John Walker's Blog (8)

Reading List

At the last meeting of the edible garden (the successor to the kitchen gardeners bluegrass) the question of books came up. So here is my reading list, with some major omissions I'm sure. So please fill in the blanks. pax John Reading List How-to books Mel Bartholomew Square Foot Gardening John Jeavons How to Grow More Vegetables Steve Solomon Gardening When It Counts Eliot Coleman The New Organic Grower Eliot Coleman Four Season Harvest Ed. C. Smith The Vegetable Gardener's Bible Raymond P Po… Continue

Added by John Walker on August 16, 2008 at 12:40pm — 2 Comments

Reading List

At our last Edible Gardening meeting a number of people asked about resources or talked about books they had read or should read. So I put this list together. There are obvious omissions (there are things we know we don't know we don't know........) So please fill in the gaps Happy reading Reading List How-to books Mel Bartholomew Square Foot Gardening John Jeavons How to Grow More Vegetables Steve Solomon Gardening When It Counts Eliot Coleman The New Organic Grower Eliot Coleman Four Season… Continue

Added by John Walker on August 16, 2008 at 8:25am — No Comments

Feeding People Is Easy

This is the title of Colin Tudge's new book. Its worth a read: part David Korten, part Arundhati Roy. He makes a lot of sense, however most of what he suggests depends on a web based cadre of people. Now I have nothing against the internet, see this website as an example, but I am not convinced its the best answer. So put on your thinking caps and come up with some non web based social innovations to promote local food economies!! pax John Continue

Added by John Walker on July 22, 2008 at 9:46am — No Comments

Introduction to Summitry

This from Raj Patel's 'Stuffed and Starved' page http://stuffedandstarved.org/drupal/node/360 I have pasted the text (apologies to Raj) The excellent ETC Group has just come up with a fine bit of social science that cuts through the guff of the recent FAO Food Summit in Rome. As part of their 'translator' series, in which they parse the meaning of UN documents for the general public, they've come out with their latest report, Another "Failure-as-usual" Food Summit. Alongside the fine analysis… Continue

Added by John Walker on July 2, 2008 at 10:59am — No Comments

Say it ain't so!

I have copied this from the commondreams website via the Grauniad/Observer here is the original link http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/29/food.agriculture Home-Grown Veg Ruined by Toxic Fertiliser by Caroline Davies Gardeners have been warned not to eat home-grown vegetables contaminated by a powerful new herbicide that is destroying gardens and allotments across the UK.0629 03 1 The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has been inundated with calls from concerned gardeners who hav… Continue

Added by John Walker on June 30, 2008 at 9:30am — 2 Comments

London's Gardens: Allotments for the People

Today on NPR's Morning edition, there was this segment on allotments. This link may work http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91805611 Sad the price paid for a footpath Also check out the contrary articles in the grauniad For meat http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,2286173,00.html Against meat http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,2286172,00.html The three articles say a lot about the debate. release the hounds.. oops not an appropriate metaphor for… Continue

Added by John Walker on June 26, 2008 at 8:28am — 3 Comments

My Dog, I'm a maroon!

Dear All. A while ago I posted a forum talking about quertiles, part of the milpa system in Mexico. Two days ago I took the book out of the library again and to my embarrassment say that it was quelites. Many apologies for my dyslexia and to my Spanish speaking friends who wondered what the *&^$ I was talking about. Anyway quelites are weeds, such as amaranth, purslane and lamb's quarters that are used as spring greens and as a weed cover. Very interesting to see the beneficial effects of po… Continue

Added by John Walker on June 25, 2008 at 9:47am — 2 Comments

Protein paradox

I came across this phrase reading Paul Roberts' book "The End of Food" and it stimulated a few firing of synapses in remote regions of my brain. This is my interpretation of the paradox. We need a certain amount of protein in our diet to develop properly during childhood and to keep healthy throughout our lives. However we are not clear just how much protein is needed. What is also unclear is what are the relative benefits of animal vs plant proteins. Animal proteins are known as complete prote… Continue

Added by John Walker on June 20, 2008 at 1:20pm — 13 Comments

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2008

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Latest Activity

Sumitra Pande added 4 photos to the album 'My Garden at Kathmandu'

24 minutes ago

amna mufti commented on Everett McDonald's blog post 'My father-in-Laws Garden'

Thats great Everret! So lovingly composed that I felt the warmth of that old rickety stove around me after so many years and away so many miles.

2 hours ago

Gillian commented on Everett McDonald's blog post 'My father-in-Laws Garden'

lovely memories Everett, thanks for sharing.

5 hours ago

Everett McDonald added a blog post

My father-in-Laws Garden

My father-in-law Fred Pond died ten years ago. He loved his garden and I still miss him a lot especially at this time of year when the seed catalogues start arriving. The Pond family lived on a seven acre homestead of sorts in Westford Massachuset...

6 hours ago

Mary Riekert joined Joy Williams's group

Tomatoes

I think this might need it's own category, don't you? Tomatoes are one of the most popular things to grow and we've been placing them in all kinds of groups, but the fact is we almost all grow them, and they have specific needs.

6 hours ago

david e kelley replied to Penelope's discussion 'Feeling Stuck'

The cooking shows are entertaining, but that's all. Some of my favorite recipes started with notes handed down from family. They're still as good as ever. James Beard, Joy of cooking, and Professional Chefs Manural are good references. I have over...

