Ascent Magazine – June 2008

I was recently profiled in Ascent Magazine’s sustainability issue. This article is the result of one of the best interviews/conversations I have ever had the pleasure of taking part in. I kind of wish we could read the interview although I’d imagine it would be a hard one to follow given how much I hemmed

There’s a Little Bit of Irony in My Version of Retail Therapy

… especially when it is initiated by plant loss. To be clear these plants will not be living in THAT garden. They are for my community plot and the roof. I spent $18.99 plus federal and provincial taxes of my hard-earned dollars on this plant, an Echeveria ‘Black Prince.’ I think we can all agree

Thank You

Sakura’s White Bleeding Heart in the street garden I wanted to write and thank you all for your very kind words and wishes about yesterday’s post. I’ve been overwhelmed. Thank you. I have to admit I have felt a little bit of embarrassed by what I wrote. On the one hand it reads so dramatic,

The One Where I Got My Heart Broken, Again

The street garden has been significantly damaged again, this time by a painter my landlord hired to paint a so-called mural on the wall. He had to have the mural done to save the garden from “graffiti peoples”, he told me in a letter left in my mailbox as a so-called apology. Yet “graffiti peoples”

Food Gardening is on the Rise

More and more publications are reporting on the changing tide towards growing our own food, most especially in urban areas. This is something I can sense with my own eyes and ears as more and more community gardens crop up in every city I visit, and as more and more emails flood my inbox with

Assorted and Sundry for 08/05/02

Toronto Backyard Chickens Petition – Long-term readers of the site will know I have a fixation with chickens. Keeping chickens is pretty high up on my life to-do list but there are several key issues currently blocking this life goal. 1. I don’t have a backyard nor do I have a warm place to house

The Earth-Loving, Tree-Hugging Hippies Inside Us

This whole Earth Day thing has me a bit puzzled. Come to think of it most [Insert Cause Here] Days are oddly perplexing. Maybe it’s just human nature to take things for granted, but I’ve never been able to wrap my head around the fact that we have to set aside a special day once

Monster Impatiens: Leading the War Against Humanity

FYI: This is what passes for an impatiens in San Francisco. If you live in a warmer climate you will be unimpressed by my discovery. If you are from my neck of the woods your mind will have been blown wide open! In case you didn’t get the memo, San Francisco is a Utopian paradise

Meat Lover’s Seed Collection

Sounds like meat, as opposed to accompanying meat. ‘Bacon’ Bush Bean – I am guessing it doesn’t actually taste like bacon although meat lovers everywhere would like for someone to get on that, stat! ‘Caseknife’ Bush Bean ‘Bloody Butcher’ Tomato – Don’t hurt me! ‘Jack Rabbit Kidney’ Snap Bean ‘Deer Tongue’ Leaf Lettuce – Has