My first post...with moss graffiti

I've had the blog name "A Tree Grows in Bushwick" picked out and reserved for about a year. Inspired by my teacher at Columbia, who is positively dutiful about garden blogging, I'm finally going to get this thing started.

I am a garden designer/maker/maintainer living and working in New York City. After many years of "fake it til you make it", piecemeal, on-the-job learning, I'm now about 3 weeks in to my second semester of graduate school in Landscape Design at Columbia University. I think that I want to use this blog to share some sources of inspiration and to flesh out some of my thoughts on urban gardening. I'm not an expert, but I'm a passionate devotee! I'm also interested in Brooklyn culture, indy crafts, food politics, Detroit, feminist theory, music, books, and art. Maybe we can talk about some of that stuff too!

So tonight I'll sign off with something I think is exceptionally cool, from a website that I like called "It Was Me" (http://itwasme.org/). It's a recipe for "Moss Graffiti". I'm going to try it as soon as the weather warms up. What a beautiful idea! (Just be mindful about where you take your starter moss from).

Ingredients:

1 can of beer
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Several clumps garden moss
You will also need a plastic container (with lid),
a blender
and a paintbrush

To begin the recipe, first of all gather together several clumps of moss (moss can usually be found in moist, shady places) and crumble them into a blender. Then add the beer and sugar and blend just long enough to create a smooth, creamy consistency. Now pour the mixture into a plastic container.

Find a suitable damp and shady wall on to which you can apply your moss milkshake. Paint your chosen design onto the wall (either free-hand or using a stencil). If possible try to return to the area over the following weeks to ensure that the mixture is kept moist. Soon the bits of blended moss should begin to re-couperate into a whole rooted plant - maintaining your chosen design before eventually colonising the whole area.