Earth Day

There is so much happening at MPC and CACG that it's hard to keep up with the blog!


I'm hoping that the photos tell the story well because I don't type very quickly. There is so much good will and love that is pouring into our endeavour to build sustainable community that I feel I must stop and update you on the most recent events.

This is our link on Facebook. Thank you Kiel

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Martinez-Permaculture-Center-M-P-C/157345350996177

CACG (Center Avenue Community Garden)
At CACG this past three weeks we have been planting and harvesting, weeding, cleaning up the storage area and working on the labeling of plants and naming the raised beds.

Planting

On Saturday April 21st we marked Earth Day by planting our in-ground Corn Beans and Squash area.

Preparing the rows with home made compost

Ysidro and Jennifer planting the Three Sisters

The corn we planted in this area is Hopi Blue. We will be staggering the plantings and so another planting session will take place in a couple of weeks. We are planting this whole bed in Hopi Blue. With corn being an open pollinated crop, and given that we want to save some seed,  if other corn varieties are planted close by there will be mixing of the gene pool and we will get a crossbred cob.
We will plant other varieties on the area currently occupied by the Snap Peas. Corn is wind pollinated.  With the prevailing wind coming from the south west we hope that there will be no contamination of our Hopi Blue crop. This heirloom variety produces fewer cobs per stalk but the protein content is up to one third higher than commercial corn and there are many other nutritional advantages. We are estimating a harvest in about 3 1/2 months. Looking forward to those blue corn tortillas!
The seeds were donated to the garden by Rhiannon, a staunch supporter of CACG, who sourced them from the Sustainable seed company

Corn Beans and Squash are often referred to as The Three Sisters

I'm going to leave it to other web sources to explain the companion planting concept here but the general idea is that the corn needs lots of nitrogen and provides a support for the beans to grow on. The beans fix nitrogen in root nodules which feeds all three crops. The squash utilizes horizontal space and acts as a mulch to keep the soil cool and smother weed competition.

We have been planting Tomatoes on the area by the split rail fence close to Center Ave. that was previously growing Fava Beans. There should be lots of nitrogen in the soil after the bean crop, plus all the manure applied to that area while sheet mulching in 2010.

Brenna, Jim and Colin planting Heirloom Tomato seeds to start in the greenhouse

Misty planting herb seeds in the Herb Spiral

We have also gathered some seeds from the Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library. They have a very interesting website and they are local.

Also thanks to Kiel for the many seeds he has donated to CACG from his extensive seed collection.


Harvesting

We are harvesting Kale, Lettuce, Swiss Chard, Carrots and White Turnips.

White Turnips ... the tops are tasty also

Brenna exhibiting one of our larger Solar Yellow Carrots

All The Solar yellow carrots were sown last fall from seed we harvested from the previous crop at CACG












The earlier planted Potato Towers needed more soil to continue their vertical assent.

Mike and Kiel packing straw around the wire cages to retain the new soil

This is the Second Potato Tower that we planted on February 18th. If anyone asks me which variety we have planted there I say it is the Ron's Refrigerator. That is because Ron cleaned out his refrigerator and gave us the sprouted, or about to sprout potatoes, the names of which he could not remember. This is a great example of the advantages of buying organic potatoes that have not been sprayed with sprout suppressant and the many advantages of recycling.

Potato Tower # 2

A tribute to Donna who comes to weed and harvest most Saturday mornings. She arrives early and many participants never meet her. Thank you for all your weeding and deadheading Donna

Donna Harvesting

Naming the Raised Beds

The plan is to label each raised bed with a name that will allow us to repeat a positive and virtuous trait as we speak of this planting area. Now we could just number each bed. Or we could use words such as "Hope"  "Joy"  "Harmony" or "Peace"  Felicia has already begun painting signs and we would like others to help!  Please let us know if you are interested.

MPC

Thanks to the April rains we have almost 1000 gallons of rainwater in storage.

