We have a special email list for those who are actively involved in steward work at our project sites. It is a weekly update on progress and next steps, event scheduling, and other odds and ends. If you would like to be included, please email info@alchemicalnursery.org with your request. Here is a sample of the emails from the past couple weeks:
July 28th 2020 ANP Stewards Reports and Project Site Updates
Very Quickie Update This Week, hope to see you in person soon if I haven’t lately:
We will be continuing at 610 Gifford Community Garden this week at the 9 AM slot. I hope you can join us in weeding and caring for our plants we are growing together. There are still currants available for harvest, along with lots of herbs such as mint, lemon balm, green onion.
Rahma Food Forest Garden is getting some help with tree pruning from Onondaga Earth Corps this week, and we may work with them on some other educational programming and project work in the future. No scheduled event this week as of my typing this message (Last Friday night we ended up with a 3 pound harvest of jostaberry!).
Oswego Shonnard Meadow Orchard got mowed again before we could get there and put in signage to save the sunchokes, we will try again; and of course welcome assistance in this task. Black currants are still available for harvesting.
713 Marcellus Depot (Bike Kitchen, Tool Share, and Outdoor Gear Library) is still progressing, but needs a boost if we are to have it ready for move in this fall. I am scheduling an open house for visiting, orientation, and work sesh (session) on Friday from 5:30-7:30. Let me know if you can swing by and lend a hand for a bit, or want to get to know the space better. I would like us to: complete scraping the main two rooms, vacuum them, start painting them, install the next back steps, and we’ll see what else we’re capable of that evening.
We installed our first Raised Bed Mutual Aid site last Saturday at a first-time home-owner, single mother of three, African-American woman who is learning gardening for the first time this year (it was lots of fun, her daughter was so excited, she was shoveling compost from the back of my pickup calling herself the “goddess of dirt”!), we are still waiting for the delivery of the remaining 14 beds and will certainly appreciate help with both the transport and installation. This first trial run took 2 hours, but I have lots of ways we will shave that down to 90 minutes or less.
Please join our Alchemical Site Stewards Group on WhatApp using the link https://chat.whatsapp.
July 22nd 2020 ANP Stewards Reports and Project Site Updates
GENERAL
We still have 1 position in our Board of Directors to fill currently, have you considered serving in this way yet? Please contact me with questions you may have.
Our 713 Marcellus St Lending Library site is now on a secure server and is now accepting payments for memberships. Pledge your support by becoming a paying member today. Visit https://
610 GIFFORD ST COMMUNITY GARDEN
We will be meeting at 9 am this Saturday at Gifford garden. Lots of currant harvest still available. We’re in prime growing season, so necessary to stay on top of weeding. Fence repairs also need made, and shade cloth finish installation. Let me know if you know you’ll be coming. Here’s Susan’s report from the past few weeks: “Welcome back! I hope it was cooler where you traveled to than it has been in Syracuse. Kathy and I were at the Gifford St. garden at 9:00 yesterday and on July 11 (she was also there on July 4). We weeded; trimmed unruly plants; harvested raspberries, currants, radishes, and yarrow; and staked up some sprawling tomato plants. (More tomato cages are needed.) Fortunately, a couple of good rainstorms have kept the garden watered for the past two weeks, so we haven’t yet had to use the hydrant and raggedy hoses.”
As Susan mentioned, we need tomato cages, if you have any extra in the back of your garage or basement and want to donate, please let us know and bring them by.
RAHMA EDIBLE FOOD FOREST GARDEN
We are planning to go on Friday evening to harvest jostaberry and golden currants, they’ll dry up on the bush if we don’t get them soon, I picked a whole quart in only 5 minutes the other day, so it’s not too time consuming. if you join us we’ll also do some trash pickup and weeding of the front corner. Contact me via this thread so we can coordinate a time to meet that is best for everyone who’s coming.
Please bring a haul of cardboard if you can for our stash so we can continue sheet-mulching.
713 MARCELLUS STREET DEPOT
Likely will be at 713 some point Saturday afternoon or evening, time to be determined based on a number of factors. One of which is we are hoping to do the first trial install of the metal raised beds we are providing as mutual aid, and are scheduling that right now; will update the group once I know more.
OTHER
The Oswego Shonnard Orchard Meadow is also flowing with black currants, we picked 6 quarts in a half hour on Sunday, please visit if you’d like to harvest (701 Oswego St, corner with Shonnard St).