7 hours ago

Mary Riekert left a comment for Amanda Williams

8 hours ago

Mary Riekert left a comment for Sally Parrot

8 hours ago

Sally Parrot left a comment for Mary Riekert

8 hours ago

Maggie left a comment for Helen Pereira

10 hours ago

Cielce commented on andy Petro's group 'Ontario Gardeners'

Greetings everyone :D Sice we've been having such odd weather this year, I decided to try getting my garlic in the ground this past weekend. Now I hope that it'll all grow nicely.

11 hours ago

Amanda Williams and Maggie are now friends

12 hours ago

Strumelia commented on Joy Williams's group 'BeeKeeping'

Donald you lucky to live in an area where you can start a new hive at any time during the year! In New York one could never start a new package in December! =8-o We'd love to see pix of your current hive. :)

14 hours ago

marion stewart added a blog post

All About Dogwood

Red osier dogwood is just the best plant for this time of year – cut down some branches – you can find them in fields and ditches and then place them in garden pots or containers. Fill the over-season containers with soil to hold the stems. Attach...

14 hours ago

Donald commented on Joy Williams's group 'BeeKeeping'

Hi Everyone: I am new to kitchen gardeners and I currently have one bee hive and I am planning on buying one four pound package of bees and a queen in December. If my luck is strong I will also capture a swarm and end up with three total hives goi...

14 hours ago

Donald joined Joy Williams's group

BeeKeeping

Bees! How they benefit us, how to keep them, how to maintain them! Experts invited, and welcome.

15 hours ago

Donald replied to Valerianella's discussion 'Honeybees Face Towering Threat From Cell Phones'

I had not heard of this new link of cell phone towers to CCD, but I believe that CCD is caused by a number of different things and is mostly limited to large scale professional beekeepers that put their bees on large semi-trucks and haul them all ...

15 hours ago

Donald updated their profile

15 hours ago

Maya replied to Penelope's discussion 'Feeling Stuck'

Oi! Penelope! The cooking shows are designed to make people who've grown up eating processed foods and without a Fannie Farmer in the house want to go to a restaurant and be demanding, or buy expensive, exotic ingredients that they'll mostly never...

15 hours ago

Salma Kamal left a comment for Muhammad Nadeem Iqbal

16 hours ago

From the KGI Main Site

Gardeners Have the Power!

Braised brussels sprouts with pine nuts

Garden Q & A: extending the salad season

New White House kitchen garden videos

KGI is going to the White House (and we want to take you with us)

Optimal timing for your garlic harvest

Garden Q & A: Harvesting tomatoloons

Roasted potatoes with basil vinaigrette

Garden Q & A: Organic pest controls

Paella with tomatoes

More…

Notes

HOW TO - ADD A LINK

Several people have experienced difficulty putting working links into comments and blogs etc and I know it is clumsy.... so here is how you do it.....

First type the text you want to appear.... ie IAN'S PAGE

Then go back and highlight the link text.

Then hit the hyperlink button...a pictogram of a chain link.

Your browser may intervene and request permission to allow temporary scripting or some similar message. Allow it and go back and highlight the text again

… Continue

Created by Ian Jun 7, 2009 at 7:28pm. Last updated by Ian Jun 8.

Forum Policy

Hi, I'm starting to put together a few guidlines on using the discussion forum on here.

I would be happy to hear any comments you may have. This is very much a work in progress so plese feel free to ask me to add anything you think is needed.

I don't want to make our community hide bound by rules and regulations but I think that, as the community has grown, some explanation of what is expected is needed.

Administration

You can refer any que

… Continue

Created by Ian May 23, 2009 at 1:55am. Last updated by Ian May 25.

Climate maps

Hi following recent discussion I have put climate maps of the USA, Australia and Europe on here for reference..

Climate map of the USA

Climate map of Australia

Climate map of Europe

… Continue

Created by Ian Sep 12, 2008 at 6:20pm. Last updated by Ian Apr 14.

Recipes, Recipes, Recipes

Hi Everyone, I've started to collect together recipes from various posts on the site and put them all together here.

If you have a recipe you want to add on here, just post it on the site and leave a comment on my page telling me where it is and I'll go and fetch it back here.

They are organised in Contributor Order but I'm open to better suggestions!

BEVA'S RECIPES

… Continue

Created by Ian Jun 2, 2008 at 9:54am. Last updated by Ian Apr 13.

US STATES ABBREVIATIONS

US STATE ABBREVIATIONS

AK - Alaska               AL - Alabama              AR - Arkansas
AZ - Arizona              CA - California           CO - Colorado
CT - Connecticut          DC - Dist of Columbia *   DE - Delaware
FL - Florida              GA - Georgia              GU

… Continue

Created by Ian Jan 27, 2009 at 4:27pm. Last updated by Ian Jan 27.

HOW TO - MAKE COMPOST

Recently there was an excellent discussion about composting. I’ve pulled together all the various comments here. You can also watch KGI's video on composting here.

KATE’S ADVICE

I used to have a tumbler that we made from a wine-barrel but

1 you have to fill it up all at once

2. it seemed mostly

… Continue

Created by Ian May 30, 2008 at 5:29am. Last updated by Roger Jan 15.