The bees have curbed their swarming habit for the time being.
Here is an interesting body of information about the continued use of chemicals in agriculture containing Clothianidin and CCD.

All the growie things in the garden are doing well and there are plenty of greens to harvest.

The big news is in ....

Chicken Cottage

Little Bit, our rescued Japanese Bantam, is sitting on 7 fertile eggs.

She exhibited signs of broodiness  around April 7th. We waited a few days to make sure she was serious about sitting on eggs. By April 10th we were certain of her dedication to the process. With out a rooster in our flock all our girls lay infertile eggs.  On the evening of April 12th we received 8 fertile eggs from our friend Ceci and the incubation period began.

Some of you will remember that Little Bit sat on eggs about this time last year that hatched to become our hens Fluffy Top and Spring.

Being half the size of the other hens she was being regularly pushed off the nest as other egg layers needed the space.

Last year she spent her confinement in a former squirrel cage beside Chicken Cottage. Having seen skunks and 2 raccoons actually on Center Ave. recently I did not feel comfortable that the structure of the cage would stand up to a concerted attach. It's previous owner never intended it to protect chickens from predators. Where to house Little Bit?

Where to find a spot where Little Bit could safely sit on her eggs???

It takes 21 days to incubate the eggs so they should be hatching around May 5 which is a full moon.

I stated at the beginning that she is sitting on 7 eggs. One of the original 8 fertile eggs broke. The stickiness caused 2 other eggs to adhere to her feathers and Teresa had to cut them off her with scissors. We discovered the attachment when lifting her out of the nest to feed. She doesn't get off the nest much but prefers that I  hand offer her food and water. I have taken her out to the chicken run a few times for a dust bath. This is about a 15 minute excursion and it helps her to rid herself of mites and fleas. 

I promise there will be photos when the chicks hatch. Actually we don't get to see much of them for a couple of days because they stay tucked under Mom.

There is the old saying "Never count your chicks before they are hatched" and of course we hope we get a few hens. Luckily if we do get a cockerel or two Ceci, who lives on  her Sherman Island ranch, can take them from us. We would not recommend that anyone try keeping roosters in this suburban area.

Other news from Chicken Cottage

In this past week Fluffy Top has developed a condition known as Wry Neck. We believe it is caused by vitamin deficiencies, especially vitamin E and Selenium. We are treating her with a baby vitamin supplement and we will keep you posted. Send us a line if you have any experience with this poultry ailment.

Sam Chicken  February 17 2009  -  April 15th 2012

Our most vocal  and communicative Rode Island Red. Thank you for your eggs and friendship.

Lets stop here and I'll start another post soon.

Thank you for reading this.

David

Egg Moon

March 24th 2012

The Spring equinox marks the point midway between the shortest day  and the longest day - a time of balance.

On March 10th the black aphids were acknowledged as having thwarted all hope of a salvageable fava bean crop and the two rows were cut to the ground early as a green manuring. Being legumes the beans have been fixing nitrogen and enhancing soil fertility all winter.

Fava Beans cut and left as mulch

Also on March 10th we built the 4th potato tower and planted Colorado Rose potatoes. We added recycled wire mesh to the bottom of this one as there are many signs of gopher activity in this part of the garden.

Caden and Mike adding wire mesh to the base

Caden ready to position potato tower number 4

There are plenty of Snap Peas to harvest. The more we pick them, the more they will flower and produce more pods so please pick away!

These are the Snap Peas

Potatoes

Our Yukon Gold Potatoes planted on February 4th 2012 are showing above ground.We will keep adding soil, almost covering the leaves, to encourage the foliage to grow up and so elongate the stem. The tubers will be spaced out along the stem. I think it will be June before they are ready to harvest.

Kale Chips

We are currently harvesting Swiss Chard, Kale, White Turnips, Carrots and Spring Onions.

Here is a photo from Jim and Karens' Kitchen. They sent us a picture of some baked Curly Kale chips made from Curly Kale at CACG.

