The Month of Yes You May

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Van Waffle

I have an exciting month planned here on Speed River Journal. The trees are bursting, birds are breeding and vegetables and herbs are sprouting. It is also a time for personal challenge and growth. To get things off to a lush and spirited start, here is Vanessa Redgrave in the 1967 movie version of Lerner and Loewe’s musical Camelot.

So what is all the excitement about? Three important things are happening this month. Two of them involve travel, and two of them are ‘thons.

2012 Wordcount BlogathonFirst, I am participating in the 2012 Wordcount Blogathon. That means a new post will appear every day. Why? Above all it is a challenge to provide more informative, relevant content. Watch for useful articles such as a guide to urban foraging. I also want to take a look at changing attitudes about the value of  exotic (or invasive) species. Look for a seasonal recipe and a haiku or two. At least one guest post is also in store. Lots more will appear in this space, so stay tuned.

As if that were not enough to keep me busy, I will also participate in the Baillie Birdathon to raise funds for bird conservation. An upcoming post will explore why this is such a worthy cause, besides the fact birds are wonderful. Find out why I am participating. Please consider sponsoring me. You can do so by visiting my fundraising page. Any donation is welcome, but for every gift of $50 or more before the big day, May 23, I pledge to donate $5 myself. I will make one or two dry runs before then, so follow along to see what happens.

The birdathon requires driving around to some local hot spots, but I called for more travel, didn’t I? Just to make things even more exciting, I am going on vacation for a few days during the middle of the month. We have not worked out all the details, but so far the itinerary includes Prince Edward County (a new wine-producing region on the north shore of Lake Ontario, and another great place to see birds), a couple of days in Montreal, and finally the long-anticipated Men’s Spring Knitting Retreat at Easton Mountain in Greenwich, New York. This blog will go along for the ride so we can share some new sights and experiences (though I will also write ahead to provide some down time).

Do you have any ideas or concerns about urban nature at this time when “The birds and bees with all their vast/amorous past/gaze at the human race aghast”? Let me know with a comment. Your suggestion might warrant an article. All things considered, this will be an extraordinary month. Join me in going “blissfully astray.”

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Habits of Effective Global Citizens

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Van Waffle

Giant tortoiseA short BBC News clip demonstrates a level of stewardship we should all emulate. Brendan Grimshaw bought the tiny Pacific island paradise of Moyenne for £8000 in 1962 and has lived there alone except for the company of giant tortoises, birds and other wildlife. In this simple, small habitat, Grimshaw models behaviour that would help us all survive better in the world:

  • treating other living things as equal citizens
  • building an environment that is healthy for ourselves and others
  • working hard for our livelihood, because paradise does not come cheaply

Maybe these lessons seem obvious, but the world suffers (and so do we) from our failure to observe them.

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Debts Unpaid

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Van Waffle

Payback Poster An oil spill disaster worker describes how BP’s cleanup of the Gulf of Mexico made matters worse. A blood feud keeps an Albanian couple and four children locked in their home seven years after a gun injury. A drug addicted prison inmate weeps at the terror he caused a burglary victim. These are just some of the diverse layers Jennifer Baichwal drills to understand concepts of debt in Payback. Margaret Atwood provides narrative from her book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, which inspired the documentary. However, Baichwal’s research and visual narrative lend greater power to the arguments.

Poetry hardly fits the topic, but Baichwal achieves it with the help of cinematographer Nicholas de Pencier, her husband. The stories overlap and and unfold along divergent lines. Some of the most evocative scenes portray daily life of migrant tomato pickers who have been subject to exploitation and slavery in Florida. Along the way she draws in various voices, from ecologist William Rees to economist Raj Patel. During his temporary release, Conrad Black describes failures of the prison industry from personal experience.

