The Learning Garden (Almost) Daily

Local Poets to Support The Learning Garden!

2012-01-21T15:56:00.000-08:00

Three Los Angeles-Based Poets Will Read Verses on Love and Nature to Benefit

The Learning Garden

A Haven for Students and Community Members Alike

Jill Lurie

Just in time to fund a final winter harvest, free community classes and a highly anticipated spring planting, three local poets – Jill Lurie, Orchid Black and Tatiana Sulovska – are coming together to read their own words to raise funds for The Learning Garden at Venice High School.

The one-acre site – a secret garden just off Venice Boulevard – is home to a myriad of fruit and flowering trees; fruits and vegetables; demonstration gardens, water conservation gardens; composting facilities and two greenhouses that shelter seedlings grown for local school gardens and community members.

Orchid Black

The Learning Garden on the Campus of Venice High School is an inspirational garden, a refuge in the concreted world of today. Students from Venice High and the community come to the garden to learn how to grow their own food and to share in a community. The Garden has been pivotal in the creation of many other school gardens and shows how the community can help support our schools in this time of budget cuts.

Tatiana Sulovska

The poets will read love and nature-inspired verses for this Valentine’s Day-themed event. For a $15 suggested donation, guests will enjoy the beautiful garden setting, delicious treats and refreshments and a signed copy of Jill Lurie’s book of poems entitled “Ginger Roots: Plantings of a Future Dreamer.”

Master Gardener David King will also lead a tour of the garden after the reading.

For more information on The Learning Garden at Venice High School, and this event, please contact The Learning Garden.

FEBRUARY 12th, 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM

Suggested donation, $15

Hot coffee and tea will be served

Some yummy 'baked goods' too.

Our January 2012 Schedule

2012-01-06T21:25:00.000-08:00

Venice High School Students' lettuces!

Under the 'better-late-than-never' heading, here is the schedule for this month at The Learning Garden:

WHAT TO DO, WHEN TO DO IT; GROWING FOOD IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

January 7, 2012 Saturday

10:00am - Noon

On the Garden Patio

Learn the secrets of experienced gardeners to grow your best garden yet! David King, with about 50 years of experience, will take you through the things you need to do to get your garden started this year. $25.00 at the Gate and discounts for prepaying for multiple classes. Dress warm, bring a cup if you want hot coffee or hot tea! We go on rain or shine...

LESSONS FROM THE LEARNING GARDEN WEBCAST

January 11, 2012 Wednesday

6pm

On the internets

Free with this invitation!

Have you ever wondered how The Learning Garden began? Or how you can duplicate this project in your own neighborhood? We invite you to join us on a live MedicineCrow.com webcast where David Crow meets with co-founder Julie Mann, and Gardenmaster, David King to discuss the history of the garden, its importance to our community, and ups, downs, ins and outs of creating a unique garden project.

As our guests, all you have to do is register at this link, and you will be instructed how to attend - either by phone or online.

GROWING FOOD IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA,

January 12, 2012

Thursday

8 PM

Gardenmaster David King presents a growing food workshop as a a part of the series, Analog Living Series at Crash Space, 10526 Venice Blvd, Culver City CA 90232

WESTSIDE PRODUCE EXCHANGE
January 14, 2012
Saturday
9 to 12 Noon
The Learning Garden Patio

The Westside Produce Exchange is a monthly free exchange of fruits, vegetables and edible herbs in the Westside of Los Angeles, California. Contact them to learn how to share your excess vegetables with others. They also maintain an active Facebook page.

SEED LIBRARY OF LOS ANGELES (SLOLA) Monthly Meeting

January 14, 2012

Saturday

2:30 PM

Grow from seed, save your own seed. SLOLA's monthly meetings always include a short course on something to do with seed saving. This month, David King will help us through our New Year Seed Saving Resolutions!

Also election of our new officers takes place as well as checking out seeds from the Library!

PLANT PROPAGATION FOR GARDENERS

January 15, 2012

Sunday

1:30 PM

Offered by UCLA Extension, Plant Propagation is a 10 week fun-filled and exciting course that covers making new plants from seed, cuttings, grafting and every other way you can make new plants! Register through UCLA Extension.

SEED SAVING, HOW AND WHY

January 28, 2012

11 AM to Noon

Santa Monica Library, Fairview Branch

Assiduously avoiding the politics of seed saving, for about an hour David King will show us how to save seeds emphasizing the easy ones to save.

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW VICTORY GARDENERS RE-UNITE!

January 28, 2012

1 to 3 PM
At our picnic tables

Students who have attended any of our Victory Garden classes are invited to return to take stock of progress and get fired up for the new year!

For those of you interested in Victory Garden courses, in a few weeks we'll be introducing our Spring course list for 2012!

A final heads up for February: We will have a trio of exceptionally talented poets on our patio for a poetry reading just before Valentine's Day. Suggested donation of $15 at the door; warm drinks and cookies will be served... more details as we get them.

One of our New Years' Resolutions is to get MORE ART in the Garden. I have always wanted poetry reads, singer-songwriter afternoons and full moon workdays. If you have ideas or want to help make any of this a reality, drop us a line: It can't be done alone, but with a little help, we could all have a lovely To Do list! :-) Happy New Year everyone!

Hope to see you in the Garden soon... Join the Occupy The Learning Garden Movement...

david

It's December Already? Really?

2011-11-29T17:39:00.001-08:00

Time flies whether you're having fun or not! But it just seems like 2011 was getting underway and look, it's time to learn how to write 2012 on checks, provided you still use checks.

Last Month's Thanksgiving Prayer

Last month's events - including our 7th Annual Thanksgiving Potluck - were so awesome, you don't want to miss what goes on at the Garden. Always more low key than the rest of the hub bub of the city, we are also invariably more community oriented and much more relaxing. Already we have a poetry reading scheduled with several of LA's best poets on our patio - we'll have our usual schedule of classes with several offerings of The Essentials of Seed Saving, plus the Extension classes and a feast of new classes on gardening, preserving the harvest and other skills of interest. Expect/anticipate a book publishing party some time in the first half of the year! We are still hoping to have a monthly singer/songwriter showcase - if you want to participate in that - or help schedule it, let the Gardenmaster know!

The Learning Garden has always tried to keep a low profile in December and we don't schedule so much - there are enough parties to go to and some of us aren't huge party fans. No names please. Here's our lineup for the month:

03 December 9 to Noon - the Gardenmaster speaks his peace about December gardening and tells you What To Do and When To Do It - days are short and so's time, but what can you do in the Garden? Lot's as it turns out - throw out all the books from back east that talk about putting the garden 'to bed!' To bed, indeed, this is one of our most promising growing seasons and if you haven't started yet, you better get busy! $25 at the gate - dress warmly! More info? Leave a response below!

10 December - Our friends from the Westside Produce Exchange will be on site exchanging your excess produce with others so you get their extras and they get yours - much less goes to waste! Drop off your goodies at The Learning Garden (we have signs up - enter from Walgrove!) from 9 to noon. Volunteer (if you can) from noon to 1:00 PM to sort out the produce into the different bags - you can contact them through their page on Facebook and get in on the action. You can be dubious, but it works!

22 December - 6:30 PM until the fire goes out - we celebrate the Winter Solstice. In a season when we make ourselves so crazy to buy gifts, buy cards - mail them in time, prepare fattening food for everyone to eat (and try to not put on weight ourselves) this is a real treat! No gifts, no cards, no getups to get up into, nothing but the sheer pleasure of reflection by the fire on a time gone past and contemplation of the time that is to come. Sweetly affirming our humanity in a sea of madness surging in quest of items of dubious value. Leave it all behind, dress warmly, bring something warm to drink and maybe a baked good... we will have Camille on hand as our guide in our celebration and our keeper of the flames.

07 January - 9 to Noon - guess what? What To Do is back! Come on out, support your resolution to have your best garden ever! More later in the month.

NB. The Gardenmaster will be on a one week writing sabbatical in the month of December. We'll proclaim the dates as soon as we have it worked out - if you'd like the chance of a lifetime to play a gardenmaster, let us know and we'll schedule you for a 3½ hour shift (AM or PM - as you like it) or for a whole day if you feel the urge!

Happy Holidays for everyone!

Hope to see you in the Garden in December!

david

November In The Learning Garden...

2011-11-18T20:51:00.001-08:00

Happy 59th Old Boy!

Well, it's a bit late, but better late than never... We've had several birthdays over these last few days, a lot in late October and earlier. In the photo on hte left, between raindrops, we celebrated my 59th in the tool shed at the Garden! A wonderful intimate (small space that tool shed!) gathering for the day. The lovely lady at the right side of the photo is my sister, Edie Neiman.

But the month isn't over yet and so let's get everyone up to speed:

19 November, 9-12 - Master Gardener Herb Machelender teams up with Steve Hofendahl of TreePeople to do another one of their fruit tree pruning classes and, as a bonus, The Learning Garden will get our fruit trees pruned!

19 November, 11:30 Seed Library of Los Angeles Best Practices committee meets on the TLG patio getting ready for the following meeting of the Seed Library as a whole. 1:00PM Executive Committee for SLOLA meets on the patio, then at 2:30 PM the whole of SLOLA meets - Kathryn Brown will do a winter time checklist presentation

24 November 11 to 2:00PM The Learning Garden hosts our Annual Thanksgiving Brunch this coming Thursday (Thanksgiving Day). We have turkey and mashed potatoes but hope you'll come with other fixins for our brunch; salads, vegetable sides, meatless alternatives; desserts, lots of desserts! The Learning Garden community hosts the clients and the staff of Program for Torture Victims in this wonderful community celebration of all that for which we are grateful. Food service starts at noon, but join us at 11 for socialization and meet one another. Make a new friend or 'remake' an old one.

03 December 9 to noon, our monthly series of What To Do &; When To Do It meets in the Garden for the latest scoop on what to do in December. It's $25 at the gate and the best deal in town for a garden class. Not only is it informative, it's fun and you'll get to do a little gardening alongside the Gardenmaster!

We'll have a Winter Solstice celebration in December as well as the Westside Produce Exchange one Saturday, so keep an eye out for the December list of to do's!

Happy Thanksgiving all!

david

Series of Articles in The Nation

2011-09-28T23:02:00.000-07:00

"Just as dramatic is the struggle for the seed. More than 1,000 independent seed companies were swallowed up by multinationals in the past four decades, so today just three—Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta—control about half the proprietary seed market worldwide." from an essay by Frances Moore Lappé, titled, "The Food Movement: Its Power andPossibilities" from a series of essays featured in The Nation. Other essays in the series come from Raj Patel, Vandana Shiva, EricSchlosser, and Michael Pollan and they are all worth a few seconds to read.

david

Growing Food In Southern California

2011-09-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

...at The Learning Garden this Saturday, October 1st, with Gardenmaster David King.

This 9 to noon workshop centers on what to do in the coming months as Southern California heads into our 'other Spring' and one of our best, and least understood, growing seasons! You'll learn what to plant and how to plant it, what varieties go best here and why and all about getting the best garlic you will ever have!

Dress to get into the garden and get dirty, The Learning Garden can be cooler than you think any time of year, so dress in layers. Coffee and garden-made mint tea will be served please bring your own cup!

Parking is available on Venice Blvd or Walgrove Avenue. Email greenteach@gmail.com for more information. No need to RSVP – class goes on no matter what! $25 at the gate...

Hope to see you all there! It's a good time to plant right now, one of our best gardening seasons ever!

The Learning Garden Closes Today At 2:00 PM

2011-09-22T07:43:00.000-07:00

The Garden closes today at 2:00 while we all troop south for SLOLA's SEED Award presentation at the Hawthorne Ayers Hotel. We resume normal hours tomorrow and have normal hours on Saturday for PESTO DAY . On Sunday we are closing at 3:00 so the Gardenmaster can pick up his Spirit of Venice award from the Abbot Kinney Festival Association.

