Where has August gone? Slipped into the growth of tomatoes, emerged into the flowers of the beans, and left it’s heat behind. The full moon of August is past, and the next moon is the harvest moon of September. Have we done all that we need to? What must we do to put the garden to bed for another sleep? In what state do we want to wake next season?
August caught a few workshops in its tendrils as it passed, the most productive of which was the Solar Dehydrator making workshop that Wayne Grosko led. We began it on the 11th by tearing apart a semi-functional dehydrator and building our new heat collection chute (photos are blogged somewhere down below).
On the 26th we got together again and built most of the food box, leaving us with a bit of screening to do, a door to put on, and screens to figure out. We may have to make our screens from willow or wood, as neither of us want to put our food on aluminium or plastic. So, we will have another day to finish it up, then it will perch on my porch and be available to the community. If you want to come by and check it out drop me an email (garden at nspirg.org).
Another branch of the SeeMore Green has grown as well, this one mobile: the wild-harvesting guerrilla-gardeners. Three rides and a Facebook group of 103 members deep, this group meets at One World Cafe, Sunday mornings at 9am. Bring your bikes, breath, bags, eyes, and imagination; we explore the urban wildlands, listening to what nature offers us, and then ferment our ideas together to create more gardens and street art. Check the Facebook site here: and check the blogs below for some inspiration out of Ottawa.
Last week, Daniel Jardine and Kyla Milne came by to get the last of the footage needed to finish up the film on Seymour/See-More Green. It was fun running around the garden with cameras and big fluffy microphones, and a number of key folks stopped by with perfect phrases! The film is a great introduction to SeeMore Green, showing some history and depth of how the shed and roof were built, some of the folks involved, and the impact the garden has had on individuals through the course of the years.
The film will be screened on Thursday September 13th in the garden at around 8pm. Starting at 6:30 that Thursday, as part of rad frosh, a new school year, and the transition of the season, we are inviting all grassrooots food and urban agriculture groups to come by. Ideally it will be a ‘town hall meeting’; an opportunity to share where our groups are at, what projects we are invested in, and what we would like to see.
So, if you are part of any such group, please come by. If you have any interest in good food, healthy land, street art, healthy humans, and/or community come by, and bring a blanket to sit on.
For the next couple of Thursdays in the garden we will continue to have gardenplay workparties for putting the garden to bed, preparing it for next year, and naturally, harvesting! On the 20th and 27th workparties will be followed by an outdoor film screening, so bring your blankets!
In the garden, there will be lots of cherry tomatoes, beans, dill, and kale to nibble and share. It would be nice to get some seed out of the garden too: we could sell it in the spring as a funraiser, but that is site is too small to really facilitate all the taste-testing, crop sharing, and seed saving. We might be able to get some lettuce, dill and nettle seed though, which would be nice.
So this season comes slowly to an end. Hopefully through September, we can continue to develop as a group the peoples who are interested in being proactive in food and urban agriculture, and translate that energy into Campus Action on Food, and the Food Action Committee. Come springtime, the possibilities will abound.
SeeMore Green wants to become a nursery site. Using the Dal greenhouse, as well as the garden site, let’s learn to propagate and start plants. We could then sell the plantlets both to fundraise as well as to more gardens growing great plant allies. There is a real business opportunity in selling plant starts, but more importantly, it is a great skill for us to learn.
I have met with a program co-ordinator at the Phoenix Learning Centre (programs for youth-at-risk), as well as a Dal prof, who are interested in helping create a 10 week, pre-employment program within the garden for youth to learn plant propagation and garden skills.
What I need to do now is write up a bunch of proposals. What I really need now, is someone to help me write up all these proposals! If you have some time to help write please, please do. I am passionate about creating these jobs and programs; I know that our land and community will love us for it; the resources are available: we just need to write the plan. If you can help, please do.
So, I think that is all the updates for you… well, there is one other annoying detail to share: the garden has been experiencing theft! That is right… people are taking pots, watering cans, and plants from the garden without asking or even leaving a note. I know that it is a collective garden and that may nullify the concept of ownership or theft for some, but seeing plants lovingly tended in the garden for months just disappear makes me sad. Why not propagate them rather than steal them? Do they even know who brought them in, who wanted them for what? So what do we do about theft? How do we help people to understand that they may be more than meets the eye?
In many ways I think that theft from the garden will stop only when the community is saturated with gardens, and that we all have enough of something to trade for what we want. So team, lets keep gardening everywhere.
I really really hope to see more of everyone in the next month, both on Thursdays in the garden and for Sunday morning rides.
May the forest be with us.
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