The film holds up debt like a weapon for all sleuths and philosophers to examine. In most of these instances it represents a criminal’s debt to society. However, it parallels debts of inequity—owed by the food industry and consumers to tomato growers, for example—not considered criminal. It asks what happens when people with debts can never repay them, or will not. We must not return to the ancient, destructive justice of blood feuds illustrated by two Albanian families. Our transforming world has far to go in understanding who owes whom what, and how to fix that. We are all, especially the wealthiest of us, in debt. It is easy to ingore, but the longer we do it, the worse it gets.

As I got up to leave the theatre, a woman near the back was arguing loudly: “Why doesn’t anyone ever point out there are too many people?” What about too many excuses? Civilization cannot sustain such apathy.

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Another Rave Review for Guelph

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Van Waffle

Guelph, my home city, received a glowing report on Terry Bradshaw’s TV show Profiles. It demonstrates how environmentalism and sustainability are integral to the city’s history, character and economy. My Downtown Guelph says this was the only Canadian city featured on the show.

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Meeting to Address Guelph’s River Policy Change

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Van Waffle

Guelph City Council has decided to rewrite its policy concerning river corridors, according to a citizen’s email sent to the Wellington County birding hotline. The new Official Plan will remove references to a linked open-space system listed in the existing plan. Current policy is based on the 1993 River System Management Plan, which was ahead of its time in recognizing the value of urban river habitats.

The only public meeting to address the new official plan was already held by Guelph City Council on April 2. Several councillors did not attend and others left before the end of presentations, according to Hugh Whiteley’s notice.

Green space is valuable to the community. Besides that, river corridors provide habitat essential to wildlife, particularly migratory species.

Whitely has invited citizens to a workshop tonight, April 18 at 7 p.m., at 10 Carden Street. It will address the value of Guelph’s open-space policy, discuss whether the new plan is deficient in protecting the city’s rivers and creeks, and consider an action plan.

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Help Me Raise Funds for Bird Conservation

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Van Waffle

Blackburnian warblerOn May 23 I will set out to identify as many bird species as possible within a 24-hour period to raise funds for bird conservation.

I have watched birds for as long as I can remember. I grew up on the shore of Lake Erie not far from Point Pelee National Park. Some provincial rarities nested right on our property, including red-headed woodpeckers and Carolina wrens. A bald eagle once perched on a dead tree by the lake, and this was back when Ontario had only a handful of breeding pairs. One day a black-chinned hummingbird hovered in front of its reflection in our living room window. Many warbler species (like the Blackburnian warbler shown here) migrated through each spring and fall, and a diversity of winter migrants visited our feeder. With so many unusual experiences, the birding bug caught me early.

So did my concern for bird conservation. Many of Canada’s most vibrant songbirds are threatened by loss of habitat. Many species are in decline, some for reasons we have hardly begun to understand. Besides being lovely to behold, birds are essential because of the role they play in numerous ecosystems. Over the years I have joyfully witnessed the recovery of certain species, such as the bald eagle and Eastern bluebird, thanks largely to the efforts of both conservation organizations and property owners protecting and building habitat. Bird conservation makes a difference.

For the first time in 2012, I am participating in the Baillie Birdathon, the oldest sponsored bird count in North America, raising money for bird research and conservation. Funds raised will go to Bird Studies Canada, the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network, the James L. Baillie Memorial Fund and other designated bird conservation clubs. I have designated that part of the funds I raise will go to a local organization, Guelph Field Naturalists.

Since this is my first birdathon, I’ve set a modest goal of $1,000. All my life I’ve had an aversion to hitting people up for money, so it takes something I feel passionate about to break out of my comfort zone. I started off by donating $50 of my own and challenge you to do the same. I would only need nine more donations of $50 to reach my goal, but whatever you can afford will be welcome. Additionally, to help reach the goal, I pledge another $5 for every donation of $50 or more made on or before May 23.

