Welcome to The Good Green Gardens. Here, you will learn how to prevent the encroachment of The Lawn and encourage organisms in their struggle. I have not been a gardener on my own for long, but that I come from a long line of gardeners and farmers and thus, have been gardening for as long as time can remember. I hope these little tips will help all of you budding organic farmers and hydroponic experimenters.

My grandfather once told me that “All real gardeners hate grass.” This doesn’t mean that a bit of grass growing here and there between the flagstones isn’t pleasant enough, but the blasted stuff will try to grow anywhere and everywhere, so you’d better be prepared to work against it. The following advice was given to me by Mr. Robert Waldrop, Oklahoma City Catholic Worker and proprietor of several excellent websites concerned with justice and stewardship. I here paraphrase Mr. Waldrop’s lesson in how to make a garden when all you have to work with is a lawn. Note that this is emphatically only the first several steps.

1. Lay down 3 or 4 inches (8 centimetres or so) of mulch* (not compost) in about the size and shape of your desired garden, right on top of the grass. My first garden was maybe 5 by 10 feet (1.5 by 3 metres) and I was quite able to care for the whole thing. (*Mulch includes dried leaves and grass clippings, and other such dried, dead vegetable stuff. Most areas (such as Arlington, VA) have places where you can get mulch absolutely for free. Check your local community for more information.)

2. Put some brown cardboard on top of this. I know how this sounds, but trust me. Try not to use cardboard that has lots and lots of printing on it. None of the glossy stuff that personal computers and plastic dollhouses come in, either. The cardboard keeps ground plants from coming up, for the most part.

3. Surround the bed with logs* or use lumber and your own carpentry skills to build some basic walls for the bed. I’ve also used stones, as they can be more aesthetically pleasing. Make sure the cardboard is under this barrier. (*If you do not live in a wooded area, firewood can be handy here, although there is the risk of insect infestation. I once scared up a whole swarm of stinging something-or-anothers when I was moving around the wooden barriers on my garden. No permanent damage, but be prepared to create an environment friendly to life in all its forms.)

4. Put down another couple of inches (~10 cm) of mulch (dried leaves and grass-clippings) on top of the cardboard.

5. Top this with about an inch (~5 cm) of soil mixed with compost. There is no science to this mix, but a little less compost than soil is probably best.

6. Plant your seeds into this layer of soil/compost, and then lightly mulch. Of course, if you are setting out plants/seedling, then mulch much heavier around the plants. Once the seeds sprout and poke through the mulch, add more mulch around the new baby plants, being careful not to bury them alive.

7. As you build the beds, you should also put cardboard over the paths between them, and out a couple of feet from the outer boundaries of the beds. Cover that what mulch, deeply, 3 or 4 inches. Don’t use leaves here, though, use wood chips or grass clippings. This cardboard will help with weeds and grass.

8. Lie down in your new garden, but don’t crush your new plants. Enjoy the soil and be prepared to get your hands dirty.

For the most part, beds made in this fashion will never need tiling. As long as you keep them well mulched, this attracts earthworms and they do the tilling for you. Oh, and the older such beds are, the better. Just be sure to completely dig up whatever plants die at the end of the season or whenever and keep the mulch coming. If your soil seems lacking, add a bit more, always mixed with compost.

Upon playing our show at Black Cat on Feb. 10th - we came back to find out that our favorite Diner, BOB & EDITH'S (location 2 - a.k.a. "the big bob & e's" is permanently closed. We made due with some late night meals at the small BOB & EDITH'S ... but it quite not the same. One familiar face in the waiter working filled us on some of the other smiling waiters that would greet us on our previous visits to location 2. A particular waitress we inquired of was Nancy, the mayan goddess of good fortune, who was no longer to be found... however it is rumored that she returned to the yucatan peninsula. One can only hope life is good there and she will be one of the many missed from our favorite Diner in recent times. R.I.P. Bob & Edith's Location 2. You were good to us. Tonight's meals: Hamburger Steak w/ Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans, Grilled Cheese, and a legendary Bob & Edith's Tuna Melt.

A most extraordinary beveridge, the habanero margarita at Barriochino in New York's lower east side, leaves one satisfied in all senses. The heat of the habanero satisfies craving for intensity. The well-balanced tequila sets aside one's concerns in just the right proportion. A large slice of sweet grapefruit tempts with a strangely soothing bitterness. After much careful research, it has been determined that 4 of these beverages consumed in an evening is the correct number to yield a very pleasant and happy drunkeness.

Falukorv is a traditional Swedish sausage. The word’s literal meaning is “Sausage from Falun”. Its history reaches back to the copper mine of Falun during the 16th and 17th centuries, where ox hide was used for wires and some of the meat remaining after slaughtering was used for sausages. The meat was smoked and salted.

The tradition of preparing the meat in this way was revitalized in the late 19th century by butcher Anders Olsson, whose initiative led to the development of the modern Falukorv, which uses a mixture of pork and beef or veal. Falukorv, often served with pasta or potatoes, is today one of the most popular dishes in Sweden.

A fine meat to taste if you ever visit the northern lands. For those with a more North American taste think of it as balogna but much more exquisite and tasty. Like “gourmet balogna”? Sort of… Delicious nonethless.

The ripe fruits are golden-yellow, soft and juicy, and are rich in vitamin C. When eaten fresh, cloudberries have a distinctive tart taste. They are often made into jams, juices, tarts or liqueurs. In Finland the berries are eaten with “Leipäjuusto” (a local cheese) and much sugar. In Sweden, they are also used as an ice cream topping. In Canada, cloudberries are used to flavour a special beer. Canadians also use them for jam, but not on the same scale as Scandinavians.

Due to its high vitamin C content, the berry is valued both by Nordic seafarers and by Canadian Inuit as protection against scurvy. Its high benzoic acid content acts as a natural preservative. In addition, tea made from cloudberry leaves was used in ancient Scandinavian herbal medicine to cure urinary tract infections.

Rodrigues Winery in Newfoundland has made a delicious and award-winning wine and liqueur from these berries. Dogfish Head Brewery has made an Arctic Cloudberry Imperial Wheat beer, which was inspired by the cloudberry lambic dubbed Soleil de Minuit made by Brasserie Cantillon for the Akkurat pub in Stockholm.