The weather has been so glorious last week, that I simply must fulfil my overriding duty of tackling the hot topic of getting our bodies beach-ready.

All we need to do over the first fortnight is simply clean up our current diets- Matthew Muscat Inglott

Sunbathers and swimmers have been out in their droves basking under a sweltering sun, paving the way after a shocking winter for the long-awaited summer.

Will this be the summer you conquer your insecurities and strut onto our fashionable local beaches proud and triumphant?

Will you be picking out swim-wear over the coming month that glorifies or disguises your body? if you don’t feel quite ready for the beach season just yet, don’t worry because you’re not alone and more importantly, you’re still in time to do something about it.

This year I personally find myself ready for another fat loss challenge too, so why not join me? if you would like to take on the ultimate fat fight for 2012, read on, because today I will share my plan.

Originally tipping the scales at just under 100 kilos, after last year’s one-month weight loss challenge published in a local magazine, I managed to drop to 88 kilos while two clients who joined me reported even greater losses.

While I maintained that weight until November, I subsequently piled on the kilograms once more due to the demands of my chosen sport to compete in a heavier weight category. having once again grown tired of the humpty-dumpty look however, it’s high time I practise what I preach and get lean again.

In honour of The Sunday Times 2012 fat-loss challenge therefore, I hereby present my three-stage plan.

The first two weeks shall be phase one, the second two weeks shall be phase two, while the remaining four weeks will be the final straight towards the finish line; phase three. That’s a total of eight weeks to take us well into the heart of summer. Let’s begin.

During phase one, we shall lay the foundations and prepare ourselves physically and psychologically for the journey to come. Nutritionally, all we need to do over the first fortnight is simply clean up our current diets. I will be cutting out all sweets, junk food, and sugary drinks (including artificial fruit juices).

My main meals will no longer consist of sugary breakfast cereals or fast food dinners, but will include more wholesome selections like high fibre breakfast cereals, whole wheat bread, and high protein dinners which include hard boiled eggs and meat replacement products. if you are not already lifting weights, start now.

The quickest way to get lean is to muscle up. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn on a constant basis. Of course, the added bonus of resistance training is that it strategically shapes and sculpts your body far more effectively than endurance-based training does.

Be sure to include big compound movements in your training such as squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and upper body rows. Any resistance training programme will serve you well at this stage, as long as it involves at least 45 minutes of effort, three to four times per week.

During phase two we will further streamline our nutrition and training programmes. Reduce the size of your three main meals, and slot in two snacks, one between breakfast and lunch, and the other between lunch and dinner. You are thus consuming roughly the same amount of calories but spreading them more evenly throughout your day.

For me this means a piece of fruit between breakfast and lunch, and a protein shake between lunch and dinner. in the gym, shorten the rest periods between sets without becoming a slave to the clock.

Try the simple breathing method I will be using instead; as soon as you finish a set, start taking big deliberate breaths. Completely fill your lungs with each slow inhalation, all the time resisting the temptation to huff and puff. Expel the air back out also slowly and deliberately.

Repeat 10 times, and proceed immediately to your next set. Ten deep breaths should take about 40 seconds to complete, or 30 if you are really winded. Slow controlled breathing won’t just help you suck more badly-needed oxygen into your system, but is also a great relaxation technique that helps maintain mental focus. Avoid distractions in the gym and stay absorbed and on-task. You can try this outside the gym too; when-ever you feel stressed, just breathe, consciously.

And finally, full speed ahead for phase three. Modify your eating plan so that you consume the majority of your carbohydrate dominant foods during the first half of your day, and protein dominant foods in the second. When your activity levels slow down towards the end of your day, so too should your intake of foods like pasta, bread, and potatoes.

For your training regimen, it’s time to throw out your standard resistance training programme and go all out on circuit training. Pick four large compound exercises per workout targeting different parts of the body.

Perform a heavy set of 10 repetitions of your first exercise, followed by five deep breaths; that’s about 20 seconds rest. move on to the second exercise in the same fashion, and work through the entire sequence of four with your 20 second breathing breaks in between. That’s one round.

Regain your composure, take a couple of minutes rest, and repeat for a total of six rounds. keep the weights challenging for optimum results; just because it’s circuit training doesn’t mean you have to lift puny weights.

I will be sharing my results on this very page, will you?

7:00am Saturday 12th may 2012 in Bradford By Jo Winrow

Bradford’s new City Park is set to host an action-packed summer with more than a dozen free events taking place in the public space.

Highlights include a giant picnic to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the arrival of the Olympic Torch Relay and the Bradford Classic car show.

City Park is a six-acre space in the city centre which includes a 4,000sq m mirror pool featuring more than 100 fountains, including the tallest in any UK city reaching 30m.

Councillor David Green, Bradford Council’s executive member for regeneration and economy, said: “It looks like being a great summer in City Park with something for everyone.

“We hope to attract thousands of people in to Bradford over the coming months through a range of different types of events.

“The grand opening in March gave us a clear idea of the potential for the site and these first events are the next stage in establishing City Park’s reputation as a great place to visit and spend time.”

next Saturday, City Park will play host to the Lord Mayor’s Carnival Parade, which will see more than 1,000 people in costume making their way through the city, along with floats and giant fibreglass corgis in honour of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Bradford Pride, the annual event staged by local lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender communities, takes place on Saturday, may 26.

On Friday, June 1, a global food event will be held in City Park, two days before the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Big Lunch when street theatre and live music from the 1950s, 70s and 90s will entertain crowds celebrating the 60-year reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

Dazzling dancers and forgotten games of yesteryear will entertain crowds during the Imove on the Street and Games in the Park events on Saturday, June 16, closely followed by Positive Bradford Day on Friday, June 22.

