Get in the Dirt

Ocean View Farms Community Garden, Photo by Kathy Vilim

~Gardening not only puts food on the table, it also feeds my soul~

Usually I write about things to do in the backyard garden.  However, with the high cost of housing in SoCal, for many having a backyard garden is but a distant dream. After I sold my house, I missed gardening so much and wondered where I could garden. Then I discovered Ocean View Farms, a non-profit community garden in Mar Vista.

Community gardens are a wonderful resource.  They feed the need to see things grow, to nurture new life, to get in the earth and get soil under your fingernails.  When I am at my garden plot, I feel the sun warm my skin and the breezes pick up my hair.  All around me things are growing.  The place is alive with busy insects and butterflies and the splashes of color that flowers add. Here I can make a difference.  I can grow my own food.  Tomatoes simply are not the same in the store, after you’ve tasted hand-picked organic tomatoes.  And, I can give back to pollinators by planting nectar rich flowers and milkweed.

Are you interested in finding a place to garden? LA.Curbed.com has provided a list of the 10 best community gardens in Los Angeles County (compiled by Will Cooley)

Ocean View Farms Community Garden, photo by Kathy Vilim

Ocean View Farms:

I was happy to see that the garden I belong to, OceanViewFarms, is on the 10 Best Community Gardens list. A non-profit community garden in Mar Vista (established in 1977), it earned mention for having the “Most Impressive Compost.”  I would have to agree that their compost set up is extensive and impressive.  The “black gold” that results makes for a rich, organic garden compost that is available for all members to use.  In return, the members all contribute their spent vegetable plants to the compost pile.

For me this is a very important resource.  Your vegetables will only be as good as the soil that goes into growing them.  In Southern California it can be difficult to keep dry, sandy soil rich and fertile enough for a good harvest all by yourself.  Having a garden community to work with is a benefit I certainly appreciate.

Ocean View Farms is a large (500 plots) well-established community garden providing many resources for its members, including: a tool shed where tools are made available, a greenhouse for seed starting, and an orchard with fruit for the enjoyment of all members.

Did I mention that this garden is organic? Everything is grown organically. No pesticides whatsoever are used, and the bees say, “Thank you.”

Santa Monica Main Street Community Garden, photo by Kathy Vilim

Santa Monica Main Street Community Garden:

Located on Main Street between Hollister and Strand, this community garden has (73) plots and is also on the 10 Best Community Gardens list mentioned as “Most Integrated Into the Community.” Available exclusively to Santa Monica residents, this garden has a long waiting list. If you’d like to apply, fill out their application here: https://www.smgov.net/Departments/CCS/form.aspx?ekfrm=42024

When I visited this month, the Main Street Garden was holding a breakfast with featured speaker Christy Wilhelmi of GardenNerd. She spoke on Practical Pest Control for Small Space Gardens. It was a good chance to get to know the folks that garden there and discuss what to be growing this spring. The garden was alive with blooming flowers, planted to attract pollinators.  Recent rains have meant more butterflies, in particular Painted Ladies! It has also been a big help to the winter vegetable crops, such as cauliflower, broccoli, and lettuces.

Wattles Farm Main Path & Greenhouse, photo courtesy of Wattles.com

Wattles Farm:

Mentioned on the 10 Best Community Gardens list as “Most Unlikely Oasis,” Wattles Farm has a very interesting history. Located in the heart of Hollywood, this community garden was built on the grounds of a 40-acre estate named “Jualita,” the winter home of businessman Gurdon Wattles. His mansion is designated as City of Los Angeles Cultural Monument No. 579. The mansion with its lush landscaped gardens was built in 1907.

In 1975, an organic community garden was started on 4 of the acres It was one of the first gardens begun through the initiative of Mayor Tom Bradley’s community gardening program. Volunteers cleaned up the previous garden which had fallen into neglect, clearing brush and putting in plumbing for the first plots. They saved hundreds of original avocado and citrus trees in the orchard.

Today the Wattles community garden has 300 members and 172 plots.

“Someone loves this garden and has lent it to you.  

Please respect this kindness and leave it as beautiful as you find it.” 

