The Providential Gardener

Taking Root and Other Films at RI International Film Festival

The RI International Film Festival has several films on "green" themes this year. Nobel Prize winner, Mangari Maathai, is the subject of Taking Root about the Green Belt Movement in Kenya that resulted in reforestation. This film is showing at Macmillan Hall on Sunday, August 10, at 5pm, along with Hidden in the Leaves, a film produced in RI about ticks.

Professor Maathai discovered her life's work by reconnecting with the rural women with whom she had grown up. They told her their lives had become intolerable: they were walking longer distances for firewood, clean water was scarce, the soil was disappearing, and their children were suffering from malnutrition. Maathai thought to herself, 'Well, why not plant trees?' A seemingly innocuous idea, Maathai soon discovered that tree planting had a ripple effect of empowering change.

Also note that a film about Denmark's wind farms, The View and the Vision, is also being shown at Bell St Chapel, Providence, 2:15pm on Saturday, August 9.

Ticks

I was looking over recent articles in the Providence Journal tonight, and I'd like to highlight a couple of them in separate posts from the Projo Digest series I started a few weeks ago. I suppose you might like it if I added links to the articles, but creating posts takes a lot of time and if you go to www.projo.com and type in a few keywords from the titles, you will get the text of the article ~ at least I'm finding them pretty easily when I go looking for them, so their website works pretty well.

Rhode Islanders should especially note that URI has started a tick study, according to an article on Monday, June 18, by Peter B. Lord. This is important research. I know of someone who just came down with a fever of 104 degrees and has been told it's Lyme Disease. URI researchers would like Rhode Islanders to fill out a 56-question survey at www.tickencounter.org. The website is also informative, describing what ticks look like, what diseases they cause, where they are most often found. Additionally, it tells the stories of some people who have contracted tick-caused diseases and indicates where you can get tested for these diseases.

www.tickencounter.org is a very useful resource, and I urge you to check it out.

Count the Butterflies in Rhode Island!

Here are the details on how to participate in the upcoming Rhode Island Butterfly Count, from July Lewis of the Audubon Society of Rhode Island....

National Pollinator Week is June 24-30, 2007

Maybe other businesses and organizations would like to know what Fidelity Investments in Smithfield is doing as a Wildlife at Work project: they have taken on publicizing National Pollinator Week. According to the Pollinator Week website:

Fidelity Investments' Wildlife at Work Team will conduct an Educational Awareness Campaign during National Pollinator Week for Fidelity employees. The campaign will feature educational handouts, a pollinator quiz with the chance to win prizes, and information on pollinator-friendly practices for businesses and homes. Employees can stop by the Wildlife at Work table in the cafeteria to learn more about the importance of pollinators to our society and economy. For more information, contact Robin Smith at 401-292-5675.

Fidelity went through the 2-year process to become certified in the Wildlife at Work project recently at their 500-acre Smithfield, Rhode Island campus. The formal Widlife at Work certification process is a big undertaking, and not every company can devote the staff time to it. The only other company in Rhode Island with this certification is Raytheon, as far as I have heard. [The Providential Gardener always welcomes corrections if I get the facts wrong ~ Please advise if you know things to be otherwise.] But maybe smaller companies might want to explore this program and implement some segments of it informally.

ProJo Digest ~ May 30, 2007

May 30, 2007 ~ Here is what you saw (or missed) in The Providence Journal today. Page numbers refer to the Providence City Edition. If you read another edition with other articles, I invite you to add brief references in Comments to this posting. Articles may become harder to find as this date recedes into the past, so I am not linking to any articles (Buy the paper!). Any references to EXTRAs on the web may also get lost over time, but these special additions and supplements to the printed paper are very informative and great visual resources. I think readers of The Providential Gardener should know about ProJo articles, so here goes:

• A1 ~ Creepy news ~ Forest tent caterpillars, soon to be followed by gypsy moth caterpillars make the front page. EXTRA: learn more about tent caterpillars at www.projo.com. ProJo also asks, Have the tent caterpillars invaded your neighborhood? You can send them word through the ProJo website. Also see the photo gallery of tent caterpillars. Your boy children will love it, even if you don't.
• B1 ~ Clearing spaces and building buildings can destroy others' homes. Did you know it is illegal in Rhode Island to remove a bird's nest from a tree? Last week someone inadvertently took down a tree with a red-tailed hawk nest in it. See EXTRA at www.projo.com.
• G1 ~ Support Grows for National 'Green" Standards'
• G3 ~ Business Digest: State of CT Department of Agriculture Farm Reinvestment Grant Program awards 18 grants to farms for capital improvements
• G8 ~ "Business Embracing 'Greener Packaging'"

Mulch and Termites

It's that time of year when maybe you have seen a swarm of flying ant-like critters - I HOPE not near or even worse, IN your house or garage. Those would be termites, in all likelihood, and if they are inside your house or garage or other building, you need professional help.

