#DuarteCA #CommunityGarden to be developed at #TzeitelParasCaracciPark

March 12, 2025

"Duarte residents will soon have a new space to grow fresh produce, connect with neighbors, and enjoy the outdoors. Last month, the Duarte City Council approved the development of the Duarte Community Garden at Tzeitel Paras-Caracci Park (2701 Royal Oaks Drive).

"'This project exemplifies our dedication to creating #sustainable, #accessible spaces for our residents,' said Mayor Cesar A. Garcia. 'This garden will not only enhance the beauty of our park but also provide a space where our community can come together, learn, and share in the joy of nature. I am excited to see this project grow and look forward to it becoming a vibrant part of our community.'

"The goal of the Duarte Community Garden is to increase #FoodSovereignty by creating garden plots for community members to grow healthy food, cultivate agricultural literacy with educational programs, gather community by creating a welcoming and accessible garden space, and perform ecosystem services by removing grass, installing a sustainable #DripIrrigation system, building a #NativeHabitatGarden, and collecting #compost.

"The garden will feature 20 plots and two #ADAAccessible raised beds, available for rent at $5 per month. Community members can plant edible (excluding smokable) plants and flowers for personal, noncommercial use. It will include a storage shed with garden tools, an irrigation system promoting sustainable practices, and ADA-accessible decomposed granite pathways.

"The garden will be run in partnership with Food Exploration and Discovery (#FoodEd), a nonprofit organization that collaborates with San Gabriel Valley communities to create edible education sites and provide programs on #ecosystem #stewardship, healthy living, #environmental innovation, and entrepreneurship.

"Food Ed’s educational model will support gardeners of all skill levels, providing supplies and plants for beginners while experienced gardeners can use their own resources. The garden will also offer picnic benches for community #gatherings and host educational programs on topics like #VegetableGardening, #composting, #DroughtTolerant landscaping, and #SoilHealth.

"As the lead on this grant project, Food Ed will be responsible for building the #DuarteCommunityGarden. This includes overseeing site construction, collecting infrastructure bids, contractor management, program management, community engagement and workshops/events, processing plot holder applications, plant and soil replenishment, above ground irrigation repairs, developing the garden’s webpage and branding and overall garden management through October of 2026.

"For more information on the Duarte Community Garden, contact the Parks and Recreation Department at (626) 357-7931."

Source:
https://heysocal.com/2025/03/12/duarte-community-garden-to-be-developed-at-tzeitel-paras-caracci-park/
#ThirdSpaces #SolarPunkSunday #CommunityGardens #FoodSecurity #BuildingCommunity #California #SolarPunk #Composting

Pixie cup & lipstick #lichens & #liverwort mixed in with assorted #mosses. Super green microworlds
Just another ecological component of a healthy & biodiverse, coastal temperate rainforest ecosystem on #Wsanec territory.

The biological world is awash in #chemical signals.

Some molecular messages find their targets; most linger unread in the environment.

But sometimes, other #species — chemical eavesdroppers, bystanders or visitors — can pick up and interpret the signals in their own way.

If the message is powerful enough, the impact can ripple out across an #ecosystem.

#biology #ecology #evolution #biochemistry
https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-chemical-view-of-ecosystems-20250305/

"... scientists working in Antarctica currently are also discovering the incredible contributions that icebergs make to ocean life."
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20d1xp6046o v #BBC
#iceberg #A23a #Antarctica #nature #ecosystem #ocean

Czechia's €1m dam built for free by beavers: Here's where else they're doing good work.

A family of beavers made global headlines earlier this year when they built a dam exactly where authorities had been planning one in Czechia, saving taxpayers around €1.2 million.

Beavers are working wonders across Europe. Is the UK finally realising their potential?

https://mediafaro.org/article/20250301-czechias-1m-dam-built-for-free-by-beavers-heres-where-else-theyre-doing-good-work?mf_channel=mastodon&action=forward

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/feb/27/international-space-stations-sterile-environment-may-affect-health-of-astronauts-says-study

I really like thinking about the ecosystems in #space , especially in the #solarpunk context of being aware of our surroundings, microbiomes etc.

Just please don't make it about the aesthetics only, I don't want to see a hundred illustrations / stories about potted plants floating on the ISS. I want more stories like the Expanse's Ganymede Station's infrastructure.

