Red Cedar
More apocalypse, less angst
Equivalence.
There certainly is a great deal of darkness in the dense Congolese jungle — but its causes lie elsewhere, in the bright executive offices of our banks and high-tech companies. In order to truly awaken from the capitalist “dogmatic dream” (as Kant would have put it) and recognize this other true heart of darkness we should re-apply to our situation Brecht’s old quip from his Beggars’ Opera: “What is the robbing of a bank compared to the founding of a bank?” What is the stealing of a couple of thousand of dollars, for which one is sent to prison, compared to the kind of financial speculation that deprives tens of millions of their homes and savings, but whose perpetrators are then rewarded with state help of sublime grandeur? What is a local Congolese warlord compared to an enlightened and ecologically sensitive Western CEO? Maybe Jose Saramago was right when, in a recent newspaper column, he proposed treating the big bank managers and others responsible for the global financial meltdown as perpetrators of crimes against humanity whose right place is before The Hague Tribunal. Perhaps one should not treat this proposal merely as poetic exaggeration in the style of Jonathan Swift, but rather take it absolutely seriously.
Slavoj Žižek, Living in the End Times
Upcoming Garden Workshops
Just wanted to alert folks in East Van to the Cultivating Food, Cultivating Community workshop series being hosted by Village Vancouver at the Strathcona Community Centre. Check out the Village Vancouver events pages for more information!
Sunday, February 6, 2011 | 1:30–4:30pm
Food Crops: Selection and Care workshop with Grant Watson
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 | 7–9 p.m.
How to Create a Village in a City dialogue with Ross Moster
Sunday, February 20, 2011 | 1:30–4:30 p.m.
Food Crops: Selection and Care workshop with Grant Watson
Sunday, February 27, 2011 | 10 a.m.–2:30 p.m.
Seed Saving in the City workshops with Robin Wheeler and other BC Seedswomen
With beginning and advanced options.
Sunday, March 6, 2011 | 1:30–4:30 p.m.
Soil Fertility and Plant Health Management workshop with Grant Watson
Saturday, March 19, 2011 | 9–11:30 a.m.
Gardening for the Faint of Heart with Robin Wheeler
A great introductory course for those who are seeking to learn the basics of food growing.
Saturday, March 19, 2011 | 12:30–3:30 p.m.
Intensive Urban Microfarming workshop with Robin Wheeler
Learn strategies to maximize harvest in your urban garden.
Sunday, March 27, 2011 | 1:30–4:30 p.m.
Soil Fertility and Plant Health Management with Grant Watson
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 | 7–9 p.m.
Backyard Chickens 101 workshop with Duncan Martin
Musical envy
I’ve been feeling a pang lately, a sharp poke, a prod — whenever I hear about my former bandmates and other musician friends recording, playing shows, forming other musical projects. Like…. like I miss playing music I suppose. Like I miss being on stage once and awhile.
It’s been a long time since this photo was taken (ten years or so) at the Ukranian Hall in East Van – midway through the Flying Folk Army’s eight years of playing together. While we had many years of good times and close friendships, the band was also a lot of work (booking gigs, rehearsing, the whole music scene process) and as we slowly drifted apart and into other areas of our lives, it seemed fine to me to have a bit of a break from it all.
However. If I don’t have a musical project, then I just don’t play much at all – and because my life hasn’t allowed for another project (too busy, too much going on professionally), my fiddle and voice have gotten dusty and rusty. Instead of having some time to fortify, I have allowed my musical self to go fallow. Though Brian helps to nudge me every once and awhile (he is a much more eager player than me), I still find its fits and starts and then I put my instrument down for months at a time – lamenting each time I pick it up at how much my muscular development has suffered in the interim.
But lately, I’ve felt a real sense of loss about not playing – and I’m jealous of people who are. I’m jealous of my partner because he is writing music and I am not. And while I know I don’t have time for a full-blown band again, I’m thinking that starting a once-monthly song circle might be helpful to my process – and definitely going out and inculcating myself in open-mic nights and folk gigs again would help to inspire.
In the meantime, Brian and I are playing together again – we are working on a set list of ten+ songs and I’m hoping to find some time to write music again in the near future too. I feel hampered somewhat by the fact that my musicianship has never been great – but inspired by the fact that most of my favourite musicians would say the same. I mean – hell – what I really want to be able to do is jam with people regularly and bust out some tunes around the campfire…. So that’s what I need to find my way back to doing.
In the BookShed: Eco-yards
Eco Yards: Simple steps to an earth-friendly landscape
Laureen Rama
New Society Publishers
March 2011
It was some kind of perfect timing that this book ended up in my mailbox when it did – particularly given the Urban Crow plan to strip our front yard this spring and re-landscape in a more “natural” kind of way. Laureen Rama’s book Eco-yards is full of practical information, tips and design advice for just our situation – people looking to get rid of non-productive, non-ecological lawn space and turn it into something ecologically and aesthetically greater.
According to Rama, “An eco-yard is a landscape — usually the grounds around a home or a building — with a full, rich ecosystem that is healthy and alive. At the very least, an eco-yard causes no harm in its presence or by its care, to the environment. At best, an eco-yard enhances and restores the natural environment.” This stands in contrast to the current North American yard paradigm involving lawns (the larger the better) which are expensive to maintain and of only limited “use” to the humans and animals who inhabit our neighbourhoods.
In Eco-yards, Rama outlines the principles behind pesticide/herbicide-free gardening, restoring healthy soil through encouraging microbes, the recipe for good compost, water-wise practices, and techniques for building yard features with natural materials. With colour pictures, a functional index and a resource section in the back – this book can either be read end-to-end, or used as a reference to ecologically-friendly yard practices. Specifically, I really appreciated the tips about turning dug-up turf into bed-edging or berms, as well as the compost-tea brewing info – two things I know I’m going to bring into my yard this year.
Beyond the nuts and bolts – whichRama includes a lot of – this is a book with an exciting premise – which is that yards and neighbourhoods in even the most urban settings can be turned into lush and healthy ecosystems. Can you imagine what our city would look like if everyone did just that?
Red Cedar 