The spirit of the members is reflected in this sign posted at the entrance to the grounds. It is this spirit of community that has saved the land from developers in this highly-prized part of Hollywood. 

The only problem with community gardens seems to be there are not enough of them! According to the Los Angeles Community Garden Council (LACGC), there are approximately 125 community gardens in Los Angeles County. You can find one near you by visiting their website: http://lagardencouncil.org/find-a-garden/ To learn the membership requirements of each, the application process, and the waiting list contact the garden manager.

If you want to get your hands dirty right away, you should consider volunteering at a local community garden hosted by Los Angeles Community Garden Council.  LACGC has a list of gardens that are looking for volunteers.  You don’t need experience to get started learning to garden. Check them out here: http://lagardencouncil.org/get-involved/volunteer/

Californians Go Crazy Over Super Blooms

California Poppies Eschscholzia californica, Photo by Kathy Vilim,
Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve

It's windy, and gusty winds are chilly.  But we are patient, waiting with our small dog, for the winds to die down so we can photograph the blooms of California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) Waving orange in the sun, poppies stretch by the thousands up hills and ridges welcoming spring. 

Dog Doodles enjoying Super Bloom, 2017

We are visiting the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve (15101 Lancaster Road, Lancaster), the only parkland dedicated to California's state flower (designated March 2, 1903). Each spring, flower lovers drive up to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve to see the California Poppies (Eschscholzia californica) in bloom. 

This year visitors are in for a treat. They can experience the Super Bloom, which was brought on by heavy rainfall this winter.  For the next 3 weeks visitors can still view the Super Bloom. To best enjoy the poppies, time your visit for mid-day on a sunny day because the petals close up when it is overcast or during late afternoon. 

Kathy Vilim Photographing California Poppies Eschscholzia californica,
Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve

What's blooming:

California poppies are not the only wildflowers blooming this year.  There are also filaree (pink), fiddleneck (yellow), slender keel fruit, wild parsley and lacy phacelia (light purple).  Soon goldfields and cream cups are expected, according to a recent Poppy Reserve/Mojave Desert Interpretive Assn. field report.

Another place to go to view wildflowers is the Saddleback Butte State Park, (17102 E. Ave. J in Lancaster) which is a bit higher up. Besides the wildflowers mentioned at Antelope Valley, they also have Joshua trees flowering now.  

North of Mojave, visit Red Rock Canyon State Park, on California Highway 14. It has a few slopes heavy in poppies, coreopsis and desert sunflowers and patches of other flowers, according to an email Wednesday from a state park ranger.

Saddleback Butte State Park, also in Lancaster, is a little drier and higher in altitude than the reserve. Still, wildflowers such as fiddlenecks, coreopsis, Mojave suncups, woolly daisies and red maids are blooming, according to the park's Facebook page. You can also see Joshua trees flowering as well. The park is at 17102 E. Ave. J in Lancaster.

for contact info: Mojave.Sector@parks.ca.gov

(661) 946-6092

Desert Rains Bring Eruption of Painted Ladies to Southern California

            Vanessa cardui, Painted Ladies Butterfly,
                  photo credit: www.laspilitas.com

The other day while I was sitting at a bus stop, I observed a number of tiny shadows flying toward me. I looked up to see butterflies, a whole flock of them!  They were small, almost moth-like.  Later walking to a friend's house, I observed more of these little butterflies, flying up her driveway and then up over the house, heading north.  What the heck was going on?

All over the Southland people have been observing these small orange creatures flying hard in gusty winds. Where did they come from, and where are they headed?  Some people thought they are monarchs migrating north from Mexico.  But, no, monarchs are much bigger. Then I read about the explosion of Painted Lady butterflies! 

Researchers have advised that the Painted Lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui) overwinter in deserts, such as the Mojave and Colorado deserts, before embarking on their annual migration to the Pacific Northwest. The profusion of butterflies happening right now coincides with the super blooms in the desert following all the rainfall we just had. In a normal year, for example, Anza Borego desert gets 3 inches of rain per year. but this year they got 3 inches just over Valentine's Day!  