Busy week!

david

David King To Be Presented 'Spirit of Venice' Award!

2011-09-19T13:34:00.000-07:00

Just three days after accepting the "SEED" Award from the South Bay Business Environmental Coalition on September 22, DAVID KING will be honored with the "Spirit of Venice" Award at the Abbot Kinney Festival!

Comeout and celebrate with us as David -- the Founder and Chair of SLOLA andGardenmaster of The Learning Garden at Venice High School -- receives this award at the annual Abbot Kinney Festival on Sunday, September 25.

The awardsceremony takes place on the Andalusia Stage (across the street fromIntelligentsia) beginning at around 3:15 pm. Winners of The Spirit of VeniceAwards are nominatedby the community for their contributions to the heart and soul of Venice. David King'snomination was unanimously agreed upon by the committee members!

Oneof Southern California’s most popularcommunity events, the 27th annual Abbot Kinney Festival will be held on Sunday,September 25, 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Held on the last Sunday of September since1984, the FREE community festival features local artisans, live music, greatfood, family entertainment, and lots more.

Checkout the indie band line-up at the Andalusia Stage produced by Milkmade. Headover to the Brooks Stage for live music and deejay tunes curated by L.A. Recordand dublab. The Palms Stage at The Brig will showcase popular deejays fromdublab.

Organizedby the Abbot Kinney Festival Association (AKFA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, theannual Abbot Kinney Festival has grown in size and popularity to become one ofthe largest of its kind in the country, attracting nearly 150,000 people.Proceeds from sponsorships, booth exhibitor fees, official merchandise, andevent concessions benefit youth and families through the AKFA Community GrantsProgram.

Duringthis year’s Abbot Kinney Festival, beginning at 3:15 PM on the Andalusia Stage,the AKFA board of directors will award grants to the following Venice nonprofits: 826LA, Beyond Baroque,Inside Out Community Arts, Venice Arts, Venice Oceanarium, and A Window BetweenWorlds.

Inaddition, the 2011 recipients of the AKFA’s Spirit of Venice Awards will berecognized. Nominated by the community for their contributions to the heart andsoul of Venice,they include the following:

•David King, Garden Master of Venice High School LearningGarden and Founder & Chair of theSeed Library of Los Angeles(SLOLA)

•Venice Art Crawl (accepted by co-foundersDaniel Samakow, Edizen Stowell, Mark Rojas)

•Yo! Venice! (accepted by co-founder Bret)

•Teresa Skinner, Sr. Lead Officer atLos Angeles Police Department

Parking& Transportation: Ride your bike, carpool with friends, or use publictransportation such as Metro (www.metro.net),Santa Monica Big Blue Bus (www.bigbluebus.com),and Playa Vista Beach Shuttle. Venice Beach has public parkinglots, but spaces fill early. Several parking lots are located near Windward andon Electric Ave., Washington Blvd. near Venice Pier, and inMarina del Rey. Look for spaces along Venice Blvd. west of Lincoln Blvd. and along Main St.

NOTE:The Abbot Kinney Festival and Los Angeles Triathlon have worked together tominimize early-morning inconveniences that any street closures from both eventsmay cause. Festival organizers have been informed that the westbound lanes of Venice Blvd. willbe kept open at all times and that the eastbound lanes of Venice Blvd. are expected to be open nolater than 11 AM.

Shine Up Your Tastebuds! Pesto Madness Returns!

2011-09-16T13:31:00.000-07:00

Gardenmaster David King serves up his garden-based pesto demonstration in 2010

Come on out and support

THE LEARNING GARDEN at Venice High School

as we host our

8th ANNUAL “PESTO MADNESS” FUNDRAISER

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2011; 2 to 5 pm

$10 entry includes Pesto Pasta meal, featuring garden-grown, garden-made pesto, to benefit

what a lot of folks call a 'local gardening treasure!'

On Saturday, Sept. 24, from 2 to 5 pm, PESTO MADNESS returns! This annual fundraiser for THE LEARNING GARDEN located on the campus of Venice High School, features the sale of our Famous Pesto Madness Pesto (only $8 a jar!).

A $10 entry fee gets visitors a pesto-making demonstration, a tour of The Learning Garden, and a plate of Pesto Madness Pasta, made with the best basil fresh from the garden, heirloom garlic, fresh olive oil and the highest quality Italian cheeses and other ingredients, plus dessert!

No reservations needed; just show up, eat up and take home a jar for future feasting!

The Learning Garden, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, is located on the campus of Venice High School. Out of a vision of a garden that serves the community, The Learning Garden blossoms from what once was an underutilized, weedy portion of Venice High School into an outdoor learning center with hands on education in horticulture, permaculture, herbology, botany, nutrition, art, photography and environmental science. The Learning Garden not only beautifies the community, but serves as a place of peace and serenity in an often turbulent, concreted world.

*****************************************************************************

The Garden tends to be open 10 – 5 Wednesday – Sunday. We are also available at other daylight hours by special arrangements.

Join us for our pot luck every Friday at 12:30 pm. on any day you don't need to put on a heavier jacket!

david

A New Seed Saving Seminar With David King!

2011-09-12T15:26:00.000-07:00

It's about time. Last January we had a seed saving seminar with SLOLA Chair and Founder, David King that was thoroughly enjoyed by every one. We have finally pinned the dates down and are very pleased to announce our next offering:

Essentials of Seed Saving

Generations before us understood the importance of saving seeds. It was an essential part of the lives of all our ancestors. This vital connection was lost as we began to purchase our seeds from seed sellers. In recent times, the specter of GMOs and monster corporations controlling the seeds they created and the very real prospect of seed corporations having control over our food supply.

October 20, 27 and November 3, 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM, at

The Learning Garden,

SE corner of Walgrove Avenue and Venice Blvd.

310.722.3656 or greenteach@gmail.com

Saving our own vegetable biodiversity today provides us

those old open pollinated varieties that taste good.
a wider range of vegetable varieties and more control over what we can have.
a closer participation in the cycle of life. In our gardens.
a hedge against personal financial misfortune.
a safeguard against food shortages.
our own way to mitigate against climate change and it's impact on agriculture.
the means to fight our shrinking biodiversity.

Upon completing this short course, participants will know why we urgently need to learn how to save seeds, the basics of saving most vegetable seeds, optimum conditions for seed preservation, how to preserve the genetic lines of different types of seed and short-cuts and tips from someone steeped in the seed saving ethic.

David King began his time in the garden at his Grandfather's knee back in northeast Kansas. He has been an avid gardener for most of his life and has taught gardening and horticulture at UCLA Extension and UC Cooperative Extension. He has been with The Learning Garden at Venice High School for over ten years and is the Chair of the Seed Library of Los Angeles. He has written the LA Garden Blog for over three years as well as several columns for periodical publication. A course of information, delivered with passion and humor is guaranteed.

It's a Busy Time In The Learning Garden

2011-09-08T14:40:00.000-07:00

A few seconds after this was snapped, these figs tasted delicious!

Every year we seem to be busier and busier and lately it seems to have hit fever pitch. This summer has been cool (until this week, at least), leaving tomatoes and figs to ripen later - it's rare for us to have three trees full of figs in September. I usually take my August breakfast in the Garden - I'll walk to the fig trees with my cup of coffee and pick all I want for breakfast. Here's the list of all we are busy with in September!

10 September - 9 to noon - It's Step Forward Day for the Pepperdine Waves! We'll have about 50 volunteers from Pepperdine doing their annual service day. It's a tradition for a crew of them to show up at The Learning Garden just after school starts; they clear out the high school garden beds so the current crop of high school gardeners this term can start with a clean 'slate.' Come on out if you want to help supervise and keep the work moving forward.

10 September - noon to 1:00 The Seed Library of Los Angeles (SLOLA) Best Practices committee meets on our patio. Best Practices is the committee that decides the seeds we need to save and how best to save them.

10 September - 2:30 to 4:00 SLOLA's monthly meeting takes place in our picnic area. I'll present a short program on saving lettuce seeds (easy!) and we'll take care of a little SLOLA business. After the meeting, SLOLA members will be able to check out seeds from the library. $10 gets you a lifetime membership.

17 September - 9:00 to noon Westside Produce Exchange meets on or about our patio - in the AM folks come and drop off their excess produce; at noon volunteers come in and separate the excess into different bags - you come back later in the day and pick up a bag of everyone else's excess and they get yours! It's a win/win kind of deal.

17 September - Time TBA - Our Time Bank has a potluck with new member orientation. Check their website for updates.

24 September - 2:00 to 5:00PM - Pesto Madness returns! Shine up your taste buds! This is our annual fund raiser with jars of our famous pesto for sale, $8.00 each. $10 gets you in and you get a pesto making demonstration, a garden tour, but most importantly, a plate of pasta with our famous Pesto Madness Pesto, made with our own home grown Italian basil, heirloom garlic, fresh olive oil and pine nuts and aged Parmesan cheese, Italian sausage, bread, ice tea and a desert to top it off!

Take a gardening class from this man!

25 September - 1:00 to 5:00PM - Modern Backyard Food Production, a UCLA Extension Gardening and Horticulture class begins in the Garden, meeting until early December. As of this writing, there are still a few spaces left in the class.

01 October - 9:00 AM - noon - Growing Food In Southern California with Gardenmaster David King. This 9 to noon workshop centers on what to do in the coming months as Southern California heads into our 'other Spring' and one of our best, and least understood, growing seasons! You'll learn what to plant and how to plant it, what varieties go best here and why and all about getting the best garlic you will ever have! Dress to get into the garden and get dirty, The Learning Garden can be cooler than you think any time of year, so dress in layers. Coffee and garden-made mint tea will be served please bring your own cup! Email greenteach@gmail.com for more information. No need to RSVP – class goes on no matter what! $25 at the gate...

01 October 1 to 4 PM Victory Garden Classes returns! Join Gardenmaster, Master Gardener David King for this University of California Cooperative Extension Common Ground Garden Program that certifies the students as Victory Gardeners - trained back yard (or front yard!) food growers! $20 per class or $70 for the series of four... Email greenteach@gmail.com for more information...

And October looks like it will be just as busy, so make plans to come out to The Learning Garden sometime for one of our events!

david

Growing Food In Southern California: What to Do & When To Do It

2011-09-02T10:55:00.000-07:00

Would You Take A Class From This Man? You Should!

This Saturday, September 3rd, The Learning Garden presents: Growing food In Southern California with David King. This 9 to 12 workshop centers on what to do in the coming months as Southern California heads into our 'other Spring' and one of our best, and least understood, growing seasons! You'll learn what to plant and how to plant it, what varieties go best here and why and all about getting the best garlic you will ever have! Dress to get into the garden and get dirty, The Learning Garden has cooled down already, so dress in layers. Coffee and garden-made mint tea will be served please bring your own cup! Email greenteach@gmail.com or call 310.722.3656 for more information. No need to RSVP – class goes on no matter what! $25 at the gate...

Beef(steaks) In The Learning Garden!

2011-08-25T23:19:00.000-07:00

Look At These Beauties!

You cannot grow large, beefsteak-style tomatoes close to the ocean - the cool off-shore flow and lack of heat will not allow the fruit to set. So, if you try to grow beefsteak tomatoes near the ocean (Sunset Zone 24) you are wasting your time! This is what I read, this is what my experience has proven over and over again. And this is what I have taught my students for about 7 years.

BUT...

