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Jun 062013
 

Mapping Mokotów
Our first two Jadalnia Warszawa walks were about the joy of being in city space and seeing it in a different way  — observing the lush spring greenery, finding and learning how to identify edible plants, and testing how we might map the space. Walk #3, in contrast to the fruit abundance of post-allotment terrains, will take place in the old blocks of Mokotów. On this walk we will focus primarily on refining our form of mapping. We will move quicker in an attempt to find and record the actual location of as many fruit and nut trees as possible. Of course there will still be exploration, fascinating discoveries, and great conversation. Let’s walk in space!

Start: Sunday June 9 12.00. Meet at the corner of Racławicka and Wołoska on the side of the allotment gardens.
Contact: 796 532 208 (Jodie), 790 025 145 (Paulina)

JADALNIA WARSZAWA (Warsaw Canteen) is an exploratory map-making project to investigate and mark sites for wild food, fruits, bioindicators, and the traces of land use by humans and animals as a means to understand and assess the health of our city. It is a long-term project originated and implemented by Jodie Baltazar and Paulina Jeziorek and consists of a series of urban walks/hikes which take place from May until October 2013. We use all means of data collection: marking directly on paper copies of maps, adding date through mobile phones to google.pl and fallingfruit.org, recording media information, such as audio, photographs, video etc. As the project progresses, we will store information on a website and develop new ways we to present the information/images as the project progresses.

Mapowanie Mokotowa
Majowe spacery  #1 i #2 to radość przebywania w przestrzeni, obserwacja młodej soczystej zieleni i kwiatów, poszukiwania roślin jadalnych, próby mapowania przestrzeni. Spacer #3, który dla odmiany po owocowej obfitości na terenach post-działkowych odbędzie się wśród starych bloków Mokotowa, będzie spacerem, podczas którego chcemy skupić się przede wszystkim na dopracowaniu samej formy mapowania. Będzie więcej przemieszczania się, skoncentrujemy się przede wszystkim na drzewach i krzewach, przygotujcie się na pracę z fizyczną papierową mapą oraz międzyblokową szwędaczkę połączoną z obserwacją oraz jak zwykle rozmową. Chodźcie w przestrzeń!


Start: Niedziela 9 czerwca godz. 12.00, zbiórka na rogu Racławickiej i Wołoskiej po stronie ogrodów działkowych.
Kontakt: 796 532 208 (Jodie), 790 025 145 (Paulina)
JADALNIA WARSZAWA to kolektywne przedsięwzięcie zainicjowane przez Jodie Baltazar i Paulinę Jeziorek. Podczas serii miejskich spacerów/wypraw po Warszawie od maja do października 2013 będzie powstawać warszawska mapa roślin jadalnych. Prowadzone obserwacje poparte analizą dostępnych badań mają również na celu ocenę stanu zdrowia obszarów naszego miasta. Metody zapisu informacji podczas spacerów jak na razie są dowolne: zaznaczanie na papierowych kopiach map lub na mapie cyfrowej za pomocą telefonów komórkowych, nagrywanie opisowych plików audio, fotografowanie, filmowanie itd. W trakcie trwania przedsięwzięcia powstanie strona, gdzie będziemy rozwijać metody prezentowania zebranych informacji.
więcej informacji (po angielsku / in English): http://pixxe.org/?page_id=79
May 182013
 

JADALNIA WARSZAWA WALK #2We had so much fun last week on our first walk, that before we’ve even documented it properly, we want to do it again. So, although it’s a bit late notice, please join us TOMORROW, Sunday 19.05, at 12.00 at the PKP Służewiec bus stop (north side). We’ll walk along the tracks and end up on Gimnastyczna street for some sweets, homemade jam and wild tea (black currant, mint). If you need to join in the middle of the walk, please call 796 532 208 (Jodie), 790 025 145 (Paulina)

We will be meeting here.

Najbliższy spacer niedziela 19.05 o godz. 12. Spotkanie na wiadukcie Marynarska/Sasanki, na przystanku autobusowym PKP Służewiec w stronę Żwirki i Wigury. Spacerując będziemy się posuwać wzdłuż torów kolejowych w stronę osiedla Marina. Spacer zakończymy w ogrodzie na ul. Gimnastycznej, dokąd zapraszamy na ciastka z dżemem z czarnych porzeczek i miętą.Kontakt: 796 532 208 (Jodie), 790 025 145 (Paulina).
May 092013
 

JADALNIA WARSZAWA

We kindly invite you to help us launch a long-term project to create an alternative map of  Warsaw (in particular Ochota and Mokotów), focusing on its edible plants and trees, soil health, as well as on how public space is used for marginal human and animal activity. On this first walk we’ll experiment with methods of data collection and help identify the most edible/useful plants and trees one can find in Warsaw.

