The Providential Gardener

On Being Outdoors in Winter

Yesterday, January 20, 2009, more than two million people spent the day in 20-degree weather and lived to tell the tale ~ and what a tale! What a day! What a sight, to see about twice the population of the state of Rhode Island standing on or near the National Mall during the inauguration of President Obama. No one minded, or at least, folks put the cold out of mind and let their hearts and bodies be warmed by the day's events. Did anyone get frostbite? Aren't they glad they were there? Isn't the memory of that day and their presence in Washington, DC, worth standing for hours in the cold? Two million people would say yes.

So what are we doing inside TODAY? It may even be a bit warmer than yesterday in DC. Are you going for a walk? I'm reluctant to get out there when it's so icy on the city sidewalks, but the roads in the parks are clear and not too distant. Why don't I just go over to Roger Willliams Park and take a walk? There are 10 miles of roads there. North Burial Ground is a Providence Parks Department responsibility and it's closer to me. I can walk there, and it also has 10 miles of roads within it. Cemeteries often have cleared their roads of snow and are beautiful places to walk. I went over to Swan Point Cemetery today. Yes, indeedy, it was cold, and the whole time I was there the sun was behind clouds. But it was beautiful and quiet, just a few walkers including a man with a hawk on his arm. By the way, THANK YOU to all my wonderful neighbors who help me shovel the snow and who shovel their own walks! Way to Go!

With all this snow there's sledding! We have lots more snow today than when I took the top photo of sledders in Roger Williams Park last week, so it could be even more fun than these folks were having. Make your own memories and have a great time! There's cross-country skiing, there's ice skating if the ponds freeze hard enough. RI DEM provides ice safety information for Lincoln Woods, Goddard and Meshanticut State Parks on its 24-hour Ice Information telephone line, 222-2632. They advise us to contact local recreation departments for skating opportunities and conditions in individual communities since DEM does not monitor ice conditions in local communities.

If you do want an invitation to the outdoors, though, check the Outdoors Calendar on my unfinished redesign of What Grows On in Rhode Island. I have been working on a reorganization of the information in The Providential Gardener and What Grows On in Rhode Island to make them more useful, but there's still a lot to do. It's keeping me from writing posts for the Providential Gardener. Other Rhode Islanders are writing on other blogs, though. You can see their work in news feeds from various local and national environmental groups.... This aggregated set of feeds is incomplete, to say the least, but It's a taste of what's to come on What Grows On in Rhode Island.

Outdoors, Nature

Give the Great Outdoors This Season

Let's shake things up this year by thinking "Shape Up" BEFORE New Year's Day. Why wait to make a resolution to get into shape or to keep in shape? Take action now!

Shape Up Rhode Island begins early registration on December 15, 2008. It's an affordable gift ($20) you can put on your wish list if your have a job but your employer isn't offering to pay this year. [It's a very good investment for businesses, though ~ will build morale and make a healthier work force.] And exercise is one way to life your spirits in these somewhat depressing times.

Open Space Conservation Bonds Approved

The Providential Gardener is pleased to publish this report from the Rhode Island Land Trust:

2008 Election Results:
 
Rhode Island Voters Approve Open Space Conservation Bonds!
 
With 97% of the votes counted, 68% approve Question 2 providing the state with 
$2.5 million in bond funding for farmland protection and open space conservation. 
 
Voters in urban communities were especially strong supporters:
79.1 % City of Providence - 2nd highest approval rate after Block Island
73.8 % Central Falls
78.9% Newport
The Highest voter approval was 82.4 % in New Shoreham.
 
Local Land Conservation Bonds  were also Approved
Middletown $2 million passed by  68%
Glocester $500,000  passed by 53.8%

Take the Long View: Vote to Preserve More Open Space in Rhode Island

Last thoughts on Question 2 ~ Maybe you'll see this November 4 and mention the importance of approving the open space bond issue to another RI voter before they go to the polls today:

Despite the economic climate, many more folks urge the approval of Question 2, the Open Space Bond Referendum.

