the world of gaea.

2011-11-09T22:48:00.002-06:00

I've mostly been managing the websites for the food co-op and the rooftop garden this summer, and have neglected this blog.

Check out what I've been doing over there!

www.ecorooftop.org

www.ediblealchemyfoods.com

Thanks for following!

June

2011-06-14T22:40:00.001-05:00

Time for flowers: flax, chives & strawberries! greens too. !

2011-05-27T00:32:00.003-05:00

kimchi!

2011-04-11T22:34:00.002-05:00

I taught a kimchi workshop this past weekend- rather a 'creative kimchi fermentation experiment workshop'. Piles of beautiful soaking vegetables all over the counter: cherry belle radishes, cauliflower, napa cabbage, bok choy, white scallions, dill, orange carrots, purple top turnips, cucumbers, and spicy peppers.

All were chopped, shredded, grated, or put in whole to the ferment. Delicious!

equinox

2011-03-22T15:38:00.004-05:00

Spring is finally here! The garden is starting to poke it's head out of the dirt again, thankfully. I've missed my dirty fingernails and toes. thankfully- they're back :)

As soon as the beautiful weather last week hit, we were outside turning the compost and inspecting the garden. It looks AWESOME! So many of the little guys are coming back: chamomile, valerian, yarrow, garlic, onions, strawberries, chives, parsely, cabbages, kale, lilies, and sage. 4 beds got a good inch of compost added onto the top, and the compost got a good aerating. (Smelly from the winter, though. but, much better now :) )

I've been hard at work cleaning out the garden workroom adjacent to the garden. It's tidied, swept, vaccuumed, and slightly organized. (There's always more to be done!) My roommate Nick & I set up a great little growing nook in the garden workroom- a huge energy efficient grow lamp over a table with all my little starts on it. I've planted so much already! But now must take a small hiatus as I've run out of potting soil and cell packs. ha!

Here's a short list of what I'm REALLY excited about this season:

White Tomilo tomatoes

Emerald Evergreen tomatoes

Sungold tomatoes

Siam Queen thai basil

Mini windowbox basil

Smokey Bronze fennel

Asian long eggplants

White Ceremonial Sage

Wormwood

Feverfew

Cardinal Climbing Vine

Purple Hyacinth Vine

Purple Kohlrabi

Red Rock Cabbage

White, Purple, & Orange Cauliflower

AND MORE!

Hard Red Winter Wheat

2010-10-30T17:07:00.003-05:00

We planted hard red winter wheat as a cover crop in 3 of our beds (on the right in the picture above) this year. Cover crops are an important part of organic agriculture: they add nutrients back into the soil, prevent nutrients from leaching out of the soil, and, keep the soil in place. In the spring, we will turn them under, where they will decompose back into dirt.

wheat grass, 3 weeks old

wheat berries, germinating in the soil

The wheat was provided by Sarah Kavage's project Industrial Harvest. In it, she distributed 1000 bushels of hard red winter wheat to the Chicago community, for free. She says, In short: "Industrial Harvest is an artistic gesture of Herculean proportions about nourishment, food systems, and the City of Chicago. " Read a bit about her project, it's quite inspirational and informative. Question the role of wheat in our society, think about it's connections to the past, the present, your life, and the future. Ponder how this staple crop that was once grown by individuals is completely detached from any individual in the nation's food system. It's quite a fascinating staple crop to be sure. The biggest part of the Industrial Harvest is the connection of the impersonal wheat purchase directly to the community of the people of Chicago. The wheat that she gave away is to be used to nourish others, forming connections in our communities by breaking bread together, literally.

Eco was donated 4 bags of flour from the 20 tons that Sarah purchased, and 1 50lb bag of wheat berries. Most of it went right back out into the community- some of you probably have some on your shelf or have already baked it into delicious things to share. (Remember to forward your photos of how you nourished others with the flour to sarah@gogoweb.com). The rest :about 2 lbs of wheat berries, and 15 lbs of flour were kept at Eco. The berries were planted, and the flour was used in baking endeavors by community members for potlucks, breads, and more.

There are so many things to do with wheat berries:

As a staple crop, it's extremely high in protein, carbohydrates, and nutrients. Read about wheat on Wikipedia, some recipes and info on how to cook whole berries, a recipe for wheat berry pudding, instructions on how to make malt from wheat berries and then into beer, and info on how to grind your own fresh flours. Or, you can use it as a cover crop for your garden/farm- it's one of the best and most common green manures to use in Illinois.

