Read the full story at https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/news/mar21/grays-reef-research-area.html
Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary is one of America’s most significant underwater places. The 22-square-mile sanctuary is teeming with marine life within a vibrant ecosystem. Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary released a report last year that reviews scientific research in and around the sanctuary’s dedicated research-only area from 2012 to 2016.
The area, which NOAA established in 2011, is closed to fishing and diving, thereby creating a control site for scientists that is designed to minimize the effects of variables, including human activities – earning it the nickname, “living laboratory.”
Read the full story at https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/news/mar21/grays-reef-research-area.html
From Amazon Echo to refrigerators, CNET tests smart home products
For eight months, a CNET team tested more than 40 smart home products in a first-of-its-kind “living laboratory.” CNET.com editor-in-chief Lindsey Turrentine joins “CBS This Morning” to discuss the results.
This year we tried our hand at starting plants indoors. The idea is to give plants that can't handle cold temperatures, like Tomatoes, a head start in the growing season. The first day of Spring was March 20th but our last frost date is in the middle of April.
I used this online almanac to figure out when I should begin germinating each plant. I was able to find the last frost date for our region and starting dates for a number of different vegetables by using our zipcode. I also used an online garden planner called Smart Gardener to help with more in depth germination and plant care information.
Per our sources, we began germinating seeds in February, the tail end of winter. By starting plants inside we also had a bit more control over the variables that affect plant growth success:
There aren't any wild animals (or chickens and ducks)
No wind or rain to mess with the seedlings
No Housemates can walk on them accidentally
And you can watch over them very closely!
However, by directly sowing in the ground, you can end up producing healthier and more resilient plants because they grow up much more acclimated to their environment and they won't have to deal with the shock of transplanting. It's all a matter of preference and needs.
To begin seed starting, we needed a plant's most basic requirements: light, water and soil -- and the seeds, of course!
THE LIGHTS
Plants grown inside need light. Unless you get amazing indoor sunlight, you'll probably need artificial light. Without a proper light, plants will grow long and spindly. Gatlin found a few light boxes in the free store last year and we went to good ole' Home Depot to find fluorescent bulbs. I tried to find a ‘warm’ and ‘cool’ bulb for each box as a cheaper option for giving the plants the full spectrum that they need to grow healthy and strong, but I couldn’t find warm so we went with 'soft white.' I figured out our lighting needs through a post on You Grow Girl. She has all sorts of useful information on her blog, including a page dedicated to seed starting!
THE SEED STARTING MIX
We started with a peat moss/vermiculite/perlite mixture for the first batch of seeds. I already had a bag of peat moss from when we tried to germinate carnivorous plants (that was a fail.) After the peat moss finished I tried out coconut fiber after reading that peat moss is harvested very unsustainably. Coconut fiber (or coconut coir) is also considered unsustainable in some circles so I still have to experiment with our future seed starting mixture.
From our initial trial it would seem that the plants did better in the peat moss, it seemed to hold moisture better than the coconut. This may have been due to our ratio of coconut to vermiculite and perlite. I think next year I’ll try using some vermicompost (worm poo) in the mixture. For me, the end goal for seed starting would be to use a locally sourced mixture (like our own compost.)
WATER
I found that watering the seedlings from the bottom worked great for holding moisture longer. It also allowed me to water sufficiently without disrupting the seeds, especially those that aren't sown under the soil but lay right on top. I was able to water them this way by putting the seed trays in a tupperware container and pouring the water in the tupperware rather than watering the tops of the seed tray. I watered them as much as was needed to keep the soil moist, but not soggy.
THE PLANTS
We initially started with seeds of Sungold Tomatoes, Cherokee Purple Tomatoes, Cauliflower, Broccoli and Brussel Sprouts. We later added Orange Bell Peppers and Cayenne Peppers, Zucchini, and some lettuce greens, Kale and Collards. I have found it very difficult to grow lettuce and greens indoors (and outdoors for that matter.) They always end up wilted or stunted!
When I sowed the seeds, I put them on top of our fridge for added warmth to help with germination. I would hop on a chair daily to check on them to see if they'd sprouted and then I'd move them under the light at the first sign of life. All of the seedlings started out well until we began to run out of space on our table! I haphazardly set up a third light that ended up causing some plant casualties...(aka the light fell on the plants and made a mess of things.)
I also tried to grow some perennials under the light like Catnip and Feverfew but it didn’t work out for me. They would sprout, I’d miss a day of watering, and they’d wilt away.
I’m wishing for the day we get a greenhouse set up in our yard so I don’t have to take up so much space inside and don’t have to worry about readjusting lights.
TRANSPLANTING THE SEEDLINGS
In April we transplanted some of the Tomatoes to our keyhole garden and to our straw bale experiment, along with the Zucchini.
Most of the Cauliflower, Broccoli and Brussel Sprouts are in containers and in our little hugelkultur bed. Most of them have little holes and munched on leaves.They had a really rough time withstanding the inch worm apocalypse that takes over every spring.
