SUSTAINABLE LIVING, LLC - Latest Blog Entries

Composting: a win-win activity

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 09:57:00 -0500

Composting in every business and household is the norm in an ideal world. Not only does it create the best garden soil available- for free, but it cuts down on the quantity of materials going into the waste stream and captures a valuable resource that is otherwise costly to manage. Not-so-fun factoid: 40% of America’s food ends up in the trash! If we’re wasting that much, at least we could be recycling it to make more food from it right here in town. The Chatham county would like to be the first in Georgia to be a Zero-Waste county- if we make our voices heard that we the people also want to attain this goal; our officials will have an easier time getting it done.

Other cities like San Francisco CA, Austin TX, and Seattle Washington are already doing this. In Seattle, 98% of the population has curbside pickup of all recyclables including food waste. Ordinarily, as much as 50% of the waste stream going to landfills is food scrap materials. An average household produces 45 pounds of food waste each month, which doesn’t sound like that much, but, when you multiply that by the number of households within the city limits alone, which is 51,375, it comes to a staggering 2,311,875 pounds of valuable resource wasted each and every month.

According to Dennis Hutton (AICP, LEED-AP, Director of Comprehensive Planning, Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission,) “The Chatham Environmental Forum also recognizes that home-owners are throwing good money after bad when they send their food waste to the landfill and then turn around and buy fertilizer from the local garden supply house. That’s not a double whammy: it’s a quadruple whammy! You pay for the food; you pay to dispose of the food scraps in a landfill; then you pay to buy chemical fertilizer that kills soil microorganisms; then you pay for pesticides to control the insects that the soil microorganisms would devour if the chemicals hadn’t wiped them out. Can you imagine space aliens trying to figure out this food system we have developed?

The Forum is working with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the State Legislature to allow single-stream, industrial composting operations on landfill sites. Single-stream composting means that all food waste is composted, including meat and dairy products that may cause problems in home composting. In order to be a true Zero-waste County, all food waste must be composted. This requires a strict schedule of aeration, much like a sewage treatment plant or a fertilizer factory so a landfill is a logical place to have such an operation.

It’s very odd that regulators (and the general public) don’t think twice about the dangerous and potentially toxic processes that convert corn to high fructose corn syrup which has become a staple in our diet, but are afraid of pathogens and bacteria in food ten minutes after it leaves the table. Or that we accept cutting up cows with chainsaws, but recoil from touching a steak bone two minutes after we finish gnawing on it. Go figure!” Tell it like it is Mr. Hutton!!

In order to move Savannah in a self-sustaining direction in regards to food, SUGA is working towards creating school and community gardens and urban farms. Before we can create enough gardens and farms to feed ourselves sustainably, we must close the loop between resource (garbage) and need (compost). Compost, available in large quantities, is a necessity to enrich and enliven our sandy soil if we are to feed our population as the petroleum based, industrialized farming era comes to an end.

Small but worthy steps can be made now in that direction by each of us. Composting can be done on an individual or household level in any situation, even if you don’t have a yard or garden. Worm bins can be kept under the sink or in a pantry or closet; tumblers and ready-made bins can be kept outside the back door; pallet-bins can be made for free and an artist friend can help it look fun or fanciful. If you have a garden, you can always just bury it in different spots like my grandparents used to. If you don’t have a need for compost, barter it at a community garden for veggies or sell it on Craig’s List, you’ll no doubt be swamped with calls! Well Fed’s own Rene Terran is helping to organize Earthday events this year and has arranged for all the food containers and implements to be compostable. These materials along with food scraps will be collected separately to take to Longwood Plantation for composting.

Speaking of Earthday, please plan to attend and learn who the folks are that are making a difference in our community. SUGA will be there and I’ll be doing a composting workshop if you’re inspired to get one started- see you there!

Together we can all make a huge impact for the good of our community. Let’s all let our officials know we are for the Zero-Waste plan and ask what we can do to help it move forward, the more voices they hear the faster it will happen.

Slow it Down, Bring it Home

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 09:43:00 -0500

Slow-down, you eat too fast, you gotta make this flavor last, just kicken back the mashed-taters, lookin for slow-food and eatin gravy…. (read this to the tune in your head of Simon & Garfunkle’s hit song)

Wait, what is slow food?
First it might be helpful to describe what slow food is NOT. Basically, it’s called “fast food.” It can be found in most towns, cities and in between on highway exits. Often, it is a place where you don’t even have to get out of your car, where you interact with a disembodied voice, then with a person through a tiny window for less than two minutes. Then you race off to your destination while wolfing down your purchase. The food is always convenient, ultimately it came from factory farms and industrialized agriculture, available night and day, with no dirty dishes or cutlery to wash- when done, just throw the whole mess out (often you’ll see evidence of these meals along the roadsides.) The meals are processed in a factory; the food sent down conveyor belts to be chopped, ground and packaged into plastic containers. Then these convenient packages are transported from across the country and even across the globe where few or no environmental regulations or workers rights exist or if they do, are rarely enforced. Once they get to the fast food store, they are assembled on an assembly line much like you’d see in any factory. The workers are generally poorly paid, bored with doing unskilled labor, and so disconnected from this lifeless food that there is little or no pride in the final product. There is no regional diversity in this product that a local employee could even take pride in or identify with on a cultural level: Burgers and fries are the same whether you’re in N. Dakota or S. Carolina.

Now contrast that too familiar scenario with what is now known as slow foods. This fare can be found in any town, city or country home, a few wholesome cafes’, and many high-end restaurants. I have yet to run across one on a highway exit or one that has a drive-through. The ingredients of slow foods come from sustainable regional farms and nearby organic gardens. The produce arrives at the destination intact, where it’ll then be processed by skilled hands wielding their craft with sharp knives and a pride in what they’re creating. The humanely-locally-raised meats are often delivered by the ranchers or ranch-hands themselves who come with details of the free-range lifestyles these animals enjoyed. To access this final product you must sit at a table, interact with the wait staff, family members or friends sitting with you, use ceramic plates and bowls with metal cutlery that will then be washed and reused countless times. If at a home, you’d be with friends or family, chopping and cooking the foods that were gathered from field, garden, produce stand or the Forsyth Farmer’s Market, perhaps your meat came from the locally owned health food store, Brighter Day, or the Savannah Food Co-op that both buy from sustainably managed local ranches and farms. The meals themselves are a reflection of local culinary traditions; recipes passed down through the generations and shared with newcomers. For example, the shrimp and grits you have for breakfast in coastal Georgia would be next to impossible to find in Iowa.