These tomatoes were picked yesterday from The Learning Garden in a year that was not one of our warmest! Beautiful and delicious tomatoes. These were grown by the Venice High School students in their gardens without tags. If I had known those vines were supposed to produce this size of tomatoes, I would have yanked the vines back in June. But I didn't know and look at this. Now, if I only knew what variety they were, I'd be saving seeds from them.

david

This October! You Too Can Become a Victory Gardener!

2011-08-15T18:08:00.000-07:00

Grow LA Victory Garden Class

The Learning Garden

October 1, 8, 15 and 29, 2011

1 PM to 4 PM – Victory Garden Circle – Master Gardener volunteers will organize and lead low-cost Victory Garden Circle and teach the basics of gardening. The Learning Garden's gardening circle will meet beginning October 1^st. These classes of instruction and hands-on activities will introduce gardeners to the basics of growing your own food. You may attend only one or a few, but by attending all four classes, participants will become UC-certified Victory Gardeners. Cost is $20 per session or the whole series for $75. Scholarships available.

DATE	WEEK	DETAIL
October 1^st	1	Seed starting, building raised beds, choosing containers, plant selection, including drought-tolerant plants (3 hours)
Oct. 8^th	2	Transplanting, soil preparation, irrigation, wise water use (3 hours)
Oct. 15^th	3	Pest management (weeds, diseases, insects), beneficial insects (3 hours)
Oct. 29^th	4	Composting, harvesting, seed saving, review, recipes, graduation event/certificates (3 hours)

The Learning Garden is located on the grounds of Venice High School (13000 Venice Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90066) at the intersection of Venice Blvd. and Walgrove Avenue – the entrance is on Walgrove.

A series of courses for those who wish to grow their own fresh fruits and vegetables, this initiative will help new gardeners learn to start their own gardens quickly and easily in a container, in the backyard or at a community garden, bringing together local families and neighborhoods to share their experiences, skills and produce. Participants will be able to turn this new interest in gardening into successful, productive gardens that will generate positive changes in their homes by helping to lower grocery bills and enhance opportunities to eat healthy, nutritious foods.

Dress in layers, The Learning Garden is probably cooler than you think. Bring your own cup for coffee or tea. Bring gloves and wear clothes you will not mind getting dirty – this is a hands on class. We have all the tools you will need. We will often have plants or seeds to take home and good things to eat as well!

The Learning Garden's August Schedule

2011-08-03T22:45:00.000-07:00

A stunningly beautiful ear of corn from the Garden

August is one of the warmest months and we tend to relax a little, but that doesn't mean we are shut down entirely! Here is our list of activities for August and a taste of September!

August 6 - 9:00 to 12 (see our ad in the post below) The Growing Food in Southern California Series continues with David King, the Gardenmaster, espousing the wisdom gleaned from centuries of gardening in Southern California. OK, that's a slight exaggeration - he is still a few years shy of his first century, but he knows a lot and he shares it with his usual witty and relaxed style of teaching. It's $25 at the gate and no reservation is needed. Dress to get in the garden and dirty - bring your own cup for coffee or garden-made chocolate mint tea. Master Gardeners needing education hours, this is like Comedy Driving School - you fulfill your required hours and laugh your way through it!

August 6 1:00 to 2:30 PM New Volunteer Orientation with Sheri Powell-Wolff and David King for those who want to volunteer in the Garden. Free...

August 7 - 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM YouThink in the Garden for a workshop.

August 7 - 12:30 to 1:30 - (This just in!) The Mar Vista Farmers' market are celebrating their 5th year this Sunday and many fun events are planned for the day. They'll be collecting money to benefit The Learning Garden and the Amazing Vegetable contest will be judged by our very own Gardenmaster - come on down and have a good time at our own local farmers' market!

August 7 - 1:00 to 3:00 PM - want experience in being a Gardenmaster? We need a volunteer to run the Garden for a couple of hours while a SLOLA meeting has the Gardenmaster's attention off campus. If you're free and want to make friends.... this is a wonderful opportunity to see how the Garden works on a Sunday afternoon. Could be really busy with lots of people passing through or it could be as lively as a bunch of snails after a beer party... Email the Gardenmaster pronto if you want to help! We got a volunteer!

August 13 - 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM Transition LA in the Garden (the Gardenmaster is away on a field trip with his UCLA Extension class).

August 20 - 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM - Seed Library of Los Angeles meeting in the Garden at the picnic tables - we'll have a presentation on saving tomato seeds and folks will be able to check out seeds from the Library. Free to attend the meeting, there is a $10 Lifetime membership fee to join the library and check out seeds.

August 21 - 9:00 AM until we sell out (which has been around noon most days) - Meet The Learning Garden and our Venice High School students at the Mar Vista Farmers' Market. We'll have loads of herbs to sell and will begin to take orders for our world famous Pesto Madness Pesto!

August 25 - 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM Looking for a garden master stand in as David is off-campus for a SLOLA presentation. See the details on August 7th (1 to 3 PM) to see if you have the chops for the job!

August 25 - 5:00 PM until the sun goes down - Pickling Workshop Join the Gardenmaster and learn how to make your own pickles - it's not that hard! We will make some beet or yellow bean pickles and have some beet pickles to sample. We'll also learn the essence of making jam. This workshop will feature the things you can do to preserve food using a water bath canner, not a pressure canner. Once you've learned these techniques, a whole new world opens up with fantastic flavor combinations and choices - the workshop is sponsored by Our Time Bank, but is not limited to them. You may take a jar of pickles home for a small materials fee. Contact the Gardenmaster by email or 310.722.3656 for more details!

September 3 - 9:00 AM to Noon - The Growing Food in Southern California Series continues with David King, the Gardenmaster, and more of his witty wisdom. It's $25 at the gate and no reservation is needed. Dress to get in the garden and dirty - bring your own cup for coffee or garden-made chocolate mint tea. Master Gardeners, do you have your educational hours in? Can't get any more fun than this!

September 24 - 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM - Pesto Madness returns to the Garden for the 7th (gosh, already? yes! 7th time) We always have a blast, we always have great pesto and we always SELL OUT. Dust off those taste buds and join us for The Learning Garden's premier annual fund raiser! Be there or go hungry!

We'll round out the other September things in a later post

david

Join David For Growing Food Class This Saturday

2011-08-01T13:50:00.001-07:00

This Saturday, 06 August 2011, The Learning Garden presents: Growing Food In Southern California with David King. This 9 to 12 workshop centers on what to do in the coming months as Southern California heads into our 'other Spring' and one of our best, and least understood, growing seasons! You'll learn what to plant and how to plant it, what varieties go best here and why and all about getting the best garlic you will ever have! Dress to get into the garden and get dirty, The Learning Garden can be cool even in August, so dress in layers. Coffee and garden-made mint tea will be served please bring your own cup! Email greenteach@gmail.com or call 310.722.3656 for more information. No need to RSVP – class goes on no matter what! $25 at the gate...

The Learning Garden is located on the grounds of Venice High School at the intersection of Venice Blvd and Walgrove Avenue. Enter The Learning Garden through the gate South of Venice Blvd. on Walgrove Avenue. Parking is available on Walgrove Avenue.

david

I Give Up

2011-07-30T20:58:00.000-07:00

That's A Pretty Big Tomato

I have read and been told "Tomatoes need 85°F minimum to set fruit - and the larger the fruit, the longer it has to be 85°F for the fruit to properly set."

We have not been anywhere near that warm for any length of time and yet we have several plants with very large yellowish fruit. These are over in the area where Venice High School students planted and I've as yet, not found a tag to tell me what these are. But they are larger than I would expect considering the coolness of this season.

There were a couple larger tomatoes on this plant and it's neighbor, but this is the biggest one I could get in a clear shot. One of these biggies, looks like it might be about four pounds or more! Still, if these large fruits need 85°F to set fruit, these fruits wouldn't be here.

So I'm saying... this must be a myth that we just disproved - or something else is happening. Any ideas?

Gardening: You learn something new everyday!

david

It's Almost July!!

2011-06-30T12:27:00.000-07:00

A Speckled Roman Paste Tomato is almost ripe for picking and the official first BLT of the year!

June was such a happening month that we have yet to even consider July and yet, holy cow! Here it is! School is out but the Garden lives on and still needs tending. July will be ever bit as busy and we hope you'll find time to make it out to the Garden sometime in the coming month! Here are some of our upcoming events - more will be added as I get the chance to read my email and respond to my phone calls!

02 July - Growing Food in Southern California - our monthly series taught by yours truly on, guess what? - growing food in Southern California. From 9 to 12 we will cover all the things you need to do and will want to do in July to have a productive food garden in our part of the world. If you've read the books from back east and England, you know we can't follow their directions! We have to honor our climate and soils and this is the course that shows you how to do that! $25 at the gate - reservations are not required. Coffee and tea are served - bring your own cup!

03 July - Beekeepers are showing up in their gear and others dressed as bees to the Mar Vista Farmers' Market in support of the Mar Vista Community Council push to legalize beekeeping in Mar Vista. Support your local beekeepers and help save the honey bees from ruination!

04 July - Time for our Fifth Annual Fourth of July Ice Cream Social! Most of our flavors are from the Garden - favorites from the past are Meyer Lemon Ice Cream, Chocolate Mint (from our chocolate mint plants!), and plum sorbet! Folks who bring a homemade pie, crisp or a fool (a crustless pie, I kid you not!) get a free plant - like a rosemary, rose, or even a fig or other fruit tree. We fire up the grill, if you want a hot dog, BYOD and burn it to your own satisfaction. $5 gets you in with a bowl for the ice creams of your choice!

10 July - the Seed Library of Los Angeles (SLOLA) meets on the patio at 2;30 - some committees hold their meetings before the regular full meeting. Some changes this month: the program will be before we conduct any business (a report on what seed school was like and what was learned there!) and then we will have seed check-out after taking care of a little business. This time, some of our new varieties from the Native Seed/SEARCH collection will be offered for the first time.

Please note, the weekend of 15-17 July I-405 will be closed from I-10 to CA 101! Local traffic is predicted to be snarled. Of course, this was the same prediction for the 1984 Olympics when the predictions themselves caused a lot of folks to flee and resulted in optimal traffic for those who remained. We think, therefore, this should be taken with an 'advisory caution' - your mileage my vary. Wildly.

23 July - Victory Garden Evaluation Picnic - all instructors of the LA Victory Garden Initiative are invited to a potluck at The Learning Garden to evaluate the recent spring round of classes and hobnob with your contemporaries in this movement - learn from one another and Rachel Surls and Yvonne Savio.

24 July - 9 to 1 at the Mar Vista Farmers' Market - The Learning Garden has a booth of herbs and other garden delectables fresh from the Garden. Come out and get cher goodies! You cannot get them fresher without growing them yourself!

Still to come: Dates for Westside Produce Exchange and Our TImebank and a listing for the showing of Vanishing of the Bees in support of Mar Vista's initiative to become the first part of Los Angeles to legalize bees in the city! So watch for updates!

david
The Gardenmaster

The Gardenmaster Goes To Seed School - Who's Minding The Garden?

2011-06-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

Coverage Schedule for the Garden, 17 June to 26 June

	17, Friday	18, Saturday	19, Sunday	20, Monday	21, Tuesday	22, Wed.	23, Thursday	24, Friday	25, Saturday	26, Sunday
10:00:00 AM		JM	SO			KD	SO	DP	JM	JM
11:00:00 AM		JM	SO			KD	SO	DP	JM	JM
12:00:00 PM		JM	SO			KD	SO	DP		JM
01:00:00 PM		JM	SO			KD	SO	DP	MJB	JM
02:00:00 PM	KD	JM	TS			MB	KD	DP	MJB	JM
03:00:00 PM	KD	JM	TS			MB	KD	DP	MJB	JM
04:00:00 PM	KD	JM	TS			MB	KD	DP	MJB	JM
05:00:00 PM	KD	JM	TS			MB	KD	DP	MJB	JM

NOTES:

The person listed on this schedule is the person in charge and responsible for the locking/unlocking of the Garden. If access is needed to my office, JM has the key. Access to the high school tool shed is with DP. Some tools will need to be placed in the shade house or the greenhouse so everyone will have access to tools. As of this writing there is no coverage for Friday (17^th) and Sunday (19^th) afternoons. Please, pitch in and help us out!

