Purple is the Color of My True Love's Leaves!!

Purple Kale - the colder it gets, the prettier
(and tastier!) it becomes! 

We are feeling purple in The Learning Garden these days!  

Starting on the 2nd of Janurary, we present the  Growing Food in Southern California class with the Gardenmaster.  Is one of your resolutions to make your garden more productive, and more satisfying for you?  Are you hoping to learn more about sustainability?  Get yourself on over here Saturday morning for this class at 10:00.  No need for an RSVP - we have the class regardless and there is always a theme.  This month, we hope that everyone has a desire to grow more food, so we'll address your needs, your questions specifically so you are on the right track from Day Two!  

A spiffed up Gardenmaster!
Don't be fooled, he still has dirt under his nails.

Attendees this month will get a baby PURPLE artichoke plant from a new variety being bred here locally, called Winetka Purple.  We're helping to make the variety become stable (the last part of creating a new strain of vegetable), which means, these plants are triply exciting to grow - you get to eat some, you get to watch some of them bloom (wow!) and then save seeds from those that look like we want them to look like.  It will be a fun and learning experience for everyone.

Later on in the month - as an added bonus, the Seed Library of Los Angeles has their first meeting of the year on January 16th, Craig Ruggless, the man who created Winnetka Purple Artichokes will tell us how he did it and what is left to be done.  These chokes are beautiful and have lots of the food parts we are all so fond of.  Especially if you got some of our seedlings on January 2nd, you really will want to be here on the 16th to hear the whole story!  

Make plans to be a part of these two events this month!  

January 2 - 10:00 to Noon, $20 at the gate or PayPal to greenteach@gmail.com - discounts for prepaying for five classes (one free).  

January 16 - 2:30 PM the monthly meeting of the Seed Library of Los Angeles (SLOLA) - free to attend - to join and check out seeds, $10 for your lifetime.  

Get your growing off right in 2016!  Grow some of your own food!

david

Calendar of Events: January and The Immediate Future

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

Events Upcoming at The Learning Garden

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

Neither Rain Nor Sleet...

Intrepid students pause with their instructor, the Gardenmaster, in the morning lesson this last Saturday in the What To Do & When To Do It series in the Garden.  

Class started at 9:00 and the rain started at 10.  We moved to the small protected area in the greenhouse and kept right on keeping on!  It didn't rain long, but we kept right on and the weather cleared for the rest of the weekend.  Sunday's class (and potluck!) was in cool, but dry conditions.  

Since then, it's been windy, cool (sometimes cold) and dry.  Time to water again even though we were running and ducking from rain just a few days ago!

Quick Mark Your Calendars!

Upcoming In The Garden

February 6^th – 1:00 to 3:00 PM – First Annual Seed Swap, in conjunction with Environmental Change Makers, The Learning Garden will host a seeds swap!

Swap out those seeds you didn’t use last year for something new and different! The Learning Garden will sponsor our first seed swap on our patio February 6th. Email the Gardenmaster, greenteach@gmail.com, if you have questions.

February 6^th (again!) - 2:00 to 3:00 PM – Introduction to New Volunteers with David King, Gardenmaster. Tour the Garden, learn some about gardening and get on board with The Learning Garden events and happenings! We need volunteers all the time, your service will be rewarded! Free.

February 13^th – 9 AM to Noon The new year's first What To Do and When To Do It comes along just in time to help you plan your summer garden. Want the best ever tomato that wins the taste test on your block? Come on down and we'll get you started. (The Gardenmaster grew the first and second place tomatoes at a Tomato Tasting this last year, he knows what he's doing with tomatoes!) Still only $25 for one class, $100 for five...  (Note that this is a week later than our usual class meeting due to scheduling conflicts - in March, we'll be back on the first Saturday of the month!)

February 13^th – 1:00 to 2:30 – At Ocean View Farms, the Gardenmaster will speak about The Beautiful Food Garden to members of that community garden, the public is invited as well. Free.

February 27^th – 9:00 to 4:30 PM, Small Space Gardening Think you can’t grow your own veggies, fruit and herbs because of lack of space? Think again! In this class designed specifically for apartment, condominium, and other urban dwellers without land, gardening expert Darren Butler will demonstrate how easy it is to grow edibles in spaces as big as a porch or as small as a windowsill. Contact Darren Butler at butlercdarren@gmail.com for registration information.

Ongoing In The Garden

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. And yes, we continue to meet throughout the season - unless the weather doesn't permit, which means, if you have to put on a coat, the weather isn't permitting that day!

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

david