unless you are a plant lover, especially herbs such as rosemary, lavender and basil, you might not have heard of this great herb grower and man.

he died early this year, aged 69. In 1999, he was diagnosed with early onset of Alzheimer’s disease, he was only 57 then.

he was once called the best “rosemaryologist” in the US. he dedicated a gold-edged leave variety to his wife, Joyce DeBaggio, but he could suddenly not remember the name of the plant he grew so successfully and loved the most.

he has written books on his love and knowledge of plants: “Growing herbs from seed, cutting and root”, “Basil, an herb lover’s guide” and with Arthur Tucker “The big book of Herbs”.

but he also wrote incredibly touching and educational books on his disease: “Loosing my mind – an Intimate look at life with Alzheimer’s” and “When it get’s dark”.

I recently read “Loosing my mind” where he goes back and forth between his past memories, the painful present and add lots of information on the disease and medical research.

quote

The diagnosis, with little or no workable therapies to stop it, was a sentence of death as surely as birth, but more immediate.

I am running after thoughts all day. Ideas evaporate like snowflakes on a hot tin roof. A few years ago I felt as normal and was as sharp mentally as my thirty-five year old son. Now, I can’t remember his age or do the math in my head to figure it out. My mind is starting to break down. I have to wait like a hunter to capture a thought, it is tough work all day but it often flits away before I can put it on paper.

I want to cry and I do, but it is a peculiar sound, like a man choking to death. I want to scream but it won’t come. Where did my voice go?

As I sit in the waiting room for the doctor, I realize I am here at the edge of failure and of hope.

I have grown plants, herbs, and vegetables mostly, since I was six and for the last twenty –five years commercially. As a job, this activity allowed me a close look at the life and death of other species.

My prolonged contact with plant life has provided me with an insight on the similar life and death of my own.

We scream louder.

unquote

in continuation on the subject of community gardens and small scale food production,  “gardendesignonline.com” just published the following book review :

“”This book definitely has it all: edible walls, rooftop gardens, imaginative containers, veg gardening in window boxes, hydroponic systems, small back yards and community gardens.

In Carrot City: Creating Places for Urban Agriculture (Monacelli Press, 2011), authors Mark Gorgolewski, June Komisar and Joe Nasr clearly demonstrate that you don’t have to go way outside the city to grow and/or find excellent local produce.

It’s likely the most comprehensive survey to date of the “locavore movement” that’s persuading chefs, educators, designers and homeowners that there are benefits to growing food close to home — it promotes good health and also reduces the carbon footprint.

The book features ongoing projects that are visually striking and that promote the concept of “everyday urban agriculture.”

As the authors put it, “For urban agriculture to gain wide acceptance and generate enthusiasm, the design of buildings and the garden spaces around them that incorporate edible landscaping and space for small livestock must be aesthetically pleasing.”

Designers, they argue, “are uniquely positioned to make a difference.”

What’s truly exciting is the idea that blighted urban areas can be transformed into productive and attractive sites.

You’ll be convinced when you read about the Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson Community Garden in the borough of Queens in New York or the Edible Schoolyard in Brooklyn.

The Carrot Green Roof in Toronto includes space for community activities as well as vegetable and herb gardens, rainwater harvesting and composting systems, and a community kitchen where cooking demonstrations are held.

Atop the Gary Corner Youth Center on Chicago’s South Side, there an 8000+ square foot green roof where education and food production go hand in hand.

At the back of the book, there’s a how-to section illustrating some of the techniques and systems you might want to consider for urban agriculture.

When you see the “plans” for redesigning the urban home, for entire urban communities that are self-supporting, you’ll want to get on board as well.”"

last night’s meeting of the local chapter of “The Green Drinks” prompts this post and two simple requests:

firstly,  asking for your support for the NSS petition to the Government for the future use of the railway land and

secondly, discover the unreasonable being inside of you and set it free!

captured your interest now? then let me explain:

we listened to a brief presentation by Nature Society of Singapore on the KMT Train tracks connecting Singapore to Malyasia, from Tanjung Pagar Station right up to Woodlands, including the Jurong sidetrack.

this “Green Corridor”  - a beautiful, natural spine with it’s own incredible biodiversity (including community gardens!) – through this concrete- and glass-city -jungle, is in dire need of protection as the train service will end in  June 2011 and revert into state land.

the greenery is too narrow to be converted into the usual condos and malls and Nature Society is now looking for great ideas to make use of the 40 km long tracks, an area as large as the Botanical Gardens!

Singapore is a thoroughly structured, planned and controlled city state – I suggest to try something really different for once:  Do nothing at all!

set your citizens free -  let them define the space,  allow them to realize their “green” dreams and create places for recreation, sport, play, gardening, food production and a revival of the Kampong life!

let the residents reclaim ownership of a piece of their land, their city state – after all, it is their home, let them decide!

 I am often told of having too high expectations and standards (of myself and others), of being utopian and unreasonable in ideas/approach and expectations for change in the way we lead our lives as communities and individuals.

“reasonable people adapt themselves to the world, while unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. when we’re talking about changing the world for the better, we’re also talking about being completely unreasonable people.

being unreasonable can often be the only approach to work some sense into people and help them see how shifting the way the world works is far more beneficial than trying to scale possibility down into something that will fit inside a far too reasonable world.

sometimes it’s fun, sometimes it’s tough, and much of the time it’s completely worth it.”(Jill Vialet – a kindred spirit…)

 “all progress depends on unreasonable people” – and that would certainly be a very novel approach to progress in Singapore…

let us be surprised, and maybe even awed, by the inspiration and creativity this simple freedom could transform – in visible and invisible ways …