design project, We Compost
The SF Environment Zero Waste team had a story to tell.
What does a coffee filter have to do with wine? It might seem to be non sequitur at first glance but we did want to get your attention by inviting that question. Upon a closer look the story is revealed: Your food scraps and discarded paper become the compost that is used in the vineyards of the Bay Area, and wonderful wine is the product of that cycle.
San Francisco has some of the purest compost around and it’s because of our broad public participation rates. We created this campaign to remind everyone they can play a part in the city’s Zero Waste success story. Separate your unconsumed food and send it back to the earth to grow more food.
Here are some more variations on that theme, these designs were published in the San Francisco neighborhood newspaper, the Richmond Review.
We compost campaign, 2012
We compost campaign, 2012
forming roots in the green community as a member of the EcoTuesday Meetup group
Starting with my discovery of gardening and cooking a few years ago, hobbies which quickly have become my new passions, I began to learn more about farming and the importance of implementing sustainable practices in order to keep our environment clean and our food supply safe. As a natural consequence, my interest and curiosity expanded beyond my own back yard; now I’m passionate about learning more about environmentalism and sustainable practice as it impacts every aspect of our lives. I’m passionate about living green! And in that spirit, I’ve resolved this year to deepen my involvement in the green community and to meet others with similar passions.
That’s why I joined EcoTuesday as a member, and I look forward to becoming a regular participant in their events.
What is EcoTuesday? Put simply, it’s a monthly networking event for professionals of any field with an interest in sustainability and living green. You can find out more by following this link. I love that while everyone shares this abiding passion for the environment, the group encompasses people of all walks of life, approaching green issues from any and all angles. From chemists to venture capitalists, from marketers to construction workers (and graphic designers like me) you could meet anyone at these events, and the synergy that erupts from that is an exciting thing. When people create and build bridges, good things happen. And there are lots of good people at these events.
Tonight was no exception. It was the 5-Year anniversary party for EcoTuesday and the event was held at the Bently Reserve in the Financial District of San Francisco. And I met some cool people. Among them:
- An entrepreneur and foodie, in the process of getting investors for a business incubator. Her goal, a commercial kitchen that could be shared by any number of home cooks who want to make a business of their passion but don’t have a lot of start-up capital. It’s a dream of building an economy of scale and sharing resources so that talented people can make a start in a challenging economy with minimal risk.
- A chemist, ready to start researching ways to use chemistry to improve consumer products by finding replacements for toxins used in the manufacturing process, and finding ways to reuse waste and trash by transforming it chemically.
- The makers of Mamma Chia, an organic beverage made from the chia seed.
- Organizers of the Green Film Festival, the Bay Area’s only festival dedicated to films and new forms of media that explore green issues and sustainable living.
- My buddy T who represents Dharma, a green credit card processing company during the week and farms on the weekend, in Petaluma!
It was a great night, with a great speaker, Brian Back, of Sustainable Industries Magazine who provided great insight as to how the playing field is changing for corporations and small businesses, encouraging us to find new approaches to innovation through creative partnerships with one another. I look forward to going to more of these events, learning more about sustainability and environmentalism and above all, I look forward to making new, green friends.
gramma loved her daffodils. . .
remembering Gramma
I’m remembering Gramma Doris today. . . She loved her daffodils and she certainly would have loved these.
Daffodils.
this is the start of something, learning to farm in Petaluma
On my friend's farm in Petaluma. . .
Moving to San Francisco some 10 years ago changed my life. More to the point, it opened-up my life. I blossomed here.
My dad was a gardener by vocation, and avocation. Green was in my genes but I’d never tried gardening as a kid. . . I just didn’t know it yet. I loved to draw, though. . .
Moving to San Francisco, I discovered truly great food. Great ingredients. Now, I wanted to find out more about the source of my food. I wanted to make it myself. I became selective about the food I chose. I started going to farmers markets.
I also moved into an apartment with unused space in the lot behind. I took it over, with the blessing of the neighbors. I had the idea I’d start an ornamental garden. I taught myself to garden by digging in the dirt every day. I grew to understand the plants by watching them, season to season, year by year.
Understanding plants and developing an appreciation for food have become essential parts of my life. It’s only natural that I would want to explore the area in which they overlap and, that’s farming. Enter my dear friend T-.
We’re on a similar trajectory, T- and I. Having never had much experience either, he’s developed his passion for farming only within the past few years, and how quickly and easily he’s succumbed to it. A fellow San Francisco resident, he’s found a way to rent a plot in distant Petaluma, which he tends as often as he can get away, getting his plant-starts established in his kitchen growing station. He’s graciously invited me to help him in his grand endeavor, and now I have a new home away from home.
Stay tuned for more posts from the farm. This is the start of something. . .