Baked at 350 for 10-15 minutes, with some olive oil, salt, and Parmesan cheese. Jim adds that they really need watching as the thin chips burn easily.

Looks really good, thank you.

Edible Weeds!

We are also getting ready to plant our Edible Weeds Bed. Dandelions, Lambs Quarters, Miners Lettuce and Salsify are among the more common edible weeds. We hope to showcase and label a variety of nutritious plants that grow wild locally and could contribute to a meal.

 Composter at work

Ysidro Master Compost Maker at work

Ysidro has been very active in producing the fine sample of finished compost that we now have in the center bin. Jim and family painted the sign that instructs us which bin is currently being used to receive fresh weeds and trimmings from the garden.

Wattle Making

Linda and Missy work on a short panel for screening our tool compound

There is much more going on at the garden and MPC but I'm going to stop this post here and start another one soon.

Many thanks to all that contribute to building this community around CACG. It is a pleasure to meet and work with you all. David.

ps Remember to keep picking those snap peas!

The Worm Moon

The full moon in March falls on Thursday March 8th and is the commonly known as the Worm Moon in Native American culture. This is because, at this time of year, as the soil softens and warms worm casts may be seen on the surface. The worms perfectly provide food for birds which are nesting and so begins a new cycle of life. This moon is also known as the Sap Moon because at this moment sap is rising in many trees that are about to leaf out very soon.

In the Center Avenue Community Garden we have just constructed our third potato tower. In this one we planted All Blue potatoes donated to the garden by Ron along with other heirloom varieties. These were all certified organic seed potatoes and hopefully we will be able to save seed and grow them again next year. We would love to hear from anyone who has been successfully growing their own, perhaps unnamed, variety locally for years and would have advice, and or, seed to share.

We planted 6 seed potatoes in this 3' dia. wire cage

Mike shovelling our CACG produced soil mix

We also added a planting strip on each side of the Mulberry branch arbor. This will allow us to grow Scarlet Runner Beans which will be supported by the structure. The bright red flowers are decorative and attract Hummingbirds.

Compost Update

One of our compost bins is ready to use. Thanks to Ysidro for his work in monitoring and assisting the process. We are open to food scraps in small quantities. They need to be covered immediately as we do not want to attract rodents or flies. This especially for the sake of our neighbors. 

On the subject of our respect for immediate neighbors we did receive a complaint about our manure pile last month. We have now covered the pile with tree chips and halted all deliveries to CACG.

Rhiannon adding scraps and weeds to the compost pile

Abundant Harvest

We are getting a few Snap Peas. They are deliciously sweet eaten raw straight off the vine, so please try some. In the warmer weather more flowers mean more peas. The more we pick them the more they will produce and the pods taste better when young.  We are also harvesting: Lettuce, Kale, Collards, Swiss Chard, White Turnips, Onion tops, Parseley  Brocolli and Carrots.

Jim harvested these vegetables at CACG on Saturday

This is the omlette he made from them on Sunday

One Year Ago at CACG

We were building the top row of raised beds on March 5th last year

Andre and Jozef spreading manure

AT MPC

On February  22nd we enjoyed an inpromptu Bees 101 class at 2421 Center Avenue. A few friends had asked what equipment is needed to begin beekeeping. About 8 in all, they gathered around and a kind of show and tell ensued. It was unexpected, informal and fun ... we might have another soon.

At Chicken Cottage egg laying has suddenly increased. We are glad that the girls took a break during the winter. Then, one day last week, we were gifted with 6 eggs! They average now is 3-4 eggs per day.

On March 4th I reappropriated about 12 pounds of honey from the Spa Bees. This is a horizontal hive located about 8 feet above the ground near our spa. It is a little early in the year to be harvesting honey. This was a new colony established from a swarm last June. There was not enough honey stored by last October to guarantee a sufficient larder to get them through the winter so I didn't take any. They have always been a very strong hive. Apparently they have adequate numbers of foraging bees to put away honey through this late winter period. So much so that the hive space was full and I took some from near the entrance area where there were no brood cells.