The food of this second scenario definitely takes time to plan, gather and prepare. It requires organization of people if it’s to be shared, initial research to source the foods, and a pleasant place to enjoy the outcome of all this effort. However, that doesn’t mean it has to cost a lot. Slow Food International designated September 17^th as a day for a Slow Food $5 Challenge event, inviting individuals, families and organizations around the world to host slow-food meals that cost less than $5 per person. Savannah has a local Slow Food chapter that you can join by going to SlowFoodUSA.org, and link to the local chapter page. In this way you’ll be kept in the loop when Slow Food events are planned here in Savannah.

Another event that I hope you all will turn out for this month is Food Day, October 22. This issue is all about it, so turn to those pages when you’re done here, and please plan your day accordingly. The Savannah Urban Garden Alliance (SUGA) will be there with workshops on food preservation, cooking and gardening. SUGA’s vision and mission are fully aligned with the principles behind Slow Food and Food Day. Our vision:Providing access to local healthy food one garden at a time. Our mission: SUGA is cultivating a gardening movement in Savannah communities through outreach and education. Please consider joining SUGA’s facebook page to stay informed on gardening and food classes and events that we sponsor. We are also found at www.SUGAcentral.org.

Folks, it’s time to take a hard look at our lifestyles of convenience, of looking for the cheapest price rather than quality and integrity. My friend, David Malpass, who has introduced the Transition Town Initiative to Savannah (find it on Face Book) coined the following phrase: “Consumption is the habit of convenience.” Our culture is addicted to convenience. Convenience leads to more consumption; over consumption leads to disconnection. The convenience of fast food leads to the disconnection of where it came from, who prepared it, how it was grown, and the reason for why we should even care.

Certainly there are times when it’s essential to have something quick to eat. One thing I’ve done to help during the hectic work week is to plan some meals and prep the ingredients on a leisurely Sunday afternoon. Likewise, bagged lunches can be assembled with last minute additions of left-overs or fresh salad or sandwich the morning of. Having a healthy nut mix or protein bar in the glove box is another way to forgo pulling through the drive-through in a weak moment.

We live in a time of economic insecurity, broken food system, climate changing, obesity epidemic (up 214% from 1950-2000!) and cancer epidemic (up by 55% since 1950.)[i] In our electronic era we spend a large part of our waking hours in front of a TV and/or computer. Screen time is out of control: 8 hours for adults and 6 hours for kids ages 8-18[ii] (not including school-work related computer time.) We need to get back to basics! Much of this imbalance can be addressed by changing our food lifestyle. And by that I mean cooking and eating wholesome meals together, gardening, buying from local farms, being active with family and friends outside. Consider getting involved in worthy causes in your community that you can feel good about, using your time to make the world a better place, one community at a time.

[i] http://www.livestrong.com/article/384722-how-much-have-obesity-rates-risen-since-1950/

[ii] http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/tv_affects_child.html

Preserving the Harvest

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 09:37:00 -0500

We can grow food year-round here in our Deep South climate so why bother to preserve the harvest, when we can harvest from our gardens all the time? I don’t know about ya’ll, but I like to add a can of tomatoes to my winter stews, blueberries in my smoothies in months other than June- & July, and I especially enjoy fig preserves on my winter toast. Yes, eating seasonally is ideal on every level from energy consumption to nutritional value, but let’s face it- a diet of collards, radishes and turnips can get pretty tiring by mid-January. Learning to preserve your harvest (or a local farmer’s harvest) increases our local food security, decreases fossil fuel consumption of transporting out of season foods, and boosts the local economy among many other intangible benefits including the self-satisfaction when gazing at rows of beautiful food in clear glass jars (no BPAs to worry about here!! See the July Well Fed issue on that subject.)

So what about the nutrient loss? Unless your fresh produce is eaten within 72 hours of harvest- you’ve already lost 15-60% of its original nutritional value- canned vegetables lose about 20% through the preserving process. So yes, eat freshly harvested produce year-round, but don’t hesitate supplementing with your own freshly harvested and preserved produce. Besides that, if you don’t count your labor of love in growing and preserving your food, it costs half the amount of store bought food. And that statistic doesn’t even account for your own produce being organically grown which adds a huge value tag on many levels. According to a UGA pamphlet on canning, if properly handled, home canned freshly harvested vegetables are higher in nutrient content than most grocery stores’ “fresh” produce. (!) How long do you really think it takes to get produce from the fields in California to the shelves of your local grocer? So when considering canning the bounty of summer crops, make sure you know exactly how fresh the produce is, either by harvesting it yourself from your own garden, from a pick-your-own farm, or ask the farmer at the market when he /she harvested the crop you’re buying. At the farmer’s market, you can often arrange a week ahead of time to buy a case of freshly picked tomatoes, peaches etcetera. They’ll appreciate knowing they already have a case sold for the next market day!

Preserving food inhibits the natural ripening activity of food enzymes, by either removing water (dehydration), or, removing oxygen (canning), so that bacteria, yeast and mold organisms cannot degrade the food. However, nutrient content such as vitamins A, C and riboflavin decrease with long storage times, so eat your preserved food by the time it comes around to harvest that food again- and start the cycle all over.

Following, are brief descriptions of two food preservation methods: canning and drying. Fermenting might have to have an article on its own next month! These methods offer a way to store food without reliance on electric energy so that when the electricity goes out in stormy weather you don’t run the risk of losing your preserved food. I won’t attempt to describe all processes here, rather, I’d like to give a glimpse of what it all entails so you can feel inspired to take a class, learn from a book, friend or relative about your methods of choice.