I will do the birdathon on May 23, 2012, counting as many bird species as I can identify by eye or ear in 24 hours. Since I’ve never done this before, I’m setting a goal of 80 species, because I do not know what to expect. Closer to the date I will decide what course to follow and post information here. I will not call birds or otherwise interfere with them except by my quiet presence. I am good at identifying by ear, and will count vocalizations along with visual records. In case of bad weather, I may choose to do the birdathon on May 24 or 25 instead. Updates will appear here.

Pledges are welcome, however my $5 pledge only applies to $50 donations made beforehand.

Please help me reach my fundraising goals. Visit my fundraising page for more information and to watch my progress. Just click “Sponsor Me” to make a donation.

Thank you in advance for your generosity!

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Manitoba Maple Syrup Available to Urban Foragers

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Van Waffle

Manitoba maples, Acer negundo, can also be tapped to make maple syrup and sugar. Although commercial syrup comes exclusively from the sugar maple, A. saccharum, sap from other maple species can also be used. Similar syrups can be made from other tree species such as birch and palm.

Manitoba maples (or box elders) are generally considered an invasive weed species here in southern Ontario. They are one of the first and most abundant tree species to colonize disturbed ground, especially bottomland. Urban foragers might find an opportunity in this abundance. Syrup production may be labour-intensive, but we forage because we can, right? It is all about finding nutrition and flavour in unexpected places.

As a child I played in a small woodlot full of Manitoba maples. Their sprawling, thick trunks were ideal for climbing and building treeforts. I remember tasting sap from the nail wounds. Like other saps it had only a hint of taste, more brightness than sweetness. I might even have tried to boil some down. Another idea probably distracted me before the job could be completed. I had no idea Manitoba maple syrup has a long history.

I learned about it this morning while reading I Have Lived Here Since the World Began: An Illustrated History of Canada’s Native People, by Arthur J. Ray. Iroquois and French-Canadian voyageurs travelling between Montreal and Central Canada in the 18th Century, to supplement the corn hominy and pork fat they carried with them, purchased food from native groups along the route. The Ojibwa living west of Lake Superior produced, among other things, Manitoba maple syrup.

According to Aagaard Farms in Brandon, people in those parts continue to tap Manitoba maples. Sugar maples have trouble establishing themselves in the Prairies due to severe winter cold. Maybe urbanites elsewhere can take this lesson in resourcefulness from the Ojibwa and Manitobans. This syrup is different, having a flavour that is variously described as slightly vanilla, herbal or musty compared to sugar maple syrup.

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Lorraine Roy: Synergy of Art and Science

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Van Waffle

AmelanchiorToday at University of Guelph Arboretum, fabric artist Lorraine Roy described her career to illustrate different ways of interacting with nature. As part of a series presented by the Department of Plant Agriculture, Roy’s seminar addressed: “Embroidered Tree: My Journey With Science and Art”.

Roy’s roots have grown deep at Guelph Arboretum. She graduated from the university’s horticulture program. She says it was paradise for her to work with the visionary R.J. Hilton, who worked in the 1960s and 1970s to set aside land for the arboretum. Roy helped upkeep an international woody plants seed exchange program, collecting and distributing seeds to other arboreta around the world. This nurtured a fascination with seeds and trees that began in childhood.

“I am not a scientist,” Roy claims. Her career as an artist began in 1986. However, her works ever since bear evidence of a continuing study of trees and geoscience.

The fabric paintings use natural elements to explore philosophical matters. Roy says people identify with trees because of their upright form, the expressive gestures of their limbs and the way roots dig into unseen truth. Trees have appeared as significant symbols in most mythologies and religions: for example, the Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge in Christianity. Celtic cultures venerated the oak; they considered it bad luck to cut down a hawthorn, but good luck to bring branches of the spring blossoms into a house. Roy depicts trees growing on the Niagara Escarpment as symbols of triumph over adversity.

