What We Need Is Here

Partager un Potager : A Community Garden in Central Paris

There is a wonderful demonstration garden right in the center of Paris in front of the l'Hotel de Ville, a 15th century municipal building.  The closest space we have like this in Gainesville is probably City Hall, a plain 1960s building surrounded by concrete and former goldfish ponds. Normally, the area in front of the l'Hotel de Ville is a large paved plaza area with benches and a fountain - not so entirely different. But in early June, raised beds were created in wooden boxes and installed throughout the plaza along with information on "bio" (organic) methods of gardening in small places.

They have fine weather for gardening here in the summer - about twenty degrees cooler than our summers and a little more dry. The garden is beautiful and, everytime I pass it, full of people enjoying it - which is the idea. The word for vegetable garden in French is potager, and the word for sharing is partager, so this potager for partager is also a nice play on words that they use in the informational brochures.

I would love to do this in Gainesville: create a real public space for a garden that would offer education, inspiration, and beauty - things public spaces are meant for.

- Kelli, still in Paris

Summer Gardening

I tried to chime in on the last post in response to Matthew's comment about growing things in the summer, but for some reason the comment section wouldn't allow it. Maybe I am too far away?

I feel very far away - in a totally different season really. Paris summers are much more like our springs, and I am very happy about that. I have learned to think of North Florida summers like folks think about winter in the north - a time to let the garden rest.  Even things that can survive the heat - eggplant, seminole pumpkins, some pole beans, peppers, cherry tomatoes, okra, and peanuts, for example - are better off planted in May, not June. 

It's best to use the summer for spreading manure, mulching, and building your compost pile. In addition, I would highly recommend perusing the seed catalogs, prefarably while floating down the Ichetuknee river or in one of our many beautiful springs.  Even better if you can also manage to balance a little bowl of muscadines or boiled peanuts on that tube. 

You can begin to start plants from seeds again in late August. This planting guide from the the University of Florida exension office is a great help and inspiration for next season's garden. Scroll down to Table 4 for times to plant.

Enjoy this season of harvest and rest!

Vegetables, yes, but sunflowers too

Whether you are into bio-regionalism, the locavore or local food movement, food security, sustainability or whatnot, gardening seems to be at the center. And the prime purpose of a garden, of course, is to be able to grow your own food. 

But I have a little confession to make. Behind the utilitarian value of it all, I’ve discovered that I am a bit of an aesthete as well.

Sunday, despite the ungodly high temperature (heat index over 110 degrees!), my son and I spent over two hours beautifying our little plot—picking up trash from around the vacant lot, rearranging the bags of leaves we use in our compost, cutting down the overgrown grass around the garden’s perimeter, and so on. We also managed to pick around 90 incredibly delicious cherry tomatoes, 175 pole beans, and various peppers, some okra and squash too. And even though the food is the main thing (and the little orange tomatoes were especially delicious), the best part of the day was stepping off a little ways away and taking in how beautiful the garden looked after our efforts. (And in the interest of full disclosure, it’s our friend Bob who has been doing the really hard work over the past weeks—weeding.)

Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, spent quite a bit of ink on the subject of beauty. Her main thrust was that the need for beauty is universal among humans, and while yes, the hungry and poor need bread—they need roses too. Beauty is intimately intertwined with human dignity, and thus is an operating principle for us at the Gainesville Catholic Worker. Whether in how we keep the house or the presentation of the meal, we take beauty into consideration.

So back to the garden. When Kelli was planning out our garden, I have to admit that my main concern was not what good, practical and important food we would be growing, but whether she was planning to plant some flowers too. (She was. We did.)

I appreciate the vegetables very much, but it is the flowers which really move me and draw me to our garden. Zinnias and sunflowers dominate the front edge and the heart of it. When I see them through the wire fence at the back of our garden, or coming round the corner of the house that sits on the front of the lot, or from my car window as I drive slowly by along 2^nd Street, I get a catch in my throat. They’re beautiful. I’m kind of giddy as my eyes are drawn skyward to gaze on the new sunflower just opened; I am lighthearted and joyful when, after being gone a few days, I return to find a dozen multi-colored zinnias suddenly burst open during my absence.