In the past six drought years California has seen a huge decline in butterflies in general. Probably the most watched are the western Monarchs. Painted Ladies are not in such dire straights as the Monarchs. One of the advantages they have over the Monarchs is that they can eat the nectar of a wide number of plants, so they do not have to search for Milkweed. The usual nectar sources visited by Painted Ladies are nettles, mallows and borages, but they can also enjoy lupine, sunflowers and poppies if rains make them available. They can also ingest a large number of plant toxins. 

Painted Ladies can fly at speeds of up to 25mph. They can travel a distance of 2500 miles. They use the abdominal fat they stored as caterpillars to fuel their flight. Their small 2-3 inch size leaves them largely unnoticed during normal years. It is this year's eruption that have brought them front and center to the attention of Angelenos. 

There is something magical about the flight of the Painted Ladies, en masse during this year's migration. In the urban environment we are thirsty for nature. And these orange winged beauties remind us that all around us, no matter where we are, we can find nature.  And nature never fails to be amazing. 

https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-butterflies-desert-explosion-20190312-story.html

#rainfall #pollinators #butterflies #SoCal

Forest Bathing for a Spiritual Reboot

Walking through the Forest, Friends Share Forest Bathing

When you walk through a forest you are not just looking at trees.  Forests are an ecosystem in and of themselves. They are full of life, from the earthy smell of leaf litter, green moss and mushrooms, insects that fly or crawl, to wildlife like birds and squirrels that make their homes in the forest. Observing the interconnectedness of the forest, we can submerge ourselves and realize that we, too, are part of the natural world. We are one with Nature already, but we have forgotten. Walking in a forest gives us a way to reconnect.

The Japanese recognized the importance of forest walks for healing both our bodies and our spirits. Called Shinrin Yoku, or Forest Therapy, forest bathing simply means taking in the atmosphere of the forest for its healing benefits. Some of the health benefits of Forest Bathing include boosting immunity, improving mental clarity, and decreasing anxiety. 

Much has been written on the benefits of spending time quietly under the canopy of a living forest since Shinrin-Yoku Forest Medicine was developed. Thanks in part to the Association of Nature and Forest Bathers, people all over the world are now experiencing the health and spiritual benefits that time in Nature provides. 

But you don’t have to travel the world over to experience the spirits of the trees and reconnect with Nature. It is possible to walk in a forest right here in Los Angeles.  The Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanical Gardens in Arcadia, for example, offers walks through the grounds with a certified Forest Bather to guide you.  Certified by the Association of Nature and Forest Bathers (ANFB), the spiritual guides are trained in the ancient Japanese practice of Shinrin-Yoku. 

This Spring, there are ongoing 2-hour Saturday walks through the forests of the Arboretum with a spirit leader to guide you. Valentine’s day is coming. Why not celebrate your relationship with your partner by bringing him or her to the forest for an intimate spiritual reboot~ 

Visit: Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden (www.arboretum.org)

Gimme Shelter

Butterfly Grove, Pismo Beach, CA, Photo by Kathy Vilim

Gimme Shelter

A shadow passes overhead.  I look up to see orange wings.  A monarch butterfly is passing overhead, slowly, playfully with another monarch butterfly.  I am working in the OVF gardens, and I stop to watch them. They fly so free that it lightens my heart.  They are flying over a plot that contains one milkweed plant and one sage plant, the perfect combination for the monarch butterflies.

The milkweed plant (Asclepias) is not so much a nectar source for the monarchs as is the sage, but the milkweed attracts them because it is a host plant, a larval source. The female monarch will lay her eggs on the milkweed knowing the young caterpillars will have food when they emerge.  She can lay hundreds of eggs on a single plant, and they will take in milkweed toxin that will protect them from being eaten by birds.

When autumn is in the air, the great monarch migration begins.  Unlike their east coast cousins, our California monarchs do not migrate to Mexico.  Instead, they migrate to overwintering groves on the California coast. Along the coast there are no freezing overnight temperatures.  The monarchs cluster together high up in Eucalyptus trees, wings closed, to keep warm when the sun is not out. One of the largest of these overwintering groves is close by in Pismo Beach. Now, in  January, there will be a mating frenzy at the overwintering groves, and the females will depart with eggs to lay. They will fly low looking for milkweed host plants.

