I know nothing. Its all trial and error. Lots of trial. Lots of error.

I believe we create our own suffering when we strive to attain the perishables, pleasure and happiness. When they occur its lovely. It’s a hot day outside followed by playing in a cool river. It’s a buoyant conversation with a person crossing your path. It’s the blink of a season that sour cherries are in the markets. Point is its momentary.

Yet even once the pleasurable moment has passed, vitality remains. Looking to the garden, once the plants are harvested the real potential and vitality is in the soil. The essential foundation for nourishment is dirt. I love the truth, optimism, and hope of that.

An empty bed may look dismal but in fact it is just preparation for a bountiful season.

Both success and failure are hard judgments to measure. They have a tendency to fold in on themselves, churning until they lose their discreet value. Over time what was a failure may be your greatest success and your once highly valued success, a limitation. Eventually, both success and failure just become a fertile mix from which life emerges. In the garden we often call this rich mix “shit.” And in the garden, shit happens, we get shit done, in fact we welcome shit by the truck loads in order to ensure sweet fruit.

After a month of major transitions, identity theft and general confusion, I am reveling in the wonder of lots of shit right now.

That said, lets check in on a few things.

The rabbits:

Of a litter of ten, two were lost within the first 24 hours. An additional little guy didn’t make it at week three. However, the remaining 7 bunnies are growing well. They’ve been weaned naturally and Lisa and Virgil are in good health.

Lord of Rabbit Death: 3; Esperanza: 9

The gorgeous 7′ tall fava bean plants: This year the favas were towering, almost ominously. I was dreaming of a significant fava bean harvest. Fava bean puree on crostini accompanied by white wine on a hot day. Then, the aphids hit. Not being in the garden on a daily basis left my plants to the merciless appetite of the bugs. They obliterated the plants leaving only shriveled black pods behind.

Aphids: 1; Esperanza: 0

However, I forgot, yeah forgot, that I had planted loads of green garlic and was joyed when I harvested them and realized I was now in possession of a delicious heap of fresh green garlic.

Lost crop: 0; Esperanza: 1

I also never mentioned that I attempted to smoke my own bacon. The initial stages worked out well.

Of all the things that could go wrong, I over salted (way over salted) during the curing. So while the meat did not go bad, it was not edible. Even my garbage tummy cat, Rosa, turned her nose to it. In fact, she ran.

Destroyer of Meat: 1; Esperanza: 0

However, quick culinary recovery was appreciated with a stunningly good Chocolate Stout Cake. The triple layer suggested adds a nice dramatic height to the cake.

Culinary Collapse: 0; Esperanza : 1

Lastly, farm cat Fred took a mighty dump on my bed but I got this stupid picture of his righteous feline self:

Fred: 1; Esperanza: 1

Woohoo! That’s 6 for disaster and 12 for me. I win!!

Transition is in the air. Looking to the gorgeous metaphor offered by Shreve Stockton at Honey Rock Dawn. “In every curve there’s a moment that feels out of control. A common reflex stemming from fear, from the feeling of loosing control, is to squeeze the brakes in the center of the curve. Yet if fear is allowed in, trouble often follows. The key to riding curves is in the acceleration, not the breaking. We are meant to join forces with the momentum. A slight, steady increase in speed helps maintain the desired course. Curves ask us to lean into the abyss, to understand that letting go a little is what carries us through. Mastery comes from trusting enough to look beyond where you can see.”

In the spirit of gliding through the curves gracefully, I am focusing on all the love and gardens growing around me. But first, check out this stunning mushroom knife the amazing Lauren Lyle gifted to me for graduation. No more stealing kitchen knives and hoping I don’t slip on the hiking trails.

Speaking of Lauren, I never posted about what I did with the hunks of pork I obtained from TLC Ranch. Some have yet to be cooked but the lovely loin was transformed into a tasty roasted loin accompanied by polenta made flocculant with lots of stirring and butter. At this point, I think Lauren could feed me dog poo and I’d be convinced it was the best dog poo I’ve ever eaten in my life, master chef that she is.

Also been spending lots of time with Stefani. She is such a whirl of hummingbird energy. Its only been by luck that I’ve ever spent time with her. She hosted a coop tour this weekend with apparently ~400 attendees arriving in a steady stream, by bike no less.

You have to go to her blog Sicilian Sisters Grow Some Food for the full story. I’m going to be an “apprentice” in Stefani’s massive backyard production farm this Spring/Summer.

