November 7, 2006 link
Is there any device more ridiculous than a leaf blower? While walking today, I stopped to watch two men spend several minutes corralling leaves with their leaf blowers. With the noisy contraptions strapped to their backs, they worked from opposite ends of the yard, pacing back and forth while waving the air stream toward the ground. The air gradually propelled the leaves toward the center of the yard, where a waste bin waited. The roar of the two leaf blowing engines was maddening.
I couldn’t help laughing to myself as I watched these men with their “labor-saving” devices. It was amusing how the leaves swirled up into the air around the mens’ faces, and settled back into areas that were previously bare. They would pace around and around the debris, trying to find the best angle, and hoping to redirect the leaves’ trajectory before they hit the ground again. It reminded me of dogs chasing their tails.
Finally I grew impatient and continued walking, leaving the men to their life of labor-saving leisure. If I had a rake, I could have done the same job in half the time and without rattling the window panes of every house on the block. But who wants to use a rake? It’s so old fashioned!
October 12, 2006 link
Here’s something refreshing. The Christian Science Monitor just published a sensible and non-condescending article that explores the use of appropriate-scaled technology in agriculture. In this case, the “technology” is mule power.
Mule and horse power for working farm fields has for several decades been disdained in favor of tractor power. Despite the fact that mules and horses are just as good at plowing and cultivating small farm fields, most farmers prefer (or think they prefer, having never actually tried anything else) using tractors just because our consumer culture teaches that new technologies are always better than the old ones. So, we’ve seen a steady rise in the sizes and prices of small farm tractors, despite the fact that mule/horse power makes more sense financially and environmentally. There are reasons why mankind used animal power for thousands of years: they are quieter, more precise, safer, self-renewing (buy once, breed forever), non-polluting, and useful on the farm in many other ways.
And are tractors really “labor-saving”? Not when you consider that you need to work harder and longer to pay for them, their maintenance and their fuel. You might be saving some labor at plowing time, but how many extra thousands of dollars per year do you need to earn to cover the costs? It sounds to me like a tractor purchase might actually be a labor-adding device on some farms.
I love the final quote from the CS Monitor article:
“On the highway connecting Mexico City with Guadalajara, stands a junkyard of green John Deere tractors. Next to the junkyard, on a recent evening, two mules toiled in the fields framed by a spectacular sunset. At least along this stretch of the countryside, the bets appear to be on the burro.”For my money, the long-term bettors will pick the burro just about everywhere. In the coming generations, I expect we’ll see a whole lot more burros everywhere. It just makes sense.
October 3, 2006 link
Plant Poachers. Somebody stole a large potted spider plant off my back stairs today. This is the fourth plant I’ve had stolen in the past 1.5 years.
Is there some kind of black market for plants that I’m not aware of? Why go through the trouble of hauling off an awkward 35-pound potted plant? And who really wants a momma spider plant anyway, when you can easily transplant the offspring? In all my days and nights walking around the city, I’ve never once seen anyone high-tailing it down an alley with a stolen potted plant.
But still, I’ve lost 4 beautiful plants in their prime in the past 1.5 years. Somebody out there covets green things.
Strangely, the first 3 stolen plants were yanked up by their roots, which mystified me. This time, they at least bothered to bring the pot, so at least I know the plant won’t immediately die. But seriously—who are these people? What could be more ludicrous?
Days like today make me think about moving to the country where the only ones stealing your plants are the deer, raccoons and rabbits who don’t know any better.
September 26, 2006 link
What caused the E. coli outbreak in our spinach fields? Some agribusiness propagandists are claiming that it resulted from organic practices, and that regular applications of chemicals would prevent such outbreaks. Nina Planck, in the New York Times, contends that the dangerous E. coli strain can instead be traced directly back to faulty practices by those big agribusiness corporations.
First, some basic facts about this usually harmless bacterium: E. coli is abundant in the digestive systems of healthy cattle and humans…But the villain in this outbreak, E. coli O157:H7, is far scarier.
