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Falling
It is early my old friend, to be falling,
Your life is coming to an end.
With this one last adventure
As you let go your grip
As you say goodbye to your commrades
Releasing the ground you fell from.
Brown and brittle now, you brought life
In your time there.
Created it from the glare of that star above
Shaded the flying choir and the furry scavengers
Kept me cool beneath the limb you called home.
You flutter and glide, free to the breeze
Hesitating on your journey down, changing course
Discovering your final resting place from above
Where all will not be lost
For you have one last miracle
One final gift of life to give.
Soon your form will dissappear
Your color will darken
And you will return
to the place which gave you life
So once more a life can be given.
words were once thoughts
These thoughts must turn into words
No longer trapped, spinning out of control
‘What if that metallic bird fell from the sky?’
or ‘that manufactured boat on wheels swerves
into 45 people’,
Dead
Bloody
On the hot concrete.
If I could do nothing, I could help in no way
That time was wasted
Thinking of these disasters
Thinking of you
Lying there nestled in these soft blades
On top of the soil which feeds them
Which feeds us.
Knowing nothing for certain
Of what your mind flees or your heart desires
I cannot assume it is me
I cannot believe it is everything.
Not knowing is indeed a struggle
But in time understanding will arise
When the thoughts finally turn into words
On paper or in the breeze
Becoming conversation, shared between lovers
No longer hovering, suspended in fluids
Clogging our journey towards truth.
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Well, it is true, it is summer. But it is only since those wonderful round, vuluptuous, juicy and little blue fruits came around that i realized summer has arrived!
40 pounds of berries...yeah thats right!
There truly ain’t nothin like loadin in a truck with 3 incredible friends and venturing into thunknown and surprisingly beuatiful country of south jersey to pick blueberries. I had a goal of 20 pounds but i only made it to 15! Which honestly is pretty damn impressive for an hour of picking! BLUEBERRIES RULE!!!!!!
Okay so Its been a while since i wrote a blog post. Personally, that makes feel a bit more sane in this world which seems to be obsessed i with the internet. Well since my last little attempt at bringing the outside world up to date with my whereabouts, thoughts and artistic expression a lot has happened! I started working at Greensgrow Farms which has been quite the trip that I won’t get into for many reasons but also i won’t bore you with the dumb B-S that goes along with most jobs… But regardless its a pretty sweet gig, I get to be an urban farmers (for real, No Joke) and get to play in the dirt all day long…what more could I ask for. Plus i even get to pick greens at least twice a week. I know my life time goal is to pick greens every minute of every day for all eternity but you know we can’t always get what we wish for!
So anyways, in addition to the new job, Emerald Street Urban Farm Project has been going UNBELIEVABLY WELL!
Check ou the blog… www.emeraldstreeturbanfarm.wordpress.com !
I’ll leave it at that..here are sopme more pictures!
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Well New Year’s Eve not only broughta new year but new friends and connections. I met a guy named Stan and his partner David at a big party around teh corner from my house. It was an older corwd but i was really stoked to meet people there and do some networking. Stan and David have been maintaining the lots across the street from our house for the past 2 summers. They have made it into a beautiful park and done a bang up job. I went and helped them last weekend and we talked a lot about future plans and past experiences…we shared some good stories and Stan ended up offering me work wiith him helping him with the house he bought and is currently rehabing. I’ve been doing some demolition work, sanding old wooden fixtures and recently been hanging a shitload of drywall on the ceilings. I’ve been learning a lot and I’m really stoked to have a job wit hsome cash flow. Plus he is a good guy and hopefully a friend and ally for years to come.
Aside from the work and the park he is really into what Elissa and I want to do. We decided to work on the lots next to our house, the ones that have the van and all the overgrown weeds, this past saturday. So we all went out there and my friend Corrie came over and we kicked major ass. David and his friend Anthony moved the van…number 1 on our list can now be checked off!!!
Here are the first pictures from the soon to be Emerald Street Farm(or maybe something differet we haven’t decided yet on the name)
Before:
After:
Here is Corrie kickin ass
We found our first heroine Needle and had a small celebration…YAY!!! oh man we then found 4 more consecutively!