I will also be giving a friendly hand to others who are eager to feed their family fresh beautiful home grown food. In fact, Saturday was spent digging some root bound agapanthas and a tree stump out of the way of a large garden bed.

Oh and let me not forget. A big thanks to Brad Burger, the manger of the Grand Lake Farmer’s Market. Brad allowed me and another volunteer organizer (thanks Diana) for Retire Ronald to talk to market goers and invite them to sign a petition asking McDonalds to stop targeting children with their marketing. The signed petitions are going to the Micky D’s shareholder meeting May 20th to demonstrate the level of community support nationally asking to retire the clown. If you haven’t signed click here to do it now. Ran into Bryant Terry and his lovely fiance, Jidan, there. Cool people. Great weekend. Excellent community.

Still the weeks rage on but there is reprieve with the gorgeous May blossoms. Also, the lawn I seeded in January came up nicely. I removed the old generic fescue I planted back in 2004 and had since been overtaken by the dreaded Bermuda Grass. This worthy foe of mine also threaded between the landscape fabric I had laid in the front. The result was long shafts of grass poking between all the plants and generally looking shabby. With a spare minute (or a few) I had in January, I raked five years of mulch off the front, separated the good dirt and relayed the fabric. I saved the composted mulch and used it to freshen up the lawn side of the yard, along with some glorious rabbit poo. Then I seeded No Mow Lawn from Pacific Earth. No Mow is a low traffic shade grass that apparently is very short and doesn’t need to be mowed (clever name). The pictures I had seen conveyed a mounding flowy natural look so I decided to sprinkle in alysums and poppies to give a Alpine Meadow look.

I’ve had lots of gardeners tell me how unreliable seeding grass is. I’ve had luck with this patch of land. So it is with great gardening pride that I bring you the before and after.

Also, the area where I went nuts with the Crimson Clover is coming in nicely.

The weeks are moving fast now. Quick recap:

With the heavy spring rains this year, the peas finally grew! This amounted to about 1lb yield. This was my third year trying. The key- lots of water.

The kits are growing rapidly…

As are the kids around me (Happy Birthday Violet!).

The honeybees are swarming again,

and again.

Check out the Terra Verde radio program on issues of urban agriculture, food security, and environmental justice with innovative programs in Oakland and around the country. Hell to the yeah.

This year the family was a bit spread out for the holidays. However, I was determined to make a gingerbread something for Christmas. In the past we had gingerbread  house competitions but it ended in tears for some. Since it was my non-baking brothers coming over for the holiday, we tried our hands at a group project. This led to the creation of a Gingerbread Guillotine. Morbid as it is, it was quite a cheery project.

The week is speeding by but before it is slips away, I must mention the food systems work happening in Oakland. A new report is out called Cultivating The Commons: An Assessment for the Potential of Urban Agriculture on Oakland’s Public Lands, by Nathan McClintock and Jenny Cooper. The report presents the amount of public land potentially available for urban agricultural use. By using aerial photos, geographic information systems (GIS), and site visits the authors identified 1,200 acres of open space, most of which are within 1/4 mile of public transportation. They believe with this land available for urban agriculture, the Oakland community could produce between 5%-10% of the city’s vegetable needs.

The report offers a helpful discussion on food deserts and excellent graphics to illustrate how potential sites might be used. It is worth the read. If you want to get deeper information on Oakland’s urban political ecology, check out Nathan’s paper on From Industrial Garden to Food Desert: Unearthing the Root Structure of Urban Agriculture in Oakland.

Perhaps dovetailing with this effort is the recent news that Kellogg Foundation has selected Oakland school district as one of the nine school districts nationally to receive a collective sum of $32, 450,00 over a three year period to increase access to healthy food and physical activity for vulnerable children and their families.

I recently found a fun toy online called Wordle. The New York Times uses it often to provide a unique visual of words. I think it is interesting as a sort of content analysis display. It displays frequently used words from a provided text. I decided to check out a visual comparison of presentations by some of the significant names in the today’s food movement: Alice Waters, Michael Pollan, Wendell Berry, and Vandana Shiva. It actually does provide a snapshot of their priorities. Enjoy.

Reconnecting: A Culinary Revolution (Alice Waters 2009)

We Are Headed Toward a Breakdown in Our Food System (Michael Pollan 2009)

The Pleasure of Eating (Wendell Berry)

Monocultures, Monopolies, Myths And The Masculinisation Of Agriculture (Vandana Shiva 1998)