Our wheat was sown by a school group of 7th graders from Chicago's Waldorf school learning about agriculture this block.

Pretty amazing. Food connects us.

Italian Hardneck Garlic

2010-10-11T16:21:00.004-05:00

We're planting our garlic on the rooftop today.

The garlic we're planting is from one of the farms that the co-op buys from- Nichol's Farm and Orchard in Marengo, IL. The garlic is a hardneck variety that was given to the owner of the farm 20 years ago by "some italian guy". They don't know the name of the variety, but the quality of the garlic is amazing. The cloves are fat and succulent, very spicy and juicy. Quite like what garlic should be.

Garlic is planted in the fall. The head of garlic is broken up into cloves, each will become a new garlic plant. The larger the clove, the larger next year's head. The cloves are planted 2-3 inches below the soil, where the chill, moist dirt initiates chemical reactions in the clove to begin growing again. The garlic pushes out of the ground to begin growing again. When it gets too cold, the garlic dies back and goes dormant for the frozen winter. We mulch over top of the garlic to keep it a bit more protected.

The latin name for hardneck garlic, Allium sativum var. ophioscorodon, tells you a lot about how the plant grows. Garlic is in the allium family, and is related to all onions, shallots, chives, and scallions. This family produces long, flat, lance-shaped leaves with parallel veins, usually in the spring and early summer. The results from the summer's photosynthesis are stored underground in a sulfur-rich bulb for next year's growth.

The garlic sprouts again in the early spring, sending out a false flower 'scape' in late May and early June. Growers trim off the scape to encourage larger bulb production. The scape is also known as 'green garlic', and is a delicacy of early summer that whets our appetite for the garlic to come later in the season.

If the scape isn't trimmed off, the fleshy white part will develop into a fluffy round white or purple flower. The flowers, after pollination, will develop into heavy bulbils (think very small cloves of garlic) that droop to the ground. Once in contact with the dirt, the bulbils send out roots and begin to grow next year's round of garlic.

The leaves die back mid-July, siphoning the rest of the plants nutrients down into the bulb for next year. Here the mature garlic heads are pulled from the ground for eating, as they are at their largest. They are tied or braided together for a few weeks of curing- hung in an airy and dry place to develop thick dry skins for longer storage.

Part of the harvested heads are planted again for next year, and part stored or processed for winter and spring eating.

The medicinal properties of fresh garlic are intense-anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, and anti-fungal. It's compound allicin is reputed to have properties of a weak penicillin, yet the body does not build up a tolerance to it, so using it copiously and often is perfectly fine. It's a great body and blood tonic, keeps away mosquitoes and vampires, and meshes with other food flavors perfectly.

Yum. go plant some garlic!

2010-10-11T15:08:00.000-05:00

Calendula

2010-09-17T19:13:00.004-05:00

Calendula is in the daisy Asteraceae family, as you can see by the arrangements of petals and overall shape of the flower. (Also in this family are echinacea, daisies, black eyed susans, chocolate flowers, and more).

Calendula officinalis is special, though. While the entire flower is edible- used in salads and on plates to add beauty and color to food- it has incredible healing properties.

The bright flower petals, which can range from yellow to orange to red, have the ability to soothe and heal irritated skin, such as with eczema, acne, and rashes. Taken as a tea, calendula can ease cramps and help move intestinal troubles along.

All this, and they're beautiful, with incredibly fascinatingly shaped seeds!

September greens

2010-09-16T12:07:00.003-05:00

view of our greens, through the hoops

It's the season for greens again. The cool weather suits tender greens such as lettuce, kale, arugula, spinach, chard, and cabbages much better than the sweltering heat of the high summer. Our fall planting is flourishing! We have 2 beds- baby kale, lettuces, chard, and a few onions in the first, and various kales and cabbages in the next.

luscious flame marigold

Marigolds are beneficial plants to have in the garden. Besides being beautiful and attracting pollinators (such as bees, who help to increase fruit yields by disseminating pollen from plant to plant), they help to deter pests from eating your vegetables. Something in their chemical make-up makes the munchers away.

Honey: Bron's Bees at Heritage Prairie Farm

2010-09-09T13:58:00.004-05:00

Dietrich and I, on our farm bound road-trip, visiting Bron of Bron's Bees at Heritage Prairie Farm & Market. Located in Elburn, IL, their family farm has grown to employ many people, and include honey, vegetables, micro-greens, grains, events, and more!

Bron took some good time to show us around the farm, give us some history, and really talk to us about what Edible Alchemy and the Eco Rooftop were all about. Here are some pictures from our adventures.

