Meet Phyllis!

Just rescued from the meat market. She's a little shy...

Pork Roast

Dinner at La Mar

From La Mar Cebicheria,SF, CA

Fresh Ginger

We didn't grow this one (yet). I got one from Chue's at the farmers'
market on Tuesday. Stuck it in the dirt. I hope it takes off.

Clathrus ruber

Also called a basket stinkhorn. I thought it was a chewed up dog toy
until I poked it with a stick. Also thought I stepped in poo, so I
checked my shoes a couple times. It was the stinkhorn. No wonder it
was covered in flies.

Pomegranate

Rhubarb

A little late I know, but it's our first substantial harvest. I'm
thinking cheesecake, or I hear it goes great with pork.

Orange Dahlia

We will try to post many colors. Our garden is home to dozens of
varieties. This year we will capture them throughout the fall.

Tobacco Flowers

We are not smokers but so many garden people are. We planted this
plant just as a example and to show others what tobacco plants look
like. If your gonna burn one you should know what it looks like.

This particular plant is a Native American strain used for rolled
cigarettes. The pink flowers are very pretty and the leaves can be
mixed with water to make bug spray for plants.....or smokes I guess.

Underworld

Fox Theater
Oakland, Ca

Happy City Chickens

The ladies really love their new hen house. Now their just a week away
from me getting off my bum and building the new coop around their
home. Right now they just get out to run during the day but they are
the happiest chickens in the city we think.

These are the eggs from almost 2 days. Notice the difference in colors
which represent what chicken they are from.

Albino Python and Smoking Dragon

A nice firing of the earth oven today with a Hebrew Albino Python to
top things of.

Big Heirloom Tomatoes

From the sunny side of the garden we just harvested some nice larger
heirlooms as well and some super sweet medium orange tomatoes.

This one small plot alone has produced many zucchini and lots of
tomatoes. Sunflowers are in full bloom and peppers are well on their
way.

City Squash

Rejewvenator at Phish, Shoreline

Rejewvenator Harvest to Harvest in the lot before the Phish show.
Photos and set list to come. Stay tuned...

7+ foot tomatoes and growing

Monster size cherry tomatoes. We have 2 that stand nearly 8' tall.

Jerry Day!

Melvin Seals and JGB
+ more
Jerry Garcia Ampitheater
McClaren Park, San Francisco
August 2, 2009

First Firing of our Earth Oven

Ashleigh is doing a full post of our building the oven and photos. In
summary this is a %100 mud oven in the shape of a beehive grasped by a
dragon.

We built this in our community garden over the course of 2 days
building and 2 decorating.

Earth, Wind & Fire with Chicago

Earth, Wind & Fire with Chicago
Greek Theater
Berkeley, Ca

The 2 flash back bands played together as well as seperate sets during the evening. They had a huge stage that lit and changed colors during the show.

Stone 13 Anniversary and Hops vines

Hops vines in our community garden plot at Howard Langton Garden.

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Little has changed since we passed through almost 8 years ago, except for the massive solar field covering the parking lot. In 2007, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company commissioned the largest privately owned solar array in the U.S. (pictured above, right). Not shown is the 250 kilowatt fuel cell power unit used to power and heat the brewery. The methane generated at their waste water treatment plant is used as a fuel source.

Also shown above is Sierra's experimental hop field located in the field next to the tap room. The Cascade, Centennial and Chinook varieties grown on site are used fresh in the Chico Estate Harvest Ale.

The restaurant is sustainable as well, using beef from their own locally raised herd fed on brewer's yeast with beer and spent grains from the brewery. Breads and pizzas are made from spent grains too.

And finally the beer... Sierra's most known for their Pale, distributed nation-wide. But their true gems are the seasonals, which rarely make it into bottles. I had the Brown Saison made with roasted malt, Belgian yeast, coriander, star anise, orange peel and juniper berries. Potent and refreshing at 7.8% ABV.

The new coop is here!

