Carrot Moustache

Does this photo need any other words to go along with it?



This is another photo where Hikaru is showing off our cucumbers.

Carnivorous Plants and More

This weekend we went to the annual plant sale at the Huntington Gardens, and brought home a couple exotic new family members.



Hikaru wanted a carnivorous plant, so we got one. It's a Sundew. The nice thing about this plant is that we don't need to fertilize it; we only need to water it (with distilled water only). It feeds itself by the insects it catches.



Daddy got a herb called Stevia Rebaudiana (originally from Paraguay). It can be used as a sweetener.



However, stevia has had some controversy because it was banned in some countries. Why? It's been used in South America for centuries, but one might guess there is some special interest involved with non-sugar sweeteners. Stevia was only recently approved by the FDA in 2008. As far as we know, it's safe.

Backyard Food Update for May

It's mid-May now. After a slight break during the wintertime, our backyard solar food generator seems to be at work again. The sunshine has been making the plants grow. The lettuce is ready, so we've been eating lots of salad. Also, we've harvested some of our spinach.



The pea pods are this year's hit -- especially with Hikaru who enjoys eating them. He says that the peas are his "favorite".



The cumbers are "almost" ready, and we watch them transform from yellow flowers to cucumber that we can eat.



They are blowing up like a little green balloon. The change in size over the course of a day is quite noticeable.



And finally, here's an inside view of our carrot forest. This may be their last picture before they are eaten.

Plants Alive!

It sounds as if I'm really bored. But watching plants grow can be quite fun. Yes, really. For me, there's something fascinating about seeing the tendrils of a cumber or pea plant reaching out to grab and wrap around a wire or string.



Plants are very much living and moving creatures. This cucumber plant looks like Spiderman shooting out a web.



It's also not very hard to imagine tales like "Jack and the Beanstalk" when you see bean plans winding and climbing up a stick. In a couple days, it climbed about a 12 inches.

Local Green Gardening

Yesterday, we had our first meeting of a local group of neighborhood residents interested in "green" gardening. We met each other through a sign-up sheet coordinated by Jesse Chang during the Monterey Park Earth Day Festival.

We talked about our possible goals. Besides an organic gardening and seeds/plants exchange group, there were more ambitious visions of developing a local community food bank of fresh fruits and vegetables. Imagine all the food that could be generated from people's backyard gardens! Dream.



Then we exchanged some plants. I took some tangerine tree seedlings, and brought home a green grape tomato seedling and some compost. Wow! Maybe only true organic gardeners could get excited about compost material and seeing rabbit poop.

I'm looking forward to future meetings.

Butterfly Flights

April 30, 2011

sometimes we don't realize the power
in a life of illiteral butterfly flights
weaving inward converging timelines

they'll resonate what we're actually here for

dented shadows flow under water striders
miracle walkers of a midwestern stream
the moist earth smells of umber leaves
light glimmers passages between dreams

two hands scoop up yesterday's fragments
-- disconnected memories and shattered glass
a heart still healing under the california sun
forgiving the darkness for which we speak

in mockingbird voices for a sidereal song
primordial compositions imitate avian wings
on earthshine from a morning moon
flowering universes erupting

love beauty and so so many stars

© 2011 by WEb