WHERE TO MEET:
The walk will start here, near where Żwirki i Wigury crosses the railroad tracks (the address is approximately 25 Żwirki i Wigury) between Ochota and Mokotów. We will walk here on the path (Mikołaja Drigały) towards Grójecka. After the walk, we’ll go to Pixxe’s garden and drink teas made from black currant leaves, and taste some homemade elderflower cordials and wine.

The walk starts at NOON on Sunday, May 12. It will last between 2-3 hours and is approximately 1.6 km. Please call 796 532 208 if you need to locate the group after the walk has begun.

WHAT TO BRING:
Paper, pencil, smart phone, camera, video camera.

JADALNIA WARSZAWA (Warsaw Canteen) is an exploratory map-making project to investigate and mark sites for wild food, fruits, bioindicators, and the traces of land use by humans and animals as a means to understand and assess the health of our city. It is a long-term project originated and implemented by Jodie Baltazar and Paulina Jeziorek and consists of a series of urban walks/hikes which take place from May until October 2013.

We use all means of data collection: marking directly on paper copies of maps, adding date through mobile phones to google.pl and fallingfruit.org, recording media information, such as audio, photographs, video etc. As the project progresses, we will store information on a website and develop new ways we to present the information/images as the project progresses.

The aim of walks will be:

Mapping the Neighborhood: Exploration of urban space; creating maps of urban food crops such as fruit trees and shrubs, edible flowers, herbs, medicinal plants, and plants used for dyeing fabrics. By identifying specific plants that grow on the land, we can assess the type and health of soil. We also collect information on unoccupied buildings, abandoned plots, as wells as temporary structures and signs and traces of consumption and human subsistence activity (trash, eating, fires).

Monitoring of soil: While walking, we will collect soil samples from selected sites and transmit it to the laboratory. We may also conduct other tests of the soil as to its structure and composition. In this way we will be able to assess which of the sites are suitable for harvesting crops. The data will be used to scrutinize the stereotypes about growing food in the city as well as urban consumption of edible plants.


Jan 022013
 

ICA Training in Cumbria December 2012Last month I spent a terrific week in Cumbria, UK, where people who either live in or hail from from Spain, Mexico, Chile, Peru, USA, UK, Slovakia, Latvia, The Netherlands, England, Finland, Italy and Croatia (!! WOW !!) came together to participate in an intense hands-on group facilitation training sponsored by ICA-UK. This was a great group for me because it was very diverse in age (20s-60s), which is far more unusual than it should be. Thanks to ICA-UK (and to my friend Markus for alerting me about the workshop).

I have been involved in — and could even say at times subjected to — various consensus-oriented decision-making activities, meetings, and so on. Sometimes they were miserable affairs, where the rules became more important than the experience. People bullying others; weird personality cliques; unpleasant dominating personalities; meetings drag on for hours with little to show. Other times it was a welcoming, positive, productive experience. Why does it work? Why doesn’t it? I never thought about it systematically before.

Well this week I had a chance to do just that, to deconstruct the process of group decision-making, specifically in the context of community or social activism. This was done in the frame of the ICA’s “technology of participation” group facilitation methods. The ICA has been promoting this stuff for fifty years and so they really have it down to a science, which has both advantages (organized, a lot of experience and printed materials) and disadvantages (rigidity, over-focused on process, slow to incorporate new ways of thinking or doing things). But overall it was a very good place to start.

We worked on methods with names like Focused Conversation, which somehow I kept thinking of as “Forced Conversation”. This is a way to focus and guide a conversation by leading people through various levels of observation or involvement around a theme starting with objective observations, emotional, interpretive, and resolving action. Very useful!

Consensus Workshop is a process to help a group come to an agreement (not necessarily with equal enthusiasm) or perhaps generate ideas around a key question. The work is done in a highly visual, interactive manner — it’s not simply a matter of talking in turn with the dreaded talking stick. Here is an example of the results of what our group did with the question: What are the keys to engaging passionate and committed volunteers in community projects?