Chip Young's CHANNEL 10 BLOG: Chip Young posted this great recommendation for APPROVING Question 2 - the $2.5 million Open Space Bond Referendum on the Channel 10 blog.  It includes an endorsement by Governors Garrahy and Almond that has been printed as an op-ed in papers throughout Rhode Island.

Lincoln Almond and Joseph Garrahy's op-ed in the Providence Journal, October 23, 2008

Priceless Farmland at Bargain Basement Prices ~ Farmland Op Ed by Rep. Donna M. Walsh of Charlestown, New Shoreham, Westerly, and South Kingstown.

FARM FRESH RHODE ISLAND: This is a clear, dramatic explanation of the impact of previous bond issues on preserving farmland. In an email I received yesterday, they quote Rupert Friday of the RI Land Trust Council:

"Rhode Island has lost 80% of our farmland since 1945.  Today, only 45,800 acres remain in production - less than 7% of the land in the state.  Our remaining farmland is the basis for $100 million in Rhode Island's economy each year.  It is also essential to defining the character of our communities and our quality of life.  Rhode Island has the highest farmland prices in the nation and there is strong pressure to develop this land into new subdivisions."

East Bay RI ~ signed by Connie Lima, Tiverton Land Trust; Abigail Brooks, Sakonnet Preservation Association; Larry Taft, Audubon Society of RI; George Mason, Little Compton Agricultural Conservancy Trust; John Berg, The Nature Conservancy of RI

Valley Breeze Fact Sheet. The Valley Breeze published several op eds from Smithfield, North Smithfield, and Cumberland Land Trust members ~ [ http://www.valleybreeze.com/www/Question_2-fact_sheet.pdf]

I want to be balanced about this, so I've looked for the other side of this issue. All I can find are the following:

THOSE OPPOSED TO Question 2:

Providence Journal editorial in mid-October. Main objection was the cost in this difficult economy. [Online link to this editorial seems to be unavailable.]

RI Republican blog -- objects to both bonds because opposes borrowing in principle and because of the cost of bonds. Believes RI should foot the bill completely for transportation and open space out of our own state budget.

Time to Bed the Roses

If you really love roses, Saturday is the perfect time to join RI Rose Society members in the fall cleanup and bedding down of the Roger Williams Park Victorian Rose Garden. Linda Shamoon, the society president, sends word of details:

Hello RI Rosarians!

The Roger Williams Park folks sent an email saying they will be ready for us on Saturday. They'll supply us with  rakes, shovels, manure,  wheel barrows, trash cans for clippings, etc. 

So, I hope you are planning to be on hand--and bring clippers and  gloves. We really need your help. Please come!

This is a great down-and-dirty volunteer opportunity to care for a part of Roger Williams Park that many of us enjoy during the spring and summer. Untold numbers of bridal parties choose this location for photographs, and it is one of the most lovely spots in the park, just at the Elmwood Avenue entrance. The Rose Society folks are a great crew, and you'll learn a lot about roses from them.

Show up and work if you can! I bring an old set of sneakers to wear during the cleanup ~ they're not kidding about the manure! ~ so I can take off the ones I wear in the garden for the drive home.

Roses may be delicate, but rosarians are not. This is a rain or shine event, although I suppose even they might postpone it for a major snow storm or a deluge.

Voice Your Views at the Providence Waterfront Charrette

Some day they will complete the I-Way construction project, and India Point Park will be more accessible again. But what will the view be at the waterfront when the dust settles?

Friends of India Point Park urge all interested Providence residents and Rhode Islanders to voice their views at some or all of the waterfront charrette sessions being held at Johnson & Wales University June 9-12, 2008. The sessions are also listed in What Grows On in Rhode Island, the state's most comprehensive environmental calendar. FIPP writes:

Next week's citywide waterfront charette is a crucial chance to speak out about waterfront public space and the future of the city's greatest natural asset. PLEASE COME!

