Wanderings and Wonderings

This year, I missed Mother's Day. My mother has a travel blog called Eden's Wanderings and Wonderings. So being inspired by my mother, I am writing this entry about my travels over Mother's Day. I usually spend Mother's day weekend with my mom wandering around the Stanford University PowWow, eating fry bread tacos and watching Native American dancers like this one.

 

But this year I spent my Mother's Day weekend wandering the streets of New Orleans and checking out a different type of heritage festival, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The festival creates a very relaxed atmosphere for people to just kick back and enjoy the music.

The festivities spill out into the streets with musicians performing around the french quarter and events around town.

For me, the trip was all about the food and the music. While taking it all in I couldn't help but wonder what makes New Orleans the magical place that it is so rich in culture and diversity. There's something in the details of the design and the preservation and valuing of the culture that makes this place so special.

a place that brings together people of all different ages and races. There's a unique passion for art, music, food, architecture and culture. There is something about this place and you can't help but wonder how to make sure that is protected and how that harmony can be brought to other places.  

Find your path

When I was in college a woman spoke to us about her work. She was a landscape architect, she told us about her work on native restoration projects, and campus, residential and park designs. One project she talked about changed my course. She worked with a local school to take an alley and turn it into a vibrant park space. She incorporated their ideas and their art into the park. This gave the community a sense of pride and ownership in the space. This experience led me to decide to go back to school to study landscape architecture. After working in landscape architecture offices for seven years, I was laid off late last year and it has given me the time and opportunity to find my way back on that path that I originally set out on.

I have always loved working with kids and what could be better than creating places that instill a connection between youth and their environment.  I have been volunteering with students to create a Kinder"Garden". This Earth Day I hope you take a bit of time to find your path to see what you do to make the world a little bit better.

Go take a hike

April 16-24, 2011 is National Parks Week and I hit up Yosemite a week early. If you can take some time I'd definitely recommend hitting the road to see the waterfalls in action and thank mother nature for being the true master of design.

The road less traveled

This is the Vallejo Street Hill.

I will often walk three extra blocks to avoid this hill. This is the hill I dread parking on because it is inevitable that your car will be hit by the weight of a neighboring car's door. Looking up this hill from the bottom you may think it has no redeeming qualities.

But this hill is also the place where I have seen strangers help each other with groceries because they understand the effort it takes to climb it. And yesterday, I was walking down this hill when the girl in front of me was inspired to lay down and roll down the hill as if it were a hillside of grass. As she laid down her friend ask "What are you doing? Are you crazy?" Ignoring her friend and what ever filth she encountered on the sidewalk - she rolled and we all laughed. It was great. It takes that type of gift to bring out those things that inspire us, to give a place value.

Farmers' Markets, Festivals, Food Trucks...

just a few of my favorite ways to activate spaces. Public programming can add value to spaces and create places for people to interact with one another. One of my favorite placemaking events to visit is the I'Mardonnari - Italian Street Painting Festival in Santa Barbara which happens on Memorial Day Weekend each year. The festival activates the plaza in front of Mission Santa Barbara and transforms an expanse of asphalt into a beautiful mosaic.

I'm no Alice Waters

But I do understand the connection people make with the land when they grow their own food.

I love to cook and have always wanted to create edible gardens. So this year, I decided I would make this passion a personal mission using my own yard, well actually pots in front of my apartment, since I do not have a yard. Here's my red chard from this winter,

and a salad I made using greens from my "yard", mesculin lettuce and baby chard.





With spring upon us I decided I needed to expand my edible explorations and take over my mother's back yard. Did plenty of research.

Starting small, I'm giving her some peas, baby spinach, strawberries and blueberries. In a few months I'll expand to summer plantings and have some fruits of my labor to share with you.

People make the place

"Environmentalism has created a culture of respect for the environment, but there's much less clarity about the kind of environment that creates a happy child." - Enrique Peñalosa

I developed the design for Devany Square with the intention of providing a place for capturing the imagination and inspiring shared community interactions.

The design only provides the stage, the childrens' laughter makes the place.