There are two processes for canning. For tomatoes and fruits that are high in acid content or for recipes that add acid such as lemon or vinegar, steam or water bath is used. Use pressure canning for low acid foods, which are basically all the rest. Blanching the food stops the enzymes that cause fruits and vegetables to ripen, helping to preserve the color and texture during storage. The food is washed, blanched, peeled, cubed, sliced or left whole, heated in a sauce pan and sealed in jars to then be processed in the appropriate canner. Shelf life is one to two years, the pressure method having the longer storage life. Canning requires basic kitchen supplies and will cost about $75-$100 for the steam or water canner, or $100+ for a pressure canner, and $8-10 for 12 jars. However, these materials are re-used year after year so they can be considered “capital costs”.

There are several steps in the dehydrating process to follow. Wash, blanch, peel or not, and slice thinly and evenly, then dip in an ascorbic acid solution to further preserve the color and texture. Syrup dips can also be used to make candied fruits. Spread produce on drying racks in dehydrator, watch and wait 2-10 days depending on moisture content and size. Conditioning the dried foods is the last step and consists of putting dried foods in an airtight container for several days, allowing the remaining moisture to be evenly distributed throughout the batch, watching for condensation, and re-drying in the dehydrator if condensation appears. Finally, store food in air-tight containers. Shelf life depends on storage temperatures, moisture content, and light. A safe rule of thumb is 6-12 months. The cost of buying or making the dehydrator is the biggest capital outlay. I highly recommend a solar dehydrator to save energy and money in the long run. Make it yourself, Google can be your best friend in finding designs and You Tube has lots of demo videos on the subject.

The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension service has pamphlets available online and through their office in the Old Court House on Bull St. The Savannah Urban Garden Alliance (SUGA) is offering four classes on food preservation through the W. Broad St. YMCA’s Growing Edge Educational Garden in August (13^th & 27^th) and September (17^TH & 24^TH). I will be teaching canning & fermenting, and David Malpass will be teaching dehydration and demonstrate the construction of a solar dehydrator. Look for upcoming events through signing on to Face Book pages of the Savannah Urban Garden Alliance and Transition Town Savannah. We’ll create event pages for you to sign up on; the class will be held only if 10 or more people attend (donation-based fee.)

Why Buy Organic?

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 09:34:00 -0500

The past few years have brought the term “organic” to the mainstream. It used to be considered the realm of hippies and health nuts, but these days everyone from Oprah to school lunch dieticians are discussing what it means and how it affects us. While the benefits of organically-grown food have been touted on the nightly news and national magazines, there’s always room for more education.

The obvious reason for buying organic is the personal benefit—better flavors for the palate, higher nutrition for the body. The naysayers want you to believe that the science isn’t there, yet 2010 from Washington State University shows that organic strawberries contain more anti-oxidants and higher vitamin C than conventional strawberries. Also, the absence of cancer-causing pesticides on organic produce reduces the risk of carcinogen exposure. As for which tastes better, all you have to do is bite into an organic tomato and compare it to one that’s been picked before it was ripe, sprayed for bugs and increased color then trucked across the country.

For me, an even stronger reason for buying organic is that it supports the overall health of the planet. This is more of a behind-the-scenes way of thinking about food—not something we’re necessarily taught in school—but the difference between organically-farmed foods and conventional agriculture has and will continue to have an enormous impact it on our quality of life.

If you were able to make it to any of the Real Food Film Festival movies like Fresh, Ingredients, or Dirt, you’re already privy to what an inefficient, wasteful and unsustainable food system on which we currently depend . Mass amounts of genetically-modified corn, soybeans and wheat are produced on hundreds of thousands of mono-cropped acres—all which depend on petroleum-based fertilizers, pesticides and machinery. But wait, I went into those statistics last month…

Let’s just say when oil prices soar, food prices soar. Then we’ll either be unable to afford buying foods produced in this oil-dependent way or our tax dollars will subsidize this method of farming even more than they already do. Some still think that organic food costs too much, but the true cost of organically-grown food versus conventionally-produced food is actually much cheaper if you really trace the money back to how much our government subsidizes these unsustainable farming practices. (The real price of a pound of conventionally-produced beef is $70 if you account for government subsidies!)

The alternative is to divide up these vast acreages into sustainably-managed, diversified farms that provide plenty of jobs in the agriculture business and food security for our country.

Some may argue that we’re not really running out of oil, that there are still plenty of untapped resources to be drilled, mined or extracted. That may be true, but the fact is those oil reserves difficult and incredibly expensive to get to, like the Gulf of Mexico where the oil is miles under the surface, in Canada in the form of tar sands or in the West in shale oil. The ratio of energy spent to extract it to the energy of return isn’t worth the environmental costs of extracting it from these wilderness areas. This doesn’t even take into account that continuing to burn fossil fuels is affecting climate change and rising sea levels, a fact that should especially concern coastal dwellers like us. (Think global warming is still a theory? Speak to Dr. Alexander at the Skidaway Marine Science Center for documentation. He recently gave a thorough presentation on local sea level changes thus far, and predictions for the future levels of the Georgia Coastline will be presented at the Strategic Planning meeting hosted by the Metropolitan Planning Commission March 22 & 24, 2011.)

Then there’s the pollution factor of modern chemical-based agriculture. Agricultural activities that cause agricultural nonpoint source (NPS) pollution include confined animal facilities, grazing, plowing, pesticide spraying, irrigation, fertilizing, planting, and harvesting. According to the most recent National Water Quality Inventory[PC5] , agricultural nonpoint source (NPS) pollution—the chemical runoff from conventional farms—is the leading source of water quality to impact surveyed rivers and lakes, the third largest source of impairments to surveyed estuaries, and also a major contributor to ground water contamination and wetlands degradation.”

