Category Archives: General

Learn Trade Skills

Motivational graphic for repairing, building, making (and don’t forget gardening!)

“An ally in leaving the world better than one found it!” – My own saying

“Build a better world by doing good things instead of being angry at bad guys.” – Paul Wheaton of Permies.com

Repair, Recycle, ReUse

Go to a Repair Cafe near you!

– Fun hobbies
– Fulfilling & educational
– Meaningful, build resilience
– Direct action to build a better world environmentally, socially, productively
– Save money

* Not all trade skill applications equal, YMMV

[originally posted at https://alchemecology.com/?p=1209]

Seaberry aka Seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) – Plant Highlight

Seaberry Benefits

A list and table provided by Whole Systems Design, LCC: http://www.wholesystemsdesign.com/wsd-seaberry-products/

  • Exceptional essential fatty acid content.
  • Nitrogen fixer
  • Hardy from USDA zones 3 (maybe 2b) to 7 for sure, probably 8 (I’ve seen growing in Tuscany Italy and have heard first hand reports of them growing in central Canada where it gets to -50F)
  • Nearly deer proof (very resistant to browse once established and even early on with thorns present)
  • All parts medicinal from leaves to fruit to bark (non fruit parts used as a tea for centuries)
  • Fast growing and drought tolerant
  • Soil hardy – we’ve grown them well in everyting from sandy to heavy dense clay
  • Birds do not harvest them much if at all
  • But great bird nest habitat
  • Needs full to 3/4 day sun minimum
  • Exceptionally wind hardy – great wind heedge and snow fence
  • Salt tolerant – grows on Siberian coastal dunes
  • Bears every year, bears at a young age
  • Flowers hardy to below 20F – exceptionally reliable and resilient in the face of late frosts
  • Maintenance free once established -no need to prune
Constituents of Sea Buckthorn Fruit (per 100 grams fresh berries)
Vitamin C 200-1,500 mg (typical amount: 600 mg)
Vitamin E (mixed tocopherols) Up to 180 mg (equal to about 270 IU)
Folic acid Up to 80 mcg
Carotenoids, including beta carotene, lycopene, zeaxanthine; these contribute the yellow-orange-red colors of the fruit 30-40 mg
Fatty acids (oils); the main unsaturated fatty acids are oleic acid (omega-9), palmitoleic acid (omega-7), palmitic acid and linoleic acid (omega-6), and linolenic acid (omega-3); there are also saturated oils and sterols (mainly β-sitosterol) 6-11% (3-5% in fruit pulp, 8-18% in seed); fatty acid composition and total oil content vary with subspecies
Organic acids other than ascorbic (e.g., quinic acid, malic acid; ingredients similar to those found in cranberries) Quantity not determined; expressed juice has pH of 2.7-3.3
Flavonoids (e.g., mainly isorhamnetin, quercetin glycosides, and kaempferol; these are the same flavonoids as found in Ginkgo biloba. 100-1,000 mg (0.1% to 1.0%)

FIC Affiliate Online Bookstore Sales

The Alchemical Nursery is now an affiliate vendor for the Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC) online bookstore.  Click on the banner below, which shows some of the newest titles in the store, and 10% of your purchase will be donated to The Alchemical Nursery!

https://www.ic.org/community-bookstore/category/community-books/all-titles/ref/76/?campaign=INTRO

Planting the seeds of sustainable urban gardens in Syracuse

Adding to Alchemical Nursery In The News, here’s a throwback to Syracuse.com article “Planting the seeds of sustainable urban gardens in Syracuse” from 2015:

http://www.syracuse.com/living/index.ssf/2015/02/permaculture_flourishes_with_a_cornucopia_of_public_produce.html

The article details some of Alchemical Nursery’s origins, quotes leaders of the Rahma Edible Forest Snack Garden at the Rahma Free Health Clinic, and shares some of the hopes that animated the organization years ago and still today. Frank Cetera, co-founder and current president of Alchemical Nursery, is quoted: “A lot of people that don’t have a high income can’t afford produce,” he said. “We can help reduce the overall load to tax payers and social services agencies by providing a resource for people to grow their own food.” Get involved!

ANP President Joins PAN Educators Pledge

The Alchemical Nursery Project’s President and Co-Founder Frank Cetera has joined the initial cohort of early adopters in taking the Permaculture Association of the Northeast’s Educators Pledge.  

“PAN’s Permaculture Educators’ Pledge is a voluntary commitment to uphold integrity in permaculture education. It describes a set of best practices permaculture educators use to design and teach their classes and events. This Pledge was created so that permaculture practitioners in our region, from beginners to emerging leaders, receive high-quality educational experiences and mentorship. It clarifies expectations in permaculture educational experiences and allows students to know teachers that sign the pledge honor and are committed to these practices.

