White Sapote

Got a White Sapote from the USF Botanical Garden Sale a couple weeks ago.

Gondules

Gondules or Pigeon Peas are considered the national dish of Puerto Rico. We've been harvesting a bunch recently, which are delicious raw or cooked.

Sam's Punkhouse Papaya

My friend Tai Chi Sam the Gardener has some pretty cool gardens going on at various people's houses around town. He's got one in the back of the punk house down the street and just got his first papaya:

weird mushrooms in the garden

Loofah and Papaya!

What looks like bird shit on the fruit above is actually Papain, a milky sap that is used medicinally to treat digestive disorders, tenderize meats, and remove tapeworms from the body. It also makes a great facial creme. The Thai folks make a mighty fine papaya salad with the unripe fruit but I mainly wait for them to get big and orange and juicy and make some kickin smoothies!

Gardening Update: 10.21.08

Well, it's been a hell of a month here in the gardening world. Here's what we got:

Yard Long Beans that we planted back in August mad produced. This is just a fraction of what we've been eating and giving to friends. We're on to the the second generation now.

The lovely Katie (before her departure to our colonized Pacific island paradise) models the beans here.

All the avacados trees in the hood have been kicking down some goodness:

This is a Stapelia gigantia. In bloom, it smells like rotting meat...

Garden Report: 9.22.008

Hello Garden Freaks! It's been a wonderful month in the world of gardening here in sunny hot nasty traffic-snarled red state hell idiot loving 21st century slavery having Floriduh! I'll tell ya, if I didnt have a garden to escape to once in a while, I'd be going completely berserk in this cess pool of blissful ignorance, blight, and moral decay. Luckily for me I do have a garden and here's what's new:

We picked the watermelons:
The first one was a Moon and Stars and was pretty juicy but not very sweet. The coolest part were the natural water movement spiral patterns similar to a hurricane or a galaxy that you can kind of see in the picture to the left. Very celestial. It took about a week to eat and I finally just ended up making some watermelon smoothie toward the end. We'll be eating the others this week. In some sad news, this watermelon just didn't have what it takes to make it in my yard. Shame...

Between working full time and getting beat up by the cops and thrown in jail in Minnesota, I did miss some crucial gardening time. Today marks the fall equinox and I was hoping to have some more stuff in the ground by now to kick in the fall growing season but, well-ya do what ya can...

The Asparagus beans are doing pretty good:

And the papayas are coming along. I've lost track of how many I've planted in the yard, but it's more than 20:

Also got some loofah climbing up the fence:

We also acquired a Meyer Lemon tree, several pineapples and some succulents recently but I didn't get around to taking pictures yet. I'm a lazy blogger. That's it for now, lots more exciting news from the garden later, including an interview with Sam: the guerrilla garden who maintains several gardens around central Tampa-all at other people's houses...

Garden Report: 8.18.08

I haven't spent a great deal of time in the garden over the last couple weeks due to that dad burned persistent August mugginess. However, the garden's been doing just fine without me with daily rains and plenty of sunshine. Here are some pictures of the first watermelons I've ever grown from seed in my entire life.
This is a "Moon and Stars" watermelon grown from heirloom seeds. I can't recall where I got them, but they were "organic" according to the package. Below we have another kind of watermelon that I must have mixed in the soil when I was planting. I'm not very scientific about it unfortunately and I have no idea what kind this is...
...but it looks delicious and I'm pleased as punch to see them because I was starting to get pissed off at this watermelon patch taking over the yard with no watermelons on it.

I also picked this off the vine this week:
It's a butternut squash that was volunteered up from the compost from seeds we threw in there a few months back. This is the third one we've grown in our humble little garden.

We been munching down on okra purty regularly over the past few weeks too. Sometimes I just eat it raw right of the stalk. Pretty damn good! But it's even better sauted up with onions and peppers from the garden.

In other news, the back yard just got 19 Asparagus bean seedlings planted in the ground from seeds bought at the Oceanic Market in downtown Tampa:
These beans are also called "Yard Long" Beans because they get this long.





















That's about it for now, stay tuned for more exciting news from my garden!

Papaya House, Seminole Heights

It's obvious these folks like papayas, but why they kept them all in the pots is anybody's guess.