While the monarch butterflies are traveling to and from their California overwintering grounds, they need waystations where they can rest.  On their way out to the grove, they will continue to fatten up on nectar, and on their departure from the grove they will be looking for milkweed.

I have had the great pleasure of camping next to Pismo Beach’s Monarch Grove.  For several weeks I lived among the orange ballerinas of the sky, observing their daily routine of resting all together at night and then dancing in the mid-day sun.  I felt so free then, as they were free. And I left there committed to caring about what happens to them. How can a female butterfly find milkweed in the city?

The answer is private and community gardens. Places like the community gardens at Ocean View Farms are wonderful resources for the monarch butterflies.  The organic garden is full of life. What a great California waystation we could have by planting for the monarchs at our community gardens. I can envision monarchs flitting about the vegetable plots.  All they need is milkweed and a nectar source like sage. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if each of us planted just one of those plants and gave our traveling monarchs a rest stop?

Remember: If you want to help the monarchs, it's best to grow native milkweed plants that die back and encourage the monarchs to migrate rather than tropical milkweed that can interrupt their breeding cycles.

"Shrooms for Winter Solstice

Santa's distinctive style has drawn comparisons to 17th-century Siberian shamans.
(Illustration: Yumiyumi/Shutterstock)

Have you ever wondered where the Story of Santa Claus came from?  Me too. Then, looking at Mother Nature Network News the other day, a story by Russell McLendon caught my eye, "7 mind-bending facts about Magic Mushrooms."

Apparently, there are magic "muscimol" mushrooms found all over the world. There are also religious shamans all over the world. In Siberia, the variety of mushrooms ingested by shamans is Amanita muscaria.  And these 'shrooms help the shamans commune with the spirit world.  

What's this got to do with Santa?  Well, each year on the Winter Solstice (December 21st), beginning as far back as the 1600s, the Shamans of Siberia began an annual custom.  They would gather magic mushrooms, dry them, and go out into the neighborhood to give them to the villagers as gifts. The Shamans' custom was to dress up in costumes that resembled the mushrooms... red with white trim. They would take their reindeers with them and climb up onto the rooftops to enter the houses though specially-made openings, since the front doors were snowed in all winter long, and so unusable. 

The Shamans' reindeers also ingested the mushrooms frequently, by simply foraging in the woods where they are plentiful. In an altered state, Shamans enjoyed being able to communicate with the reindeers' spirits. 

Considering the hallucinogenic properties of Amanita muscaria, is it any wonder folks started seeing reindeers flying from the rooftops with a plump man in a red suit carrying gifts on wintery Christmas nights?

So, the next time you look up in the sky on a winter's night and recall the Santa Claus story, you are going to remember the Siberian shamans' magic mushrooms and think: makes as much sense as anything else!

Enjoy your Winter Solstice today, shortest day of this year. 

And to read McLendon's wonderful complete story, visit: https://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/blogs/facts-about-magic-mushrooms. 

Thankful for the Bounty

Autumn is Harvest Time, 
                Thankful for the Bounty

Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia)

Photo Credit: laspilitas.com

Juana shakes the oak tree with her sisters until acorns drop from the branches. In this way, the Tongva Women harvest acorns together. It is Autumn, and the acorns are plentiful. Once collected, the acorns are laid out in the sun to dry. Later Juana and her sisters will store them in a large grain basket, taking care to place it on a platform raised above the earth and out of reach of rodents.

                  Acorns of Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia) 

                                   Photo Credit: laspilitas.com

                                           

When Juana prepares acorns for eating, she cracks them out of their shells and peels the kernels out of their paper-like skin. Using a stone mortar, she grinds them to flour. The next and very important step is to leach out the bitter tasting tannins by pouring water over them in a leaching basin made of layers of fine and coarse sand. She knows this could take most the morning, but it is very important to be done completely, and so she is patient. When done, the bitter taste will have been removed from the flour. The Tongva Women can then prepare the acorns as a mush, soup or “bread.”

