Save the South!

Officials are saying the recent tornadoes that swept through Alabama and seven other Southern states this week have left damage at least as bad as the aftermath of Katrina. We can only hope that the disaster relief efforts will be better managed this time. I almost cried this morning after seeing pictures of the wreckage on the New York Times website.

This guy is standing on his front porch.

If like me, you're wondering how to help, here is a short list of organizations to consider donating to. Notice that the United Way is taking clothes and food, in addition to money. I am planning to send them a package of clothes next week. Let me know if you'd like to contribute.

United Way of West Alabama: 2720 Sixth St. No. 100, between Lurleen Wallace Boulevard and Capitol Park, 205-345-6640. The United Way could use donations of nonperishable food items, clothes, tarps, and feminine hygiene products. You can also make cash donations, all of which will stay local, by credit card at www.uwwa.org.

Feeding America: Feeding America distributes food to local food banks providing meals to states hit by the tornadoes. Donate to them here.

St. Mark United Methodist Church: 1421 McFarland Blvd., Northport, Alabama, 205-339-5990. The church is currently serving as a shelter for the displaced, and you can send it nonperishable food and clothes. If you're in the area, they could also use volunteers with medical training.

Red Cross: The Red Cross has already set up temporary shelters across the damaged states and is providing meals and medical assistance to families. As usual, you can donate $10 to their relief effort by texting "REDCROSS" to 90999. You can also donate online or by calling 1-800-RED-CROSS.

The Salvation Army: The Salvation Army’s Emergency Disaster Services is also providing food to the displaced. You can donate $10 to them by texting "GIVE" to 80888. To donate online, go to salvationarmyusa.org, and to give via phone, call 1-800-SAL-ARMY and say you'd like to designate your funds for the "April 2011 Tornado Outbreak."

This list came from GOOD magazine. More here.

Song(s) of the Week

My iPod gained about 100lbs this weekend and is now fat with new music. The sudden influx of tunes, combined with the sleepy gray skies in Boston, are making me indecisive. So this week there is a four-way tie for best song.

1. "When I'm With You" - Best Coast

This feels very 90s to me and rekindles my long-held dreams of being a rock star.

2. "Hurricane Season" - Trombone Shorty
New Orleans' golden boy does it again.


3. Dance Yrself Clean - LCD Soundsystem
This is a video someone made with Kermit the Frog singing. It's pretty rad. LCD Soundsystem played what they announced as their final show at Madison Square Garden on April 2nd. I'm really hoping they will make a comeback, and ideally one that coincides with the inevitable collective millennial mid-life crisis. What could be better than a new throwback dance album (with cowbells) to get us through hard times?

BTW, the song comes from the album This is Happening, a swell choice for the gym.

4. "Came Out of a Lady" - Rubblebucket
I can't get this song out of my head. You can download the new Rubblebucket album Omega La La on their website for free if you agree to promote the band on your Facebook page and send the link to four friends. The music is not otherwise available until June.

I'm not as high on the whole album as I am on this song but perhaps it will grow on me.

Happy Earth Day and Happy Pesach to all my favorite Jews!

Overcoming obstacles to growing your own vegetables and herbs

These notes are meant to compliment a presentation at the 2011 Boston Skillshare entitled No Space? No Cash? No Problem! Overcoming Obstacles To Growing Your Own Vegetables and Herbs.




When getting started with your first gardening project, think about it like a newspaper story. Be sure to figure out the who, what, when, where, why and how.

Who can help you?
What are you planting?
When will you start?
Where will you plant? Community plot, porch, sunny window, driveway?
Why? (this is an easy one)
How? Will you use grow lights indoors, vertical trellising on the side of your building or hanging containers on your porch?

Hot tips:
- Wash your containers before using or reusing. There could be diseases, bacteria, etc. lingering in there.
- Get your soil tested!!!! (UMASS Amherst)
- Learn about common pests, diseases
- Store seeds in the freezer
- Plants have different needs - know what your plants like best in terms of soil, light, etc. For example lavender like sandier soil and less water than a basil plant so your probably don't want to plant them together.
- Clean your tools. It's good for the tools and for preventing the spread of disease, pests, etc.
- Potted plants need fertilizer, especially perennials. Find out what your plants like best. A little side dressing of compost or worm castings (worm poop) usually goes a long way.
- Mulch is your friend. It helps keep soil moist and prevents weeds. You can use newspaper (no magazines please) or shredded leaves, among other things.
- While not absolutely necessary, planning, labeling plants, and tracking the success of your plantings is highly recommended.


More fun stuff

Acquire this book: The Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen

Make your own self-watering containers

Landless Gardening: Use a potato sack and put it anywhere! Make it yourself or buy a kit from Landless Gardening with everything you need for $20.

Living Wall
Living walls can be a great way to grow a lot in a small space inside or outside.

The Boston Gardener in Dudley Square carries the pumps, filters, and growing medium you need to build your own irrigated system. See a demo in this video:



Wallypockets are pre-made plant bags that you can mount on the wall and water like you would any potted plants.

Get a head start on the season with winter sowing. This involves making a tiny greenhouse so you can sow seeds outdoors in the late winter. Use milk jugs, takeout containers, and even clear plastic bags. More at WinterSown.org



Terrariums are fun and back in fashion. While they are most commonly made with ornamental plants, you could make a nice one with herbs.