So, with apologies to Dorothy and the immigrant women who first coined the slogan at the Lawrence Textile Strike in 1912: “I want vegetables, yes—but sunflowers too.”

-John

Cucumbers to Refrigerator Pickles

Harvesting begins today! Our first cucumbers are ready and it looks like hot peppers are right behind. We were out early this morning weeding, spreading mulch, watering and planting Seminole pumpkins (good growers in the heat). That's it for planting, except for possibly filling in any spaces that present themselves with a few zinnia and sunflower seedlings.

One of my favorite thing to do with fresh cucumbers is to turn them into refrigerator pickles, and it takes about five minutes. The New York Times Natural Foods Cookbook - a classic  during the 70s back-to-the-land movement - has a delicious recipe that I've been using for a while. Sweet onions, like Vidalias, are also being harvested right now and are just perfect for this. While I'm feeling anything but "cool as a cucumber" during this ridiculous hot spell (90s in May? This does not bode well...), we'll enjoy eating them for sure.

REFRIGERATOR PICKLES

Ingredients:
2 cucumbers, thinly sliced
1/4 - 1/2 sweet onion thinly sliced
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons honey

Directions:
Place vinegar, salt and honey in a jar and shake till blended. Pour over cucumber slices. Store in refrigerator for 3 days.

Happy Earth Day!

I have been noticing lately the number of little vegetable gardens springing up just a short walk from our house. I've never seen so many before - and these are only the ones boldly visible from the sidewalk and roadside. Today John and I celebrated Earth Day by riding our bikes along my regular walking route and taking photos.

With baby crib vine supports

Cabbages among the roses

Drive-by corn

Lettuce border

Onion hedge

Vegetable boxes

More roadside corn

Tomatoes in bird heaven

Veggies in a traffic-calmer

Impromptu community garden near public housing

For some reason I kept hearing in my head the song "Little Boxes" (now a theme song for "Weeds") - the lyrics of which are the opposite of what I think is going on here. With apologies to Malvina Reynolds, I had to come up with some new words:

Little gardens in the front yard, little gardens growing corn and beans
Little gardens in the backyard, with tomatoes and kale
There’s a big one and a small one, grown in straight rows or growing everywhere,
And they’re all made out of seeds and hope, and no two look the same.

I am so thrilled to see these little gardens, so expressive of hope and vitality. It's incredibly simple to plant a seed or a transplant, water it, and let the sun work its magic. But there's also something potentially revolutionary about taking back a little of the food system. Let them grow!

The sweet ruliness of gardens

Last year

This time last year, I was watching our last garden at the old house sprout while marveling at the unruliness of nature .  No matter how carefully planned and diagrammed, things were always popping up in unplanned places, or being eaten before their time by insects and other unwanted garden foragers.  Still it was lovely, and I was reveling in my role as co-creator in such a beautiful, bountiful mess.

This year, I am watching our first garden in our new place begin to grow, and feel inspired by the “ruliness” of it.  I take comfort in the fact that if you plant a seed and water it, it will sprout and grow – there or here.  I visit the garden each morning to see how things are getting along - who needs water, who’s been chewed by caterpillars. I am soothed even by the familiar, nasty habit of the caterpillars (aka cutworms) who denude a plant of its leaves during the night and then hide in the soil next to it (right where I can find it) by morning.  When I hand-water, mockingbirds come to watch just like before. There was a frost the week after planting out tomatoes, like there always is. 

I read some beautiful reflections on gardening this week by Victor Guroian, a theologian/professor and avid gardener.  He’s an Orthodox Christian and believes that God reveals himself through created things – the earth and all that lives here.  The idea of learning about the creator through what he/she has created rings true to me.

I’m not always sure what "religion" I fall under these days. I think of myself still as Catholic and cling to the example of good people who have lived that faith – Oscar Romero, Dorothy Day, St. Francis, and certain less famous Catholic I’ve known up close - while at the same time recoiling from the hierarchical power structure and the abuses thereof.  But I still can’t not believe in a Creator no matter how angry and disgusted I may feel, especially when I’m in the garden.  I keep finding evidence of a wild and unpredictable God that enlivens us and surprises us. And some days I am comforted and intrigued by the constancy and sense of eternity around me - the worm, the fruit, sprouting seeds, decaying compost - all still here, no matter where I'm at. 

