First Planting In My City "Farm"

Just a quick post to show that I have actually started to plant my new raised bed garden/farm. I am planting both veggies and beneficial attracting flowers and will post more as I progress. Still need my tomatoes and gonna call up Laurel to see about getting some http://www.heirloomtomatoplants.com/.

I am also hoping to do some serious blogging this weekend, lots of things going on and info. to share so stay tuned!

Get Your Organic Heirloom Tomatoes

Well, as you can tell by the increasingly infrequent postings, LA Farm Girl has been so busy she hasn't had much time to blog, let alone "farm."

But, busy or not, this has to change since my dear hubby installed a beautiful vegetable garden for me, complete with a fence (to keep the doggie out) and raised beds. This is a photo of the completed area.

So, since I was not prepared for this, I didn't buy plants, set seeds or anything. Luckily for me, I can still get some of my favorite heirloom tomatoes and plant them now. This is because Laurel of Laurel's Heirloom Tomato Plants, http://heirloomtomatoplants.com/ is having an on-site sale this Sunday at her urban "farm."

Who is Laurel you might ask? Well, she has been growing and selling her heirlooms for the past 9 years, but she comes from a long line of city farmers, her family farmed in Lomita and she still lives there where she is raising her tomatoes.

As she says on her site, "We are your year-round Southern California source for more than 160 luscious varieties of strictly organically grown heirloom tomato plants, a few carefully chosen great-tasting hybrids, plus a fine selection of gardening products for your home garden, and for growing in containers and greenhouses."

I have planted her tomatoes in my garden before and can attest to how great they are. Plus, she runs the business along with her Mom and her sisters so it's a great way to support a local urban family farm.

Don't miss the Pre-Father's Day Plant Sale:

Sunday, June 14th

11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

1725 257th St, Lomita CA 90717

Information: 310 534 8611

Vote For Your Favorite Farmers' Market: Might I Suggest Torrance Certified Farmers' Market

Torrance Certified Farmers' Market!

Voting has begun in American Farmland Trust's, "America's Favorite Farmers' Market Contest." http://action.farmland.org/site/PageNavigator/Americas-Favorite-Farmers-Markets/best_local_farmers_market_vote

So, I am encouraging everyone to go and vote for the Torrance Certified Farmers' Market to show our support and why we are the 3rd largest farmers' market in Los Angeles County! And, its not just because we have a large selection of farmers, but it's because our market is a community event and has been a fixture in the South Bay for 29 years! The Tuesday Market began in 1985 and the Saturday Market in 1992.

Now more than ever we need to support our local farmers' markets and make sure they thrive. Without farmers' markets, many California farmers couldn't survive (like Ken Lee, who has the best pluots ever)!

California Drought & Farmers

Well, I just returned home from a trip up to San Francisco and Berkeley to see my nephew graduate from Cal and to spend a few days in the City. I am one proud Auntie and I had a wonderful time in the Bay Area as I always do.

However, I couldn't help thinking about the disturbing landscape I saw as we made our way up through the Central Valley, along Highway 5, it literally looked like the Dust Bowl (SEE PHOTOS ABOVE, IT'S JUST DUST). A fact not lost on the farmers and the California Farm Water Coalition who had posted signs all along the fallow and brown fields that read "Congress Created Dust Bowl."

Now, unless you live under a rock, you are no doubt aware of the drought that our state is facing. But, I also know that most Angelenos haven't got a clue about the water issues facing our farmers and usually assume that they get "all the water," when in fact this is not true.

So, as usual LA Farm Girl is asking everybody to educate themselves about the real role of agriculture and the real impact to our farmers when these issues come up. You can start by visiting the California Farm Water Coalition, http://www.farmwater.org/. Here, you fill find useful information such as actual water usage by different groups in California.

For example, "The environment uses 48% of all developed water in our state. Ag gets 41 percent and the remaining 11 percent goes to urban use, according to the Department of Water Resources in Sacramento."

As they mention on their site, "Estimates from UC Davis economists indicate up to 80,000 jobs will be lost and $1.6-2.2 billion will disappear from the economy in the San JoaquinValley alone because of the reduced water supplies this year. Along with the economic decline will come incalculable social consequences."

This is already happening, in the town of Mendota, unemployment is 40% and farm workers and their families are now among the hungry and homeless. Pretty ironic in an area that grows food.

You might wonder why you should care about farmers or agriculture, well the main reason is that the water farms use goes to feed us, yes all of us and many other people in our nation. California produces one-half of the fruits and vegetables in the United States.

Vote For America's Favorite Farmers Markets

American Farmland Trust (AFT) is having a contest this summer for people to vote for a fave farmers' market. They are (not surprisingly) calling it, "Vote for America's Favorite Farmers Markets." As they say, "Together we can strengthen the local farm-to-fork connection and pledge our support for healthy farms, healthy food and healthy communities."

We Angelenos need to show the rest of the country how much we love our farmers markets and our farmers!

The first step is getting your Market Manager to enroll their market into the contest so they can be part of it!

So be sure to tell your favorite Market Manager to go to the site and enroll, its free and easy, www.farmland.org/marketmanager.

"Over the summer American Farmland Trust will be promoting farmers markets to local food enthusiasts in your community and beyond."

For those who aren't familiar with them, American Farmland Trust is "committed to protecting the nation's best farm and ranch land and improving the economic viability of agriculture."

Declare Your Food Independence!

As regular readers know, I have been a big supporter of Roger Doiron and his Kitchen Gardener's International for a long time and was very happy that his "Eat the View" Campaign succeeded in getting the Obamas to plant an edible garden on the front lawn of the White House.

So, I am here to help spread the word about their latest endeavor, it's a new campaign, "Declare your Food Independence this July 4th" with the goal of keeping the momentum going, " this spring and summer by reinventing our national holiday meal as a celebration of healthy, delicious, and locally-produced foods. July 4th deserves better than mystery-meat hot dogs and water-flavored beer! Think about how you could make contact with your state's first family about this idea. Locally-grown and home-grown foods are patriotic, so let's not hesitate to wave our colors. "

He's asking folks to sign his petition at Facebook, http://apps.facebook.com/causes/petitions/153 or if you don't have Facebook, http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=cnVpalB0aGpYQjczbjI1WlI1WU9WTXc6MA..

Citrus Sunday, May 3, San Fernando Valley

I received an email (thanks Astra) about a really cool event taking place tomorrow, Sunday, May 3 called "Citrus Sunday." This is apparently the 4th annual event. Its a volunteer fruit drive to pick thousands of pounds of fresh citrus to benefit needy San Fernando families.

Volunteers will pick oranges, grapefruit and other citrus fruit from trees in their yards or at picking locations and drop them off at participating San Fernando Valley Fire Stations.

For a list of drop-off locations and information on how to get involved check out this site: http://www.cd12.org/cd12homepage/cd12cd12homepage256559506_05032009.pdf

If you have fruit you want to donate here's what they ask you to do:

• Pick the oranges, grapefruits or other citrus from the trees in your yard up to three days in advance.

• Wash them and put them in plastic bags

Sunday, May 3, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.