From early tree subjects, Roy’s works have delved deeper into the stories of seeds and soil. Seeds present a perfect “marriage of form and function,” she says. In autumn the cherry birch, Betula lenta, produces winged seeds designed to distribute by blowing across the snow. The Kentucky coffeetree, Gymnocladus dioica, supplies its beans with a nutritious supply of protein.

In all these works, a seed is not just a seed: it is a chinquapin oak acorn or a saskatoon berry. The branch, leaves, seedlings, soil and rocks all reveal aspects of true life. Roy says that science looks for knowledge, while art seeks to make that knowledge more accessible.

However, art also makes truth more appealing. Artists can be prophets by drawing our attention to things. These wall hangings introduce viewers to some of our rarest and most threatened woody species. Seeing the beauty, we must also acknowledge its transcience.

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Too much of spring

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Van Waffle

This frost-damaged magnolia is in the Japanese garden at University of Guelph Arboretum.

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The allure of growing herbs

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Van Waffle

What is so alluring about growing herbs in a garden? Hardly any of them are showy plants. You cannot eat enough to make a meal out of any of them. Nevertheless, if I had only time and space on a windowsill, I would most likely choose to grow one or two herbs over any other plant.

I do not know where this love of herbs came from. The only edible plants my mother grew were parsley, chives and rhubarb, probably dug from my great grandmother’s garden. Herbs were just dull powders in bottles on a high kitchen shelf.

In the early 1970s Ranger Rick magazine ran an article with instructions on starting an organic vegetable garden. That is where this whole idea about growing my own food started. The same kids’ magazine started me thinking about solar, wind and geothermal power, but that is another story.

Within a year or two of starting my vegetable garden, I began ordering herb seeds from Stokes Seeds. I sowed them all neatly in rows according to package instructions, then probably proceeded to neglect them. I remember three or four thyme seedlings surviving, a few sage, and maybe one or two rosemary. Of course I had no way of knowing (and nobody in my family knew) that was all we needed for a beginning.

Those seedlings introduced me to a whole new gustatory and olfactory experience. These living organisms bore hardly any resemblance to the insipid brown powders I had known. From the culinary mainstays, I had begun a voyage of discovery. I would become enchanted with herbs. Their allure is multi-faceted:

  • flavour may be their chief claim to fame
  • but fragrance attaches pleasant memories
  • the homely textures of green leaves and modest flowers
  • combined with lore, an historical mystique distinguishing them from food crops
  • medicinal qualities, both scientific and supposed
  • the potential brilliance of natural dyes

Herbs have personalities. Venturing forth from parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, I would soon discover my own favourites:

  • lemon balm: loses its flavour and aroma when dried, but nothing is more beguiling than the scent of its fresh, crushed leaves going into a teapot
  • lovage: another herb that is pointless to dry, its strong celery flavour brings life to any soup
  • the first wildflower I ever grew (the seeds came from an unidentified pod in a field, and I must have laboriously stratified them) turned out to be something I had never seen before: wild bergamot, Monarda fistulosa, wonderful in tea and attractive to bees

What are your favourite herbs? Why do you enjoy growing them?

Update on seeding

Yesterday after coming in from the garden, I caught up on sowing tomatoes, peppers and some tender and perennial herbs that need to start indoors. Now is the right time for tomatoes: about four weeks before the last frost date. Peppers and perennials should have been started a month ago, but it is now or never. I could follow the lazy route of buying plants later, but this is more enriching. Here are the specific varieties:

  • heritage tomatoes: Bonny Best, Black Prince, Golden Cherry
  • peppers: Lipstick Sweet, Purple Beauty
  • tender herb: Genovese basil
  • perennial herbs: sage, Old English lavender, anise hyssop, English thyme, lemon balm, lovage

I already have plants of chives, rosemary and some scented geraniums I bought last summer when we moved here. Today the first rain fell in more than two weeks. Hopefully the rest of the spring will not be so dry.

This evening I planted a few more things in the garden: shallot sets, and seeds of Italian parsley, borage and mammoth dill.

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