This year - row of baby sunflowers

Rogue North Florida Gardens

We're planting! The preparation was finished up yesterday morning, and purchased transplants (tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers) are in the ground! We also seeded the first round of green beans - both pole and bush. While we were working, our mid-western helpers had a lot of questions about why we ignore seed packets and just about all other common garden wisdom in our preparation and planting.

It's because we live in North Florida. It's a no man's land between USDA zones 9a and 8b where soil consistency varies between lots, where insects and fungi thrive, and where old patterns of rain and temperature have not been very reliable lately. We make our own rules.  Mwahahahaha!

Soil preparation: We don't till. One reason is that we have some particularly heinous weeds here that thrive when tilled, just sending out new rootlets along their broken stems. Another is that there are good things in there - like earthworms and beneficial insects, microbes, etc. - that like the little world they've created for themselves. Since good soil is the basis for everything we're going to grow, we try to disturb it as little as possible. For new plots we loosen grass and weeds by wiggling a shovel gently beneath them and pulling them out by hand. Labor intensive - but good work for groups who want to garden.  If we'd had more notice about this lot, we would probably have covered it with cardboard for a season to help some of the vegetation die back and begin composting. It would have saved us some work and added more nutrients to the soil. 

Seeds and transplants:  A number of vegetable seeds that seed packets will suggest fare better sown directly into the ground, we sow in containers to be transplanted later. We need to baby our baby plants here. Periods of soil-baking drought followed by torrential downpours are one reason. We can better mind our sprouting seeds and keep them consistently watered if they're growing in seed flats. Another is the variety of sprout-loving insects that lurk in the garden, waiting for just this kind of thing. And then there are squirrels. How do they know we just planted corn or sunflower seeds? Do they smell them? Or were they watching from the trees?  Better to give the little plants a head start before we send them out into the cruel world. 

In short,the only things we sow as seeds are plants that truly do not do well when transplanted: root vegetables (carrots, radishes, etc.) and green beans. Everything else gets its start in flats or pots so they can grow up a little before having to fend for themselves.

Mulching: We cover every bit of soil. Mulching both keeps moisture in by prohibiting quick evaporation and keeps weeds down by shielding them from sunlight. We use fallen leaves in the path and hay around the plants to distinguish walking areas from areas freshly planted or about to be planted - keeping soil impaction in the beds to a minimum and saving new sprouts from being stepped on. It also looks pretty. And all that mulch will compost itself as the season wears on, enhancing soil fertility for next seasons veggies.

Watering: We rarely use a sprinkler, preferring to hand water directly at the roots of the plants; this saves water and, during a drought, directs the water to the plants we want to grow rather than to awaiting weeds seeds.  If we could afford it, we would invest in drip irrigation. Someday. For now, we're happy strolling through the garden each day, carefully watering each little plant while contemplating our good fortune to have this plot to water.   

We can use these more labor intensive methods because we have a relatively small garden - not field after field to be planted and cared for. But the principles are the same for sustainable farming as well (on large farms, not on huge agribusiness enterprises which are too big to manage sustainably).  Knowing your particular place - bioregion, ecosystem, neighborhood - in all its peculiarities and conforming the garden/farm practices to that knowledge is vital.  And keeping an eye to the future health of that place and the future eaters (whom ideally you care about as family and neighbor) is simply good practice - wherever and whoever you are. 

It's a good system to be a  part of, even in a small way. We're grateful to the farmers and gardeners who've passed down these ways to us.

Garden update - and growing through the economic crisis

We are so close to being able to start planting. Seven people working several hours each day has produced an almost weed-, brick-, rock-, broken glass-free, 20' X 35' area of awaiting soil. Almost.

We are fortunate that a group of young adults from the University of Cincinnati decided to join our household during their spring break - right at the time the empty lot became available for a garden. They are a joy to work with, and much needed labor!

