My schedule is feeling a bit like the above pictured pumpkin- overgrown and about to burst. This year more than any other my planting activities have been pushed to second and third priority. I’ve relied more on starts rather than seeds to get me through the seasons. With what you say? Well…the Urban Livestock Report and  associated activities for one. Also, the East Bay Urban Agriculture Alliance has been out and about, most recently at Eat Real 2011! (Thank you to all the amazing folks that came out to be a part of the event- some of which included Dog Island Farm, Soul Flower Farm, Agariana, Pesticide Watch, and Indie Craft Mistress to name only a few. A thanks goes to Paula and Brady too!)

However, I feel I am finally getting a hold of things…its just a bit later than I’ve ever planted before. But this is how we learn. It seems December in the Bay Area has been a tad warmer than usual the last couple of years. I know I’ve been able to plant in August for a successful November/December harvest. So, I’ve decided to push the envelope and plant some beans, brassicas and even cilantro now. Luckily I had started some lettuce and other leafy greens in August so those are in the ground now. I’ll add roots to that and we should be good for the winter months. Its been an excellent year for my tomatoes and eggplants but I have not been weighing in my harvest. My record keeping has been shyte this year. There is nothing special to report with the animals. The rabbits are doing very well. I introduced Virgl to a young buck and they are happily co-housing. Only thing about that is Virgl seems to be getting more food than usual as they eat together, so he is looking a wee bit overweight. I’ll be addressing that shortly. Gerti is great and Anabelle is a completely different animal from a year ago. Amazing.

I have turkeys again. Love those guys. My flock of hens are quiet and happy- though the egg eater is still at it, even with fake eggs in the nest to lessen the pecking reward. Question: What are best methods to curb an egg eater?

The Environmental Protection Agency has launched a website for urban agriculture projects.

The website provides information for people pursuing agriculture projects as a part of brownfield redevelopment and reuse.

Before a property can be redeveloped, contaminants must be removed, capped or contained in ways that limit exposure risks. Urban agriculture projects can help bind contaminants while providing further benefits to the property and surrounding community. An urban farm or community garden can improve the environment, reduce greenhouse emissions, and improve access to healthy, locally grown food. Other possible benefits include promoting health and physical activity, increasing community connections, and attracting economic activity. For more detailed information, please read our basic Information page.

Visitors to the Urban Agriculture web pages will find:

• Information on how to start an urban agriculture project;
• Success stories and information about ongoing urban agriculture projects;
• Resources & related links for information from EPA, other federal agencies and non-governemental organizations;
• Frequent questions about urban agriculture and the answers to them;
• Presentations and additional educational materials.

Come on out to Eat Real at Jack London Square the weekend! The East Bay Urban Agriculture Alliance is going to have a table all weekend. We’ll be sharing resources and talking to folks about converting their yards to food. The festival starts today, Friday, at 1PM and goes on through Sunday:

I had an opportunity to speak with Chef Jennifer Booker in Georgia about urban farming an Basil Talk Radio. Ms. Booker is the host for the online show affiliated with Basil Magazine.

Some days I’ll catch a sight, a smell or a sound and feel a rush of longing for my grandparents, especially Grandpa Frankie. When Autumn approaches I feel it more. After the Harvest Moon, pitru paksh begins (September 13th -27th, 2011). Its the Hindu version of Day of the Dead. In fact, our own practice of honoring those passed originally started in the same time year. It was the Catholic church that moved it to correspond with their All Saints Day. Otherwise it used to be the transition into Autumn. Dern those Catholics for messing around with our native practices, but they did keep great records. I am thankful for that.

So there I was rushing to return to the library the most awesome book of my summer reading 2011, Zapotec Science: Farming and Food in the Northern Sierra of Oaxaca. Before letting go of the book I reread the section “Maize Has a Soul.” Such a beautiful and thorough depiction of deeply rooted traditions with corn in Mexico. This of course got me hungry.

A quick stop in the Mi Tierra Linda store to pick up panela for my tacos had me feeling like a little grub worm snuggled in an apple. The smells, textures and music are such a comfortable place for me. I passed a vat of pickled pigs feet and had a rush of memory of grandpa introducing me to one of his favorite snacks. A quick glance through the tortillas and I found a “handmade” version by Mi Rancho (I had no idea the were an Oakland original!). I am always trying to find flour tortillas that even vaguely resemble my grandmothers. Even I cannot get that just-right-chewy texture.

I wish I had known to pay scientific attention to Grandma Lupe’s words  and actions. How can a child realize that one day the voices and all their knowledge will be gone?

All is not lost. I have remaining familia to guide me. I also have my greater family- those of us working to preserve our customs, our foods, our languages. I hope to share some of their voices with you in upcoming guest posts.