Bradford will welcome the Olympic Torch Relay to City Park on Sunday, June 24, when a celebration event incorporating arts, music and cultural activities will take place to mark the torch’s arrival.

Armed Forces Day takes place on Saturday, June 30, and the start and finish of Sky Ride Bradford will be held at City Park on Sunday, July 1.

Sports and arts activities enjoyed by older people will be showcased in a festival from Saturday, July 7, to Thursday, July 12, and the Bradford Big Dance, featuring high-energy street dance professionals and freestyle BMX riders and skateboarding, will be held on Saturday, July 14.

Fun activities for families, including a climbing tower, sports, music and dance and den building, will be held during the Big City Play Day on Saturday, July 21, and the following day City Park will host the Bounce for Bradford space hopper charity event in aid of Yorkshire Cancer Research.

the Bradford Classic rounds off the summer events programme on Saturday and Sunday, August 18 and 19, when more than 300 classic cars will be on display.

the BBC Big Screen in City Park is also one of 12 official ‘live sites’ around the country which will broadcast live Olympics and Paralympics coverage as the London 2012 Games takes place in from the end of July to the beginning of September.

For details of events visit bradford.gov.uk/events.

As you come through the north gate with its tumbled rustic bluestone entrance, you will see the rimrock fountains surrounded by Mexican beach pebbles that echoes throughout your walk as you wind down the pathway of petrified sea pavers and black crusher dust past hostas, a weeping pussy willow, glorious red and Japanese maples and a stately dogwood centerpiece.

All around you will find Rudbeckia, Gerber Daisy, statice, dahlias, hydrangeas and peonies for cutting. Notice several places for small, intimate conversations around the swimming pool where a backdrop of fragrant claredendron trees line the fence. Enhanced beneath them are hanging moss planters and coal-black pots of stately horsetail.

• PHOTO GALLERY of the Garden Tour on Willow Bend Drive

On the north side of the swimming pool, a raised deck dining/sitting area and hot tub are surrounded with large and small conifers and grand silver and Japanese maples. Nestled behind this deck are Japanese Kousa dogwoods, ferns, hostas and a fragrant star jasmine climber. on the opposite side, a canopy of sweeping red maples shelter the inviting fire pit circle area surrounded once again with azaleas and hydrangeas, giving an almost secluded feeling under the evening sky.

The house patio is the site of many relaxing barbecues, informal meetings and fun and games as it also shelters guests from our Chico sun. Annual color is everywhere in raised beds; herb pots send smells of clean, fresh air.

Leaving the entertaining areas, we go up and over to all-out fun, fruit and sweet seclusion — depending on your mood and the time of day.

The large lawn is surrounded by a beautiful dry creek bed and is traversed by footbridges … or take the flat lava steps to the big Sierra green boulder, where you might just like to sit for a while and take in the view.

Inviting you across the lawn are rustic bluestone slabs. Now you might relax and sit in a little cove behind a beautiful garden wall of Kent Falls and ledger rock under redwood trees and Purple Pony ornamental plum surrounded by hibiscus, salvia, ‘Golf Ball’ Pittosporum and rosemary. Note the lamp-post near the redwood, which just may (in the future) adorn the outside of a grandchild’s playhouse when the time is right!

On the other hand, you could go a little farther across the footbridge to the lattice-topped double-cordon grape trellis and enjoy the fruit of three different grapes, raspberries, Marion berry, blueberries, Fuji apples, two apricots (residing together) and cherries from a tree that produces five varieties. Encompassing all this are graceful white birches, roses, lilacs, forsythia and some billowing ornamental grasses.

As you leave the south gate for the front, you don’t want to miss the grand magnolias, maples, river birches, conifers, Loropetalum and Japanese maples that adorn the entrance. In the evening, you can see the low-voltage night lighting that makes the trees glow against the night sky.

Even with all this beauty, great care has been taken to save our natural resources. the irrigation system on this property has been retrofitted to be low flow and volume and is on a Solar Sync system for highest efficiency. Night lighting is low voltage and on timers so as to be energy efficient. Also, if you noted in the backyard, solar panels line the southern rooftop, making this home totally energy efficient.

St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church’s 29th annual Garden Tour is planned for Saturday, may 5, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Chico. it will feature five unique gardens.

Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 on tour day. the price includes five gardens, luncheon and a plant boutique. Garden locations and a map are printed on the tickets.

Tickets may be purchased at the following outlets:

 Christian and Johnson, 250 Vallombrosa Avenue, Chico

 Little Red Hen Gift Shop, 897 E. 20th Street, Chico

 Little Red Hen Therapeutic Plant Nursery, 8th and Wall streets, Chico

 Little Red Hen Kids and Kitchens, 959 East Avenue, Chico

 Magnolia Gift and Garden, 1367 East Avenue, Chico

 Zucchini and Vine, 2nd and Main streets, Chico

TJ’s Nursery and Gifts, 2107 Kennedy Avenue, Chico

 The Plant Barn and Gift Shop, 406 Entler Ave., Chico

 Mendon’s Nursery, 5424 Foster Road, Paradise

 Hodge’s Nursery and Gifts, 9681 Midway, Durham

 St. John’s Church office, 2341 Floral Avenue.

NOTE: St. John’s Church office will be the only location selling tickets after 3 p.m. on Friday, may 4. for more information, contact St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church at 894-1971. Or visit the church website at stjohnschico.org or visit St John’s Episcopal Church on Facebook.

Some gardens may not be suitable for the mobility-impaired.

“Tortilla Flats,” I said.

