Wood JUSTICE: Reclaimed Wood Furniture on Craigslist

Sometimes you get some cool stuff out of the black hole of the Los Angeles Craigslist.  While looking for a coffee table this weekend, FOOD JUSTICE HOUSE came across this awesome post hidden somewhere between the 13th identical Ikea end-table and a STR8-bro solicitation.  We don't know anything about John or his wood reclamation business, but we do know that he makes rugged furniture from high-quality reused lumber in his Pomona workshop.  Things like this make the entire afternoon we wasted on Craigslist almost worth it.

Along the same angle, but a bit less mysterious, is Elysian Park's Blake Avenue.  It's not cheap, but it's beautiful stuff.  This sort of thing makes me excited about actually having a job someday.

"Something often missing in the discussion of environmentally responsible furniture is the principle of longevity.  Here at Blake Avenue we love making the most out of the natural resources the earth provides.  We not only celebrate the natural beauty of reclaimed and recycled materials, but also seek to create designs that are both timeless and structurally fit to last a lifetime."

Well said.

John makes furniture in Pomona; if you're interested in his products you can make an inquiry through his Craigslist post.  Blake Avenue is located at 3010 N Coolidge Ave., just west of the LA River and south of the 2.  Prices are in the thousands, so be prepared to make a life-long investment. 

-Ben "The Best" Tuthill

Food Forest

It started with a gardening class at the UC Extension at the Natural History Museum.  From this class, South LA resident Ron Finley was inspired to team up with neighbors and teachers to garden in the green space between the sidewalk and road to reclaim that land and bring a sense of community and healthy food into his neighborhood, as told by Ron in the video above.

Ron ran into problems when the city issued him a citation for not having the proper permits to replace the grass.  Thanks to City Councilman Herb Wesson though, the citation was removed and Herb's garden has gone on to make headlines in the LATimes and TheAtlanticCities.

Ron and similar thinkers have started the organization LA Green Grounds which focuses on building gardens in South LA with volunteers from the surrounding communities in people's front yards. Visit their website to learn more about the work they do, where they do it, and how they plan on transitioning South LA from a Food Desert into a Food Forest.

1 too many blogs for 1 liberal arts college?

We shall soon see. Mr. Scoble and the lovely folks at the FJH will be dueling for similar markets in the upcoming eternity. As an aspiring biologist, I'm optimistic that these two blogs can develop a mutualistic symbiotic relationship while simultaneously carving out their own niches (though honestly can the former happen without the latter). Whatever happens, may natural selection take its course and  independent media forever flourish in Los Angeles. Io Triumphe or something that is spelled like that!

FJ HOUSE ADVOCATES: The Blue Hen, Eagle Rock, Los Angeles

Last Saturday after hankering a craving for pho all day long Justicers Ben Ben "The Best", Ruby, and I were joined by H.M.O.T.W Robbie at Eagle Rock's own Blue Hen Restaurant.  They are a small blue restaurant on Colorado that prides itself on having local and organic ingredients that really coalesce into a fantastic final product be it the pho or the imperial rolls (it seemed like everyone in the restaurant got the rolls to start).

 

Though the prices were enough to deter about half of our planned dinner group away (the food injusticers went for the $3 tacos down the street) it was probably for the best as the dining room can't do groups of over six very easily.  The four who remained walked away with $15 bucks gladly spent on a healthy and filling meal.  Half the Blue Hen menu has gluten-free and vegan options making it highly adaptable to all needs.  Grass-fed beef and free range chicken are also available for the meat eaters.  However, the fried-potato eaters are given the biggest treat as the French Fries are great!

Go check this place out, it is a wonderful alternative to other less just Vietnamese places in Northeast LA.

P.S. - On that wonderful Saturday Ben "The Best" finally learned to use chopsticks.

P.S.S - Ruby ordered the Kid Under 5 and L-U-V-(MADONNA)-E-D it!



Beer of the Week #3 / Lana del Rey SNL

Dead Guy Ale from Rogue

Any food justice element we should be made aware of? Rogue brewery grows their own hops. Locally grown is justice! 