Here’s a video I find inspiring. It neatly sums up the lure of the farm, and suggests why it is that so many people nowadays are going back to their roots, by learning how to grow their own food.
heirloom carrots!
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egyptian beets!
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egyptian beets!
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pumpkin!
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the Petaluma farm
loving my hens and chicks.
hens and chicks, succulents in my garden
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hens and chicks = Echeveria elegans
- succulents in the garden, “Mexican Snowball, Mexican Gem, Pearl Echeveria, White Mexican Rose”
Echeveria elegans
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The Whole Pie. on Vimeo
Enjoy. Do a little work. Eat.
This is the latest video in an ongoing series produced by the Bay Area’s Pie Ranch.
Pie Ranch is an educational farm whose mission is
to inspire and connect people to know the source of their food, and to work together to bring greater health to the food system from seed to table.
We here at MUS•e•YUM simply love them. Check out the first in the video series, previously posted on MUS•e•YUM, here.
garden redesign in progress, as of 28 feb 2011
I created a curved retaining wall from the cobblestones that I found a few weeks ago…now I’m pulling dirt from the back to the front to level out enough space to build a little bench.
new curved retaining wall, built from found cobblestones
a work in-progress! I've built a cobblestone wall, and the wine bottles are reconfigured, too.
Here’s a reminder of what the area looked like before:
- garden redesign underway, progress as of 21 January 2011
- this is the garden “BEFORE” picture, taken 15 January 2011
garden snapshot; “Happy Wander” vine is …wandering happily
the vine is 'happy wanderer' or, hardenbergia
garden snapshot, aeonium flowers start to open
Compare this to last week’s photo: link here
aeonium starts to bloom
flowers start to open on the cones of the aeonium
my gorgeous aeonium
aeonium, ready to explode!
My aeonium is going to explode into a million gazillion little yellow buds very, very soon~! Check out those cones. . .
flowering cones of the aeonium
spring has sprung in the garden, thank god for daffodils!
daffodils, opened in the first week of February no less!
Daffodils signal spring so, they’re my fav.
garden re-designing: grade flattening and rearranging wine bottle borders
bottles rearranged to create a tiered glass retaining wall
7 February 2011
Having dug into the grade and moved a lot of dirt to the front of the garden, I consolidated the old pattern of several separate rows of wine bottles into one, stepped, mass which will be a retaining wall for the back portion.
Here’s a reminder of what the area looked like before:
- garden redesign underway, progress as of 21 January 2011
- this is the garden “BEFORE” picture, taken 15 January 2011
garden score, new cobblestones and a rescue plant found discarded on the street
Nearly fell off my scooter last night when I saw these discarded cobblestones at the site of a public works project, ready to be sent downtown for grinding. (Can you imagine???) This morning of course, meant hauling them out-back to the garden. Let’s make a little retaining wall with them!
The mother of all finds. . . Cobblestones! Voila~ Let's start a new wall!
my latest "rescue" plant, a banana tree chucked and put out to the curb on my block
Found across the street on the curb, the plant was completely root-bound and sickly. When I finally managed to pry it from its container it was easy to see why the plant was sick, too- the poor thing was soaked, and sitting in stale (stinky) water. The bottom layer of roots had completely rotted so I removed those mushy parts (yeah, yuck) but the roots around the root ball looked significantly better, at least. By george I think he’s going to make it; I repotted him in a larger plant, perched upon a drainage layer of broken styrofoam pieces, and surrounded the root ball with cactus soil.
garden snapshots: happy succulents! Kalanchoe tomentosa and echeveria glauca
- the fuzzy one is a Kalanchoe (pronounced KAL-n-KOH-ee) tomentosa and the hens and chicks are Echeveria glauca
granite retaining wall and wine bottle borders: 2011 garden project underway
25 January 2011
My latest garden project involves removing several of last years wine bottle rows and digging deep into the hillside to flatten out the garden floor. The wine bottles will be replaced in a new configuration, to make more of a ‘feature’ of them. Additionally, I’ve carried lots of found, discarded granite countertop pieces to the back of the garden where they’ve become little retaining walls for new flower beds. The dirt I’m digging up at the front is going back there to fill up those beds. I’m hoping the result will be a more dramatic contrast in height in the garden, and that the materials will be highlighted in a more impactful way.