WHEN:    Mon-Thurs, June 9-12, day & evening sessions.

[Final Schedule Waterfront Charrette, June 9-12, 2008]

Most important session: TUES, June 10, 2-4pm on waterfront public use.

Other workshops important for public space issues:
      -- evening sessions, 6-9pm, on consultant's four scenarios for the waterfront
      -- Tues, 11:30-1:30: examples of waterfront mixed uses in other cities
      -- Wed, 2-4: revenues from the waterfront

WHERE:  Johnson & Wales Harborside Campus, 265 Harborside Blvd in Fields Point. [Directions]

WHY:  Broad public support is essential to creating a public Gateway at the head of the Bay.

WHO:  All interested citizens are welcome. Pick & choose sessions you want to attend.

THE VISION:  The Shooters site offers a golden opportunity to create a public destination that will benefit the city and region for generations to come. Its unique advantages include:

• Geographic: the intersection of interstate highways, major bike paths, and riverfront greenways at a deepwater port half a mile from the Jewelry District and downtown Providence.
• Historic: Our city's 300-year maritime tradition can be revitalized with a recreational boating center, in tandem with keeping the working waterfront on Allens Avenue.
• Economic: A Bay-front destination will encourage tourism and full use of India Point Park for festivals, concerts, and regattas that bring millions of dollars to other mid-size cities.
• Scenic: Sweeping views down the Bay attract visitors and residents, and generate real estate values as far into the city as views of the Bay can be seen.

PUBLIC SUPPORT:  Two indications of broad public support for our vision: 

1 The priorities_charts filled out by participants at the Fox Pt neighborhood charrette, May 8. The item with the most dots reads, "Encourage the development of the former Shooters site for public use."

The two items with the next highest number of dots call for 1) keeping any development of the Brown warehouses next to the Radisson Hotel low enough to preserve water views from I-195, and 2) connecting a pedestrian way from Blackstone Park around India Point to the Providence River.

2 - PROJO ARTICLE excerpt about turnout urging public use of the Shooters site at the charrette, May 7.

Secrets of Expert Rose Gardeners

If you love roses, you can't do better than to join the Rhode Island Rose Society. Their quarterly publication, Rhode Island Rose Review, is one of the best newsletters by the numerous gardening groups in the state, and well worth the $20 annual membership dues by itself. The current November 2007 issue testifies to the Rose Society members' dedication to rose care and their deep desire to share their passion for growing roses with anyone who will listen.

The Rhode Island Rose Society maintains the Roger Williams Park Rose Garden and organizes a spectacular rose show each June. They meet monthly and have a good time talking roses, sharing roses, propagating roses, and planning trips to see other gardens such as the newly renovated Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden. [If you were a member, you could be one of the 48 people on the bus next June ~ First come, first served.] There are other benefits, such as discounts at garden centers.

If you have roses in your garden and live where winter freezes the ground, be sure to check out online articles about winterizing your roses. There is an excellent article about winterizing in the current newsletter as well. The plants cannot take the freezing and thawing that occurs in our New England winters, so last Saturday we mulched the roses at the park using horse manure courtesy of the Providence Police Mounted Command and the Parks Department. It was very cold, and we didn't look our best in these photos, but I don't know when I've had so much fun shoveling you know what. The photos are by Angelina Chute, current president of RIRS. The photo on the right doesn't really show what we're shoveling, but I assure you it was the real deal ~ not odorous actually, but full of nutrients the roses will love. We used five truckloads of manure on the garden, FYI. The Rose Society does this every year, and you can pitch in, too! All are welcome. The record for winterizing the garden is around 45 minutes, I think, but this year things took an hour and a half before everyone got into giving away rose plants.