We crept through rush-hour traffic to Soquel, found the last parking spot in the big lot behind the restaurant and stood in line behind a dozen people waiting for a table. Tortilla Flats is busy nearly every night so just relax and hum “Anticipation” as you wait. [Reservations accepted for parties of five or more.]

Two spaces opened up at the bar and we took them, placing orders for on-the-rocks Pomegranate Margaritas [$12.50] and dipping crisp tortilla chips into very fresh, spicy housemade salsa. We had ringside seats to watch the staff deftly whipping up margaritas and pouring them into colorful, oversized glasses. our drink order was briefly misplaced but when the mega-margaritas arrived, all was forgiven.

The 14-ounce Herradura Silver margaritas were exquisite, tangy with fresh-squeezed lime juice and pink-tinged by earthy pomegranate juice. they paired perfectly with our good-sized Quesadilla appetizer [$5.50] enclosing sliced jalapeños, olives and tomatoes and topped with sour cream and sweetly mild guacamole. the flour tortilla was a little chewy but otherwise our quesadilla was quite tasty.

We chose one of the day’s specials, Merida Enchiladas [$12.95], and a Carne Asada Super Burrito [$8.50] with beans, rice, cheese, beef, sour cream and guacamole. our orders were out in a flash, so hot we could hardly touch the pretty yellow plates decorated with green triangles.

The delicate enchiladas presented two meltingly tender corn tortillas, plumply wrapped around moist, flavorful shredded chicken and garnished with a sweet orange slice and curly kale. very mild and slightly sweet, the crema-thickened sauce had a homey taste that reminded me of fresh young corn. the dish was beautifully presented, zig-zagged with sour cream stripes and scattered with corn kernels and bits of red pepper and green onion.

Although flavorful, the super burrito could have been a bit more super. the beans were unusually good and the skirt steak pieces were tender and nicely spiced with a lilt of lime; but I would have liked a little more heat and moisture in the filling.

Swayed by another diner urging us to try the housemade desserts, we ordered Flan [$5.50] and a slice of Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie [$6.50]. a wise decision. the flan was a lovely balance of creamy and firm, its velvety custard spiked with nutmeg. And the multi-layered pie may have been my favorite dish of the meal, managing to combine dark chocolate, opulent peanut butter mousse and fresh whipped cream without being overly heavy.

“I told you so,” said our neighbor.

Tortilla Flat’s atmosphere felt like a charming Mexican cantina, complete with papel picado [perforated paper] artwork by Catalina Delgado Trunk, hand-painted ceramic pots and Virgin of Guadalupe pennants. Pepper light strings brightened up the room and numerous pieces of beautiful Mexican pottery were artistically mounted on the creamy terra cotta walls.

The music, ranging from lyrical canciónes to boleros and tangos, added significantly. As we left, “Bésame Mucho” was playing. I love this ultra-romantic song — roughly translating as “Kiss Me much,” it was written by a then-unkissed Consuelo Velaquez at age 15.

Tortilla Flats is rightly renowned for its nearly 40 types of tequila and superb margaritas. But this colorful little cantina has other charms, including an authentic Day of the Dead altar and special food events throughout the year; the annual Olé Mole menu in December features up to a dozen different types of mole sauces.

Ann Parker welcomes comments, feedback and suggestions about reviews for area restaurants. Contact her at .

More about Tortilla Flats

Cheryl Marquez opened Tortilla Flats almost 35 years ago and runs it with her general manager, Paul Brennan.’I couldn’t do it without him,’ she says.Born in Quebec, Marquez has traveled extensively in Mexico and the American Southwest; she also lived in new Zealand and the French Quarter in new Orleans. ‘A lot of my food is traditional from Mexico, such as the moles,’ she say, ‘but some of it is fusion from all over — Thai and Mexican, for instance.’One of the secrets to the restaurant’s margaritas, Cheryl confides, comes from her yard: she has her own lime orchard and grows several varieties: ‘We do different seasonal margaritas, too; we’ve just started serving prickly pear cactus margaritas and should have them periodically all summer.’Marquez says Tortilla Flats’ next food event — ‘I call them all celebrations’ — is may 17-20, featuring seafood specialties from around the world including Alaska, new Zealand, Hawaii, Louisiana and Mexico.’We’ll also have special clementine crepes for Mother’s Day and my world-famous squash blossom crepes toward the end of June,’ she notes. ‘I make all the crepes.’– Ann Parker

Restaurant Review

Tortilla FlatsWHERE: 4616 Soquel Drive, SoquelHOURS: 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. lunch and dinner daily; 5-10 p.m. tapas available Monday-Tuesday. Special food events throughout the year; Seafood Celebration may 17-20SERVICE: FOOD: VALUE: AMBIANCE: a pretty little cantina in the center of Soquel; colorful, casual, comfortableCOST: Reasonable [lunch and dinner entr es, $7.95-$15]DETAILS: 476-1754, tortillaflatsdining.comRead more Sentinel dining reviews at santacruzsentinel.com/food

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — what would happen if you invited artists from around the world to display their work in your city?

The result would be ArtPrize, a 19-day extravaganza that has turned a three-square-mile area in this central Michigan city into not only a giant contemporary art show but also a social experiment.

From the city's many bridges and plazas, to the walls of its hot dog shops and pizza parlors, to its sidewalks and fountains, to its museums and green spaces, art is everywhere. for the show in 2011, the pieces by 1,582 artists displayed in 162 venues ranged from the prosaic to the whimsical to the provocative to the exquisite.

There were steel “barrel full of monkey” shapes hanging from the pedestrian Blue Bridge over the Grand River and wooden grizzly bears crafted with chain saws placed in the cascade fountain in front of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. A giant crooked door, cracked open, was placed on the grass along the Grand River, delighting children and adults alike.