The coop arrived over the weekend and now sits on the garden's back
porch. It was a wee wider than expected so the compost bin will have
to move, but soon the birdies will enjoy a fenced in yard with room to
do their chicken thing.

King Sunny & His African Beats

Rothbury, Mi
July 3, 2009

Old school African at it's best.

Rothbury

Rothbury, Mi
July 2-6
(more photos to follow)

Day 1 we saw:
Keller Williams w/ some cheese
Lyrics Born
Lotus
2020 Soundsystem
Disco Bisquits

Lotus and 2020 were the highlights by far.

Bell's Eccentric Café and Brewery

Eccentric ahead of it's time-- especially for Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Bell's is the central coast mecca for beer nerds. Their most popular
brew, Oberon, an American wheat ale, marks the official start of
summer on the Central Coast. The orange sun/blue sky label is a common
sight through midwest summers, and a cult classic nation wide. Since
it's not distributed to the west coast, I feel the need to high five
the Bell's-hoodie-wearing-hippies at the Dead shows and other beer
nerd havens in the Bay Area. We also have a cat named Oberon.

We visited the Café on our way up to Rothbury. Lots of classics on
tap, including Oberon and Two-Hearted, but also some new ones like the
"experimental rye with wild yeast". An accident, probably, but
eccentric indeed.

For food, we got the peanut butter and pickle on grilled wheat, a
Tempeh sando, and a burger.

Mills Farm Co-op

Growing up surrounded by Amish you seem to become ambivelent to what they do. I really still have little clue what there life is about but the roadsides are littered  with nice homes and small farms and people who seem content with lifes struggles.
This small farm/community/co-op is located along M-66. They have a bakery and small farm and are in true amish tradition, electicity free. We stopped and purchased some wild black rasberries and carrots.
This may seem like a small accomplishment but in an area with nothing but factory farms it's amazing these people are still able to stay simple. Growing things other than corn and soybeans is a rare thing in southern Michigan.

(real life bent over Amish lady, not one of those wood cutouts)

Dark Horse Brewing Co.

Located in Marshall, MI. One of my favorite breweries ever-- great
beers and an eclectic, ramshackle beer garden that puts Zeitgeist to
shame. 2 home-made stages, raised garden beds complete with topsy-
turvy tomatoes and a hop arbor.

Walker Farmers' Market

Located in Cambridge, Michigan off US 12. We were lucky to catch the
last hour on our way to Sturgis. Ribs and polish sausage from Suchman
Swine Sausage. Chunky salsa and apple BBQ sauce from Brainerd Farms.
Sweet, perfectly ripe strawberries.

David Byrne

David Byrne of Talking Heads
Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno
with guests: DeVotchka
Greek Theater
Berkeley, Ca

Video with Extra Action Marching Band who marched through the crowd to the stage for then encore.

One of the best shows ever. Everything from obscure Brian Eno works all the way to the Talking Head hits. The venue was on fire with energy by the end of Burning Down the House.

June 21, 2009 Harvest

Potato, onion, varegated land cress.
Howard Langon Garden in SOMA

Les Claypool

Warfield, SF
June 20, 2009

Terrible photo again.

Yard Dogs Road Show

So we were real busy for a while and missed bunch of things we should
have posted. Back on track now...

Dodgy camera phone to be replaced soon. Much better concert photos in
the future.

Yards Dogs Roadshow & Black & Blue Burlesque
Warfield, SF
June 20, 2009

The Prodigy

Goth, punk, raver, rocker. English, Russian, French, American. The Prodigy tour brought them all out of the woodwork. The shear power of the band is deafening let alone the volume at which they play.

May 28, 2009
The Warfield
San Francisco, Ca

Desert Garden

This is a wide shot that sums up my travels across Arizona. Many many desert plants in bloom and looking healthy after a recent spring rain.
Its not very often you get to see so many very large cacti flower and many people do not even know cactus and desert plants produce flowers at all. Many of these cacti looked to be over 10 feet tall and finding a spot to take a picture along a deserted highway was tricky.
We have a very particular affection for the desert since we spend 2 weeks each year at Burning Man. Seeing a bare landscape with thriving vegetation is an inspiration and shows that every environment can be adapted to over time.

