Thursday, November 11, 2010

goings on

I spent the morning working at the Greenside Out Garden, the physical home of my umbrella organization Bountiful Brookline. I love organizing things, taking stock of what is present, and cleaning as I go, so that is what I did to the shed there. Its like loading a dishwasher to maximize the use of the space and also ensure everything gets clean. Along with Laurie, a volunteer with BB, I harvested the last of the garden's bounty for this season. This included over 5lbs of kale, 1 lb of salad greens, 1 pound of assorted collards and chard, a few stubby carrots, and big bunches of parsley and chives. I planted garlic in 2 of our beds, and then I covered all of the beds with a nice blanket of leaves. I composted the stalks and roots that we pulled out with some leaves. This kind of work is really enjoyable, especially because it is such a refreshing break from my normal school work and reading assignments. Being outside in the crisp fall morning sun, rooting around in the dirt, whistling and thinking about everything and nothing. It feels really great, it just feels good to me. It feels right.

(It feels so much better than sitting here and finishing my resource economics problem set on fisheries, equilibrium harvest levels, marginal cost of effort, total revenue, comparative statistics, blah blagh. That is why I am writing to you!)

Tomorrow night the Hive is hosting a Shabbat dinner and get this: its free. An organization actually pays college students to host shabbat dinners for their friends and family, so that is what we are doing. Isn't it great? I don't even know what Shabbat is! This meal, which I am sure will be as lovely as our house meals always are, is happening after the first meeting for the Warren Towers Green the Patio project. I am excited for this to finally get started and to hear everyone's vision for this space. I hope to see a productive container garden with beds and pots that shows how easy it is to grow food in the city. And I hope that it will also become a lasting pleasant place that people can sit and enjoy themselves in for years to come, a little outdoor green haven away from the clutter of Warren Towers and the rest of dreary BU campus (its pretty drab, you must admit, and no amount of brick will change that) where birds and insects and people can interact in harmony. Sounds a bit cheesy, but oh well.

As if there wasn't enough excitement already, Saturday I will be biking to Salem to Roll Against Coal. It is a ride-to-rally put on by Greenpeace, Students for a Just and Stable Future, and Bikes not Bombs. We will be meeting Salem-based environmental groups for a rally at a church there, where the goal is to show our support for renewable energy and our distaste for the coal power plant there. It is an obsolete sixty year old behemoth, and there are many clamboring for it to close. Should be a nice little Saturday...

Also, my stupid glasses broke again. This is the second time in a year, and I swear it is not my fault. Luckily they are still (barely) under warranty, and I should be getting a replacement pair soon. For the mean time its nerdy taped up glasses for this guy.

Oh, and one more thing. There is a master urban gardener course offered by Boston Natural Areas Network that I am considering for next year. It is offered on 2 months of Saturdays from January-March, and it is free-suggested donation of 40 bucks. I think it would be a great supplement/contribution to my work with Bountiful Brookline, and it should provide valuable lifelong skills that I can more fully put to use after college. This year is great! Relinquishing my Saturdays is of course a bit of a daunting prospect, though when do I ever do much in the way of productive things on that day anyways. And it runs from 10-3:30pm, so the schedule is not too intense. We will see, eh?

1 comment:

  1. The course sounds great! And how was the Shabbat dinner? I assume by now you've learned what Shabbat is? You made me laugh with that comment. No Jews in your house?
    love you,
    Mom

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