ArtPrize 2012

• When: ArtPrize 2012 will be held Sept. 19-Oct. 7. Admission is free and is centered in a three-square-mile area of Grand Rapids. Details: artprize.org.Grand Rapids is about 2.5 hours northwest of Detroit, straight out Interstate 96. Detroit is about a five-hour drive from Pittsburgh.Where to stay: The Amway Grand Plaza, 187 Monroe Ave. NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, is centrally located so festival-goers can walk to all the art venues, shopping, restaurants and entertainment spots from the hotel. 1-800-253-3590; amwaygrand.com
• Check out: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum sits on the bank of the Grand River, 303 Pearl St., NW Grand Rapids, MI 49504. 1-616-254-0400; fordlibrarymuseum.gov/museum. Open daily 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission: $7 for adults, $6 for senior citizens and military service members, $5 for college students with ID, $3 for youth ages 6-18, and free for children under the age of 5. Free parking. The Gerald R. Ford Library is in Ann Arbor, Mich.
• Notable: “La Grande Vitesse” sculpture. this 43-foot-high sculpture created by Alexander Calder is the symbol of the city and a must-see: The name is roughly translated as “The great Swiftness,” evoking the Grand River that runs through downtown. it was installed in front of City Hall in 1969 and was the first piece of public art in American history to be financed jointly by the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts and private funds. The feds donated $45,000 and contributions from the community totaled $85,000. it symbolizes the city's commitment to the arts and its likeness appears on everything from letterhead to street signs to garbage trucks. It's known locally as “The Calder.”

Heading into its fourth year this September, ArtPrize has been a smashing success — not only in the variety of pieces it has brought to the city, but in the way it has connected residents and visitors of all ages, to, well, art.

A study released in December estimated the event pumped $15 million into the Grand Rapids/Kent County economy. In all, ArtPrize drew an estimated 322,000 visitors last fall who pointed, touched, inspected, laughed, frowned and oooed and ahhed. I overheard one teenage boy remark about a painting, “That's really cool. I don't really understand it, but it's cool.”

For the first three years, the event was primarily nonjuried. The public judged the art pieces by voting for them online. and 38,000 registered voters did last year — casting 383,000 total votes from their computers and smartphones.

Although changes are being made in judging for its fourth year, the show will continue to award the largest prize purse of any art show in the world — a total of $560,000 — as well as focus on the public's participation.

“It's a platform for engagement,” Brian Burch, ArtPrize public relations director, said about the public's role. “People who come here find they're having fun. by having fun they're learning. … It's creating this cycle of social change.”

This year, ArtPrize officials are adding a $100,000 juried grand prize and larger juried prizes to the event.

While artists appreciated the huge audience viewing their work, mr. Burch said, many also were eager to have their work evaluated at a professional level, so they expanded the juried opportunities.

However, “our emphasis is still very much on the public vote,” mr. Burch said. “We want to preserve that. It's the best way to engage people.”

The top public vote winner will get $200,000, second prize $75,000, third $50,000 and fourth through 10th places, $5,000 each.

For the first three years, the large metal works created by bill Secunda of Butler have been a crowd favorite. In 2009, he won fifth place; the second year seventh place and then 10th place in 2011, when he took home $7,000 in prize money for his 20-foot-tall, 3,000-pound steel sculpture of a praying mantis with a butterfly on its claw: “Mantis Dreaming.”

The emphasis on public engagement could serve as a guide to organizers of Pittsburgh's three Rivers Art Festival, coming June 1-10, where far too many visitors never venture beyond the Artists Market of craft booths near Gateway Center and Point State Park to see the Juried Visual Art Exhibition tucked in galleries in the Cultural District or other spaces — far away from the action and easily missed or forgotten.

ArtPrize proved that if it's accessible, people will engage. and there wasn't a funnel cake stand or a craft booth in sight.

Bring art to the people

ArtPrize is the brainchild of Rick DeVos, the 30-something eldest grandson of Amway co-founder Rich DeVos. Amway built Grand Rapids like Carnegie and Heinz and Frick built Pittsburgh.

The younger mr. DeVos, who considers himself a social entrepreneur and flies helicopters and races motorcycles as a hobby, announced the “urban experiment” in April 2009. The aim was to decentralize the traditional top down art contest and bring art to the people.

The ArtPrize staff scambled to put on a 16-day show the following October with 1,262 artists showing work in 159 locations. The event drew 200,000 visitors that first year.

What was so fun about milling about downtown Grand Rapids last fall was discovering pieces of art at every turn. Who'd expect to see Venetian watercolors lining the wall of a hot dog shop? or gecko sculptures hugging the lampposts along Monroe Avenue? or a giant metal dog on the riverfront?

Each was identified by an ArtPrize sign that gave information about the artist and how to vote for the piece.

As a way of supporting downtown businesses, organizers purposely do not bring in food booths, mr. Burch said. Festival-goers have to eat in the restaurants and cafes. While some ran out of food the first year, they've learned how to handle the larger crowds and appreciate the boost in business.

“They have a really good recipe,” said mr. Secunda, 52, the Butler artist said about the show. “I've never seen anything like it myself.”

ArtPrize organizers do not curate or select pieces for various venues. They set up what could be considered a dating website for artists and venues: the artists work directly with owners of the roughly 160 venues around the city to determine where their art will be placed and what ideas would work.

As with last year's grizzly bears display (“Grizzlies on the Ford”), the artist, Llew Tilma of Wayland, Mich., approached the Ford museum with his idea of incorporating the sculptures in its large stepped fountain and won its support.