Nimbus Brewing - Tuscon

Nimbus Brewing is located in Tuscon, Arizona in an industrial area. I purchased a case of beer to go since I was on a road trip and collecting beer along the way. The house corned beef was delicious and the sample of Maiboch was right on par the the best.
The brewery is a large spacious place with some pool tables, lots of artwork and a casual atmosphere. They have bands and a loading dock/porch that is open some during the busy times and weekends.
The brewery uses a monkey as their mascot and their images on the taps, bottles, boxes and marketing information are great. A nimbus is halo around an angels head and the connection to the monkey I am not quite sure about. However, this is one if not the best beer mascot I have seen. Next to the Boonville Beer of course (half deer half bear).
They had a large selection of only house beers on tap. Locals and nearby workers seemed to have made this their home base as it is out of the way and not something you stumble upon without looking. A more thorough review can be found here. Too bad I could not spend much time there this time.

T.I. Garden Update

After about a month, everything's up and thriving-- peas, potatoes,
carrots, multiple kinds of lettuce, chard, cilantro and radishes. Last
week's rain and our new close water source really got things up and
going. The photo shows the lettuce slice of the garden pie.

Anacapa Brewing

Anacapa Brewing is located in Ventura, Ca located on their main street just a few block from the pier. I had a couple of IPA's that were very good and clean tasting. The brewery had a very nice system out behind the bar. Truly this is how every brewpub should be for purely show purposes but logistically the brewer and bartender have a hard time sharing space.

The brew kettles were in the center with the fermenters on the right side of the bar and bright tanks on the far left side. I sampled several other beers that were all right on style. The seafood enchiladas were beyond delicious and full of fresh fish and scallops.

When traveling through Ventura or working there, which I may be doing, I will be sure to visit again. A near perfect brewery that I could easily call my home bar if I was local.

Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Farm

Many people have at some point come across ostrich on a menu before. I remember seeing ostrich eggs at the farmers market in Barcelona and eating ostrich recently in Cambodia. Ostrich is a red meat, not white meat as you may suspect. Most commonly I have seen ostrich served as burgers in several wild game areas of the US.

I came across Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Farm deep in Arizona on my way to Texas. It had the appearence of a tourist trap but I bet very few tourist pay the $5 to feed them. Hence my picture from a distance and over the fence.

Reality is that this farm had hundreds if not thousands of ostriches. It was a working farm situated right along the highway that offered monster truck tours. No telling how large it really was from my limited viewing but if I ever have time this would truly be an
experience to look into.

If you ever need ostrich egg shells or feather dusters then this is
your place!

Santa Barbara Brewing

Made a quick stop at this brewery for dinner. It was actually located within the farmers market I just posted about. The brewery kept losing power due to the fire a few miles away but I was still able to have a great burger and salad before getting back on the road. The did not bottle any beer so I did not get a chance to sample many of them.

The Beer list is below.

Santa Barbara Farmers Market

The day the fire started just above Santa Barbara last week I was driving a truck through on the way to Ventura. I had stopped for dinner and happened upon their weekly farmers market. The market was 2 city blocks long and in the closed street. Nearly all vendors were local farms with a few flower vendors spread through out. There were no prepared food vendors that I saw and a couple of "value added" booths with things like jams and sauces.

Since this market is in the warmer southern California there were many many varieties of avocados, blue berries, cherimoyas and other berries. Below are some of the berries that are in season . I was envious of the blueberries which have a season of about a month here in the SF Bay area.

Below is one of the many booths selling both large and smaller cherimoyas. If you have never one you search it out and give one a try. We fell in love with them in Costa Rica where we bought a bunch from someones yard and ate it for a week.