I'm generally inclined to appreciate any person on an "alternative" spring break.  Being oriented toward something a little different, they seem particularly open-minded, and even enthusiastic about some of the goals we have around here. No one balked at flushing the toilets with gray water from the sinks and showers. And when I talked with some of them about our kitchen policy and "food theology" they asked good questions and seemed well-disposed overall toward the idea of eating more simply and with the well-being of others in mind. They seem to want something more, but not in a material sense. It gives me hope that these are some of the young adults next in line to take the reins.

Ironically, one morning while the students were gardening, I needed to step out for a while to talk to another young adult I know who had a problem he wanted to discuss with me: crippling credit card debt that had gotten completely out of control. He couldn't make the monthly payments anymore and wondered whether he should try to consolidate the debt through credit counseling or seek bankruptcy. On top of it, he was deeply ashamed and embarrassed to be in this situation. My first inclination was to encourage him by reminding him that he is not alone - that people all over the country (some with a lot more life experience than he has) are faced with debts they cannot pay, and to tell him that we could look together at the options for handling the debt. But there is so much more to say.

I tend to think of crises of all stripes as spiritual/moral ones, crossroads where you have to look hard at yourself and decide not only what you are going to do, but what kind of person you are going to be. But I want to talk about the economic crisis - both personal and national - in this context for very practical reasons; I think the other solutions - getting bailed out by the creditors or the government or a family friend - are not getting to the root of the problem. Surprisingly, my young friend didn't balk at this. He wanted to talk about his drive to prove himself to his family and friends by appearing successful, i.e. having and doing lots of stuff. He wanted to confess that he kept telling himself "his ship was about to come in" - graduation, the first job, the raise, the tax return, etc. - and would wipe the slate clean for him. His biggest worry was not his credit rating or even the problem of having a lot of worthless stuff that he was expected to pay for over the course of many years. His biggest worry was what people would think of him.

I think this is a burden so many in our country drag around - the need to prove our worth to others by the things we own, the places we can afford to vacation, even the degrees we were able to purchase with student loans.  We've had it driven into our heads for so long that happy or good or smart or successful people (choose your measure) must have certain things (an SUV or a Prius, an expensive dinner out or a concert experience, a cruise or a "green vacation"), that we've lost our ability to think what it is we value or need for ourselves. We've lost our (own) minds.

These crossroads appear in any life, but it is interesting when so many people arrive at the same one at the same time. What are we going to change? Who do we want to be? I'd much rather be having those conversations than just the ones about what size and type of bailout or stimulus will get us back to where we were the quickest.  Backwards is not the direction we need to be going, or leading our young toward. Fortunately, there's a lot of reason to hope in our young people, both the alternative types and the ones being forced to seek an alternative. We need to grow with them.

Where Does the Dance Begin,Where Does it End?

Seeding the new garden

Don't call the world adorable, or useful, that's not it.
It's frisky, and a theater for more than fair winds.
The eyelash of lightning is neither good nor evil.
The struck tree burns like a pillar of gold.

But the blue rain sinks, straight to the white
feet of the trees
whose mouths open.
Doesn't the wind, turning in circles, invent the dance?
Haven't the flowers moved, slowly, across Asia, then Europe
until at last, now, they shine
in your own yard?

Don't call the world an explanation, or even an education.

When the Sufi whirled, was he looking
outward, to the mountains so solidly there
in a white-capped ring, or was he looking

to the center of everything: the seed, the egg, the idea
that was also there,
beautiful as a thumb
curved and touching the finger, tenderly,
little love-ring,

as he whirled,
oh jug of breath
in the garden of dust?

- Mary Oliver, from Why I Wake Early (1984)

White House/Blue House Garden

An idea whose time has come! The Obamas are starting a garden on the South Lawn. While it's true it's no panacea for our dilapidated food system, maybe Michelle Obama will do for healthy food and gardening what she's doing for the toned upper arm. Soon Americans will be chomping at the bit to "turn their lawns into Michelle Obama lawns."

Coincidentally, the same day Michelle announced the new garden, we got the go ahead to garden on an empty lot in our neighborhood! 

Let the arugula begin!