LADY BEES!

the entrance to the hive, which you never approach from the front.

empty supers containing beeswax and little tiny bits of honey. Set out like this, the bees gather any spare bits of honey. Quite thrifty, they are. And also really good at cleaning.

The Chef Supported Apiary Program hives, where our honey will be coming from. The empty blocks held hives that are visiting a field of sunflowers, to pollinate them. Many have restaurant names on them, showing the chefs came out to visit them as well!

Bron showing Dietrich and I a frame filled to the brim with honey. Freshest honey we've ever tasted! It practically burst out of the comb.

The farm was also wonderful, it's much larger than I initially thought it would be. 2 huge greenhouses, a hot house for micro greens, and rows upon rows of all types of vegetables. Even calaloo!

The fields and greenhouses at Heritage Prairie Farm. You can see Lacinato (or dino) kale and cabbages here at the front.

The cherry tomato greenhouse

Soil

2010-09-03T09:58:00.003-05:00

view of the garden from the new attic windows

golden vidalia onions from the garden, delicious and juicy!

a day's harvest from our garden. So colorful!

We're finding the rooftop to produce a bunch of dwarfed vegetables and plants. Because of the limited depth of soil that we have up on the roof, the plant's roots don't get as much depth. The depth of the root structure reflects the height of the plant above ground. Less dirt=less height. I also found that I planted too many plants too close together- which will decrease each individual plant's size overall. Less plants have more room for roots, especially with a limited depth of soil.

But, the produce is still delicious.

This fall, we'll be amending the beds with our compost that we've been making for almost a year now. This will increase the nutrient content of the soil, as well as adding a good deal more for the plants to expand their roots. We'll be scouring home depots and such for ripped bags of peat moss and potting soil to add to the beds as well, as they are light-weight soil additives that hold moisture and increase volume without adding a bunch of extra weight.

So quickly, things are happening

2010-08-16T02:38:00.008-05:00

the first heirloom tomatoes of the season.

Stepping quickly into my old life of 2 years ago this evening has made me all the more grateful for where I am and who I am today. Thank you, to all of you, who have brought, pushed, and guided me here.

here's my life, now.

the medicinal herb spiral bed, growing heartily

German Chamomile

Cayenne Peppers
the first red ones of the season. We'll dry these for use in the winter, and use fresh make spicy pickles, hot sauces, and relishes to can.

The rooftop garden is producing like mad. It's hard to imagine what the garden looked like 3 months, 6 months, or a year ago, (when there was no garden). What a change, what growth. !

Seeing all the food reminds me of how easy it is to grow your own food. It takes dedication, true, especially at the proper times (i.e. seeding early spring, weeding, and watering in dry spells)- but mostly plants take care of themselves. All we humans have to do is nurture the little seedlings until they're large enough to take care of themselves. Then voila! You have tomatoes, carrots, peppers, grains, onions, lettuces, greens, flowers, squash, beets, and more. All for the price of the seed packet (if that) and some of our precious time. In exchange for good quality food, not so bad.

Looking at the prices of food at the grocery stores and farmers markets, the effort put into a garden really isn't exorbitant. Trucking food cross country in refrigerated trucks thousands of miles to huge stores hoping they make it and are purchased in time is a rather large cost to put food in your belly. Especially when it pops up in your own backyard (or rooftop).

Dietrich, with our first two cabbages

In another vein: foraging. We have a friend and a friend who pointed us in the direction of a very large, unpruned pear tree. Owned by Holly and Ben, it's practically dripping with lucious pears.

Alyssa and I with oodles of pears- likely up to 80lbs. whoa, there will be some intense canning in the next couple of weeks when they finish ripening off the tree.

Some of them are just starting to blush, a sign of beginning ripeness. They'll blush and become soft when they are ready. Right now, they're rather hard and rocklike. Beautiful, nonetheless!

Check back for some pear recipes- soon to come!

garden: August

2010-08-07T21:06:00.002-05:00

eggplant blossoms

mammoth red rock cabbage

Rooftop green dent corn

Black Beauty peppers

The rooftop- post Feastival trampled.

Edible Alchemy Summer Feastival 2010

2010-08-06T08:50:00.008-05:00

The feastival last weekend was amazing. Completely amazing.

