Occupy Our Your Food Supply!
Our amazing friends at RuckusRoots came together with the AntFarm to be part of over 60 food justice and Occupy groups around the world to participate in a Global Day of Action to ‘Occupy Our Food Supply.’ We showed our support for this Day of Action, by hosting a work day at the AntFarm Acres Community Garden on the 28th of February 2012. It was a great success check out some fun photos of the team in action at: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.381767008500256.100988.155352361141723&type=1 and to see what "Occupy Your Food Supply" is all about visit : http://occupyourfoodsupply.org/occupy-our-food-supply
Thanks to RuckusRoots some well needed spring garden clean came about, check out what else RuckusRoots are up to at: http://ruckusroots.org/
Thanks to RuckusRoots some well needed spring garden clean came about, check out what else RuckusRoots are up to at: http://ruckusroots.org/
The Chicken Front!
We have good news and sad news on the chicken front our three lovely ladies are now sadly only two lovely ladies. One of the girls passed away in a sad accident that has lead to stronger security around their house. The good news is that they now have a very large and fancy new home and seem very happy in it. They are laying lovely colored eggs still and are looking happy and quite plump.
If you don't have chickens but still want fresh local eggs keep and eye out for "City Eggs" they are a often found at farmers markets around LA and are a great business who promotes and suports chickens in urban areas.
If you don't have chickens but still want fresh local eggs keep and eye out for "City Eggs" they are a often found at farmers markets around LA and are a great business who promotes and suports chickens in urban areas.
Lummis House and Graden Outing!
Last weekend all AntFramers where encourage to come along to Lummis House and Graden to check out a community gardening fair. Lummis House and Garden was built over a 12-year period, from 1898 to 1910. This turn of the 19th Century homestead is located next to the Arroyo Seco in Highland Park. It is part of the MOTA (Museums of the Arroyo) and is such a beautiful place tucked away off Figueroa Street, it is a must visit especially for those who live in the area.
The Community Garden Fair had an abundance of stalls each with wonderful ideas, produce, crafts and helpful information on how to keep your garden and home environment a productive and eco-friendly place. Myself and Robin meet Carter and Mark (our Master Garender) there and through their knowledge of the community's most creative people we got to meet a Master Beekeeper, Brewers, Animal Husbandry experts, Master Food Preservers, Composting Experts and much more.
Some of my favorite people and stalls there where:
Mater Food Persevers of LAC: So much to learn from them about persevering foods and with pur peach tree starting to bud this is something we will be getting more involved with, stay tuned.
Hey! Tanks LA: Where educating locals on the benefits of having a tank water supply. I personal love this as I grew up on an Island off the coast of NZ and the only water supply we had was Tank water. Fresh rainwater tastes great, makes your hair and skin feel so soft and silky and it saves you money. When on Tank water you have to learn how to conserve water like when brushing your teeth don't have the tap running, quick showers, bowls of water for the washing up, ensure all faucet are turned off tightly if they are dripping change the washer. However if you run out of water either that's it till it rains or you have to buy water which is expensive....Now in NZ even on the micro-climate Island I lived on it rained quite a bit but in LA not so much, which is probably why LA drivers can't seem to be able to drive in the rain. So a Tank water only home is not really going to work that well here but having one has it's benefits like saving you money and helping that little bit more with the environment.
Greywater Corps: Leading on from Tank water Greywater has lots of benefits to the home as well and using it to water the garden is a great way to conserve water. However if you live in a share household it is often hard to get all members of the home to be on board with something like this as you must all use environmentally friendly products such as soaps, dish soaps, detergent powers and hair products as everything you put down the sink will effect the garden. Even natural products like Borax (note ever seen any plants growing near a Borax mine) so if everyone is not on board and gives up their bleach and Tide then it's a no go. Though if you can get them to at least switch a tap from on to off it might work as they can set up a sytem that the water can be either sent to the garden Greywater Tank or straight to the Spectic Tank or Sewers.
Composting Stall: I loved the composting stall it was a great way to learn how we can use our small compusting bin effectly before we look at buidling a larger bin for the garden. They gave me some great advice on making sure everything was chopped up into small pieces before putting it in the composting bin. This will spead up the process plus I think it looks better. They gave me literature on "Composting in a Hurry" which is used in the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources course, see below a really helpful compost troubleshooting guide.
The Community Garden Fair had an abundance of stalls each with wonderful ideas, produce, crafts and helpful information on how to keep your garden and home environment a productive and eco-friendly place. Myself and Robin meet Carter and Mark (our Master Garender) there and through their knowledge of the community's most creative people we got to meet a Master Beekeeper, Brewers, Animal Husbandry experts, Master Food Preservers, Composting Experts and much more.
Some of my favorite people and stalls there where:
Mater Food Persevers of LAC: So much to learn from them about persevering foods and with pur peach tree starting to bud this is something we will be getting more involved with, stay tuned.
Hey! Tanks LA: Where educating locals on the benefits of having a tank water supply. I personal love this as I grew up on an Island off the coast of NZ and the only water supply we had was Tank water. Fresh rainwater tastes great, makes your hair and skin feel so soft and silky and it saves you money. When on Tank water you have to learn how to conserve water like when brushing your teeth don't have the tap running, quick showers, bowls of water for the washing up, ensure all faucet are turned off tightly if they are dripping change the washer. However if you run out of water either that's it till it rains or you have to buy water which is expensive....Now in NZ even on the micro-climate Island I lived on it rained quite a bit but in LA not so much, which is probably why LA drivers can't seem to be able to drive in the rain. So a Tank water only home is not really going to work that well here but having one has it's benefits like saving you money and helping that little bit more with the environment.
Greywater Corps: Leading on from Tank water Greywater has lots of benefits to the home as well and using it to water the garden is a great way to conserve water. However if you live in a share household it is often hard to get all members of the home to be on board with something like this as you must all use environmentally friendly products such as soaps, dish soaps, detergent powers and hair products as everything you put down the sink will effect the garden. Even natural products like Borax (note ever seen any plants growing near a Borax mine) so if everyone is not on board and gives up their bleach and Tide then it's a no go. Though if you can get them to at least switch a tap from on to off it might work as they can set up a sytem that the water can be either sent to the garden Greywater Tank or straight to the Spectic Tank or Sewers.
Composting Stall: I loved the composting stall it was a great way to learn how we can use our small compusting bin effectly before we look at buidling a larger bin for the garden. They gave me some great advice on making sure everything was chopped up into small pieces before putting it in the composting bin. This will spead up the process plus I think it looks better. They gave me literature on "Composting in a Hurry" which is used in the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources course, see below a really helpful compost troubleshooting guide.