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Guest Spot on Sustainable Living Radio Show

This past Monday, September 10, I was privileged to be a guest on the Sustainable Living WMNF radio program, which is hosted with grace and skill by Jon Butts and Tanja Vidovic. I’ve been on this high-quality radio program before with fellow Florida permaculture designers, but this time I was on to talk about my book.

Synchronistically, the segments before me were 1) Tanja talking about her recent incident of being “trespassed” from her local park for (peacefully) objecting to application of toxic weed-killer; and 2) an interview with Joseph Romm, author of the book Climate Change: What Everyone Needs to Know.

I say “synchronistically” because both of these segments underscore very strongly the importance of reducing the human footprint, which is the core message of my book.

1) The human compulsion to label certain plants “invasive species,” and eradicate “weeds,” is ironic given that we humans are the most invasive species of all. If we would just rein ourselves in, and not insist on exercising total control over so much space on this planet, it would go a long way toward solving our problems. This is a key point of my book. Personally, I think our parks, and the planet as a whole, would be better with far more forest and far less human-maintained turf-grass.

2) Another key point of my book is that climate change (and pollution) are hard to wrap one’s brain around if we focus only on the planetary scale, and on trying to mandate behavior change on the part of corporations and government. But if we focus on our own daily actions (which, added up over the course of our lives, and multiplied by the millions and billions of other people doing those same actions each day, most assuredly add up), we will naturally influence corporations and the government through the power of demand (or removal of demand).
On “my” segment of the show, I was interviewed along with fellow guest Anni Ellis, of Anni Ellis Garden Design Inc. With a background of fine art and interior design, and drawing on feng shui and minimalist concepts, Anni creates outdoor spaces that entice people outdoors to enjoy their gardens in ways they never had before.

This is also something I emphasize in my book: Many of us humans have become so removed from nature that we are afraid of it. It’s a vicious cycle: The more afraid we get, the more removed; the more removed we get, the more afraid. Outdoor spaces that are comfortable and attractive to their intended users entice people outdoors and help break that cycle of disconnectedness with nature. Which makes people and the planet happier and healthier.

If you didn’t catch the show with me on it, don’t worry. All of WMNF’s shows are available on their show page on WMNF.org for at least a week after they air; through the WMNF app, and many are on Mixcloud. These shows are also available by podcast. Visit WMNF’s home page and podcast page to tune in.

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Food-growing Secrets of a Brown-thumbed Gardener

Do you get online and compare yourself to the rockstars of your world? (However you define “your world,” be it a profession or a sport or what have you.) And end up feeling discouraged?

Well, one category where I fall into that comparison-itis is gardening, particularly food gardening. Unfortunately, despite having a great desire to have abundant homegrown fresh food, I not only tend to be lazy and impatient, but also, seem to have been born as one of those “people who kill plants.”

When I hear of someone who’s growing all their own food, including fruit trees and other higher-gradient stuff, and making a whole homecooked meal from their garden (and maybe even raising the trees to produce the wood that they then make into charcoal for their grill — that was a fictitious example to inject humor into my case of “Martha-Stewart-itis of food gardening”, but I’m sure such people are out there doing that!), sometimes I just want to cry and give up.

But I have no wish to give up! So I persist in my efforts to learn and grow from where I’m at right now. Though my successes have been modest at best, I have expanded my repertoire and ended up producing some delicious nutritious food, even when my “yard” was just a couple of pots, or a piece of ground no bigger than a table.

Here are a few tips I’ve picked up so far over my years of food-gardening. If I can do it you can too! (By the way, my plant-killing ratio over the years has dropped from pretty much 100% to only about 50%, a rate that can be compensated for by persistence!)

• Learn your local edible “weeds” and wild plants. First and foremost on my list of gardening tips, find the food that you don’t actually have to garden because it grows for free! It’s shocking how much of what we consider “weeds” is edible, nutritious, and tasty. And it grows lush and stout with no artificial irrigation or other human intervention! If you’re willing to have a yard that changes with the seasons, you can have fresh wild greens for many months of the year or even year-round in some places. No yard? No problem — forage! Even in urban areas a huge amount of fresh food is growing. Go on a “weed walk” or workshop with a local expert; also consult the guides published by your local native plant society.

• Container gardening. No yard? No problem! I was amazed at how much can fit into a container garden. I had four kinds of delicious greens growing in a pot at my home in an RV park where I lived in Austin, Texas. At the moment I have about a hundred tiny papaya tree seedlings sprouted in two pots.

