Oil

Louisianans are “angry, they’re frustrated, they’re feeling helpless, but they still understand that it is part of the culture and the fabric of the economy,” said Representative Charlie Melancon, whose district encompasses all of the areas where oil has come ashore. “It is what it is.” (NY Times, "Despite Leak, Louisiana Is Still Devoted to Oil" By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON Published: May 22, 2010)

Clearly it's up to the rest of us to change that culture.
That being said,

"ANCHORING CHANGE IN A CULTURE
COMES LAST, NOT FIRST. Most alterations in norms and shared values come at the end of the transformation process.
DEPENDS ON RESULTS: New approaches usually sink into a culture only after it’s very clear that they work and are superior to old methods.
REQUIRES A LOT OF TALK: Without verbal instruction and support, people are often reluctant to admit the validity of new practices.
MAY INVOLVE TURNOVER: Sometimes the only way to change a culture is to change key people.
MAKES DECISIONS ON SUCCESSION CRUCIAL: If promotion processes are not changed to be compatible with new practices, the old culture will reassert itself." - John P Kotter

And I think we're out of time

Lessons in urban farming #1 & 2

Lesson 1 - Locally grown
Everything I buy at Portland Avenue Nursery is stunningly better quality- if a fraction more expensive - than the same bought from the big box or chain supermarket. Hands down, every time. Healthy plants, grown locally (read acclimatized), in season. I buy a plant from the big box or chain supermarket now only if I don't care that much whether it survives.
Lesson 2 - Sod
This one I have only heard about - too late. If you're turing sod into garden, go out & buy a bag of soil, plop it down on top of the grass, cut it open & plant in it. While your garden is growing, the plastic bag is smothering the grass underneath. In the fall, pull the plastic out & till. Sure wish I'd done that....

Lessons in urban farming #3

Lesson 3. Chicken tractors (Lessons 1 & 2 to follow. Immediacy trumps history.)

Glowing descriptions by Michael Pollan of Polyface Farm, and recommendations of other chicken farmers notwithstanding; consider carefully the mix of chickens' inexhaustible excrement (see previous post) and toddler play area.

The idyllic model of the mobile chicken run that gives the chickens access to a continuously replenished source of bugs and little green sprouts, while simultaneously fertilizing next year’s garden or pasture does not compute on a 3,000 square foot city lot.

We are now considering dog-kennel fence panels which, while more permanent than the wheeled tractor, still will not require the sinking of new fence posts. It will, however require the transplanting of one rose bush and a ton of deep purple iris, and reassessment of what gets planted on the other side of the portion of fence that will be shared with the garden. I WAS planning on using that fence for the peas to climb on…

Oh, and should I mention money? $5/dozen for the free-range organic eggs at the farm stand no longer seems quite so extravagant. But consider it the price of an education.

Chickens

Turns out every idiom involving chickens is true:
Chicken s**t (it never ends!), Chicken-hearted, Chicken feed (they are quite happy with the dregs: weeds and cores and peels), Chicken out (although not with the same meaning that we use it), and of course, like a headless chicken...

We bought a mix of brown layers. We wound up with (I'm guessing, they're still young) 5 aggressive White Orpingtons, 3 very sweet Buff Orpingtons, a gorgeous Black Australorp and a hen-pecked (see what I mean?!) Dark Cornish. I keep trying to give extra treats to the Cornish, but she skitters into the crowd, and one of the Whites invariably gets it.

Today I dropped one of our extraordinary (i.e. huge) nightcrawlers at the feet of the Black and a Buff. They hesitantly pecked at it, but shied away when it moved. "It smells like worm, and it tastes like worm, but it looks like snake." A white finally took over. "If you're not going to eat it, I will!"