I estimate that we had over 300 people out through the night to come and support Eco and Edible Alchemy (the co-op I help to organize)! It was quite magical to experience the rollercoaster that is preparing for an event. So much hard work; CLEANING, re-arranging, planning, contacting volunteers + performers, ordering food, prepping food, coordinating things, CLEANING, and thinking through every possible scenario to anticipate all the details. (I was exhausted). Then, the event! Photo credit: Eric Scott Baker

the event itself was magic. A continuous wave of dear friends, new faces, acquaintances, and total strangers all wanting to share their energies and excitement during the night. !! Oh, and the food! and the music :) and the fire!

Our menu:

Edible Alchemy Feastival

Summer 2010

Bruschetta with goat cheese and raspberry balsamic reduction

Polenta squares with tomato-mushroom tapenade

Quiche with rainbow chard

Collard wraps filled with cucumbers, carrots, avocados, and marinated mushrooms, dressed with peanut sauce

Indian spiced sprouted lentils in lettuce cups

_____

Raw coconut and chocolate coconut macaroons

Vegan chai latte cake

Gluten-free raspberry cake

All produce is locally and sustainably grown, with the exception of avocados and ginger.

it was scrumptious! We're very excited to continue to do catering projects for events- our next feastival will most likely be a fancy schmancy harvest dinner party at eco, in October or early November. yum! The Edible team is currently canning like fiends to capture the delicious ripeness of the harvest season. We've been making pickles of all sorts, canning sauce, dehydrating apricots and peaches, simmering down berries, and macerating the most delicious herbs into pestos. It's good to put up food this year- I always want to and never make the time to.

On a fire-y note: spinning fire in the garden was a big part of the feastival for me. I love spinning fire in the garden... it's something about connecting two things that I love so much right now- the fire and the plants. (Though they don't mesh very when when put in tight quarters, sadly.) So many good friends from all over came out to play :)

Here, Kanyon from detroit throws down on the roof.
Photo credit: Eric Scott Baker

So, even though the Feastival was an insane amount of work- it was totally worth it. And I'd probably do it again. Probably sooner rather than later. (Look for a fundraising fancy schmancy benefit dinner, coming round harvest time. )

am I crazy? I hope so.

Edible Alchemy Feastival

2010-07-22T02:02:00.001-05:00

Fire!

2010-07-08T21:38:00.004-05:00

photo credit: Jen Dollface

Quite incompatible with plants: FIRE! I've been doing a lot more fire spinning lately, the summer lends itself to fire with the warm weather pleasant nights. We've been performing with Solaire a lot more, playing with choreography and group interaction. And costumes. oh, the costumes are so much fun.

photo credit: Maciej Strzelczyk

garden notes: seed saving and basil

2010-07-08T21:19:00.003-05:00

we're saving kale seeds, which you can see in the weird pods in the front bed. There are so very many! The garlic is small (we need to plant it in deeper beds next time) and has been pulled out since this picture to dry to for 2 days.

Beyond, the lettuce is bitter and bolting- we're saving those seeds too. Dietrich and I are learning how to seed save this year. So, while we could quickly rip out the lettuce and re-plant, we're instead letting them "bolt" (flower and go to seed) so that we can replant them again, without having to buy more seeds. Hopefully the pollination went well.

And beyond, the tomatoes are huge for how late they were put in, with little babies already starting on the cherries! The peppers are starting, and the corn is looking great.

The basil is rockin' it. Here, the Tulsi Holy Basil, an Indian variety, is starting to flower. We'll be clipping off the flowers tomorrow to ensure big leaves to harvest and make into pesto. When the plant flowers, the leaves become smaller and less pungent because the plant is putting all it's energy into making flowers to become seeds. This is how it reproduces for next year's generation... we're trying to trick it to wait a while.

Here's a view of the center beds. The medicinal herb bed is amazing, it's filling out really well. And they all smell so good! Like plants should ;)

Baby Beans

2010-07-08T21:06:00.003-05:00

These royal burgundies grow everytime I look at them. Soon, nom!

growth

2010-06-30T18:05:00.006-05:00

The garden is growing! Amazing to see how everything perseveres on despite all the rain and spring storms.

Above: earth dent corn.

above right: Thai Basil

right: Flat leaf Parsley

The cats still love it out there. I mean, duh, really.

Kale flowers, and Sweet Genovese Basil. Nom.

and, Eleven kitty exploring!

Monsoon season this year was indeed a monsoon season. It stormed and rained most of June- flooding out a lot of our farmers and their crops for Edible Alchemy. Eep. But, the fruit looks absolutely decadent. The vegetables are a little sad, but not that sad :) They're still delicious. Things are getting a bit dry-er now, which is more than welcome. Although it'll require more watering on the roof now.