Today we are participating in Noah's favorite time of the week. He might not have showered, his team may or may not have lost, and his jersey is gross, but Noah still loves his malt liquor. Today's brewski has a skeleton on it, but despite the fierce appearance, I bet we can find a cuddly little feller in this beer here that yearns for some love!

Appearance:
Ben: Not quite to my satisfaction. Looks like someone's pee before they are about to die from dehydration.
Noah: It's the darkest we have reviewed, I can't even see through the glass.
Dan: Sort of a light amber, like where the mosquito was trapped in Jurassic park.

Smell:
Noah: Smells like beer everytime.
Dan: I can't smell anything.
Ben: I can't smell anything in this glass, but more of a white grape juice smell than usual.

Taste:
Dan: Full bodied, sort of copperish. Not bitter.  Well balanced, like nastya lukin (winky face).
Ben: Quite nice, sweet, creamy, like a sugarless Sasperella (sp?). A slight bite at the end.
Noah: Appealing, distinct aftertaste, but I can't put my finger on it.

Overall:

Ben: One of the more enjoyable of the beers I've tasted. But I still wouldn't drink it.
Dan: Well balanced, not that exciting though.
Noah: Worth the two coins you put on the dead guys eyes (???)

krunkability

6.50 avb/$11.00 = .509090909090909090909090909090909090909090909090909....

^wow this is lower than Natty, shame.

*Lana del Rey

Food Forward

This past weekend as part of Oxy's MLK Day of Service I got to work with an organization working on Food Justice issues in and around Los Angeles.  This organization was called Food Forward.

The organization uses the definition of Fruitanthropy (which I think is a made up word) to lay out their mission statement as "the picking, donating, or distributing of fruit for humanitarian purposes."  They are a gleening organization that picks fruit in big and small quantities--from orchards to family homes.  Fourteen of my fellow Oxy students and I divided into three groups last Saturday and each group went to a different home in northeast Los Angeles.  We worked all morning picking the fruit trees in people's backyards.  The house I went to had one orange and one lemon tree.  The other houses had orange, tangerine, and grapefruit trees.  Food Forward is very flexible, they pick any kind of fruit tree (including the god of all fruit trees--avocados), make it really easy for people to sign up to help pick the trees, and make it very simple to register trees on your property that are ripe for the picking.

While my group was picking we heard a little girl in the house crying, and she just went on and on.  We were confused at first but soon realized that she was staring right out the window and crying because she saw us taking the fruit from her trees. It was real nice to realize that this young girl had realized how blessed she was to have food growing in her backyard.  Food Forward's work has the ability to transform the way that people see their own backyards and the nature that surrounds them in a way that can make people value and realize the charitable potential of their food producing plants and trees.

After just a couple of hours in the three locations we loaded up our vans and drove to the Downtown Women's Center on skid row.  There, our group unloaded over 900 pounds of fruit to help stock the center's kitchen.  The Women's Center makes a point to distribute two servings of fruit a day to the women they work with.  As soon as we carted in our 17 boxes they began handing the women tangerines as an after lunch snack.  It was amazing and reassuring to see the women running the shelter interact so positively and genuinely with the women using the center's services.  After dropping off the fruit our group went to the store attached to the center that features crafts made by some of the women for sale along with coffee and cookbooks.  All profits from the store are given back to the Center.  I bought a cookbook called LA's Original Farmer's Market Cookbook, which I'm very excited to use.

I am looking forward to working with Food Forward more in the future and you should too.  Sign up to be a volunteer on their website (http://www.foodforward.org/) and if there happens to be a pick in your neighborhood then RSVP! Its as simple as that and only requires a couple of hours.  But be fast as all their picks for February filled up within three days of posting their schedule!  It is evident that this organization will be doing good far down the road as they expand to encompass more of the SoCal over the next decade. Food Justice House salutes you Food Forward!

MENSWEAR JUSTICE: Shelter Half

Menswear shops featuring giant American flags seem to be becoming a bit of a thing, and the (temporary?) made-in-the-USA shop Shelter Half furthers the trend with its new South La Brea storefront.  Already featuring Union and the newly opened Unis outpost, the 100-block of S La Brea is quickly becoming the coolest street in LA (after Stratford Rd. past 49th, of course).  FOOD JUSTICE HOUSE will definitely be making a trip once we get back to California.  Photos via ACL.