Acorns have been a staple of Native Californians’ diet for 4,000 years or more.    They were the most important plant food for many tribes, as they are very nutritious. In this case, Juana and her Tongva sisters would have been collecting  acorns from the Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia) in Topanga Canyon Santa Monica Mtns, where the Tongva people  lived. (Their territory abutted that of the Chumash tribe of Malibu. Tongva were also known as Gabrieleños.)  Besides the Coast Live Oak, the acorns from many other oak tree species, such as Black Oak and Valley Oak, can be harvested.

                                  Hollyleaf Cherry (Prunus_ilicifolia) 

                                       Photo Credit: laspilitas.com

Besides making flour from acorns, Native Californians would also make flour from the pit of the Hollyleaf Cherry fruit. After removing the pit’s poisonous outer layer, the kernels were crushed and then leached, like the acorns, before being turned into flour meal.  Though the flesh of the fruit can also be eaten straight off the tree, or fermented into an intoxicating drink, the Native Californians’ main use for the Hollyleaf Cherry was making flour.

When it came to foraging for wild edible plants, the Native Californian people knew what to eat and what not to eat. They had extensive knowledge about the resources that were available in the land in which they lived, and they passed this knowledge down to their children. They were also aware of medicinal values of the plants around them. Most of this information has been lost to us, which makes it difficult to know what is safe to pick or eat of the wild bounty that grows around us.

Prickly Pear Cactus Fruit (Opuntia littoralis) 

Photo credit: laspilitas.com

The Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia littoralis) would have provided sustenance to the Tongva people of the Santa Monica Mtns. Meaty and nutritious, Juana and her sisters would have harvested the fleshy pads called “nopales” of Prickly Pear Cactus. The fruit that forms at the very ends of the pads is called “Tuna.” When ripe (deep red color), they make a delicious jelly or a sweet raw dessert.

One of the nice things about Prickly Pear is that you can harvest both the pads and the fruit without destroying the plant. That way there is always more Prickly Pear for tomorrow! You can gently pull the fruit (Tuna) off. Pads can be removed by snapping a pad at the joint. It is wise to pick young tender pads, but not the youngest, as they have more spines. But what about those spines? Native Californians mastered a good system for removing them, and you could, too.  Some people recommend wearing heavy work gloves. But my trick works better: use a paper bag. Seriously! Put a paper bag on your hand like a glove when touching prickly pear and the spines cannot get to you! Next, to prepare for cooking, you can remove the spines by scraping with a knife.

Pads of Nopales are high in iron, beta carotene, vitamin C, and calcium. The deep red color of the fruit (tuna) means it is high in antioxidants. Nopales and Tuna would have been a very nutritious choice for the Tongva people, as it is for us. Today, Prickly Pear Cactus has many uses: raw cut up in salads, sautéed, breaded and then fried, boiled, tossed in soup, or pickled.  I myself have harvested Prickly Pear often from my chaparral garden, and especially enjoy making Nopales Tacos, a completely meatless dish.

Lamb’s Quarters (Chenopodium californicum) 

Photo Credit: laspiitas.com

Lamb’s Quarters (Chenopodium californiacum or album) are one of the best-known wild edible greens, with a taste like spinach.  Archeological evidence suggests it has been foraged for some 9000 years and cultivated for 4000 years. Before the Europeans came, this was another one of the many plants that would have sustained the indigenous peoples of California.  Lamb’s Quarters are high in protein, iron and vitamins A & C. The wild plant makes prolific seeds, which can also be ground into a dark flour for making bread, “mush” or tortillas.

Long before the arrival of Europeans, Native Americans lived well off California’s edible flora, which was bountiful. They lived in a balanced way, maintaining the land. Edible landscapes were everywhere!

Autumn is harvest time, and at Thanksgiving we are thankful for the bounty of food on our table. But, I also want to take a moment to be thankful for the bounty of knowledge about edible native plants left to us by the Native Americans who came before us. In California edible native plants still thrive in wild places. Nature gave them to us, free for the taking. Each of us can add edible native plants to our native plant gardens, and enjoy the Autumn harvest season, sharing our bounty with our wildlife friends.

~Check the local native nurseries in your area and see what they have for your edible native garden~

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