So in oregon the way we got rid of weeds was burning them…here in East Kensington Philadelphia we thought we’d do the same thing!!!
But then the fire department came and ruined all our fun!!!
The end result was pretty inspiring and exciting! THIS FARM IS GONNA HAPPEN!!!!
It may not look beautiful yet but it is a blank canvas that we are going to turn into the paradise of lush green polants and tons of food to satisfy many hungry tummies!!
Next task at hand…talk to neighbors and get petition signed so we can go to our city council woman and get permission to do what we want, Flyer for vollunteers, have a community meeting talking about what we plan on doing, giving donations and our possible informal very inexpensive CSA to cover initial costs like seeds and tools…
Its a lot of work but if all this happened in one day with 5 of us…think about what can happen in two months with that many or more!!!!!!!
Filed under: LIFE
Well its been a week and a half since i have been here in this city. Things have definitely changed. A LOT! New faces all over the place, old hang outs gone, new buildings up and running and favorite people missing. But, the good thing is it seems like all my friends that still remain are very much the way I remember them…amazing!
People are into this ya’ll. I think i met more people in the past week involved with urban Agriculture than ever before…and all of them right here in this city. So, if you don’t know the situation here it is.
My friend Elissa just recently bought a house on Emerald St, in East Kensington Philadelphia. The house is incredible and she invited me to move in. So I am currently writing this on my brand new bedroom floor (no bed yet, anyone have any leads?) and its lovely. My windows face east. The morning sun bursts into my room like a bolt of lightning and it does this because of an awesome thing called vacant land! Directly across the street from our house is 6 empty, vacant lots that are just screaming to be cleaned, worked and grown on. We are hoping to start clearing the weeds and cleaning up all the garbage next week.
So How to start and Urban Farm isn’t an easy question.
Elissa and I had our first meeting which we like to call “FREAK OUT SESSION”!
First of course we thought of names…i know thats not priority but we had to start with something fun! (By the way…Elissa is all about fun…Its great to be around someone so positive and lively!…although…she wants to put up a badmitton court in our backyard…I’m not into it right now but we shall see?!)
So we have many names but we like Farmadelphia…except that we can’t really be one farm with that that name so then we decided to each take 10 minutes without the other around and just write what we envision our farm and organization to be. She asked me not to post her’s ( i know lame) but here is mine!!
“Patrick envisions A world, a city, a space where everyone of all races, creeds and ages shares in the Beautiful realities of life. A place where people can feel the connection between themselves and the food that nourishes them, the roof that shields them, the water that hydrates them and the people they share this planet with. I want to grow and provide food for the people around me, teach those people how to ultimately grow their own food and eventually join together and share in the bounty that we create and provide everyone with the opportunity to take or buy the food from us and return all profits to that same community. I envision offering free classes, workshops, community events and gatherings where we can join together in our diversity.
I dream of a city that sustains itself solely off the land that neighbors our homes, that is neglected and abandoned. I want to see these spaces transformed from vacant and ghostly rectangular nothingness into vibrant, green, positive and nutritive gardens, which produce the food that allows us to keep our bodies functioning and provides a safe, peaceful and enlivening environment to any and all who is open to the world that is at our fingertips. I believe that educating people from the elderly to children and exposing them to the wonderful alchemy of growing something and the beauty of the natural world will have a major impact not only on the individual but on the community, our culture, our society and ultimately our country.
I envision a local economy that thrives and sustains the greater community, contributes and works with the communities that surround it and ultimately is connected to the greater national and international community through our own culture, techniques, traditions and goods.
I believe that this vision starts with our backyards and our neighbors. It will gain movement through our attitudes, communication and honesty. And it will gain strength through the nourishment we give ourselves and the connection we have with the ground we stand on and the people we co-exist with.”
YEAH I KNOW….I’m an idealist…but c’mon…all you really need is some faith and some dedication and it doesn’t seem so hard to achieve, right?
So next we wrote down all the things we will absolutely positively need before we can even start this process. that list looks like this:
What do we need to have by spring?
