Featured on the RootSimple podcast
Catch the conversation between me (Joanne P) and Erik Knutzen of RootSimple as we talk about the GMO-Free Zone in L.A., what it means, the backstory, and what happened in December. (I don’t talk about future strategy, intentionally, since I…
A community bread oven
Last Saturday we had the kickoff meeting for a new project: building a community bread oven out of cob. What’s cob? For us in Southern California, the easiest comparison is to think about the adobe bricks used for the missions;…
The Art of the Edible Landscape
Imagine a beautiful front yard — a sculpture in three dimensions — that you can walk through and enjoy, that will feed you luscious organic food! How does one design such a thing? This spring I’ll be teaching “The Art…
ECM New Year’s Potluck – Jan 21
Happy New Year! There’s a whole lot of Change-Making going on! Please join us for a New Year’s Potluck on Weds Jan 21, and find out about all the projects ECM has underway. Meet new friends and join in the…
What happened to the GMO-Free Zone?
Not everything we do comes out successful. Sometimes we have some rather spectacular failures. Hopefully, we learn from them, we dust ourselves off, and we continue on. When you’re fighting GMOs, you know that at some point you’ll encounter opposition.…
Edible Gardens around Los Angeles
Some of my favorite Edible and Functional gardens around Los Angeles. All these gardens are open to the general public during selected hours (see their websites for hours and directions). in Westchester/LA 90045 … Community Garden at Holy Nativity –…
Let’s Starve the Storm Drains!
Honestly, we’re not forecast to get very much rain this season. So shouldn’t we make the most of every drop we get? There is no reason to waste any of it down the storm drains.Is your property set to soak up every…
Toxic lawns
If you thought a “GMO-Free Zone” in Los Angeles wasn’t too important because there aren’t a lot of farmers inside the City, think again. Scotts and Monsanto are getting ready to surround you with genetic modification: genetically engineered lawn grass.…
Crop rotations in So. Calif: When to change seasons
It’s autumn in Southern California. Or is it? The weather has changed. Wait, it’s changed back again… Contrary to what East Coast people say, Southern California does have its seasons. But there’s rarely a clear “cutoff” date. Add climate-change-driven Weather…
‘That lettuce’ Frisee
When it rains in L.A., ‘that lettuce’ comes up all over my yard. My sister is probably the one who named it, years ago, asking me whether I had any seedlings of ‘that lettuce’ to share. A mild-flavored green, pretty…