Consensus Workshop

The processes are visual — people generate ideas as individuals and/or in small groups, write them down on cards, and the facilitator puts them up (not all at once.) Then, guided by the facilitator, people start discussing and figuring out how these ideas/cards fit together to form a snapshot or story of where the group is at. Ideas, words, pictures are written down and put on display. Trashformers did some variations of these visual and action-based discussion activities and they were much more popular and effective than the talking sessions.

Historical ScanWe created a facebook group called FACILITATING PARTICIPATORY COMMUNITIES, where we can share our experiences using these methods or any others we can find –  we are non-denominational. The idea is to learn and share in building communities that are open and participatory.  Anyone engaged in participatory/community activism and who wants to learn and share is welcome to join.

Thanks to Nadia Giuliani for the photos!

 

Oct 032012
 

We have more than 500 composting worms who need a home. This, in fact, is a very small amount of worms! Did you know that 1 kg of worms (that’s 1000!) can eat up to 0.5 kg a day in waste. That’s almost 4 kg per week. Come and and prototype worm bins with us on Saturday, October 6 from 13.00-17.00. We’ll be using wood pallets and plastic bins. If you can, bring a plastic bin at least 25 cm deep or a pallet!

Mamy ponad 500 dżdżownic kompostowych, które potrzebują domu. Przyjdź, zaprojektuj i zbuduj z nami protoyp pojemnika na dżdżownice z drewnianych palet i plastikowych pojemników.

HOME FOR A WORM

 

Sep 272012
 

Thanks to Wojtek and Aneta from foodconnect.pl for taking these great photos of APPLE TIME last Sunday Sept 23, 2012. We canned about 3/4 of the apples!

PEEL

PEEL

CHOP

CHOP

KIDS WERE GREAT!

KIDS WERE GREAT!

THE BUSY TABLE

THE BUSY TABLE

Sep 212012
 

On Sept 19, 2012 I held a jam-making party in the local park as part of the M4 Rakowiec community action project organized by the great people at Odblokuj. We made jam from wild elderberries, wild grapes and Antonówki apples from the garden. Wild fruits of Rakowiec! There were some really sweet old ladies there, but sadly I didn’t get any photos of them.

ELDERBERRIES, WILD GRAPES, AND ANTONÓWKI APPLES

ELDERBERRIES, WILD GRAPES, AND ANTONÓWKI APPLES

GETTING STARTED

GETTING STARTED

CASUAL STIRRING AND A VIGOROUS MASH

CASUAL STIRRING AND A VIGOROUS MASH

A SHOT OF THE POT

A SHOT OF THE POT

THE JAM PASSED THE VAMPIRE TASTE TEST!

THE JAM PASSED THE VAMPIRE TASTE TEST!

Aug 232012
 

2 Bikes. 2 Bike Carts. 5 Days. Nance Klehm, Jodie Baltazar and A BUNCH of other cool women, plus a few good men. 15,000 liters of waste. THIS was the SOIL GARDEN PROJECT! (And it’s not over! Every other Saturday we will continue…..) Photos by Nance Klehm, Jodie Baltazar, and Jen Knowlton.

