The Wordsmith's Forge

Recently we talked about the butterfly apocalypse and the importance of restoring habitat. Some folks felt that small patches wouldn't be enough, which is partly true. So if you want to support really big wildlife refuges, here's one to consider. American Prairie is a large and growing nature reserve in Montana that functions by purchasing former ranchland and restoring it to a wild state.  I'm amused because it reminds me of tribal reservations in Terramagne growing by acquiring adjacent lands.  Here people are aiming to recreate the American Serengeti ... or as much as humans have left after wiping out the American cheetah and most of the other megafauna. So far they're working with pronghorns and buffalo.

Rebel Badge Book is an option for adults who enjoyed earning scout badges and want to keep doing similar activities.  Choose your projects and earn badges!

This kind of thing is common in Terramagne, where people love using certifications to show what they've learned to do.  Activity Scouts is just one of several programs, and there are scouting options for all ages.

Today we went to Christmas in the Village and the Holiday Market down in Greenup.

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The weather was clement enough to revisit the Charleston Food Forest for gathering purposes. I packed a plastic grocery bag to carry things, various sizes of ziplock baggies, paper labels to drop in the baggies, a list of planned gathering targets, and a trowel. I should've brought a heavier bag to hold everything, because the plastic one blew around if the breeze picked up. But I managed.

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This continues the tour of the Charleston Food Forest. (See Part 1: Right Front. Part 2: Right Back.)

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My partner Doug spotted this place recently, and today we explored the Charleston Food Forest and its plants. (See Part 2 Right Back, Part 3: Left Back, Part 4 Left Front, and What I'm Growing.  Later we went back to harvest seeds on November 17.) It's a skinny rectangle, and not all that big. If you cut it in half and lined the halves up as a square, then it would fit in a typical town yard around here. It has a LOT of plants in it, thoughtfully chosen and arranged. I wouldn't call it a food forest myself, because while it has multiple layers, it is really short. I doubt anything is more than about 10-12 feet tall. That's sensible in a garden this small. But when I think of a forest, I'm thinking one that at least has a canopy layer. Mine has emergents, the main canopy, the subcanopy, and then all the shorter stuff as shown here (understory trees, shrubs, herbs, groundcovers, roots, fungi, vines, etc.). So I'd probably call this one a permaculture garden. (See the layers of a food forest and permaculture design principles.) I didn't spot actual guilds, but everything is arranged in logical order. Someone has done an amazing job setting this up in the space available.

The really subversive thing: it's not a garden to be looked at, it's a garden to be used, for free, by everyone. A little slice of Terramagne, or Turtle-Island-That-Was, especially since it's located right next to a government building with several human service offices. So I helped myself to some seeds. Sure, I might come back later for things to eat. But what I am really interested in is gathering things from here that I can grow at home.

I could only think of two things I'd really add to make this even better:

1) A Little Free Seed / Plant Library so folks could swap things.

2) A community bulletin board, chiefly for people to post their Have / Want lists for trading, but could also be used to announce things like plant swaps or sales, garden open houses, etc. There is an Events section on the back side of the welcome sign, but it's under glass.

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We went up to the Broomcorn Festival. (See the schedule for the rest of the weekend.) Nice weather today, partly sunny and warm with a breeze.

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Today we went out to run errands.

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Today we went out to a couple different places.

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Illinois is now home to a federally-recognized tribal nation

Illinois is, once again, home to a federally recognized tribal nation. 175 years ago, Potawatomi Chief Shab-eh-nay left his home in DeKalb County to visit family in Kansas. He returned home to find the U.S. government had illegally sold 1,280 acres of his northern Illinois land. The tribe says the U.S. Department of the Interior has now placed portions of that land into a trust for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation.

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