the urban field guide

Aurora Borealis Inspired

theurbanfieldguide — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:13:49 +0000

Now that I’m further North I’m even more inspired to get to see this amazing phenomenon. Have you seen it?

Pottery Love

theurbanfieldguide — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:26:16 +0000

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted. I’m walking around and see hundreds of pictures I want to share here, and have a huge list of links to post about. So what’s the hold up? I’ve been so busy starting my business, and then also starting up a new neighborhood health clinic, that when I have free time I just want to run around in the SUN while it is graciously visiting Portland! But I miss it here, and when I saw these ceramic pots over at Design Sponge this morning I had to share. Check out this lovely work by tw pottery:

london’s chewing gum artist, ben wilson

theurbanfieldguide — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 21:19:29 +0000

The NY Times has a great post today on the art of Ben Wilson, London’s resident chewing gum artist. He works tirelessly with a blow torch, some lacquer and his paints to create tiny pieces of art throughout the city from blobs of old chewing gum stuck to the pavement. It’s a sweet article, that you should definitely check out. I really appreciate his process and commitment.

anna garfoth

theurbanfieldguide — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 22:07:59 +0000

You know The Urban Field Guide is loving the work of Anna Garfoth! I’m so grateful to the always inspiring blog My Love For You Is A Stampede Of Horses for introducing me to her work!

I love her mediums in these photos: masking tape, leaves and moss.

miss moss, and life on the farm

theurbanfieldguide — Tue, 24 May 2011 04:20:50 +0000

I follow the blog Miss Moss pretty regularly and am always enamored with her posts. A while back she posted these gorgeous photographs by Nina Leen that she found in the Life magazine archives. I wanted to repost them here for you to enjoy.

plaid pigeon’s exciting planters!

theurbanfieldguide — Fri, 06 May 2011 21:19:30 +0000

I’m pretty much in love with these right now, of course that they are brightly colored and it’s another grey day here in Portland definitely helps. These cute planters are the creation of etsy shop Plaid Pigeon from Austin, TX.

plant pallets and kokedama

theurbanfieldguide — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 17:49:15 +0000

Sorry the posting has been a little slow around here! Spring has me back in motion and my days have been filling up. Lots of changes around here! But I have seen two tutorials in the past week or so that I am in love with so I want to share them with you. If you make either please send me a picture! I’d love to see your work! The first is a great tutorial on how to build a pallet garden, which is absolutely perfect for small gardens and can really add some vertical interest to your green space.

For the complete tutorial click here to go to the great blog, Life on the Balcony.

The other tutorial was posted on Design Sponge last week by guest blogger Aura Scaringi, who lays out in really great detail with lots of pictures, how to build a string garden, or kokedama. This post has created a new obsession for me so I’m sure you’ll be seeing more about that art form soon! Have fun!

NY: City Bus Gardens

theurbanfieldguide — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 19:10:40 +0000

So I’m sharing this story with you via the facebook page of Pistil’s Nursery, who linked to Urban Gardens blog. And I love, love, love this living roof on city busses project by Marco Antonio Castro Cosio. For the full article, go here. But I have to point out his inspiring dream of turning all the city busses in NY into rolling green scapes, which would create 35 ACRES of additional green space to the city.

Currently Reading: Keeping Bees & Home Dairy

theurbanfieldguide — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 02:54:54 +0000

I’m so excited to be finally getting to read the second half of Ashley Adams English’s Homemade Living Series, Keeping Bees and Home Dairy. The first half of the series were the books Canning & Preserving and Keeping Chickens, remember? I admire Ashley; her blog Small Measure is fantastic, she has an informative and fun regular column on Design Sponge, and she is all around a sweet generous person. I like that in an author!

What I love about her books is, well, everything. The design is great – from the deceptively simple covers, to the colors inside the books to the excellent photos. There is a consistency in these books that lends a supportive feel to the newbie embarking on bee keeping for the first time, or to the city dweller about to make their first batch of ricotta cheese. There’s something about Ashley’s work that just makes you feel like she gets it. She gets how to present information so you actually feel like you can pull off whatever project you are reading about. The photos are clear, instructive and well styled – a hard triptych to find!

