Judy’s Garden Becomes Election 2012 Central!

1. February 2012 by admin.

You know how life began in a garden, according to popular sources? So too does democracy begin in a garden.

 

Judy’s Homegrown is now Writeindependent.org. Why would a Master Gardener focus on politics? Because without a way to legislate protection of our water, air, and soil, we are lost to the interests of the few who think this planet is their resource to use and abuse as they see fit.

 

Is democracy in this country dead? Has it gone the way of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny? Have Americans become so jaded that they don’t want to vote because “it won’t make a difference anyway, the system is too convoluted”?

 

I’m here to say: it’s not too late, guys! Use your voice, use your vote, to protest the government’s policies by voting in people who have our best interests at heart, not special interests in their pockets.

 

Visit my new website: writeindependent.org and see how powerful our country is when ordinary people take a stand.

 

We can make a difference, one congressional member at a time. Stop the complicity and start acting like you own the government, and that they work for you. GET OUT AND VOTE!

 

P.S. Writeindependent.org is a non-profit nonpartisan website that

1. Offers regular people a simple way to run for federal office

2. Gives constituents like you a forum to post solutions or make complaints to the people who run our country.

3. It is a gift of democracy on the internet. If you want to learn who’s running in your district that isn’t supported by special interests, visit now and then refer writeindependent.org to everyone you know.

4. This needs to go viral, people! Let’s work together to save our economy and our ecology.

Posted in Everyday life | No Comments »

Meet me at the Healthy Living Festival!

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 »

Passionate Letter

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 »

Mark and Kozue

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 »

Winter’s Harvest

17. March 2011 by admin.

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

Field of Dreams

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 »

Cornerstone Elementary learns seed starting!

30. November 2010 by admin.

With the help of Sharona Byrnes, I assisted two classes of 5th grader volunteers in putting together a dozen flats for seed starting yesterday! Then we took the trays to the classrooms to plant winter crops. The kids had so much fun that they wanted to know if I were coming back every week. Here’s a poem I wrote to summarize the day’s learning experience:

We planted seeds to watch them sprout

The Master Gardener helped us out.

We started with seed starting soil and “flats”

And capillary action mats.

 

Because water molecules have an attraction

To each other, they cause capillary action.

 

So taking advantage of this natural phenomenon,

We placed wicking mats with the notch on

The side opposite the one where the mat flopped over

Into the tray below with the water.

 

We stirred seed starting soil with cottonseed meal

Then poured lots of water into the bucket to feel

The sponge-like clumps when kneaded well:

A mixture which filled each of 40 cells.

 

Placing one seed in each space with labels announcing

What veggies inside would soon be bouncing

Out of their seed coats, declaring their survival

And Cornerstone School Garden’s arrival!

 

How far the seed needs to go under

The blanket of soil is any wonder

Follow this rule and you can not miss:

How thick is the seed? The depth is this.

 

We learned some cool things, like how to promote

A parsley seed to burst its seed coat

With boiling water, then a soak overnight

To scarify and set it right.

 

We wanted to plant watermelons and such

We could not wait; we like them so much

But learned that with seed starting, the plan to uphold

Was to plant hot crops in hot weather, cold ones in cold.

 

So we planted our broccoli, Swiss chard, and kale

Our lettuces, dill, sage, cilantro without fail.

We planted collards, cauliflower, lavender too.

Artichokes, cabbage, and broccoli rabe for you.

 

What I wanted to know, but never asked

What the heck is Swiss Chard, please tell me fast!

I need to learn how to cook this weird thing

With foods like these, what does my future bring?

 

Chamomile tea dilution keeps away fungus

Called “damping off” which lives among us

And kills my sprouts, doing me no favor

Wherefore then I can’t taste the fruits of my labor.

 

There’s so much to know; so much more to learn

I can’t wait, so please Master Gardener, return!

I want to check the greenhouse and find out

What happened in my flat; did my sprouts sprout?

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

Pumpkin Pie Winner!

7. November 2010 by admin.

Add another Pie to my collection of Winning Pies: Pumpkin Pie! I made the graham cracker crust from scratch, and topped it with my own version of whipped cream. The sprinkles on top were crystallized ginger.

Posted in Everyday life | No Comments »

Judy consults!

18. June 2010 by admin.

Hi lovers of homegrown foods! I’ve been away from the blog, but not the garden. I have too many potential customers, and always more people asking to belong to my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) though I don’t have enough produce to have a CSA! It is always better to have more customers than product than the other way around, because if I can increase output, I can always find people who love really good food to purchase more.

So toward that end, I’ve finally gotten the snails and slugs under control and the fruit looks amazing, and it’s coming in furiously now. The strawberries are about 4 to 6 weeks later than usual because of huge climatic shifts (global warming?), which just means that you’ll be able to find in-season tomatoes all the way through January!

In addition to higher production, I am now offering my services as a fruit/veggie growing consultant. I have my first client now installing and filling their raised beds per my instructions. I offer the same services to you: to design and instruct or install (from beginning to end) your own home growing system. If you are interested, give me a call and we will see how to turn your back (or front!) yard into food.

The peaches are coming in right now, and they are delicious! Right now, Eva’s Pride (a yellow freestone peach) is producing well, but when the Mid Pride peaches (also yellow freestone) start coming in, there will be a huge cartload to sell or trade (see the Rancho Palos Verdes Fruit Exchange link on my homepage). Let me know if you want peaches via email or just drive over this Saturday, when I’ll be in the garden/on the farm.

Posted in Gardening classes and opportunities to learn, Everyday life, Vegetables and Fruit | No Comments »

Gloria the Glorious!

22. November 2009 by admin.

Meet Gloria, future Master Gardener and present helper extraordinaire! Gloria’s been helping me on Saturday mornings for the past month, and she’s amazing. She has the special “touch” the plants like, and everything she’s planted is growing well. My farmette wouldn’t be the same without her.

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