Where does this particularly virulent strain come from? It’s not found in the intestinal tracts of cattle raised on their natural diet of grass, hay and other fibrous forage. No, O157 thrives in a new biological niche: the unnaturally acidic stomachs of beef and dairy cattle fed on grain, the typical ration on most industrial farms. It’s the infected manure from these grain-fed cattle that contaminates the groundwater and spreads the bacteria to produce, like spinach, growing on neighboring farms.
In 2003, The Journal of Dairy Science noted that up to 80 percent of dairy cattle carry O157…When cows were switched from a grain diet to hay for only five days, O157 declined 1,000-fold.
It’s not the organic salad green suppliers that we should be blaming; it’s the lakes of contaminated manure from industrial beef feedlots. But which lobbyists have the most influence?
August 15, 2006 link
I’m back in business, so to speak. I found a small, yet suitable patch of ground for next year’s garden. At 3 feet by 20 feet, it’s a fraction of the gigantic space I used to have. But I’m excited to get my hands dirty again, and already making plans for the Spring.
The future garden space is a strip of land right outside my back door. It gets partial sunlight throughout the day, with full sun in the morning and late afternoon. There is absolutely nothing growing there right now (because the landlord’s hired grounds crew has been tilling under the weeds all Summer), so I can start with a clean slate.
I just ordered some winter rye seed, which I’ll plant this Fall to protect the ground, which is bare soil right now. I’m also considering ways in which I can start composting this Winter, perhaps by using an indoor worm bin.
With good planning and vertical growing, I think I can grow quite a bit of food back there. I’m envisioning a series of poles, with most things growing upwards. Since the space is only 3 feet deep, I’ll be able to reach everything easily.
I’ll take some “Before” photos soon.
June 23, 2006 link
I saw An Inconvenient Truth last weekend, the film in which Al Gore gives a presentation about global warming. I thought it was well done. It was entertaining and dare-I-say enjoyable, but it wasn’t afraid to tackle complex subjects (like ocean currents & desalinization) that might intimidate the average viewer. Furthermore, it wasn’t an apocalyptic scaremongering movie; it felt realistic in its predictions and offered plausible solutions.
What wasn’t mentioned in the film (nor did I expect it to be mentioned, because autos and smokestacks are easier to villainize) was that current agricultural practices contribute an estimated 20% of the total human-produced greenhouse gases. This is mainly due to large-scale beef production (produces methane), and heavy use of nitrogen-based fertilizers (produces nitrogen). Rethinking our farming practices and priorities should not be forgotten when we address global warming.
May 19, 2006 link
Yesterday, I went to the Garden in a City show, which I mentioned in my last post. The show featured 52 demonstration gardens that showed garden designs for small urban spaces—such as balconies, tiny backyards and medians.
I was impressed by the presentation of the show itself. The entire event was hosted in two big tents, with plenty of walking space for visitors. It was a very welcoming environment, and seemed very well planned. I think the Chicago Park District and its partners did a great job in this sense.
I was especially impressed by the detailed brochure, which was more like a handbook for urban gardening. It was filled with tips on composting, recommended city tree varieties, and detailed descriptions of each demonstration garden at the event. Most of the gardens also had additional literature that you could pick up, such as one called "Design and Build Your Own Roofscape".
I was disappointed to find only one true food garden, although I noticed that several of the other gardens had edible herbs scattered among the ornamental plants. I suppose it would have been hard to create an indoor mini-farm or orchard, simply because many of these plants are difficult to transplant. It just wouldn’t have worked well. Thus, most of the gardens featured lots of bulbs and shrubs which are easily movable.
The other thing that struck me was that many of the gardens presented at the show can be easily viewed by simply walking down the right streets in Lincoln Park, Bucktown, Hyde Park, etc. There are so many beautiful gardens in the city itself, and it can be more satisfying to view them in their natural habitat, rather than in an artificial setting like a garden show. Walking tours like the "Sheffield Garden Walk" or the "Bucktown Garden Walk" occur every summer, and feature real gardens just as interesting as anything shown at the garden show.
