Plant a F.L.A.G. (Farmlab Agbin Garden)

This a photo of the park when it was "Not a Cornfield" Just a quick post to let you all know about a great project at Farmlab in downtown LA this weekend. It's called F.L.A.G. (Farmlab Agbin Garden) and they are going to be planting a temporary public garden at the Los Angeles State Historic Park (the site of their former Not a Cornfield).

This garden is in "agbins" (large planters recycled from the citrus industry) and will be on site for 6 months and volunteer gardeners will be encouraged to participate to maintain them.

The event is on Sunday, April 13 from 8 a.m. to Noon and Farmlab will be planting the first four units of this temporary garden. The public is welcome to attend and they are also looking for volunteers to take responsibility for sets of agbins as the garden expands.

This is part of a four-part exhibition at Farmlab with the subject being seed. They plan on giving some of the products from this communal garden to those in need and the seed will become part of a community seed bank. Contact Jamie Lopez Walters, Farmlab Agriculturist for more info., http://www.farmlab.org/.

Los Angeles State Historic Park is located at 1245 N. Spring St., right near Chinatown, less than a block away from the Chinatown Gold line Station and Farmlab is located just across the street.

Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve

(Photo Courtesy California State Parks)

While we don't have any large, flower farms left in Los Angeles County, we do have a wonderful, natural place to see spring wildflowers and now is the time to see the beautiful California poppies and other wildflowers in the Antelope Valley at the Poppy Reserve. Due to the winter rains, this year is blooming pretty well. However, don't wait too long since they won't last, with wildflowers blooming from about March through May, with peak viewing time in mid-April.

You can call the Wildflower Hotline for basic information at (661) 724-1180, or check out the site for more information, http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=627.

Tomato Mania Time!

Don't forget, tomorrow is the start of Tomato Mania at Tapia Brothers Farm in Encino! This is the place to go and get your seedlings to kick off your summer vegetable planting season.

This 3-day event features nearly 300 varieties of tomatoes, many of them heirloom varieties and it's at one of our last, local, farms, Tapia Brothers. It runs from Friday, April 4, through Sunday, April 6, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tapia Brothers is located just off the 101 Freeway at 5251 Hayvenhurst, just off the Burbank Blvd. off ramp. This the largest of Tomato Mania's seedling sales, for more info. check out the site http://www.tomatomania.com/

Earth Hour Tonight!

Just a last minute reminder that tonight from 8-9 p.m. Earth Hour takes place. This is a chance to join millions of people around the world in making a statement about climate change by turning off your lights for Earth Hour, an event created by the World Wildlife Fund.

Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone. On this day, cities around the world, including Copenhagen, Chicago, Melbourne, Dubai, and Tel Aviv, will hold events to acknowledge their commitment to energy conservation.

For more information about Earth Hour and the ways that you can save energy, check out their site: http://www8.earthhourus.org/

Even Google turned off the lights on their homepage in support of Earth Hour!

Happy Spring & Happy National Ag Day

Happy National Ag Day

Today is not only the first day of spring, it's also National Ag Day, part of National Ag Week, (March 16-22) designed to celebrate agriculture.

Now, while many of the largest agri-businesses do sponsor the day, it's still important to celebrate National Ag Day because its crucial that citizens understand how their food and fiber is produced, realize the important role that agriculture plays to our economy, get increased knowledge of agriculture and food so they make informed personal choices about diet and health, and because informed citizens participate in establishing policies that support sustainable agriculture and family farms.

So today, try to take at least one small step in support of our sustainable farmers:

• If you go shopping ask where and how your food was produced
• Look for "Buy Local" signs at your local market showing that the food was produced in California, if you don't see any, ask for them
• Shop at your local farmer's market
• Initiate a farm day at your child's school or at work, or invite a farmer to come and speak in your community
• Write or call your legislative Representatives urging them to support sustainable agriculture provisions in the Farm Bill or local legislation
• Take your children to a local farm or farm stand, a petting farm, a u-pick farm or orchard and teach them where their food comes from

Book is Done and In!!!

Another very quick post to let everyone know that I will be back in the blogging business starting next week! I submitted the book and the photos and now it's just a matter of waiting. I am crossing my fingers that it's acceptable. I think the photos are awesome and the people I met are even more so, like Tom Ishibashi pictured here at his farm at Torrance Airport.

I am going to be posting some more about them so watch for it. And, for those people who have emailed to ask me to include info. about them on the blog, rest assured I will. I am just going to take a little vacation, going up with my sister to Santa Cruz, where no doubt I will be re-inspired to keep writing and working on sustainable agriculture issues.

LA Farm Girl Is Still Alive But Under Deadline!

Just a quick post to let everyone know that I am still alive! The book deadline is fast approaching its next Wednesday, March 12. So, I have been running around getting photos, taking photos, and interviewing the awesome farmers in our area.

It is truly incredible how generous and kind they are and how great their memories are. I am definitely going to have to do more with their stories after I complete this very brief pictorial history book. I feel so lucky to be involved in such an important project telling their stories and preserving this history.

I thought I'd post a couple of great shots I took today at Tom Ishibashi's Farm at Torrance Airport. He is a great guy, very funny and very nice.

It's hard to believe that his strawberries come from the Torrance Airport, but here they are growing right there in the middle of it!

He has early season strawberries which are awesome, and people line up to get them once his stand opens. He just opened last week so come and get your berries and support the last farmer in Torrance!