Poem segment

Yesterday I posted a short bit of poetry from Wendell Berry on the facebook page and it was received well so I thought I would try again with a longer segment here on the blog. These are the last three stanzas of Mary Oliver's "The Ponds" from the collection "Houses of Light"

Still, what I want in my life

is to be willing

to be dazzled-

to cast aside the weight of facts

and maybe even

to float a little

above this difficult world.

I want to believe I am looking

into the white fire of a great mystery.

I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing-

that the light is everything-that it is more than the sum

of each flawed blossom rising and fading. And I do.

Mary Oliver is the winner of the 1984 Pulitzer prize for poetry, and one of my favorites.

-Michael

Final results!

As promised, here are the finished garden at the LA Center. The previous post can fill you in on all the details. Enjoy!

A post from the director.

Deepening Roots has started a small garden at the new Art of Living
Center in Los Angeles!!

In three short days we turned a space with weeds three feet tall into
a beautiful garden. Incorporating a fig tree already on site and
planting tomatoes, cucumbers, dill, basil, artichokes, cabbage, swiss
chard, marigolds, natursium, peppers.... we used cocoa shells as
mulch and are waiting for the wood chipper to make the paths.

So many people came out to lend a hand even if it was only for an
hour. It was a true testament of how gardens have the power to bring
people together. We had so much fun and hope to expand on our design in the coming months!

-Andrew

Pictures from the LA center Garden.

Deepening Roots in LA, and a cool article.

Andrew, hard at work?

The Art of Living Foundation is opening a wonderful center in Los Angles. The grand opening is coming up fast, and who do you think was asked to help plant an edible garden? Why, Andrew Korza, director of Deepening Roots. The plot is small, but the work done is beautiful. I will post some photos soon.

Also, somebody shared this link with me. Basically its an old mall that is being turned into an Eco-Village and will grow and sell produce year round. It will also have retail space for environmentally conscious vendors. It is always wonderful to see already built structures being transformed into something positive.

-Michael

Sunflower update

So here is the highly anticipated update on the sunflower sprouts.

Day 2: the roots start to squirm out and find the soil

Day four: Turning green, growing up!

Day seven: many are 2-3 inches tall, the biggest ones pop off the seed casing. Time to eat!

Now you do it! If you have any questions, you can always ask deepeningroots@gmail.com

-Michael

A tale of two seasons

Before I give another update on the sprouts (and they are growing, despite the fact the sun has not come out here in 3 days) Id like to share a couple of photos from the Children's Garden. One was taken in early August, the other in January. Just thought it was a nice contrast. Check out our facebook page for another set of winter/summer pictures.

Thought this would be especially cool for the participants that designed/built and planted the garden.

A taste of what you will learn when you take our two day workshop. (Notice I said 'when' its inevitable, might as well just go now).

Soak 8 oz of sunflower seed per seed tray for 24 hours. Lay into seed tray containing basic potting soil medium and keep moist and covered for a couple of days. Roots will develop and grow into soil. Begin to harvest once sprouts reach dicot (two leaf) stage. A white and fuzzy mold is often visible at the soil surface, don’t worry, you can still eat what you cut. Cut stem towards base, rinse and enjoy in salads and smoothies. A spritzer spray bottle is useful for watering microgreens to avoid flooding the tray. Two good options for micro greens are buckwheat and sunflower seeds.

Here are some photos of my progress thus far!

First Workshop of 2010!

Excited to announce that our first workshop of 2010 will be happening the first weekend in April in the bay area. The poster below has all the details. This course, which focuses on the sustainable agriculture and health elements of the Deepening Roots curriculum will be co taught by Andrew Jones and Andrew Korza. These are two Andrews you don't want to miss.

You can click anywhere on the flyer to see it larger, but in case that does not work, here are the details.

Dates/Time. April 3rd and 4th 10AM-3PM Both days

Location 5844 Chabot Court, Oakland CA 94618

Contact: Ganesh at Gnagaraj@Berkeley.edu or 510 325 6004

Happy belated birthday Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss)

This week the beloved children's author turned would have been 106. While some parts of his life are controversial, and some of his books simply silly (but great of course) he did have some amazing things to say, and phrased them so simply that a five year old can get the idea, now that is a skill. Anywho, here are two of my favorites in the category of 'social issues'

From Horton Hears a Who:

And that Yopp…
That one small, extra Yopp put it over!
Finally, at last! From that speck on that clover
Their voices were heard! They rang out clear and clean.
And the elephant smiled. “Do you see what I mean?…
They’ve proved they ARE persons, no matter how small.
And their whole world was saved by the smallest of All!”

From the Lorax:

[reacting to the Once-ler making a "thneed" from a tree he cut down]
The Lorax: I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues. And I'm asking you sir, at the top of my lungs - that thing! That horrible thing that I see! What's that thing you've made out of my truffula tree?
The Once-ler: Look, Lorax, calm down. There's no cause for alarm. I chopped just one tree, I'm doing no harm. This thing is most useful! This thing is a "thneed." A theed, a fine something-that-all-people-need! It's a shirt. It's a sock. It's a glove! It's a hat! But it has other uses, yes, far beyond that. You can use it for carpets, for pillows, for sheets, for curtains! Or covers for bicycle seats!
The Lorax: Sir, you're crazy. You're crazy with greed. There's no one on earth who will buy that fool thneed!
[a man drives by, buys the thneed and pays the Once-ler]
The Once-ler: The birth of an industry, you poor, stupid guy! You telling me what the public will buy?

I also posted these on facebook and encourage you all to add some of your favorites.

Warming Up

So here we are, March 2nd a beautiful day in the Boston area. Although I am still mentally prepared for another storm I must say today was beautiful. The mud brings my thoughts to the garden, and the garden brings my thoughts to another (my fourth!) Deepening Roots summer. I must say, it is not a bad thing to day dream about.

Andrew has returned from Dubai, and is now in LA where he is again teaching and setting up deepening roots two day workshops. There is a good possibility that he will be helping to create a school garden at his school. Deepening Roots in high schools? Yes please.

-Michael

PS, just to show you what I day dream about, here us at a not so serious moment posing for an "english garden" shot.