It’s a problem that seems vast in scale, right? Is buying organic celery from the local farmer’s market really going make a difference? But consider the story of the hummingbird as told in the film Dirt:

When the forest was on fire, the tiny hummingbird rushed back and forth from the river to the fire dropping a beakful of water at a time to put it out. All the other animals stood by watching in fear and denial. The elephants, with their big trunks that could hold gallons of water, told her she was wasting her time. The other animals told her she couldn’t make any difference with her small efforts. She turned to those doing nothing and replied, “at least I’m doing the best that I can.”

So I encourage each of us to do the best that we can every day in easing the impact we have on our earth, which is the only home we have. Drive less. Turn off lights. Put tvs, computers and stereos on power strips and flip the switch to off when not in use. Flush less. Install water-saving features on your faucets. Don’t use chemicals on your lawn and gardens. Grow your own organic food in community gardens, school gardens, urban farms and backyard gardens.

Just think what a huge impact this could have if everyone made these simple changes. Stores would have to stock according to the new demand, entrepreneurs would pop up to fill the gaps, more organic farmers would be needed and job opportunities would increase. Less coal would be burned to generate electricity, fewer mountain tops would be blown up to mine coal and our air quality would improve.

And yes, buy organic food and local products from people who live close by because every small, sane choice matters. Buy organic because you are supporting our local economy as well as a global movement to do things differently.

Let’s ALL be hummingbirds and see what happens to the fire!

Home Security = Food Security

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 09:32:00 -0500

If catchphrases like “sustainable,” “natural,” “organic” and “green” make you yawn and want to roll over and go back to sleep, please consider our country’s current system of food production and distribution. Sleeping through—and thereby supporting this untenable mess can only have disastrous consequences.

Why bother growing food locally, you ask? Your average supermarket produce travels 1500 miles to get to your plate—or, put another way, it takes 34 million BTUs (the global unit of energy) and about 400 barrels of oil to feed the average American each year. From 1997-2002, energy used to produce food in America rose 80%. The chemical-based agricultural system, ironically dubbed the “green revolution” back in the 1940s, is fueled by fossil fuels in the form of natural gas for fertilizers and crude oil for pesticides, running machinery and irrigation systems. If the oil supply should be interrupted by natural disaster, war, political embargo or any other threat of the modern world, our current system would crash. All those numbers might make you start yawning again, so suffice it to say our food system is based on a very tenuous, politically-charged and environmentally-destructive substance: Fossil fuel.

Dare I mention the hundreds of thousands of square miles devoted to the “monocrops” of corn, soy and wheat, most of which are grown for fuel and cattle feed (not human food) and necessitate vast quantities of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides? These poisons then leach into the water table and wash into the creeks, streams and rivers, which in turn disperse the poisons far and wide from their source. The Gulf of Mexico has several giant dead zones where no fish or plant life can survive due to massive farmland runoff of nitrogen and phosphorus—the largest is now 8,543 square miles where it meets the Mississippi River.

There is no question that chemical agriculture depletes the soil, causes environmental pollution and keeps us oil dependent. And don’t even get me started on factory “farms” for animal products! All this is supposedly in the name of “feeding the world.” In reality, we Americans throw away nearly half of what we grow. According to American Wasteland author Jonathan Bloom, “more than 40 percent of all food produced in America is not eaten. That amounts to more than 29 million tons of food waste each year, or enough to fill the Rose Bowl every three days. Nationwide, food scraps make up 17 percent of what we send to landfills.”

Now for the good news: We don’t have to keep doing it this way. Bringing our food production down to regional, state and local geographies is not only ideal but will be a necessity in the coming years of declining availability and affordability of fossil fuels. Community-supported agriculture (CSAs), farmers markets, community gardens, backyard gardens, roof top gardens, urban farms, backyard chickens and urban agriculture are all forms of a food revolution that puts the power back in the hands of the people. All you have to do is plant just a few seeds in the backyard and you’re on your way to contributing to real, sustainable security for Savannah and the entire country.

The satisfaction and joy of putting a seed in the ground and seeing a plant develop under your care and nurturance can’t be fully described—the words “miracle” and “magic” come to mind. This spring, please consider trying your hand at growing some food for yourself and your family as the spirit of new growth and new beginnings is upon us. The garden shops will be full of seedlings, seeds and every device marketable for the novice and experienced gardener. Invest in a good pair of gloves that fit well and allow for dexterity, a hand trowel, a long-handled shovel, garden fork, and weeding device sized for your garden space. (If you have a 4’x8’ raised bed, hand weeding is a cinch.) Don’t get too carried away with tools and gadgets.

Joining a community garden will afford you companionship with others who bring varied skills and knowledge, and it’s always more fun to learn a new skill together with like-minded folk. Community garden benefits go way beyond fresh, organic, affordable, local produce (there’s those words again, but hopefully, you’re awake now.) According to the American Community Garden Association (and from my own experience), community gardens offer the following list of benefits:

improves the quality of life for people in the garden
provides a catalyst for neighborhood and community development
stimulates social interaction
encourages self-reliance
beautifies neighborhoods
produces nutritious food
reduces family food budgets (up to $750 per growing season in a 4’x8’ bed)
conserves resources
creates opportunity for recreation, exercise and education
reduces crime
preserves green spaces
creates income opportunities and economic development
reduces city heat from streets and parking lots
provides opportunities for intergenerational and cross-cultural connections

Here’s the deal: Food matters. A lot. Please inform yourself of the issues around sustainable agriculture and help move the food revolution forward! First in our own community, then to the state, region, country and the world on which we all depend for our very lives.

For more information, testimonials and resources on Savananh’s growing food movement, check out Savannah Urban Garden Alliance’s Facebook page or SUGAcentral.org.

*Thank you to all who have made the Real Food Film Festival a well-attended success so far! The final documentary, Dirt, will screen at the Telfair on Thursday, March 3 at 6pm. The evening will feature Vendana Shiva, a prominent scientist and activist who is working toward sustainable agriculture in India. Ms. Shiva will also serve as the keynote speaker at the Georgia Organics Conference (here in Savannah for the first time) March 11-12. Preceding the conference, the Film Festival will hold a panel discussion with policy makers, producers, and health advocates on Thursday, March 10 at 6pm at the Telfair.