Eco gets a new roof, a re-organized garage, a re-finished attic live space, new roommates, and re-intentioned basement all this coming July. Watch out for a flurry of work... Wa-hoo! Eco reboot 20.10

Early Summer Workdays

2010-06-09T23:02:00.011-05:00

This past weekend, we had so many amazing people out to the rooftop to get dirty! Everyone was glad to get their fingers (and toes) in the mud. And, holey moley was it muddy. Rain poured down so hard you couldn't see at times. But, by the end of breakfast, the sky cleared, and we got straight to work.

!

Dietrich's sister and kids came to help (and get muddy!) After much digging and mixing dirt with perlite and worm castings on Saturday, we planted all the tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and basil. All the beds were lined with landscape fabric by Nick and Elena, and most of one side was filled with dirt. Mike turned the compost over, To celebrate a long, hard day of work, we had a lovely huge dinner- compliments of Roman Berock'n, with wine by Mr. Prince and a delicious salad made from goods of the roof.

Sunday brought spontaneous rain showers- forcing us to take a break every once in a while :) Alex constructed a lovely light new lid for the compost bin!

Dietrich and I planted all the medicinal herbs starts into the golden spiral bed. It looks great- We can't wait until the plants make the bed a living spiral.

We thinned the carrots- and ate most of them (with lots of help from Izzy.)

We finished filling the beds with great amounts of digging. (Thanks for all the elbow grease, everyone.) We planted corn- in preparation for a "Three Sisters" bed. The Native Americans would plant their corn, then plant climbing beans to climb up the corn stalks, and then pumpkins as a ground cover.

Amna and I seeded sunflowers, Joel and his wife weeded almost all the beds, and Alex and Dietrich finished off the last half-sized beds. The muddy muddy sod was evened out a bit, and reconstructed to form some semblance of a lawn.

The garden is completely transformed. It's beautiful. The fruits of our labor are growing now, and will sustain us for months, and years, to come.

garden awakenings

2010-06-01T19:45:00.010-05:00

Most mornings, I get to go out onto the roof and check things out. A grounding way to start my day- coffee and water bucket in hand.

I'm becoming obsessed with watching the growth of all the plants on the roof. I can't wait to see
someing sprout! The nasturtiums, burgundy and green garden beans, and pickling cucumbers. Checking them everyday (most times twice to thrice) is a beautiful way to learn plant anatomy and the different processes of plants growing: from sprout to leaf to flower to seed.

We were gifted all the seeds from our garden from friends who saved them or donations of Gethsemane Gardens. Most of them are heirlooms or heritage breeds- meaning they are older "tried and true" seeds. Their genes have not been puzzled about but by bees or a curious grower.
Heirloom breeds are not often found in supermarkets because they don't yield crazy amounts of fruit. Instead, their fruits may be strangely shaped or colored, smaller, and fewer. But, do they sure taste succulent. Subtle and powerful flavors and textures.... I can't wait.....

sage from our friend Matteo in bloom, along with spinach going to seed in the heat in the most conical way, and the first sunflower of the garden (with squash monkey hangin' out in the background.)

oh, gardens!

PS We have a garden workday coming up Saturday, June 5 and Sunday, June 6 from 11-5. Please contact me to join us!

Behold: a golden spiral

2010-05-22T21:51:00.007-05:00

Dietrich and my friend Dan put together this lovely bed based on the golden ratio one afternoon.

Stemming from and idea to create a garden bed for my medicinal herb garden based on the ratio of the golden mean/fibonacci sequence( 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13) which manifests in a 'golden spiral'.

The golden spiral is apparent in plants that grow in spiral fashions. It appears in the patterning and placement of seeds, leaves, branches, roots, and petals. Roses, large trees, cacti, sunflowers, pine cones, onions, snail shells and more... Yet another fascinating thing to pay attention to. :)

Once filled with soil, the bed will be home to my medicinal herbs. I have ideas of learning to organize the plants into designs and shapes (I suppose much like landscape design). Using materials like chicken wire, bamboo, and string to create interesting shapes and forms out of living plants. Living sculptures.

Solaire

2010-05-11T11:28:00.004-05:00

5 of my friends and I have started a performance troupe named Solaire. Working with fire and flow, UV and glow, we're performing around the Chicago area to get our feet into the performance scene. We've been creating performances with blacklight reactive costumes and weighted flags & veils. The effect is quite beautiful.

So far we've performed at the Burlesque Bake Sale, Resonate 5.0, Synergism, and Loyola's Earth Day Event. With more to come!