Entrance to the Spa Bees

Honey Comb before crushing and straining

New Water Tanks

Still not quite in position and  hooked up to the downspouts so we missed the .75" of rainfall last week. Soon!

David

Presidents Day

Lots of growth is taking place in the raised beds at CACG. We have seedlings of Turnips, Mustard and Sesame pushing through the soil surface. The Lettuce we transplanted out from the greenhouse two weeks ago has taken very well. In this photo Brenna is helping her Dad, Jim, to transplant out the Broccoli that she and her Mom Karen planted in greenhouse trays   


We are needing to water once a week in this dry winter.

Other earlier transplants of kale and Swiss Chard are just about making it ... but would really love some rain!

We purchased some Yakina Savoy plants from Berkeley Hort. in January. New to us this tasty, leafy green is also known as Chinese Cabbage and appears to be very versatile The plants are not marked at this very moment but will be soon. You are invited to try one of their very tender young leaves raw, it's a very tasty surprise. I do notice that about half of the 8 or so plants have attempted to bolt already. This could be as a result of the dry weather. We will see how they fit into our permaculture garden.
We have a variety of starts in the greenhouse. Please step in and take a look. If some of the plants appear to be dry please water them  ... and hopefully there will be water in the two watering cans to do this!

We have just about given up on trying to stake the two rows of Snap Peas. The soil is so hard and it is necessary to make a hole with a metal stake for each stick. Giving the vines a chance to climb might increase the flowering potential and therefore the yield of peas. We should still get a lot of peas with the vines on the ground. We are finding more edible peas each week as the days become longer and warmer.

Colin by the Fava Beans

Right next to the Snap Peas and closer to the street we have two rows of Fava beans. Possibly because of the dry weather they are becoming increasingly infested with aphids commonly called Black Fly or Aphis fabae. Usually autumn planted Favas do not have this problem as much as the late winter planted crop. This year is a little different. The Black Fly are sucking the sap and therefore reducing the vitality and yield. We do have a strong Lady Bug presence so rather than use soap spray or vigorous washing of the leaves we are going to try the age old method of pinching out the top two inches of the flowering head. This is where the aphids particularly like to situate themselves. As long as there are some flowers we will still have beans.

We have planted Potato Tower # two with unspecified, but organic, Red Potato seed plus a few unknown whites. This could also read: Two refrigerators were cleaned out at a time when our order of certified seed potatoes from Peaceful Valley had not yet arrived ...

We also planted a bare root Flame seedless grape vine on the right side of the white entrance arch.
A Black Monukka grape was planted on the left side last week.

Tyler, Angelina and Renee at the planting of a grape vine

We are harvesting Carrots, Lettuce, Mustard greens, Swiss Chard and a lot of Kale. There are still a few Sunchokes still in the ground. They will be starting to sprout soon so this is about the last chance to harvest tasty tubers.

Teresa harvesting Curly Kale leaves. The yellow flowers are Calendulas

MPC Update

Exceptionally little rain at MPC this winter. In January we recorded 3 inches, an average would be about 4.25 inches. So far this month we have recorded only 0.5 inches.
We have 300 gals stored in one rainwater tank, and have already begun using it to water plants. Another couple of tanks are about to be connected to a downspout. More on that soon.

About 12 of us enjoyed the Movie Night on Feb. 17th. There was a lively and informative discussion after the main screening plus 3 short video extras. Thank you to all who attended. The next Movie Night will be on March 23rd, more details soon.

Our 7 hens are laying between 2 and 4 eggs per day, and we are very grateful. Thank you Girls :>

Teresa Bottling Honey

We harvested 12 lbs of honey from the Juniper Bees after the bees left the hive earlier this month.

This is a 6 gal. food grade PVC bucket with a "Honey Gate"

As the bees become more active it is advisable to check on the hives. This is to make sure that they have enough space to develop a larger brood area as the season progresses. Often switching the two lower boxes at this time gives them the feeling of more spacious accommodation and lessens the urge to swarm.
Here David is checking hives at the Silver Springs Ranch in the Alhambra Valley.



