Lately it’s the simple things that stoke me out and my New West KnifeWorks Chef 8 knife is really doing it for me. Until now, I’ve never owned any fancy cutlery. Instead I own a whole block of knives. The obligatory set purchased when you move into your first apartment; scissors included.My block o’knives do serious damage on my homegrown tomatoes. Chiffonade? Forget about it. A more adult blade was needed. Enter New West KnifeWorks Chef 8. It’s not just any shiv. It’s functional and chic; a work of art.Description from website: These knives were designed for the professional chef. For that reason, we selected a special high-carbon stainless Japanese steel for their construction. The steel has 70% more carbon than a German Wusthof Trident. This blade will take on the finest, sharpest edge of any chef knife you have ever owned. Your best cooking deserves the best chef knife.Sold! I quickly ordered one with a “Mountain Iris” colored handle. There are 10 handle colors to choose from and it retails for $149.00. It’s first task, slicing and dicing tomatoes, like butter. More:If you’re in the market for a rad new knife I highly recommend a New West KnifeWorks knife.

Victory Home & Garden

Ode To My Chef Knife

Recently H and I witnessed very peculiar behavior while standing next to a strawberry jar. A very brash Rocky was sniffing out three lowly ripe strawberries I was babying. He picked off one strawberry at a time and retired to his weed patch for a little afternoon snack.Rocky’s love for this healthy snack inspired me to redo a strawberry jar just for him. I set off to Armstrong and armed myself with armfuls of strawberry plants. The person ringing up my purchase shot me a look of disgust when I told him the strawberries were for my dog. He can suck it. On to the pictorial!Song: All Systems Go from the album ‘You Were Never My Age’ performed by Stepmothers courtesy of Posh Boy Records (c) & (p) 1981Materials:*One clean strawberry jar (Mine has 9 pockets and the top measures 9" in diameter)*3 PVC pipes, 1" to 1 ½” in diameter (Depends on the opening of the pot)*Drill and ¼” drill bit*Strawberry plants (I used 11 strawberry plants)*SoilDirections:1. Measure the top of your strawberry jar to determine how many PVC pipes will fit. If the diameter measures between 7" to 9" you can fit three PVC pipes.2. Measure depth of jar to determine length of PVC pipes. Cut about an inch under. You don't want the pipe sticking out of the jar.3. Drill ¼” holes along the length of the pipe. This will allow water to seep to the strawberries planted at the lower part of the jar.4. Plug one end of the pipe to hold the water.5. Position PVC pipes and start filling jar with soil.6. Pause at the edge of each pocket and carefully shove in plants. I shove them from the inside out. It works for me.7. Keep the soil and plants coming! Be careful not to get soil in the pipes. I usually cover them with my hands while H fills the jar with soil.8. Plant the top of the jar. I comfortably fit three strawberry plants.9. Fill the pipes with water and splash some on top y voila!Why Do I Plant This Way? Thanks for asking. Ever planted in a strawberry jar only to have whatever you planted die a dehydrated death? Yeah me too. The PVC pipes allow me to water the plants at the bottom more efficiently. Watering the pockets individually sucks and is near impossible. 

Rocky's Snack Jar

I live in one of the many hoods throughout Long Beach. I have my ups and downs with Wrigley but so far the good outweighs the bad. I have cool neighbors that’ll walk my 55 lb grizzly bear while we’re away. We have the Wrigley Neighborhood Food Exchange where I often score loads of homegrown food and now we have two new guerrilla gardens on Willow (at Golden and Chestnut).A very special thanks to Scott at So Cal Guerrilla Gardening; he provided all the plants and tools. This event would not have been possible without him. Thank you to Wrigley neighbors, Blanca and Ruben of South Central Resistance, and guerrilla gardeners from near and far that joined.Song: Simpletones "California" from I Have a Date, 1978/79

Just D.I.!

Hey, so check it out. Victory Home & Garden will soon become Anarchy in the Garden™. Not to diss VH&G but I was never in love with her. It conjured up too many images of the victory gardens of yore and that’s all good but it’s not what I’m about. The victory I speak of is victory against the man, corpo agribusiness. It’s the ability to whip up an organic vegan feast from the garden in minutes and with two dogs and an omni husband I need to!Anarchy in the Garden™ is a mixture of DIY ingenuity and tried-and-true old timey techniques with a punk attitude. It’s not your grandma’s grandma’s garden. I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel; just give you my perspective, share my techniques, what works and what doesn’t. Most importantly I’ll share my failures so you don’t screw up 160 soil blocks like I did.So here’s a short slide show on the high tech deep watering system I employ. A video would have been better but the mic on my camera is useless. Directions:Step 1: Locate a 1 gallon nursery container (you know you have a ton in your shed).Step 2: Drill ½ in holes (or get the husband to do it like I do) all around the container up to the lip.Step 3: Dig a hole where the container will be “installed.” I usually shove one of these between two tomato plants.Step 4: Fill the container with water. Y voila! Why do I do this? Good question. Firstly, this is the only way I’ve ever watered my tomatoes. Second, I don’t have a fancy drip irrigation system. That would just be too easy. These watering containers slowly allow water to seep through the holes and directly to the plant’s roots. Establishing a strong root system equals happy healthy long producing plants. Did I mention I have tomatoes long into December? Also, it frees up your hands. I’m a multi-tasker. I can’t just do one thing at a time. Dump the hose into the watering container and walk away; tend other garden chores. Keep an eye on the water level, once it reaches the top toss the hose into the next container. You can even splash a little Sea Magic Organic Seaweed Growth Activator like I do. Have fun!

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Victory Home & Garden

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