Though it's somewhat tough to track all the plants growing inside, it’s always fun and magical to be able to easily observe little sprouts making their way out of the ground and into thriving and productive plants. What a wonderful example of life being born.
Overall, this year was the most effective seed starting operation we've run. I feel confident we're getting closer to producing a garden of sustenance!
Eight designers worked together to deliver a proposal to foodscape a new residential development in Park Street, Abbotsford, Melbourne.
The proposed development is a multi-residential project comprising nine, three bedroom terrace houses with large rooftop gardens.
The development is situated in a leafy industrial precinct close to cafes, waterways and bicycle paths. It is less than 5 minute cycle to Smith Street and in proximity to public transport.
To think beyond the current realisation of many built projects, designers utilised a food systems model to integrate food into the built environment.
In groups of two, the designers focused on either food production, logistics and distribution, access and consumption, or waste. The outcome could be a product and/or service, but needed to culminate in a tangible and holistic outcome to be experienced by the occupants of Park Street. They were also encouraged to consider the building as part of a living ecosystem that incorporated new and existing buildings and residents in the area.
Day 1
Day 2
Seed to Soil
The outcome is Seed to Soil, a product-service system connecting residents, business owners and the local community through locally grown food, community market and shared composting system within a 400m radius of Park St.
Production
The system is based on the common coffee cup. Capitalising on Melbourne’s obsession with coffee, seeds to sow would be distributed through a satchel on the underside of a standard paper cup, purchased from Three Bags Full, a café within 100 meters of Park St.
Seeds are initially planted and raised in the cup. These could then be propagated and or used to produce fresh produce using the integrated rooftop garden container system.
Waste
Organic waste from Park St residents would be collected using the same garden container for propagating and growing the seeds. Stored waste is then moved to rooftop composting receptacles located alongside gardening beds and planter boxes.
This is complimented by an onsite communal “drop-off” receptacle, allowing both Park St residents and members of the community (such as coffee grounds from cafes) to bring their organic waste to be composted and returned back as nutrient-rich material for gardening and urban food production.
Distribution and Logistics
Planter boxes with coffee cup seedlings and or compost can be detached and loaded onto bike cargo trailers for easy distribution to a proposed local market – Mollison St Market
Consumption and access
What better way to bring a community together than to create a thriving space for home grown produce to be enjoyed and shared. The Mollison St Market is a place where residents, local traders, and urban farmers can meet once a month to swap/sell their goods.
Mollison St was chosen for its centrality and accessibility. Access points were identified in consideration of neighbouring elements such as existing/new apartment complexes and businesses.
Further analysis was carried out to identify zones, which would define and locate spaces that shape the function of the market. Zones include, locations for market stalls, multi-purpose benches, trollies, bicycles, waste collection and compost distribution, café, stalls, and relaxation.
'Garden in a bag' takes the humble coffee bag and gives it new life as a self-watering wicking bed.
This and other experiments at the Lab are all about thinking differently about growing food, which is not only necessary but an exciting area for design, policy, and urban planning.
Urban Commons is excited to unveil its first Living Laboratory.
The Living Laboratory is an experimental space exploring the design of future products and services to reconnect people with each other and methods of growing food in high-density urban environments.
The Lab will run out of St Heliers Street Store and Gallery at the Abbotsford Convent from 8–22 December. As part of the activities we are hosting a design experiment, which will culminate in an exhibition on the 22nd at 4pm.
Over the life of the Lab, we will also be making and selling ‘garden in a bag’, a coffee bag converted into a self-watering herb planter ideal for kitchens and small garden spaces.
Please come and join us at the Lab, or follow our blog as we post new images and stories daily.
Among the myriad uses to which the enslaved community was put, Goodell identifies its value for medical research: "Assortments of diseased, damaged, and disabled Negroes, deemed incurable and otherwise worthless are bought up, it seems . .. by medical institutions, to be experimented and operated upon, for purposes of 'medical education' and the interest of medical science" [86-87; Goodell's emphasis]. From the Charleston Mercury for October 12, 1838, Goodell notes this advertisement:
'To planters and others. - Wanted, fifty Negroes, any person, having sick Negroes, considered incurable by their respective physicians, and wishing to dispose of them, Dr. S. will pay cash for Negroes affected with scrofula, or king's evil, confirmed hypochondriasm, apoplexy, diseases of the liver, kidneys, spleen, stomach and intestines, bladder and its appendages, diarrhea, dysentery, etc. The highest cash price will be paid, on application as above.' at No. 110 Church Street, Charleston.
[87; Goodell's emphasis]
This profitable "atomizing" of the captive body provides another angle on the divided flesh: we lose any hint or suggestion of a dimension of ethics, of relatedness between human personality and its anatomical features, between one human personality and another, between human personality and cultural institutions. To that extent, the procedures adopted for the captive flesh demarcate a total objectification, as the entire captive community becomes a living laboratory.
Hortense J. Spillers, "Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: An American Grammar Book"