The 24^th is the last day of school – there will most likely be a barbeque by VHS staff for the teachers. There will collections of teachers (different departments of about 20 folks) having lunch in the Garden probably Wednesday and Thursday - so far only Thursday (English Department) is booked, but that means little.

The 24^th, 25^th and 26^th are the official celebration days for VHS's Centennial Celebration – expect lots of people and the gates to the school should be unlocked and open – even though there is only one name listed for each hour, all the extra time that anyone can give will be most welcome!

david

Agape's Sacred Service Saturday Blesses The Learning Garden!

2011-06-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

Agape Spiritual Center of Truth holds a Saturday each year to do service all over the Los Angeles area. The Learning Garden has been on their list even before there was a Learning Garden at Venice High School!

June 11th was the date for Sacred Service Saturday this year and with our crew of volunteers, we got the Fiber Arts Garden ready to for summer planting; we started a new rose garden along Walgrove Avenue and we cleared pathways and weeded under a grove of tropical fruits. All of these activities were done with gusto and love! These things benefit The Learning Garden and further our intention to be a place of beauty and learning for the community in which we are located and to be a garden producing food, medicine and fiber to teach those who come here the importance of plants in everyday life.

From the staff, volunteers and board of The Learning Garden, THANK YOU Agape and Earth Spirit Agape (their ministry for ecology and care of the planet) for your help in creating this place called The Learning Garden and helping us to be even more effective in serving our community!

david

Patio Sans Pepper Tree

2011-05-12T11:53:00.000-07:00

This is how the patio looks today. A lot hotter and a lot more sun. A lot less inviting.

Even though I had known for a long time the pepper tree was going to go, it still is hard to accept its demise.

david

Last Days of The Patio's Pepper Tree

2011-05-11T11:10:00.000-07:00

In the shade of our old pepper tree (Schinus terebinthifolius), we are all smiles, but we took this picture knowing that its end was not far off. On Wednesday the 4th, one of the vice-principals at Venice High School had told me that the tree pruners were coming on Saturday and I was not to 'interfere' with them. On Friday, the 6th, we gathered after our Friday Potluck to pose before the magnificent old tree to say goodbye.

L to R on the ground, Felicia Tomasko, myself and Tré, Kattarina Erickson in the yellow hat, Juie Mann, Tuck and Arthur; in the tree, Eric Weinstein and Laurel. Last names supplied where I know them...

That comment came to be made because the last time the tree pruners were here about three years ago, I became enraged at the way they were doing their work and the lousy work they were doing and refused to let them go on ruining the trees in the Garden - and ruining the Garden at the same time. This same vice-principal was then hauled in on a Saturday morning to mediate the dispute.

I don't, per se, have a problem with trimming trees and even cutting them down, if needs be, but this is one of those jobs let to the lowest bidder and care of the trees is not a priority. The real focus seems to be to do something that will be noticed by the payees and damn it all if it's right or proper.

The pepper tree was doomed. I had known for about two years that it needed to come down - I had seen the fruiting bodies of fungi sprouting from the main trunk for at least the last two years. In my world, with that information, I resolved to tell everyone if they heard popping sounds, "Grab the dog and run!" This doesn't fly in the world of the Unified School System, so when the head of their tree department told me it was coming out, I was sad, but not devastated.

This tree had served not only as shade, but as a clinic of how not to prune trees. I never took a definitive count, but I saw better than forty bad cuts without even batting an eyelash - it had been butchered its entire life on this planet. It was enough to make one wonder why they hire people who either don't care about trees or actually hate them to do this kind of work (simply because they are the lowest bidder, of course!) In fact, it was one such cut done twenty years ago or more that killed the tree, not the work that is being done on it as I write these words.

In the center of the tree, one major branch was cut back incorrectly; you can see it in this photo, it is the somewhat flat piece in the very center. This exposed wood was left behind in a position where the tree could not heal the cut. This allowed termites into the interior of the tree, when it rained, water flowed into the tree's trunk and in came fungus and that was that. So, if one wants to get pissed off, it's the 'lowest paid' worker from some twenty years ago that killed this tree. Most of us, with our short attention spans, can't fathom a death that takes twenty years, yet, in trees, I see it all the time. There are two trees in my neighborhood that were badly cut two years ago I know have been cut so wrongly that they are just as dead as this pepper tree. The homeowners paid off their cheap labor and are living smugly thinking they saved a buck or two - but they will be surprised when they have to pay to remove a dead tree. Their savings are false economy.

I planted a California Coast Live Oak next to the pepper tree to take its place as our patio shade tree. Sadly, I need to report, our lowest bidders dropped a large chunk of the pepper tree on the little oak tree breaking it in half. It will survive, I believe. I am hoping it wasn't set back too much, although, my saying, "I'm patient, I'm a gardener" might come back to haunt me.

For us, our wonderfully shaded patio is now in blazing sun! We will be warmer and brighter - we will loose some of our plants that liked the shade they no longer will have. The atmosphere of the patio has been drastically changed. It's a whole new ball of wax.

david

SLOLA's General Meeting WILL Be Held Saturday - Regardless Of Weather!

2011-02-16T20:23:00.000-08:00

This is the third logo submitted by Sarah Lavoie for SLOLA - there are subtle differences, and I've heard from several folks with ideas. What are your thoughts? (Scroll below to earlier posts for the other two submissions.) And come to the meeting this Saturday to help us choose!

The weather folks, who are the ones we think might know something we don't, are all jumping up and down proclaiming a 'storm' for this coming Saturday. I've held events at The Learning Garden for almost ten years now and I've only seen two events canceled because of rain: However, I have located a room on campus to hold the SLOLA meeting in if it is raining or too cold for the coming SLOLA meeting - come to the patio where we usually meet and we'll have folks to direct you to the indoor space, it's very close to the patio where we've had the last two meetings.

We will carry on! Come on over and join SLOLA, the ground-swell way to deal with the destruction of our food system!

Our proposed agenda will be posted on the SLOLA blog very soon!

david

Upcoming Events In February and March At The Learning Garden!

2011-02-10T12:40:00.000-08:00

A flowering peach at The Learning Garden. This is only one of several trees in full bloom, but don't be fooled. This warm weather is only an interlude -we'll be back to cold before we get the 'real thaw' sometime in March. It is still advisable to dress warmly for all events at the Garden!

13 February 1 PM to 4 PM – We are starting an Ayurvedic Garden in the Learning Garden! The herbs of Ayurveda are from the sub-continent of India and are closely associated with Yoga – they share that common culture. Come out and help put the start of this garden in place and learn about these wonderful plants and their benefits! For more information – contact the Gardenmaster. Free, in the Garden

19 February – 9 AM to about Noon – Westside Produce Exchange holds it's monthly exchange of excess produce. If you have too much of one thing from your garden, Naomi and her crew of volunteers (you can volunteer too!), accept the extra produce, divide it up and return it to the rest of the participants. It's a fabulous idea – you have too many turnips, another one has too many pomegranates (it really happens!), each of you drop off your excess and come back in a couple of hours and viola – there are a few pomegranates for you and a few turnips for them along with all the rest of the shared stuff. Westside Produce has the details. Simply Brilliant! Free on the Chi Patio.

19 February 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM – The third meeting of SLOLA, the Seed Library of Los Angeles and our 2nd Seed Swap! Working hard to insure a clean, non-GMO, and healthy food supply for all of us, and especially the marginalized communities. $10 to join and participate, the membership is non-expiring (for $10!) and allows you to borrow seeds from the library when it's up and running. You borrow your seeds for free and at the end of the season, you return the same amount to the seed library to be loaned out next year. $10 to become a member, but after that. SLOLA on the Web On the Chi Patio

26 February 10 AM – 2 PM - Create Your Own Fruit Trees! A seminar for gardeners on getting new plants without seeds! Get a small piece of a rosemary or a grape and grow your very own plant – taste your neighbor's delicious peach, get a bit of the tree and graft your own fruit tree! You will learn all the ways to make more plants from other plants to enhance your gardening skills and take your gardening to the next level! You can end up with one tree with many different apples or a citrus with different oranges, lemons and limes! You will take home your own grafted tree! $35 plus a $10 materials fee, on the Chi Patio. Prepay via PayPal at www.tlgdaily.blogspot.com. Email the Gardenmaster for more details. Coffee and tea are served -bring your own cup.

05 March – 9 AM to Noon – Our monthly Growing Food In Southern California! Only a person who has not gardened here can declare that we have no seasons! We do and the plants know it! When do you plant beets, beans, carrots, corn peppers, basil? All this and more is covered in our month by month series of what to do and when to do it! With over 30 years of growing food organically under his belt, metaphorically speaking of course, Gardenmaster David King's lectures are full of information, tidbits and hints that can't be found in any book! (Yet... ) $25 on the Chi Patio – coffee and tea are served -bring your own cup.

david

This Saturday Is the Growing Food Class!

2011-02-04T00:28:00.000-08:00

In a photo by Barbara Treves from last weekend's seminar, "Essentials of Vegetable Seed Saving," Gardenmaster David King holds a couple of screens for separating out chaff from seed that's being saved.

This Saturday, the usual first Saturday of the month class, Growing Food In Southern California meets in The Learning Garden on the Chi Patio from 9 AM to Noon. We'll cover finishing off our cool season gardens and starting our tomatoes and basil for the coming hot months. The weather should be absolutely delicious for gardening this weekend so we'll spend some time out in the garden planting and checking out the harvest from this last season! If we have folks with fruit trees we'll show how to best prune fruit trees at this time of year and all the other tasks we need to get out of the way in our gardens! Remember, if you want a good tomato, pepper and cucumber crop this year, now is the time to start and we'll show you exactly what works!

Class is $25 and you'll probably have some take home material from the class (plants, seeds or harvest!) Hot tea and coffee will be served - bring your cup!

Calendar of Events: January and The Immediate Future

2011-01-02T16:42:00.000-08:00

In a rare moment between the rains, the sun shone on these Detroit Dark Red beets with an intense brilliance begging a photo. Sadly, the luminosity of the brilliant beet leaves is not transmitted by the photograph. Stare at them intently and picture something akin to a purple halo on them and you will approximate the sight.

Welcome to 2011 at The Learning Garden! This promises to be an exciting year for us, if we don't float away; there are many different exciting events on the drawing books! Herewith is the calendar of the start of 2011:

January 15^th – (time and other details are TBA); Pruning Workshop for Los Angeles Master Gardeners – Lora Hall, master teacher of all kinds of gardening wonderfulness leads an all-star cast of teaching assistants who will shepherd everyone through the pruning of fruit trees using the actual trees in The Learning Garden. Instead of a book. I know, it's an interesting concept.

January 15^th - 2nd Meeting of the newly formed Seed Library of Los Angeles (SLOLA); a new community based effort to ensure a safe supply of open-pollinated heirloom vegetable varieties, unpatented and unowned by faceless, profit based companies. Membership is $5 and members can check out seeds (like library books) for free, returning fresh seed to the library at the end of the growing season. A new blog for SLOLA is coming soon!

January 29^th - Essentials of Vegetable Seed Saving, 10-3 (vegetarian lunch included) If you are concerned about GMOs in your food, saving our own seed is the only sure way to fight back. $40 if prepaid – see article below for more details on this exciting seminar.

