havanna's urban agriculture

I just finished listening to a podcast on cuba's agriculture and what captured my attention in particular was hearing that there are 20,000 small gardens in the large city of Havanna. 200,000 people now support themselves by growing food within Havanna alone.

People have taken over all open space areas possible and turned even small areas into "immensely productive" gardens.

I feel so validated hearing this. Ever since the gardening urge came on strong, I've been gardening in containers under restrictive conditions. I look longingly at any patch of unused or under-used land and think of what vegetables and fruits could be grown there. Anything from highway medians to well mulched islands in bank parking lots could turn to lush food production or at the least blooms for birds and bees.

The speaker suggests moving "away from grain dominated staples towards tuber dominated staples" in order to produce more food within urban environments. This reminds me of the fingerling potato I planted indoors last fall that grew vigorously in search of light, until the cats ate its shoots. I shall have to try some potatoes again this year.

"Small scale intensive owner operated enterprises far outproduce corporate farms, government farms, and the smaller the operation, the more productive it tends to be."

Well, I'm really small scale but I'm heartened to hear that I don't need to own a farm to grow food for myself and others.

Here is the link to the podcast from Sustainable World Radio.

minimalism

I remember the first time I heard the word minimalism mentioned in a negative context. Browsing the table of contents in a book, the chapter on minimalism caught my eye. I get some sort of euphoria from reading about simple living.

However, the author was addressing the "do as little as possible" phenomenon, which can be a sort of laziness.

I mean, I do agree that if there is an efficient way to do something, then it makes sense to make it as easy and quick as possible, to minimize work. But sometimes if we over-simplify, we miss out on beautiful details of our lives. And if we’re too focused on goals, we’ll miss out on the surprise miracles that sneak up on us.

There is a place to move beyond the principles of minimalism.

Today I tore a tag off of a fair-trade, organic pineapple. I was about to recycle the little paper, but I decided to read it. It spoke of the farming community in Costa Rica that benefits from the purchase of the pineapple. (I can't take any credit, as the pineapple was a gift.) I began to think of a pineapple farm in Costa Rica, and how fun it would be to visit. In mid-January in New Jersey, this is a lovely thought, a warm and luscious tropical mental journey.

I used to feel so overwhelmed by life that I would try to block out any additional distractions or non-essentials. I'd ruthlessly recycle any junk mail and flyers, attempting to ban all advertisements from my consciousness. Forget trying to get to community events, museums, performances. The perfect ideal was an extremely uncluttered, clear surface for my life. Go straight home and cook food and relax with a book.

But in part because of the man in my life, I now am working on letting little cluttery extras into my life.

Instead of making a list of things to do and then ruthlessly making a beeline to accomplish them all so that i can relax and breathe....now usually we just do a few things, and don't sweat what doesn't get done. We keep our eyes open to details along the way.

It really feels like torture for someone who's built like me. I want to cross all those pesky items off the to-do list--they're like flies buzzing in my brain.

But the one thing that convinces me that this other approach has merit is that no matter how hard I try I never get it all done. (I've gotten really close, though!!)

Adam has taught me to keep my eyes open for extra things--art openings, farmer's markets, libraries, thrift stores, health food stores, new state parks, community gardens, meeting people, going to talks or performances. And these have enriched my life.

This is probably obvious to all of you, but it's news to me.

Maybe the idea is simplifying and minimizing but then also looking for the good extras. To create a serene life that is sprinkled with quality experiences.

It's still painful; I hate remembering AGAIN that I still haven't bought a seam ripper, because I really want to re-size those pants that are too big on me. And I really wanted to get potatoes for breakfast, but toast will do.

I think what I'm trying to get at is that if something is really important I have to trust that I'll remember it. Or know that everything will still work out if I don’t.

short video of lloyd kahn and his house

SHELTER from jason sussberg on Vimeo.

lloyd kahn is the publisher of shelter and homework.

also, some good news regarding bike routes.

why are abandoned houses so appealing?

and now, looking at this, i'm noticing that entire trees are growing on the roof.

from here.

magical homes

A house built by a man named Lloyd House.

SunRay Kelley is another house builder.
Both from Lloyd Kahn's "Builders of the Pacific Coast" book. Click here.

The Driftwood Egg Treehouse, created by Japanese treehouse builder Taka.

from here.

from an article here.

I was aiming at a pleasant, natural way of farming . . . which results in making the work easier instead of harder. "How about not doing this? How about not doing that?"—that was my way of thinking.

By taking this approach, I ultimately reached the conclusion that there was no need to plow, no need to apply fertilizer, no need to make compost, no need to use insecticide! When you get right down to it, there are few agricultural practices that are really necessary.

The reason that man's "improved" techniques seem to be necessary is that the natural balance has been so badly upset beforehand by those same techniques that the land has become dependent on them.

Make your way carefully through these fields. Dragonflies and moths fly up in a flurry. Honeybees buzz from blossom to blossom. Part the leaves and you will see Insects, spiders, frogs, lizards, and many other small animals bustling about in the cool shade. Moles and earthworms burrow beneath the surface.

This is a balanced ricefield ecosystem. Insect and plant communities maintain a stable relationship here. It is not uncommon for a plant disease to sweep through this region and leave the crops in my fields unaffected.

And now look over at the neighbor's field for a moment. The weeds have all been wiped out by herbicides and cultivation. The soil animals and insects have been exterminated by poison. The earth has been burned clean of organic matter and micro-organisms by chemical fertilizers. In the summer you see farmers at work in the fields . . . wearing gas masks and long rubber gloves. These rice fields—which have been farmed continuously for over 1,500 years—have now been laid waste by the exploitive farming practices of a single generation.

--Masanobu Fukuoka

This tale comes to mind for me so often!



There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit.

"Such bad luck," they said sympathetically.

"We'll see," the farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses.

"How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed.

"We'll see," replied the old man.

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.

"We'll see," answered the farmer.

The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.

"We'll see" said the farmer.


from here.