Gardening with Kids

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 09:28:00 -0500

If you have a garden or access to one, and you have kids- now is the time to introduce them to the pleasures of growing food. Studies show that “children who grow their own food are more likely to eat fresh fruits and vegetables or express a preference for these foods.”[1] The fall and winter seasons are perfect for beginning gardens and for teaching the basics without a whole lot of effort in maintenance. Hardy winter vegetables such as collards, kale, mustard & turnips can be directly seeded into the garden through the end of December, past that, you can start them indoors to be transplanted out when their first “true leaves” appear. You can time it to be when we have a warm spell above freezing for a few days to a week so they can get acclimated to colder temperatures. Arugula can be direct seeded until soil temperatures drop below 65 degrees, and then they too can be started indoors and planted in a warm sunny wind-protected location in the garden. Don’t forget the root crops such as fast-growing radishes, carrots and beets. When it’s too cold to be comfortable outdoors, snow peas and sugar snaps can be grown in flats indoors in late January-early February, plant them out when they have the second set of leaves, they can take a frost or two, and then be big enough to start blooming in mid-late March. Crops like these are a big hit with kids as they can be picked and eaten on the spot and taste sweet with a satisfying crunch- I bet you can’t eat just one! If you have a place for a perennial crop where it can live year after year undisturbed by competition with other plants, then be sure to buy some asparagus crowns to plant in compost amended trenches in January. Just search the internet for “planting asparagus” and you’ll come up with sites such as this, http://vimeo.com/3939735, that not only tells you how, but shows an instructive video- ah the miracles of modern technology! There’s nothing like picking a tender shoot of asparagus in the spring and eating it then and there- even picky eaters will love it, especially if the anticipation has been building up since January!

With the new awareness we have of problems associated with childhood obesity it only stands to reason that engaging kids in healthy food activities such as gardening that connects them more intimately with their food and where it comes from, fosters nutrition awareness, improves food choices, offers fresh air, sunshine and exercise is a winning combination to combat this national health problem. According to Dr. David Ludwig in his book entitled, Ending the Food Fight, 33% of children and teens are overweight or obese. His thought is to incorporate the idea of eating foods of the “stone age,” meaning the types of foods that hunter-gatherers would have eaten such as berries, nuts, tubers, fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs and lean meat (which would have been organic and wild too.)

Having a small flock of chickens in the backyard or at school can teach kids a variety of lessons from animal husbandry, respect for non-human beings, barter and trade systems if you have excess eggs, and the reproductive cycle if you happen to also have a rooster (not recommended or allowed for city dwellers.) A chicken “tractor” can be utilized in the garden to let the feathered workers till the soil while searching for and eating sap-sucking, leaf-chewing bugs. All the while fertilizing the soil with nitrogen rich droppings and mixing all that in too. Move the temporary coop to another bed that needs their attention and plant the one they were removed from after working in any remaining droppings left on the surface. By the time the seeds grow into harvestable material, any danger of using this fresh fertilizer will be past. Just to be on the safe side, don’t plant short term crops that will be harvested within a few weeks such as lettuce or root crops such as radishes.

Advocating through your local school’s PTA for a school garden is an admirable civic service you can do, whether you have kids in school or not. The next generation that will inherit our ecological responsibility can become better connected to the natural world and the season’s and cycles of food production now. “Second and fourth grade students in a school gardening program in Texas showed significantly more gains in pro-environmental attitudes than students in a control group, and the more outdoor experiences they had, the more positive their attitudes. In a qualitative assessment of an intergenerational gardening project, students expressed an increased understanding of ecology, interconnections in nature, and responsibility to care for the environment.”[2]

There is a wealth of information and resources on the internet for organic gardening methods that can empower the novice gardener whether they be young or old. Developing gardening skills alongside your toddler, adolescent or teen can have social, environmental, educational and life-long lifestyle benefits. Learning together can be a lesson in itself, empowering them to look up information and teaching you something now and again.

[1] (http://www.peecworks.org/PEEC/PEEC_Reports/051F8D99-007EA7AB.24/CYE_FactSheet3_Benefits%20of%20Gardening%20for%20Children_August%2020.pdf)

[2] (http://www.peecworks.org/PEEC/PEEC_Reports/051F8D99-007EA7AB.24/CYE_FactSheet3_Benefits%20of%20Gardening%20for%20Children_August%2020.pdf)

February Gardening

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 09:26:00 -0500

But it’s so cold outside; you mean I should still be gardening? Here’s the good news, you can get spring started right now, in the warmth and comfort of your home. If you haven’t already been perusing the seed catalogs and mapping out your spring and summer garden plans, now’s the time to get out pencil and paper. Local feed and seed stores may have warm weather seeds available soon, but if not, make a plan, get online and click “submit order” and start dreaming of the warm sun beating down on your back as you transplant your indoor seedlings into freshly amended garden beds.