Resources:

Allandale Farm
Boston Natural Areas Network
Container Gardening Guru
Garden Girl TV
Organic Gardening Magazine
RootSimple (By the authors of The Urban Homestead)
TruckFarm (what I was trying to show early in the session)
Urban Homesteader's League (Boston Area)
Urban Farm Magazine
Wormjava (order worm castings online to enrich your container plants)

Tracking the "T" and New Workout Songs

To revisit my constant love/hate relationship with the "T," Boston's subway system, I wanted to share this great website that Wyatt turned me on to. It's called HowFuckedIstheT? and it will tell you the average wait time for the red, orange, green and blue lines.

I guess the silver line is too f-ed to be included. The last time I took it to the airport it took almost an hour to get from South Station to Logan. I could have limped there faster.

In other news, Veronica and I discovered that Outkast Pandora is pretty much the best thing ever. Great for the gym as well as the kitchen. It brings up Biggie, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and lots of other songs I tend to forget about.



We've started a tradition of musical themed weekday breakfasts. By that I mean, we've done it once so far. Our trial run was a reggae-themed blueberry pancake breakfast and it was a fantastic way to start the day. We may never get up early enough to do it again, but we have plans for Destiny's Child, Outkast Pandora and Black Keys breakfasts.

New Panda Bear Album!

Noah Lennox, a.k.a. Panda Bear of Animal Collective has just released his fourth solo album Tomboy. You can listen to the entire album on NPR.

Review in Pretty Much Amazing.

New Animal Collective tracks from a 4/10 concert in Phoenix, AZ.

Bonus!!: Stream the entire new Tune-Yards album W h o k i l l here.

The Weeknd - "Loft Music"

This dirty little gem samples Beach House's "Gila."



You can download the entire album House of Balloons, on The Weeknd website.

Here's a little write up on the 20-year-old from Toronto from Rolling Stone.

Thursday, the new best day of the week?

Today, April 7th, 2011, was a pretty rad day. I'm hoping it will get even better and someone will agree to go to live band rock 'n roll karaoke with me.

At the Middle East Initiative today we hosted former constitutional lawyer and Salon.com Contributing Writer Glenn Greenwald. That guy is a truth telling badass. The title of his talk was "Undermining Our Own Security" and he spoke to the United States' "posture of continuous war" and the effect that has had on our foreign policy. It was all stuff I had heard before but he framed it so brilliantly. The crowd was super into him and the poor guy got mobbed by students and community members alike outside the auditorium. It will take me some time to pull the best quotes out of his talk, but I'll come back and do that.

This afternoon, after 8 weeks of walking around in agony, I was finally able to see a podiatrist. Good guy. He stuffed some more crap on my insoles and said I should be all set in a few weeks. I sure hope he's right. That G-D fourth meta tarsal is ruining my quality of life. As my Kentucky-born second Mom would say, foot pain is the bucket. The worst. Shit-tay-tay. I need to start riding my bike or I'll be committing mass genocide on the T.

Tonight I'll be wearing my radical hippie kid hat at the Boston Skillshare facilitator dinner. The Boston Skillshare is annual two day event where Boston's coolest and weirdest come out of the woodwork to share their unique talents. The whole thing is free. This year's schedule features sessions on stick and poke homemade tattoos, roadkill art, and make-your-own sex toys. I'll be teaching a slightly more conservative workshop on gardening with limited resources. If you have any good tips on recycling materials for gardening or container gardening, do let me know!

Lastly, today was the day that the last of the restaurants in Harvard Square put out their outdoor seating. The sidewalk scene has been growing in recent weeks and today even the sleepiest places busted out the chairs. It makes me want to put on my best skirt, FMPs, and drink fancy cocktails with the best of the rich bitches, particularly if I can also wear massive sunglasses.

A Sandwich Named "Awesome"

A little known fact about me is that I adore banh mi. Pronounced "bon-me", the traditional Vietnamese sandwich is made on a baguette with pickled carrots and daikon radish, chili peppers, paté, cilantro, mayonnaise and cucumbers. Popular fillings include chicken, ham, tofu and pork belly, but there are many variations. At New Saigon Sandwich in Boston's Chinatown, you can get a delicious banh mi for $3. The place is the size of a closet, but if it's a nice day and you can eat outside, it offers one of the best lunch deals in town. I'm not the only one who has figured this out. The place was written up in the Globe a few years ago. Still, I'm shocked by how many people know neither the delicious sandwich nor the Chinatown landmark.

Somewhat surprisingly, Hi Rise Bakery on Brattle Street in Harvard Square also makes a mean banh mi.

Today I was inspired to try and make my own. My roommate scored three free loaves of bread at our local bakery last night and, while I'm supposed to be eating super healthy right now (like maybe not stuffing my face with bread), I couldn't resist the opportunity to make my favorite sandwich. It was not super authentic, especially given that I did not use a baguette, but it was still an extremely satisfying sandwich.


Noelle's Quick and Dirty Banh Mi:

- toasted free bread
- mayo
- thinly sliced jalapeno, cucumbers and carrots* (the local Stop N Shop does not carry daikon)
- ham
- fresh cilantro

*I put up some carrot sticks in white wine vinegar in the fridge, which I plan to use in the next sandwich.

If you use tofu and sub the mayo for veganaise or chili or fish sauce, this can be an amazing vegan sandwich.