February 5^th – What To Do And When To Do It, Growing Food In Southern California, 9-Noon, our monthly checklist and how to gardening class, taught on the patio at The Learning Garden. Coffee and tea are made to keep you warm. Always, the topic is driven by questions in the class, but this is a good time to prune your fruit trees and plant new ones, also, believe it or not, SUMMER is right around the corner – learn the secrets to your best garden ever! $25 'at the gate,' no reservations required.

February 5^th - New Volunteers Orientation on the patio; 1:00 to 2:00 PM. Reserve your space with Sheri Powell-Wolf at her email address: sheri(at)compostteana(dot)com. Free.

Late February will see a Plant Propagation Seminar (along the lines of the Seed Saving Seminar on Jan. 29th) with seed sowing, perennial division, taking cuttings from shrubs and trees (growing plants without seed) and the almost forgotten arts of grafting and budding.

March 5^th - What To Do And When To Do It, Growing Food In Southern California, 9-Noon, our monthly checklist and how to gardening class, taught on the patio at The Learning Garden. Coffee and tea are made to keep you warm. In March, we'll definitely be in summer's flow, tomatoes, peppers, basil, eggplant, beans and all kinds of goodies have to be considered.. . What do YOU want to grow? $25 'at the gate,' no reservations required.

March 5^th - New Volunteers Orientation on the patio; 1:00 to 2:00 PM. Reserve your space with Sheri Powell-Wolf at her email address: sheri(at)compostteana(dot)com. Free.

We anticipate another exciting workshop in March as well.

Ongoing Events In The Learning Garden

(* All events are 'weather permitting' by which we mean, if you need your tall 'Wellies,' a heavy jacket or a row boat, the weather is NOT permitting. On the other hand, we are gardeners and a little rain doesn't throw us into paroxysms of anxiety; precipitation under a quarter of an inch is usually met with horticultural stoicism.)

Friday --12:30 PM, The Garden Feast, a potluck with staff and volunteers (and anyone else who show up with a good attitude) at our picnic tables. The food is always fresh, delicious and abundant. It is the essence of the SLOW Food Movement, so come prepared with a tasty bite, a healthy appetite for the bounty of others and a desire for eclectic conversation.

Saturday – 9 AM Henry Jun Wah Lee hold his Medical Qigong classes – contact Henry for more information at 323-540-4180.

Sunday --10 AM Seth Leon has an informal Harmony Style Qigong practice on our Chi Patio. It is free.

Our webpage is worth a look and you can like us on Facebook! If you like...

Hope we see you in the Garden soon in 2011!

david

The Learning Garden and SLOLA Present: Essentials of Vegetable Seed Saving!

2011-01-01T19:37:00.000-08:00

Genetic diversity is evident in these ears of corn, all from the same batch of seed... this richness must be preserved!

Happy New Year everyone!

The Learning Garden at Venice High School is offering an exciting new seminar for January 29th, 10:00 to 3:00 (lunch included!): Essentials of Vegetable Seed Saving.

Seed saving has become a 'must-know' skill as people have recognized how utterly essential seeds are to our ability to survive.

Generations before us understood the importance of saving seeds. Saving seeds to plant in the coming year was essential and, long before science showed the why of it, humankind understood we could select the best plants and improve the varieties we depended upon. This vital connection was lost as we began to purchase our seeds from seed sellers making the need to save seed seem less relevant. In recent times, we are confronted with GMOs and monster corporations controlling the seeds they created and with that came the very real specter of seed corporations having control over the food supply.

Saving our vegetable biodiversity today provides us

those delicious open pollinated varieties that were bred to taste good.
a wider range of vegetable varieties that aren't often available through catalogs.
a closer participation in the cycle of life.
a hedge against our own personal misfortune of losing a job or other financial setback.
a safeguard against food shortages caused by natural or man-made disasters.
with our own means to mitigate against global climate change and it's impact on agriculture.
the means to fight our shrinking biodiversity.

Seed saving enhances the gardening experience even more because good gardeners become better gardeners and some will go on to create unique open-pollinated vegetable varieties – adapted to this place!

This is the seminar you need if you are concerned about -

the presence of GMO's in our food.
the preservation of old 'heirloom' vegetable varieties.
equal access to good clean healthy food for everyone regardless of economic status.
our ability in Los Angeles to produce vegetables acclimatized to our local (and very unique) climate.
the future of seeds and food!

You will learn

to plan for your seed saving – things to do to enable success.
how different plants are pollinated and what that means to saving seed .
to identify different plant families and how that affects the seed saving process.
the best time to pick for the best seed viability.
to ensure your seed is kept pure from other varieties and unwanted characteristics.
to clean and dry different seeds and other processes for optimum storage.
the equipment and essential supplies you will have to have if you want to save some seeds and what you won't need for MOST seeds.

Taught by The Learning Garden's Gardenmaster, David King, this seminar will emphasize how to do it and practical examples will show everyone how to best save the more common vegetable seeds with information on saving all kinds of seeds included.

David King is an experienced lecturer, well known for practical seminars that are accessible and informative. The lively lectures, full of quirky humor, move through the topic, getting to the heart of the matter without a lot of extra jargon, but with the data you need to get out and save some seeds!

Lunch will be served enable participants to join in community over the break (12 to 1:00 PM). Pamela Nears, an accomplished organic and 'fresh from the garden' chef, will treat all with a vegetarian stew and other menu items (price included in your registration) that will nourish and enhance the garden experience. Coffee, tea and water will abound.

Weather permitting, the seminar will be held outside. The Learning Garden is usually cooler than any other place in Los Angeles, thanks to the three large trees shading the patio, please dress warmly in January - although if it is too cold, we will be indoors.

Early registration helps us plan and will save you money. Registration at the door is on an 'as available' basis - seating is limited and we expect to fill!

Use the PayPal button below to enroll now. If you have diet concerns (other than vegetarian) please make a note on your registration and we will work something out.

Members of Seed Library of Los Angeles (SLOLA) will receive a $10 discount - all other attendees will become members of the Seed Library of Los Angeles; $10 of your registration fee goes to SLOLA for your membership automatically.

Thank you,
david

david

Looking Forward to SLOLA's Future

2010-12-24T12:08:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine shows off a Christmas Lima Bean, named for the bright red and white seeds. A productive Lima bean that persists right through our winters, 'Christmas' is on my list of seeds that I hope SLOLA will save - what is on YOUR list?

Right now SLOLA (the Seed Library of Los Angeles) is in a formative stage and we have committees that deal with some things that aren't so interesting for most of us. We have to have rules/bylaws; we need to set standards and create protocols with structure – and we have to do it from whole cloth in order to make this vision of a seed library work and make it work for the generations to follow – if we set something in motion and fail to make it strong as an organization and institution, we could see all the work go for nothing if the seeds cannot be kept with pure genetic lines maintained and attention to all the little details wherein the Devil resides.

But... If you are at all like me, seeds are one of my playgrounds and I love to fiddle with them. When I'm not planting them, I'm dreaming about them and I'm making lists of what I'll plant later this year or what I hope I will be able to plant soon or maybe some rare heirloom that I can't find will obsess me for days until I either find it or give up trying. I grew up in Kansas and during the winter, with snow over the garden, I would page through the seed catalogs, memorizing the ones with the descriptions that captured my imagination, making long lists of the ones I wanted Grandpa to buy. He saved his seeds, so really never did take second note of my long lists, but I learned a lot from those seed catalogs and the fascination of a house-bound ten year old gardener for seeds is still with me today.

At the December meeting I asked everyone to come back to the January meeting (the 15^th) with a list of 25 vegetable seeds they would like to see be a part of the collection of seeds that SLOLA offers. I hope you've been playing with this list; I have! I have about already over shot twenty five, so anyone needing additional suggestions, I'm ready to supply you with several to give you a full list!

But after I had made the list, I began to daydream about the future of SLOLA; a time when there is no real bylaws committee and the database committee is ad hoc, coming together only to solve a problem or to work out a better solution as warranted.

When that time comes, I see a Potato committee, a Lettuce Committee, a Pepper Committee and a Corn Committee and committees for every seed for which there is an interest in carrying on specific traits or creating newer cultivars. Each committee is looking at that plant and the different varieties available and perhaps even making new open-pollinated cultivars that improve the plants we can grow in the Los Angeles Basin. Perhaps in a few years, the L A area could be awash in the just-released “Bonilla Potato” or the “Spitz Red Leaf Lettuce!” Maybe there will be a super-productive red-skinned (and fleshed!) potato called “Rose Spuds” or a “Souper Soup Bean!"

The possibilities could be even more productive than the hybrids we see today – the only reason hybrids have become so much more productive than open-pollinated seeds is the amount of research that has gone into them – and that productivity has been at the expense of other, arguably just as important qualities, like taste or ability to grow and produce well in the micro-climate of the LA Basin. What has been done with hybrids can be approximated with open-pollinated plants. Corporations won't do it because there is no profit in it for them that justifies the research and trials – but a seed library can and should put efforts into breeding more productive stock for our areas.

But we will also need people who have mechanical skills to create appropriately powered machines to help us keep our seeds and make them even more available to more people. I have pondered for years the idea of a bicycle powered grain thresher, a device that would pound the wheat kernel free from the husk that holds it and winnow out the debris of the husk leaving a person with a wheat berries to be ground. Already my mind is turning to a similar contraption that will remove all the corn seeds from a cob without burning blisters into a person's hands.

It's not just wheat seeds that need threshing – several other vegetables can be hard to break out of coverings – and who knows? - maybe one day SLOLA will offer some varieties of wheat that do well in Los Angeles – or perhaps rice or other grain – they do comprise a large part of our diets.

But first veggies. Then I'm very keen on herbs – culinary and medicinal and flowers – edible and medicinal - and even those flowers that are not edible and 'only' good for the spirit, like my favorite, sweet peas. They are 'food for the soul' as some wise person a few years ago said.

The idea that one day we can have a small catalog of seeds available to members that will cover all the major vegetables and a few of the not so major ones as well, is tremendously empowering and exciting. I can't even think of this for a few minutes before I get all enthusiastic and I want to run out and plant another row of something that needs to be saved and dream of a future of a secure food supply, made secure by a few people who saw and acted on their uncommon common sense..

Times that are tenuous are often the times of greatest creativity. Certainly, in a turbulent economic time, faced with the greed of behemoth companies like Monsanto and others, a determined band of Los Angelenos came together to fight back the only way they could; by planting a seed of something that could grow.

I remember the old line: "Hope will never die as long as seed catalogs are printed.” Perhaps we can say, “Hope is ours to plant and harvest; we tend our own hope and hold our own destiny in our hands,” once again like our forebearers once did and we can claim their independence because of the seeds we have planted today.

Long live SLOLA!!

Here's MY current seed list of seeds I want to save first, subject to change as I think of more, in no particular order:

Queensland Blue Squash
Cannelini Bush Bean
Flammé Tomato
Tango Lettuce
Drunken Woman Lettuce
Merlot Lettuce
Merville des Quatre Saison Lettuce
Nutribud Broccoli
Burpee's Golden Beet
Five Color Silverbeet Chard (AKA Rainbow Chard)
DiCicco Broccoli
San Marzano Tomato
Cherokee Tomato
Pencil Pod Wax Bean
Royal Burgundy Bean
Parris Island Cos Lettuce
Jalapeno Pepper
Corno di Toro Pepper
Scarlet Nantes Carrot
Chioggia Beet
Purple Top White Globe Turnip
Copenhagen Market Cabbage
Winningstadt Cabbage
Country Gentleman Corn
Golden Bantam Corn
Garden Peach Tomato
Fiber Flax
White Cherry Tomato
Gossypium arborense
Gossypium hirsutum
Gossypium barbadense
Christmas Lima Bean
Albino Beet
Bulls Blood Beet
Calabrese Broccoli
De Cicco Broccoli
Mammoth Red Rock
Early Snoball Cauliflower
Bloody Butcher Corn
Mexican Wedding Corn
Stowell's Evergreen Corn
Armenian Cucumber
Long Red Florence Onion

Hope your list is just as long and varied and I hope we can have all of these in our inventory by this time next year... Oh.. And Merry Christmas (Lima Beans) to you and yours!

david

Goodbye 2010 & Hello 2011!

