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Week 2, Project Log #1
Date: Monday, April 16, 2007 Time Spent: 1 PM - 3 PM, 2 hours Partner(s): None Activities: Inquired about procurement information from the Olympic National Forest Service and the Thurston County WSU Extension. Learning: Made several contacts for procurement. Learned the necessary information needed to obtain and use a Forest Products Permit - very cool. Questions/Needs: Who could participate in the gathering of plants from the Olympics? Where is the money coming from for the permit?
Date: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 Time Spent: 10 AM - 1 PM, 3 hours Partner(s): None Activities: Developed an procurement questionnaire for individuals to fill out in the Healing Gardens community. Researched books that can be used to aid in understanding of the needs of the plants that are currently in the garden and of plants that have/will be requested. Learning: With the book research I have been learning more about the various habitats and the needs of each of the habitats within the Longhouse Ethnobotanical Gardens. Questions/Needs: I hope that people can fill out and return the questionnaires by next Wednesday.
Total Cumulative Hours: 5
Class hours worked on Saturday, April, 21, 2007: For the 2 hours of Longhouse Garden time I pulled weeds in Riparian Forest, constructed compost bins with Sherry and help her fill 2 of them, Anastarr, Derek and I planted skunk cabbage, and I also helped procure plants between different sites. Nootka rose: Riparian Forest C to Decorative Area Sword fern: Riparian Forest C to Decorative Areas and Moist Forest Edge For the 1 hour of project related work Derick and I went around the back of the Evergreen campus and dug up false lily-of-the-valley, bleeding heart, trillium, and vanilla leaf. We also took note of other plants and where they are located - for future procurement. Week 3, Project Log #2
Date: Thursday, April 19, 2007 Time Spent: 2:00 PM - 2:30 PM, 1/2 hour Partner(s): None Activities: Posted want ads on Craigslist and Freecycle. The postings just state that a gardening class at Evergreen is looking for people to give us their unwanted, but usable, tools. Learning: Free tools are not easy to come by this time of year. Questions/Needs: I wonder about money for buying used tools from such places as Sound Builder's or even from garage sales.
Date: Saturday, April, 2007 Time Spent: 12:30 PM - 1:00 PM, 1/2 hour Partner(s): None. Activities: Started a new forum on the Healing Garden's academic pages for procurement requests. Sent out an email to the class announcing it and how to use it. I also sent Marja an email containing information about the Special Forest Products Permit for the Olympic National Forest. Learning: The usefulness of a class forum. Questions/Needs: None
Date: Saturday, April 21, 2007 Time Spent: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM, 1 hour Partner(s): Derick and Donna Activities: Planting false lily-of-the-valley, bleeding heart, trillium, and vanilla leaf in the Place Where the Plants Meet the Trees. Learning: Reading grow Your Own Native Landscape, written and edited by Michael Leigh, says about false lily-of-the-valley that, "The above ground portion of the plants die back after salvaging . . . but usually grow back the second year" (77). Have a better understanding of Where the Plants Meet the Trees. Questions/Needs: None
Date: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 Time Spent: 10 AM - 1 PM, 3 hours Partner(s): None Activities: Reviewed the procurement material that Anna Thirkland gave Derek and I. Learning: Going through all of the past procurement information has been eye opening and exciting. Derek and I need to reorganize it a bit, condense a lot of it, and recycle outdated information. I have information from the WA State Department of Fish and Wildlife to add that I received in my Monday night Environmental Education class - it contains great resource information and signage examples. Questions/Needs: I wonder if we'll get the permit(s)?
Date: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 Time Spent: 1 PM - 1:30 PM, 1/2 hour Partner(s): None Activities: Posted plant requests to the procurement forum, posted responses to all postings, and created a new forum that give the names of people/ organizations and what plants they are willing to donate. Learning: Many people in class have plants to donate that are requested by sites - I just feel that we do not communicate enough with each other. Derek and I will have to do some scouting to find certain plants, such as beargrass. Questions/Needs: How do I get more of the class to use the forums?
