Solar eclipse

Being friends with an astronomy professor comes in super handy when there's an eclipse! We drove about five miles south of Ann Arbor to get a clear view of the horizon. We ended up on Platt Road outside the Toyota complex, with another set of astro geeks across the road. When the security guard drove by to figure out what we were doing, and Pete enthusiastically and with some amount of detail explained the finer points of the eclipse, I felt like I was on The Big Bang Theory (ooh, I wanna be Amy Farrah  Fowler!).

He has a telescope (8 inches, baby!), and made filters (of mylar model rocket parachute material) to make the sun viewable, as opposed to looking like a huge piercing bright light.

Check out the detail! The little brown marks are sun spots. It's all the telescope; I just put my trusty Canon PowerShot lens up to the telescope lens! The ragged edge is due to the earth's atmosphere. It was moving like waves, which was really cool.

 The eclipse started for us in Michigan at 8:21 p.m., as the sun began to set.

 The moon is passing between the earth and the sun, blocking our view of the sun.

 Or, an invisible Cookie Monster is taking a bite.

 It started getting cloudy.

 And cloudier...

 And cloudier...

 and cloudier still as the sun was setting.

 Finally the clouds obscured the view entirely.

It was still a cool sunset, though.

Wikipedia has an animation showing how it would have looked if we had been able to see the entire eclipse, without clouds and in an earlier time zone with enough time before sunset. In the animation, the eclipse starts at the opposite end of the sun as my photos show--that's because the telescope flips the image.

Picture perfect succulents

I love the container displays at Taylor Conservatory. They're creative and whimsical combinations of annuals, perennials, bulbs, or whatever is in season.

I loved the use of branches of red-twig dogwood and Harry Lauder's walking stick in these pots and went to investigate more closely....

Then I spied... Do you see them on the ground in the background?... Two miniature living walls or vertical gardens, framed like art! I was giddy with excitement (so giddy I kind of blew the spoiler by showing you one right off!).

Other vertical gardens I've seen have been equally gorgeous but quite large, usually encompassing an entire wall. These smaller gardens seemed less intimidating and actually possible to make oneself!

I've often seen old frames at yard sales, or you could buy and stain molding. (Or actually buy frames!) The backs the the frames are rectangular wood boxes, like a mini raised bed, made of four pieces of 1" x 4" wood (or thereabouts). I didn't measure the frames, but I'm guessing 2 ft. x 3 ft. You could make any size you want.

The back of the box has chicken wire stapled in place, with a layer of moss laid on top before the soil was added. If you don't have moss, you could also use coco fiber, landscape fabric, or plywood with holes drilled in for drainage.

Chatting with volunteers, I learned the box is filled with a well-draining soil mix, and topped with chicken wire. You can't see it in the finished product, but it holds the succulents and moss in place when the frame is set upright.

Not all of the succulents in these picture frames are hardy in Michigan, and they are kept indoors overnight this time of year.

By the way, the framed succulents complement this reproduction of Monet's Gladioli on display through June 30 at Taylor Conservatory. It's one of many locations in metro Detroit showcasing weatherproof reproductions of art in the Detroit Institute of Arts collection, as part of the Inside|Out exhibit. Check it out!
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From pawpaws to urban farming, with love

Why Not?

A simple question gives birth to an ambitious urban farm project

This article was originally published in the Project Grow Community Gardens newsletter and is reprinted here with permission.

Photo from Wikipedia Commons

Have you ever heard of a pawpaw? Hamtramck, Michigan, resident Michael Davis hadn't until this past September. From the first moment he tasted the rich blend of mango, banana, citrus, and melon flavors of the pawpaw, Davis was hooked.

A visit to Davis' home clearly shows his passion for growing things in an environmentally responsible way — an approach he calls "ghetto gardening." The hardscaping is comprised of stacked, reclaimed concrete chunks, former red sandstone, Detroit curb stones, and plant life. He rescued plants he found on empty lots while on bike rides around the city. Now, irises, daylilies, pachysandra, lilacs, and hostas all find their home on his land. Despite the name, it all comes together to create something far from "ghetto."

Over the years, Davis has watched his little corner of Hamtramck change. The number of vacant houses on the street increased and the police made their fair share of visits down the one-block deadend street. But his passion for the quirky little city has kept him from simply walking away. With the taste of pawpaw fresh in his mind, it clicked. Why not?

Davis — along with Julie Swartz, Robert Swartz, Evan Major, Stephen Gach, and a growing number of supporters — are bringing a reduce, reuse, and revival approach to six long-vacant, city-owned lots with the pawpaw playing a major role.

And so Hamtown Farms was born. It will one day grow more than 150 pawpaw, pear, and hazelnut trees. When complete, it will also have more than  50 raised community gardening beds for residents to grow seasonal vegetables. In addition, the project will include a large open public space that will accommodate a wide variety of community events including a Harvest Festival in mid-October.

Gathering wild pawpaw seeds that will produce hardy root
stock. Photo by Julie Swartz.

Over the past few months, the group has been hard at work researching pawpaws – drawing  from the work of Neal Peterson of Peterson Pawpaws, Dr. Ron Powell of the Ohio Pawpaw Growers Association, and Dr. Kirk Pomper of the Kentucky State University Pawpaw Research Program. Their study has found the right mix of varieties creates the best fruit yield, hardiness, fruits per tree, ripening time, and more.

A recent trip to a nearby wild pawpaw thicket netted the group more than 500 seeds that are currently stratifying in a refrigerator. Chip bud grafting of known varieties including 'Overleese' and' Sunflower' to 2-year-old rootstock from these wild collected seeds will go a long way in ensuring hardiness. The group may have also stumbled upon a three-seeded variety, though it will be a few years before this new variety, temporarily named 'Bob’s Beauty,' can be confirmed.

Members of Hamtramck's local government including Mayor Karen Majewski and Jason Friedmann, Director of Community and Economic Development, are equally excited about the project. 

A number of relationships are also beginning to sprout between Hamtown Farms and area businesses and organizations including The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, the National Pawpaw Grower's Association, the Green Garage, People’s Community Services, Roots to Fruits Ecological Design, Project Grow Community Gardens, and others in order to help regrow this little corner of Hamtramck.

One of the plots at Hamtown Farms.

Photo by Michael Davis.

Hamtown Farms now consists of two plots that span nine vacant lots along Wyandotte Street. The group is allowed to use the land through a garden/lot cleanup permit granted by the city of Hamtramck. If you happen to own or have access to a bobcat with a 12-inch auger, a large supply of concrete chunks,  or a good source for topsoil, they'd love to hear from you.

To learn more about the project or for more about North America's largest natively grown fruit, the pawpaw, write to hamtownfarms at gmail dot com. They'd love to share their proposal and hear your thoughts.