Mr. Secunda, who has never displayed his work at three Rivers Arts Festival, said his wife heard about ArtPrize in 2009 and without knowing much about the city worked with the owner of the B.O.B. — Big Old Building of shops and restaurants on the city's main drag — to exhibit his sculpture of a moose in its large outdoor area. “It's one of the top venues; every time we've been there it's been completely packed with people,” he said. All three of his pieces have been displayed there.

Even though he won't be back this year (under a new rule, any top 10 winner has to sit out a year to provide fresh opportunities for others), mr. Secunda has high praise for ArtPrize.

“I think it's a great idea. The public, they saw 1,500 pieces of artwork. The more they see, the more they're going to be interested in it, I think.”

Multiple sites

Virtually any spot in Grand Rapids can be a stage for art — even smack in the middle of the Grand River. During the first year, “Nessie on the Grand,” a Loch Ness monster image by the Nessie Project, won sixth place.

This year, two contenders for river venues are “Fishes,” a set of six independent fish arranged in a school, and “Horse Stampede,” in which horse sculptures fashioned from bare tree branches and plate steel would use water's movement to make them look as if they're galloping. These pieces are still going through the approval process by the city, state and environmental agencies.

Mr. Burch expects the popularity of ArtPrize to continue to grow. and the idea of engaging the public in selecting favorite works is catching on. The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles for its Made in L.A. 2012 Biennial this summer is adding a public component in the awarding of a new $100,000 Mohn Prize. While a professional jury will select five finalists, the winner will be chosen by visitors to the exhibition through online voting.

The public engagement is also good for artists, said mr. Secunda, who has been creating metal works for 18 years. last year, artists came to ArtPrize from 39 countries and 43 states.

“You can be an absolute first-time artist and have the opportunity to get national exposure,” he said. “That's what's most appealing about it.”

L’étoile chef/owner Mark Gresge knows the secret to super-fresh ingredients: Grow your own! (Photo by Cramer Photo)

Urban farming is one of the hottest trends in food right now. Maybe it’s the economy, or maybe it’s that nothing beats the satisfaction of eating food that you grew and dug up yourself. Lush lawns are being replaced with veggie gardens, flower beds with compost piles, and storage sheds with chicken coops.

As the world’s largest consumer of fossil fuels and the second largest producer of carbon dioxide emissions, it’s about time America goes through a “green” phase. Growing your own food reduces fuel consumption and our carbon footprint, encourages healthy eating habits, and stretches a family’s food budget, but can anyone with a patch of grass grow their own? or is this just another hobby for the money- and time-rich?

Williams-Sonoma, the culinary behemoth that capitalizes on a gourmand’s need for copper pots, panini presses, and demi-glace, just launched a line called Agrarian, giving well-to-do GYO-ers a one-stop digital shop for seeds, plants, gardening tools, cheesemaking kits, beds and planters, beekeeping equipment, chicken coops, canning and preserving equipment, and more. there are $110 burlap totes, $300 copper pitchforks, and $80 fermentation pots. Even the shiny $700 blender under “Healthy Living” is photographed on a weathered wooden table to hammer home the homespun-ness of it all. Clearly, the site’s a playground for the 1 percent, and most of them would probably sooner hire someone to till their land than do it themselves.

For the rest of us, we have places like fifth Season Gardening co. for affordable gardening supplies and Radical Roots for plants and shrubs. need a vision or jumpstart for your garden? C’ville Foodscapes, a worker-owned cooperative, provides various design, installation, and maintenance services for anyone wanting to add food-producing gardens to his home or business. Services range from $75 to $135 for a design consultation and $600 and up for an entire site transformation and installation. Low-income individuals or families can apply to receive a free garden system complete with a garden bed, rain barrel, and compost bin through the Garden Grants Program. since its launch in 2009, C’ville Foodscapes has completed more than 85 projects and six grants.

Community gardens like the ones at Piedmont Virginia Community College, University of Virginia, Friendship Court, and the Haven, as well as the Edible Schoolyard projects at Buford Middle School, Cale Elementary School, and Clark Elementary School all welcome volunteers and are a good starting place to learn more about urban gardening while lending a helping hand. or, if you have agrarian know-how but no space, lease one of the 73 community garden plots in Meadowcreek Gardens, off Morton Drive behind the English Inn.

And, don’t forget that one shop’s trash may be another garden’s treasure. Last year, the crew at Shenandoah Joe noticed an increasing number of people asking for leftover coffee grounds for composting (they lower the pH of the soil and act as a source of nitrogen). now, every week, 15 people drop off five-gallon buckets outside the backdoor of the Preston roaster, picking them up on Sunday filled to the brim with grounds that would have otherwise been discarded. one bucket has “garden steroids” written on it, one belongs to a guy who cultivates mushrooms in the grounds, and another will go home with an area chef. Mas Tapas’ Tomas Rahal grows herbs and everything from collards to raspberries to supplement his Spanish import-centric menu in a 10′x10′ space outside the restaurant’s back door and in 12 4′x12′ beds in a plot nearby.

Mas isn’t the only restaurant in town featuring urban-grown produce on its menus. Laura McGurn tends to Zinc’s patio garden, from which freshly plucked tatsoi, swiss chard, mizuna, and kale becomes the spring salad. Arugula, scallions, nasturtiums, and peas aren’t far behind, and owner Vu Nguyen is planning a rooftop garden at Moto Pho co., his Vietnamese place opening across the street in June. Mark Gresge, chef/owner of L’etoile, has a small garden that’s supplying the restaurant this spring with lettuce, spinach, radishes, carrots, sweet onions, and various beans. “it makes for some fresh, exciting eating. A little dirt on the fingers seasons the pot nicely,” said Gresge.