Full Moon Fire Jam

2010-05-10T14:17:00.002-05:00

Here's a video of the full moon fire jam that The Chicago Fire Tribe hosts monthly. Check it out!

http://vimeo.com/11516034

Garden Workdays: Spring edition

2010-04-13T18:26:00.007-05:00

Thank you! Thank you......

to everyone who threw down and made the most recent garden workdays amazing! There was so much great energy and excitement. Around 15 people showed up this past Sunday to work, get dirty, have fun, be outside, eat food, and meet new people.

Rich, the construction master!

D and Jonathan reinforcing walls

Thinning radishes and weeding

Sunning in the sun, after digging a lot of dirt, and hauling a lot of rocks.

Lots of digging, hauling rocks, weeding, cutting wood, constructing beds, seeding, labeling, cooking, and eating. Basically, a blast.

The ladies working on seedling tomatoes, peppers, basil, herbs, fennel, and eggplants.

Detail of the last of the eastern beds.

The western beds, all built!

The rooftop, as of Sunday evening, center beds started by Madelon and her 2 young chaps.

So, big love and thanks to:

Dietrich
Tom Clever
Jonathan the great
Allison
Rich
Rachel
Month of Mae
Debra
Kathy
Glenn
Alyssa
Casey
Madelon
Josh
Dante
Joe
Dan

and... for our materials:
The Rebuilding Exchange
Gethsemane Gardens
Brew & Grow
Windy City Harvest
Grand Street Gardens

and and.... all those who worked on the rooftop previously, laying a great foundation for what we are doing now.

:) The garden is flourishing already, with community love and dedication. Look forward to more workdays, some workshops in the future, and general hanging out in a lovely garden!

Spring sprung sproing!

2010-04-13T09:07:00.004-05:00

The days are getting longer, and the plants are responding with rapid growth! Zoom!

The dew covered carrot seedlings. Radishes are coming along, some even starting to bulge slightly.

A forest of Red Russian Kale.

the season is upon us.

2010-04-04T17:11:00.006-05:00

The plants are growing. Tiny leaves on the trees! Spring storms and winds that make your bike scoot sideways. We have workdays in the garden this week, in between wildly busy and delicious Edible Alchemy pick-ups.

I've been spinning fire again, as the cold does not make my hands numb when I hold my fans!
We're in the toddler stages of creating a performance troupe, something that I've been itching to do for years, but have never found the right time, place, or people. But now!

fire photos: credit to Lera Gershevich, 2010

Over wintered greens

2010-03-15T19:26:00.002-05:00

Dietrich and I went out to check on the plants in their hoop houses today, half expecting everything to be dead. And, there's life! According to our friends:

"Yay! Life reigns!"
"babies babies everywhere"
"SPRING!"

The purple kale, shown above, was the hardiest over-winterer. It still is chugging along, looking awesomely tasty. The frosts brought out the deep purple even more in the leaves.

Spinach also looked great, showing more growth even. Spinach is super hardy, growing (slowly) in very cold conditions. You can see our yellow onions sprouting behind them.

Here, our hard-neck garlic is sending up shoots. They're all super happy and ready to get photosynthesizing after the dormancy of bulb life.

We also planted our lettuce bed, some carrots (yellowstone and 2 nantes varieties), radishes (pink and purple!), and a row of arugula. Let the spring spring soon.

Garden workdays to be announced later! I can't wait to get dirty.

2010-02-14T16:43:00.000-06:00

office nasturtiums. leggy and round!

Fire Spinning

2010-02-04T01:17:00.001-06:00

Crop Plans

2010-01-13T19:08:00.002-06:00

Going through our seed collections. Finally, a large garden to plant them all in! We will have an abundance of seeds of tomatoes, cucumbers, fennel, corn, eggplant, basil, parsley, watercress, dill, oregano, catnip, thyme, echinacea, chiles, sweet peppers, sage, carrots, beans, peas, broccoli, kale, and amaranth. As long as the number of seeds will reflect how well they will grow on the roof :)

Still looking for a choice few others, like red and golden beets, various lettuces, and spinach. Chives, cilantro, ceremonial tobacco, yarrow, and mugwort are less of a priority, but would be great! So, Ill keep planning in the meantime- thinking of sweet green growing things and the scent of wet earth.

ahhh.

Winter = warm hole-ing up with cats.

2010-01-07T23:19:00.002-06:00

It's cold. Feet of snow cover the ground. It is 11 degrees today. All I want to do is hole up with my cats and clean and sew and cook hearty soups and stews. (Which is what I do on my days off, consequently.)