The books are the perfect blend of super nerd (and I say that with high regard) with a great and somehow not boring at all comprehensive history of beekeeping and dairy farming, and extremely practical salt of the earth type advice and instruction. If you just want to read about these topics you’ll be happy. And likewise if you are wanting to buy the book (here) and then immediately begin building hives or making your own yogurt that day, well you will be happy as well! Each book in the series also has a bunch of recipes that are drool worthy in the back. Lovely. Another feature that I love is that each book has profiles of beekeepers or dairy makers scattered throughout, and their stories and advice are well worth reading. It’s hard for me to keep this review concise because I feel like these books are so dense and thoughtful that ultimately I would like to point out all the little details. But I’ll let you explore!

The series is published by Sterling Publishing and Lark Press, are hard cover and are extremely reasonable priced. They will be well used, I assure you.

Herbal Support For Radiation, Wise Words from Dori Midnight

theurbanfieldguide — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 03:59:46 +0000

A few weeks back I wrote a post about the ever so lovely and wise Dori Midnight. I feel honored to have received a guest post from her to share with you today. In lieu of her regular full moon letter she has sent the following letter to her West Coast friends. It is reprinted here in full. I am hoping that Dori will continue to share her insights and adventures here at The Urban Field Guide. To visit her blog for further reading please go here. And please share this letter widely, the content is important and poignant.

Hi West coast friends,

We are living in some intense times- the earthquake and nuclear failings in Japan is just part of it. This is not my usual full moon letter (it’s not the full moon!), but a just little peep about things you can do to help support your body (and spirits) right now. As you’ve probably heard, there may be some radiation moving across the pacific in the next weeks heading towards the west coast from Japan. To keep going, be alive, and not shut down, we need courage, nourishment, and support- make a pot of soup! (and can I be a grandma for a minute and say if you haven’t made an emergency kit, please do?)

I will be posting more recipes and some herbal first aid/community healing basics on my blog this week. If you have friends or family in Japan or Hawaii, you can pass this along to them too.

Your friends:

1. SEAWEED: eat nori, put wakame, kombu, and hijiki in your soups and stews. The iodine in kelp helps draw out the radiation and protect your thyroid from radioactive uptake.

2. MISO: good medicine full of live cultures, amino acids, minerals, and protein. I’d recommend making a big pot this week, having a bowl everyday and feeding it to all your friends- recipe follows.

3. MUSHROOMS: strengthen your immune system with some shitake mushrooms, sauteed or in soups.

4. Eat vegetables, especially DAIKON radishes and BURDOCK root- stick them in your soup too or make a shredded salad (recipe below). Daikon has been used for drawing out radiation, post nuclear fall out- it’s cooling and detoxifying.

5. BATHS in epsom salt and baking soda (1 lb of salt, with a bit of baking soda 2x week)

6. DRINK lots of WATER

7. IMMUNE support: do the things you know boost your immune system- sleep well, eat garlic and Vitamin C rich foods, and go easy on the sugar.

8. LOVE: send prayers, love, healing thoughts for those who need it most. Instead of freaking out or shutting down, let your anger, fear, and grief flow- it’s what makes us human and feel connected to what’s going on in the world right now. Crying is a potent way to detox, friends.

9. HERBS: if you want to get herbal, some great allies are nettle tea, cilantro (eat a lot of it or take a tincture- it helps draw heavy metals out ), and milk thistle (helps your liver process toxins). Also Yarrow Environmental Essence from FES is a beautiful formula to support the body in environmental disasters.

RECIPES:
Magical Medicinal Miso Soup
Saute one onion, sliced thin, til translucent. Add water, seaweed of choice (I like Kombu and Wakame), shitake mushrooms (dried or fresh), burdock root, carrots, and any other hearty roots you like. Simmer for 25 minutes.
I like to add shredded or sliced ginger near the end, so it’s strong, and some garlic, which I like really strong. You can also add greens, like kale or spinach. Simmer another 5 minutes.
Because you don’t want to boil your miso, I usually put a large dollop of miso paste in my bowl and then pour the broth on top to dissolve it.
Drink and offer bowls to all your loved ones and neighbors, kiddos and pets, family and friends.

Get your Daikon
Easy Shredded Salad
Shred carrot and daikon radish (2-3 roots)
Mix with sesame oil and a little umeboshi vinegar (also a great medicine!), sesame seeds, whatever fresh herbs you’ve got on hand (I love mint or cilantro), and a little tamari. Eat and feel alive and well thanks to the plants, the sun, the water and the farmers.

Take good care, my lovely friends!

With love,
Dori

******Note: Dori has added even more on to this letter, especially focusing on the emotional healing work with a little fermentation thrown in. Because we all know true emotions are a little pickled… please go to Midnight Apothecary to read more. Very useful and thought filled information.