We had the great pleasure this weekend of meeting the folks behind the paradoxically named blog Ramshackle Solid. Both of our “compounds” have a wonky old house sitting on an awkward hillside, so we had a lot to talk about and we look forward to visiting the Ramshackle casita one of these days. In the meantime, due to the wonders of the internets, we can all take a tour via the blog. Make sure to check out their whimsical rebar bean poles, pictured above, complete with instructions on how to make one.
Author: Mr. Homegrown
Bar Codes on Veggies
Via the trade journal Wireless Watch Japan comes a story on Japanese cell phone users with built in QR bar code readers using their phones to check food safety,
“Forget any assumptions about Hicksville. Japanese farmers have little fear of technology. Rural Ibaraki Prefecture has turbo charged their QR coding for agricultural products tagging a wide variety of vegetables grown in that prefecture. Ibaraki Prefectural authorities and the JA Ibaraki Prefecture Central Union of Agricultural Cooperative cooperating with other farming and agricultural associations are adding QR code labels right at the point of origin. In the supermarket, consumers use camera equipped cell phones to scan the QR code on the label. The code links to a mobile website detailing origin, soil composition, organic fertilizer content percentage (as opposed to chemical), use of pesticides and herbicides and even the name of the farm it was grown on. Consumers can also access the same information over the Ibaraki Agricultural Produce Net website by inputting a numbered code on each label.”
Though we’re not Luddites, we have mixed feelings about this idea. On the one hand, it would be a great way to figure out where our food comes from, who grows it and how it was produced. The Japanese system even let’s you see pictures of the farmers who grew your produce. On the other hand, its application in the United States would also be a way for large agribusiness concerns and their friends in government to further marginalize small scale farmers unable to afford the technology, or unwilling to subject themselves to Byzantine regulatory schemes biased towards the big guys (see Joel Salatin’s book Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal for more on how food safety regulations, like these, are often just a ruse to put small organic farmers out of business by making them adhere to rules to expensive to follow). This bar code scheme also raises privacy concerns. Will cell phone companies and supermarkets conspire together to gather marketing information on individuals? If I buy a Twinkie will my health insurance rates go up?
Even if you don’t speak Japanese you can kind of figure out how the system works by visiting the Ibaraki Agricultural Produce Net.
In August, Way Too Much Squash
On the left a zucchini. Do I need to say anything about zucchini? What to do with it, perhaps, since prodigiousness is the zucchini’s modus operandi, but that bottomless subject would be best left to the proprietor of a an all zucchini blog. Rather, let’s take a brief look at the specimen on the right.
Meet the awkwardly named Early Prolific Straightneck Summer Squash. It’s an open pollinated heirloom variety named as an “All-America Selection” in 1938 (AAS is kind of like a dog show for seeds run by the National Garden Bureau). We grew our EPS from Botanical Interests seeds we got at our local nusery.
Our EPS squash has lived up to its name, having grown rapidly, producing tasty summer squash with a zucchini-like flavor and consistency. Unfortunately, all squash that we have grown here has been subject to powdery mildew, a white fungus that spreads rapidly across the leaves of the plant. Our coastal climate, with hot days and cool, moist nights is not the optimal growing climate for squash, which prefer dryer conditions. We’re not big on spraying stuff (even if it’s harmless–we’re also cheap and lazy), so next summer season we’ll search out varieties resistant to mildew. For those of you who are also cursed by mildew, here’s a list from the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension (PDF) of mildew resistant squash and pumpkin varieties.
So now, dear readers, please tell us what the hell are you doing with all that squash you grew this summer . . .
Speakeasy – this Sunday
Just a reminder that Homegrown Evolution will be speaking at the Smart Gals Speakeasy this Sunday August, 17th at 7 p.m. in Los Feliz. We’ll do some hands-on apartment gardening, play some games and listen to the music of our friends Triple Chicken Foot, who will bring their brand of foot stomping roots music to what will be a fun evening.
Location and details:
Mt. Hollywood Underground
4607 Prospect Avenue, Los Feliz
Admission: $15.00
Information and passwords: 323.302.2257 or www.smartgals.org
(not just for chicks)
Remember the passwords: “Polycultural Evolution…”
…Spread the Word
Salsa Dancing in a World Without Oil
For those of you in the Los Angeles area here’s some events to mark on the calendar:
SALSA SALSA
What: Salsa Salsa, a Celebration of Love Apples
Type: Public Art Event in which we make salsa while dancing to salsa music together.
When: Sunday, August 17th, 3 to 7 p.m.
Where: Farmlab, 1745 N. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Free to the public
SALSA SALSA is a harvest festival inviting the citizens of Los Angeles to come make and taste tomato salsas while listening and dancing to salsa music. SALSA SALSA is a celebration of public space and the culmination of the LOVE APPLES project in which 72 tomato plants were installed on 12 traffic islands in LA and carefully tracked to see which thrive and which perish, à la Survivor. LOVE APPLES is a collaboration between the art collective Fallen Fruit (www.fallenfruit.org) and Islands of LA (www.islandsofla.org). The artists of Fallen Fruit investigate urban space, ideas of neighborhood and new forms of located citizenship and community all through the lens of fruit. Islands of LA is an art project that is turning traffic islands into territories of art to create community, foster discussion and explore the use and availability of public space.
LOVE APPLES is an experiment in public space in the city of Los Angeles, imagining new ways in which such spaces could be utilized to make our communities more livable and engaged. It promotes community awareness, sharing, food safety, public resources, and organic gardening.
LOVE APPLES is also a celebration of public art and of activated citizen artists. The festival doubles as a thank you to the range of artists, arts and community organizers whose assistance in response to the Department of Public Works’ concerns helped rescue the project. These include: Dorit Cypis (Foreign Exchanges), Jenna Didier of Materials & Applications, Jon Lapointe & Otoño Luján of Side Street Projects, Jay Belloli from The Armory Center for the Arts, and Zazu Faure & the others in the Glassell Park community gardeners. In particular we’d like to thank Al Nodal and the Department of Cultural Affairs, including Joe Smoke, Pat Gomez, Nicole Gordillo, and Felicia Filer. Cultural Affairs came to the meeting with us and we think it is awesome to see them so visibly supporting new public art in LA.
We are thrilled to hold this event at Farmlab, a project by the artist Lauren Bon which serves as a catalyst for community involvement and change through the development of art actions, projects, and otherwise. Farmlab is dedicated to the preservation and perpetuity of all living things.
PLEASE JOIN US from 3 to 7 p.m. on Sunday August 17th at Farmlab (1745 N. Spring Street) to make salsa and dance together. Meet new people and talk about the future shape and texture of life in this city, including the artists and organizers listed above. Bring your homegrown or street-picked tomatoes and collaborate with your neighbors on new and remarkable salsas. Bring a friend – this event is free to the public.
Life After Oil
The Environmental Change-Makers of Westchester (Los Angeles) present a series beginning September 14th called, “Life After Oil:Designing the Transition”. From their announcement:
Join us as we explore the Transition Towns concept that is catching on like wildfire in the UK. What Can We Do about peak oil and global warming? The answers are in our neighborhoods and communities.
Through the Transition concept, we take a positive, forward-thinking view of what the future will hold for our area in the time beyond oil.
- Sunday, Sept. 14, 6pm – Movie “The End of Suburbia” followed by community discussion
- Saturday, Sept. 20, 9am-5pm – “Designing the Transition” – a full day conference exploring the Transition concept
- Thursday, Sept 25, 7-9pm – Peak Oil Community Discussion – the first followup event to the Transition conference
- Thursday, October 23, 7-9pm – “Power Down”
Location, details and registration information here.