Total Cumulative Hours: 10 1/2 hours
Week 4, Project Log #3
Date: All week. Time Spent: 1 hour Partner(s): None Activities: Responding and sending class procurement emails, answering requests and adding requests to the Procurement forums, and emailed Briggs Nursery. Learning: Briggs does not have any beargrass at this time, but there is no way it could be purchased by Healing Gardens. Yeah, we are able to buy wholesale, but a minimum order is $500, plus $50 delivery fee, plus a $20 fuel charge - OUCH! So, I guess that Derek and I will be looking in the wild for beargrass. Questions/Needs: None.
Date: Sunday, April 29, 2007 Time Spent: 1 PM - 4 PM, 3 hours Partner(s): None Activities: Retyped and scanned some of the information that is in the file box, much of the material needed and still needs to be condensed. Learning: I am surprised at how little information has been gathered about native plant salvage and hunting in the files that I have been given. Questions/Needs: None.
Date: Monday, April 30, 2007 Time Spent: 10 AM - Noon, 2 hours Partner(s): None Activities: Gathering more information about procuring plants from public and private lands - Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Capital Forest, and construction sites. Learning: There are lots of regulations for gathering on public lands, and it varies a great deal from agency to agency and from local to federal. However, construction sites are fairly easy to collect from - you really just have to get a verbal yes. Questions/Needs: None.
Total Cumulative Hours: 16 1/2 hours
Week 5, Project Log #4
Date: Saturday, May 5, 2007 Time Spent: 11 AM - 3 PM, 4 hours Partner(s): Sherry Activities: Collected and identified plants from Sherry's property in Rainer. Learning: I've forgotten how difficult it is to identify small herbaceous plants (ex. three-leaved anemone and sweet-cicely) when they are not flowering. I think I will go back to Sherry's in a couple of weeks, when the flowers are in bloom and the leaves more mature, to double check some plants that I am not sure about. Plants at Sherry's for Mixed Forest, Prairies, and Decorative Areas include: Inside-out flower Sherry is very gracious in letting people harvest from her property - she just needs notice. Questions/Needs: None.
Date: All week. Time Spent: 1/2 hour Partner(s): None Activities: Responding and sending emails to classmates regarding plants procured for certain sites, and sending out information about harvesting at Sherry's house. Learning: Procurement is difficult sometimes because if I find plants and harvest them I need to be able to have people plant them ASAP, but some people are very difficult to get in touch with. Many people have busy lives with family, work, school, volunteering, and so on, but other people just don't check their email on a regular basis. On one hand I do want to take plants unless I know that they are gong to be planted, but on the other hand I don't know when I might run into that plant again (sigh). Questions/Needs: I'm not sure how to handle the protocol for informing people that plants are available for them. Any suggestions? Also, what if no one from a group responds to one of my "hey, I've got plants for you, please plants them," emails? I really don't have the time for individual phone calls. Any thoughts are appreciate.
Total Cumulative Hours: 21 hours
Plans for the remainder of the quarter: The first half of the quarter Derek and I haven't spent a lot of time working together face to face, but that is changing for the rest of the quarter. He and I will be scouting, identifying, digging. hauling, and emailing until June. We have plans to go back to Sherry's, and to travel to the Olympic and/or Gifford Pinchot National Forest(s). In the time between those trips I hope that we can find local land owners who would be willing to give some plants to us. If I have any extra time, I'd like to start a photo catalog of the plants that have been procured this quarter and of existing plants (adding information that one would find in a herbarium to the photos). All of these activities will definitely fill the 5 hours of project time per week.
Week 6, Project Log #5
Date: Saturday, May 12, 2007 Time Spent: 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM, 2 hours Partner(s): Derek, Adam, and Mike Activities: Gathering plants and planting. Learning: There is a lot of beargrass along mile marker 341 on Hwy 101 - the property owner on the west side of the road, at the mile marker, gave us permission to collect from his property. He also has quite a bit of serviceberry. Next time that i go out to collect beargrass I should bring a pick-ax (the soil around the plants is incredibly rocky). Questions/Needs: None.