Indoor seedlings can be started in cardboard egg cartons- check with local deli’s and cafés that use eggs, they’ll have an abundant supply and most likely be glad to recycle them in a useful way. You’ll need to place them on a sheet of plastic to protect the underlying surface from moisture damage. Get creative with your re-use of salvaged materials for this purpose, no need to go out and buy pricey seed trays. Make sure you use a light potting mix, no chemical fertilizers added, and with a healthy dose of vermiculite for good drainage. There’s no need for a light source for the first week when the seeds are just starting to germinate. Make sure the air temperature is between 68-75 degrees for optimal germination, the top of the refrigerator is a nice warm spot, or maybe the laundry room or other known warm place. Covering the trays with a sheet of light plastic can also speed germination and help keep the soil moist in the indoor heated and usually dry air. Once the seedlings break the surface, remove plastic if it was used. A strong light source will be necessary to keep them from getting spindly and lanky trying to reach for light. If you have windows with minimally 4-6 hours of direct sun you’ve got it made, otherwise I recommend purchasing a good quality grow light with all the money you saved on not buying seed trays. They can be ordered online or I like spending my dollars locally and at small businesses like Savannah Hydroponics. As a rule of thumb, most seedlings need about 6 weeks of growing time before being transplanted outdoors. Our last frost date in Savannah is officially March 10, but often we’ll get a cold snap around St. Pat’s day or beyond. The safest bet is to plant-out around Easter weekend. Determine your indoor seeding date by counting backward from when you know you can get them in a prepared garden bed. Once the seedlings have their second set of leaves, which are the “true” leaves, begin adding liquid kelp & fish emulsion to the water you irrigate them with. Follow the recommendations on the labels. Don’t overwater, never soggy soil, just damp to the touch. Plants commonly started for spring planting include: Cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, squashes, melons, and flowers of all sorts. Large seeded plants such as snow peas, okra, nasturtium, sunflowers should be started later indoors as they grow so fast they’ll soon outgrow their seed-pot, maybe just 2 weeks in advance for these types of plants. Peppers and okra like a very warm soil temperature, so once you plant them out, if it’s still early April, don’t be surprised if they seem reluctant to grow; they’re waiting for summer’s heat and will take off with the first hot spell. When you do transfer to the garden, if you used a material that will break down in the soil such as paper egg cartons, be sure to cut several slits into the bottom & sides to help insure that the roots won’t get root bound before the paper breaks down.

Some outdoor seeding can still be going on in February and March. Cool weather crops such as arugula, kale, collards, cabbage, carrots, peas and turnips can be directly seeded in the garden. Try to time it with temperatures above 40 degrees for a few days & nights in a row. Flowers such as nasturtium, fox glove, delphinium, poppies, violas and calendula also do well in cool temperatures. Read the labels for germination temperatures and try to provide what they need. You can warm up outdoor soil by making cloches out of bamboo or pvc hoops with plastic sheeting stretched over them to make tunnels over the beds, salvaged windows propped up over the beds to let the sun in with head room for the seedlings also works well. Again be creative and get ideas online, here are a couple of sites to start you off: http://westsidegardener.com/howto/cloche.html , http://mrbrownthumb.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-to-make-your-own-garden-cloches-to.html

Most, if not all, seasoned gardeners have boxes, bags and various other sundry containers storing seeds from years gone by. Who in their right mind would plant a bed with the desired seed, then throw out the package with what remains- there’s almost always leftover seed! Seeds do have a shelf-life. If you have seeds over three years old, you might want to consider tossing them to the chickens or compost bin and buying a new batch. As seeds age their germination rate of success declines, the vigor of the seedling produced is weak and the resulting plant is more susceptible to pests and disease. The main things to remember when storing your extra seed is to keep them organized for ease of finding later, clearly dated, and keep them airtight and cool. I have mine organized by planting season in air-tight plastic boxes. Inside each season’s box the seed packets are paper clipped together if I have several varieties of one vegetable/flower. Also inside each box is a sachet of desiccant (silica) to make sure the air remains dry in our humid climate. The following website has a wealth of information and tips on all gardening subjects and is especially helpful in suggesting vegetable varieties for zone 8. By the way, Savannah is in zone 8b with micro-climates of zone 9 or zone 8 here and there. For instance, my bananas grow in a micro-climate of 9 on the south-facing wall of my house.
http://www.mysuburbanhomestead.com/about/seed-and-gardening-supply-companies/

A word about the recent rumors going around gardening circles about the recent bill s-510 passed by congress on November 30^th, and signed into law by President Obama January 4^th. According to information based on the following link, seed saving, produce sharing, back yard gardens and small farmers selling to markets, co-ops and restaurants is still completely legal with no change in former regulations. The big difference to farmers that save seed is that they will now be subject to inspections of their equipment. We can all sigh a collective sigh of relief that much of the hype leading up to passing this bill was misinformed. Even Michael Pollan and other foodies feel it will do more good than harm.
http://kitchengardeners.org/questions/how-will-s510-affect-gardeners-seeds-and-seed-saving

Speaking of foodies, Iam proud to announce an upcoming Food Film Festival featuring sustainable food documentary films like “Fresh”, “Dirt”, “Fridays at the Farm”, and “Ingredients”. These will be shown at the Jepson Center auditorium to local school groups each Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. from February 8 through March 1. On each Thursday evening at 6 p.m. the films will be open to the general public. Both day and evening screenings will have hands-on art activities to engage the kids, so if your family’s youngest members cannot sit through a 70-90 minute feature; bring them along anyway to enjoy making art with healthy food as the subject. This event is brought to you by the collaboration of: Savannah Urban Garden Alliance (my organization), Savannah Local Food Collaborative, Healthy Savannah Initiative, The Jepson Center, the Savannah-Chatham County PTA Council, and Georgia Organics. It precedes the Georgia Organic’s annual conference to take place for the first time in Savannah this coming March 11^th-13^th. The film screenings will culminate with a panel discussion on Thursday, March 10^th to consider how we can improve our local food options.

Fruit in the Landscape

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 09:23:00 -0500

So now it’s winter. The vegetables that will grow now have already been seeded and thinned. Beyond harvesting meal-sized portions of greens and roots and the occasional weeding and watering, and maybe covering lettuce up to endure the frosty nights, there’s some gardening down-time. With days that warm up into the sixties and seventies, it’s tempting to get out and work in the yard and garden. What is the restless winter gardener to do?

Now is the best time to plant fruit and berry trees, bushes and canes. Winter is the dormant season that perennial plants use to expand their root structures. Planting these plants in winter gives them an opportunity to get established before putting energy into leaves, flowers and aerial growth.

First, let’s highlight some things you need to know when ordering or buying fruit plants. Fruits come in four basic types; stone fruits, pome fruits, nut trees, and berries. Stone fruits include peach, plum, cherry, apricot and nectarine. The pome fruits are apple, pear, and all the citrus varieties. Each comes with its own set of cultivation needs and limitations.