Basil, Chaya, Milk and Honey

Journeyed on down to the weird world of South of Gandy, South Tampa yesterday, where a completely different vibe emanates from the rest of the city (sorta), born of obnoxious McMansions sitting uncomfortably next to squat little 50s concrete block ranch houses built to accommodate the Airforce families in the 1950s; white and blue collars living in uneasy truce. The first place we visited down there (after Schiller's German Delicatessen, who serve up some mighty good corned beef sandwiches, and Sunshine Thrift, a requisite not only for the one dollar shirts but for the twenty five cent buttered popcorn!) was one of those 50's concrete block deals on a sunny street around the corner from the Airforce Base. A guy named John lives there and he has an organic garden project/urban farm of sorts in his yard which is more like a small jungle threatening to take over his house any day now. John wasn't there, but he had an outdoor honor system plant store set up out front. We picked out some Greek Columnar Basil (a hybrid variety that doesn't seed and is rumored to grow up to 5 feet and produce the best pesto known to man) and a Chaya plant (Mayan spinach/tree spinach) said to be high in protein, iron and calcium and mighty good in an omelette. We shoved the money in the slot.

The next stop, just a few blocks away, was a hidden 4 acre fully functioning farm complete with a dairy cow, horses, pigs, chickens, and about 200 beehives. This is the homestead of proud Florida cracker Marion Lambert, a small scale organic dairy farmer, beekeeper, and civil war enthusiast who appears to have stepped into a time warp back in the 19th century and gotten spit out smack in the middle of 21st century suburban Tampa.

Now, I know a lot of folks don't like Marion Lambert seeing as he's responsible for that giant confederate flag hoisted up at the intersection of I-4 and I-275 recently, and that's understandable. I think the flag is obnoxious myself, but I'm intrigued with the guy who put it up and his farm is one of the coolest things going around here, despite his throwback political views.
(too be continued)

what is this?

I found this growing on a vine in an alley near my house. At first I thought it was a passion fruit but after taking a bite, I noticed the flower, all white, and the shape of the leaves was wrong. It tasted a bit bland, very juicy though. What is it?

Trugreen doesnt keep your yard green, it just kills things

Today started out good, nice and cool in the morning, slight breeze, some thunder in the distance but just a few drops of rain. Lots of folks, including me on occasion, complain about summers in Florida, but it does have it's magical qualities: dew on the banana leaves, weird mushrooms popping up all over the yard, and the constant cleansing of the thunderstorms among other things. I got some much needed weeding done, planted a couple butterfly plants, and while I was goofing off in the yard the Trugreen "ChemLawn" truck pulled up across the street. I hate Trugreen and for the life of me, can't figure out why anyone would want to spray highly toxic chemicals in their yard. So I went over to the Trugreen guy to ask.

Me: Hi, I notice you have a picture of a big Dalmatian on the side of your truck. I'm just curious, is this stuff you're spraying safe for dogs?

Trugreen Guy: Well...They say you're not supposed to have pets or children on it until it dries.

Me: What about adults?

TG: (perplexed look) Them too.

Me: So what's with the big Dalmatian on the truck?

TG: I'm not sure, cute I guess...

Me: Do you think it sends a message to folks that the stuff your spraying in the yard is safe for pets.

TG: Well, it's safe after it dries but I wouldnt go rolling around in it. (laughs)

Me: It looks like it's going to be wet all day today, how does that affect this stuff you're spraying?

TG: Well, it's going to take longer for the stuff to seep in...

Me: The pesticide?

TG: Yes.

Me: Does Trugreen kill all pests equally like ladybugs and butterflies?

TG: It doesnt discriminate.

I chitchatted with the guy for a little bit because he seemed nice enough. Moved down here from Boston, just doing his job, but I made it pretty clear I was skeptical of the chemicals and when he got down to spraying I made a hasty exit. Much to my surprise, the dude comes stomping on in my open back gate five minutes later in his chemically soaked boots to give me his card.

"Hey, if your interested, give my boss a call for a free lawn analysis."

The chemicals must've gotten to this guy's brain. How the hell he could surmise that I might possibly be interested in his toxic product after our conversation I'll never know, but now he was in my yard dripping with the shit.

"You know I eat these things?" I ask, pointing to the squash and papaya trees. "The roots go under the grass and if you sprayed my yard with chemicals the roots would suck it up and it would go into the fruit and then i would eat it."

It took a second for that to sink in.

"Well, give us a call, we might have something that can work for ya."