2010-12-19T16:17:00.000-08:00

We are really grateful for all the support The Learning Garden has received from the communities we serve. At this time of year, we ask everyone who reads these words to take advantage of the liberal tax allowances available when when you contribute to a 501(c)3 organization. We are a such an organization and we depend on donations as our primary means of support. With all that we do, serving under-served populations through our unique position at Venice High School and in the Mar Vista Community, please consider us as you make your final financial gifts for 2010.

We are grateful for your generous support and we will put your funds to work to create the kind of programs that will benefit our constituency, addressing many of the problems concerning our society today and the future our children will live in.

Thank you.

david

SLOLA Is Real!

2010-12-05T21:24:00.000-08:00

It was a bitter cold afternoon, and I honestly don't know if my goosebumps were from the cold or being awed at the participation and dedication of the people who braved the cold to come out to The Learning Garden's Chi Patio to form the Seed Library of Los Angeles (SLOLA). We elected officers and established a $10 membership fee. It is hoped that this will be a lifetime fee, but we have no history to go on.

The meeting went smoothly - perhaps the cold inspired folks with more to say to moderate their comments? - and we all left with a real sense that we had 'done something' to make Los Angeles a better place to live, a more sustainable, yes, even 'resilient', city. It was as though we had offered a stone from David's sling at the Goliaths of the seed industry who have pushed the home gardener further and further from their demographic.

We meet again on January 15th at 2:30 in the afternoon. Part of our agenda will be ask all members to sign the Safe Seed Pledge and promise to learn to grow their plants in a way that will help us provide a long term solution to the crises of our loss of genetic diversity and to keep alive these valuable older seed varieties that gardeners can save to grow next year and be independent of the seed industry that pushes more and more hybrids on the average gardener.

This was an exciting meeting and already we have twelve initial members. When I handed over my ten bucks, I felt almost as though I signed another Declaration of Independence. All these wonderful people out in the cold to insure a safe seed supply in Los Angeles just made me absolutely giddy!

Please come out and be a part of this vital community effort to help save the seeds of history to feed us today and tomorrow.

david

Events Upcoming at The Learning Garden

2010-11-11T13:19:00.000-08:00

Events upcoming at The Learning Garden - Please mark your calendars!! The picture shows our 'booth' at the recent Homegrown Culver City. You could have been there; it was a lovely day in the park with a lot of very wonderful people!

13 November – Westside Produce, drop off at 9:00, sorting and repackaging begins at noon with pick up and distribution at 1:00. Excess produce exchange. We are in the quarantine zone for the Mediterranean Fruit Fly – if you live outside of the quarantine area, please do not participate in the exchange to allow the quarantine to be most effective. A quarantine is one of the most ecological ways to deal with destructive pests and The learning Garden fully supports the quarantine.

25 November – Thanksgiving 11:30 AM to whenever we are sufficiently past full. For the 6^th year in a row The Learning Garden extends an invitation to the clients and staff of Program for Torture Victims to enjoy this quintessential American holiday on our patio. We do this potluck style, so please bring whatever dish you feel is the very embodiment of Thanksgiving. We have the turkey lined up as well as mashed potatoes – everything else is open for anyone to bring. You can't have too much of anything on Thanksgiving! In keeping with our ecological policies, please bring your own plates and service ware.

04 December – 9:00 AM to Noon – Growing Food in Southern California On our patio, David King, Gardenmaster, will teach growing food in our unique climate – all the up to date information you'll need to enable your garden to the best ever! What do you do in December and January in a climate that doesn't freeze? Here's where to find out and get tips from a successful gardener with over 40 years experience of doing it organically. $25 and the best $25 you can spend on your garden in LA. More information? Email the Gardenmaster.

04 December – 1:00 to 2:00 PM - New Volunteers Orientation on the patio. Reserve your space with Sheri Powell-Wolf at her email address: sheri(at)compostteana(dot)com.

04 December – 2:00 to 3:30 PM – The initial planning meeting for the Seed Library of Los Angeles (SLOLA). We will meet on the patio or in a campus room if weather forces us indoors to begin the plan for SLOLA, laying the groundwork for a viable seed source for all of Los Angeles that defies the insidious nature of copyrighted genetic material and keeps food in the hands of people, not corporations. If you have in interest in this, join us in making the seed library the best one in the country for all of us in Los Angeles. More info from the Gardenmaster.

21 December – 6:30 to 9:30 PM Winter Solstice Celebration A stress free celebration in December! It's almost sacrilege, but that's what we have. With Camille Harris as our Mistress of Ceremonies, we say good bye to 2010, letting go of all of it and prepare ourselves to embrace 2011. A free and peaceful, stress free observance of the changing of the seasons with a fire and a bit of ritual affirming our willingness to join with nature.

01 January 2011 – Welcome to the New Year – no Growing Food Class – wait till February!

29 January – 10 AM to 3 PM – Seed Saving Seminar with Gardenmaster David King. With all the interest in avoiding Monsanto and Genetically Modified Organisms, the only one certain way to do it, is to grow your own and save your own seeds for planting next year – like our forefathers and foremothers did. To be able to sow last year's crop of seed next year, you have to save them. This seminar will cover that as well as breeding plants and why this information is vitally important today. $40 registration if you register before January 22, $45 thereafter. You may register at the door if space allows, however, we do expect this to be a well attended seminar. A simple, yet substantial, vegetarian lunch is included. More information from the Gardenmaster.

david

10-10-10

2010-10-19T13:10:00.000-07:00

The Learning Garden was privileged to host a 10-10-10 event, answering the call of Bill McKibben's 350.org call for everyone across the planet to do something to cut our use of fossil fuels. The Learning Garden's event was the 100 Mile Potluck - everything that came to our potluck was to have originated within 100 miles of the Garden.

We had a great attendance and delicious food for one and all. If you didn't make it this year, look for 11-11-11 events next year! Run right over and put it on your calendar now!

david

A Possible Answer for Colony Collapse Disorder!

2010-10-06T23:12:00.000-07:00

A couple of 'girls' from the hive I caught over the summer, congregate at the entrance to their hive. All worker bees are female, as is the queen. Each hive has only a few males, drones, whose only job is to mate with the queen - definitely part time employment as she mates only several times at the beginning of her reign and that holds her for the rest of her life.

Honey bee populations all over the world have been taking a huge hit over the past decade or so, but the New York Times published a report on October 6th that scientists believe they might have found the culprit - actually a team of culprits. You can read the whole story at this link. If this is indeed the source of the problem, it would answer a huge mystery. However, this is not the end of it, even the article states: "Scientists in the project emphasize that their conclusions are not the final word. The pattern, they say, seems clear, but more research is needed to determine, for example, how further outbreaks might be prevented, and how much environmental factors like heat, cold or drought might play a role." Many observers of bees, myself included, still wonder if pesticides and other human interventions might be playing a roll as well.

Even though answers still seem somewhat distant, very little bit of progress gives hope. Up to 33% of all the food we eat is created by the activity of the honey bee. Losing the bees would be a devastating blow to the world's food supply.

david

Venice Boulevard Will Be Closed On Sunday, October 3!

2010-10-02T07:09:00.000-07:00

From the Mar Vista Community Council Email List:

This notice is to remind everyone that Venice Blvd between the beach and the 10 freeway will be closed all morning on October 3, 2010, for the Kaiser PermanenteLos Angeles Triathalon. The boulevard will be closed from approximately 6 am until 12 noon.

For additional information please visit the Triathalon website here.

The Triathlon will begin at Venice Beach at 7:15 am with the swim segment. The bike course will shut down Venice Blvd from the beach to the 10, Fairfax from the 10 to Olympic, and Olympic from Fairfax to Staples Center. Please note, there will be NO CROSSING POINTS on this year's course. There will be a rolling open from West to East as the athletes finish the race. All streets will be opened by noon.

The Department of Transportation will be aggressively enforcing all temporary parking restrictions for this event to secure the safety of the participants and to facilitate the movement of traffic around road closures. Typical vehicle recovery costs are in excess of $130, which does not include the $60 citation fee. Below you will see a Department of Transportation map that shows the triathlon course and approximate closure and opening times.

Thank you for your cooperation in helping the Kaiser Permanente LA Triathlon become one the World’s premiere athletic events.

Please click on this map for a full size PDF file of the DOT map.

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION WEBSITE
http://trafficinfo.lacity.org/html/2010Triathlon.html
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION HOTLINE #
(323) 224-6534

60 Jars of Pesto and Still Counting!

2010-09-24T20:39:00.000-07:00

Look at this nefarious vagrant! Would you dare to buy a jar of pesto from him?

Well, you should! He's making The Learning Garden's famous pesto using basil harvested only minutes before being blended in with heirloom garlic (Spanish Roja), pine nuts, freshly ground pepper and freshly ground Parmesan cheese. The resulting pesto has a substantial kick with a distinct aroma and flavor. You can copy the recipe, but without our garlic and basil, your pesto will only be a shadow of the stuff we put out. Just saying, you know?

Tomorrow, September 25th, is our 7th Annual Pesto Day. For a mere $10 you get a plate of pasta with our famous pesto, salad, Italian sausage (or meatless if you prefer), a slice of Italian bread, a glass of fresh made lemonade and a dessert of some delight. Hob knob with those in the know! We will have some 60 odd jars of pesto for sale at $10 a pop too.

Funds generated from this event will help The Learning Garden recover from the burglary that occurred just over a week ago. The damages, so far, have been assessed at something in the neighborhood of $4500; a huge hit to our budget. If you've ever considered donating or helping a school garden at some time in the past, now would be an excellent time to step up and show you care.

Shine up your tastebuds for our event,m 2-5 in The Learning Garden, entrance on Walgrove, just south of Venice Boulevard in the Mar Vista part of LA!

david

The Learning Garden's Newsletter for September

2010-09-21T22:58:00.000-07:00

If you would like to read our sort-of monthly newsletter, this links to the most recent edition. You can subscribe at the bottom of the newsletter and it will appear magically in your inbox shortly after it is sent.

We thank you for your support!

david

Now You Don't

2010-09-17T17:38:00.000-07:00

The day after... The palm tree has come down and has gone away. The greenhouse, staff and students are much safer and the light has changed remarkably in the areas impacted by the palm. Already we can see the plan of a refurbished green house taking effect. It's all very exciting.

'In other news,' the Garden suffered another break in last night, losing chain saws, tables, Felco pruners, a scythe and other tools to someone who thwarted the school gate to get into the Garden. Locks were cut and where that wasn't possible, a crow bar was used to pry the locked door of the tool shed open. We believe they ventured into another part of Venice High School campus and were caught on security video, but it makes us wonder why we don't have a security video camera? From a clock on the wall in my office that stopped, they were in the office at 2:41 AM. I will post a wish list asking for folks to help us recover from this loss.

david

Today Is The Day!!

