Garden Update!

A huge thank you to my wonderfully thoughtful roommate, Shannon, for donating several plants and gardening supplies to the Las Americas garden. We are all very appreciative. As you can see below, the grounds are growing. We now have a hanging hosta-like plant, a gardenia shrub, some tomato cages (excuse the sideways pic), and five different types of cacti.

We've also begun a small indoor garden. We have planted a number of seeds in different pots, hoping to sprout a few more vegetable plants.

Our next endeavor will be to jump the fence that borders the east side of the garden and cut the weeds down on the other side.

Beyond the fence is a small field that is, at least, 100 feet in length by about 30 feet in width. It is surrounded by several warehouse-type buildings, including one owned by the Department of Water and Power. Because of its lack of trees, the field receives far more sun than our courtyard garden space. Our idealistic hope is that we will be able to use a small portion of the field to grow even more future edibles.

Today, I got the go-ahead from the nice people at Beauty Treats International Co. to cross the fence and, at least, weed-whack. They are going to find out if we can make use of some of the space near our fence. Cross your fingers. This could get very cool.

The garden club members also suggested that we acquire a bike rack for the courtyard, so that we have one single space to park all of the tenants' bikes (currently, all of the bikes are randomly chained to various trees and benches in the courtyard). I thought this was yet another bright idea, so I contacted some bicycle non-profits here in L.A. John, a volunteer at the Bike Oven, in L.A., suggested that we ask someone to weld a custom rack for us. (Thanks, John). Then, the light bulb clicked on. Just two-doors down from us is a metal shop that, apparently, fabricates all sorts of custom metal objects. I put in a call and I'm supposed to meet with someone tomorrow to assess the possibilities. Hopefully, I'll be writing again soon with some good news about this little endeavor. Stay tuned.

Best wishes.

Sweet Serenity

Check out our latest, and potentially greatest, addition to the American-Olympian group roster: Yoga.















Yoga set-up at SRHT's Defiance Space.

The classes have just begun and it's already beginning to catch on. Attendance went up 200% from the first class to the second, and the responses have been overwhelmingly positive. Hopefully, this is more than just the normal new group attendance spike. We'll see.

Whatever the case, we are very grateful to have the very charming and Yogically (to create a word) gifted Beth Dian leading us into relaxation each week. She has developed a program that focuses specifically on deep-breathing, stretching, and meditation. As a participant myself, I can vouch for its therapeutic powers. May we all aspire to this:












Or not.

Las Americas Garden Initiative

And, we have achieved garden! It's a little rough and tumble, but we have officially revitalized the Las Americas gardening club. Here are some pictures of the progress so far:

Here is the space in the courtyard behind the building.



We humbly started off with a potted hydrangea (blue flowers), shamrocks, a lavender bush, and one strawberry plant that somehow survived for months without any human support.



We, then, planted (and re-planted) six tomato plants.



Today, we added nine different pepper plants, a cucumber fern, and an orange tree.




Check back for more of my exceptionally enthusiastic and amateur photos or our progress. With any luck, we'll be eating some of this stuff in our cooking class this summer!

Coupon-Schmoupon

If you haven't heard already, the outcome looks bleak for a congressional change in the way digital converter boxes are being distributed to extremely low-income individuals in SRO's. Basically, the people in the SRO's around Skid Row--including Las Americas and The Olympia--do not qualify for the government-issued DTV Converter Box Coupons because the buildings themselves are considered businesses (rather than households) by the Census Bureau.



One of the ways, I've been able to get around this road block is through donations. I recently emailed all of my friends and asked them to sign up for the converter box coupon(s) on the government's DTV website. As is the case with my fancy friends, many of the people who qualify for these coupons do not actually need them, so, if you can get them to sign up, the coupons are all yours! A lot of people out there own digital T.V.'s, or subscribe to digital cable, or have bundles of money and foolish pride, so--if you are reading this as a social worker--go ahead and ask! (If you are reading this as a visitor/potential donor, here's your chance to get involved!). Also, everyone is eligible for two coupons, even if they only own one T.V., so snag that second one.

I've received a couple of coupons from friends already and I will disclose one hint: before you drive across town to pick up a converter coupon, make sure you have your donor look at the expiration date on the front. I recently picked up a coupon from a friend and, in all of my excitement, I didn't take the time to notice that it had expired a month earlier! Wasting time is out, so verify that mess!

One other option is to put postings up in the "Wanted" sections of sites like Craigslist or FreeCycle. Most cities in the U.S. have Freecycle groups (just "Google" it). I recently put a posting up on Freecycle for the coupons and, while the group's moderator told me that I posts asking for coupons are not allowed, someone responded anyway and simply donated an actual convertor box. This brings me to my next point: ask for what you ultimately want. My prediction is that these convertor boxes--as with most technology--will become more and more obsolete over time. As we get closer to June 12, a whole gang of people who have the boxes will just give in and buy a new digital T.V. So remember to ask people for the boxes themselves, too!

Happy hunting.