Doin' the (hrrp, hrrp) Pigeon....

Doin' the (hrrp, hrrp) pigeon, doin' the (hrrp, hrrp) pigeon, doin' the (hrrp, hrrp) pigeon everyday!

For those of you for whom the above means absolutely nothing, see Bert from "Sesame Street" - how could one not love him?!  And if anyone has a better way to transliterate the shrillish pigeon-y trill or coo or whatever one calls those gutteral sounds that emanates from pigeons, feel free to suggest a better alternative to my "hrrp".

Anyway, that is all simply a lead-in for me to post photos of our little visitor from Sunday past, a few days ago.  A young one, clearly, still brown - before the worries of the world turn his feathers grey.  I was inside, with the inner terrace door open, and did not want to frighten him by going out, so all of the not-so-good photos are taken through the glass outer door.  And, unfortunately, he took the most interest in the planter immediately to the side of the door, so the angle is not the best either.

He seemed to be pecking at some things - not sure what is in there.  "Fingernail" flower seeds?  Hopefully he left some to germinate, although in all likelihood I will be rescuing some from my mama's garden anyway.  The only other life in there seems to be the allium - leaves only.  Everything else seems to be weedy.  Oh!  I forgot all about the "angel hair" vine!  Its seeds will have dropped too.  (Ok, here it might be handy to have the encyclopedic botanical knowledge of Marie from 66squarefeet so I could refer to plants by something other than their colloquial Vietnamese names that I learned from my mama.  But so be it - there is only so much I can hold in the noggin, and financial security dictates select provisions of the Internal Revenue Code get to occupy at least some of the noggin where botanical names might otherwise take up residence.)

That afternoon started out nicely - I went and had a belated birthday lunch with a friend, and it was very nice in the sun, but a bit nippy in the shade.  I had grand aspirations of getting a lot done - chiefly, adding compost around the roots of the blackberry bush, maybe around the lime leaf tree too.  But by the late afternoon when I got to it, between the lack of sun on my north-facing terrace, and the wind, oh the wind!, it was just too cold.  So I cowered indoors, with the inner door to the terrace open for light.  And that's when our pigeon friend alighted.  I couldn't help but think he might be a bit chilled too, poor thing.  He seemed to like that the soil in the planter had sunk to the point where the rim of the planter would offer not indecent protection from the strong breezes.  But then he flew off, as they all must.

Hopeful someday soon we will have a repeat of Friday - which was truly, truly marvelous - the bestest of spring in New York City.

"The Rooftop Growing Guide: Redefine the Urban Skyline"

Good, inspirational talk (recapping now +7 days).

It was hosted by the Lowline Lab, a space I had read about and had been wanting to visit, so the topic and setting were just fantastic.  And, last Sunday was a lovely, lovely spring day - somewhat warmer than average in NYC, but a perfect day to get outside, and take the bus, and stay above ground.  And it was free too - bonus!

Moderator/speaker was Annie Novak (of Eagle Street), other speakers were Anastasia Cole Plakias (of Brooklyn Grange Farm) and Nicole Baum (of Gotham Greens).  Since I had only heard extensively of Brooklyn Grange, it was nice to learn of the other farming efforts, and reinforcing to know there are others out there doing this - on whatever scale.  The talk tended more toward the organizational issues of setting up the operations than tangible, applicable tips, but still interesting and worthwhile, and good to know there are resources out there.

Anastasia, Nicole, Annie

On the other hand, as interested as I am in all of this, it did smack of a millennial, hipster-y effort, and having never encountered any of the produce in my local supermarket, or even the local farmer's market, I have no idea how much it all costs, and, as they rightly acknowledged, whether it helps any underserved communities is a question.  But someone has to start somewhere.

The free sample of Gotham Greens lettuce has been quite tasty - a good example of hydroponics.  Of course, impossible to ignore the slight tension during the talk between the soil-raised and hydroponically-grown camps.  But in my book, at this still early stage, if it can help to provide a blueprint for consideration to fix food deserts and transport/delivery carbon fuel consumption, it is better than what we've been doing.... So, go ladies!

The talk also made me wonder whether I would ever have the guts to abandon my safe path for something more risky - pursue the fantasy.  Opportunity for self-contemplation.

Now for some photos of the Lowline - a really interesting concept.  (Of course, again, my skeptical, questioning, realistic tendencies wonder whether the concept can be feasibly implemented...  How I turned out to be a gardener given this healthy does of critical realist tendency in my personality is quite paradoxical.  I remember at the end of "The First Four Years" by Laura Ingalls Wilder, she wrote of the ever-optimism of the farmer, constantly subject to the whims of nature.  The ladies at the talk raised the same point.  And despite my realism, here I am, hoping to grow stuff that will survive in too-little sun, too-much wind, not-warm-enough containers....)