Edible Alchemy Formulae Ed # 14

2009-12-17T00:23:00.003-06:00

Click on either of these images to see a larger, readable version. I put out an edition with every co-op box, so look for updates!

Planted

2009-11-24T13:05:00.003-06:00

The starts are taking wonderfully. ! It's been a really warm November for them to establish well. Soon, we'll be eating as many greens as we can stuff inside our bellies :)

The hoop houses look great, and continue to hold in the heat and moisture much more than we thought (I always have this weird feeling that they won't work... but they do!). My first foray with winter growing is proving to be complicated in construction- but easy. Plants persevere wonderfully in the strangest of conditions, slowly growing continuously and finding a way to make it work.

We move into Eco officially on Dec 1; The rooftop garden will essentially be our back yard. It's the 6th time I've moved since May of 2008. I hope that it's the last move for a while.

It gets dark so early

2009-11-16T18:43:00.004-06:00

The early darkness is really wearing on me, already. Thank you daylight savings.

It's hard, as I want to go and work in the garden in the afternoons, but they're so limited as it's dark. The lights from the El station do brighten things up a bit, but it's not enough to be able to
work.

We have all the plants in, and just the mache to seed now. Hoophouses finally closed yesterday, as the cold spell finally hit. The plants established themselves in the ground pretty well already, thanks to those lovely couple of days. Soon, we'll be harvesting some delicious greens!

Kale

2009-11-11T20:41:00.001-06:00

Kale is a member of the brassica, or cabbage family; relatives include broccoli, cauliflower, collards, and brussels sprouts. It comes in beautiful colors ranging from gray-green, to deep green, to a burgundy purple, and is native to North America and prefers colder climates. (Those colorful curly cabbage like things used for decoration are also kale. edible, too.)

A super-good-for-you-green, it has beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, zeazanthin (a compound necessary to eye health, and found in saffron and paprika), sulforaphane and Calcium.

With each frost, it gets sweeter.

Kale Chips:

(from dietrich)

1. De-vein many, many leaves of kale. (Cut out the largest veins, as they don't crisp up right). Rip or chop these into bite sized pieces.

2. Rub these leaves with olive oil. Salt and Pepper to taste.

3. Lay on a baking sheet and bake at 350 F for 10 minutes, or until crispy and edges are just golden brown (but not burnt).

4. Eat while hot, like potato chips.

kale starts given by Windy City Harvest to plant at ECO

More work on the garden. ECO.

2009-11-10T14:45:00.000-06:00

The rooftop, looking southwards, on a beautiful and sunny beginning to our workday. We were greatly gifted with beautifully warm days to continue to work.

Dietrich, in front of the bins that he (with much help from Egon, Richard, Iat, and myself) built.

Our compost bins; sparklingly finished and partially filled. We sent out a call for our friends to bring us their leaves, and received 15 bags of leaves! Now we can begin composting with fervor, and continue to compost (as the leaves are a good source of carbon to balance out the nitrogenous food scraps we'll be producing all winter long.) throughout the winter and next year.

Dietrich working on the hoop houses. It was a challenge to get the hoops secured underneath the soil into the back beam of the beds. Especially when avoiding to step in the soil and trying not to fall over the edge of the roof. The challenges of rooftop gardening are much different than those of regular gardening. More creative problem solving...

Two of the finished hoop houses on the west side of the garden. Kevin and Brian shovel away to fix a drainage issue at the end of the roof. Hopefully the last one.

Now, we're ready to plant. (!!)

We picked up more donations of soil and starts yesterday in the van, then carried them all up to the rooftop. Things will be growing soon! Especially with this beautiful sunny and warm (for November) weather.

Sweet Potato Latkas

2009-11-02T12:48:00.001-06:00

Ingredients:
1 lb sweet potato, grated
1 sm onion (i used tropea), chopped finely
1/3 c flour
salt
pepper
cumin
cayenne pepper
2 eggs

Mix grated sweet potato, onion, flour, all spices (to taste) well. Beat the eggs separately, then mix in very well.

Heat oil in a cast iron skillet. Scoop pancakes to be around 3-4 inches in diameter. Fry on both sides, until a nice crispy golden brown.

Serve with sour cream, and applesauce.

Eco Rooftop Garden Workdays

2009-10-29T19:10:00.000-05:00

Somehow, things have been falling in my lap. Opportunities galore! Most recently, the rooftop garden at ECO has been dormant for 2+ years. This past week (after over a month of prep on my and dietrich's part), we hosted 2 workdays and fixed most drainage issues, built 9 amazing beds, started huge composters, and organized the work areas. I'm sore absolutely all over. It feels good. :)

The east beds filled with dirt.