One more item from the newsletter: The lead article by Dacia Nickerson would interest anyone who makes public presentations on any topic. Dacia, who has extensive professional experience as a public speaking trainer, gives valuable tips for making successful presentations. This is a welcoming group, and if you love roses,  you'll love the Rhode Island Rose Society.

The Flowering of Olneyville.... The Power of a Seed

Riverside Mill Park was the appropriate scene for celebrating Olneyville's revitalization this week. Projo's stories on the event ("Taking pride in the neighborhood pays off for Olneyville" and "City's community policing receives more high praise" in the Tuesday, November 6, 2007 city edition, Section D, page 1) just go to show what The Providential Gardener deeply believes: start planting flowers and restoring the natural beauty of any neighborhood, no matter how run down, and you will prepare the ground for renewed growth and a blossoming neighborhood again.

I was struck by Frank Shea's comments as related by the article's author, Gregory Smith:

There was a strong campaign under way in the 1990s for the development of the Woonasquatucket Greenway along the river.... If the greenway, including the nine-acre Riverside Park, was going to succeed, there would have to be a comprehensive redevelopment effort.

"We said we'll have this beautiful park, but nobody is going to feel safe coming here, "Shea recalled. Responsible residents -- 'eyes on the park,' ... had to be moved in who would cooperate with the police and the city Parks Department."

The vision of a park ~ with its trees, shrubs, flowers, and even the vegetables that will be grown in the community garden there next year ~ was thus the planted seed that has now grown into a good place to live in Providence. Riverside Park was planned to make it harder for people to do shady business there. One strategy was to plant thorny bushes along riverbank walls where criminals once lurked. Using the collective wisdom of the "Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design" idea, the Olneyville Housing Corporation, the Providence Police Department, and others have gradually turned the place around,  building 51 affordable housing units and reducing crime by over 70 percent near previously dangerous properties.

Struever Brothers, Eccles & Rouse recently sponsored two workdays to build the park, and lots of volunteers turned out for these events. There's another workday this Saturday, November 10th, by the way.

There are waiting lists at new affordable housing, and people are "fighting over those units that face the park," [ital and emphasis added] according to Barbara Fields, executive director of the Rhode Island office of Local Initiatives Support Corporation.

There's a nursery rhyme that all too often sums up life:

For want of a nail, a shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe, a horse was lost.
For want of a horse, a rider was lost.
For want of a rider, the battle was lost.
For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost...
...and all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

Seems to me that Olneyville turns this on its head. My muse is on a lunch break, so I won't attempt to make up a rhyme, but it starts something like.... Because of a seed...

So imagine flowers and gardens wherever you are, no matter how it looks at the moment.

A Garden Club for Donigan Park

More news from the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council:

Just received word that this meeting has been postponed to August 8, 6:30 pm.

Donigian Park Garden Club First Meeting: July 24th, 6:00pm, Donigian Park (Valley St. in Providence - next to Rising Sun Mills)   The Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council is hosting the first meeting of the Donigian Park Garden Club, which will be a group of residents who help maintain the gardens and landscaping of this important Olneyville neighborhood park.  Donigian Park is one of the few green spaces in Providence with public access to the Woonasquatucket River.  Join the Garden Club and help beautify this green space for the community, whether you live in the neighborhood or not!  For more information, contact Lisa at lisa@woonasquatucket.org or (401) 861-9046.

[N.B.: The Providential Gardener would like to publicize your garden/park/farm/watershed workday and/or event. Add The Providential Gardener to your distribution list via email.]

Plans for a New Park on the Providence River ~ The Ember House

Recently, the Providence Parks Department held information sessions about plans for the new park that will be along the Providence River where I-95 will "used to be" in 2012. The Providential Gardener posted about the plans for this park in June. Here are day and night depictions of the Ember House, FYI.

What do you think? Although the public comment period has passed, I'm sure that the Parks Commission and the Parks Commissioner Alix Ogden will be interested in your views.