White Crocuses and Dandelion Roots

By yesterday afternoon the sun-warmed crocuses in the MOP community garden were fully in bloom, highlighting the contract between old and new in the garden.

Nothing goes to waste in the garden: old sunflower heads and lily pods will be used by students to create ephemeral art.


Here comes the new growth of comfrey (above), and chamomile (below).


The red-flowering currant is almost in bloom and new leaf buds are coming along in those lovely light shades of yellow-green.

Dandelion, chickweed, and some spicy mustard make excellent spring salad greens.

Sharon's New Tool

Sharon has a beautiful new tool that her partner made for her for splitting hazel for the common's gate. She gave me a demonstration on how it works.

The tool sits on top of the end of the piece of wood that you're going to split and you simply hammer it in.



The tool works with the wood's natural tendency to split and the object it to try to get the separate pieces as equally portioned as possible.

The Compost Has Landed

It was the day after the vernal equinox and we woke to blue sky and sunshine for the first time in many days. It was a frosty morning, and by the time we headed to the MOP garden the white frostiness on the rooftops was beginning to melt.



The day before, the city had given us a load of compost, so our task was to spread it over the bee garden. In the photo above, you can see the layer of leaf mulch that the EYA interns spread over the garden to keep the weeds down. My mom and I dug out a few dandelions. We saved the long roots to clean and dry for dandelion tea.

This row was sown with a cover crop. Maybe it's winter barley?

So here is the garden before we started adding the compost. Brian and Jean told me we needed a general cover of three inches, with more at the edges, to a depth of about 6 inches there.

My mom and dad functioned as the welcoming committee, as well as chipping in with all the other work: serving tea, picking up litter, cleaning up the edges of the beds, and shoveling compost! It was truly an intergenerational work party, with the youngest participant at age 9, and the eldest, being in their mid seventies. At one point the youngest member of our group stood at the top of the compost pile shouting "I love manure!" (It's actually veggie compost, but who wants to spoil the illusion?)



I made a path out of bark mulch for the wheelbarrows from the alley to the entrance to the bee garden.

Look at the lovely color of that warm luscious compost!


Thanks to everyone who came and helped out, and for those who missed out on the fun, remember that the third Saturday of every month there will be a work party and a workshop at the site.

Wind Moon

I spent the weekend in Victoria, hoping to unwind and enjoy some cherry blossoms and warm breezes. I got a big surprise in the form of Arctic winds and snow falling in the plum blossoms. The metaphor became a reality.

The weather was doing flip flops with the wind playing raucous tag with the muscle-bound clouds.


I returned home to two inches of snow on the ground. The crocuses and irises look a bit shocked today after the sun melted the snowcover.


The Lakota call the March moon the Moon of the Sore Eyes. It must be a time when there is increased daylight, but snow remaining on the ground-- a vulnerable time to risk sunburning your eyes. I explained to my students that when the one time I visited Greece the sun reflected off those beautiful white ruins and burned my eyes horribly. There's got to be the genesis of a myth in there somewhere.

The Eastern Cherokee (and the Celtic people) call the March moon the Wind Moon because it strips away all the dead leaves from the tree branches in preparation for new growth. One last ritual to prepare us for the sacred rebirth of spring.

Currently: -1 Degree Celsius

Cloud-Gazing Ginkgo Walk

After a short spiel on haiku and becoming observers of seasonal changes, we took the students on a silent ginkgo walk around the school yard where they made observations and wrote poetry in their mindfulness journals.

Next, we did some preliminary experiments with marking bee habitat.

I am going to talk to the students about radial and bilateral symmetry and how scientists study which kinds of flowers attract different species of bees. It is thought that honey bees are generally attracted to flowers with radial symmetry.


I explained that feral bees sometimes nest in hollow trees, and that trees can provide propolis, pollen and nectar for bees.

I explained the rules for haiku, and that the rules are meant to be a guide and that they can be broken. The students drew stylized clouds and then wrote their poems following the lines of the clouds. Or they broke the rules and did their own thing.


Turns out that many of the students are gifted poets.


Spring is coming soon
The blossoms are gonna bloom
The branch died with honour

That Vacant Look

Yesterday I went on a recon mission to look for a vacant lot so I could talk to the students about how we can approve bee habitat in the city. It looks like some local folks already have the same idea, perhaps creating community gardens in Pandora Park? Sounds like a great idea. That image of handful of radishes says it all. Down with monoculture!


It was a flip flop day, starting with monochrome cloud cover and developing into a lush blue canvas with a diversity of clouds perfect for the exercise we did with the students earlier in the day. The eagles were circling low on the east side of the harbor, so I followed them and found the vacant lot I was looking for.


We will be creating our own eco-graffiti outside the lot, marking bee habitat we hope to create with our top secret mission.

This is a good spot for an installation using chalk and some ephemeral materials I have been collecting for this purpose. It's at a juncture where residential meets industrial and the atmospere turns sterile and harsh. I think it's a perfect site for some art.

Lucky Seedy

You know it's going to be a good event when notre petit chien steals the show comme d'habitude. Seedy Saturday was very busy this year. I came, I shopped, I chatted and I left before I was crushed by the crowds. They really need to hold it in a larger venue.

I ended up buying lots of seeds from Brother Nature, including edible Chrysanthemums, which is what Chinese Chrysanthemum tea is made from. It's a good tea to drink with dim sum. You can stir-fry the greens of edible Chrysanthemum too. According to goldenteahouse.com:

"This tea is slightly sweet and refreshing, with a cooling effect on the body. Chrysanthemum Tea is believed to improve cloudy vision and gradually reduces liver inflammation. It is frequently included in formulas for sinus congestion, fever, complexion problems, and high blood pressure. The infusion is a nearly fluoresent yellow with a fantastically light taste. Chrysanthemum teas are often served with meals and complement many main dishes."

The most gorgeous pussywillows ever. Don't you just want to own a coat made of these!

Viburnum blossoms.

You can buy fruit trees and mushrooms at Seedy Saturday too. The mushroom man had a linuep of people wanting to purchase his shroom kits. I ended up buying the Cerinthe major in the gift shop (Renee's Garden) because the Van Dusen honeywort seeds weren't available during Seedy Saturday. No comment on that one.

You know you want some!

(BTW, I see Brother Nature also has a bee garden mix you can buy on his website.)