The Dirt - ProfilesArchive

About Me

Dedicated to radical, local, organic urban agriculture and gardening.
Anti-lawn, anti-abandoned lots, anti-concrete jungle, pro-food growing, pro-wildflower meadow, pro-edible weed patch.
I look around the city and see potential for gardens everywhere...gardens that could feed our communities and reduce the need to truck in food from thousands of miles away, gardens that could nurture all the lovely critters who try to eke out a life in this harsh urban environment.

Hey! Join in the fun. Post your questions, tips and tricks, ideas, info about seeds and plant varieties, about local events, and whatnot. Subscribe to the blog.

So, thanks for coming. Now go outside.

My Interests

Growing things, eating the things we grow.
Sustainable, organic, community-supported, local urban agriculture.
Container gardening.
Heirloom plants.
Eating locally and seasonally.
Guerilla gardening.
Scavenging & salvaging.
Food Not Bombs.
Food Activism.
WWOOF.
Smashing the state through subsistence.
Of course, RIDING BIKES!
Revolution!

Super! Links:

American Community Gardening Association
-Chock full of resources for you, the community gardener.

City Farmer
-Based in Vancouver B.C., this is A HUGE site with resources, articles, and everything you ever wanted to know about urban agriculture.

Growing Gardens
-A great local organization that builds gardens for low-income residents and educates families and students about gardening and food security. They sponsor lots of fun events, too. Get involved!

Food Not Lawns
-Lawns are a waste. Food is yummy. A great organization promoting wise land use and community building.

You Grow Girl
-A good place to go for funky ideas and tips.

Seed Savers Exchange
-An organization of heirloom seed savers. Join their club, buy their seeds, stick it to Monsanto!

Fedco Seeds Co-op
-One of the best seed suppliers around. Organic and GMO-free, they offer a staggering selection of heirlooms, as well as anything you need for your garden!

Territorial Seed Company
-A super organic seed company. Simply the best seeds bred for the Northwest climate.

Nichols Garden Nursery
-A fantastic organic nursery in the Willamette Valley. You can order their specialty heirloom herbs, flowers, and veggies through their website.

I'd like to meet:

Folks of all sorts everywhere who want to grow stuff!
Community gardens!
Community activists!

Gardeners who are already gardening, gardeners who have never gardened, gardeners who think they don't have space to garden, gardeners who want to garden but who are afraid to try.

You!
The Dirt wants active participation, not passive consumption. Tell us about your revolutionary garden activities (or future plans for)! Remember, whoever controls your food, controls your life.

Books:

General Gardening and stuff:
The American Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants
-This is a huge, heavy book chock full of photos to drool over and some basic how-tos.
The Bountiful Container, by McGee & Stuckey
-I recommend this book for ALL gardeners, not just container-ers. All the plants they show you how to grow are edible!
Gaia's Garden: A Guide To Home-Scale Permaculture, by Toby Hemenway
-A good introduction to the philosophy and practice of permaculture.
Four-Season Harvest, by Eliot Coleman
-A great resource for how to have a year-round garden. Includes cold frame and greenhouse design.
Got Shade? by Carolyn Harstad
-Too much shade can be a real pain. Luckily, this book shows how many fantastic plants thrive in tough conditions. Focuses on native varieties.
Worms Eat My Garbage, by Mary Appelhof
-Worm bins are great! You can make compost even if you have no yard!
Tasha Tudor's Garden, by Martin & Brown
-This lady is my hero. She's in her 90s, but manages a sprawling Vermont farm by herself, wearing clothes and using tools from the 1830s. Fantastic pictures.
Gardening for Revolution, etc:
Food Not Lawns , by H.C. Flores
-A great guide to gardening techniques, food activism, and community building.
Solviva: How To Grow $500,000 on One Acre & Peace on Earth, by Anna Edey
-Is it a miracle? No, it's the future of agriculture and energy! An absolute must-read!
The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements, by Sandor Ellix Katz
-Everything you ever wanted to know about food activism, but were afraid to ask.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year In Food Life , by Barbara Kingsolver
-One family's year eating locally-produced food. Recipes, humor, and lots of interesting facts.
Pacific Northwest Gardening Guides:
The Maritime Northwest Garden Guide, by Seattle Tilth
-This magazine-sized organic gardening book is indispensable if you live in the Pacific NW! Includes month-by-month planning.
Handbook of Northwest Gardening, by Ann Lovejoy
-Organic techniques for landscaping. Lots of helpful advice.
Winter Gardening in the Maritime Northwest, by Binda Colebrook
-You, too, can have a year-round harvest. Yay!
Gardening Under Cover: A Northwest Guide To Solar Greenhouses, Cold Frames, and Cloches, by William Head
-Useful even if you don't live in the NW.
Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades, by Steve Solomon
-The author is our PNW garden guru.
Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, by Pojar and MacKinnon
-Not a gardening book per se, but the best guide to Northwest native plants EVER! It tells about plant uses by native peoples, and gives a good idea of how to work within our landscape when you garden.