Forecasting the Ocean: A Decade (2025-2035) of Ocean Science. Understanding and anticipating change in the ocean, and how it will affect marine ecosystems and humans. #Ocean #OceanScience #water #forecasting #ecosystem #marine https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27846/forecasting-the-ocean-the-2025-2035-decade-of-ocean-science

1/2 For Valentine’s Day here’s my watercolor & pen art of a pink flower (Black Dalea in bloom, Tucson, AZ) in my Perpetual Journal.

Happy Superb Owl & Silent Sunday for those who celebrate! 2/2

Here's my photo: Burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia) at nest, Cape Coral, FL, USA ©Carl R. Englander

A beaver colony in the Brdy region has gained overnight fame by building several dams in the Brdy protected landscape area, creating a natural wetland exactly where it was needed. It saved the local authorities 30 million crowns, and has the public cracking jokes about public administration and red tape.

https://english.radio.cz/beavers-build-planned-dams-protected-landscape-area-while-local-officials-still-8841536

via wachineya

#beavers
#wetlands
#ecosystem

Some insight into how trees share nutrients and beneficial chemicals with their neighboring trees and fungus. I found it intriguing.

It reminded me of a scifi story I read ages ago, about an alien forest that could defend itself by pouring chemicals into the river, something like that. Vague memory.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/04/993430007/trees-talk-to-each-other-mother-tree-ecologist-hears-lessons-for-people-too

#coding --> #socialcoding
#community --> #movement
#users --> #fedizens

and

#technosphere --> #sociosphere
#fediverse --> #peopleverse
#foss --> #soss

and

#socialmedia --> #socialnetworking
#socialgraph --> #socialfabric
#techstack --> #socialstack
#app --> #solution #service
#product --> #socialexperience

and

#dx #ux #ui --> #sx
#project --> #fsdl
#projects --> #ecosystem
#development --> #cocreation
#forge --> #forging
#contributor --> #peer
#contributing --> #peerproduction

Labour risks ‘powder keg’ clash with environmentalists as it puts growth before going green | Environment | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/25/labour-risks-powder-keg-clash-with-environmentalists-as-it-puts-growth-before-going-green
#GDPFetish #Ecosystem #UKPol

#FreeOurFeeds steps for an enshittification-proof digital future:

"First, Free Our Feeds wants to create a nonprofit foundation to govern and protect the #ATProtocol, outside of #Bluesky the company.

We also need to build redundant #servers so all users can leave with their data or build anything they want—regardless of policies set by Bluesky.

Finally, we need to spur the development of a whole #ecosystem built on this tech with seed money and expertise."

https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/01/17/1110063/we-need-to-protect-the-protocol-that-runs-bluesky/

In case your Winter landscape is a little monochromatic right now, here’s a colorful Perpetual Journal page of mine that can add some color to your day!

"I do not see #AI as being the basis for growth, opportunity, sunny uplands, balanced budgets or #Labour victories."

#UKPolitics #Ecosystem #Education #Regulations #PublicFunding #Infrastructure

https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/01/14/the-case-for-ai-is-out-right-now/

Out of the many things that I love about my job, one of them is that I get to have deep discussions with experts from not just #academia as we work towards building communities of practice. Today, in our Expert Dialogues session for the Digitization project, I learnt so much about human-centered design and design-thinking, something they never taught me when I was a computer science engineering undergrad.

One of the consortium members shared that they'd built this really beautiful app for a rural community in #India, spent a few crore INR in the process, and then no one ended up using it! I'm glad they are a member of this consortium and were willing to share this so that we don't make the same mistakes! Also learnt that while community members may answer positively to all your survey questions, that doesn't mean they'll actually use whatever digital solution you build - you need to embed yourself within the community and engage in dialogues to get to the crux of the problems they face.

Two of our PhD Fellows are working in the Himalayan region and during the meeting were facing bandwidth issues. Something we definitely need to keep in mind - if we want to design a solution for communities with limited internet connectivity.

@academicchatter

“It’s colloquial wisdom that the wealth of colonial Australia was built off the sheep’s back, but it is seldom acknowledged that the vast natural grasslands graziers depended on had been culturally managed by Aboriginal people for more than 30,000 years.”

#firstnations #landmanagement #ecosystem #firestickfarming #biodiversity

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/22/sheep-farmers-are-helping-save-tasmanias-native-grasslands-were-better-off-working-together

After trial and error, Mexican fishers find key to reforesting a mangrove haven. #flooding #hurricane #barrier #ecosystem #reforestation #water #rain https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/after-trial-and-error-mexican-fishers-find-key-to-reforesting-mangrove-haven/