Little Forests Kingston

Meeting Agenda

Tomorrow Saturday March 27 at 10:00 am via Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81195507009?pwd=cHdyaVpFUVNrRmVBYmdnR1lWcVZrQT09

1. Welcome new members: Around 55 people filled in our survey, maybe some will join our meeting.

2. Protecting seedlings: Bring any research or experience you have. We need to decide on a protection strategy & budget for it. I checked with Ewa from Lower Trent Conservation and she says that she uses either the white plastic coily rodent guards ($1) if the seedling is large enough or if there’s a lot of deer they use the tallest available Tubex tree shelters which also act as mini-individual greenhouses (>$3 & need a stake). Pamela from Lemoine Point says they install deer fencing but that at home they build DIY tubes of chicken wire pinned down with sticks.

3. Tracking data: Just a heads up that we’ll dig into this during our meeting on April 10 you can begin thinking about it.

Getting the word out

Some of our you mentioned that you have a lot of Facebook contacts & want to help 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 $4450 of our $15,000 goal.

• 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.

Updates

New Little Forests Resource Page: Created Little Forests Kingston on the Rideau 1000 Islands Master Gardeners website. This is a good place to send people interested in learning more about the methodology. Please send me any suggestions on how to improve.

Soil testing: We’ve made a plan for the soil testing workshops (led by Astrid) at each site in April. Due to COVID restrictions, only 5 can attend. If you’re super keen to be there for the soil test for a specific site, let me know. Depending on COVID, individual sites may try and schedule an on the land ritual or learning session later in the summer. Astrid found a new soil testing lab SoilHealth.ca. We’re looking at the Quantitative Test for $149.95 plus the CO2 burst analysis at $59.95 to give us great benchmark data. We’ll also be taking the soil your undies challenge.

Sourcing: Thanks to Sandra, I’ve sourced the 3 Catalpa on our species list and 7 Red Mulberries. Here are the species we still need to source. If anyone is interested in helping source, let me know.

• Shellbark Hickory (Carya lacinosa)

• Hawthorne (Crataegus). Frequently hybridize. Common species in Ontario include Downy Hawthorn (C. mollis), Cockspur Hawthorn (C. crus-galli), Dotted Hawthorn (C. punctata) Fleshy Hawthorn (C. succulenta).

• American Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana)

• Ash (Fraxinus). Perhaps watch for seedlings this spring?

• Wild Apple (Malus)

• Red Mulberry (Morus Rubra)

• Red Pine (Pinus resinosa)

• Golden Currant (Ribes aureum)

• Eastern Prickly Gooseberry (Ribes cynobasti)

• Wild Gooseberry (Ribes hirtellum)

• Buffaloberry or Soapberry (Shepherdia canadensis)

Maureen at Gather panel: If you didn’t get a chance to watch Gather, you can watch until the end of March. Also watch the panel recording where Maureen talks about Little Forests.

Resources

• Species spreadsheet

Action items

• MG Sponsor: Joyce follow up with Master Gardeners re Little Forest as a 'sponsored' project of 1000 Master Gardener. (hopefully on agenda for April 22 meeting)

• Budget TBD: Sandra facilitated budget activity March 13. Aiming for a draft budget for April 10.

• Water TBD: During last meeting’s budget breakout Bob brought up irrigation. He’s researching options (and costs) for irrigating the Little Forests. If anyone has expertise or wants to help Bob, email him at [email protected].

• Art TBD: Sandra is going to take the lead on integrating art with Little Forests. Perhaps a focus item for a future meeting?

• Data TBD: A focus item for our next meeting. Bring your ideas for the types of data we might want to collect during our Little Forest journey. Maureen has been doing a lot of research in iNaturalist.

Learning forest phenology

Phenology is the study of seasonal rhythms of phenomena like the budding of plants, emergence of insects, migration of birds and thawing of lake ice. In some areas, the arrival of black flies traditionally signaled the proper time for harvesting birch bark for canoes. Phenology is embedded within many Indigenous languages, such as in moon names.

Learning more about phenology may give us ideas around data collection, such as the research being done at the Harvard Forest. 

Phenology Across Minnesota asks the question: How can our students use place based data collection, observation and story sharing to interpret natural events from the perspectives of both Indigenous Science and Western Science? Includes a possible word in Ojibwemowin for phenology azhigwa (at this time).

One example of phenology research is the citizen science project shady invaders that explored the timing of leaves on invasive and native shrubs in deciduous forest ecosystems to understand how or if increased shading at times when Indigenous herbs, tree seedlings, insects, reptiles and more depend on sunlight. impacts deciduous forest ecosystems.

Creating personal phenology wheels seems like a fun personal non-technological “noticing” project to help us hone our observation skills and deepen our sense of place.

“My hope is that you will begin to enjoy a rhythm of thinking in non-linear time that is life-enhancing and transformative—thus affirming a place of no choice but the one to live in place, in this lifetime, wherever you are in each moment.” ~Anne Forbes, Wheels of Place

For those interested in a deep dive, check out this phenophase primer for plants. A simpler approach might be to choose a plant and be attentive and present with it through all stages of growth, throughout a season - observing and sketching to capture observations such as this example Meeting Bloodroot.

Another idea is a sit spot journal, like this one in an Oregon Forest: a “daily journal of my forest, with sketches of awakening buds, junco nests, cicadas hatching, mushrooms sprouting, and all the other amazing things that happen every day in a wild woods......?”

NPR KAXE Northern Community Radio has a weekly phenology talkback: “Each week, our resident phenologist John Latimer gathers the talkback comments and closely assesses the subtle changes happening outside. On Tuesdays during the Phenology Show, we hear all about it! In his official, weekly Phenology Report he compares today's happenings to years past and much more.

Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) is also conducting a phenology study. Tribal elders and harvesters along with GLIFWC staff chose plant beings to be included in the study: giizhik (northern white cedar), ode’imin (strawberry), miskomin (raspberry), miinan (blueberry), baapaagimaak (black ash), zhingob (balsam fir), bagwaji zhigaagawanzh (wild leek), ziinzibaakwadwaatig (sugar maple), wewaagaagin (ostrich fern), wiigobaatig (basswood), and wiigwaasi-mitig (paper birch). They collect citizen data through a google form. Also set up remote cameras that capture images every 30 minutes. This video shows the time-lapse footage of dagwaagin (autumn).

Dibaginjigaadeg Anisnabee Ezhitwaad Caring for those who care for us: A Tribal Adaptation Menu has a series of strategies including one that touches on phenology: Learn through careful and respectful observation (gikinawaabi), taking time to observe and learn from the beings in a given area.

Nature’s Notebook is a phenology app based in the States, but it looks like it’ll take Canadian data. They have a lot of training, but that’s not available to Canadians. Canada has a phenology app focused on plants called PlantWatch.

Orton System uses phenophases of 54 plants as indicators for monitoring and controlling 102 widespread pests and diseases and suggests planting a phenology garden of 54 species as a living weather station.

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