2010-09-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

Now you see it. Take a long last look for today is the end of the palm tree that towers over the greenhouse. This palm, Washingtonia robusta, is the one remaining of two palms that had grown up over the greenhouse. It was the falling fronds of these two palms that broke the greenhouse glass and left the greenhouse an open shell. With the demise of this very tall tree, the greenhouse and the adjacent shade house are now much safer and passage by the greenhouse is safer too. Fronds from this tree have come crashing down around students as they come to and from the Garden. So, on many accounts, the tree needed to go.

Now that these fronds no longer threaten the greenhouse, staff or students, we can begin to restore the greenhouse to a usable structure that will work for us - this Winter's UCLA Extension class, Propagation for Gardeners, will the be the first one that will be able to propagate their cuttings in a proper greenhouse! In addition, this term, Venice High School horticulture students are going to be growing herbs to sell at the Mar Vista Farmers' Market and an enclosed greenhouse will enable us to provide basil year round!

This is a big step forward for The Learning Garden. It makes us almost giddy.

david

Before And After Beauty Shots: Basil

2010-09-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

On September 2nd, readers of this blog remember I posted pictures of Sheri (Compost Teana) spraying our basil plants with her aerated compost tea (ACT). This picture shows one particular plant that was sprayed that day. Sheri came back on the 12th and sprayed again - mind you, this isn't just to get some bigger plants, it's to get some bigger plants by September 25th!!

I was able to get out and look at the plants this morning as the day started. I am really impressed with the growth on the plants, but that's not the whole story. Not only are the plants larger, which you can see in the photo below, but the color and thickness of the leaf is also different. The sprayed plants are decidedly darker and the leaves are thicker, more substantial.

I would not suggest that this spraying schedule is the best. In my mind, we are overdoing it and if the plants were treated this way for an entire season, I think you might end up with white fly or aphids (certainly that would be a good experiment!) because the succulent growth is their target. But in our case, where we have to have the goods by the 25th, I don't think the aphids and white fly will gear up fast enough for a full scale invasion.

What I do recommend is using foliar sprays, especially the aerated compost tea done Sheri's way. I would use that once or twice in a season - not three times in three weeks like we have done unless you have, like us, an 'emergency:' You've invited your boss and 60 of her best friends over for a meal of pesto and a gift of a jar for everyone only to discover you only have 35 plants! That kind of emergency.

At any rate, here is the same plant in twelve days showing the phenomenal growth it has put on, and the growth is healthy and lush, not spindly and anemic. This is wonderful looking basil plant, so robust, caused me to consider coming up with a song, "The Twelve Days of Basil." While most of it sits unwritten inside my head, day four would be 'four cloves of garlic..." and I'll leave you with that tune running on a loop inside your head.

ACT - it works! Thanks Sheri!

Where did I put that pesto recipe?

david

Sweet, Not Sour, Grapes

2010-09-08T22:41:00.000-07:00

Wen-Chia Parker and I both took photos of these bunches of grapes from the central grape arbor in the Garden. Her photo turned out so much better (another "I-phone vs. Blackberry" where the I-phone wins.) This is her photo, easy to tell the difference because it's in focus....

It's ironic that this is the second Concord grape, a cutting off the first one - this plant has well outstripped its parent plant and has these bunches of grapes - the ones that are left after the ones we harvested and walked through the Garden munching on. Concord grapes, the quintessential AMERICAN grape, bursts a sweetness into your mouth that fairly screams "I am a GRAPE!" and then the tartness, some would say bitterness of that purple skin. I love the whole bite all the way through - except for the seeds. I grew up on jelly made from Concord grapes (now that's a messy job!) and grape jelly is still a huge treat for me. Maybe next year we'll have enough to make jelly?

We have another grape, the name I'm not too certain about, but it is supposed to be exactly like a Concord only seedless - now, that's something I'm willing to wait for!

david

Another Take On 'Bee's Knees' From NPR

2010-09-04T16:44:00.000-07:00

Using the same title of my post a few days ago, NPR has a photo display of bees' knees, and other parts, using gold dusted bees seen through a scanning electron microscope. This is a bee's foot photographed at some incredible level of amplification with the microscope.

The book, named appropriately, BEE, will be published by Princeton Architectural Press. There will be a local showing of the prints, December 2 through January 8, Craig Krull Gallery, Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Avenue, Building B-3 Santa Monica, CA. I have included this sample just to give you a taste of what will be in this exhibit - please note, this is only a tiny photo and web reproduction is nothing at all like seeing things in reality! I urge everyone interested in bees and bees in art to attend this exhibit! Ought to be intriguing and quite an education all in one.

david

We Got Sprayed!

2010-09-03T16:16:00.000-07:00

Sheri Powell-Wolff of Compost Teana's Organic Landscape Design and Maintenance, came over to The Learning Garden yesterday to spray our basil plants. We will have our famous Pesto Day on September 25th and we need to have all the growth on these basil plants that we can get by then. We will prune off any flowers that form (and put them in salads!) and that will help the plants get bigger.

Sheri's company, Compost Teana's (get it?) provides 'aerated compost tea brewing and application service for Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego' - she also does organic landscape design and maintenance. And her name is NOT Teana. Right. The key is ACT - aerated compost tea. In the past a shovel full of compost was dropped in a burlap bag and allowed to 'brew' overnight - kind of the 'Lipton Tea' model of infusing. That methodology has gone the way of the postprandial cigarette.

Sheri started to learn about compost teas and how to make the aerobically active compost teas from a book that I often recommend, Teaming With Microbes, and has gone on to study it much more in depth. I know that the compost tea she sprayed on my plants will work with the plants to make them more lush and substantial, without a lot of that soft growth that comes from just fertilizer. If you are a gardener of any kind, I urge you to read the Teaming book. I had been tapped to teach a class on soils to help out for one quarter at UCLA Extension, and I finished this book about halfway through the course. It opened my eyes and I changed all the rest of my lectures in the course to reflect what I had learned. This books points the way to the future and a new model for how we grow plants.

A mid-summer crop failure left us bereft of most of the basil we will need for pesto day, September 25th (it gives me the willies just to write that date!) and since we use a special Italian basil, we can't just run out and steal leaves from anyone's basil, although that had crossed my mind. It is the ingredients in a recipe, any chef or good cook will tell you, that makes a dish special and that's what we have here: heirloom garlic from European stock, basil that was bred in Italy and really good olive oil and Parmesan cheese. We grind all these ingredients with freshly picked basil and jar it up for sale - Pesto Madness Pesto. And we're not the only people who say it's the besto pesto! This stuff is magnificent over pasta or just on bread.

Pesto Madness Pesto goes on sale September 25th in the Garden. You may prepay to reserve yourself a jar or two. This year, we expect to not have nearly as many jars to sell as last year! And we always run out. Orders are filled on a first come, first served basis. $10 for an 8 ounce jar of heavenly pesto.

david

It's the Bees' Knees

2010-09-02T12:25:00.001-07:00

A few of our ladies coming and going from the little hive here at The Learning Garden. Soon, they will be moved to a home off campus before school starts.

I have tried to adopt swarms of bees several times over the summer - each time a caught swarm and placed them in my hive and each time, they absconded after spending a day to a few weeks in the hive. They just didn't want to stick around. After the third attempt had failed, I decided to experiment.

I put this small five frame hive, often called a 'nuc,' out into the Garden overlooking an African Blue Spice Basil. The African Blue Spice Basil is a perennial basil and every single plant we have in the Garden is covered with honey bees, which I figured gave my hive a desirable location for a group of bees ("If you lived here, you'd be home now" kind of advertising campaign.)

Inside of two weeks, I observed bees busily coming and going from the hive. After two more weeks of observation, I put on my bee suit and opened it up: bees! With new comb being drawn and all the signs of a productive hive on my hands. I opened it up again yesterday and checked on their progress. They really do have a home there and I find it very exciting.

School starts on September 13th and the hive will have to be relocated before then. Here's hoping they make the move intact and once in the new location, they continue to keep house in my little hive!

david

Free Compost!

2010-08-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

The Learning Garden received a fresh load of compost this morning. It is free to all schools and non-profits - for individuals, we ask for a donation to help keep our gates open. It is entirely voluntary, we would rather you have the compost and garden than not, but if you are comfortable giving a donation of any size, we are comfortable in accepting it.

Note that this compost will move quickly and I have already asked the city to keep another load on tap for us - schools all over the westside are coming into session and there are seven or eight school gardens using our compost site as their primary pick up. Also note that everyone should ask before taking the woodchips in this same area - we can the compost on cal, but the woodchip supply is a little less certain and we will need lots of woodchips to get ready for the coming school year ourselves.

We are here 10 to 5 everyday except Monday.

david

Upcoming Events in The Learning Garden

2010-08-23T17:42:00.000-07:00

August 28^th – Henry Jun Wah Lee, L.Ac will hold a lecture: Introduction to Chinese Taoist Face Reading: Understanding and Using Your Deepest Gifts and Transforming Your Greatest Challenges Your face is a mirror that records your past, reflects your present and forecasts your future. Each feature, shape, line, wrinkle, mole and marking tells a story about who you are. It reveals your life’s deepest gifts and greatest challenges. To know Chinese Face Reading is to know your true nature and the nature of those around you. It can help you find your soul mate, identify the ideal business partner or employee, build stronger teams, and strengthen relationships. More importantly, it can help you recognize your own innate strengths and weaknesses so you can leverage them effectively to live a more powerful and fulfilled life. In this 90 minute lecture, Lee will introduce the nearly three thousand year old practice of Chinese Taoist Face Reading. You’ll gain insights about your own true nature — your unique gifts and challenges — and learn powerful tools for utilizing Chinese Face Reading to improve your life. RSVP: Please RSVP by calling 323-540-4180. Space is limited. Admission: $20, of which $5 will be donated to benefit the Learning Garden.

September 11^th – 9-Noon – The Annual Pepperdine Day of Service in the Garden, preparing the Venice High School beds for the fall term. Come out, get sweaty and do good work in the Garden

September 25^th – 11:30 to 1:30 Our Time Bank Monthly Meeting and Potluck Our Time Bank is a community of people living and working in the Culver City, Palms and Mar Vista area who support each other. For every hour you help another member, you gain a Timebank Hour. Come out and see why a local economy based on the exchange of time rather than money is a way to create a more meaningful life.

September 25^th – 2:00 to 5:00 PESTO DAY Returns! For a mere $10 admission you get to eat a plate of pasta with Italian Sausage, salad, genuine Italian bread and a drink. You may also purchase jars of pesto to take home and enjoy or give as gifts and enjoy – it freezes magnificently and can be a healthful and inspiring addition to meals throughout the long cold California winter.

October 3^rd – 1:00 to 5:00 PM UCLA Extension class 'Modern Backyard Food Production' starts in The Learning Garden and runs for the next couple of months. This elective course in Extension's Gardening and Horticulture Certificated Program brings students into the world of really local food where the 'back forty' really is square feet and not acres. Not only does the course cover vegetables but includes raising chickens and herding honey bees. Homegrown and homemade food is featured weekly! Contact UCLA Extension for registration details.

Also in October – Victory Garden Circle Master Gardener volunteers will organize and lead low-cost Victory Garden Circles and teach the basics of gardening. These classes of instruction and hands-on activities will introduce gardeners to the basics of growing your own food. You can attend one or all, but by attending all four classes, participants will become UC-certified Victory Gardeners. Contact the Gardenmaster for details.

david

Seed Library of Los Angeles; SLOLA

2010-08-14T12:28:00.000-07:00

Vegetable seeds tightly closed in jars to keep them more viable are all from The Learning Garden's growing over the past couple of years. These very seeds could be the beginning of a seed library for the Los Angeles area.

The Seed Library of Los Angeles (SLOLA) has been brewing for some time – and it's not quite soup yet – there are hurdles still to cross. But it is closer to reality because The Learning Garden has taken on the challenge of making it happen.

