. If you want to find recycled, free stuff talk to Doug. I give him A+ for creativity on his use of burlap.

 

 

 

Happy Father's Day to all.

 

David

 

davidmudgegardens@yahoo.com

.