Results tagged “garden”

Here in Los Angeles there is a valued relationship between the food on our plates and the ground from which it comes. From weekly stops at favorite farmers' markets to digging in at a local community garden, the bounty of the land and its role in our eating lives has a profound meaning for many Angelenos, and Americans. Local Chefs are eager to share how they use the market to influence their menu, like Grace and BLD's Neal Fraser and Ford Filling Station's Ben Ford, while some, like Border Grill and Ciudad's Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger have partnered with the LAUSD to help reinforce the importance of garden-based learning and to be conscious of what we eat. The politics of eating has become a local focal point, thanks to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's championing a Food Policy Task Force this summer as we celebrated 30 years of farmers' markets in L.A.

Keep your eyes peeled for the perfect spot--not to park your car but to park your butt or two feet in a comfy, welcoming, back-to-nature focused space meant to remind us that in all this concrete we need to have some green space. You'll find spaces all over town converted into mini-green getaways, complete with all manner and variety of benches, greenery, decor, motifs, and opportunities to socialize with people from the neighborhood. Hosted by citizens, groups, architecture firms and others, these once-a-year spots are worth checking out today.

I’m not going to wait until one of you gets your compost together to ask me an important question. I’m not going to hear the 4th query on “why do I suck at gardening?” (A: worms hate you). This column needs to be responsive, sure… but let me ask a question that you should be asking: Why do my dahlias have jock itch?

Plant F-ing is a new Ask LAist series about growing food and flora at home--especially for those renters who do not have access to the luxuries of a yard and only have windows and patios to work with. If you've got a question, please send it to editor[@]laist.com and our in-house garden guru, aka Hand of Gardener, will answer.

Plant F-ing is a new Ask LAist series about growing your food at home with an emphasis on renters who do not have access to the luxuries of a yard and only have windows and patios to work with. If you've got a question, please ask and send it to editor[@]laist.com and our in-house garden guru, aka Hand of Gardener, will answer. Today we'll kick it off with a basic question from LAist Editor Zach Behrens.

The Protege Basketball Block Party stops at the Kmart in Torrance (19330 Hawthorne Blvd.) today from noon to 6 pm with free on- and off-court interactive activities (shooting contests, b-ball tips, etc.) for all ages. It’s an 18-wheel, 53-foot show truck that transforms into a 4,500-square-foot basketball playground. And best part of all? Former Laker-turned-commentator James Worthy stops by from 5-6 pm today.

The Huntington's legendary Corpse Flower (because when it blooms, look out, it smells like rotting flesh!), which has been nicknamed "Stinky," is now closing in on 7 feet tall (he's 6ft 9.25 inches, according to the Huntington's Twitter feed). Jim Folson tells us what we can expect in this short video.

Yesterday, First Lady Michelle Obama joined 5th graders from a DC-area school in harvesting some of the bounty from the White House's Kitchen Garden, a 1,100-square-foot, L-shaped plot on the South Lawn planted in April. Together they picked "harvested 73-pounds of lettuce and 12-pounds of peas," then worked together to create a meal they shared picnic-style right there at the White House. NPR broadcast a lovely story about the event, including the enthusiasm of the kids for working with the land and what it's taught them. The powerful partnership between learning and gardening has never been more evident than now.

North Hollywood: What do you do when the city owns a vacant lot that's being used by people as an unofficial trash landfill? Clear it out and make it into a park. On Monday, Councilwoman and Controller-Elect Wendy Greuel and others will make the first ceremonial dig on the Bellaire Pocket Park Project, located at the corner of Bellaire Ave and Strathern St.

Waiting lists for popular community gardens can be years long, but many have grown weary of waiting. As 21st Century "Victory Gardens" have come into vogue in our yards, in our neighborhoods, at our schools, at our state capitol, and on the White House lawn, many would-be green thumbs want to get their hands dirty and their veggies and flowers growing.

LAist's own Green Thumb is here to help you get into gardening...So, as he says: "Get down on your knees and start planting."

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has his eye on a big prize: Governor of California. With the 2010 election in the seedling stage, Newsom is aiming to raise his profile in Southern California, and has set his sights on the youth vote and the liberal leanings of Los Angeles for his local visit this week, explains the LA Times.

Los Angeles is cold. It’s too cold for this Midwestern escapee’s comfort even if it is Christmas. Humbug. Yes, God gave us Jesus and a really great climate in SoCal, so it’s not supposed to freeze. We don’t really freeze that much, but Jesus and a frost show up once or twice. It happens; my Yahoo Weather report says expect the low 30’s. It says Buffalo. It says Dayton.

Tucked secretly away amongst residential condos and too-snug street parking sits The Schindler House, a small artistic enclave that is part of the larger Mak Center. The unobtrusive works of modern beauty blend seamlessly with the grass and garden that occupy a worthy portion of the smallish plot. And perhaps it is here, on the oblong lawn as the sun sets over consistently progressive West Hollywood, that films like The Garden truly deserve to be screened.

Guerilla gardening is largely thought to have its roots in England, where folks have long planted unexpected gardens in neglected public spaces as a sort of call to action that highlights the misuse of land and repurposes it into something beautiful. They often work in crews or teams and go on carefully-planned gardening missions. Recently a local team of guerilla gardeners transformed a section of land next to an off-ramp of the 101 Hollywood Freeway.

Echo Park resident Erik Knutzen of the blog Homegrown Evolution was featured last night on ABC7's news broadcast. Knutzen and his wife Kelly Coyne recently authored "The Urban Homestead" that talks about urban gardening/farming and includes a chapter on sustainable transportation (Damien Newton talked Knutzen up in two separate interviews).

         

Everyone needs a place that restores their faith. Not only in a religious sense -- a place that restores one's faith in humanity, in rightness and balance. A place that makes the unseen become momentarily visible. Some people find their place in church, nature, or fellowship. And some people's faith is restored when they stand in the presence of great art. There is something truly special when the place itself is art -- the art that grows from one pair of hands crafting a vision. Places like the Watt's Towers and Nitt Witt Ridge, where one person has painstakingly made their home a shrine, shard by broken shard.