This Pledge is a “living” document. PAN will continue to work to create opportunities for continued learning, sharing, feedback and suggestions regarding this pledge to ensure it continues to reflect the network’s values and desired best practices. These community-developed education practices were co-created BY members of the network FOR members of the network over a multi-year period, including input from the 2014 NAPC POC and Allies caucus. Those who sign the Pledge may advertise this designation on their websites and outreach materials. Permaculture educators who adhere to the Pledge must sign it annually. PAN does not make any guarantee that the individual educator is complying with the Pledge, though the network is open to exploring methods of increasing accountability.

WE PLEDGE THAT IN OUR TEACHING and MENTORING we:”

Honor and acknowledge the indigenous origins and techniques in permaculture. 
Teach to a diversity of learning styles, abilities and experiences. 
Teach to reach- auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners. 
Accommodate access; i.e hold classes in spaces that are ADA compliant, scent free, allow for interpreters
or translators. 
Conduct the classroom as a safe space for learning. We do not discriminate based on race, gender, sexual
orientation, ability, immigration status. 
Recognize and engage students as bearers of knowledge. 
Cultivate ample diversity in the classroom. 
Are transparent with curriculum, teachers’ qualifications, and teachers’ bios by posting them on your
website and/or promotional materials. 
Share syllabus, daily schedule, etc. with all prospective and registered students. 
Cite or acknowledge material used or built upon from other teachers and sources. 
Design in breaks and easy access for food, water, and bathroom. 
Articulate and model a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment and sexual misconduct. 
Create mechanisms for feedback from students. 
Read and incorporate feedback into future teaching. 
Teach with diverse teaching teams, and highlight the work of women, people of color and other marginalized groups in case studies, field trips, works cited, etc. 
Highlight and connect with local teachers, projects and community members. 
Decrease financial and other barriers for attendance, i.e sliding scale, early bird pricing, payment plans, work trade, scholarships, child-care, weekend formats. 
Pay a living wage or offer equitable barter to all guest teachers, assistant teachers and organizers. 
Create opportunities for continued mentorship and pathways to leadership. 

For full details on the pledge visit http://northeastpermaculture.org/get-involved/the-pan-permaculture-educators-pledge/

NEW! $10 PLANT SALE CREDIT Perk as $1 for Permaculture Pledger

$1 for Permaculture

 

All new members who become Patreon pledgers qualify to take home one of the original signs from the gallery!! (inventory varies and is not guaranteed to include signs posted in the gallery).  Additional signs available for $10 donations.

See gallery at http://1forpermaculture.wixsite.com/1forpermaculture

All new and continuing member pledgers receive an annual $10 credit for use at our spring plant sale to take place in April (day to be announced).

Enter your pledge at https://www.patreon.com/alchemicalnursery

Sustainability, Agriculture, Landscape, Transition ListServ Launches!! – SALT-CNY

Salt represents the action of thought on matter, be it the One Mind acting on the One Thing of the universe or the alchemist meditating in his inner laboratory.

SALT-CNY listserv logo

SALT-CNY listserv logo

SYRACUSE, NY, JANUARY 16, 2017 – The Alchemical Nursery Project, Inc. and Partnering Hosts today announced the launch of a new e-mail list for people in Syracuse and Central New York who are interested in the topics of Sustainability, Agriculture, Landscaping, and/or Transition (toward greater resilience, reduced environmental impact, and stronger local economies).

Called SALT-CNY, this listserv is to will facilitate connections, information sharing and communications among groups and individuals dealing with these environmental topics.

Robbie Coville, a board member of Alchemical Nursery, who helped set the listserv up, said: “There are many ways we can improve our ways of life, reducing our negative environmental impacts, enhancing our positive impacts, and cultivating resilience in the face of economic and ecological changes and challenges.

“By connecting people around these topics in our region, SALT-CNY will germinate new ideas, and foster possible collaborations that will benefit the environment and the community.”

This mailing list is public; it is being set up and maintained by The Alchemical Nursery Project, Inc. and hosted by Lists.RiseUp.net, both non-profit organizations that run on mutual aid. SALT-CNY will be operating with the support of many volunteers and such partnering organizations as Mainstream Green, Inc.; Bread and Roses Collective House; Climate Change Awareness & Action; and the Whole Earth Club at Onondaga Community College.

To join SALT-CNY listserv. people need only to send an email to salt-cny-subscribe@lists.riseup.net. They will receive a confirmation email, then will be added to the list once approved by a moderator.

Says Mr. Coville: “We hope people will join us, subscribing to this listserv and participating in conversations, helping organize a movement transitioning to more widely prosperous ways that support the ecosystems which support us.”

Alchemical Nursery, a local permaculture non-profit and Syracuse’s Food-Not-Lawns chapter, works toward the mission of regenerative lifestyles & landscapes using the principles of permaculture. Learn more online at alchemicalnursery.org or facebook.com/alchemicalnursery.

RiseUp.net provides online communication tools for people and groups working on liberatory social change. RiseUp.net is a project to create democratic alternatives and practice self-determination by controlling our own secure means of communications.