EMPTY BINS AWAIT THE WASTE

EMPTY BINS AWAIT THE WASTE

BROWNS FOR COMPOSTING - STRAW, WOODCHIPS

BROWNS FOR COMPOSTING - STRAW, WOODCHIPS

FIRST WE TAKE THE BINS TO BANACHA MARKET

FIRST WE TAKE THE BINS TO BANACHA MARKET

IT'S NOT LONG BEFORE THE BINS ARE FULL

IT'S NOT LONG BEFORE THE BINS ARE FULL

WE LOAD UP THE CARTS WITH VEGETABLE SCRAPS AND CARDBOARD

WE LOAD UP THE CARTS WITH VEGETABLE SCRAPS AND CARDBOARD

WE RIDE TO THE GARDEN WITH THE PRECIOUS LOAD

WE RIDE TO THE GARDEN WITH THE PRECIOUS LOAD

WE CAN'T RESIST THE GARBAGE IN THE CARREFOUR BINS

WE CAN'T RESIST THE GARBAGE IN THE CARREFOUR BINS

THERE'S SO MUCH CABBAGE WE DECIDE TO CALL IT CABBAGE COMPOST

THERE'S SO MUCH CABBAGE WE DECIDE TO CALL IT CABBAGE COMPOST

WE TOP THE CABBAGE WITH STRAW, CARDBOARD, PAPER

WE TOP THE CABBAGE WITH STRAW, CARDBOARD, PAPER

IN THE AFTERNOONS NANCE LEADS WORKSHOPS ABOUT COMPOSTING

IN THE AFTERNOONS NANCE LEADS WORKSHOPS ABOUT COMPOSTING

THE FIRST THING IN THE NEW BIN: WOODCHIPS & CHUNKY YARD CLIPPINGS

THE FIRST THING IN THE NEW BIN: WOODCHIPS & CHUNKY YARD CLIPPINGS

HERE IS SOME WASTE FROM BANACHA THAT WILL GO IN THE BIN

HERE IS SOME WASTE FROM BANACHA THAT WILL GO IN THE BIN

BUT FIRST WE HAVE TO RIP THE WASTE

BUT FIRST WE HAVE TO RIP THE WASTE

AND WE HAVE TO CHOP THE WASTE

AND WE HAVE TO CHOP THE WASTE

SO MUCH TO CHOP. EVERYONE GETS A GO!

SO MUCH TO CHOP. EVERYONE GETS A GO!

SOME OF US PREPARE THE CARDBOARD

SOME OF US PREPARE THE CARDBOARD

THE TRANSLATOR DOES AN AWESOME JOB!! THANKS STAN!!

THE TRANSLATOR DOES AN AWESOME JOB!! THANKS STAN!!

NEXT WE ADD SOME HERBS LIKE VETCH....

NEXT WE ADD SOME HERBS LIKE VETCH....

...AND WHY NOT THROW IN SOME DANDELION???

...AND WHY NOT THROW IN SOME DANDELION???

NEXT WE MAKE SOME COMPOST TEA

NEXT WE MAKE SOME COMPOST TEA

ALL THAT WASTE AND THE BINS ARE STILL ONLY HALF FULL - WOW!

ALL THAT WASTE AND THE BINS ARE STILL ONLY HALF FULL - WOW!

Aug 112012
 
Banacha waste is pretty and good!

Banacha waste is pretty and good!

Today I did a test drive to see how it would work to take Banacha’s organic waste next week. At 7AM, I took a 120 liter (about 45 gallons) container to the amazing, beautiful woman who handles the garbage there. She told me she could fill it in an hour. She also told me that we could to the test today, but that the Security wants me to have permission from the market administration to continue next week. She gave me their number. I have to call on Monday. I’m scared. In my experience so far with Polish officials, “Permission” is another word for “No.” But she also said that they were nice people, so I can hope.

At 8AM, I returned and the container was full. We tried to put it in my bike cart. My bike fell over. Too heavy. So we put it into two huge garbage bags. That worked. The ride back was slow but smooth. The bearings in the wheels of the cart made a sound, however, that tells me they won’t be working long… I returned four times and collected about 800 liters or so.

With two bikes we could easily collect twice that much.

What’s great about fresh vegetable waste is that it is so beautiful and smells good! However, I can’t process it until tomorrow, when it might not be so pretty. Thank goodness the weather is cool…..

Aug 082012
 

Nance KlehmCykl Warsztatów: OD ODPADY DO ŹYZNOŚCI
prowadzenie Nance Klehm

ENGLISH BELOW

UWAGA: Nastąpiła zmiana w planie warsztatów. Sobota będzie “Otwarte warsztat.” Warsztat w niedzielę (Dlaczego i jak budować toalety kompostujące w mieście)  również zawierać temat “ekstremalny kompost na ekstremalne czasy.”

Pozwól zgnić, czyli jak kompostować odpady organiczne
Piątek, 17 sierpnia, godz.: 15.00-17.00. Sugerowana dotacja: 30 PLN.
Liście, resztki jedzenia, papier, tektura, gałęzie, fusy, biodegradowalne przedmioty itp. Te rzeczy mogą zostać zamienione w ziemię, ale jak to zrobić? Na tym warsztacie będziecie mogli zadawać wszystkie pytania dotyczące “brudu” i sami też będziecie mogli się pobrudzić w trakcie budowy stosu organicznych odpadów. Zarejestruj się w tym warsztacie

Otwarte Warsztat
Sobota, 18 sierpnia , godz.15.00-17.00. Sugerowana dotacja: 30 PLN.
W tym warsztaty, zdedycujemy co zrobimy na miejscu. Możliwe tematów: vermicomposting, przemyślenia przestrzeń publiczną. Zarejestruj się w tym warsztacie

