How's everyone doing in the midst of all these fires? I hope none of them are too close? We're miles from any of them, but the air is still pretty acrid out there.

Hey Linda, no, didn't feel any quakes up here in Southern Ecotopia...altho we've had our share of 'em...in fact the 1906 (think that's the date) quake not only did major damage to The City, but also to many of the small cities in Marin, Sonoma and Mendocino counties, including Ukiah, the closest "city" I identify with (I live 15 miles north in Redwood Valley...no "city" around here). But I'm sure you heard about all the forest fires we had up here, many burning for over a month...called the "Mendocino Lightening Complex" fires, as there were over 1000 fires started by lightening in a 24 hour period. Well, guess you know it Linda, but unfortunately too many other folks don't... that NATURE BATS LAST! Anyway, just rambling a bit tonight...but want you to know how much I appreciate your good work down there in SoCal! And that I'm impressed with how well you organized this group. Wish you had been around when I created Ecopalooza Green Events Network group & the Ontario Canada/Northern Cali Green Events Network...could have got some advise in setting them up. I have a blog post from green LA girl blog I want to share here...better get to it!

I'm sure you all felt this one! (Well, maybe not you, Larry ) Hope everyone's ok, & no major damage? We just had a couple of HP Sauce bottles falling over - well, they're British, they're not used to this kind of thing! It definitely felt like a five here though.

There are now lots of Farmers' Markets marked on the group map!

There should be one not too far from where you live (Unless you're in Kern county, I'm afraid. ).

OK, I think I have a better plan. How does this look to everyone?:

Socal Green Map

OK, forget that last post! I can't seem to add extra pins to the Frapper maps anymore. I'm going to play around with Google maps, see if I can get that to work instead.

Hi folks! We now have a map set up on Frappr!

http://www.frappr.com/socalgreen

I'll slowly add the entries for restaurants & stuff, as I find the time, but in the meantime, feel free to add yourselves & anything else you can think of. (I'll also make a note of it on the group's main page, so you don't lose the link.)

Done!

Cool!  Say...call it The Green Arts (?),  in the 'specials' category? Linda, would you like to create it? Name it what you'd like...I'm not attached to above suggestion. Yay!

Excellent idea!

There must be lots going on around the place we could put in a thread like that. Possibly label it under 'specials'?

Hi Linda and all... I'd like to propose a new topic/thread for SoCal Green...the Arts & Nature (or some such title), where we could share info, news, events etc. on the topic. Why this came to mind is related to the arts (literary, poetry) and nature (celebrating a sense of place, watersheds, the Mendoland environment) event that I'm helping to organize up here in smoky Mendoland, Watershed Poetry Mendocino on Sept. 27th, in Ukiah/Upper Russian River Basin/Redwood North Coast). I know there are many SoCal poets, artists, etc., and arts organizations (eco-art/eco-poetry, etc.) and having a place here to share their info, poems (and poetry about green/nature) could be a neat thing, at least imho. One of the Watershed Poetry Mendocino committee members wrote a poem inspired by his childhood in SoCal, called "San Gabriel," that I'd love to share in this posssible new thread. I would also share the website of The Green Museum, based in oakland, but covering the eco-arts topic planet-wide: www.greenmuseum.org Let me know what you all think! Thanks! Peace & Green, Larry

LA Times 'Environment' and 'Top News' RSS feeds have now been added to the group's main page.

I hope everyone's OK in these storms we're having? The only casualty over here is a basil plant that's a bit worse for wear after being blown the wrong way off the balcony.

Hi every one,

I thought I´d share this with you, making my "début" lol, until I take a look at the topics...Seems, not participating for a while, has its impact. Been constantly on the move for a month or so, I need to familiarize myself again...

From the topic >>>Tea Link- Mongi F.--Sage tea 

Sage stems from Latin "salvare" or "salvere" and means: heal...
 


About sage: the legend tells: " When Mother Mary had to flee Herodes, she asked all flowers in the field, to help her . No flower granted her refuge. She bent down to "the" sage, and lo & behold, she found refuge. She hid with the "Child"  from Herodes and his serfs under the protecting leaves of the sage. He went past without seeing her. And when the danger was over, Mary came out and spoke to the sage: " from now on you´ll be a favorite flower of mankind... I give you the power to heal people from all deseases and rescue them from death, as you rescued me..." /...(So, who knows,  maybe true the impact, coz when you love something, you can make it bloom, open up and thrive. Like the power Mary gave to sage...).

Preparing sage tea:  above all no big quantity, you get the vertigo otherwise. The stuff´s strong! Not so though when seasoning a meal, no worry about the quantity...So I either soak the leaves the night before, so it takes but 5 min. to boil it in its own water. For half a litre, at the most a teaspoonful, i.e., 10 to 15 leaves. If I don´t soak over night, I crush the leaves between the palms of the hands into the receptacle full of water, boil for 3 min., leave covered for 10 min., use strainer, pour into a nice cup " ....OF  GLAS...." it´s part of it to see the color, strange red wine hue. Sweeten with honey, please a good one, the regular honey though...You have to find out, how bitter how sweet..So you have to boil it to extract the minerals out of it. Don´t worry, at the most the vitamins evaporate, NOT THE MINERALS, no matter how hot the water. And remember, we need way more minerals than vitamins, so if the vitamins kinda evaporate. (Press a carrot). GOOD DRINKING !..It´s all psyche, right ? So, if sipped in a calm environment, with some short bread from England...Now to close:

the substance SALVIN contained in sage acts like Penicillin against bacteria. Sage strengthens the palate when gargled with, leave it in the mouth for 1 min. or so... It´s very good against sweating at night...And a proverb says: Use frequently sage in your meal, and you´ll never be doddery !

