Assignment for Week 1

In one succinct paragraph, tell me the one most important thing you learned about soil in Sunday's lecture and email it to me before Friday.

Thank you, 

david

Modern Backyard Food Production: Reduce Your Carbon Footprint and Save

Course Number: Biology X 489.6  

Instructor: David King

310.redacted

greenteach(at)gmail(dot)com

There are no prerequisites for this course, although some experience with gardening will prove useful.

All classes meet at The Learning Garden on the Venice High School campus where it can be hot and cold by turns – but reliably MUCH COOLER than other parts of Los Angeles. For your own comfort, please bring a sweater or coat to every class meeting. We will have access to a classroom for really rainy days; class will meet regardless of the weather. Expect to get wet or cold as we will be outside whenever possible.

The production, packaging, and transportation of food are large contributors to our global carbon emissions. Throughout the Los Angeles Basin, food gardens have sprung up to produce local healthy and nutritious fruits and vegetables while contributing energy and financial savings in difficult economic times. Using the history of growing food in the city in times of need as a template, this course explores how homegrown food can reduce your food budget and address environmental concerns. Participants each have a small plot for growing food where they can experiment with new ideas and enjoy their harvest. Topics include fruit trees, vegetables, and berries that do well in our climate as well as often overlooked food-producing perennials and how to grow food in modern city lots where the "back forty" describes square feet and not acres.

Textbooks Required:

Title: Sunset Western Garden Book

Author Brenzel, Kathleen Norris (Editor)

Edition Feb. 2007

Publisher Sunset Books

ISBN 978-0376039170

Title: Growing Food In Southern California

Author King, David

Edition October 2010

Publisher Wobbly Press

ISBN

Textbooks, Recommended:

Title: The Kitchen Garden

Author Thompson, Sylvia

Edition First

Publisher Bantam Books

ISBN 0-553-08138-1

*(She has a companion cookbook that is worth investigation too!)

Title: Heirloom Vegetable Gardening

Author Weaver, William Woys

Edition First

Publisher Henry Holt

ISBN 0-8050-4025-0

Hard to find – out of print

Title: Pests of the Garden and Small Farm: A Grower's Guide to Using Less Pesticide

Author Flint, Mary Louise

Edition 2nd

Publisher Univ of California Agriculture & Natural Resources

ISBN 978-0520218109

There will be no assigned reading from these books, however, as references, they will prove invaluable to any serious student in this field. There will be bibliographies describing other books as the quarter progresses, I am a ferocious reader and not at all shy about suggesting books I like.

Course Schedule:

DATE

TOPIC

03 October

Introduction/History of Food Gardening/Introduction to Soils

10 October*

10/10/10 Potluck/Tools/Garden Tour/ Plot Assignment

17 October

Timing and Design

24 October

Soil Preparation/Composting

31 October

Sustainability and Food Issues in Modern America

07 November

Supplies/Sources/Annuals

14 November

Planting/Companions/Crop Rotation in a Small Garden

21 November

Perennials/Bulbs as a part of your food supply

28 November

NO CLASS – Happy Thanksgiving!

05 December

Home orchard/Vines

12 December

Planning for Continuous Harvests

(Syllabus may be changed as needed to reflect reality.)

* October 10th The learning Garden will be hosting a 100 Mile Meal Potluck – while you will not required to participate, you are encouraged to. It should be a lot of fun and the potluck will have several speakers talking about sustainable opportunities in our locale.

Point Assignment Structure

Class participation    20

Garden Journal        30

1 page write-up*     10

Planting Project       40

TOTAL                   100

* A sample one-page write up is the final page of this syllabus.

Office hours are by appointment only – please call or email me. I am willing to meet with you; I want you to learn and not struggle. Please do not hesitate to call me, rather than try to talk to me in class when I can't really give you undivided attention. Extra points are available if you need to earn more credit.

Every week, Pamela Nears and or myself will prepare some seasonal food to eat. There are no places to buy food while in class and we are here for four hours. Students are encouraged to bring in food to share with the class at all meetings. The last meeting we will have a potluck where we will all share food cooked – local and fresh! (That's the point, right?)

The Learning Garden is open daily, 10 to 5:00 PM, every day but Monday. You are welcome to come here and work on your plot or just come and hang out. It's always best to call ahead to make sure I'm here as sometimes I have errands or chances off campus to earn money.

Criteria for your garden plot grade:

1. You should experiment and try something you have never done – explore!
2. Your plot and adjacent pathways should be cleared of weeds.
3. Your plot and adjacent pathways should be well mulched.
4. Your plot should be attractive and be growing some food.

