urban food

Here are two stories I heard on NPR Morning Edition recently.

Not All Communities Welcome Urban Gardening
by Susan Bence http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111721631&sc=emaf

Urban Blackberry Pickers Score Big In Seattle
by Martin Kaste
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112027178


I like the idea of foraging the neighborhood. Depending on where you live, there might be prickly pear cactus, apple trees, or raspberries growing in forgotten spaces. There's a lot of edible "weeds" out there, like dandelions and violets, just to name a couple. If you want to try your hand at foraging, get a book on edible plants. There are some nasty ones, like Nightshade and Jimsonweed, that you don't want to mess with.

Why not grow food in the wasted space of the parkway? Wouldn't it be nice to know your food was homegrown, not produced on some factory farm in a foreign country? Not to mention that little strip of land was used more sustainably than growing water-consuming, chemical-dependant lawn. Besides, vegetables and herbs can be quite attractive, not only visually to humans, but to wildlife like birds and butterflies.

People have to get away from the mindset that only chemically dependant, water consuming lawns, geometrically clipped shrubs, and commercially grown cultivated plant varieties are acceptable. Maincured does not mean man has cured Nature. We've just restrained it with pruners, mowers, and other torture devices, and drugged it with chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides.

If we'd all let our own yards go a bit more wild, use more native plants, including trees and shrubs, and get rid of the lawn, we'd have a healthier world. We'd spend less time polluting the air with gas-powered mowers. The trees would cool our houses with shade and clean the air. The water would be cleaner with out the chemicals, and we'd use less water for irrigating our landscapes. Our feathered and furry friends would be happier, because they'd have more habitat and more food sources. Remember, many of the berries that the critters eat, we can eat, too... if you can beat them to it.

As long as I'm trying to make the case for less manicured, more natural landscapes, let's talk about neighborhood ponds. Does your neighborhood's pond have a geese problem? What about algae? Is the grass mowed to the water line? Well, stop doing that! If people would let go of the need to have a golf-course perfect lawn, give up the chemicals, and plant some native, emergent plants along the shore...the geese and algae would be gone. The plants stop the algae-feeding lawn chemicals from getting into the pond. (Better yet, stop using the fertilizers. If you and your lawn are addicted, wean yourself. Read and follow the label. More is not better.) The geese think there might be predators hiding among the plants so they won't visit your pond.

birds, bees, & butterflies

I haven't been yardening much this summer. I really haven't felt like it. I've mostly just done the bi-weekly lawn mowing, which thanks to the heat this weekend, I'm skipping all together. This the first weekend we've reached nearly 90 degrees. There is a heat advisory today. We've had a cooler than normal, rainy summer. In central Indiana we are over 10 inches above normal for rain fall so far this year. I'm just feeling a tad guilty about not spending more time in the yard with it having been so nice.
I've noticed fewer butterflies this summer. I was recently speaking with a friend of mine who is a park naturalist about this. Her theory is that the storms have possibly blown the migrating adults off course, or killed them, therefore they haven't been able to return to their breeding areas. Sounds plausible.
I have seen a few monarchs in the yard, but mostly I see cabbage whites. One year, when I had 4 ft. zinnias in the front yard, we had a lot of swallowtails. I have tons of volunteer dill this summer, and had a few swallowtail larva, but I think the birds got them.
I haven't been very consistent filling my bird feeders this summer. I'm actually out of seed right now. I only feed black oil sunflower seed. All my birds like it, so nothing goes to waste. We've had possums visit this summer and they like it, too.
The bees have been busy on the salvia and phlox in the front yard. I am not afraid of bees, but Punky is. The pussy willow in the backyard has a lot of gray aphids on the branches. Wasps and flies are attracted to the honey-dew. The tree buzzes with activity. The hose spigot is located under the willow. Luckily, I have a rain barrel and haven't had to turn the spigot on much. The wasps and flies don't bother me, but the aphids gross me out.

By the way, the photo is not of my house, but I did take the photo this June. I liked the cat sitting on the porch: quintessential small town America. The cat was friendly and came to say hello.