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Showing posts from June, 2009

On tour: Kitchen garden in the side yard

This side yard kitchen garden was part of an entire yard-garden on Pomona Avenue in Albany, California featured on this year's Bringing Back the Natives garden tour. A clever re-use of a former driveway. My tour mate commented on the flexible design of the kitchen garden. It can be removed easily if the current owner or future owner would like to use the space for parking. Also, the raised beds provide easy access for garden duties and eliminate worries about soil contamination. Other interesting elements of the Pomona yard-garden are the three redbuds with an understory of wildflowers in the sidewalk planting strip and the Fremontia ( Fremontodendron californicum ) in the backyard. Also in the backyard were two species of dogwood I had not seen before: blackfruit and creek dogwoods. Blackfruit dogwood ( Cornus sessilis ) Creek dogwood ( C. sericea )

Utility functions in Berkeley

We are moving. One of the pre-move tasks is to cancel our utility services: broadband cable, water, gas and electricity. In the course of doing so, I remembered a post at Pruned about the utility landscape of Chicago . Pruned editor Alexander Trevi challenged me to write a similar entry about Berkeley. Here goes. The gross stuff first. My wastewater (sewage too?) gets treated in Oakland. The East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) treats the wastewater of its East Bay customers at its Oakland plant which is located near the Bay Bridge. My drinking water (this water is also used for non-drinking purposes) is supplied by EBMUD. The utility's " water supply system begins at the Mokelumne River watershed and extends 90 miles to the East Bay." I drink the water straight from the tap. Fire stations, downtown, and the University of California receive water from a local reservoir, the Berryman Reservoir on Euclid Avenue. The university's first drinking water s

Nature-made: Garden for the Birds - Mission Greenbelt

Like Ivy Narrow Bird Preserve and CHIA , I participated in the making of the greenbelt garden at the Sangati Center in the Mission neighborhood of San Francisco. The garden is called Garden for the Birds. The Sangati Center greenbelt garden is located at 22nd and Mission. There's a second greenbelt garden at the Mission Playground Pool at 19th and Linda. A friend and I volunteered on the second work day of three: to break up the existing clay soil, remove debris, and mix in new soil. The days and the Mission Greenbelt Garden project were organized by Amber Hasselbring of art-eco.org. What's the mission of Mission Greenbelt Gardens? To provide habitat for local wildlife. Additional goals include "enliven public space" and to capture rainfall and stormwater runoff. Since I only volunteered one day and not on the day of planting, I have not seen the planted garden. However, I was able to photograph some of the plants scheduled to be planted. Amber

Foraging: Tree strawberry and dandelion wines

I'm a forager. In the summer, I can eat my daily serving of fruit by walking Berkeley's streets. I've exchanged my garden herbs for fruit via Forage Oakland . In my neighborhood, the fruits of the strawberry trees ( Arbutus unedo ) are ripening. Verifying the edible nature of the fruit, I discovered a blog entry at Algarve Buzz about Aguardente de Medronho , a Portuguese wine made from the fruit. Another common urban plant is the dandelion. I have yet to forage the dandelion because of its growing sites -- sidewalk planting strips where dogs often urinate. Did you know that wine can be brewed from dandelion?! Felicity at Thrifty Living writes about the process here . Note: This entry has been cross-posted.

Book sale/ give-away, part 1

Update, June 21, 2009: There will not be a series of posts about the Book Sale/ Give-Away. We hope to have a garage sale next weekend. The books listed below and more will be free-cycled. on sale. Need to expand your library? Help me to contract mine! Peruse the list of books below and leave a comment with the book title(s) you are interested in picking up from my place in Berkeley. Brown Decades, Lewis Mumford Larding the Lean Earth, Steven Stoll The Conquest of Bread, Richard A. Walker The Citizen's Guide to Planning, Smith Elements of Physical Hydrology, Hornberger & Others Saturday, Ian McGregor Two Towns in Provence, M.F.K. Fisher The Bird Watcher's Guide The Dignity of Working Men, Lamont Making Marriage Work for Dummies Elements of Design, Anderson Planting Noah's Garden, Sara Stein

Green wall, West 11th Street

New York, NY -- West 11th Street between University Place and Fifth Avenue. Photo du jour courtesy of Andrea Hopkins at grapefruite.

Event: Localize! Environmental Activism at the Grassroots

I will be attending Localize! Environmental Activism at the Grassroots at the Berkeley Art Museum this Sunday, June 7th. Join me and support local environmental action . Images courtesy of Linda Khamoushian, Education Assistant Workstudy, UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Oakland's Lake Merritt

Lake Merritt, Oakland, California, between 1898 and 1905, Detroit Publishing Co., Library of Congress collection

Street tree canopy: Broadway at Grand Avenue

Interim- Tree Walk entry. Oakland, Calif. -- London planetrees line both sides of Broadway (and the median, too) between Grand and Telegraph in downtown Oakland. The planetree most frequently planted in Oakland is Plantanus x acerifolia 'Yarwood'.