• Make friends with your local nursery. Buy seeds from them, but also, look into their selection of veggie seedlings. Starts from a nursery were a goddess-send to me when I was first getting started, and I still rely on them quite a bit. Baby plants from your local nursery are more likely to be locally started and cultivated than starts you purchase from a big-box store, which may have been trucked in from thousands of miles away (and therefore, in addition to being weakened by long-distance transport, will not be as well-adapted to local conditions). Also, your local nursery offers “homegrown” expertise and customer service. NOTE: If you’re going to pick your local grower’s brains, be sure and buy from them too! Don’t ask them a bunch of questions and then use that expert info to buy from a big-box store.

• Get on the internet! Local gardening groups; Google; YouTube. You might be surprised — even many of my skilled gardener friends are not too proud to google for details on (for example) how to plant a mango seed!

• Use your local ag university; county ag extension office. UF-IFAS here in Florida produces a wealth of information including the spectacularly useful graphics shown in this picture; there’s probably something similar in your area. Your tax dollars are helping to pay for it; make use of it!

• Love Thy Neighbor! Connect with your neighbors who garden. Oftentimes they will have surplus seedlings they’re trying to give away. (And they might have produce they want to share rather than have it go bad.) Accept their offers to share the bounty (which might include their expertise — gardeners tend to be generous that way).

• Talk to strangers! As they say, a stranger is just a friend you haven’t met yet. See a fruit tree in someone’s front yard? Knock on the door and ask if you can pick some. I saw an orange tree growing in a yard, knocked on the door. When the guy told me sure but warned me that the fruit was bitter, I informed him I wanted to make marmalade, and I offered to drop off a jar for him when I had made some (which I did, subsequently). It’s not growing food per se but it is growing community … which can lead to growing food.

• Work on a farm! Back when I was living in Austin, I was fortunate to have several small organic farms within bicycling distance of my urban home. I worked as a volunteer for a couple of summers on one of those farms. In exchange for my labor-hours, I got knowledge, experience, and all the fresh peak-of-season produce I could take home.

• Meet those “Martha Stewarts”! Those food-growing superhumans, those horticultural Martha Stewarts whose Facebook posts make me want to cry and give up … turns out they tend to be extremely generous and eager to share tips and knowledge. They love growing food, they care about the environment, and they WANT everyone to be able to do the same. Connect with them on social media or in your neighborhood.

• Get out of the way! One concept I really had to wrap my brain around, was that after all, plants WANT to grow. Sometimes all they need is for me to get out of their way. I believe that excess worry can create bad vibes. Sometimes when I come back from a trip out of town, my garden looks better than when I left! A nice reminder to “let go and let God/dess.”

• The more the merrier! Community gardens are a great way to get started. If there’s one near you, get involved as a volunteer/helper for others even if you prefer to have your own garden at your own home. In some places, Master Gardeners volunteer huge amounts of their time and expertise to shepherd users through every step of the process. Take advantage of this pool of expertise, as well as the shared tools and the morale-boosting face-to-face company.

• Don’t fight nature. Don’t try to garden in the hardest season, whatever that is for your area. Here in Florida where I live, summer is the hard season. Or if you have to garden in the hard season, at least don’t beat yourself up or think it’s reflective of you if your efforts don’t bear much “fruit” (or veggies). This took me a long time to learn! I finally realized I was trying to garden during the hottest time in Florida, when even some experienced gardeners and farmers give it a rest.

• Sprout it out! Bean sprouts are easy to grow. Many kinds of beans will sprout in a jar. I’ve had the most luck with mung beans and lentils, both purchased from my local Asian market (though ones from the regular supermarket have worked also). Simply get a large mason jar, pour some dried beans in. Don’t fill it too full; less than a quarter full is good. Add water and let the beans soak overnight or for 8 hours. Drain off the excess water. From then on, rinse the sprouts once or twice a day. You’ll have nutritious sprouts for days! Sprouts are tasty, nutritious, cheap food you can grow even if you live in a high-rise apartment with no windows or balconies. I’ve even taken them, in the jar, on business trips as travel food.

And last but far from least,

• BE PERSISTENT. I cannot overstate the importance of persistence in gardening. Despite my congenital brown thumb I have managed to grow a considerable amount of greens, potatoes, and even some fruit trees at some of the places where I’ve lived — and until recently I’ve almost always been a renter. I’ve found that greens are easiest, but maybe that’s just because they are what I want most to be able to grow. Collard greens, mustard greens, arugula, cabbage, callalloo spinach are among those I’ve grown so far. Your mileage may vary as far as what you find easiest to grow. But regardless, keep at it! In the words of Winston Churchill: “Never, never, never give up.”

Recommended Resources:
• Infographics on “What to Plant for Each Month.” This website is for Florida, but you might have one for your state too. This page is part of the Gardening Solutions website. Gardening Solutions is a program of the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). I am bowled over at the free public resources that exist. There is support on many levels for food-growing.

