Happy National Agriculture Day

Today, March 15, 2011, is National Agriculture Day. I wrote about the day and what it means to me for my post this week on Care2.com Healthy & Green Living, in honor of National Agriculture Day.

LA Farm Girl's Post Re: Los Angeles Wine Country!

Some of you know that I not only write about current farming in California and especially here in LA, but that I am obsessed with farm history and am working on a new book about Los Angeles agriculture.

As part of this, I am blogging with my book partner at her UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Los Angeles Agriculture blog.

Here is Part Two of:
"How Los Angeles Became The Commercial Winegrowing Capital of America"

Yes, long before the Napa Valley or Sonoma became the winegrowing meccas that they are, LA was it, a position it held until the late 1800's.

Jean Luis Vignes winery, downtown Los Angeles

I am working on Part 3 so watch for it soon!

I Am An Urban Homesteader

It is funny how life turns out, if you would have told me that one day I would even consider referring to myself as an urban homesteader, I would have told you that you were crazy.

I mean I am an LA girl, born and bred. The fact that I am LA Farm Girl is a big enough stretch from who I always thought I would be, but, urban homesteader? Hardly.


First Crop on My Urban Homestead, July '09

But, over the past several years my career as a farm writer (how I got there is a story in and of itself that I will blog about one day) has led me to “walk the walk” instead of just “talking the talk.” It started with me applying to become a University of California Master Gardener, and paying for the privilege of volunteering in the community teaching them to grow their own food. This led me to ask myself; why am I not growing my own food?

Since I am a University of California Certified Master Gardener (yeah, throwing around my “big credentials” at every opportunity) I always like to defer to our parent campus, UC Davis for definitions of things related to gardening and farming, and, it turns out that they actually have one for urban homesteading.

According to UC Davis’ Small Farm Program “an urban homestead is a household that produces a significant part of the food, including produce and livestock, consumed by its residents. This is typically associated with residents’ desire to live in a more environmentally conscious manner.”

While I am a long way off from producing a “significant” amount of our food, especially the livestock part, I do plant more each year and I do it in an environmentally conscious way.

How? Well, two summers ago after getting tired of hearing me express my desire to grow my own food, my dear hubby ripped out half of our back lawn and built me the most beautiful raised bed garden, complete with a beautiful basket weave fence and gate around it.

At the time we needed the gate to keep our sweet lab out. Sadly, a few months after it was built we lost her, so now the gate just looks pretty and somehow makes me feel as if she’s out there with me when I am working in the garden just like she used to be.

Ms. Maggie in newly built and planted raised bed garden, June '09

Not only do I now have a dedicated space to grow my own veggies, but we got rid of much of our wasteful lawn, and replaced it with the raised beds that have a drip irrigation system, and that use only organic soil amendment and compost.

Another way I garden with the environment in mind is by using only non GMO, non-treated, open pollinated seeds, preferably heirloom varieties, and transplants of the same.

This year I am going to plant some more burpless cucumbers, lollipop heirloom tomatoes, and other heirloom tomatoes. french baby carrots, pole beans, and for the first time, sugar baby watermelons from Baker Creed Seeds.

August 12, 2010 Harvest

I am not as self-sufficient as many of my other urban homesteading friends are and I probably will never be. But, each year I make more progress in weaning myself from the grid and slowing down my pace, and my dependence on a food system that frankly scares the hell out of me.

My next goal on the road to more self-sufficiency is preserving more of my own food, I just barely scratched the surface last year, and have invested in some canning tools to help make this happen this year.

So, on this, the Urban Homesteaders Day of Action, I want to suggest that you join me by becoming an urban homesteader and discover the joys of growing your own food at your own urban homestead.

Stand Up "Urban Homesteaders"

Not sure how many of you are aware of a brewing controversy but there's a Los Angeles area urban farm that has said that it has trademarked the terms "Urban Homestead" and "Urban Homesteading." There's a great blog post about it here, on the OC Weekly.

So, some very upset Urban Homesteaders have created a Facebook Fan page so that we can take back our term and they are asking people to go and like it. Here's the link:
Take-Back-Urban-Home-Steadings Facebook Fan Page

Oh, and here's the profile photo that they created for this fan page, I love it:

SLOLA: Saving Seeds For The Future - Los Angeles Urban Agriculture | Examiner.com

Here is my latest post from my Los Angeles Urban Agriculture Examiner page, all about Seed Library of Los Angeles (SLOLA). Come and join this awesome group at their monthly meeting this Saturday, January 15 at 2:30 p.m. at Learning Garden at Venice High School. Help them "grow" and save the seeds of our future!


SLOLA: Saving Seeds For The Future - Los Angeles Urban Agriculture Examiner.com

Public Outcry Wins 90-Day Extension for Hollywood Farmers’ Market! - Los Angeles Urban Agriculture | Examiner.com

Here's my latest post from Los Angeles Urban Agriculture Examiner page about the Hollywood Farmers' Market:

Public Outcry Wins 90-Day Extension for Hollywood Farmers’ Market! - Los Angeles Urban Agriculture Examiner.com

Hollywood Farmers Market Action Alert: Email Councilman Garcetti TODAY - Los Angeles Urban Agriculture | Examiner.com

Important, the Hollywood Farmers' Market needs our immediate help, check out the details at my Los Angeles Urban Agriculture Examiner page on how to help them now!

Hollywood Farmers Market Action Alert: Email Councilman Garcetti TODAY - Los Angeles Urban Agriculture Examiner.com