The Garden

Today I attended a pot luck lunch at the Wild Oats Organic Garden in Long Beach upon invitation from my co-worker Charlene. If I could give Charlene a nickname, it would be Mother Earth...She is One with the soil, rooted deep in concern for the environment. I like her. She's always smiling and her pockets are filled with inner peace.

The idea of a Community Garden fascinates and intrigues me. It appeals to me in every way! People come together, practicing principles of self-sufficiency, organic sustainable living, hard work, and getting back to the basics. It's a remarkable way to connect with your neighbors and the serenity of creation!

A note about the pot luck lunch- (they have work days from 9-12 every 1st and 3rd Saturday which ends with lunch at 12ish- let me just say, the chicken dogs, homemade lemon hummus, fresh salads, and the thick sweetness of the raw smoothies were divine!) Come give service and then enjoy the food!

What I learned:

Spinach doesn't like to grow in heat.

There is a variation of mint that tastes like lime called, of all things, lime mint.

Cauliflower comes in purple.

The director of the garden, Heidi, is brilliant and she says non-profit work is SO much harder than being an Executive Program Developer...she wants to create a quilt of gardens throughout the city.

If you eat a pot belly pig, it will trigger a virus in your body that goes straight to your brain and makes you wacko.

I ate with a potato fork. (Forks can be made out of potato!!!) AND I've drank from a biodegradable cup made from corn!

Sorrel is a baby green that tastes like lemon!

LBCC has a spring sale with all sorts of seeds and starters for sale!

Quote for the day: A poochie poochie girl in a gucci gucci world.

West Coast Rendering Company off of 4105 Bandini Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90058 has a subdivision, which I believe is called Baking Commodities, who are part of the animal food production process. They add all sorts of evils to pet food, such as cancerous cow tumors, and euthanized animals from the pound... dogs weren't meant to eat other dogs were they? Combine this with the soy and wheat that go into most major brands of pet food and wuh-la! You've got pets with cancer, allergies, asthma...

I met Johnny the urban missionary, who was tending his plot. He plans to embark on a missionary trip around the world in 2010 through a program called TheWorldRace.org

I took a hulking amount of photos- maybe I'll post some on Facebook...

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Wild Oats Garden.