Bounty of Summer

From a few weekends ago - the perfect late summer lunch.  Post is a bit belated, but better late than never....

Panzanella of Husky Red tomatoes (those did pretty well in their planters), a very few pink-y Patio tomatoes (those did not do so well; thinking I should move their planter for next year - switch spots with one of the hydrangeas, and maybe they will get more sun and do better), and, of course, part of the forest of kinh doi.

Will go ahead and just make this public - part of my attempt to just do, and maybe think a little less.  Sometimes, getting something done, even a little, partial something, is better than trying for the full-on, perfect thing - that may never get done.  Birthed it, letting it go - happily, in the world of blog posts, there is always another day for another post to add/amend.

In the Blink of an Eye

You snooze, you lose.  Take a little bit of time, and it all changes. 

In the garden, one day it is ripe and delicious-looking, ready to eat (even if there were only 4 of them, barely enough for a taste)...

Long beans - ready for harvesting

...and a day later, it is aged and turned to seed.

Sad, dried, shriveled long beans, post-harvest

The most lovely, new, perfect little bitter melon blossom can shrivel in the wind and fall off by day's end.

And then, par for the course in New York, a lovely, serene river view can disappear into the big black hole behind uber-luxury high rise development before you ever get a chance to really enjoy it.  (Funny thing, all those super-rich people who buy into all those fancy schmancy new buildings seem to want that same river view that formerly belonged to their more modest-height, older construction neighbors.... Well, I guess to be fair, my sliver of river view only came about to begin with because the developer knocked down the predecessor building to put up his big new behemoth; it was only ever going to be mine temporarily - it suddenly appeared one day, and then a few months later, gone.)


So the takeaway is: Carpe diem - Seize the day!  Try to live in the moment.  Act quickly.

Easy to say, hard to do.  Hence, my continuing search for balance....

(Which would include, among other things, this blog - a hobby to keep track of a hobby, a way to get a little more tech-savvy, and today, trying to figure out why I can't add more photos to this post - and not succeeding at that, but going ahead and publishing anyway... letting this go.)

In the Beginning....

So this is it - my inaugural test post, my foray into blogging.  Yes, I am a little behind the times.  It is 2015 and the medium has been around forever.  A little slow to the party here... testing it out, seeing whether I like it enough to keep it up.  Joining the 21st century and getting with this whole tech/social media phenomenon - seems like it's going to stick, that trend....

As one of my first acts as a member of the blogging community (ha!), I posted my first ever response to a blog - 66squarefeet (plus) - which I love to check into every now and then.  Not many good urban/city garden blogs out there.  Or maybe I just haven't explored enough, which could very well be.  But 66squarefeet (I wish I could do exponentials) is relatable - for someone in the city; not a Martha Stewart-esque, aspirational, requires several acres or hectares to achieve sort of site.  Nice and more manageable, and true to an urban garden and its experiences.  Perhaps blogger courtesy and etiquette would require me to link to that blog, but since I am still testing, I don't know that this is quite mature enough to support someone else's blog. 

I would say, though, that, much as I enjoy that blog, 66squarefeet's Marie is clearly someone who did NOT grow up in a city, or, at least, not New York City (and that becomes pretty evident upon reading her writing) - she knows far too much about plants, and all the true botanical names (oh my!).  To forage in the city takes more courage, or willful blindness to the inherent griminess, than anyone who actually grew up in the city could ever hope to develop.  I sense she does not have the residual childhood fear and trauma of encountering, frequently, grass (sidewalk strip grass patches, tree pits) full of piles of dog poo en route to school each morning - associating that unpleasantness with grass (this is what happens when one has limited experience with grass, and very few encounters with privately-owned grass), such that one's instinct is to avoid it or to look down to ensure no stepping into said piles of (hiding) poo.  The traumas of a child raised in the city :)

One day, we may explore that topic more deeply.  But let's leave that where it is.  

Definitely not a good first post to link to 66squarefeet.  Much as I enjoy her blog, there are elements that I cannot relate to - and my parents moved to quasi-suburban northeast Queens in my teens, so I would say I am even more nature-inclined than the typical New York City kid.  But I do hope she has had a good move to the Brook!

Seems every inaugural blog post should have an inaugural test photo.... It is late; there is no light; only the solar lanterns emit anything at all.  Quite nice out, actually, cool and breezy - fantastic sleeping weather for August, throw open the windows weather!  A nice, quick jaunt out to capture the shot, before putting myself to bed so I can get back to the lawyering in the morning - well, in a few hours.  Sigh.