GET RID OF THE VAN (Some random old VW van is parked in our lots)
Land
Soil
Water
Hands
Money
Tools
Wood
Seeds
So that doesn’t sem too daunting right…escept once its broken down on how to get it all its a bit much. So we have the land but we need to have some sort of ligitimate and maybe even legal access or ownership of it. I will post pictures of the land very soon!!!
Next we need to take a soil test and test for any heavy metals, toxins and minerals. As some of you may know urban environments are riddled with lead because of the use of lead paint on exteriors of houses, especially vacant lots where houses used to stand. WE DON”T want to eat lead…or we will go insane…seriously! Also, arsenic, cadmium and some other crazy metal is found often in vacant urban lands. We also need to check for chlorine and other chemicals and toxins in the soil. Apparently Penn state does a very cheap if not free soil test. We plan on gettin the hook up through Elissa’s work…but keep that on the Down Low…shit I just published it on the internet! So once we get the tests back two things could happen. If we have tons of bad stuff in our soil will either have to build very tall rasied beds to plant in or bioremediate the soil. Bio remediation is the act of using plants, like sunflowers, brassicas and others to pull heavy metals and toxins out of the soil. It takes a very long time, as in YEARS, to completely remediate the soil…but its worth it i think. We would have to take those plants to the dump because of the high amounts of crap in them. But at least that stuff won’t be in the soil. Then we can plant right into the ground. But if the tests come back okay then we will just plant in the soil right away and that would make our project much easier. Of course we will also have to supplement with compost and possibly top soil depending.
Next we have to figure out our water source. We could use city water but that will be expensive as hell and is full of flouride and chlorine….which we don’t really want. So we plan on building a rain water catchment system off of a shed that we wil need to store our tools and other such things. Then we will need to figure out how we will irrigate. Overhead or drip or both and how will we pump it…gravity or with an electric pump?
Then, and maybe this should be earlier in the list, we need to find more hands to help us. This one is a bit overwhelming. Its always hard to convince people to help when there is always so many more exciting things to be done. But we gotta get used to it if we wanna connect with people.
NEXT is the big one. MONEY! Who the hell knows how this will be achieved. We have dreams of some anonymous donor just tossing 100,000 bucks at us…HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE! Any takers? We do have some ideas for fundraisders and we are tossing around the idea of making this all a non-profit! Non-profits are quite complicated though and we aren’t sure if we want to deal with all that bureaucratic BS. But its easier to get grants with a non-profit. These are decisions that need to be made soon though!
Then we need some tools…like shovels, hoes, forks, rakes, hammers, nails, screws and so on and on. Anyone got any old tools they’re gettin rid of!
Then we need wood to build raised beds and the rain water catchment!
AND FINALLY!
If all the previous things go well and all are acheived we need to get SEEDS! That food we plan on growing don’t just magically appear. Of course thats a lot of money too but we have found out about quite a few seed grant programs and donations from seed compaanies that we would probably qualify for! But regardless I have ordered us almost every single 2009 seed catalog available…I won’t need to read a book for months now!
AND THERE YA GO…thats how Elissa and I have figured out How to Start our Urban Farm! If anyone has any pointers or things you think we missed that we will need before spring…LET US KNOW!
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I'M BACK!!!
Well, almost 9 days, over 3,000 miles and mountains, deserts, canyons, plains, cities and really really small towns I have arrived back in “The City that Loves You Back” ( yes they changed it from the “City of Brotherly Love”). At first I was a bit freaked out. Philadelphia is HUGE. The first curve on I76 around a small hill in Fairmount Park when the city comes into view was very very overwhelming. “Fuck!” I thought, “What have I done, coming back”. Jamie and Katharine were blown away. They seemed to cringe and stiffen up when they saw the tall brightly lit skyscrapers and I suddenly found myself looking out at this city from their eyes…I was freaked out too!
