Please vote!

I am reaching out to anyone who is reading my blog these days. A restaurant in LA called Forage started a program a while back to have urban farmers give their harvest to the restaurant in exchange for a meal. The program was shutdown and now they are starting a group called The Homegrowers Circle. With the help of a grant, they are subsidizing the nominal certification fee so that those involved can grow and legally sell their product to this restaurant and others in LA. Along with this opportunity they are asking the circle to blog about their experiences growing and getting certified.

But before we can join this great group we need your help. I wrote a small blurb about us and now need your vote to be chosen. Click here and scroll down to vote for Malika + Donny.

Thanks!

Our rooftop garden is now an idea of the past. Once all of these tomatoes are harvested we will no longer farm on the roof. Landlord interference.

We had a total of 6 tomato plants + 2 volunteers on the roof this summer.

All photos courtesy of D.

Taking stock of our Local Urban Garden

Last weekend Donny and I spent a good chunk of Saturday & Sunday planting more and cleaning up our garden.  We are preparing for a light spring harvest and a plentiful summer feast!  See down below for a taste of whats to come AND here is what we have growing:  

FRONT GARDEN

BLUE BERRY BUSH Ω

DILL *

LEMON TREE Ω²

MINT ^

(9) WHITE ONIONS °

(2) PARSLEY PLANTS

(2) ROYESTA TOMATO PLANTS **

(2) SAN FRANCISCO TOMATO PLANTS ** 

(tomatoes & onions in raised bed / everything else planted right into the ground)

ROOFTOP GARDEN

(2) ASPARAGUS PLANTS ^ 

(2) SPICY BASIL / SWEET BASIL Ω 

(8) BEETS *

BUNCHING ONIONS Ω

(4) WHITE ONIONS ° 

(2) PEPPERONCINI PLANTS *

(2) SALSA HYBRID PEPPER PLANTS *

(2) ROSEMARY * 

(2) CELEBRITY TOMATO PLANTS ***

CHERRY GRANDE TOMATO PLANT ***

(2) ROMA TOMATO PLANTS ***

SPRITE TOMATO PLANT ***

(2) "VOLUNTEER" TOMATO PLANTS ▲

(containers only)

KEY: 

 ° from bulb

* from seed

** indeterminate / from seed

*** determinate / from seed

² transplanted from last apartment

^ continuing to grow from last summer

Ω started as seedling from nursery / farmer's market

▲aka "the others" / unknown plants that sprouted in other pots

Beets soon to be harvested.

Local Voting

Yesterday was Election Day for many of you, including those in Los Angeles.  The two hot topics on the table were the race for Mayor and Measure B (Solar Energy).  Here are some numbers comparing registered voters to actual turnout.  It's pretty depressing considering the people who came out in November.

                 Registered Ballots Cast % Reporting

City of Los Angeles 1,596,165  239,374     0.15

On a better note, a few weeks ago Venice had a local vote through the Venice Neighborhood Council.  The subject of said vote was on Overnight Parking Districts.  Although the outcome was not what I wanted, an overwhelming 1506 people came out.  (See picture below I took of Venice democracy at work.) This surpasses the 1189 voters who came out in 2005 for a different issue. Donny and I personally stood in line for over an hour at the Venice library just to cast our vote. Now it has come to some attention that the ballot counting process may have been flawed and could turn into a re-vote.  We will wait and see.

 

And one last note, even though it's not about my local community.  My good friend Katie Wilson won her race in Vermont as Brattleboro Town Rep for District 2.  Congrats!