You can dance, you can dance...

Everybody look at your MANTS! 

That's MANTS, not to be confused with PANTS: http://www.pantshow.com/ This year we got the opportunity to check out the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (http://www.mants.com/), an opportunity for vendors to display their plant materials to buyers and plant enthusiasts. The Baltimore Convention center was filled to capacity for three days with thousands upon thousands of plants, ranging in size from tiny flowers to three-story high trees! The last day, Power in Dirt solicited donations from vendors and collected a total of 46 plants, including shrubs, flowers, and trees. CGRN and Parks and People Foundation's Environmental Education program were also successful in collecting donations, and we're all excited about getting them out into you gardens, parks, and schools as the weather warms up.

GiGi organizes the group of MANTS plants at their temporary home.

Our newly acquired conifer collection.

Tree of Life Ministries

Tree of Life Ministries celebrates the holidays.

Broadway East Work Day

Planting trees

Power in Dirt partnered with the Baltimore Wake Up (http://baltimorewakeup.org/) to help revitalize a vacant block in East Baltimore. Check out a celebrity appearance from The Wire's Sonja Sohn!

 

Group picture with Sonja Sohn (center)

 

More than 80 people volunteered on 5 work days for a total of 225 hours worked over the course of the 8 week initiative.

 

The group, headed by the New Broadway East Community Association, planted 10 trees and 800 bulbs, removed trash and overgrowth, and built a scenic walkway through the lot.

 

The Baltimore Wake Up project was developed by the non-profits ReWired for Change and the violence prevention program Why Murder? Through the WakeUp, community groups get technical assistance from coaches with expertise in a community improvement area and grants to conduct neighborhood improvement projects.

Ten trees have found a new home

 

Planting the Seeds of Recovery

The addiction recovery center Man Alive Inc., in collaboration with the Neighborhood Design Center, used the Love Your Block with Tree’s grant to kick-start their ambitious plans for 2004-12 N. Charles Street. Man Alive first adopted a lot on Charles Street in 2011 and since then have worked to maintain and care for the lots while a plan was generated. While excitement for the project was great amongst the clients and staff, the project faced a series of obstacles in the first year and a plan was never fully developed. In the summer of 2012, with help from the Neighborhood Design Center, the garden committee coalesced around a plan for a grove of fruit and flowering trees that would act as a memorial orchard.  Grace Sweeney, lead organizer of the project for Man Alive says she’s excited “for our clients and staff to have a positive impact on the community and to provide an environment where our clients can work outside and literally see the ‘fruits’ of their labor.” Staff at Man Alive hope that the project can tie in with their own programs and help serve as a form of horticultural therapy for clients struggling to recover from addiction. Grace notes that “work outside will be coupled with a therapy group inside where [clients] can talk about their experiences and share how working with the plants and fruit trees influence their recovery.”

The Love Your Block with Tree’s grant (http://www.parksandpeople.org/greening/grants-for-greening/love-your-block-with-trees/) allowed Man Alive patients and staff to get a head start on their plan by planting native perennials in a designated meadow area and street trees in front of the center.  Man Alive hosts biweekly workdays to help clean up the prodigious amount of trash that accumulates on the highly-trafficked lot and prepare the soil for spring planting. If you are interested in helping out with the project please contact Grace Sweeney at gesweeney@manaliveinc.org or Mikah Zaslow at mzaslow@ndc-md.org.

 planting native plants

 hauling soil

cleaning trash

the whole group

This past Saturday, Mt Clair St Garden had their second work day! We had about 22 volunteers come to assist in the planting of trees, trash clean up, and garden clean up. It was a successful day as over ten trees were planted in the surrounding neighborhoods. 

Jane, Bill, and several volunteers cleaned up the inside of the garden. We composted the leaves that were collected in and around the garden.









Cassandra and volunteers cleaned up broken glass from her sculpture. They also cleaned up some trash that had been dumped near the garden.

Tree that was planted through the Love Your Block with Trees grant.

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Thanks for all of your hard work and enthusiasm, Mt Clair St!

Pratt Street Communal Farm

The Fells Point Farm Project’s first farm location is at 1639 E Pratt Street. 

They used their Home Depot gift card to create raised beds for the Pratt Street Communal Farm- 

look at those lovely little nasturtiums!

Fun Fact- they are adopt a lot neighbors with Treefill Baltimore, an organization working to create an urban forest right across the street.

Mt Clair St Moves Their Pond!

This past weekend, the Mt Clair St garden had a work day with the intention of moving and revamping a pond that has been in the garden for some time. It was a challenge, but with help from members of the garden and city volunteers, the day was a great success!

(Jamie shin deep in water moving the pond lining!)

The chickens kept us company while we moved and filled the pond! We also cleaned up leaves around the garden and weeded the pathways. 

Adam made a delicious chili and corn bread lunch for all who helped out. Thanks Adam!!

Mt Clair St will have another work day in December to re draw the garden plots. Thanks for all of the hard work and dedication that you bring to your community!