29. July 2011 by admin.

Finally! I get to explain “organic” so that it can be understood! Visit these links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG-hs5LnfIg

and others (see my Videos links, below, on your right).

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13. May 2011 by admin.

Mark your calendar! Saturday, May 21 at 2:00 pm, I am hosting another tomato workshop. Please inquire at judyfrankel@gmail.com to reserve a space.

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12. May 2011 by admin.

Peggy Curry, my friend and founder of Growing Great, is hosting a Healthy Living Festival this Sunday, May 15th at 12pm-4pm at the Metlox and 13th Street Plaza in Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

This is their 5^th year hosting the Festival, and I will be there along with Deep Roots’ owner Jon Bell to “edutain” children and adults about gardening the organic way, how to grow your own fruits and vegetables.

We have fun activities for the kids so they can get down and dirty. Come join us! See this link for more information: http://growinggreat.org/about-us/healthy-living-festival/

Posted in Gardening classes and opportunities to learn, Everyday life, Vegetables and Fruit | 1 Comment »

24. April 2011 by admin.

Sometimes, we just go for it, and sometimes good things happen. If the ideas in the letter I wrote to the Annenberg Foundation resonate with people here in Palos Verdes, it was meant to be. I’ve included the text here, so that people who find my blog through reading my Letter to the Editor in Palos Verdes Peninsula News can find out more.

Dear Ms. Annenberg:

I live in Rancho Palos Verdes and I am delighted that you want to bring a project to our beautiful coastline. I understand that some of our citizens are not completely on board with the construction, and I want to address that problem here.

Over a year ago, a few concerned parents began a Sustainability Task Force for the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District (PVPUSD). One of their missions was to begin some ambitious school gardens. They contacted me, a Master Gardener with a small organic farm of my own, asking me to spearhead two small orchards and a garden program at Cornerstone Elementary. Their ultimate goal was to grow enough food at 19 school sites to supply the lunch program with locally grown produce.

As you know, there is a strong movement in this country toward supporting locally produced food that is grown in a sustainable way. But I quickly pointed out that the most efficient way to grow food of the quantity desired was through farming one large contiguous plot.

This is where the Annenberg Foundation could help build bridges with the community of Rancho Palos Verdes. A portion of the Pointe Vicente area (8 ½ acres) used to be farmland, enough to eventually provide PVPUSD with fresh food for school lunches. In addition, it would be a natural location for educating the students where their vegetables come from, how it can be grown in an ecologically friendly way, and how they can become better stewards of the planet.

If you added not just a “garden” but a permaculture-based edible landscape to your plan, you would win the favor of many households in Rancho Palos Verdes while achieving your goals of sustainability and innovation. The farm at Lower Point Vicente could become an exemplary destination for people studying agriculture, much like the Findhorn Garden in Scotland, or Esalen’s garden in Big Sur. With the zeitgeist of the culture looking strongly at our food sources today, and with people concerned about our food security for the future, there is no better time to create an Eden than now.

I would be honored to help you create a project that dovetails into your original plans, so that the community can easily see how your dreams aid the welfare of their children and improve the health of everyone concerned. Teresa Mee, Director of Food Services and the woman in charge of procuring food for PVPUSD’s lunches has asked me to supply as much produce as I can. If I had a larger farm, a small staff of helpers, and a nursery, I could grow enough for the school district. With your vision, it would be the Annenberg Foundation giving children the education necessary to carry on a tradition of making a significant, lasting, tangible contribution to their community by growing their own food.

Please contact me at your convenience. I will be a wealth of information and could put together a business plan for the first five years of operation, or just brainstorm ideas on how to make Lower Point Vicente a truly unique, evolving educational center. For more information about me, you can visit my website and my blog at judyshomegrown.com.

Sincerely,

Judy Frankel

cc: Leonard Aube

Posted in Everyday life, Vegetables and Fruit | 1 Comment »

24. April 2011 by admin.

To Mark and Kozue: Thank you for finding me on the internet, and for helping me in the garden! You are people who understand the interconnectedness of everything, and who want to make the world a better place.

Congratulations on your new job in Japan, Mark. I hope that it is everything you wanted. I only wish you could have found a job here that you liked as well, so that you could stay local and do good works around here. Of course, Japan might need you more, only time will tell.

Posted in Everyday life | 1 Comment »

20. March 2011 by admin.

Mark your calendar: Saturday, April 30 at 2 pm at my “farmette”. Please RSVP to: 310-750-6686 and receive address/directions. $5.00 per person admission.

Learn about:

indeterminate vs determinate
How to plant a “start”
How to remove suckers
How to tie/stake/cage tomatoes
How to store tomatoes after harvesting
How to combat snails, green worms
How to stretch out the tomato season

I will be selling the following tomato plant varieties at the workshop for $5 each: (to learn more about each variety, click here: http://www.judyshomegrown.com/2.html)

Black Plum
Chocolate Stripes
Berkeley Tie Dye Heart
Marianna’s Peace
Tri -L-Crop
Peacevine Cherry
Super Snow White
Black Zebra
Chocolate Cherry
Eva Purple Ball
Paul Robeson
Arkansas Traveler
Brandywine OTV
Clint Eastwood Rowdy Red
Sungold Cherry
Brandywine Yellow
Beam’s Yellow Pear
Isis Candy Cherry
Japanese Black Trifele
Box Car Willie
Amy’s Sugar Gem
Sunset Red Horizon

Persimmon

Sugar Sweetie Cherry

Mexico Midget

Carmello

San Marzano 2 Plum

Purple Cherokee

Jelly Bean Grape

Milano Plum

Posted in Gardening classes and opportunities to learn, Vegetables and Fruit | 1 Comment »

17. March 2011 by admin.

Posted in Everyday life, Vegetables and Fruit, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

14. January 2011 by admin.

Winter is the time to prune, revamp the beds, plant trees, strawberries, and berry brambles. Here I am helping out in Carola’s School Garden at Lincoln Elementary in Long Beach, California. Carola is a Master Gardener and a wonderful friend.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

31. December 2010 by admin.

Secrets of Soil Workshop

January 29 at 1:00 pm

By popular demand!

Learn:

·      how to use mulch, amendments and green manures

·      about soil microbes and how do I get some?

·      what a soil test report looks like and how to use one

·      how to increase a soil’s fertility

·      how to deal with pH (acidity or alkalinity)

·      solving difficult soils

·      the benefits of composting and vermiposting (worms)

$5 admission fee.

To reserve your spot, contact Judy at judyfrankel@gmail.com or join my Meetup Group at http://www.meetup.com/Homegrown-Organic-Gardeners/about/

Posted in Gardening classes and opportunities to learn | 1 Comment »

28. December 2010 by admin.

Build it and they will come…to the Farm!

This time, the farm will be bigger and better. I am interested in growing enough food for the PVPUSD’s school lunches and running a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program. Below are pictures of Esalen, in Big Sur to show the kind of farm that would be needed to support a locavore school program. All I need is the land and a little help from my friends. It’s just a dream now, but wait and see…

Posted in Everyday life, Vegetables and Fruit, Blogroll | No Comments »