Field Day, Ellington Planter, MTSU, 2010

Ah, the end upon us. Per assignment, we are here to dig. The teacher brings a hoe, bulbs, seeds, water. The pupils bring themselves.

In the library this morning

I'm in the library working on my draft of our last essay. I just read over Mary's paper, and I'm impressed! Ask Mary for tips on becoming a successful student! One thing I've noticed: she gets started on her assignments immediately; the draft I read this morning is already four pages long, and she hasn't even gotten to HER project yet! Good work, Mary. She's agreed to bring in copies for a workshop on Monday morning, so all of you in the 8am class, we'll be in the classroom on Monday.

For my 12:40 students, let's meet in the classroom today. I'm curious to see what kinds of sources and research you've done. Bring your developing drafts to class. Sorry that I missed the library group on Wednesday. About 10 of us took a walking tour of their guerrilla gardens, and then Jordan and I ended up on the other side of campus, checking out the ag programs plant sale! If you're interested in buying locally grown plants, check out the greenhouses over by the satellite dishes. Think of it, you could guerrilla garden campus with seedlings sprouted by students here at MTSU! Kind of incestuous in a good way!

I'm very encouraged by initial reports from Evan. Apparently, he's recruited a few friends and they had a very successful mission the other night. I can't wait to see their work. Over by the music building, right? Also, Elizabeth gets the golden spade gardening achievement award for her extensive snap-dragoning of the MTSU marquee in front of the Murphy Center. Well done!

So I'll see you later. Bring your work and your good ideas to class.

Good morning, MTSU

Wonderful morning. Birds singing. Coffee brewing. Seeds sprouting. Sprouts growing. Garden waking up!

Yesterday evening was my maiden voyage in new kayake. Put in on Stones River below the old dam close to Florence Road. I had seriously underestimated the current on my recon trip with Chloe Wednesday night. We hiked to the river farther downstream where the current is far more lazy. The water coming through the dam is swift; fortunately, the water's up, braiding the stream in and out of the flood plain on either side of the main channel, so I was able to paddle out of the swiftest current and into an eddy before I was carried too far downstream. And I sat, floating idle, thinking about that Kenneth Rexroth poem that starts out with him in a canoe, hands and feet over the side, floating idle (not the "Signature of All Things"?)...

Picked up some mussel shells and vacated snail shells for Chloe. Inspected a good portion of the river bed along the eastern shore and found it sufficiently intricate and fascinating!

Oh, yeah...

Now I've posted pictures from both classes. If you're not included, forgive me. I tried my best to make sure everyone was represented.

Check Up

I'm sorry to say that our libary's holdings don't include the two texts on guerrilla gardening (that I requested several months ago). You can use the databases, however, to find some articles and reviews. guerrillagardening.org also contains links to excerpts from Reynolds book and postings from Reynolds that will help you inform you in order to compose a background report.

Remember, get busy gardening. Ten minutes here and fifteen minutes there (on a daily basis) could be the difference between a successful, meaningful experience and an experience that is rushed, haphazard, and ultimately unsuccessful.

I look forward to the emergence of great things!

Afternoon Gardening with Students

I just posted some photos of our gardening experience and seed bomb workshop from last Friday. Thanks again to Nicole for operating the camera. Sorry I couldn't post them all. Maybe later. For our first experience turning the soil, I have to say that it went off without a hitch. I think everyone played some part--weeding, hoeing, aerating, planting seeds, patting out seed bombs, mixing compost and clay, and so on and so on. Hats off to Michael Benton and Danny Mayer for making the trip down from Lexington, KY to share the experience with us and tell us a little about their experiences with guerrilla gardening and community gardening.

I hope everyone has identity their "plot" (ha, a nice pun for us writing-types--so many connections between writing, reading, and gardening!), thought about potential seeds appropriate for that plot, and maybe even stirred some soil. The clock is ticking. Remember, you're not reforesting the desert; you're just taking responsibility for a little piece of earth and transforming it, adding value, adding expression... Remember to document your work--both field notes and photos.

I'm excited to see your handiwork. And remember, we're playing the believing game: believe for a moment (or the next week or so) that your experiment matters and will make a difference. And guess what? It will!

See you tomorrow.

Class tomorrow

Dear members of Project Green Thumb:

I'm cancelling class tomorrow. I'll be in Knoxville all day for the "Writing Green Conference" sponsored by East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists. I thought the conference was the last week in April, but I thought wrong! I hope to spread the word about what we're up to here at MTSU (with our Green Roof proposal), and I hope to gather some good ideas and news from other eco-writers. We'll meet on Monday. Over the weekend, I'd like for you to fill out the proposal (to the best of your ability). If you get stumped on a particular section, just move on to the next. Also, be sure to let President Obama know how you feel about the EPA's latest decision and encourage him to keep the pressure on. I noticed last night that the Coal Industry is stepping up their "Clean Coal" campaign with new TV ads. I can only imagine that this is in direct response to the EPA's decision to halt MTR and MTR permitting. If coal companies can attract enough popular support, they'll have more political clout. Keep your eyes open for their ads; you all are fast becoming experts on the coal industry. Let's give these advertisements a close reading and discuss next week. Take care.