Makȟaša Workshop & Nursery @makhasa@ecosteader.com

Makȟáša Nursery & Workshop is currently focused on providing material support to the local Black community, with whom we have always coordinated our struggle for liberation and independence from the police and all those who would live through domination.

All foodstuff produced by the nursery is being immediately brought to local protesters or those who are supporting them, we are serving as a donation drop-off point, and we have set up space in the garden to provide a space for community leaders to discuss, organize, and share their love for each other.

If you are interested in supporting our efforts, it is appreciated, but please redirect your attention to local inequities and provide your support to decolonizing your region.

Here's where breakfast came from today, a small salad of baby kale and collards topped with raspberries. It isn't pretty, but it's a start, and productive.

Like most of the world, we've been experiencing atypical weather. Our spring rains came far later than normal, and now summer storms roll in from the Atlantic far earlier than normal.

The plants here are mostly doing fine, but they're clearly eager for sunshine, so they can make some use of all this water around.

A bean plant twines itself up a stalk of corn.

The photo barely captures the grace; I don't have any caption that can touch it.

Here's some photos from around the area a few days ago.

In the first is a big mix of plants, planted into wooden pallets lined with gardening fabric. (And some other plants in containers.)

the second shows one of the beds planted with beans/corn/squash, and some peppers.

The third shot is some corn/beans/squash that I planted early on, and the fourth is a bed with tomatoes, peppers, basil, corn, and beans.

Sorry for the lack of posting, everyone! A dry late spring, ending in heavy rainstorms, meant we were busy tending to the nursery!

There's still more to do, so posting might be inconsistent, but I'm excited to show y'all what we've been working on when I've got the time!

Locals: We still have an abundance of free gifts for anyone who wants them. Bread and pastries from Weaver St. Market, sweet potatoes from Food Not Bombs, mulberries and rosemary from our garden, and clover sprouts from our hydroponics.

We've also got some small aloe vera plants that are getting established.

Call or text 814-367-3660 to arrange a pickup.

(Not local but want to support these efforts? donations are accepted at https://emsenn.net/support/)

The attached photo is a recent box prepared for pickup: two apple pies, three loaves of bread, mulberries, rosemary, lettuce.

#Mutualism

We'll be streaming some today! https://twitch.tv/emsenn

Just general late spring maintenance today, no firm plans.

Strawberries ripen in pallets and pots by the residential building. And despite being hugged tightly by a grape vine (whose grapes grow too early and too sour,) the mulberry tree is bringing out an impressive number of berries - we've collected a pint a day for about five days now, not to mention however many the birds take!

With the early-spring plantings moved into their beds, enough soil was freed up to reorganize a lot of the herb planters.

There's a lot going on in this photo. I'll try and hit the important points.

The pallet on the left has beans, strawberries, zucchini, curry, and mints. The pallet on the right has beans, strawberries, cilantro, tomatoes, peppers.

In front of the left pallet is stuff still to be transplanted or grown out a bit more: tomatoes, basil, thyme, lemon balm, raspberry, blackberry, echinacea.

In front of the right pallet and to the left of the left pallet are seven planters that have composting built in - a smaller plastic planter is set inside, and a matching one is set inside that. Compost goes in the bottom plastic planter.

The planters all contain strawberries and beans (are you noticing a pattern?), and between them there's one or more sage, tarragon, salad burnet, stevia, catnip, comfrey, fennel, curry, mints, thyme, and dill.

#Florespondence @plants@gup.pe

The heavy rain that started last night has begun to relax.

The ground is too saturated to work with today, so time will be spent on other tasks.

Now that things have been transplanted into the barber-alley bed, I have more free containers, so I'll be moving the blackberries and raspberries into repurposed laundry bags. They've been sending up suckers like crazy, which is perfect for filling up more spaces with productive berry bushes.

There will be enough containers to replant some of the herbs into more varied and densely planted containers, and maybe some of the native ornamentals will get replanted, as well.

Three wood pallets were gifted that will be converted into containers - they'll probably be planted with lettuce and peas to start with.

Strawberries are starting to ripen and plump.

Today was the first day the baby robins here were chirping.

Went exploring the settler-colony around here, came back with some wild onions and strawberries.

A lovely reminder of how the Earth will provide for us.

Heavy winds and rains last night scattered a lot of mulch out of the beds, and caused the water catchment garden to flood pretty heavily, making an even bigger mess of the plastic planters & other debris that's still out there from spring planting.

Today's looking to clear up and get sunny, so cleaning up will be the big project of the day. If time allows, a small bed will be cleared of its cover and replanted with the three sister plants: corn, pole beans, and squash.