What is Phenology, how can gardeners in Grant county use it, and how can we collect information to help all gardeners? These are questions that Gale Green will answer at the Community Forum Thursday, August 11, 2016, from 12 noon to 1 p.m. in the community room at the Market Café located at 614 North Bullard Street in Silver City, New Mexico.
According to Wikipedia, Phenology is the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle events and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation). Aldo Leopold had this definition: “Many of the events of the annual cycle recur year after year in a regular order. A year-to-year record of this order is a record of the rates at which solar energy flows to and through living things. They are the arteries of the land. By tracing their response to the sun, phenology may eventually shed some light on that ultimate enigma, the land’s inner workings.” –Aldo Leopold, A Phenological Record for Sauk and Dane Counties, Wisconsin, 1935-1945
Gale Green was one of the original founding members of the High Desert Organic Gardeners. She has lived in Silver City just over 10 years after moving here from about as far north in Minnesota as one could go, the small community of Bigfork. Her introduction to phenology came from one of the local rural mail carriers who began a radio show on the locally owned public radio station about phenology. “Weekly he'd report on first snowfalls, first white-throated sparrow songs, first nesting loons, first fireweed blooms, first spring peepers (wood frogs), and on and on. It was captivating to hear--and then people began to call in what they'd seen and heard.”
“There's so much to see in this area, and especially learning how to garden organically at this altitude, and in this climate, that I've been fascinated to observe planting times which correlate to things like dandelions blooming, lilacs blooming, prickly pears blooming, etc. What have others observed? What could we all benefit from by watching the world around us?!”
Besides gardening (and eating!), Gale enjoys rescuing pallets and crate wood destined for the dump and recycling/repurposing them into bird feeders, garden benches, etc., and learning how better to communicate with animals.
The mission of the Silver City Food Co-op is to provide and distribute high quality products and to promote cooperative and nutritional education to our members-owners, our customers, and our community. For more information, please contact the Co-op at (575) 388-2343, or visit our website www.silvercityfoodcoop.com.
Date and Time
Thursday Aug 11, 2016 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM MDT
Thursday - August 11, 2016 from 12 to 1 p.m.
Location
This Silver City Food Co-op Community Forum will be held at The Market Cafe located at 614 North Bullard Street in Silver City, New Mexico.