The beauty of food is that its a pure form of embodying a memory. You can bring it from memory to life and actually take it in your body. Today, the memory of gramps was embodied in the crazy good nopales I made wrapped in a chewy tortilla with panela and listening to Grupo Fantasma over lunch.

* Note: In the lower right hand corner of the image of my grandparents notice a cake plate. This cake plate has a pivotal place in my childhood memories. Grandma Lupe ALWAYS had something in that thing…any time of day…any season, bundt cakes, fruit cakes, occasion cakes, frosted cookies. Oh man.

The Thrive episode of the San Francisco goat lady has launched! Heidi and her family have worked and worked to grow food in the cold and blustery SF climate. She’s got a great heard of Nigerian Dwarf goats and a hoop house. That hop house has worked magic this summer. The lady has been able to grow tomatoes!

Check out their video:

This report is part of a larger national survey covering 48 cities. National data will be submitted for publication this Fall (click on image to download pdf of report).

I have been perplexed by the argument made by angry vegan activists for the last few months. I am mostly at odds with the degree of outrage, violence, deceptive communication, intolerance and racism in the arguments made against raising and eating your own animals. It says something when these are the tactics that have to be employed to persuade.

My summer reading was a series of books pertaining to human animal relationships- Hal Herzog’s Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat; Temple Gandin’s Animals Make Us Human; and Irene Pepperberg’s Alex and Me. I’ve also been reading on compassion- a recent books are Rick Hanson’s, Buddha’s Brain and Psaris & Lyons’ Undefended Love.

I cannot reconcile the unreasoning fervor I encounter with these vegan folks. In fact, I love listening to TED and recently listened to Joan Halifax speak on compassion and the true meaning of empathy. A few nuggets of wisdom gained from that talk is that moral outrage is an enemy of compassion. People with deep and practiced compassion have the ability to empathize and return to their baseline calm readily, which is called resilience. Lastly, that compassion has a strong back and a soft front. It reflects our capacity to be open to the world with an undefended heart.

This practice goes well beyond sentimental compassion and goes deep into humanity- illness, loss, pain, poverty, despair…the human condition. Compassion is to love in these circumstances, even when those suffering are not ready to change the circumstance. That is compassion, true and hard. You cannot force internal change. You cannot force compassion. You can only practice it.

I am a true believer that our own practice in compassion can transform the world and that the world needs transforming with love. It has been a hard lesson to take in that anger, fear, pity and moral outrage does nothing but block the way.

The Grand Lake Ace Garden Center allowed the East Bay Urban Agriculture Alliance to use their site for a group feed order drop off. It went swimmingly. We got the best price in town on organic animal feed. The staff was super friendly and helpful. It made for a very rewarding community experience.

Also, thanks to the Urban Farm Hand, Jeanette, for all the help!

Jeanette by the way is an entrepreneur with a burgeoning Bay Area Urban Farm Sitting business. She is a wild life biologist with a variety of experience in an urban farming setting. She has worked with goats (mini and standard), rabbits, chickens, ducks, turkeys and horses, as well as dogs, cats, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and pet birds. She has limited experience with pigs, sheep, and cows, and a lot of experience with game species such as pheasants and quail. She also has over 2 years experience as a veterinary technician in a conventional practice and a holistic practice. She can be contacted at: brewmiss96 at gmail dot com.

Its time to clear out summer crops that won’t make it past October and make room for starts for a winter garden. The summer has been a busy one so some crops have gotten passed their prime. The truth is, it is incredibly hard to keep up sometimes.  People frequently ask me “how much time does it take to keep up with the food and animals?” Through out the year, not nearly as much as you would think but at harvest time, you have to respond, clear out what is fruitless or lose what you have been working towards.  Quite a metaphor for life in fact.

Since our planting season out here is year round, it truly is an endless cycle- a blessing and a curse. That said, today’s gorgeous Harvest Moon is an excellent inspiration to get out there to harvest, save food, and replant. We have a chance of some light rain (just a chance) this week which means the weather will not be too hot and rainfall after planting (as long as its not torrential) works like magic on the plants to help them establish. It is the best condition to plant in.

Good winter crops for this area: leafy greens, winter squash, beans, and brassicas. There are many more but these are easy to start with.

Animal updates: Expect your hens to begin their molts so don’t freak out over dropped feathers. My rabbits already went through their fur molt. They looked pretty ragged when they went through it. Its amazing to me that even in light California weather their bodies know to go through the molt in preparation for winter. I love these rabbits!

The bees- I am woefully delayed in harvesting my honey but it must be done before the weather turns.