Little Forests Kingston

Jim’s granddaughters protecting the little trees in November at Lakeside Little Forest.

Both Wolfe Island and HWY 15 Little Forests suffered some predation of a few of their little trees before the tree protectors arrived. Next year, we’ll have to ensure we get the tree protection on earlier.

A conversation around our values

We’re in the process of incorporating as a non-profit. And as part of that process we’re discussing values, ethics, decision-making around partnership and more. We’d love for you to join in the conversation!

When: Saturday January 22 10:00 am

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83651860259?pwd=QUIrR1cwbmxadm5jbVl4WldLWUl1UT09

Hannah, who has training and experience as a medical ethicist, is facilitating the conversation. Here’s an outline of the process she’s suggested:

• Discuss and agree on process (process can be amended over time), including membership

• Discussion of initial warm-up (and other) questions

• Discussion/Decision - Ought LFK partner and/or engage in sponsorships or partnerships? Why and why not?

• What are the values of LFK?

• What are the values of LFK engaging in partnerships/sponsorships?

• Discussion of existing ethical frameworks for partnerships/sponsorships (Hannah to provide some potential examples. Others examples are welcome)

• Choose framework

• Practice using framework to tweek/add/change

Here are the minutes from our meeting this week during which we decided to invite anyone interested to participate in the process.

Noah was there for our first conversation and we’re really hoping more young people will join the discussion so spread the word!

2 Billion Trees Capacity Building Grant

We’re applying for the 2 Billion Trees Capacity Building Grant. If you love to write grants, have ideas of ways in which we need to build capacity, or love to crunch numbers for a budgets, let me know.

If you haven’t yet heard the term 3-30-300 rule, you’ll be hearing a lot more about it as we centre it in our strategy.

• 3 trees from every home

• 30% minimum (though we’ll aim for 40%) tree canopy in every neighbourhood

• 300 metres from the nearest (quality) park or greenspace

2022 Little Forests in the works

So far, for 2022 we’ve confirmed Little Forest AMHS (Addictions and Mental Health Services). And Kelsey, with the help of members of the AMHS community, KSS, Loving Spoonful, and the Little Forest Community, has already finished most of the prep for the forest floor.

• Bob & Josh are in discussions about a Little Forest at Rideaucrest (with the participation of Mulberry School). Next step is a meeting with the Rideaucrest team and the City to address their questions around preparation, planting, and maintenance.

• Joanne is leading conversations with several schools and representatives from the LDSB. We’re also including building capacity around this in our 2 Billion Trees grant application.

• We met with Bridget Doherty, Councillor for Portsmouth, who’s a wonderful supporter and is helping a facilitate a conversation with Julie-Salter Keene, Manager of the Climate Leadership Division, around Little Forests. If you haven’t yet read the Climate Leadership Plan, you’ll see it doesn’t have any suggested actions related to trees or forests though does give us an opportunity to weigh in under the last bullet under Objectives & Actions #10 “Identify opportunities to Protect and Increase Green Infrastructure.”

• Bridget also proposed Rodden Park as a possible location for a Little Forest as well as the addition a Little Forest to the plans for the Tiny Homes for Veterans proposal.

• Mark Sibley from 350 Kingston is interested in reaching out to Invista about a Little Forest on their property where there was once a soccer field and baseball diamond.

• Brooke and Jesse have also been doing a ton of research and work towards bringing Little Forests to St. Lawrence College.

If you’re interested in helping bring any of this possibilities to realization (especially Rodden Park) or if you have ideas for another location for a Little Forest, let me know.

The Paw-Paw Patch

Thanks to Scott, who stewards a food forest in Gananoque, we were able to smell and taste the magnificent pawpaw during one of the planting days at HWY 15. The pawpaw is considered to be Canada’s only native tropical fruit. While native to the Carolinian Forest, with the need to assist trees with climate migration we’re planting pawpaws in some of our Little Forests.

Rumour is that pawpaws taste like a cross between mango, banana, and custard. I thought it was mango-like. Others thought more banana-like. Either way, it smells heavenly and tastes delicious. In around 7 years we should be harvesting pawpaws from our Little Forests.

Here’s a picture of Scott’s pawpaw tree.

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