The person who starts from seed vs. bringing in already growing plants, will have plants not nearly as far along as the others – but still stands to make a better grade if they have experimented with growing from seed – I am more interested that you LEARN in this class – just doing what you already have done doesn't teach you anything. We are all gardeners here, if we don't have patience yet, we soon will. Cultivate patience with your plants while in The Learning Garden. At the very least indulge me while I am assigning you grades.

All handouts (including this syllabus) will be available on a blog site:

http://lagardennotes.blogspot.com/

In fact, it will have your assignment for next week. Please do this before you come to class.

BEETS Beta vulgaris

Botanical Information:

Chenopodiaceae, Goosefoot family

4 to 8” tall

Biennial

Growing Season:

Spring, Fall and Winter

Seed to Harvest:

8 weeks or more

Spacing: 3” on a side

Seeds store: ~4

Choice Varieties: Chioggia, Burpee's Golden,

Cotyledons: 

Description:

The sweet roots of beets are often over- looked because of their 'earthy' taste. The problem with most beets on dinner tables these days is that they've been out of the ground for a very long time – the earthiness overtakes the sweetness. These two beets, the Italian Chioggia and the Golden Beet from W. Atlee Burpee Co. breeding program in the late 1800's, are among the sweetest vegetables in any garden!

Starting the seeds: Direct sow in the garden, a short row every week or so all through the cool season

Growing: Keep the moisture as even as possible. Mulch the beets as soon as possible – don't cover their leaves, but bring the compost as close to the plants as you can without covering the leaves. Cut off the leaves of any that are too close together – throw the baby leaves in salads. Do try to give them enough space to make an edible root, an inch or so for those who want baby beets, two or more for larger roots.

Harvesting: Pull roots as you need them. Beets do not have to be pulled all at once and will hold in the garden for a few weeks – longer if it's cool out.

Preparation and Using: Beet greens can be used just the same as chard – they are, in fact, the same species, one bred for a root and the other for its leaves. They taste pretty much the same and can be cooked the same or used raw in salads.

Today, most folks don't realize that American sugar was beet sugar until the mid 1900's when we switched to 'pure cane sugar.' The roots, though, should be just par-boiled enough to get the skins to slip off. Slice them into convenient slices and sauté in orange juice until slightly al denté. This is a wonderfully sweet side dish. Cut red beets into heart shapes before sautéing and serve on Valentine's Day or another significant holiday for your love.

Problems: Not much in our climate, although snails will eat the baby leaves as they emerge.

Felco Pruner Dealership!

It has been a while since the last post and for that I apologize. My left wrist, which had been healing nicely, got whacked around in late June/early July and ever since has felt as bad as when I first injured it in May! I have been trying to keep it under wraps since then and trying very hard to not do anything, even typing, that might stress the injury further.

But, I've just been approved as a Felco distributor and I had to share the news! I have sold a lot of Felcos in my time, however, I just wasn't making any commission on the sale, so this is not that big of a change. It should be a win/win situation - students in my classes can get these valuable tools without having to pay high prices and add shipping on top of that. There are inexpensive Felcos that are rarely seen for sale in Los Angeles such as the 160L and 160S (pictured), which have composite handles and the same famous Felco blades. With a retail price of $25 there is no reason any student, or gardener, should suffer with anything less than a Felco.

I do intend to stock some of my favorites as well - oftentimes in Los Angeles you cannot purchase anything other than the Felco 8, which is the standard ergonomic right hand pruner. I have come to prefer the Felco 6 for my day in and day out pruner - it is smaller and so gets into tight corners with more ease and fits my hand nicely. You can purchase these online for as little as $51 plus tax and shipping; and, while I've not worked out the final price, it will probably be a lot closer to $45 without shipping. I hope to have a few left-handed models and a representative selection of the other popular models.

In line with this, I'll be able to offer grafting knives from Tina and Swiss Army - both brands I use and respect as being good knives with good value, as well as Silky saws, which are the top of the line for pruning saws. I know I'll stock several of the Swiss Army knives most days and for my propagation class (held in the propagation season) I'll add a few Tina knives - including a few left handed models.

I don't have any stock yet and it will be a few weeks before I begin to have an inventory - I expect to carry a larger inventory when I am actively teaching the UCLA Backyard Food Production class and especially for the Propagation class where these are required tools.

If you have Felcos that need repair, cleaning/sharpening/broken parts replaced, give me a call or stop by The Learning Garden. I will give you a fair price and very good service. 