“Be The Crowd vs Climate Change” is the slogan for Mainstream Green, Inc., the New York 501C -3 nonprofit corporation that uses media and grassroots outreach to popularize habits that cut waste and pollution while shrinking use of fossil fuels. Learn more online at mainstreamgreen.org or facebook.com/mainstream2green.

The Bread and Roses Collective House is a non-profit organization that provides a model of cooperative living, ecological sustainability, and affordable housing in the heart of the city. Learn more online at breadandrosescollective.org or facebook.com/breadandrosescollective.

Climate Change Awareness & Action is a group of CNY residents working toward ‘net zero’ in home energy use and other climate saving actions. Founder Pete Wirth comments “There will always be small numbers of us interested in [living with greater self-sufficiency, resilience, and reduced negative impact on the world]. The challenge is to get these ideas to the 1/2 million people who live in Onondaga County!”

For more information, contact: Robbie Coville rcoville@syr.edu 516-840-9692   or   The Alchemical Nursery Project, Inc. info@alchemicalnursery.org 315-308-1372

SALT-CNY listserv sign-up

Balkan Ecology Project takes note on value of diversity in polyculture gardens

The Balkan Ecology Project is finding success with regenerative design, and is taking to sharing the fruits of their labor through literal fruits (available through their Bio-Nursery Project) and through open-source, empirical note keeping on the inputs, outputs, and observations of their permaculture projects.

At the end of their Market Garden Study – Year 2 post, they share more on what their research is about:

If you are reading this you’re most probably aware of the environmental damage caused by industrial agricultural practices We believe this damage is unnecessary, and aim to provide healthier models of agriculture that yield nutritious affordable food while at the same time promoting biodiversity and general ecosystem health.

Industrial methods are heavily researched and funded, and there is a general belief among many farmers and growers that this is the only practical way of operating. Following 12 years of cultivating polyculture gardens we are seeing that small scale biologically cultivated polyculture gardens are a realistic and practical way of providing food for humans whilst preserving biodiversity and general health in the environment. Furthermore we believe this type of agriculture can help create thriving local economies that strengthen community, provide dignified work and enhance the amenity value of an area.

Little data exists showing the productive capacity of polyculture systems and the economic viability of them. There is a big need to fill this gap and provide solid data and concise coherent models that can be replicated easily and provide real solutions to the environmental damage caused by industrial agriculture. This project intends to go some of the way in filling this gap.

We aim to address the following questions;

  • How productive can polycultures be?
  • What advantages can polycultures provide ?
  • How much time do polyculture gardens take to establish and manage?
  • How economically viable are these gardens?
  • How bio-diverse can our food producing systems be?
  • Can we provide clean, nutritious, affordable food whilst enhancing biodiversity?

You can read that full study here:
https://balkanecologyproject.blogspot.ca/2016/12/the-polyculture-market-garden-study.html

As noted, the Balkan Ecology Project’s research is open source, and you can see all their data on their publicly viewable Google spreadsheet. They also express openness to share their sheets and discuss with others who want to undertake similar research.

Citizen Science: Testing a small-scale rapid aerated composting system for urban environments

Update January 4, 2017: Success! With an abundance of support for this research, the project earned sufficient funds to proceed with the study, and was awarded a $500 grant for placing first in amount of pledged supporters for the project by a common deadline between other projects within the realm of Cities & Transportation on Experiment.com! Thanks for supporting this citizen scientist, Syracuse resident, and backyard forest gardener in their proactive research efforts – we look forward to learning from his findings, and putting them to practice!

A local Syracuse resident is engaging their passion for environmental science and waste management with composting. Through crowdfunding, Ethan Bodnaruk hopes to kick off a science project to explore efficient, decentralized composting systems that can be used throughout Syracuse and other cities around the world. Here is an excerpt from Ethan’s research proposal:

Urban food and yard wastes can contribute in multiple ways to greenhouse gas production and water pollution. But they can instead be transformed into resources through efficient neighborhood-scale composting. I will test and demonstrate the use of a novel small-scale aerated composting system for rapid composting coupled with bicycle-powered collection of neighborhood yard and food wastes. I aim to make it simple and fine-tuned enough to replicate in many locations.

Ethan with compost piles

Almost half way through the crowdfunding campaign, the experiment is just over 50% funded. If you have the means, would you contribute? Visit this experiment’s proposal page to learn more about his qualifications, research idea, its significance and its goals. In any case, this may be something worth considering and sharing to help cities achieve increased resilience, less environmental footprint and degradation, and greater community empowerment and connectivity. Continue reading →

SALT-CNY listserv kick-off approaching

With the beginning of 2017, we are launching the SALT-CNY e-mailing list to serve and connect people in and around Syracuse and Central New York who are interested in and working on the topics of Sustainability, Agriculture, Landscaping, and/or Transition.

SALT-CNY listserv sign-up

To sign on as part of the initial cohort please send an email with your full name (First and Last) and email address to info@alchemicalnursery.org, along with the name of an organization you represent if applicable. Continue reading →