Welcome to the new home of Anarchy in the Garden – Loud, punk rock fueled, always DIY gardening and home economics hub for the domestic demolitionist. I’ve eliminated the fluff and added more categories. Check em’ out!
Grow – You won’t find begonia growing tips here but you will find info on how to successfully grow your own food in the city. I garden in the only state that matters, California; more specifically Long Beach, CA. That’s USDA zone 10b and Sunset zone 22 for you academic types.
Home Ec – Working 9 to 5 can blow and dinner doesn’t have to be a Del Taco burrito. I’ll share recipes, always vegan or vegetarian, using seasonal homegrown produce. You’ll also find a healthy dose of cleaning tips, craft projects, and much more!
Style – I love Target as much as anyone but dressing head to toe in Merona is not cute. Go ahead, hold down that corporate gig and rock it pretty. I’ll let you in on unique and affordable fashion finds.
Pets – They’re the next best thing to kids! From doggie wear to homemade treats or just gratuitous pictures of my mutts. You’ll find everything pet related here.
Holidays – Handmade Valentine’s Day cards, Mother’s Day bouquets made from locally grown flowers, let’s celebrate! Homemade style.
Community – From volunteer opportunities and gardening workshops to Social Distortion tour dates. An event calendar filled with fun things to do around town.
Lastly, I promise to cut out the suck (aka self-promotion), share more useful information and always keep it punk.
Speaking of Social Distortion, check out their first-ever TV appearance on Jimmy Kimmel. They’ll be performing in So. CA this month!
Check it out. I’m diversifying. I’m not only a horticulturist but I am trying my hand at floral design. There is a lot of practicing in my future.
According to the American Institute of Floral Designers Armature is a decorative and supportive framework for floral composition. Armature is typically created using natural materials such as branches but can be made with non-natural materials like wire.
I hurriedly designed this bouquet while dodging elbows in a crowded classroom. You can recreate it in the comforts of your home using the following flowers:
Then – Twist curly willow into a circular design and create a grid. Tie off with floral wire where needed and insert flowers. Easy peezy! Not; but super fun to attempt and it reminds me of Halloween.
The Long Beach City CollegeHorticultureClub Open House & Plant Sale is over! Thank you to everyone that purchased plants. Your patronage helps fund a much needed program. All others, you missed out.
L to R: Steve Hofvendahl of TreePeople, LBCC Horticulture Instructor Jorge Ochoa, former LBCC Horticulture instructor (30 years) Paul Navlan.
I’m holed up this week writing, job hunting, writing, reading, writing, drinking too much coffee and watching Joan Jett videos. In the meantime enjoy a give-a-away!
What you do – Go HEREand choose a vegan cookbook you’d like to win. These aren’t obscure titles either. I’m talking Vegan with a Vengeance, Veganomicon, which I don’t even have, and many others.
The important part – Comment here, on this blog post, with your choice of book and in a week I’ll pick a winner at random. Easy? I thought so.
I own six vegan cookbooks. Two are from celebrated authors Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero and three books on vegan baking alone. Contrary to what I believe you can’t live off of evaporated cane sugar alone. If you’re on the fringe of veganism or curious about what we “weirdos” eat, and it’s not just tofu, this is the perfect opportunity to explore the many benefits of a plant based diet.
Thank you to the good folks at Snubbr for offering such a rad contest and allowing me to further procrastinate on posting an original blog post of my own.
Snubbr is a team of super hero experts ready to suggest products you’ll love from gadgets to gift ideas. Uhem, Mother’s day. They’re self described as, Yahoo Answers for shopping advice. Skip the hours of reading reviews, just ask a Snubbr expert, and they’ll recommend the best product based on their research. For more visit snubbr.com.
To commemorate my one year anniversary of unemployment I just want to remind my future employer of what you’re getting.
Brains and a bad attitude – My version of Joan Jett circa 2006.
Lately it’s the simple things that stoke me out and my New West KnifeWorksChef 8 knife is really doing it for me. Until now, I’ve never owned any fancy cutlery. Instead I own a whole block of knives. The obligatory set purchased when you move into your first apartment; scissors included.
My block o’knives do serious damage on my homegrown tomatoes. Chiffonade? Forget about it. A more adult blade was needed. Enter New West KnifeWorksChef 8. It’s not just any shiv. It’s functional and chic; a work of art.
Description from website: These knives were designed for the professional chef. For that reason, we selected a special high-carbon stainless Japanese steel for their construction. The steel has 70% more carbon than a German Wusthof Trident. This blade will take on the finest, sharpest edge of any chef knife you have ever owned. Your best cooking deserves the best chef knife.
Sold! I quickly ordered one with a “Mountain Iris” colored handle. There are 10 handle colors to choose from and it retails for $149.00. It’s first task, slicing and dicing tomatoes, like butter. More:
If you’re in the market for a rad new knife I highly recommend a New West KnifeWorks knife.
Recently H and I witnessed very peculiar behavior while standing next to a strawberry jar. A very brash Rocky was sniffing out three lowly ripe strawberries I was babying. He picked off one strawberry at a time and retired to his weed patch for a little afternoon snack.
Rocky’s love for this healthy snack inspired me to redo a strawberry jar just for him. I set off to Armstrong and armed myself with armfuls of strawberry plants. The person ringing up my purchase shot me a look of disgust when I told him the strawberries were for my dog. He can suck it. On to the pictorial!
Song: All Systems Go from the album ‘You Were Never My Age’ performed by Stepmothers courtesy of Posh Boy Records (c) & (p) 1981
Materials:
*One clean strawberry jar (Mine has 9 pockets and the top measures 9″ in diameter)
*3 PVC pipes, 1″ to 1 ½” in diameter (Depends on the opening of the pot)
*Drill and ¼” drill bit
*Strawberry plants (I used 11 strawberry plants)
*Soil
Directions: 1. Measure the top of your strawberry jar to determine how many PVC pipes will fit. If the diameter measures between 7″ to 9″ you can fit three PVC pipes.
2. Measure depth of jar to determine length of PVC pipes. Cut about an inch under. You don’t want the pipe sticking out of the jar.
3. Drill ¼” holes along the length of the pipe. This will allow water to seep to the strawberries planted at the lower part of the jar.
4. Plug one end of the pipe to hold the water.
5. Position PVC pipes and start filling jar with soil.
6. Pause at the edge of each pocket and carefully shove in plants. I shove them from the inside out. It works for me.
7. Keep the soil and plants coming! Be careful not to get soil in the pipes. I usually cover them with my hands while H fills the jar with soil.
8. Plant the top of the jar. I comfortably fit three strawberry plants.
9. Fill the pipes with water and splash some on top y voila!
Why Do I Plant This Way? Thanks for asking. Ever planted in a strawberry jar only to have whatever you planted die a dehydrated death? Yeah me too. The PVC pipes allow me to water the plants at the bottom more efficiently. Watering the pockets individually sucks and is near impossible.