• NextDoor.com site for neighbors to build community. Once you type in your zipcode, you’ll be able to join your local neighborhood. I have met many many more of my neighbors in person via connecting on NextDoor! Neighbors in my area mainly use the site to share information about neighborhood meetings, crime & safety, and local business. Recently I have started posting to solicit interest in exchanging seedlings and garden expertise. I’ve met some wonderful likeminded folks this way, as well as received many plants and given many seedlings away too! (Yes, this PERSISTENT brown-thumbed gardener has reached the point where she too has baby plants and seeds to give away! As I said before, if I can you can too.)

• Nice article in Mother Earth News, on the distinction between hybrid, heirloom, and open-pollinated seeds.

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Interview on “Shades of Green” Radio Show

Check out my most recent interview, by the excellent green radio show “Shades of Green.” I’m really pleased with how it turned out! This may be the most succinct overview I’ve managed to provide so far of my book and the Riot for Austerity. Thank you to John Hoffner and the other hosts for their journalistic and editing skills that produced this 20-minute segment. I tend to ramble and digress, so I’m sure it was no mean feat!

“Shades of Green” is based in Austin TX, and has been on the air since 2007. (Fun fact: I was privileged to be one of the original co-hosts, with John Hoffner and Ken McKenzie-Grant.) The current hosts are John Hoffner, Stacy Guidry, Reed Sternberg, and Amy Stansbury. You can find out more about these excellent journalists and eco-activists on the show’s website.

In case you have trouble with the uploaded mp4 I provided above, here’s a link to the podcast on Shades of Green’s website.

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Fall Shopping!

(Since I grew up in places where leaves change color, September still means “Fall” to me.)

Today’s finds:
– Enough additional stainless-steel ware to host a decent-sized party.
– Close-toed shoes for winter and for traveling inland. (My Minnetonka suede moccasins, purchased new in 2006, finally wore out for real; now that I live on the Atlantic coast of Florida these gently used Hush Puppies — made in USA, same as my old Minnetonkas — for $2 will do!)

All items came from Halifax Health Hospice thrift store, total $9.85 (silverware items were $.25 each). I’ve always been a fan of non-matching silverware, because then, unlike with a “proper matching set,” it doesn’t stand out if pieces are missing or different! And it fits my urban-rustic-bohemian aesthetic.

Riot for Austerity notes: Thrift-store purchases, being donated items, don’t add to one’s consumer-goods total under “Riot for Austerity” rules. According to statistics used in the Riot for Austerity, the U.S. average for consumer purchases comes to $10,000 per year per person. The Riot calls for us to reduce our footprint by 90% of the U.S. average; accordingly, the Riot target for purchases of consumer goods is $1,000 per year.

Since I mainly buy thrift (when I buy stuff rather than make it or scrounge it), and donated items do not count in the Riot total, I almost always come well under the $1,000 target without even trying. This year is an exception because I needed to get a new roof on my house. The Riot rules say to count necessary home improvements at 50% of the total ticket amount. Since the total I paid for my new roof was $7,000, I have to count $3,600 of that. So far, my Riot consumer total for the year is still under $4,000, or less than 40 percent of the U.S. average in the “consumer purchases” category.

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My Lovely New Deep-Green Well: Replacing Electric Pump with Manual

Bye-bye electric pump! It looks like you served the previous homeowners for a good long time. Now your electric switch doesn’t work, and I feel I can in good conscience replace you with something quieter and simpler.

When I bought this house a few months ago, I was delighted to discover it had a working well and that the water was sweet, not salty or sulfurous.

The pump was electric but a good friend who is handy just helped me replace it with a manual pump. (I ordered the pump online from Lehman’s, a supplier of hand-tools, hand-powered kitchen appliances and other goodies highly conducive to low-footprint living). Nice boost in household disaster-preparedness!

Note: I’m not mechanically inclined, and neither do you need to be to do a project like this. I suggest grabbing a friend or neighbor who is “handy” and likes to teach. You’ll expand your knowledge, have a great time (even if there are some frustrating moments when you hit a glitch, as we did numerous times), and at the end of it all, you’ll have a new asset for you, your family, and your community.

You could also watch YouTube tutorials but I find that a live human companion boosts the joy, the learning, and the odds of success. Particularly for someone like me who tends to get discouraged easily by unfamiliar challenges in the physical universe. Person-to-person learning is gold! And really what a delightful way to spend a day, or part of a day.

If treating your “project expert” to a nice meal doesn’t feel like sufficient compensation for their help, you could offer money or barter. You might have a skill they would love to learn!