A seed library works very similar to a book library or a tool library. The main difference – and the real nut of the difficulty in making it viable – is that seeds are living entities having a life expiration that puts a whole new urgency into the program.

Once you have joined a seed library – you check out seeds from them just like you would a book. You plant the seeds and grow out your crop, at the end of the season, you return fresh seeds, from your crop, to the library. The library benefits from being able to offer the next person fresh seed and you benefit from having free seeds. It's a win/win and it keeps Monsanto out of your garden and denies them profit from feeding your family.

The Learning Garden, more than any other local entity is the perfect place for a seed library because of the wealth of variety we alone can bring to the table. We have vegetables, California Natives and medicinal plants from which we can store and provide seed – our own inventory of seed is massive giving us the lead in this field. We also have space to be able to grow out seed that needs to be refreshed.

The challenges of making this work are, as follows:

We need volunteers to run the seed library – catalog and inventory the supplies and to run the 'open' days
We need a database complicated enough to thoroughly track the seed and insuring viability for those checking out the seed but simple enough to be used by volunteers – I have experience with Access and it is certainly complicated enough, not so much usable. Friends suggest File Maker Pro, but I have never used it and don't have the cash to get it, making that a moot point.
We need to create a space just for the library to store seeds and have available to them. That, I think can be managed by the Garden by rearranging some of the space in my office and we can turn part of that over to a seed storage space.

So, at this time, I'm looking for some folks willing to devote some of their time to start and run a seed library and some way to log the seeds and the persons who have joined. AND I'd like to learn who is interested in joining a seed library and checking out seeds. At this point, I'm considering a nominal $10 membership fee, which I think should net someone life time membership (your life or my life or the life of the seeds?) – other than the start up costs, I can't see a seed bank costing a great deal to run. I've got an ancient computer around here, if I can get a database program on it to run, that solves that end of the equation. Perhaps there will need to be a fine if you don't bring back the seeds on time, like an overdue book.

Let me know – and I'll keep you posted as we move forward.

david

A Hatful of Beans!

2010-08-13T12:26:00.000-07:00

Just a day late from the first anniversary of The Learning Garden (Almost) Daily, I've picked a few beans - a whole hatful, it turns out! Set against the leaves of the plants themselves, there's quite a bit of yummy here!

These are my favorite yellow bean, Pencil Pod and they've been picked at their peak of goodness. I hope to supplement these with a few other beans from a famers' market and make my delicious pickled basil beans!

Pencil Pod is a good variety for anyone's use, but they are especially suited to canning and pickling. They tend to be very straight and that makes getting them in a jar a *drum roll, please* snap. Curvey beans need not apply - getting a jar tightly packed with wiggly beans takes more than twice as long and is less than half as satisfying. They never seem to come out with nearly the same appeal and the beans are never tightly packed which makes keeping them under the brine solution almost impossible - you'll end up with tips that just aren't appetizing.

You will be able to find my recipe for pickled beans in my forthcoming book and that's the only way unless you know my secret. But this one tidbit alone will make the book worth its price - guaranteed.

david

Growing Organic Food and Summertime Garden To Do’s

2010-08-09T13:47:00.000-07:00

The Learning Garden was 'on the air!' This last Saturday, Gardenmaster David King was on the Cindy Dole show talking about August in the garden and some of our upcoming events in The Learning Garden. You too can surf on over to Cindy Dole's website and hear the whole shebang!

I'm going to - I was so excited to be on the air, I'm not sure what I said!

david

August Things In The Garden In August!

2010-07-28T22:39:00.000-07:00

I am so grateful I was talked out of calling this blog "The Learning Garden Daily..." even at "Almost Daily" it's tough to justify my lack of posting. I admit to taking a bit of a breather and I haven't done a lot of posting this last month - call it "Ice Cream Burn Out." We're looking forward to some rock'n'roll times in August and if I don't get this out now, it may never get out, so here goes.

AUGUST

7th - 9-12 - the very best three hour gardening workshop in Los Angeles. You'll laugh till you cry and come out the other side thinking, 'by golly, I learned a lot!' The first Saturday of each month I do a class called "What To Do And When To Do It" and it is just like that - what DO you plant in August? What else do you do in August? OK, besides go on vacation. This is the class that answers all your questions about gardening - if you don't get your questions answered, you didn't ask it! $25 per class - discount if you purchase four at once. We have coffee and tea - bring your own cup and whatever you put in your coffee or tea. Dress to get dirty because we go out into the Garden and actually garden!

7th - 1:00 to 2:30 our first Volunteer Orientation - starting this month, all volunteers will be asked to attend an orientation - this gets everyone on the same page and allows volunteers to get to know one another and we have a system to get everyone online all at once - and everyone gets to know the Garden, its mission and can learn how they can fit in the whole thing.

7th - 4:00 - 8:00 PM - The Spirit of Medicine Festival / Adopt-A-Plant Day Redux designed to display the full scope of Chinese Medical practice in a non-professional setting

Schedule of Events - 4:30 - 5:30 Robert Newman leads a plant walk and explains the therapeutic benefits of various species in the garden. Immediately after Robert's talk, over 30 different species of plants will be available for adoption or by donation. 5:30 - 6:30 Christine Chang lectures on cosmology, cooking and the secret to radiant health. 6:30 - 7:30 Lorraine Wilcox explains the Power of Mugwort Fire and discusses how to make Moxa from Artemisia argyii. Various species of Artemisia will be available for adoption. We will raffle various items by local artisans! 7:30 - 8:00 Qichen Guo demonstrates the vital energy cultivating practice of Chen Style Tai Ji Chuan. 8:00 - Sit by the fire and celebrate a wonderful day! 13th - 8:00 PM Fire Meditation - on the Patio - email or call for more details. We have more events over this horizon, but I wanted to make sure you had the chance to get these on your calendar! More later soon! david

Schedule of Events -
4:30 - 5:30 Robert Newman leads a plant walk and explains the therapeutic benefits of various species in the garden. Immediately after Robert's talk, over 30 different species of plants will be available for adoption or by donation.
5:30 - 6:30 Christine Chang lectures on cosmology, cooking and the secret to radiant health.
6:30 - 7:30 Lorraine Wilcox explains the Power of Mugwort Fire and discusses how to make Moxa from Artemisia argyii. Various species of Artemisia will be available for adoption. We will raffle various items by local artisans!
7:30 - 8:00 Qichen Guo demonstrates the vital energy cultivating practice of Chen Style Tai Ji Chuan.

8:00 - Sit by the fire and celebrate a wonderful day!

13th - 8:00 PM Fire Meditation - on the Patio - email or call for more details.

We have more events over this horizon, but I wanted to make sure you had the chance to get these on your calendar!

More later soon!

david

Happy July!

2010-07-01T00:24:00.000-07:00

A lovely bit of rhubarb pie is topped with a scoop of vanilla, a favorite flavor combination from growing up in Kansas!

We'll post all of July's calendar soon, but we wanted to make sure you know about a few of the events happening this weekend.

On July 3rd at 9 AM, we host our monthly series "What To Do & When To Do It - growing food in Southern California. This well received class covers all the gardening you need to know to grow your own veggies in Los Angeles. Gardenmaster David King takes you through the basics on into his own master techniques of growing a good garden. Never dull and monotone, the $25 spent on one of these classes is one of the best values for any class on anything anywhere!

The next day, Sunday is the Fourth of July - and keeping with our tradition for the third year in a row, we are holding our Fourth of July Ice Cream Social. We'll have several different flavors from the garden - no, not beet ice cream! But fun flavors - like, oh, say apricot ice cream. But some exotic and unusual ones too. Games are played, like the raw egg toss or croquet. Always a fun and relaxing way to spend the afternoon of the Fourth - we start serving at 2:00 and go until the ice cream runs out - or 5:00 PM - which ever comes first. Bring a homemade pie, crumble or a fool and we'll give you a free plant!

Now that's enough to keep you busy this weekend. We'll post more soon on what else we've got on our calendar... SOON!

david

Summer Solstice - Sunday (Tomorrow!) At 7:30!

2010-06-19T20:49:00.000-07:00

A sunflower shining brightly stands in for a photo of the sun, of which I have none, to advertise our Annual Summer Solstice Party tomorrow evening at 7:30 PM on our patio.

Bring some cookies or some little thing to gnosh on, we'll have hot mint tea and a lovely fire and our resident madame of ceremonies, Camille Harris, will lead us in marking this sacred event. Let's watch the sun go down and observe the passing of seasons and keep time with Nature. It's a lovely way to slow ourselves down from the frenetic daily industrial life we have allowed to become our guiding authority.

Break out and resonate in harmony with our Earth!

david

Drip Irrigation: A New Take on Old Technology

2010-06-17T14:11:00.000-07:00

Out of the ground to show its shape, an olla (pronounced 'oy-ya' or 'oh-ya') sits waiting to be installed and then filled with water.

One more of our 'modern' technologies has been proven to be but an updated petrochemical based revision of an earlier, more earth friendly, idea from some civilization regarded as backward by most Western peoples over the past several hundred years.

Ollas are simple. They are only unglazed terra cotta jugs. Once it is planted in the ground with only the flare of the neck sticking out, plants are planted around the olla - at different distances depending on the water needs of the plants and the texture of the soil - the olla is filled with water. For most efficient operation, cover the open top with a non-porous pot, cup or even a flat rock or a plate, to prevent water from being wicked up into the atmosphere. Depending on your soil and your crops, a large olla like this ought to not empty out in a week or so. However, please note: The real test of whether you need to fill the olla is NOT whether or not it is empty - it is the amount of water in the soil around the olla! Remember, the olla is only the transit point for water in the soil.

This low tech system of watering has no moving parts and no electricity usage. You can use it when you go away on a vacation and it is much more efficient than even drip irrigation. Some of the plus points over drip:

* no plastic petrochemical production

* no moving parts to break

* even less water lost to evapo-transpiration

* no constant upkeep or broken parts, cut water lines to fix or replace

* not one single drop of electricity

On the other hand.... they are fragile and somewhat pricey. This little guy cost me $30 (from Path to Freedom's Shop), and I picked mine up myself. I actually broke one of two when I picked the first one up and the second rolled into it, breaking its neck. They were good to me and replaced the beheaded one. While they won't be as likely to be damaged once in the ground by humans, woody roots (like woody perennials or trees have) could crack the terra cotta. Other than that, they seem to be relatively maintenance free.

They do require monitoring and refilling, however.

david

Gardenmaster Shed Break In

2010-05-23T14:04:00.000-07:00

The lock still intact, the hasp bent but not broke, it was the screws pried from the wood that proved to be the weaker point as the thieves simply heaved them out of the door to gain entry to the Gardenmaster Office.

Not so much a loss to the Garden, but for the third time the Gardenmaster shed has been broken into. This time the criminals evidently knew there was a possibility of music instruments in there and sadly they were right. Stolen items include the Gardenmaster's bass and guitar as well as several tool bags of music gear, items which wouldn't have been there had there not been an injured wrist the day of a band rehearsal last week and these were left to a time of less painful lifting.

The culprits made a much bigger mess of the place by pulling out drawers and dumping the contents and doing the same to my other tool bags - like the grafting and sharpening bags that are used in teaching these subjects. But the only things taken were music gear - not even a power drill and electric saws; our computer in there was too old to bother stealing and they left it and all sorts of other tools behind. Total loss is in the neighborhood of $2000, but the biggest loss is the heartbreak.

At least that will be healed with time and a spirit, a determination and creativity cannot be stolen. Looking for a good used acoustic/electric bass, preferring an Epiphone Natural El Capitan with a cutaway (they don't make 'em anymore).

david