When so much of our lives feel beyond our control, gardening gives us some semblance of it back. we decide what we put into the soil and then onto our plates. Self-sufficiency is at the heart of the American dream, and land (and the right to work it) helps us to achieve it. whatever the reason, green is most definitely the new black.

   at this time of the year, the urban landscape is bursting with colour, especially since the Heliopolis powers that be have embarked on another beautification project, which entails improving pedestrian walkways and planting shrubs and laying flower beds. 

   On wishing to find out more about the blooms with a view to domestic cultivation and adding a splash of colour on the balcony – not to mention hiding that ghastly barbecue thingy and decaying mops that had once been stationed like ragged sentinels to dry off in the sunshine – one finds oneself up a dead-end street.

   Now, one would think with all this Internet hocus-pocus, you should be able to unearth any information you require. Ha! Not so, comrades knocking on the gates of cyberspace. 

   Botanical studies in this neck of the wood give rise to a Catch 22 situation: you have to know the name of the plant in order to learn more. Otherwise, no name, no gain and a slight pain in the arm. Still, you may know the name of a plant, but know nothing about it. Fine. Internet to the rescue, then. 

   what about ‘hantal’? this writer looked it up more than three decades ago in his trusty ‘Hava’ Arabic-English dictionary and found ‘colocynth’, i.e. none the wiser.

   Thanks to the miracle of electronics and silicon, one finds that “Citrullus colocynthis, commonly known as the colocynth, bitter apple, bitter cucumber, egusi, or vine of Sodom (I beg your pardon!) is a viny plant native to the Mediterranean Basin and Asia, especially Turkey (especially in regions such as Izmir), Nubia, and Trieste. It originally bore the scientific name Colocynthis citrullus, but is now classified as Citrullus colocynthis.” Yeah, yeah. Thank you Wikipedia. Now geddof! 

   The fruit of the colocynth is said to be used as a strong laxative. In overdoses, the fruit can cause violent, sharp pains in the bowels, with dangerous inflammation. That’s all we need! no more reference to ailments, please. 

   Ah! this looks promising. The characteristic small seed of the colocynth have been found in several early archeological sites in northern Africa and the Near East, specifically at Neolithic Armant, Nagada in Egypt at sites dating from 3800BC.

   Hrrumph! That’s all very well, but what does this flaming colocynth look like?

“Lozenges, made of colocynth were called “troches of alhandal”.

   They were prepared by cutting the colocynth to a small size, and reducing it to a fine powder in a mortar, rubbed with oil of sweet almonds; adding gum tragacanth, and mastic afterwards. So what? Even if there was a picture, might we recognise this botanical marvel if we tripped over it? How does one cope with this deluge of information? Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser (Proverbs 9:9).

   Give a man access to the Internet and he will forget what he was looking for. 

Stuff the colocynth, then. who cares? Hibiscus, then.

   Not only do you drink this to raise or lower blood pressure and open up trendy-sounding shops in pretentious London and Los Angeles suburbs, you know what this flower looks like. 

   Hibiscus is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae, comprising several hundred species native to warm-temperate, subtropical and tropical regions.

   Member species are often noted for their showy flowers and are commonly known as hibiscus, sorrel, and flor de Jamaica, or less widely known as rosemallow.

   The generic name is derived from the Greek word ‘hibiskos’, which was the name Pedanius Dioscorides (ca. 40-90) gave to Althaea officinalis. 

   this should open an interesting avenue of research. On to Pedanius Dioscorides, a Greek physician, pharmacologist and botanist as well as the author of De Materia Medica –  a five-volume encyclopaedia about herbal medicine and related medicinal substances that was widely read for more than 1,500 years. fantastic. Looks better. 

   “The earliest surviving records of illustrated Greek Herbals indicate De Materia Medica was widely read and reproduced during the Middle Ages in Latin, Arabic and Greek.” OK, where is the Arabic version? Conspicuous by its absence.

   Let’s settle for this work in English, shall we? Can it be downloaded in PDF? Apparently, yes….Aw! You’ve got to sign up for it, which means you will have to submit your bank details and end up with no money in your account, thus forcing you to sell tissues at the crossroads of Orouba and Thawra Streets, and nicking hibiscus flowers from people’s gardens. 

   Even if one is prepared to hold one’s nose and risk the disclosure of one’s details for the sake of downloading this five-volume encyclopaedia, you will be no better off because “[T]he earliest copies of Dioscorides’ manuscript were not illustrated.

   The oldest survival is a fragment, the Michigan Papyrus. 

   The finest surviving comprehensive manuscript copy, magnificently illustrated, was made in the sixth century in Constantinople (about 512AD) and is known as Codex Vindobonensis.

   The citizens of Honoratae, a suburb of Byzantium in Turkey, presented it as a birthday gift to their Christian patroness Patricia Juliana Anicia, daughter of Flavius Anicius Olybrius, Emperor of the West briefly in 472CE.”

   Blah-blah-blah! One can bet that when Patricia opened up the book, she might have exclaimed, “Ooh! Where are the pictures? What’s the point in a book without pix?”

   The hibiscus flower can universally mean that it is a nice summer. Today, one can, therefore, send a bouquet of hibiscus to wish someone a nice summer.

   this superbly exemplifies the Egyptian proverb ‘yifassir il-mayya bi-l-mayya’ (Explain water with water). Reminiscent of the feats of verbal legerdemain on television chat shows, methinks. 

Rate this:

It’s the last week of April, which we observed the other day with the annual Installation of the Vegetable Garden, an event that this year came with high expectations, a pair of sore knees and more than a little bit of melancholy.

The first two results are easy to understand. The third deserves further explanation.

