Garden Girl

“The Austin and San Antonio areas join forces to give residents a user-friendly, one-stop commuting information site. The River Cities Rideshare program is designed to help commuters reduce automobile dependency by providing carpool and vanpool matches, biking and pedestrian information and public transportation options.”

http://www.rivercitiesrideshare.com/en-US/

Let’s talk about T. Boone Pickens, the developer of all the groovy green wind power here in Texas. Let’s talk about his big straw to drink our milkshakes.

Mr. Garden Girl set up the vermicomposter, making it all snug & ready for when our wrigglers arrive in a few days, while I made zucchini coins from the huge zukes that were part of our haul from the farmers market today. Along with a gorgeous bouquet of basil, which alone was worth the long bike ride in 100+ heat.

There are challenges to urban gardening on the cheap.
That’s an understatement.
The amazing Gayla Trail of http://www.yougrowgirl.com/ has written about those challenges in depth and I find her to be an inspiration. Like her, I too garden on land not my own & that can come with certain stresses.
Take this morning for example.
I’m happily tippy tapping away at my keyboard when I hear the park’s ground crew outside my window.
& I peek out just in time to see them “edging” my blackberry plants, which granted, have gotten leggy, as blackberries are wont to do & have strayed outside of their raised bed.
You’d think dingoes took my baby-the cry I let out.
So, Mr. Garden Girl (who was more presentable than I) went out & showed them where the boundary between the empty lot next door & our yard was.
It was an honest mistake. Fences aren’t allowed so it can be hard to tell where one plot ends & another begins. They promised it wouldn’t happen again & apologized, but it got me thinking.
About how feelings of possessiveness come so naturally when we’ve put time and energy into nurturing lives (be they people, animals or even plants).
Again & again, I remind myself that it’s not about ownership, it’s about stewardship.
It’s about creating bounty for all, where we can.
And I remind myself that part of what the Fig Tree Cottage experiment is about (through both design & necessity) is learning to find and foster beauty and sustenance in less than picture perfect urban neighborhoods (places like, say– a trailer park ), because– that’s where a lot of us will live, maybe especially in economically unsure times.
More than anything, I want to show than virtually *anyone* in *any situation* can grow some food.
It sounds simple, but to me it’s a profound idea.
An idea that plants a seed in peoples’ hearts to take more initiative and control of their lives, for themselves, for their families and for their neighbors.
Because, as Mr. Jalopy pointed out this morning, we increasingly don’t own what we think we own anyway.

Now, granted, my garden is more of a plan for a garden right now (still crossing my fingers than I can get some herbs & greens in the raised beds for Fall), but I’m in this for the long haul and I hope that by journaling here I can share what I learn about how a tight budget in less than ideal surroundings can still afford a more sustainable and fulfilling life.

Ready to eat!
Nom, nom, nom.

City of Austin - Austin Climate Protection Program

Congressman Earl Blumenauer is my kinda guy

Bicycle Friendly: Commuting with a Congressman : NPR

Since I’ve made a commitment to myself to buy second hand whenever possible, if I must buy at all, this makes me very very happy. If you don’t know about *Savers* stores for second hand wearables & small appliances, you may wish to check out their site & see if there’s a *Savers* near you:

Welcome to Savers

If you haven’t already started a tool pool in your neighborhood, there are some online sites to help you rent and share your stuff (think freecycling, but you get your stuff back ). I’m definitely putting a few things up on the loanables.com site, which has a good number of members in Austin. More info here:

Rent / borrow stuff from your neighbors and save money! - Loanables

& speaking of Austin & surrounding neighborhoods, Mr. Garden Girl and I just beat the rain when we were biking home from the Pflugerville Farmers Market this Tues., but it was well worth it to score some organic black bubble tea from the owner of the Formosa Tea House & to share a rose cupcake & a rootbeer cupcake from The Happy Vegan Baker under a tree while listening to live music.

Here’s just some of the vendors at the market:

http://www.pflugervillefarmersmarket.com/vendor_list.html

Blogged with the Flock Browser

YouTube - WSJ clip: suburban farming, an idea whose time has come

a brief & smile worthy clip from the Wall Street Journal