I’m fortunate to have a very close friend who totally lives for projects like this (he calls it “old man syndrome”, meaning a strong innate drive to pass on his knowledge and skills — lucky me!), and is happy simply to be taken out to lunch or dinner.

This project was actually pretty simple. For me, since I had no experience, it seemed complicated at first, but once I observed and helped, it’s totally understandable and if I had to I would probably be able to do another one by myself, or help someone else do one. Here, in brief, is what we did:

– Remove the electric pump by sawing the PVC pipe that connected it with the well. Charlie used his small electric saw but a handsaw would’ve done OK too. The electric pump had been installed sideways on the ground, so it was joined to the well pipe by an elbow joint. Once we sawed it off below the elbow curve, there was just PVC pipe sticking up vertically out of the ground.
– Join another piece of PVC to the piece sticking out of the ground. For the joining, we used a coupling component made of rubber. The pump was meant to join up with a 1-1/4″ piece of pipe, while the pipe sticking up out of the well is 1-1/2″. Therefore we needed a coupler designed to join those two different sizes of pipe. Couplers are basic everyday things sold in hardware stores, and they come in various sizes, such as “1-1/2 to 1-1/4.” They can be rigid PVC, or can be flexible neoprene like the one we went with.
– The length of the add-on PVC was determined by the height I wanted the pump to be, both for purposes of being able to fit a watering-can or bucket underneath, and also for purposes of allowing me to pump water on a regular basis without straining my back. This height, in my case, ended up being about the height of three cinder-blocks.
– Mixed a small amount of concrete in a bucket. Easy peasy, no harder than making mud-pies.
– Stacked up cinder-blocks and filled the hollow part with concrete. The concrete set very quickly. This heavy stand keeps the pump from wobbling, and the pipe possibly breaking, when in use.
– The pump has screw-holes to attach it to whatever surface it’s sitting on. Charlie used a masonry bit to drill holes in the concrete, and attached the pump to the concrete with special screws that have anchors designed to attach them securely to concrete.

Recommended resource: Lehman’s, “Experts in Living a Simpler Life Since 1955.” Diverse product selection; well-deserved reputation for excellent customer service.

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Outdoor Dishwashing Station and Other Old-Fashioned Conveniences

Setting up a little outdoor dishwashing station is great for a potluck or other gathering. Plates can get scraped directly into the compost bin, a handy alternative to having to cart the plates indoors, scrape the food scraps off the plates and into a collection bucket, and then have to haul that collection bucket and the collected dishwater back outdoors.

I’m lucky to have this concrete slope (though it’s not visible in this photo, the ground slopes downward to the right of the dishpan), onto which I can dump the dishwater and it flows downward to the mini check-dam I created for irrigation. (Dishwater in my household uses the very minimum necessary detergent — or maybe just a bit of vinegar and baking soda — and is safe for many plants.)

Trash tips: For a larger gathering, I have buckets labeled “trash”, “compost”, “recycling”, and also (if people bring disposable silverware) “plastic silverware” (which I usually wash and reuse multiple times).

This past weekend’s gathering at my house was not large and the food was very simple. So, other than having one recycling bucket, I handled things on my own rather than ask guests to scrape their dishes into the compost bucket and such.

When hot dishwater is needed (for oily foods, plastic dishes etc.), I sometimes heat it in the solar oven. Yesterday I used the electric kettle to heat 1.75L of water which was plenty. Speaking of dishes, I love using china dishes at a potluck! How many times have you seen a china cabinet in someone’s dining room, jam-packed with generations of beautiful dishes that hardly ever (or never) get used? I inherited SIXTEEN china plates, and many matching bowls, from my grandmother, and I know she is smiling down from heaven to see them in daily use. On a practical note, china is much easier to clean than plastic plates and bowls (which seem to want to hang on to oil and grease).

It’s interesting how the permaculture design principles “make use of onsite resources” and “closely observe nature” in this case also included observing and utilizing a slope (natural dune) that had been paved with a manmade material (concrete).

I like my outdoor dishwashing station so much that I’ve set up a permanent outdoor dishwashing station next to the newly installed manual well-pump. It’s very convenient to wash dishes outdoors because the food can get scraped right into the compost, and the water can go right onto the plants — saves you from having to maneuver a bucketful of collected dishwater from your kitchen to outdoors.

At the potluck, the outdoor dishwashing station sparked nostalgic conversation about how fun and simple it is to do dishes (and laundry) on camping trips. People relax their fussy standards and conventional notions, and the stuff still gets clean! Under the stars, in the fresh air, a mundane task is transformed into a sweet time. And good exercise, stretching and bending!