We got off the highway, pulled onto the Ben Franklin Parkway and right in front of us, towering so majestically was City Hall. My heart grew warm and everything shifted. Even Katharine and Jamie’s fear transformed into awe. I became extremely excited and instead of driving right to my house i decided to take myself and especially my two companions on a tour of the city I will now call home for some time. We circled around city hall, drove down the boulevard known as broad street, passed the place where it all started for me at the University of the Arts. I showed them Pat’s and Geno’s, The Italian Market, the old and beautiful homes of society hill and what would a tour of Philadelphia be without a pass of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall! We concluded our journey at the tall row home and large backyard that I will eat, sleep, read, poop, laugh, cry and grow food in for what I hope is a long period of time
I spent the last seven months on Barking Moon Farm, toiling in the dirt, growing food and thinking all the time about this Philadelphia place. Images flashed through my head all summer of these places that I was suddenly seeing once more with my very own eyes. It was very much like a vivid dream. Those images in my head all summer were now a reality, I was home and I had a lot to look forward to.
Although our journey was sad, exciting, long and tiring it is so good to be back and have ground my feet recognize, people that my heart remember and space where my soul can stand still, grow roots and come spring grow vivid and nourishing food for all!
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Yo superheroes we are
you cannot go far
without the help of our labor
our veggies you gots to SAVOR
What What FARMIN!
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Today was another one of those beautiful days we tend to have here in southern Oregon. The strange thing is that it was abnormally beautiful in that it is August and it was cloudy and raining all day. The clouds were wonderful. After a week worth of extreme heat (108 degrees on Thursday), the cool breeze and absence of the sun was a breath of fresh air. I would look up every so often to the south, up our little valley, and each time was like looking at a brand new postcard picture. Sometimes the distant sentinel like mountain at the top of Thompson creek would be completely smothered by gray fluffy clouds, or covered with a light blue haze as the rain fell lightly in front of it or even illuminated with the diffused light of the sun, turning it into a heavenly landscape.
The rain was refreshing. Yes, rain, in southern Oregon in August. I almost couldn’t believe it when the clouds rolled in on Saturday evening. The distant roll of thunder sent wonderful shivers all over my body. The past few months have been so dry that it has really started getting to me. I never truly understood my personal connection to water. Of course being on a farm makes that connection even more intense. About a month ago our wonderful creek officially dried up. Apparently it happens every year. I couldn’t believe it at first. The fact that tons of water should be pouring down our valley but subsequently vanishes now that there are so many people irrigating such things as their front lawns, hay fields, animal pastures and ‘oh yeah’ our vegetables blows my mind. Its hard to watch that happen knowing that if we were not so heavily irrigating our own fields there may be more water in our creek. But what else would we do? Oh, the predicament of the farmer.
This past Sunday, Josh and Mellissa showcased a French film in our barn. It was titled “Jean de Floret” and was actually really quite amazing. The general theme was about water and farming. Of course it was much more dense than that but it really struck home and had so many parallels to our situation, especially when the rain storm rolled in after weeks of no rain and the main character yelled up at the sky “I’m a hunchback, do you think that’s easy!” Laughter ensued. Check it out…it’s a great movie!
I have been thinking a lot about weeds recently. There is a great book called “Weeds and What They Tell” by Ehrenfried E Pfeiffer. He delves into this whole other world of cultivation, the other side of growing vegetables, unknowingly growing weeds. It is quite interesting to read about the weeds that grow in our field and the theories behind why they are growing there. Those theories based on soil quality, cultivation practices and crops being grown. You can really learn so much about your field just by the weeds that grow. You see many weed seeds lie dormant in the soil and only in certain conditions will appear. For instance in a particular bed where napa cabbages are being grown we once had beets and there was a ton of wild mustard and pasture grasses that had over grown the bed. Now after tilling it and planting napa cabbages there is a large quantity of wild nightshade, or ‘black nightshade’. I’m not sure exactly what it means but I noticed it and therefore got the book. He states that it means the soil is too loose. That very well could be possible but what I think is so interesting is just the act of putting thought into why the weed is growing there and why now. It didn’t grow there during the last succession in that bed. Why? SO FASCINATING!
