What's Old Is New

One of my present tasks is to attend to thousands of well-kept magazines that my father-in-law left behind: National Geographic from 1918 onward, Life from the beginning to the end, Scientific American from the 1950s onward, Sky and Telescope from then to now, and so on and on. Among these larger lots are a handful of Organic Gardening magazines. Would any of you, readers and gardeners, be interested in one of a handful of lots of Organic Gardening magazine? Here's my pitch:

Old magazines are full of old printing techniques, laughable fashions, advertising with crude, unmerchantable copy, and outdated storylines. However, printing and fashions aside, Organic Gardening is 99.5 percent as fresh today as it was the year it was published. In fact, I leafed through one Rodale Press magazine from the 1940s the other day and was surprised to see the same problems and solutions printed then as you would see today (except their less than thorough take on sewage sludge as a fertilizer). Sure, the hybrid varieties touted then as an improvement may now be thirty years old, but the growing information is solid and the text is short and to the point. It's great to see articles on wild plant foraging, native plant gardening, chicken-raising, pickling, and all the other how-to know-how OG was known for back in the day that is de rigueur today.

Organic Gardening was printed as a half-sized edition of 8 x 5.5 inches. The paper used is nearly newsprint and yellowing from age, although each copy is fully bound and complete. You may notice the musty smell of an old magazine boxed in an old house -it's part of the charm. If you are interested in obtaining a year of OG, drop me a comment and email: nycgarden@gmail.com. It'll only cost you the shipping (USPS, flat rate).

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On March 1, 2015 I will discontinue posting on NYCGarden. You can continue to read new posts here.

What's Old Is New

One of my present tasks is to attend to thousands of well-kept magazines that my father-in-law left behind: National Geographic from 1918 onward, Life from the beginning to the end, Scientific American from the 1950s onward, Sky and Telescope from then to now, and so on and on. Among these larger lots are a handful of Organic Gardening magazines. Would any of you, readers and gardeners, be interested in one of a handful of lots of Organic Gardening magazine? Here's my pitch:

Old magazines are full of old printing techniques, laughable fashions, advertising with crude, unmerchantable copy, and outdated storylines. However, printing and fashions aside, Organic Gardening is 99.5 percent as fresh today as it was the year it was published. In fact, I leafed through one Rodale Press magazine from the 1940s the other day and was surprised to see the same problems and solutions printed then as you would see today (except their less than thorough take on sewage sludge as a fertilizer). Sure, the hybrid varieties touted then as an improvement may now be thirty years old, but the growing information is solid and the text is short and to the point. It's great to see articles on wild plant foraging, native plant gardening, chicken-raising, pickling, and all the other how-to know-how OG was known for back in the day that is de rigueur today .

Organic Gardening was printed as a half-sized edition of 8 x 5.5 inches. The paper used is nearly newsprint and yellowing from age, although each copy is fully bound and complete. You may notice the musty smell of an old magazine boxed in an old house -it's part of the charm. If you are interested in obtaining a year of OG, drop me a comment and email: nycgarden@gmail.com. It'll only cost you the shipping (USPS, flat rate).

Bearing Fruit

Around five o'clock this afternoon we were racing to get barbecuing items together for an evening at the beach farm with my father-in-law. He wasn't much aware of the garden on the beach and we thought we should show him before he leaves tomorrow. While there, why not cook some food after snacking on snap peas and broccoli florets, which, by the way, were a complete surprise. But my point is that we were not listening to the radio, and weren't aware that the interview would be broadcast this evening, having first heard of it via Marie, on FB, several hours later!

The snap peas have been bearing fruit, not the least of which is the interview with WNYC. You can read the blog post at Last Chance Foods. Happily I see that they included a link to both this here blog and my art work. Below is the audio of the interview with Amy Eddings.

I discovered a few things about pea pods this season. One is, the 'Sugar Ann' snaps do not always grow true -a few have been fruiting as snow peas. Another is that you must wait for the snaps to truly plump up if you want them sweet as can be. Also, I have one purple-flowered snap out of 25 white-flowered plants, and I see that I can foretell this by observing the purplish leaf axils that only the purple-flowered peas seem to have. If you're eating the greens in a salad, the purple flower sure dresses it up.

Mr. Plea Pants

Isn't that the name for a lame public defender? "Step up to the bench, Mr. Plea Pants."

This morning, on my way out to pick up the laundry, I stopped at the side yard. I see a cat resting happily on the plants (what else is new). I go in to chase the cat out and I notice something squishy under my foot. Looking down, lifting my rubber (thankfully) shoe, I see that I have put all my weight on a dead baby pigeon -or was it alive before I blindly stepped? Ack.

Upon my return from the corner laundry, I see sanitation workers yelling up at our building. Then they ask me if the pile of hypodermic needles in the truck came out of my garbage. Does it look that way? We have a neighbor on dialysis, but I have never noticed needles in the trash before. Finally, she hobbled out and denied they were hers. I told the sanitation worker that there is a clinic on Coney and the users pass by our place every day, and maybe they threw it in there. Who knows, and I get why he was upset. I would be too if I accidentally got stuck with one of those needles when I threw my trash in the pail. Sheesh.

The purple mic.

Fortunately, I had my taping at WNYC to look forward to, which I think went well, although I did have some issues. I may have said plea pants a dozen times. I also think that any dates I gave probably do not match up with any dates in reality. And a thought on taped interviews: do not make explanations overly complicated. It throws you off your game when the host looks at you as if to say, "I do not understand your explanation, are you aware that we are taping?" For example, when she asks you how you found the community garden your plot is part of, just say, "I was walking around and stumbled on it." Don't say, "My wife was away, I was bored, I saw the park in the Times, went there, stumbled on the garden, contacted the administrator, proposed an art project, I am an artist, they didn't know what to do with that, put me on the waiting list, then we got the plot." I'm what editors call "job security." The host makes it real easy for you, so keep it simple.

We didn't mention the blog at all, or I don't remember it coming up. If it hadn't come up, I think I understand why, now, as I thought about it afterward. Media isn't interested in media stories, it's interested in people stories. Talking about blogging is a little 2007, and WNYC doesn't really want to talk about that. What they really want is the personality and their story, revolving those around a central motif. The blog may be linked on their website after the segment airs.

Pre-tape photo op.

Amy is very personable and made me as comfortable as I could be. She read her lines the way butter melts on hot bread and said my tricky name without pause. She smiled when I stumbled over pea plants. The producer, Joy, is a lovely, cool-headed professional, who was apologetic about a minor delay in our taping time. For those of you in on this, I wrapped it up with "Thanks for having me." Not my favorite, but does happen to flow right off the tongue. 

And I just made my pledge.

Afterward, I was in a bit of a conversation with myself, and somehow found myself training over the Williamsburg Bridge. What? I've never gotten on an M (or V) train unintentionally. I saw that it stopped short of the front of the W4th St. station, but just got on anyway. Oh, well -I decided to get off at Marcy and walk to the G train since I would have to pay again anyhow. Has someone else I know done this recently?