"Get the hell outta my yard!" I thought. But I didn't say it because I'm too nice of a guy, But I did lead him the hell out of the quickest exit as far away from any edibles as possible. Some folks might think I'm paranoid, which is true, but check this out:

Barry was a professional turf master, and the chemicals he worked with may have mutated his sperm or poisoned the infant in utero. Every time Jackie washed her husband's uniforms, the chemicals may have been absorbed through her skin and permeated the placenta. The child was born with a severe and fatal type of dwarfism. Jackie held her son only once before he died due to massive failure of his underdeveloped organs.

and

Kevin Ryan from Arlington Heights, Illinois, feels like a prisoner in his home. "I can't even play in my own yard because the neighbors spray their lawns and trees", he says. Kevin suffered routine chemical exposure as a toddler from lawn spraying, and now suffers nausea, irritability, fatigue, and loss of memory whenever pesticides are nearby.

and

Christina Locek was a professional ice skater and pianist before her health was destroyed in 1985, when a her neighbor s lawn was sprayed with pesticides. Her cat and dog died that same day, and she suffers headaches, partial paralysis, vision loss, and blood disorders.

There's a host of other pesticide horror stories here. One last spooky thing: I went to the TruGreen website and read this:

"The law does not allow anyone to claim that pesticide ingredients are "safe." All substances (including those found in products we consume daily, e.g. caffeine in coffee, aspirin) are toxic/hazardous at some dose, but present little risk at the intended or recommended dose."

Hmmm, Just as safe as a cup of coffee, eh?

From the National Coalition for Pesticide-Free Lawns:

Of 30 commonly used lawn pesticides, 19 are linked with cancer or carcinogencity, 13 are linked with birth defects, 21 with reproductive effects, 26 with liver or kidney damage, 15 with neurotoxicity, and 11 with disruption of the endocrine (hormonal) system.

April to July

I started out a little late for Spring gardening this year as I just moved into this house in April, but I had a bunch of stuff in pots just crying to get in the ground. I picked this spot in the side yard near the intersection on purpose. Curb appeal.

Here it is in July:
The only bummer so far about having this garden so close to the street is that some shitpipe came and stole my prize acorn squash while I was out of town.

dirt under the nails

Here's a place to document musings on successes and failures in gardening and attempts to cultivate some larger meaning from working with land and making things grow and eating them and how it relates to what's going on in the world in regards to food production, population, climate change, peak oil, and global and local politics. I've been gardening on and off for a few years in Florida but the idea to document it as some sort of political statement was largely inspired by the Edible Estates project by Fritz Haeg. Here's an excerpt:

Edible Estates is an attack on the front lawn and everything it has come to represent!

Edible Estates is an ongoing series of projects to replace the front lawn with edible garden landscapes responsive to culture, climate, context and people!

Edible Estates reconciles issues of global food production and urbanized land use with the modest gesture of a small domestic garden!

Edible Estates is a provocation, a call to arms and a radical intervention on the banal, repressive streets of zombie lawn-lined monotony!

Edible Estates is nothing new, growing our own food is the first thing we did when we stopped being nomadic and started being "civilized"!
Edible Estates is a practical food producing initiative, a place-responsive landscape design proposal, a scientific horticultural experiment, a conceptual land-art project, a defiant political statement, a community out-reach program and an act of radical gardening!

The Edible Estates project proposes the replacement of the domestic front lawn with a highly productive edible landscape. Food grown in our front yards will connect us to the seasons, the organic cycles of the earth, and our neighbors. The banal lifeless space of uniform grass in front of the house will be replaced with the chaotic abundance of biodiversity. In becoming gardeners we will reconsider our connection to the land, what we take from it, and what we put in it. Each yard will be a unique expression of its location and of the inhabitant and his or her desires.

I'm not a "dirt god," I just thought the name sounded cool. My first choice: Dirt Under My Nails, turned out to be already in use as a gardening blog. Lots of people have dirt under their nails it appears. And that's a good thing. But how many Dirt Gods are there? There's one more, as there always is on the internet, but I spell mine with 2 "t"s so don't get confused, not that anyone would as the other dirt god has nothing on his blog since he started it in 2003. But I digress...

I'm far from a gardening expert so if anyone comes across this I welcome input, advice, and comments. Part of the reason for this is to network with other gardeners and share stuff. Over the course of the next several months I'll be gardening at my house and with a group of students I work with at a community school. This is where I'll put down how it's going.