Cherimoya Germination Salvation

After months of mixed results with starting plants from seed, we just
gave up and have followed the less than scientific process of just
throwing a bunch of seeds in a pot, pitching in some dirt and water
and letting the hands of fate do all the labor. And boom. Cherimoyas.
A dozen of them rocketing to the sky.

good wwoofer magic!

some daily affirmations to make the wwoofing process better for all of us...

• good wwoofers are friendly and nice

• good wwoofers read the farm listings carefully and only respond to farms they actually are interested in working on

• good wwoofers don't send out generic form emails to farms. most farms are super busy and take care to answer each prospective wwoofer and it's a bit disheartening to get emails from people who either haven't read your posting or asking questions obviously answered in your listing.

• good wwoofers realize that there is more to wwoofing than sweating with plants and dirt. most farms are rooted in family or community and good wwoofers do their best to contribute to every aspect of the farm: like being friendly and inviting to new wwoofers, neighbors and residents alike.

• good wwoofers help keep the living areas, working and cooking areas clean and functional. all wwoof hosts resent cleaning up after their visitors

• good wwoofers aren't sleezy men who harass their female counterparts.

• good wwoofers don't let god or jah come between them and respectful relationships with the greater wwoofing community.

• good wwoofers realize that the continued success of wwoofing is reliant upon wwoofers not stealing or sleezing or slacking so that farms no longer want to mess with them...

• good wwoofers are the best thing ever! (and we've had nothing but the best!!!)

xoxo

don't let wwoofing turn into thunderdome (though we do love tina turner a whole lot)

WWOOFing Opportunities...

We have some slots open for wwoofing for 10-14 days each between 6/1- 6/18 and then again from 6/20- 7/13. There should be a good crew of folks from all over the world bouncing through at that time so it might be a great time to make some new friends and have some fun. The weather is getting warmer and the gardens are starting to fire!

Projects that will be happening during that time:

- shed building or retrofitting
- rooftop planters being made for melons and passionfruit
- using old salvaged brick to build a new staircase
- removing a wall of invasive ivy and planting a new bed for bananas, cherimoya, passionfruit and chayote
- weeding, thinning and transplanting
- designing a bicycle storage area
- eating a lot of great food.

If you can't make the early summer slots, drop us a line as we may be hosting more wwoofers as space and projects dictate in the Fall...

a veritable uprising!

globe artichokes take to the world with revolutionary vigor to destroy capitalism one clenched fist at a time...

the high fashion world of glamour mulching...

with the dry climate and incessant NW winds here on the coast in alta california, it's a battle keeping the plants moist. following the lead of our lovely neighborhood Ventura Urban Homestead, we're 1/3 of the way through installing a greywater assisted drip irrigation system under a dense lasagna sheet mulch of compost, broccoli/cauliflower leaves, newspaper, cardboard and straw from the friendly folks at the ventura hay company. after hunching over for five hours, i didn't notice this glamour shot until it was too late... high fashion by the brussels sprouts...

No Platinum Card Can Compete

Three different colors of heirloom pole beans, a steaming basket and a
bit of olive oil. A dusting of freshly planed parmesean-reggiano and
voilà. A meal no yuppie could ever conjure with all the forces of
capitalism combined...

loquat love...

imagine a mango crossed with an apricot. and having whole boughs of them weeping over the cilantro and jimmy nardello and running strawberry plots... a more delicious heaven couldn't have been dreamed up by anyone...

a sad story.

back when i was a wee sprout, i had a tough ass cat named bosco. he was spunky and tough and a total battle cat with chunks missing out of his ears and scars across his face. i thought that unfixed farm cat swagger was the tuffest thing out there (aside from my neighbor dannyboy who could spit tobacco juice out his nose).

then one day bosco up and gave birth to kittens and my entire sense of masculinity came crashing down.

so it was when our "collards" up and decided to give birth to big old gabacho cauliflower heads....

(this whole permaculture interplanting thing sure wrecks havoc with your ability to remember what went where... mama's maps and everything...)

These Things Take Time...

Sure. We're on a Smiths kick. There's been a lot of Morrissey energy floating around. There was a sweet couple's serenade last night of How Soon Is Now? An almost-family-fieldtrip to see Los Esmiths play in East LA (the Chicano Smiths coverband). And we'd be lying if we hadn't been blasting "A Rush and a Push" at least three times a day. But it could be worse. Our homie next door has Tupac's "War Stories" on repeat at sunfall every single night. And La Señora across the street has been rocking Julio Iglesias like the motherfucker is on his last legs (he'll live forever... if there was ever an Immortal...)

In the span of four days, the pole beans went from 2" weak looking lil' nuggets on the edge of death (unlike Julio) to 13" harbingers of sorrow loaded down with 6" waxy, super sweet beans...