Damn - another two weeks gone by and no blog update. Well, there is enough backlog for several days, so here goes...



I worked a few days ago getting a new neighborhood nursery together for a Sunday opening. Proceeds from plant sales are to benefit a homeless program here in former military housing. I was a volunteer, but my co-workers were from various homeless or work-entry programs. Couple of tough gals and a Latino guy from Guanajuato. All of us bossed by a radical eco-activist type who had to run off to Berkeley for a refill with bio-diesel (his truck exhaust smelled like doughnuts)

I spent the morning on heavy lifting and moving, and we built a bamboo and fabric shade structure lashed together with hemp twine. Very third-world looking. After that I hand-labeling hundreds of little plastic plant name stakes. Among them was a batch for Self Heal plants (Prunela Vulgaris) - an herb with a myriad of medicinal properties. I liked the name - it seemed instructive, and a reminder that things weren't going to get any better just waiting for beneficial external forces.

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