Little Forests Kingston

Meeting agenda

Tomorrow Saturday April 10, 10:00 am

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81195507009?pwd=cHdyaVpFUVNrRmVBYmdnR1lWcVZrQT09

Topics:

1. Protect seedlings. Last week we had a great discussion on options and philosophy on protecting seedlings. Sebastian did a ton of research on options based on our discussion & will present his finding. Review his findings here. Sebastian will present his findings & we can discuss and hopefully finalize our decision.

2. Propagate seedlings. Marinus has been hiking local areas hunting for local wild sources & has discovered Hawthorn seedlings. Pot up or plant immediately? Other local sources?

3. Collecting data. What data do we want to collect? Why? Maureen will set the context for a data discussion to help us prepare for April 23 meeting.

Networking

Continue to spread the word. Here are three things to share:

• Share the survey with people who might want to join the Little Forest Community.

• Share the gofundme with people who might be interested in supporting Little Forests. We’ve raised $5015 of our $15,000 goal but momentum has stalled. Keep spreading the world. Hopefully our library talks lead to some more donations.

• Spread the word about our upcoming KFPL talk Cultivating Little Forest Communities. People can register here for 2:00 pm April 15 or register here for 7:00 pm April 19.

Nature Canada: Yesterday was our second Nature Canada Miyawaki Forests networking meeting organized by Nature Canada. Here is the Nature Canada shared folder. We reviewed and gave some feedback on the draft form for collecting data that would then be input into a map of Little Forests being created by CanPlant.

Sourcing

We’re paid a deposit of $1100 of $4548.67 (with HST) on Verbinnen’s order. Total is $4548.67 (with HST). Species we still need to source (or propagate) below. Teresa has reached out to another wholesale supplier to get their species list. Species spreadsheet. All orders in Ordering folder.

• Carya lacinosa-Shellbark Hickory (ordered from Grimo’s 9x$19.50)

• Catalpa speciosa-Catalpa (ordered from Golden Bough)

• Crataegus-Hawthorne (Marinus located seedling near Novalis)

• Diospyros virginiana (ordered from Grimo’s 20x$11.00)

• Fraxinus-Ash (maybe hunt for seedlings in wild?)

• Malus-Wild Apple

• Morus rubra-Red Mulberry (ordered 7 seedlings from Golden Bough, Marinus sourced seeds, Grimo may carry in fall won’t know till June)

• Pinus resinosa-Red Pine

• Ribes aureum-Golden Currant (ordered from TreeTime box of 30 $239.70)

• Ribes cynobasti-Eastern Prickly Gooseberry 

• Ribes hirtellum-Swamp Gooseberry

• Shepherdia canadensis-Buffaloberry/Soapberry (ordered from TreeTime box of $134.70)

Dirca palustris-Leatherwood wasn’t on our list but Golden Bough, a local nursery that grows plants from seed, had 4 so I ordered them. We could substitute for some of the Ribes we haven’t yet been able to source. “What I love most about leatherwood is it’s one of the first botanical signs of spring in Ontario deciduous woodlands. It flowers before any other trees put out their leaves, even before most woodland wildflowers bloom. They have a subtle but surprising perfume. The easiest way to find leatherwood is by its spring blossoms. It flowers along with the first spring beauties, Clatytonia virginica.”

Propagation: If you want to try your hands at propagating, email [email protected]. Review his seed order.

Soil Testing

We’re doing soil tests at each site over the next month. Here are Astrid instructions for pre workshop tests (we’ll take samples at Lakeside this weekend). I’ll video Astrid’s process during the Lakeside soil test & share. Soil ritual being designed by Joanne’s students postponed until COVID-19 lockdown ends.

• Lakeside Sunday April 18

• HWY 15 Sunday April 25

• KSS Tuesday May 11 3:00 pm.

One of the tests we’ll be using to measure soil health at each site is the soil your undies challenge.

Soilhealth.ca isn’t able to process new tests for the next 4-6 weeks as they are upgrading their equipment. John from soilhealth said they are adding new test options and said: “Your soil health focus will be rather unique compared to a market garden or even an orchard, so we would recommend placing emphasis on measuring soil health metrics related to carbon such as total organic carbon and active (or reactive) carbon to help support your carbon sequestration and GHG drawn down goals. We would also recommend you consider some plant testing (for example taking some samples of living plant tissue that can be tested to compliment the soil testing). Lastly, we would recommend a focus on measuring the overall fungal biomass and the bacteria to fungal ratio because you’ll be focusing on promoting fungal dominant soils to support nutrient cycling and this also connects with capturing carbon.”

Lakeside update

Jerry, an engineer with Ministry of Transport and a member of the Lakeside community, created this map with three slightly different layout options for location of Little Forest Lakeside in SE corner of the garden. We call the rough circular area the “Nut Circle.” Last fall planted shagbark nuts around the circle as well as some pawpaw seedlings. Currently the middle is mostly long pasture grass. Eventually can become a sitting area or sitting area plus pond.

Here is Jerry staking & measuring the area.

Lakeside just purchased a U-bar digger (broadfork) for the garden. We’ll slowly work over the Little Forests site to help decompact the soil. If anyone drinks coffee, save the coffee grounds and tuck them in underneath woodchips. They’re a great soil amendment that adds nitrogen to the soil.

Inspiration from around the web

Soil evolution in Miyawaki method: This diagram from the research paper Effectiveness of the Miyawaki method in Mediterranean forest restoration programs shows the difference in speed of soil evolution between conventional afforestation (a & b) vs the Miyawaki method (c). We won’t be doing any thinning in our Little Forests.

Do little patches of Indigenous forests matter? In Why we should save the last tiny scraps of nature Williams Laurance shares recent research of the importance of even tiny remnants of native vegetation in supporting species and ecosystem recovery “a key source of seeds of native plants, seed-dispersing animals & native pollinators.” Our Little Forests will become mother patches—multispecies refugia—for future forests.

Learning the names of trees: Maureen shared a link to learning tree names in Ojibwe along with this quote by Robin Wall Kimmerer on our Little Forests Facebook page: "In Indigenous ways of knowing, all beings are recognized as non-human persons and all have their own names. It is a sign of respect to call a being by its name, and a sign of disrespect to ignore it."