Sunday, October 23, 2011
Let us go forth
Monday, October 17, 2011
Brevity
On November 11th some time after 8 pm, I'll be presenting about the Urban Land Scouts for PechaKucha Night at Relix Variety Theatre (on N. Central St).PechaKucha originated in Japan "as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public" and has caught on in the US. I think of it like a speed-dating format for TED-talk-esque presentations. Each presenter may display 20 slides for 20 seconds each. That means you've got to say your piece in a little over six minutes. Great!
I don't yet know all the other presenters, but I'm looking forward to their pieces and to the event. If you live in or near Knoxville, I invite you to join us on 11-11-11 at Relix.
Monday, October 3, 2011
State of the Union
I've been working today to mail a letter to all the donors and other supports who helped make the camps this summer possible. If you'd like to read a copy of the letter you can find it here.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Junior Urban Land Scouts!
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| This text comes from the field book of one of the campers this summer. |
It is fall-ish now: cooler, crisper skies, shriveled leaves, and more rain. It is a fine time to be an Urban Land Scout-- there's still so much ripening and dropping these days. This week also marks the start of Junior Urban Land Scouts at the Boys and Girls Club. I am thrilled to get to work with them and eager to see what lessons come out of our time together. More on that project as it progresses.
On the subject of progress: one of my goals for the ULS (and now JULS) is to get the levels and actions refined, well documented, and more modular (i.e. in a pdf) so that other groups may confidently start their own Urban Land Scout tribe, junior or otherwise. Likewise, I hope to host a foraging tour in November akin to the earlier "gleaning tours" and "Tour de Plants." Both the Junior Urban Land Scout curriculum and the tours are simple and easily adapted to locale. Would you like to host one in your city? Send me a message and I'll set you up with all you need...which is not much at all once you have the dee-sire.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Seeds, Glorious Seeds
Hallelujah, it's cooled off a little. If August is the month when novice gardeners fall off the wagon and let things go to seed, wither, and generally get out of control, let September be our month to creep back, prune, remove, and restore. It's also a good time to save seeds.
Since most seeds need three things to grow (water, soil, sunlight/warmth) you'll want to store them in such a way as to avoid those conditions. That is somewhere dry, clean, and dark. Make sure your seeds are totally dry before you tuck them away in a drawer. Similarly, if you're going to store seeds in the freezer, be sure they're dry beforehand. Otherwise they might rot and lose viability. I like to dry goopy seeds like melon or tomato seeds on a sheet of newspaper on the porch. It's outside, but out of direct sunlight. Give the seeds a couple of stirs to separate them from the newsprint as they dry and pick of the dried bits of vegetable or fruit pulp before you store them.
Saving seeds is the first half of the chore. The second half is labeling them and storing them and knowing what you've got so you can use them next spring and summer. I like to label my seeds with the plant name, the year the seeds were harvested, and any other information like "From Gerry Moll" or "Did well in partial shade." Tracking provenance points towards the generations before us who "genetically modified" through careful selection year after year.
As famed bean collector and garden master John Coykendall said when he visited Beardsley Farm last year, "[We are] going to be the future of seed saving...people like [us]. People with such interests." (Thanks to Kat for her notes.) Like so many things, the success of seed saving is not grand or sexy, but rather incremental and ordinary. A good metaphor to carry into fall.
Since most seeds need three things to grow (water, soil, sunlight/warmth) you'll want to store them in such a way as to avoid those conditions. That is somewhere dry, clean, and dark. Make sure your seeds are totally dry before you tuck them away in a drawer. Similarly, if you're going to store seeds in the freezer, be sure they're dry beforehand. Otherwise they might rot and lose viability. I like to dry goopy seeds like melon or tomato seeds on a sheet of newspaper on the porch. It's outside, but out of direct sunlight. Give the seeds a couple of stirs to separate them from the newsprint as they dry and pick of the dried bits of vegetable or fruit pulp before you store them.
Saving seeds is the first half of the chore. The second half is labeling them and storing them and knowing what you've got so you can use them next spring and summer. I like to label my seeds with the plant name, the year the seeds were harvested, and any other information like "From Gerry Moll" or "Did well in partial shade." Tracking provenance points towards the generations before us who "genetically modified" through careful selection year after year.
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| John shows "leather britches" to Urban Land Scouts in the Beardsley greenhouse. |
As famed bean collector and garden master John Coykendall said when he visited Beardsley Farm last year, "[We are] going to be the future of seed saving...people like [us]. People with such interests." (Thanks to Kat for her notes.) Like so many things, the success of seed saving is not grand or sexy, but rather incremental and ordinary. A good metaphor to carry into fall.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Plants in Portland
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Kat - Levels 8 & 9
Congratulations to Kat for earning her level 8 & 9 badges. Shown below are an image from her worm composter (started at one of our workshops at Beardsley Farm).
These photos show Kat's perennial, horseradish, growing in two seasons in small raised beds in her yard. Well done Kat. Congratulations.
These photos show Kat's perennial, horseradish, growing in two seasons in small raised beds in her yard. Well done Kat. Congratulations.
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