In the community

This might be of interest.

Wednesday, February 22, 7-9pm: Learn about edible wild plants of the San Francisco Bay Area. Kevin Feinstein,

co-author of the new book,

The Bay Area Forager, will speak about local foraging and share stories of writing the

book. Kevin is a Bay Area writer, teacher, and researcher of plants, food, sustainability, and natural health. He is

the founder of the Foraging Society (foragingsociety.org) and maintains a website on foraging-related topics,

(feralkevin.com). The talk will be followed by Q&A and book signing. Kevin will bring roasted bay nut samples for

attendees. The event is free, at the Ecology Center Store, 2530 San Pablo Av, Berkeley. Info: (510) 548-3402,

store@ecologycenter.org.

Saturday, March 10 , noon-4pm : Eco-SF “work

Also, a little closer to home, at Heather Farms Park in Walnut Creek this speaker series sounds interesting.

Finally a big Thank You to so many of you for playing a part in building this more resilient, sustainable Permaculture Community.

David

Early February

A small group of CACG participants went on a field trip to the California Rare Fruit Growers (CRFG) Scion Exchange in Oakland on January 21st. We took Sun Choke tubers from CACG and came away with various fruit tree scions.

Emily and Jaunita visiting the garden

CACG receives a See Saw

Lilly supervising her adults at play

Many thanks to Rebecca for donatiing a see saw to the garden. It is such a well constructed and robust item and is receiving lots of attention. It is clearly doing its part in building community.

Thank you Rebecca for your generosity.


Thanks also to Ron for donationg the 1/2 wine barrel that is now home to the Spearmint plant closest to Center Ave. This rambunctious mint did really well in its first year. The bees loved it! Like all mints it wants to spread and the barrel will keep it contained.

We are harvesting:
Lettuce, Kale, White Turnips and Carrots. Many of the harvestable carrots are the Solar Yellow variety which were grown from our own seed saved last summer and planted in September.
The flow of Snap Peas has stopped because the sharp frosts of mid January halted the flowering. I do notice a few flowers this week so we will be enjoying the deliciously sweet pods again soon. We have still not staked the peas because the ground has been so hard. Tuesdays Rain is much welcomed by the garden.

Ron and Renee transplanting out Lettuce from the greenhouse

Last week we transplanted Romane Lettuce from the greenhouse. The variety is Rouge d' Hiver.
We also sowed seeds for White Turnip, Mustard Greens and Scarlet Nantes Carrot in the raised beds plus various other seeds in the greenhouse.

Ron, Jennifer and Mike with the completed tower

Building Potato Tower #1

We have planted our first Potato Tower with Yukon Gold seed Potatoes. The wire mesh frame is recycled from a pallet of rock. The straw lining helps to keep the soil contained.

At MPC this week

David cleaned and adjusted the mulch basins on the laundry to landscape greywater system. If there are no problems evident then this is an annual check up.

Our seven hens are providing us with 1-3 eggs per day.

The Chimney Bees, and now the Juniper Bees, have left home.Gone! No dead bees remaining. Plenty of honey and pollen stored but no sign of brood. Part of the honey was harvested and the rest given to another top bar hive that could use a boost in food supply.  Meanwhile the hives known as The Kitchen Bees, The Spa Bees and Queen Jaci are all doing very well. The Eucalyptus, Flowering Pear and Almond trees are flowering now. I do notice that many bees are taking a drink in the garden, I've actually set water out for them. Bees need water in February more than ever to dilute the stored honey supplies. The growing population relies on last years reserves and the cold weather make the honey thick.
The fruit trees have been pruned. Grafts added to the established apple trees this year were Elstar and Cox's Orange Pippin. We also found space for one more bare root apple tree, a Ashmead's Kernel, which is an old English russet variety. We also planted stem cuttings of Black Monukka and Pierce table grapes.

Happy Valentine's Day to you all.

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