Happy Ode’imini Giizis (Strawberry Moon). Very very late again this month! In Anishinaabemowin the word for strawberry is ode’imin which literally means heart berry. In the short video Ode’imin Teachings, Deb from Kahwá:tsire Indigenous-Led Child & Family Programs, shares teachings about the strawberry.

“They are the only fruit to carry their seeds on the outside to teach us to be vulnerable.”

Tree ID workshop

Oliver Reichl, consulting arborist-ecologist and Little Forests board member, is offering a free tree ID workshop. Where: Lake Ontario ParkWhen: Monday, July 22 at 4:00 pm

Rain date: Monday, July 29 at 4:00 pmOliver developed a tree identification key for the 1000 Islands area. If possible, print a copy of the three page handout and bring it with you to use during the workshop.

Kingston’s new bylaw for biodiversity

Lorraine Johnson wrote saving an Oak forest - from bylaw enforcement after Eric Davies received a bylaw complaint and was ordered to cut down the heritage Oak seedlings he cultivates in his front yard. In Kingston, this pocket forest would be breaking our current Property Standards Bylaw. But this is about to change!

On July 9, with the release of their updated Property Standards Bylaw, the City of Kingston is removing a major barrier that restricted people's efforts to naturalize their yards, grow biodiversity, grow food, or take climate action. The revised bylaw follows the recommendations of Ecological Design Lab’s bylaws for biodiversity.

Three major highlights of the new bylaw:

• aesthetic and vague language such as “unsightly weeds and heavy undergrowth” and “lawns, hedges and bushes from becoming overgrown and unsightly by keeping trimmed” has been removed

• height restriction on everything except turfgrass (which is now defined) has been removed

• the only plants you are prohibited from growing are listed in an  Appendix of Prohibited Plants (Dog-Strangling Vine, Common and Glossy Buckthorn, and Japanese Knotweed). Onus will be on the person lodging a bylaw complaint to document and name the prohibited plant.

The new Property Standards Bylaw will be voted on July 9 at the Council Chamber, City Hall. Let’s make sure everyone has the right to grow pocket forests, meadows, food gardens and more!

Here’s how you can show you support:

• Check for the agenda to be posted on July 4 or 5

• Register to give a delegation to speak in support of the new bylaw in person or via zoom

• Email the City Clerk ([email protected]) and City Council (names and email addresses are available here) with your comments and ask them to be put on record.

"Biodiversity has been my biggest teacher. From seeds and plants, I learned ecology—the science of living systems and the ethics of life. Biodiversity is autopoietic. Autopoiesis is derived from Greek: 'auto' means 'self' and 'poiesis' means 'production' or 'creation.' Biodiversity is life in all of its self-organized complexity, collective agency, and evolutionary unfolding. Biodiversity is the self-formative, interactive, interconnected, dynamic change we call life."Vandava Shiva

Can little forests help us restore biodiversity?

“Seeing the old notion that urban centres are dead zones… and that we should not be trying to support biodiversity in our cities… I think the Miyawaki Forest initiative is the single biggest thing I’ve seen to change that ridiculous notion and get people to recognize that we can have biodiversity both outside cities and inside as well. That’s what I’m excited about.””Douglas Tallamy

Douglas Tallamy recently gave a keynote for small forests, big benefits, a panel on Miyawaki forests, which he thinks “are a great idea.” If you’re not familiar with Tallamy, he’s the founder of Homegrown National Park and author of Nature’s Best Hope, Bringing Nature Home, The Nature of Oaks, and The Living Landscape.

During the Q&A, at 1:48:20 he says:

“I think the Miyawaki Forest initiative is the single biggest thing I’ve seen to change that ridiculous notion and get people to recognize that we can get biodiversity both outside cities and inside as well.”

During his keynote, he shared this slide on the advantages and disadvantages of Miyawaki forests. When he spoke to the bullet that “plant costs are low” due to planting small seedlings, he also mentioned that small plants are healthier because they get to develop their root systems without having the roots chopped in order to transplant them. When he spoke to the bullet on diversity, he discussed how this creates stability and productivity in the food web.

Tallamy spoke about ecological fragmentation using the analogy of a Persian Carpet, inspired by this excerpt from David Quammen's book Song of the Dodo:

“Let’s start by imagining a fine Persian carpet and a hunting knife. The carpet is twelve by eighteen, say. That gives us 216 square feet of continuous woven material.”

"We set about cutting the carpet into thirty-six equal pieces, each one a rectangle, two feet by three. Never mind the hardwood floor. The severing fibers release small squeaky noises, like the muted yelps of outraged Persian weavers. Never mind the weavers. When we’re finished cutting, we measure the individual pieces, total them up—and find that, lo, there’s still nearly 216 square feet of recognizable carpet-like stuff. But what does it amount to? Have we got thirty-six nice Persian throw rugs? No. All we’re left with is three dozen ragged fragments, each one worthless and commencing to come apart.”

Each little forest, pocket forest, and pocket meadow help “glue our rug back together.”

Each is a Mother Patch who seed biodiversity (literally as either wind or creatures distribute the seeds) and figuratively (as neighbours naturalize their yards).

“Every square inch of the planet has ecological significance. Including our yards. Including our corporate landscapes. Including our roadsides. Including much of our agriculture so we need to put the plants back and glue our rug back together again.”
Douglas Tallamy

How to hang out with plants

“Anyone can connect with plants... It starts with a decision to make time and space to go out and sit with them and pay attention, to open up, listen at depth, and engage in a two-way dialogue. I see this practice as a kind of responsibility, an obligation even, given the times of ecological unravelling we live in. It’s a way of giving back to the living world we are part of, a way of being in communication and not in control.”

In his essay how to hang out with plants Mark Watson of Dark Matter Labs shared an approach for tuning into trees and plants (which he recommends dong with a partner or a small group):

• Visiting: sitting down alongside with a plant as it gives a sense of both you and the plant as fellow planetary beings

• Visioning: returning home and revisiting the event in your imagination

• Putting the experience into a creative form, a piece of writing, a drawing, even a dance or song

“It was the plants that were the doorways into a deeper connection with these territories”