Most fruits sold now are grafted onto dwarf or semi dwarf root stock. This makes most efficient use of space and ease of harvesting. To narrow your choices, think first about what your landscape has to offer the fruit plant in the way of water and sunlight. Soil is also important but can more easily be modified when planting time comes. The more sun, the more fruit you can expect, full sun being best and 4-5 hours of full sun being the minimum required to get any fruit at all. If you have areas of full sun, you’re ready to think about water. If not, you’ll need to think about cutting down or bulldozing whatever is causing the shady condition or abandon the idea altogether and join a community garden that has plenty of sun.

Next consider the space requirement of the trees, bushes, canes or crowns you want to work into your existing landscape. Trees generally need as much elbow room as head room, that is, plant them as far away from other plants or structures as you expect them to grow tall. Exceptions to this would be espaliered trees against a wall or fence, or fruits planted on the south facing wall as long as the shade cast by the structure allows at least six hours of full sun. Knowing how the sun moves across your land from season to season is important, bear in mind the movement of the sun to the south in winter and to the north in summer. The shade of a south facing wall in winter will be much shorter than it is in summer, and summer is when all the blooming and fruiting occurs. The tropical plants like bananas grow best on a protected south-facing wall as long as they get plenty of sun. Blueberry bushes need 6-8 feet between them and different varieties for optimum pollination. Cane fruits such as blackberry can be planted with as little as 2 feet apart from surrounding plants as long as they get their share of sun. Again, get different varieties for cross pollination or make sure the variety you get are self-pollinating. This is true for any fruits you are considering. Ask the nurseryman or seller about this before purchasing.

Soil provides the foundation for the plant and should be prepared with the long-term needs in mind. The acidity or alkalinity should be between 6 and 7 on the pH scale. Blueberries like a more acid soil, so the lower end works well for them, but most fruits like it closer to neutral which is 7. Well-drained, sandy soils like ours are fortunately what fruits like best. But even sandy soils can have a compacted subsoil that prevents good drainage. To test your site, dig the hole as if you were planting the tree there. Fill the hole with water and see how long it takes to drain, if it takes more than a day, you have drainage problems. Compost is the panacea to any soil problem, it loosens compacted and clay soils while adding structure and water retention capabilities to sandy soils. Compost also adds vital nutrients, micro-organisms, minerals and trace elements. The old adage of dig a $100 hole for a $10 tree is true. It would be ideal to dig the hole as wide as you expect the branches to reach in their 5^th year of growth. If you dig a hole merely as wide as needed to bury the current size of the rootstock, the roots will be reticent to spread beyond the amended hole and the growth of the overall tree won’t be as vigorous had you amended a larger area.

Fruit are on average, 80% water, so the water requirements to grow tasty fruits are high. I recommend planting them in a low spot that catches rainwater as long as the soil drains readily. You can even create “rain-gardens” for that very purpose. A good example of this for growing fruits is found at my friend Doreen’s gardening site: http://down2earthgardens.blogspot.com/search/label/earthworks . She lives in Phoenix where water is a huge concern; watering restrictions are a fact of life there, and becoming so here as well. We can learn much from our arid dwelling friends in the way of water use and conservation. Speaking of which, please consider attending Tybee Island’s Water Fair coming up at the end of this month, January 29^th. (http://www.cityoftybee.org/CommunityEvents.aspx?CNID=4643) Rainwater catchment and grey water systems are ideal for fruits, come to the Fair to learn from the experts. Permaculture design teaches a way of thinking about the problem as being its own solution, these concepts help you design systems that are efficient, economical, ecologically sound and do-it-yourself friendly. Come to the Fair to see what Sustainable Living and others have to offer in the way of water conservation. For more information on Permaculture visit my website, http://garden-muse.com .

One permaculture principle is that food should be growing outside everyone’s back door. There’s nothing like going into the yard and picking fruit right off your own trees. I enjoyed making kumquat marmalade for holiday gifts this month (it’s Dec. 20 as I write.) A neighbor gave me a laundry basket full of grapefruit that I’m giving as gifts as well. In the fall, my Anna-Dorset apple tree bestows small but crisp and tasty apples for me to enjoy if the squirrels don’t get them first- another problem/solution to be solved. And late summer finds me busy preserving the fig harvest from my Brown Turkey fig tree. The asian pear bore its first fruit this past summer and the peaches were plump and juicy back in May and June. Plant a variety of fruits for year round harvest and you, your children, and the generations to come after you will be happy you did.

Baby It's Cold Outside!!

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 18:54:00 -0600

February Gardening

Speaking of foodies, I am proud to announce an upcoming Food Film Festival featuring sustainable food documentary films like “Fresh”, “Dirt”, “Fridays at the Farm”, and “Ingredients”. These will be shown at the Jepson Center auditorium to local school groups each Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. from February 8 through March 1. On each Thursday evening at 6 p.m. the films will be open to the general public. Both day and evening screenings will have hands-on art activities to engage the kids, so if your family’s youngest members cannot sit through a 70-90 minute feature; bring them along anyway to enjoy making art with healthy food as the subject. This event is brought to you by the collaboration of: Savannah Urban Garden Alliance (my organization), Savannah Local Food Collaborative, Healthy Savannah Initiative, The Jepson Center, the Savannah-Chatham County PTA Council, and Georgia Organics. It precedes the Georgia Organic’s annual conference to take place for the first time in Savannah this coming March 11^th-13^th. The film screenings will culminate with a panel discussion on Thursday, March 10^th to consider how we can improve our local food options.

Food Security Equals Homeland Security

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 18:49:00 -0600

By Kelly Lockamy

improves the quality of life for people in the garden
provides a catalyst for neighborhood and community development
stimulates social interaction
encourages self-reliance
beautifies neighborhoods
produces nutritious food
reduces family food budgets (up to $750 per growing season in a 4’x8’ bed)
conserves resources
creates opportunity for recreation, exercise and education
reduces crime
preserves green spaces
creates income opportunities and economic development
reduces city heat from streets and parking lots
provides opportunities for intergenerational and cross-cultural connections

For more information, testimonials and resources on Savananh’s growing food movement, check out Savannah Urban Garden Alliance’s Facebook page or SUGAcentral.org.