Watch the landscapers who come to your home and pile up mulch everywhere. Make sure there is no mulch piled up to any part of your house that is made of wood. If the mulch is up against the shingles, you might as well have put a big Welcome! sign out for any neighborhood termites.

More mulch is not better. You only need an inch or two to hold in moisture and keep weeds down. (And remember to keep the mulch away from the trunk flares of your trees and shrubs. Professional landscapers don't necessarily mulch correctly - or they have employed people who are not well trained in proper mulching techniques. URI has some Factsheets on Mulching:

• Are You Guilty of Overmulching?
• Irrigating the Home Garden

Lots of other info is available on the web, for instance, U of Minnesota's Sustainable Urban Landscape Information Series Paper on Mulching and Watering.

Termites do not come with the mulch, but they like moist conditions and they are in the ground all over the place, so they may make their homes under mulch. Rhode Island was their home a long time before any of us showed up, and actually, we build our homes on top of theirs. From a termite's perspective, we're in THEIR way. Wood is wood, after all, and the more the better if you're a termite.

Another place I have seen termite nests is under rocks. (Click on the picture to enlarge it. I had just moved a rock from under an outside faucet before taking this shot.) I was talking with Ron Campellone from New England Pest Control about termites recently, and he suggested that homeowners also keep rocks away from the foundation of houses - especially near outside spigots that tend to drip water and keep the ground under them wet. He suggested digging down 6 inches or so and out a foot or so away from the house under the faucet (and maybe under low-lying wood frames of windows as well) and filling the spaces in with gravel. That way the moist spaces will be less attractive to those hungry little beasts. Go check around your house today, and if you see any wood touching the ground or mulch, eliminate those attractive termite-nesting sites.

Beginner Beekeeping Classes

We are nowhere without insects, folks. I just received this notice:

The Rhode Island Beekeepers Association has announced the scheduling of a series of classes for beginner beekeepers.  There will be a total of 5 classes which will be held at the William M. Davies Career and Technical High School, Jenckes Hill Road in Lincoln. The classes will be held on Wednesday evenings from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. on March 7, 14, 21, 28 and April 4, 2007.

The classes will cover everything the beginning beekeeper needs to know.

Garden Insect Identification and Management Saturday, July 8, 11:00 am

East Greenwich, RI

Between the rain showers, many people are trying to grow gardens this year. When the sun comes out, there are weeds and diseases to deal with. As summer continues, there will be insects to contend with as well. This summer, you don’t need to stand by idly and watch as tiny arthropods consume the plants you have so carefully tended. You also don’t need to spray toxic chemicals all over your yard! Equip yourself with knowledge and with the tools you need to take back control of your garden.

Join organic farmer Trish Garland as she identifies harmful insects in the vegetable, flower, and herb gardens at the Briggs-Boesch Farm, and explains how each pest can be controlled. Garland and her husband, Erik Eacker have been running a 12-acre organic vegetable operation named Ledge Ends Produce since 2004 at the Briggs-Boesch Farm in East Greenwich, a 90-acre property purchased by the East Greenwich Land Trust in 2001. This spring, the farm received its organic certification, which means that the farmers use no dangerous pesticides or herbicides and that the fields are fertilized with only natural products.

Included in this 90 minute workshop will be a presentation by local beekeeper Jason Kerr, who keeps several hives on the property. Kerr will give participants a glimpse into the fascinating world of bees, explaining how the hives work and the benefits they provide to the farm.

This educational program will be wonderful for home gardeners, budding entomologists, and children alike. The workshop will be held Saturday, July 8 at 11:00 am. There is a fee of $8 per adult and $4 per child. Please call ahead to register.  For more information contact Trish Garland or Erik Eacker: 401-884-5118.