Monday May 24

-Owning property: A lot more financial, emotional investment. Consideration for future generations.
-Goals for selling vegetables in local community
-More involvement in the community without hostility because they're now part of it as opposed to outsiders coming in.
-Aim to suggest example of alternative living
-Art education provided excellent problem-solving skills, for example creating something out of nothing.
-Overwhelming to think of projects and specific plans for the space when the "basic needs" still need to be fulfilled (rebuilding structure)

Friday, May 21 Participation Park

"This garden is poppin', y'all doin' a good job! A few weeks ago there was nothin. It's eatin' time!"

Nick, Scott, and Dane started a community garden in a public unused space four years ago.
-Rather than advertising for people to work, drew attention by working
-Focus mainly on development of space+resources
-Getting to know area, how to build everything from scratch-Learn how to salvage, reuse-Used different city resources. Access to water, how to get supplies
*How to avoid getting evicted-Urban food getting popular: co-op: Downtown co-op: farmers markets, local food to restaurants in area: profit difficult because of number of employees+small space (but got food to top restaurants). CSA-Community Supported Agriculture.
-Today is more of a community garden.
-Casa de Maryland: organize latino/undocumented workers (this was the co-op).
-A fence was necessary to secure "experiment," fence came down when it ended.
-Today Baltimore Free School and youth groups involved.-Good relations with Gentlemen "Club"- they mow and maintain the area
-A lot of supplies stolen (weed-whackers)-If an individual is not there enough, others focus on their own plots. Labor/lack of labor very evident.-Squatted social space-White people in Black neighborhood: fuck gentrification attitude, but are aiding gentrification+displacement of residents. However, there are always lots of reasons not to do something. Go back to the original motive.

Intensive Weeding I

Intensive Weeding II

-Plant a potato to grow a potato; If you plant the seed, it reverts back to primitive hybrid.
-Incas developed the potato

The Most Impressive Lunch
Tomato Plot

reading for 1st week of class

here is reading that will be a good follow up to The Garden and our discussion, it will also be good to have this in mind for Friday's visit to Participation Park so please try and have read this by tomorrow AM

wiki articles on the history on the "commons" and "enclosure"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_commons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclosure


please be sure to read this article by Vandana Shiva

The below article is an edited extract from a longer version which appeared in The Enclosure and Recovery of the Commons published by The Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, India. Vandana Shiva is a scientist and activist. She is also a contributing editor for Third World Resurgence. (TWR 84 - August 1997)

http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/com-cn.htm

worm bins

here is the link for stackable worm bins that Miranda showed during her presentation

http://www.instructables.com/id/Stackable-Worm-Condosbins/step3/It-really-is-this-easy/