Growing Awareness is Back!
| |
|
I am delighted to announce the overdue revival of the seasonal permaculture e-newsletter, Growing Awareness. It is my hope that these articles will complement the seasonal updates, provide more information about the permaculture program, and foster greater knowledge and appreciation of the natural world. To that end, each edition will include a main article, a monthly almanac, and a species spotlight.
The main article will detail goings-on in the permaculture site, explaining the goals of the project in light of the vision of the permaculture program. Other times the main article may be a short reflection on the season, nature, permaculture, and beyond. The almanac portion will pay homage to St. Dominic, Patron Saint of Astronomers, and will lay out monthly moon phases, stargazing tips, and other interesting happenings in the skies. Lastly, we will continue the tradition of the species spotlight, highlighting the animal, plant, and fungal beings with whom we share this land and all that flows across and through it.
Let’s get to it, then!
Jared Aslakson
Permaculture Specialist
P.S. Follow us on Instagram for the latest news!
| |
|
“And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
– Galatians 6:9, KJV
| |
As I write this, it is the first day of fall. It is a day of balance as we once again enter the dark half of the year, while the sun continues its magnificent descent in the sky. The symbolism of fall centers on the harvest. The imagery of golden wheat fields and drying acorns, of overflowing cornucopias and fat pumpkins, evoke the literal fruits of the labor of the past year. But all this hints at subtler things.
Even now, many wildflowers planted on our campus are in their prime; goldenrods, asters, and a furtive witch hazel or two provide nectar and pollen to pollinators. These harvests will be stashed away for spring, when eggs hatch and larva need protein and sugar to develop. These younglings will then go on to pollinate our vegetables and fruits, and a few will be harvested by birds, or snakes, or mantises, feeding the great web of life.
By slowly adding more plants to our landscape with rain gardens, pollinator gardens, and flowering crop plants, we allow more of these insects to live on the land, and the benefits increase accordingly. To the ecologist, the presence and activity of these pollinators is a precious harvest indeed.
In the last three weeks alone, we have hosted several tour groups: students, garden clubs, charitable organizations, and interested laypeople have seen our grounds. I spoke with other gardeners about the year, noting others who had similar challenges to me and who noticed similar patterns. Some suggested new varieties or new crops entirely.
Many participants walked away with practical advice on their own gardens, or learned how to identify a new plant, and one or two collected seeds to plant in their own garden. They left our grounds knowing that this is a place where they can learn more. This mutual exchange of knowledge is a harvest that comes with outreach and community.
At the last summer update to campus residents, I opened my talk by referencing many of the challenges of this growing season. The discouragement is real, as I’m sure we have all experienced. However, when the September light hits the pollinator garden just right, and the air fills with a booming swarm of tiny lives, when I outwit the gophers just one more night to bring in some produce, when working with other young people seeing and feeling similar things, it is a harvest of consolation and confidence in this work. It is these harvests, and more, that sustain me through the dark times.
| |
|
Phases of the Moon
Tuesday, October 25
New Moon
Tuesday, November 1
First Quarter
Tuesday, November 8
Full Moon
Wednesday, November 16
Last Quarter
Wednesday, November 23
New Moon
| |  |
|
Sunrise and Sunset
in Adrian, Michigan
Saturday, October 1
Sunrise, 7:37 a.m.; sunset, 7:26 p.m.
Day length – 11 hours, 48 minutes
Monday, October 31
Sunrise, 8:07 a.m.; sunset, 6:44 p.m.
Day length – 10 hours, 37 minutes
| |
|
Stargazing Tips
- Several planets are visible at some point during the night. The most visible is Jupiter. Jupiter rises in the southeast and sets in the west, and, as of Thursday, October 20, is rising at 5:45 p.m. and setting about 12 hours later. All planets, just like the sun, rise in the east to southeast and set in the west.
- The Orionid shower will peak the night of Friday, October 21, but usually persists into early November. The best viewing time is between midnight and sunrise.
- A lunar eclipse will occur the night of Tuesday, November 8.
- The Leonid meteor shower will begin Sunday, November 6, and peak Thursday, November 17.
| |
 | |
Witch hazel, Hammemlis virginiana
We kick off the return of the Species Spotlight with the last plant to bloom in Michigan: witch hazel. Witch hazel is a shrub, usually in the understory of forests or old-fields. It usually grows to be about 15 feet tall. In October through November, delicate yellow flowers grace the slender branches of this plant. By blooming at this time, witch hazel has very few other plants to compete with for pollination, but the trade-off is that very few pollinators are around, and one good early frost can seriously jeopardize the plant’s success.
The Latin name Hammemelis roughly translates to clustered fruit, referring to the tight clusters of flowers, and therefore fruits, on this shrub. Virginiana simply means from Virginia. So the literal translation is “clustered fruit from Virginia.”
The fruit is a nut that, when ripe, forcefully ejects from the seed pod through a mechanism called dehiscence. The seed can be ejected as far as 20 feet! The common name witch hazel has little to do with witches! Instead, witch in this case is derived from old Germanic wycce, meaning flexible. The branches are quite flexible, explaining this moniker.
As a landscape plant, witch hazel works well in moist, partially shaded areas. The plant has a number of medicinal uses, most commonly as an astringent that is carried in just about any pharmacy.
| | | | |