The west beds, outfitted with drainage. Dirt to come!

Compost bin skeletons. We will make so much compost...

From writing a business plan in the Windy City Harvest class I graduated from today, we have been able to accept huge amounts of donations, such as 100 pieces of 2x6 lumber from the Rebuilding Exchange, hundreds of seed packets from Donna at Gethsemane Gardens, and aggregate from David at Brew & Grow. Donations and volunteers are coming in rampantly. (more are always accepted!) It's amazing what community can do, eh?

2009-10-15T22:35:00.000-05:00

Japanese White Pine Bonsai "Pinus Parviflora"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevegreaves/2615671264/in/set-72157620692249686/

I always thought bonsais were strange and slightly uninteresting.

Japanese Maple "Acer palmatum"

Now I'm kind of obsessed with the idea of pruning a seedling until it becomes a very tiny adult. fascinating.

Japanese Maple "Acer palmatum"

time today

2009-10-11T22:45:00.000-05:00

Definitions:

Non-profit Organization

L3C

(I have not done so much research on my own, ever. ( Researching business ideas and terms? Andrea? Are you alright?) But, don't worry. It's all for the fresh-veggie-life.

At least I feel like I'm doing something that matters. MATTERS? yep. It's been my dilemma ever since I first learned you could be socially conscious. I just didn't know how.

Life takes you in crazy ways. Bumps you into the right people to be with, if you're open.)

On another note, I had a dream that I drank acid-laced water last night, out of a red nalgene. I was set to perform, in the back labyrinths of some badly picked out cream hallways and dressing rooms. Just bopping about with the girls from another life, from my time at Savelli's.
Anxious, for some reason. I think that I wanted some sort of altered consciousness or new view on things. However, this didn't come with the methods my dream self chose.

Change

2009-09-29T17:15:00.000-05:00

Change happens when a person connects their passion and talents with the needs of the community.

We make a powerful impact when we live the change we want to see in the world.

Steampunk Tree House

2009-09-21T06:52:00.000-05:00

http://www.steamtreehouse.com

If I were to live in a tree in the desert...

safety.

2009-09-21T06:32:00.000-05:00

6:33am
a dream

Woken from a dream by post-nasal drippage coughing to climb out of a warm-lover bed and sit up on the blue glow whirring computer, sucking on a drop with a roll of toilet paper.

Treading through shin-high water for escape. Looking to take the short cut to where ever it is that we're going: a destination that's safe, comfortable, and home-like. Wading through the marsh, crouching down as car boats pass, our bags are not cumbersome. Urgent, but cautious; 2 men and 2 women boasting face paint (I cannot see mine, and Dietrich's is of a raccoon) problem solve and whisper. I hop the barbed fence to the other side first. Dietrich next. Egon third. April finds a hole underneath and scootches through. Dry land walking, we've almost made it.

We all come to a large gray-toned industrial shop. We know where we are going, somehow: down this hallway, into this elevator: floor 2. The janitor pays us no heed, the mother with the stroller aggressively hip checks the elevator doors to get on. We are inwardly giddy. I grin uncontrollably on the inside. Red light ignites, we're off to sit and rest by some stairs. Exhausted, Dietrich wipes his raccoon face leaving shadows of edges around cheekbones and forehead.

We wander around for a while, climbing stairs, being safe.

Edible Alchemy

2009-09-21T06:28:00.000-05:00

Edible Alchemy:

Alchemy (Arabic:al-kimia) (Hebrew:אלכימיה al-khimia) is both a philosophy and a practice with an aim of achieving ultimate wisdom as well as immortality, involving the improvement of the alchemist as well as the making of several substances described as possessing unusual properties. The practical aspect of alchemy generated the basics of modern inorganic chemistry, namely concerning procedures, equipment and the identification and use of many current substances.

-from the wiki.

We are alchemists. We alchemize with edibles.

The mission of Edible Alchemy is to create, connect, and expand a vibrant community through food; we are a catalyst for people to discuss, share, and enjoy food together. Food is our community connector: we believe that good food is essential to healthy individuals and healthy communities. Edible Alchemy organizes potlucks, local organic produce box distributions, volunteer opportunities, and organizes and provides food for related community events.

The world of gaea.

2009-09-20T18:49:00.000-05:00

So this is a blog, eh?