This is how I spend my thoughts nowadays on the farm. I am forcing myself to observe everything these days, rather than just get lost in thoughts of future plans and reanalyze past experiences and decisions. This is definitely very conducive to a positive mind and keeping me on track. But of course I’m still extremely distracted. Hanging out at Blue Fox, cooking extreme dinners in the outdoor kitchen and getting sucked into Planet Earth series definitely takes a lot of my observation self teaching time!
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This was written way back in the beginning of May.
Spring, Finally!
The warm sunshine pleased my heart
The cold and snow defeated
By this mighty spring day
Its what my soul needed
This valley is alive
Life sprung from every direction
The sparrows played overhead
Insects buzzed at my feet
As the blue heron flew upstream
The trees confidently blushed green
And our vegetables grow strong
Without fear of frost
As the sun rose high in the sky
My eyes were bombarded
By this magnificent place
As I explore the world of life
The soil beneath my fingernails
Caked to my palms
Every passing moment
The meditative movements
The physical connection with earth
Teaching my soul how to breathe.
Written in July!
Botanical Magic
A day full of soil is what its all about
The work is my play
The veggies satisfy my tongue
While the soaring hawk
And the talkative jay
Remind me of my purpose
As I walk this walk
And nourish the soul
Hands hard and dirty
Muscles soar and strong
I watch these seeds transform
And see their beautiful effects
On the faces of my brothers and sisters
I know this is it
I am sure there is nothing else
But to watch the botanical magic
And practice this alchemy
And this was written yesterday on August 10.
Being, On this Side
As the green leaves above us gently blew, sunlight flickered across her face.
We were on the other side of it all
The wooden blocks fit into place.
A glimpse of the future
Confidence
Grace
Enlightenment
The dragonfly hovering nearby perched on my arm.
“Transition” she spoke and her words filled my soul.
The water flowed freely in that stream
The boundary between realities
The world that was known
But now so transparent
And this new consciousness
Awaits new lessons
What it is to be back on the farm
To hear the night chorus once more
To smell the air of magic
To see the smiles of friends
Jupiter persistent above
Brother moon peeking around his monthly shade
Gaining size,
Illuminating the movements.
Laughter permeating the air
Sharing the land’s plenty
Nourishment
Love
Centeredness
Now the spirit of this land can be seen
With new eyes and renewed soul
The world is a playground
These dreams only the beginning
As seas rise and fall
And trees grow ever tall
This soul walks this planet
To share it with all
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Yet again the adventure continues. Sarah, my friend who I met in Santa Cruz last fall after the bike trip and at the start of this whole farming extravaganza, is an intern on a farm in Pescadero, CA. She called, said they were having a BBQ and there was a ride waiting for Heidi and I in Pacifica at the Farmer’s market.
Who needs drugs and alcohol when you got SPONTANEITY!
We had two hours to find a way to get to the farmers market. A series of events then played out, all because of the kindness of others and we were on a bus to the farmer’s market before I could scream WOOHOO! As those bus doors began to close the driver got on the loud speaker and proceeded to give a most exciting conductor’s announcement. “LAST CALL FOR THE 110 TO PACIFICA. AAAAALLLLLLL ABOARD!” YES A BUS DRIVER…I mean what else would make for the perfect start to a random adventure than that. I looked at Heidi and saw that gleam in her eyes I know well…This little excursion was going to be memorable! Forty five minutes later we were rolling down Highway 1, the clouds of fog blew up the streets of Pacifica. It is so beautiful and made my heart warm to see the ocean. The bus stopped right at our farmer’s market and we hopped out with a skip in our step and walked briskly towards the white tents of the market. All the farmer’s were packing up and we got real scared we missed our ride. We walked through the quickly diminishing market as all the farmer’s loaded their trucks, an action I know well. We had no idea who our ride was going to be or even what stand to go to since all the signs were gone. But as we got to the end of the road I spotted a young girl in a warm brown corduroy jacket lifting empty veggie boxes into an old wheathered pick up truck. “Thats our girl” I said to Heidi. “Are you Madeliene” we asked as we interrupted her truck loading. She looked up confused, “Yeah thats me!” she said! I proceeded to explain to her that i was a friend of Sarah who she works with and that we were riding with her to the farm. She got super excited and a friendship naturally formed instantly. Heidi and I assisted her with the last of the loading and we piled into the warm truck and were on our way down Highway 1.