I love having a garden, particularly during late summer and early fall when it is in its full glory, when the tomatoes hang heavy and the back yard substitutes for the produce section at the grocery store. but the vegetable garden as an official Rite of Spring was the creation and the passion of my wife, Theresa, who made the last weekend of April feel like a special holiday.

She would announce that she was headed to the nursery, which meant that soon she would return with a car full of pots and plants and dirt and seeds. It was the signal to me that I should prepare the raised beds and the multitude of pots for a fresh season of peppers and beans and herbs and flowers.

The official first day of spring at the Coursey household.

Theresa always amused me by wearing an apron on planting day. Grubby shorts and t-shirt, of course, all primly protected by an apron. usually it was the frayed dark-blue “Petrini’s” apron that languished for most of the year in the back of a kitchen drawer. It didn’t hang low enough to hide her mud-caked knees, nor did it do anything to keep the dirt off her face when she wiped sweat from her brow. but the apron was part of her planting uniform, always.

She would take the small starter plants and lay them out in the planter beds, or alongside pots, carefully planning which vegetable would go where, which flower needed shade, what combination of blooms would create the right palette.

I dug the holes. She carefully placed the plants in the ground, adding fertilizer and potting soil. I followed her around, forming berms and basins in the soil to direct irrigation. we were a team, and this is how we did it.

It was a day of dirt and sweat and fatigue and cooperation.

Theresa died two winters ago, with the garden fallow and unattended outside her window. When late April came, I re-planted it by myself. It was smaller than usual, but I did the work as she would have done it (though I didn’t wear an apron). Even as I put the plants in the ground, though, I knew I wouldn’t enjoy the vegetables or admire the flowers. My house was for sale and planting the garden wasn’t a rite of spring; it was part of my marketing strategy.

The strategy worked. By the end of last summer I had sold my too-big house on the too-big lot and moved to a condominium with a tiny back yard. I was happy to be without a lawn to mow, leaves to rake, flowers to tend. but I did miss, for the first time in years, walking outside on a summer afternoon and pulling a fat, warm tomato off the vine.

So, last weekend when my step-daughter told me she was on her way to a nursery to pick up some tomato starts, I asked her to pick up a couple for me. She came over to my condo the other afternoon, an overcast day when the ground was still damp from a light rain, and the two of us began digging in the small planter area off of my back patio. we transplanted a couple of azaleas, and removed a couple of mystery shrubs, and cleared a space next to a brick wall that heats up in the afternoon sun. while Diana cleaned up the overgrown pots that had moved with me from the old house, I prepared the ground next to the wall. Then we went to the nursery, and bought flowers and vegetables and herbs and potting soil.

When we brought them home, she took the small starter plants and laid them out in the planter beds, or alongside pots, carefully planning which vegetable would go where, which flower needed shade, what combination of blooms would create the right palette.

I dug the holes. we worked as a team. It was a day of dirt and sweat and fatigue and cooperation.

You can’t have everything you want in life. but you can have tomatoes.

Chris Coursey’s blog offers a community commentary and forum, from issues of the day to the ingredients of life in Sonoma County.

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., may 19 and 20

Where: Thoughout Bonny Doon

Details: Tickets can be purchased the day of the tour at Bonny Doon Elementary School, 1492 Pine Flat Road. Proceeds will support art, music and science programs at the school.

Info: 469-0688 or 423-7728

Enter the Hidden Gardens of Bonny Doon with me as I preview several gardens that will be featured on the tour this coming weekend.

While some of our gardens have a few areas with a “wow factor,” the gardens I was privileged to visit have this element at every turn. I was amazed, impressed and truly honored to spend time in each of them.

Garden with a view

First stop was a garden that took my breath away. Looking past the lush lawn, the view takes in all of Monterey Bay.

It wasn’t always this way, the owner explained. when she moved to the property in 1981, she didn’t even know there was an ocean view. only after some judicious pruning was this stunning view revealed.

We ambled through the many paths that took us up close and personal with perennial beds overflowing with blooming iris, spirea, weigela, succulents, hardy geraniums, coprosma and coleonema, to name just a few.

Rabbits are an ongoing problem in this garden. seems they love her Angelina sedum, coprosma, and rose campion as much as the owner does. Little 12-inch-tall fences surround several of the beds, which looks comical but apparently works, as the rabbits don’t like to jump over them.

Stained urbanite has been stacked by the owner to make short retaining walls, and the look is quite classy, blending in with the flagstone and gravel paths. She explained how easy it was to stain the broken pieces of the old driveway by slapping on some concrete stain.

“Piece of cake,” she told me.

Other flower beds she edged with Sonoma fieldstone, stacking them herself.

At every turn, you can see the personal touches that make a garden unique. an old rusty mailbox was tucked into one of the beds overflowing with blooming pansies and Million Bells calibrachoa.  I loved this garden.

Blooming over time

Next stop was another garden 30 years in the making. you wouldn’t believe the “before” pictures of this garden now.

I could barely see the potential in the old pictures, but the owner could and started to build up the rock-hard soil bed by bed.

After many years, she has created an organic garden full of flowering rhododendron, roses, viburnum, herbs, vegetables, citrus, apples and a 5-year-old Staghorn fern that measures 4 feet across.

The owner explained that deer are not a problem, because they won’t jump the irregular picket fence. seems the wide pickets confuse their eyesight. unfortunately, the gophers have decided recently that after 14 years, her camellias are now on the menu. She has lost almost all of the original 40 in the past year.

Instead of lamenting her loss, she sees it as an opportunity to add new plants. She has the optimism that all gardeners possess.

Chickadees nest in a box attached to the porch. Garter snakes and alligator lizards patrol the flower beds. A bathtub, sunk into the earth, serves as “the poor man’s hot tub.” old metal chairs are planted with flowers and ferns, and other found garden art is sprinkled generously throughout the garden.