Heroes:

compost, mulch, chickens.

CURRENT MOON lunar phase

My Blog

Really Dang Great Seed Starting Tips!

It's about time to start thinking about seed starting! Here are some tips for you... -To avoid watering seeds while they germinate (which causes temperature fluctuations), water the soil enough befo...
Posted by The Dirt on Tue, 22 Jan 2008 01:10:00 PST

Seeds!

Well, I'm back from Mexico just in time for the crappy, rainy winter here in the Pacific NW. But, of course, I'm already planning my garden in my new living space... Pretty soon we'll be getting all ...
Posted by The Dirt on Sat, 29 Dec 2007 01:06:00 PST

Mexico adventures, and farming in Oaxaca

Hey, all...For the past month or so, I have been travelling in Mexico (Juárez to Chihuahua, through the Copper Canyon to Creel, Areponápuchi to Los Mochis, to Mazatlán, to Guadalajara, to Guanajuato, ...
Posted by The Dirt on Sat, 06 Oct 2007 03:14:00 PST

From the Dirt to Your Door: Get on board with Community-Supported Agriculture!

Community-Supported Agriculture is great! It supports local farms and the local economy, provides people with a direct connection to their food supply, encourages community participation, and of cour...
Posted by The Dirt on Wed, 15 Aug 2007 10:57:00 PST

Feed the soil, not the plants: The Magic of COMPOST & how you can do it (even with no yard)!

So, I'm sure everyone knows how great compost is, but...admit it. We don't always use it as much as we could, do we? Sure, you have a bin or a pile, but it hasn't been turned in a while.....
Posted by The Dirt on Mon, 23 Jul 2007 09:41:00 PST

Sustainable Food Systems: The backbone of a healthy people and environment.

10 Things You Can Do to Support a Sustainable Food System! From the book Portland's Bounty: A Guide to Eating Seasonally and Locally in the Greater Portland and Vancouver Areas 1. Grow your own food...
Posted by The Dirt on Tue, 17 Apr 2007 10:06:00 PST

April! Spring! When did that happen?!

Aaagghhh!!! I can't believe it's already spring, and we're rushing headlong into the full swing of the "growing season". (I think this phrase is misleading, as, unless you're in a place that is buried...
Posted by The Dirt on Mon, 02 Apr 2007 02:09:00 PST

Cold frame!

This is a cold frame. My wonderful landscaper/carpenter extraordinaire associate built it. It works like a greenhouse, keeping tender plants warm n' cozy and growing strong. I put it against a south-...
Posted by The Dirt on Sun, 01 Apr 2007 11:55:00 PST

March yer butt out into the garden

So, incidentally, The Dirt has been very busy with school and work and all the things that get in the way of gardening. Thankfully, Spring Break is coming up, so in addition to daily wet T-shirt conte...
Posted by The Dirt on Sat, 10 Mar 2007 11:02:00 PST

Holy crap, it's February. Here's what to do.

Time to get yer plans in order, because Spring is just around the corner. Here in the Willamette Valley, our average Last Frost Date is April 15. So when you see instructions on seed packets that sa...
Posted by The Dirt on Fri, 09 Feb 2007 12:05:00 PST