Southbound!
The coastline is magnificent. It feels like the end of the world as the rolling hills abruptly dive straight down into the Pacific. This time of year the fog lingers all the time and it feels like winter. The wind howls and the moisture is thick in the air. All my life I knew August as the hottest month of the year. The time when the summer tourists begin to trickle off my home’s beaches and the water at its warmest and most refreshing. Even back at the farm in Oregon the sky is always clear, the sun always shining and the air dry and hot. This weather and scenery made me feel like bundling up with a hot coffee and pondering the existence of everything. It was oddly comforting to gaze out the window at the wild Pacific waves crashing on the scattered rocks and tall cliffs. I wished to be out there with the occasional pack of surfers floating just beyond the break or soaring just above of the surface of the sea like the gulls and pelicans. The smell of that salt air brought back so many memories of home. The ocean has been on my mind recently. While harvesting carrots or potatoes in the beaming sunshine, I often find myself daydreaming of those blissful moments of plunging into the clear, salty sea as a child and teenager. The sight of the pacific fulfilled my soul.
We had a lot to talk about in the old truck on our hour long ride to the farm. Where we are from, what we have done and of course the best conversation topic, why are we farming. Its so incredible to meet so many young people who are as interested in food issues and growing sustainable, organic and healthy foods. We talked about our personal farm situations and what we have learned over the past few months. Its funny how excited these kinds conversations make me feel.
Soon enough the highway rounded around Pigeon Point and suddenly the fog just stopped, as if there was an invisible wall in the sky. The sky was blue and the landscape changed dramatically to a bright golden hue. We were approaching the farm, Green Oaks Creek Farm and Retreat.
Sarah’s farm is beautiful. The driveway is lined with tall eucalyptus trees. Although they are non native and invasive they are beautiful and the smell that fills the air when they are near is refreshing. I felt like i was in New Zealand again, rolling down an unknown driveway to a farm, with a warm feeling of mystery and the sweet smell of eucalyptus. I at first had so much jealousy for Sarah’s living situation. The farm is beautiful, a half a mile from the ocean, yurts and teepees to live in and a beautiful cob walled outdoor kitchen.
Heidi, Madeliene and I strolled down to the neighboring farm, Pie Ranch, for the barbeque. I instantly felt liek I was back at my own farm on Thompson Creek. There was a group of 15 odd people crowded around some picnic tables indulging in the deliciousness of the fresh food prepared for the evening. All of them were interns on the farm and nearby farms. An evening of conversation, cookie eating and campfire ensued. As i gazed up at the stars I knew that this life was the answer.
The next morning we milked goats. Utters are funny. What’s even funnier is the way they feel when you squeeze the milk out. Delicious!
Sarah and I walked around the farm and we talked about how they do things and what they are growing. She asked me a lot of questions about how we do things and I was surprised by my confidence in answering them. Heidi spent the morning helping seed in the greenhouse and was offered a job starting September 1st as an intern. Her excitement was extreme and made me real happy that she was getting out of the city and joining this beautiful world of farming.
In teh afternoon we borrowed some bikes and rode north to Blue House Farm, where I was offered an internship in teh spring but turned it down. I was happy that i didn’t go there. The property was wonderful, teh crops looked great and the guys running it seemed super knowledgable. But they didn’t go to market and there wasn’t really a sense of community. Plus they were more of a production farm which is hard for me to wrap my head around.
When we got back to Green Oaks Creek I helped harvest beans and then heidi and i said our goodbyes. We headed to the Highway and stuck our thumbs out dancing and singing. Hitch hiking is always a blast with a partner. We sang songs and laughed a bunch. When you got a friend the wait is so much better. We got picked up by a young couple and the guy had just finished biking the country. On a Bicycle! They dropped us off right in the city and with our goodbyes was the commencement of our journey!
My vacation was drawing to a close and to be back in Oregon was weighing heavy on my mind. I was ready to return!