this is the garden "BEFORE" picture, taken 15 January 2011
garden redesign underway, progress as of 21 January 2011
garden thursday, Dudleya farinosa: Bluff Lettuce
Dudleya farinosa: Bluff Lettuce
I love this plant. Given to me as a gift in 2004, its my very first succulent. The original start for this little guy was given to me by my dear friend Marin, himself an avid gardener, cook and intrepid camper. In fact, while on one of his camping trips to Point Reyes, he found a bunch of dudleya on an outcropping near the beach and, since I’d expressed an interest in learning to garden, he plucked a pup from the plant, and brought it back for me. At that time I was just starting my garden by growing some poppies from seed on my terrace. He asked me if I’d considered planting succulents and I explained I didn’t even know what they were. He gave me the dudleya pup, wrapped in damp paper, and explained what I needed to do. . . just put it in the soil! I treated it gingerly, so afraid that I’d kill it, but of course . . . it grew. And quickly. And changed shape and form fantastically! My love of succulents was born. The plant has thrived since 2004, the one pictured above being one of the many offspring from its hearty parent. I always think of Martin when I see this succulent. He and this plant got me started and inspired my love for gardening and especially, for succulents. Martin has since moved back to Spain so when I see my Dudleya, I’m reminded of my dear friend.
your rock landscaping hookup in SF, Broadmoor
picking out rocks for the garden at Broadmoor Landscaping, South San Francisco
We’re in love with rocks here at MUS•e•YUM so when the guys offered to take me to Broadmoor we were positively over the moon. If hardscape turns you on like it does for us, get yourself to the South San Francisco mecca. Bins of gorgeous rock stretch as far as the eye can see! On this visit I came away with feather stone (lava), two quartz rocks and a gorgeous bowl shaped specimen, surely destined for the succulent garden out back.
In other news, we stopped at Peets along the way and saw this fabulous cat. The cat of course looked rather cross- can you imagine??
Decorated Christmas Cat at Market Street Peets, Castro
Broadmoor Landscape Supply
1350 El Camino Real
South San Francisco, CA 94080
(650) 761-1515
http://www.broadmoorlandscape.com/
Hours: Mon-Fri 7 am – 5 pm
san francisco public art, andy goldsworthy’s ‘spire’ and ‘faultline’
Great art inspires. . .
Spire, by Andy Goldsworthy, located in the Presidio, San Francisco
Last year my great friend Deena took me to a favorite spot of hers, a grove in the Presidio National Park where the forest opens to a beautiful panorama of San Francisco, right in front of you. It’s a spiritual spot, and a meditative one. It was easy to see why she brought me here. When it was decided that a monument to should be installed here, only one artist could do a place like this justice, celebrating but not changing it: Andy Goldsworthy.
So, in 2008, he built SPIRE. The amazing thing about this monumental sculpture, made of timber lashed together 90 feet high, is how effortlessly it has become part of the scene. It blends right in. This is a hallmark of Goldsworthy’s work, he incorporates natural materials from the site in which he’s working and from them he creates beautiful, fanciful and ephemeral art. Here, he took trees that would be felled (for the safety of the environment) and then used only that timber to make the sculpture. Part of the art is not only the finished state, but also the manner in which it is, in turn, reclaimed again by Nature. And will the sculpture last a minute? Two? Months? Years? That part is left to Nature, too.
Goldsworthy strives, “to make connections between what we call nature and what we call man-made.”
There is another Goldsworthy I want to tell you about, much more subtle than Spire. It’s the crack in the foundation of the de Young museum, Faultline, 2005. For this commission he created a zigzag crack in the hardscape outside the museum. The crack is a ‘path’ from the roadside to the entrance of the museum, but also serves as a subtle reminder of the seismic activity latent in the ground underneath, a characteristic of this place in the world. Unless your eyes are directed to it you might not see it but when it’s pointed out, the impact hits you immediately. Check out this great article about that piece, here.
I’ve since become a fan of his. I was so inspired after having seen Spire I created a mini-version in my backyard garden. For mine I reclaimed dead bamboo shoots from my friend’s garden, and the Hancock Spire was born!
my Spire, built in my back yard from reclaimed bamboo shoots
Not willing to stop here, I wanted to try another one. I had my opportunity when my neighbor knocked down their retaining wall and threw away the cobblestones. Thus, I gained ‘site-native’ materials for another project, and I built a zigzag ‘Faultline’ of my own by setting the stones directly into the ground, and emanating from my Spire!
my Faultline, a zigzag sculpture made from cobblestones in my back yard
My exploration of the public art in Hayes Valley, Ecstasy in Patricia’s Green, (link to post here) reminds me of the monumental and inspiring Spire. While the scale of both projects certainly inspires awe, simply by virtue of their height which forces the eye skyward, they also are partnered in my mind because of the artistic process behind them. While they differ in the sourcing of the materials, Ecstasy made from man-made objects while Spire is made from felled trees, both make from found materials sing. These monuments speak to how repurposing an everday object, even a discarded one, can imbue the art with an added significance and intrinsic beauty.
ENORMOUS inflorescence spotted, in the Castro!
OH MY- but that’s a big one. . . MAGNIFICENT!
an inflorescence is a flower stalk, this one growing upward from an agave plant
garden snapshot, succulents of course
garden snapshot, succulents
some aeonium, senecio, crassula falcata. . .
