Bittman, the Santa Barbara Syndrome

"This kind of approach — grow what you can close to where you live and eat what you can grow — is obviously nothing new. (Even in my lifetime, I can remember seeing asparagus only in late spring, Macintosh apples in the fall and Empire apples — long keepers — through the winter.) What’s new is the lack of farmland, because much has been lost to sprawl or commodity crops, and farmers who can make it happen, farmers working on a scale between sustenance and industrial."

the whole article

One NUGGET in his article was a link to this article about the Santa Barbara syndrome. In our country we export 99% of what is grown here. AND IMPORT 95% OF FRUIT & VEGGIES THAT ARE EATEN!!! Holy Cow! David Cleveland, UCSB professor and garden friend is quoted thusly: "Picture two produce-laden tractor-trailers passing on the highway, one bringing food into the county; the other hauling it out."

Here's the UCSB press release on the Cleveland study

Garden, Fall 2011

A new local community garden asked for some pictures of our garden, here are a few I took.

comfrey

a chilean chile

EAB plot

pineapple guava

citrus

fava bean

fuyu persimmon

plumeria

fly trap in walnut tree

Composting Workshop

Rob led a workshop that built 2 piles out of garden weeds, comfrey, the chayote plant & manure. Hopefully we'll be composting most everything from now on.

Fall 2011 Workday #1

We've had great turnout for workdays now that so many new people have joined. On this workday we worked on weeding around the greenhouse so that first impressions are improved. Unfortunately, we have alot of pics of people from behind, and only a few from the front...

Frank working on clearing out the ponds

Ann pulling weeds in the cactus garden