This Chick (heart’s) Chicks

This Chick <3’s (heart’s) Chicks 

Independent Project - Beneficial Beasts in the Garden - Spring 2012

April 7, 2012, my roommate Jack and I drove to Santa Rosa to buy some chickens.  We brought and empty cat carrier, a plastic bin, and beach towel.  We had “reserved” four Rhode Island Red pullets at Western Farm Center, a store recommended by the ladies who give the occasional “Urban Chickens’ class at Eco-House  in Berkeley.  Luckily we had called ahead to check on the available breeds and found out that the “ladies” were selling out fast today, and that we’d better get our chickens soon. We’d inadvertently scheduled our big “Chick’nWeek’n” during another big “chicken” holiday - Easter. We told them we’d be there in an hour and a half and they said they’d set some aside for us. What nice folks.

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occupational symbiosis - class essay # 2

I learned a new noun this spring — symbiont — an organism in a symbiotic relationship another organism of a different biological species living together co-dependently as companion-organisms. These symbioses can be completely mutualistic, commensalistic (opportunistic) or even parasitic in nature. I probably learned this concept the first time in middle school science, but in a classroom setting those words never carried any connotation beyond the textbook.  I’ve come to use this framework to define all of my relationships — with my boyfriend, roommates, the chickens, the plants and mushrooms in my backyard, even with some inanimate objects like my car.  In nature these seamless relationships have evolved over eons, as Homo sapien sapiens we’ve had only a small fraction of that time to develop efficient relationships. We are uniquely(?)  conscious of these relationships and yet have struggled intellectually to create a ubiquitously satisfying ideological infrastructure based on the information.

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beneficial beasts in my belly

My First Kimchi - Kalechi
After reading the Kimchi chapter in  Sandor Katz’s Wild Fermentation I decided to try my hand at making some. It seemed like a pretty loose, creative process — like you could just make a kimchi out of whatever you had around.  I searched the cabinets, fridges and fruit bowls and scrounged up enough to make 1 jar. I let this ferment in my room, which is one of the warmest in the house. It only took 4 days. Thank goodness because I was starting to get some odor complaints!

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Far “West Oakland” Fungi: (or how I learned to stop worrying and love the mold).

Far “West Oakland” Fungi: (or how I learned to stop worrying and love the mold).
Independent Project- Beneficial Beasts in the Garden - Spring 2012

This semester I’ve grown four kinds of mushrooms (to my knowledge)! Not very many, and not very often, in-fact I may have lost more than I’ve actually eaten, but I’ve definitely learned a lot about what to do and not to do.

The three kinds were: Shiitakes or Lentinula edodes (an edible and medicinal mushroom grown in Asia on dead logs for centuries), Pleurotus ostreatus or Oyster Mushroom (valued as an edible mushroom with cholesterol reducing benefits), Inky Caps or Coprinopsis atramentaria (a common wood-composter), and Pleurotus djamor the Pink Oyster Mushroom.

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swim in water →

an auto-biography - the prologue

Many (too many) years ago I started degree in Communication Design at the University of North Texas. Full of youthful ideals,  I wanted to change the world. I wanted to make everything pretty. I desperately wanted to take all the ephemeral ugliness around me and transform it into something less psychologically abrasive.  I wanted to make it all make sense. While getting my B.F.A. I developed a much deeper appreciation for the importance of design and the responsibilities inherent in being a (good) designer. I realized that I was learning skills I’d eventually put to use influencing the decisions people make. I came to the conclusion that good design makes good choices clear.

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(Source: ahahomeandgarden.com)

(Source: noleadersplease, via urbanveganista)

growfoodraisehell:

I went to Saltillo Plaza in East Austin today, and planted a garden.  Using my shovel, I upended the top two inches of soil to weed the space, before laying compost and garden soil.  The bricks offer foot steps to access the veggies when they’re grown.

I planted broccoli, red and green leaf lettuce, and radishes.

Forcing people off of the land and privatizing the commons made slaves of everyone.  Now we must work mindless, meaningless jobs so we can pay rent on the planet on which we were born.  Retaking the commons and entering into relationships with the land, will set people free.

[Decolonize] Everywhere! Oh, and fuck you, Monsanto!

(via astronautlovetriangl)

All men whilst they are awake are in one common world:  but each of them, when he is asleep, is in a world of his own.  ~Plutarch