With Fall comes a certain period of reckoning and reflection. As the the final fruits of the season come to bear, the lessons learned are made all the more prescient. Working in our back alley garden and giving rise to agricultural plants has been an exercise in creative patience and adaptive adjustments. Our little microclimate is very out of the ordinary compared to most gardens, but we like to think that this challenge is bettering our ability to observe and intuit.
At many points, this year felt like a proof-of-concept project. By no means are we optimized for sure successes or studied in our approach to urban horticulture, but we are learning a lot along the way and the mind bristles with ideas for next year. But much of that can be put to rest as we reap the rewards of a season spent toiling to turn this grey patch to green.
Just as the Summer's first tomato reminds us of why we do what we do, the Fall's final tomato will tell the tale of how far we've come.
MIT TechTV has a great piece about our neighboring garden over at the Beloved Community Center.
From the site:
"At the Beloved Community Center
in Greensboro, NC, homeless neighbors and community members alike
contribute to tending a large and growing garden. They share the food
the grow with neighbors and the homeless hospitality house next door,
and will begin selling produce to local businesses as well starting
next year."
Hmm, this seems to explain all the mosquitoes we've been seeing this season.
From theawl.com:
This was the worst mosquito season ever, and it is all our fault. Not so long ago, those of us on the east coast weren't bitten during the day; that has changed. That is because the asian tiger mosquito began to happily take over a swath of the U.S., because we basically asked it to, explains Awl pal Tom Scocca: "Humanity has not subdued nature so much as been infiltrated by it, co-opted to generate food and water and shelter to an entire roving ecosystem…. For the Asian tiger mosquito, the benefits of human settlement include a near-limitless supply of cavities and containers of every shape and material, all of them possible breeding reservoirs: styrofoam cups, plastic bottles, metal roof gutters, ceramic saucers. In cemeteries, people not only put out vases, they are thoughtful enough to put water in them."
Let that be a lesson to you. Stagnant water outdoors = more mosquitoes. If you have any dishes, pans or buckets outside, be sure to turn them over so that water doesn't collect in them.
Global Warming - Investors Lobby for Global Warming Laws - thedailygreen.com: Global investors are speaking out on global warming policy.
PIG 05049 : Christien Meindertsma:
Christien Meindertsma has spent three years researching all the products made from a single pig. Amongst some of the more unexpected results were: Ammunition, medicine, photo paper, heart valves, brakes, chewing gum, porcelain, cosmetics, cigarettes, conditioner and even bio diesel.
David Byrne’s Perfect City - WSJ.com: Talking Heads frontman David Byrne dreams up a metropolis based on his favorite spots around the world. A look at what makes a city livable for him, from Tokyo's robo-parking lots and Berlin's boulevards to the lakefront paths in Minneapolis.
Men drive van across Cook Strait - national | Stuff.co.nz:
Hilarious. Makes me miss NZ.
Microbes as glass sculptures: in a word, beautiful. : The World's Fair: ""
Benjamin Cohen is an Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia. He studies the place of science in environmental history, ethics, and policy. He also writes other stuff.
"In Japan the concept of kirei, or beauty, is analogous to being supremely clean: like the long, rectangular and perfectly unblemished tatami mats stretching away from the entrances of local temples. And if cleanliness is godly, then recycling is angelic."
Great article about Japan's culture of simplicity.
https://www.adbusters.org/magazine/83/japan.html
-Css
Hello my dear unknown audience. Curtiss here.
This may be the first time we're talking or you may be scanning back to see exactly where I picked up this blog and started writing as its author. Well, here it is, August 26th, the official refreshing of the Urban Green blog.
I'm looking forward to knowing you better this season and next year. A lot has happened over the course of the Summer -- so much so that I haven't had the chance to write, save for our monthly newsletter, Curious Play. Details will slowly trickle in every week as I fill this blog with content and accounts of what's going on in our garden. You'll also be able to find out about other Urban Green events and initiatives via this blog. When I have the time, I'll do my best to ruminate on Clean Technologies, Sustainable Living techniques and Environmental Artists that I find interesting.
For now though, I would simply like for this entry to serve as the point in which I took the helm here at urbangreen.vox.com.
Until next week,
Curtiss P. Martin
Urban Green Coordinator
Elsewhere Artist Collaborative