Starting from the left: Felco 2 - a good quality, somewhat ergonomic pruner, the Felco 6 the state-of-the-art ergonomic pruner for smaller hands, the Felco 7 with it's rotating handle (and probably overkill for most gardeners not pruning several hundred roses at a time), the Felco 8, like the 6, the standard state-of-the-art right handed pruner for larger hands,which has been my standard pruner for most of the last 25 years, the Felco 9 for southpaws and the Felco 13 for two-handed pruning - if you do a lot of pruning, think hard about adding a Felco 13 for those days of heavy work - an 8 on one's belt on the right side and the 13 on the left will do almost anything you could ask for without countless trips up and down the ladder! The final Felco on the right is an anvil pruner. I will not sell, nor recommend any anvil pruner. I am sure the Felco anvil pruner is well-made, but research shows the anvil style of pruners are much more likely to crush a plant stem while cutting it and they are difficult to make good cuts with because the 'anvil' is much bulkier than the hook of the bypass pruner.

And I can go on... I am very pleased to be able to offer these tools to the West Los Angeles gardening public. Stay tuned for more 'cutting edge' news...

david

Orchid's Acorn Lecture at Farmlab

Metabolic Studio Public Salon:
Orchid Black
Friday, June 18, 2010 @ Noon
Free Admission

Oak our Mother, Acorns our Food: Preparing Acorns to Eat

Acorns have long been a food staple of Northern Hemisphere peoples for whom gathering and preparing them was an important communal task. In that spirit of sharing work and wisdom, join native plant expert Orchid Black for her introduction to the history and culture of this highly nutritious food. In a hands-on workshop we will identify different oak species, leach and grind flour, and eat yummy acorn cornbread.

Orchid is a garden designer and owner of Pitcher Sage Design, which offers native plant consulting, habitat creation and sustainable design services to the greater Los Angeles area. Orchid writes and lectures about native plants, water-saving strategies, and sustainable gardening, and is currently teaching Sustainable Garden Practice at UCLA Extension.

PLEASE NOTE: Because this salon comprises a talk and workshop it will last longer than usual, ending around 2.30pm

Image: Shelled Acorns in a Pine Needle Bowl Handmade By Jim Otterstrom, 2007. Courtesy Jim Otterstrom

FARMLAB ADDRESS:
Metabolic Studio
1745 N. Spring Street #4
Los Angeles, CA 90012


CONTACT:
Phone: 323 226 1158
email: info at farmlab dot org
web: www.farmlab.org
for directions

Field Trip to John T. Lyle Center, Saturday June 12th

 
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Our last class meeting is this Saturday at the John T. Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies, 4105 West University Drive, Pomona CA 91768, phone: 909.869.5155.  This is an inspiring site tying a lot of what we have been talking about all quarter into one stupendous array of buildings, technologies, gardens and design features, pointing to the way to a manner of sustainable living that can be replicated far and wide.  Juan Araya, a lecturer at the center will be leading our tour - and this is a real treat because I don't think many know the center like Juan, nor can they speak with the authority and purpose that Juan does.  I've been here three times, and I'm excited to be on the tour.

Remember:  this will be your last day to turn in projects or papers.  At midnight (Saturday to Sunday), you drop one full letter grade; you can almost watch your projects turning into little pumpkins.  

I'll have my cell phone if you need help getting to the site.

david

Class Tomorrow, June 07, 2010

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Just a quick reminder that our coming class meeting, tomorrow evening at 6:30, will be held at The Learning Garden.  It is a potluck so bring a yummy to share with all our class members.  

The address to The Learning Garden is 13000 Venice Blvd. LA, 90066 - however, it is more accurate to say we are at the intersection of Walgrove Avenue and Venice Blvd - the south east corner.  Our entrance is on Walgrove, the first gate south of Venice Blvd.  It will be closed as I have a new dog and he has the 'Magellan Gene' and I don't like trying to track him down in the neighborhood - especially as he has a proven desire to head off to Venice Blvd!. 

Use my cellphone number if you have any questions.  We are bus accessible, Santa Monica Line 2 and MTA Line 33 and 333.  No rail yet.

david

Orchid's Lecture at Eaton Canyon Nature Center

The next program meeting of the California Native Plant Society - San Gabriel Mountains Chapter will be this Thursday, May 27, 2010.

The program will be Easy Natives for Your Garden, with our own Orchid Black: Why grow native cultivars — the named varieties? Because in many cases these have been selected for their reliability and consistent bloom in the garden. This talk will discuss the easiest cultivars and other selected natives that grow reliably in a wide range of gardens.

As always, our meeting will be at the Eaton Canyon Nature Center. We will gather for conversation, refreshments and informal plant ID at 7:00 p.m. The program will begin at 7:30.

Eaton Canyon Nature Center is located at 1750 N. Altadena Dr., Pasadena, CA 91107. Directions.