Fruit in the Landscape

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 04:28:00 -0600

Gardening With Kids

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 06:24:00 -0600

Gardening with Kids

If you have a garden or access to one, and you have kids- now is the time to introduce them to the pleasures of growing food. Studies show that “children who grow their own food are more likely to eat fresh fruits and vegetables or express a preference for these foods.”[1]The fall and winter seasons are perfect for beginning gardens and for teaching the basics without a whole lot of effort in maintenance. Hardy winter vegetables such as collards, kale, mustard & turnips can be directly seeded into the garden through the end of December, past that, you can start them indoors to be transplanted out when their first “true leaves” appear. You can time it to be when we have a warm spell above freezing for a few days to a week so they can get acclimated to colder temperatures. Arugula can be direct seeded until soil temperatures drop below 65 degrees, and then they too can be started indoors and planted in a warm sunny wind-protected location in the garden. Don’t forget the root crops such as fast-growing radishes, carrots and beets. When it’s too cold to be comfortable outdoors, snow peas and sugar snaps can be grown in flats indoors in late January-early February, plant them out when they have the second set of leaves, they can take a frost or two, and then be big enough to start blooming in mid-late March. Crops like these are a big hit with kids as they can be picked and eaten on the spot and taste sweet with a satisfying crunch- I bet you can’t eat just one! If you have a place for a perennial crop where it can live year after year undisturbed by competition with other plants, then be sure to buy some asparagus crowns to plant in compost amended trenches in January. Just search the internet for “planting asparagus” and you’ll come up with sites such as this, http://vimeo.com/3939735, that not only tells you how, but shows an instructive video- ah the miracles of modern technology! There’s nothing like picking a tender shoot of asparagus in the spring and eating it then and there- even picky eaters will love it, especially if the anticipation has been building up since January!

[1] (http://www.peecworks.org/PEEC/PEEC_Reports/051F8D99-007EA7AB.24/CYE_FactSheet3_Benefits%20of%20Gardening%20for%20Children_August%2020.pdf)

[2] (http://www.peecworks.org/PEEC/PEEC_Reports/051F8D99-007EA7AB.24/CYE_FactSheet3_Benefits%20of%20Gardening%20for%20Children_August%2020.pdf)

Fall Gardening- my favorite time of year

Sat, 02 Oct 2010 03:00:00 -0500

Fall, my favorite gardening season.

What a sweet reprieve from the stifling heat of summer we’ve enjoyed this month. Seasonal changes are rejuvenating for plants as well as people. I can hear the collective sigh of relief in my garden. Some plants even get a second wind before the weather turns against them once again. The light and shadows are shifting, the days are becoming shorter and the evenings have cooled down to allow for open windows all night. The day-light-sensitive plants set their seed and perennials prepare for winter dormancy with more energy going into root formation. The annuals prepare for eternal rest, knowing the seed they leave behind will produce the next generation. The ground temperature is now cool enough to germinate the seeds of cool-weather crops like lettuce, spinach, beets, carrots, collards, kale, leeks…and flowers like calendula, violas, pansies, nasturtium and poppies can be planted from seed or seedlings readily found in nurseries. Sixty-five to seventy degrees are ideal soil temperatures for germination, so you can continue to plant most greens into mid to late November in sunny locations.

I cleared the old tired tomatoes, okra, cucumbers and pole beans out of the garden mid September, then amended with: compost, organic manure-based fertilizer(N), bone meal(P) and greensand (K); sources for Nitrogen(N), Phosphorus(P) and Potassium (K), respectively. The first week of October I seeded lettuce, arugula, spinach, beets and swiss chard. Soon I will add seedlings of collards, cabbage and broccoli obtained from the local feed & seed store. The basil will soon give way to dill, cilantro and parsley. Onion and garlic bulbs will replace the last of the okra, bush beans, zinnias and squash. If you have any potatoes with eyes, they can be planted in early October and survive relatively harsh weather with enough straw or hay mulch to protect them from frost. Mound them up with this light mulch overnight, and then pull it aside to let the leafy tops peak through and get the sunlight once the freezing temperatures have passed.

My favorite lettuce is the “cut and come again” seed mixes of red and green varieties sometimes spiced up with arugula or mustard. These varieties are harvested with scissors, leaving about two inches of plant behind to begin growing anew. You only need to harvest as much as you need for one meal at a time, ensuring the freshest lettuce mix known to human kind. Do you ever buy those packs of lettuce mix and have to throw a large portion of it out in a slimy stinky clump? Forget that until next June; no more of that waste when you grow your own! Even if you don’t have a garden in the ground, you can easily grow these lettuces in a planter if you have a sunny spot and keep the moisture level right- not too dry and never soggy.

The gardening chores are so much easier this time of year with reasonable temperatures in which to work, slowed growth of weeds, no blood-sucking bugs and few sap-sucking ones to worry about. If you do experience some cabbage loopers (caterpillars), simply dust with either diatomaceous earth or bT (Bacillus thuringiensis.)

I hope you will come to find that organic gardening is just the beginning of a sustainable way to coexist with the natural world. If you don’t have a place to make a garden, there are community gardens in Savannah and Tybee that offer a great way to grow your own food, connect in new ways to your neighbors and learn from working together with gardeners who have a wide range of knowledge and skills. If there is not a community garden in your neighborhood, and you can gather together 8-10 neighbors who are interested in having one, call me to help you organize, find land and make it happen. To find a garden in your area go to www.SUGAcentral.org .

If you need some inspiration, advice or plans on what to do to next for your home garden, you can contact your own personal Garden Muse for a private consultation. Just call on me and schedule an appointment for help on creating your own beautiful and sustainable garden. To contact me directly or discover even more fun and productive ways to create sustainability check out the, Sustainable Living: Permaculture for Conscious Evolution, workshops coming up soon at http://Garden-Muse.com

Happy Fall gardening to you and yours.

Kelly Lockamy