This is the garden of an artist whose studio is nestled back among the trees. at every turn, you feel the peacefulness of this wonderful place. this is a garden to experience, not just view.

‘everything grows here’

The last garden I was lucky enough to preview was an asphalt driveway just 6 short years ago. There are occasional unplanted spots that still show asphalt. what a transformation. With the help of lots of topsoil and an auger, this gardener has created a spectacular space. 

“Everything grows like crazy here,” she explained.

The front garden is open to deer and is planted with echium, leucospermum, arctotis, barberry, thyme, rosemary and New Zealand flax. One of the gardener’s favorite plants is a huge variegated holly that buzzed so loudly with bees, I thought the electrical line leading into the house was making all the racket.

In the back, a small orchard edges the fence. Blooming lilacs by the deck heavily scent the air. Succulents intermingle with peony, erysimum and gaura. this gardener explained she is “one of those people who buys whatever she likes and then finds a place for it.” having had previous experience growing grapes and olives in Sonoma, she is a hands-on gardener who does it all herself. She’s a self-described “drip queen.”

A ceramic artist, her sculptures are focal points throughout the garden. There is a lot of other garden art in this garden, too.

Where do these gardeners find the garden art, water features and other items that give their gardens that personal touch? One explained that she is always on the lookout for estate sales as she drives around or reads the paper.

“That’s where you can really find the treasures,” she said. “Little old ladies have some great plants and other wonderful finds in the back of the garden.”

The Hidden Gardens of Bonny Doon Tour takes place Saturday, may 19, and Sunday, may 20. Don’t miss it.

- Jan Nelson, a landscape designer and California certified nursery professional, will answer questions about gardening in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Email her at janis001@aol.com, or visit jannelsonlandscapedesign.com to view past columns and pictures.

A new Youth Center for Our Lady of the Mountains

Published: May 10, 2012

JASPER—On May 6, after the young people of Our Lady of the Mountains Church received the sacrament of confirmation, the parishioners gathered to dedicate their newly built youth center, followed by a picnic on the grounds. the dedication of the youth center marked the completion of more than two years of work to conceptualize, find an architect, raise the money, and build this beautiful landmark.

The Youth Center was paid for, not only by the parishioners, but also by the wider community in Jasper, who gave generously towards its completion.

“The Barn, “ an addition to the campus of Our Lady of the Mountains Church, will be used for youth events and religious education, from parish picnics to Bible study. (Photos by Father Charles Byrd)

The pastor of Our Lady of the Mountains, Father Charles Byrd, wanted an iconic building as the youth center, one that could be built behind the parish church and have its own identity. he proposed a building that from the outside would look like a weathered barn (barns don’t have to match their accompanying farmhouses). Subsequently, Our Lady of the Mountains retained the services of residential designer Mitchell Ginn, whose southern roots run deep, and who is known for his understanding of traditional American architecture. Ginn designed an “old” building that would look at home in North Georgia, as if it had been here for a hundred years.

The parish calls this new youth center “The Barn.” the contractor who oversaw its construction was Custom Design Builders, Inc. of Alpharetta.

The Barn has a generously proportioned porch large enough to cover picnic tables. Inside the main level are more tables for serving or dining, and off to the right is a large informal gathering space. the left side of the main level has a traditional kitchen and two restrooms (including showers for the occasional lock-in).

The Archangel Michael serves as the weathervane on the cupola.

Upstairs are two big classrooms where high school students gather for religious education. in between the two classrooms are the youth minister’s office and a faculty restroom. Downstairs the basement includes storage and enough room for a large classroom that the parish hopes to complete in the future for middle school students.

The generously proportioned rooms of the interior are bright and full of character, painted in warm and welcoming colors. Each room has touches throughout to continue the theme of an old barn, with windows looking out to beautiful views of the nearby surrounding mountains. Numerous inspirational messages and images are included to help teach and reinforce the Catholic faith. the Barn even has its own owl (albeit plastic) because every barn needs an owl.

The rooms are decorated with unique character, giving them a distinctive feel. Inspirational messages emphasize the Catholic faith.

The exterior is board and batten with the look of unpainted wood turned grey with age. Fieldstones form the foundation, and flagstone pavers are used under the porch to make the Barn seem old beyond its years.

A “budded cross” above the main entrance is designed to recall the first Catholic colonists to Maryland whose descendents moved to Georgia after the American Revolution and laid the foundations of the Catholic Church in this state. Atop the cupola is an angel weathervane representing the Archangel Michael who appeared over the threshing floor in Jerusalem. the parish places its youth under the protection of St. Michael, so that they may be strong in their faith in Jesus Christ.

A cross with the resurrected Christ adorns a wall of the Barn, which will mainly serve as a youth center.

Built primarily for youth, the Barn will also be a place that serves many within the parish community (as a staging area for barn dances and parish picnics, Halloween festivals, gatherings for home-school groups, adult or couples’ retreats, youth lock-ins, adult Bible studies, as well as ministry gatherings, just to name a few). It will be used in many great ways over the generations to come.

The Christian scriptures remind those who believe not to store up for earthly treasures, but rather to be more attentive to the things that last into eternity. Father Byrd said, “It is our hope that the Barn stands as a symbol of our commitment to our young people, whom we value and invest in most, for they and their faith are the future, not just of the Church, but of the world.”

The barn is built with board and batten. It was constructed to appear to be a weathered country barn, with views overlooking the nearby mountains.

He added, “I am so proud of this parish, and I am deeply grateful to all those worked so hard and gave so generously for the construction of the Barn.”