Suport LA's Local Breweries: Yes Beer is Agriculture!!!!!

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to have gone on a FREE, yes FREE docent led walk through the murals of LA's Art District. This was sponsored by the Craft and Folk Art Museum and led by the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles.  If you ever get the chance to go on one of these tours---do it!

Here's a couple of photos of some murals I saw on Saturday:

While I was on the tour I noticed so many new and fun places to eat and drink in the Arts District, including my favorite brewery Angel City Brewery, while it might not be new, it was new to me to see the building they have settled in on Alameda and 2nd, and they had a tour starting so I took the tour and sampled a couple of brews I hadn't tried.

Here's Angel City's own little mural:

And, the address/front of the building is 216 S. Alameda

Beer!

Now, you might be thinking, it sounds like you had a great day, lots of fun but what does your outing have to do with agriculture? Well, beer is made from barley and hops and craft beer making is not just a new/old home hobby coming back, but craft breweries throughout LA have popped up and they were one of the oldest farm related businesses in Los Angeles.

So, I wrote my Care2 post this week about local "craft" breweries. Like local produce, local breweries provide the community with many beneifts, read it here.

And, watch this blog for a future post about how Angel City Brewery has come full circle, ending up in the Arts District, near where LA's original breweries were and Wine Country was along the Los Angeles River.

Seed Library of LA Meeting This Saturday

Join the Seed Library of Los Angeles (SLOLA) on Saturday, February 16th, from 2:30-4:00 pm for their monthly meeting, presentation and library hours.

This month, SLOLA Chair David King presents "Sex in the City: Lessons from Urban Pollination"

Description from their site: "All the published work on seed saving supposes we are saving seeds out in the country side with miles and miles of horizon. This is not exactly what we deal with and therefore their conclusions are not necessarily applicable to our work. From practical experience, David King will explain how most modern research on plant pollination deviates from our reality and how we can use this data, adapting it to our specific situation to save seed without making ourselves crazy."

All SLOLA meetings are free and open anyone. HOWEVER, a lifetime membership costs only $10 and you can check out heirloom and non-GMO seeds from the library with your membership.

They just received a huge donation from Baker Creek this December.

Meetings are held at: The Learning Garden at Venice High School (13000 Venice Blvd, enter on Walgrove).

If you aren't sure what a seed library is, read a bit about them and also about seed swapping in my Healthy and Green Living posts on Care2.

Join LA Farm Girl at Foodprint LA Today!

Foodprint LA is the "fourth in a series of international conversations about food and the city."

I am very humbled and excited (but nervous) to have been asked to be a panelist at today's event. I will be part of the panel "Edible Archaeology"  (3:00 to 3:55 p.m.) How has today’s food culture in Los Angeles been shaped by social changes, economic fluctuations, and technological innovations throughout the city’s history?"

There are several other great panels discussing the issue of food from all different perspectives including zoning and planning issues, mapping issues, and the last one of the day about food opportunities and challenges.

Date: Sunday, December 9
Time: 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Location: LACMA‘s Brown Auditorium (5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90036)
Free and open to the public; seating is limited

It is Pumpkin Time: Visit A Real Farm

I have been wanting to post on this blog for a long time and between starting up the Torrance Memorial Learning Garden, finishing a book, and my "regular' writing gigs, I seem to just run out of time.

So, I decided to revamp a post from several years ago because it is pumpkin patch time and my favorite time of the year.

While I am so sad to face this first fall season without my favorite local farm, the awesome Tom T. Ishibashi Farm, I am happy to be able to write about another of my favorite farms,  a great family farm where you can pick-your-own pumpkin and support a great local LA farmer.

Yep, a "real" LA farmer, imagine that! Forneris Farms, is one of only two "traditional" farms left in the San Fernando Valley---John Forneris has been farming in Mission Hills for the past 43 years!

Not only can you pick-your-own pumpkin, but now during Harvest Festival time there's great activities for the whole family including a corn maze, a tractor-pulled train ride, a "farm frolic" area with kid's games, farm animals, antique tractors and cars, and on weekends there's food and entertainment. And, of course their farm market is always open and features farm fresh produce year-round.

They are also now on Twitter, http://twitter.com/fornerisfarms so follow them!

Let's show John and Barbara that we support them and appreciate that they are here providing us with locally, grown, farm fresh produce and a great on-farm experience for the whole family!

The Gift of a Learning Garden

Our garden is thriving in this heat!

For those who have actually kept visiting this blog, you might have wondered where I have been. I haven't written anything here in over a month. There are several reasons for this. Not only am I still working on a book, I have also embarked on a hands-on project that has taken up a great deal of time.

I have had the privilege of creating a mini, urban farm for my local hospital at a local community garden plot. That has meant that I have not only been planting, maintaining, watering, harvesting this "farm," but have been leading classes and work days for our participants.


This is literally a learning garden for all involved, especially me. While I have been teaching classes in various conference rooms at the hospital, to finally be working in the ground and at a garden has meant that I need to change everything. And, while it involves more work, it has been so much fun!

So, instead of writing about "bigger" issues or the latest in LA urban farming, I am going to post a few photos both from and of our garden. I hope to get back to blogging soon!

Perfect eggplant 

 

 

 

 

 

Cosmos attracting our beneficial pests

Our harvest from September 10

Share Your Summer Bounty

The time has been going so fast that I have been so negligent of this blog. So, once again, here's the column I wrote this week for Care2.com Healthy Living.

It is about sharing your excess produce with those in need. I was shocked to find over 20 food pantries within 15 miles of my own zip code. As I wrote in the column, Ample Harvest can help you find where to donate, and give you tips on what and how to donate.

From my garden: Sun Sugar and Early Girl tomatoes, kale, leaf lettuces and green beans

Go Visit A Farm!

Those who actually read this blog, have probably noticed that my posts get less and less frequent. I am working on trying to change that so that I can keep you all up-to-date on what's going on in the LA farm community.

But, for now, I will just direct you to a post I did for my Care2 Healthy Living page. Since it is summer, a great way to relax and have fun, and to support our small farmers is by visiting a farm or farm trails. And, since we live in California, we have plenty to choose from, nearly 30 of them from San Diego all the way north to Gold Country.

Although I included the link in the post, here it is again for my CA peeps. You can find a farm trail, an individual farm, and other agri-tourism sites at UC Davis’ California Agricultural Tourism Database.

Get out and support our small farmers! If you aren't going away, why not visit one of my local favorites,  Forneris Farms in the San Fernando Valley. Their farm stand is now open and they have sweet corn and tomatoes and plenty of other farm fresh produce.

photo courtesy Forneris Farms