Hey, Marie, it seems we missed an important holiday last weekend!: National Hanging Out Day

Hope you had your washing out to dry!

We're growing slowly, which is great to see. ( to all of you) I'd love this group to really take off though, so if any of you know any other Care2 members in the SoCal area, it'd be great if you sent them an invite!

I was in one of our local supermarkets yesterday (Gelson's), and noticed they had a big Earth Day display, right by the entrance. I was pretty impressed - I know it's a commercial thing, & they were just trying to promote some of their products, but I figured that at least word of Earth Day was spreading, & quite a few people who shop there probably have never heard of it before. Then I saw what they'd put on the display... It included disposable plastic cups, with just 25% recycled content, & little plastic wrapped packs of ten disposable, brightly patterned (dread to think what the inks were) paper napkins (which were at least 100% recycled)! Arrggghhhh!!!

Personally, I'd never introduce a predator. But if you have, for example, green flies in an area, chances are you're going to have ladybirds around too. Avoiding a monoculture will keep the number of green flies to a 'natural' level, and the ladybirds (ladybugs here in the US?) will do the rest.

I don't like the idea of predators because the predators do not kill the eggs and the long term problem. I also don't like trading the suffering of one creater to the hands of another. I don't like getting an ant eater to solve the problem of ants when cleaning up the food source is the better solution. With regards to aggriculture there are few cost effective solutions. As vegans we do the best we can and not try to be perfect. And introducing the predators just prolongs the problem but at least gets the blood off our hands. Daniel

Have a read through The Vegan Society's page on veganic gardening for ideas on how to deal with pests. Whilst using pesticides certainly isn't vegan, encouraging a healthy natural balance of pests and their predators is - accepting of course that, if you want the predators to stay, you'll have to put up with having a few of the pests still around! I'll post a few more veganic links in the 'native plant gardening' thread.

A vegan will do unto others. So killing the pests are far worse than preventing them. Any kind of pesticide that deters them would be far better than one that kills them. I have heard of people spraying tobacco water over plants and such thing to be helpful. You might try as a resource the Buddhists Monks and what they do. I saw the movie Seven Years in Tibet and could relate very well to the ambitions of the kind hearted people. Another option is a more controlled environment such as a green house. A vegan would rather control pests by starving them, than killing. Because starving is natures way of preventing future generations, which is the source of the long term problems. For this reason, a vegan will have a much more sanitary home, than a meat eater, as to prevent the pests from having the resources to over produce. I hope this helps, though your direct answer with regards to what to do with fruit flys, I don't know, because they are so mobile, unlike other pests. And cost is a considerable factor. What do fruit flies do? do they make the food ugly and not marketable? or do they completely devour the crop and make it uneatable by the growers? is this question pointed towards mass aggriculture or a home garden which is probably more labor intensive and less efficient? As far as the predators issue, if you keep your kitchen clean, then less pests, less predators, I would think. It all starts with the food sources and making them efficient and not set up in a way that invites problems. We have often gotten pests in our home; we never kill them, but instead clean the area, and walk the insects outside and hope they go and bother the meat eaters instead. The problem goes away pretty quickly and with little to no guilt. Daniel

Do most vegans view the eradication of plant pests and dastardly characters like black widow spiders and brown recluse spiders and fire ants to be cruelty to animals? If so, what do you do about saving the lives of infested fruit trees (for example)? I am very focused on growing as much of our own food as is possible on one acre, and pests can wipe out a whole orchard if left unchecked.

Ah well, my mind ain't what it used to be either!

Thanks Linda, for the kind words (of encouragement!). But I think you're wrong about this group being my idea...if my aging (gracefully, I hope...LOL) mind serves me correct, I believe we both synchronistically thought of it, after not getting any response from Meredith at the Los Angeles Healthy Living Alliance group. I miss the connection I had with Meredith (who I met in person in 2005 when I was living half-a-year in Van Nuys), wonder what happened to her at Care2. If anyone here is in contact with her, please say Hi for me (Thanks!). I appreciate your good green work and positive energy Linda! ~Cheers, Larry

Everybody, say a big 'hello' & 'thank you' to our new co-host Larry! He'll be lending a hand whenever he's not too busy with his wonderful website, Ecopalooza. (Oh, & this whole group was his idea in the first place. )

Hi, Daniel & Janice! Welcome to the group, guys, & thanks for joining. Yay! Three members already - that means we'll be listed on the main groups page now.

It's already occuring to me that some of the categories I've set up may need to be split up further (like food in LA County), and I haven't even got any members yet! I'll deal with that as & when, so feel free to post away, but don't be surprised if posts get split up & moved into 'sub-threads' at some point - they won't have disappeared!

Oh, & any ideas for the group are, of course, more than welcome!

Every group needs a chat thread!

This is a good place to post any questions you might have too...