Total Cumulative Hours: 23 hours
Week 7, Project Log #6 Date: Friday, May 18, 2007 Time Spent: 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM, 6 hours Partner(s): Derek, Alix, and Lizzy Activities: Weeding at sayuyay, collecting plants, and planting at the Longhouse. Learning: Each time I go to sayuyay I learn something new - it is such an amazing place. The ditches along the Purdy Cutoff Road off of Hwy 101 are amazing - there is Devil's club, false Solomon's seal, all types of ferns, iris, twisted stalk, fairy bells, bleeding heart, vanilla leaf, false lily-of-the-valley, starflower, skunk cabbage, and corydalis. Questions/Needs: Is this Vancouver groundcone (Boschniakia hookeri)? It was in a ditch across the street from the Lake Cushman Grocery.
Date: Saturday, May 19, 2007 Time Spent: 9:00 AM - 9:30 AM and 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM, 1 1/2 hours Partner(s): Derek Activities: During the morning Derek and I were scouting plants along the roadside of Hwy 101. In the afternoon we cleaned the area behind the Longhouse and made a list of tools that we thought were needed. Learning: Tools desired: hose caddy, 3 hoses, 4 hand pruners, 1 pair of loppers, 1 wheelbarrow, storage container/locker, 3 spades, 3 trowels, 3 hand cultivators, 1 bowhead garden rake, 1 folding pruning saw, and 1 garden pick. I love procurement - I really think this is part of what I want to do when I grow up. There is always something new to learn, it is a lot of time outside, beautiful plants, I get dirty, it is difficult and challenging . . . it is wonderful! Questions/Needs: None.
Total Cumulative Hours: 30 1/2 hours
Week 8, Project Log #7
Date: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 Time Spent: 10:00 AM - 1:30 PM, 3 1/2 hours Partner(s): None Activities: Priced tools at Olympic Hardware, Fred Meyer, Home Depot, and Costco; created a spreadsheet with all of the information collected. Learning: I think that Home Depot is the best bang for the class's money for everything except hoses - the hoses at Costco are of superior quality for a fraction of the cost. Questions/Needs: How many of each tool do you think that we need? When are we going shopping? How are we transporting all of the tools?
Date: Friday, May 25, 2007 Time Spent: 10:00 AM - 8:00 PM, 10 hours Partner(s): Derek Activities: 10:00 AM - Noon: Drove as far north on the Olympia Peninsula as Chimacum, and scouted for plants. Noon - 1:00 PM: Had lunch at the Chimacum Cafe (fantastic pie) and looked at our progress over the quarter and discussed needed plants. 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM: Drove south on Hwy 101 collecting plants such as bunchberry, rattlesnake plantain, and kinnikinnick. 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM: Watered plants at the Longhouse Garden. 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM: We went to my house to water and pot plants (we have found that collecting in plastic grocery bag works very well when hiking around) with the help of my 5 year old neighbor, Shasta. Wrote up plant markers for all of the plants collected today and those that we collected for the garden that had not yet been labeled. Reviewed the day. Learning: I was really surprised at how few plants we found up north (we already had so much of what is present in the Chimacum area) - however there were quite a few small trees and shrubs, but nothing that would salvage well this time of year. I was also surprised to see where the rattlesnake plantain was - with beargrass, salal, and kinnikinnick. Questions/Needs: Maybe the orchid should be in the Dry Woodlands instead of the Moist Forest Edge?
Date: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 Time Spent: 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM, 1 hour Partner(s): Derek and my daughter Activities: Watered the Longhouse Garden and checked on the newly planted plants. Learning: I am really hurt that people are not taking better care of the plants. People request plants, Derek and I work hard to collect them, and then they die because no one is watering them. It breaks my heart. I don't mean for this statement to be applied to everyone. There are some people who absolutely take the time and care with the plants - and that shows. Questions/Needs: The plants need water.
Date: All week. Time Spent: 1/2 hour Partner(s): None. Activities: Emails - sending out and responding to procurement related requests. Learning: I need to ask people when they really want the plant. Sometimes people will make the request, Derek and I will get the plant, and then the person will say that they cannot take it right now because they don't have the spot where the plant needs to go ready/cleared. Frustrating. Questions/Needs: None
Total Cumulative Hours: 46 hours
Allyson Ruppenthal
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