Dlaczego i jak budować toalety kompostujące w mieście
Niedziela, 19 sierpnia, godz.15.00-17.00. Sugerowana dotacja: 30 PLN.
Rozpoznaj w swoim ciele twórcę gleby. Dowiedz się, jak zbudować i prowadzić prostą suchą toaletę dostosowaną do gęstego, miejskiego otoczenia. Po dyskusji pokażemy, jak za pomocą termofilnego kompostowania przekształcić twoje odpady (i inne odpady zakazanego n.p. mięso, tłuszcz, i produktów mlecznych) w życiodajną glebę.. Zarejestruj się w tym warsztacie

Rozpoznaj rośliny w swoim mieście
Poniedziałek, 20 sierpnia, godz.15.00-17.00. Sugerowana dotacja: 30 PLN.
Spacer odkrywający roślinność Warszawy, podczas którego będziemy mogli nauczyć się rozpoznawać rośliny, poznać ich botaniczne pochodzenie, historie wykorzystania ich przez ludzi i zwierzęta, a także podzielimy się przepisami na antidotum z wykorzystaniem niektórych z nich. Zarejestruj się w tym warsztacie

PARTNERS:
Ulica ekologicznaSocial Ecologies


 

 

 

**************** IN ENGLISH *****************

NOTICE: There has been a change in the workshop schedule. Saturday there will be an Open Workshop. The composting toilet and extreme composting workshops will be combined and take place on Sunday.

Workshop Series: FROM WASTE TO FERTILITY
Conducted by Nance Klehm

Let it Rot 101: Composting organic waste
Friday August 17, 15.00-17.00. Suggested donation: 30 PLN.
Leaves, food waste, paper, cardboard, branches, coffee grounds, biodegradable utensils, etc. These are all things that we know can become soil but how to do it? This workshop is the place to get dirty and ask those dirty questions as we discuss and build a mesophilic compost pile out of organic wastes from Warsaw’s waste stream. Register for this workshop

Open Workshop
Saturday August 18, 15.00-17.00. Suggested donation: 30 PLN.
We will decide on the theme and activity on the spot, depending on who is there and what we want to do! Possible themes: vermicomposting, rethinking public space, or another foraging expedition. Register for this workshop

Dry toileting in an urban setting: the whys and hows
Sunday August 19, 15.00-17.00. Suggested donation: 30 PLN.
Reconnect with your body as a soilmaker! Find out how to build and operate a simple dry toilet appropriate to a dense urban setting. We will also discuss and demonstrate how to safely compost your waste, as well as other extreme waste such as meat, fat, and dairy products, through thermophilic composting into nutritious, life-supporting soil. Register for this workshop

Urbanforage
Monday August 20 15.00-17.00. Suggested donation: 30 PLN.
This is a guided walk through
 the spontaneous and cultivated vegetation of Warsaw’s urbanscape. Along the walk, we learn to identify plants, hear their botanical histories, stories of their use by animals and humans, and share antidotes of specific experiences with these plants. Register for this workshop

Aug 052012
 

Szukamy dawców odpadów

This is one phrase that definitely sounds better in Polish and one that most of us non-natives can actually pronounce: Dawców Odpadów [DAHV-tsoo ohd-PAH-doov].

SOIL GARDEN PROJECT to cultivate soil from waste

We want your (organic) waste

What is it:
Using bikes we will collect organic waste from residents, business, organiczations, and public institutions in Rakowiec and Szczęśliwice and turn it into soil. Currently we are looking for Waste Donors.

How it works:
First we determine what kind and how much waste you generate. We agree on how often, where, and when we can collect your waste. Next we provide you a container and start. If you live in the pick-up zone and produce 20 liters of waste per week, then you’re the right person. Don’t have enough waste? Combine yours with a neighbor!

When it will happen:
We can start with some pickups now, but the big effort will be from Friday August 17 to Tuesday August 22. We plan to continue the project  so if you are interested in participating, please let us know.

Aug 012012
 
Pixxe Garden - Public Entrance

Pixxe Garden - Public Entrance

Pixxe has a new garden! It has been given the most original name: PIXXE GARDEN. It’s located in Rakowiec on the border of Szczęśliwice in Ochota, Warsaw, Poland.  GPS 52.198990, 20.967910, to be precise. We still have the Railroad Garden, but the main activities will now take place at the Pixxe Garden.

It will be open to the public for the upcoming SOIL GARDEN PROJECT, but there is an awful lot of work to do to make it ready for more ambitious activities. I’m hoping that with this new, more accessible, and less primitive garden (for example, it has water), we will be able to open up on a more regular basis by next spring. As such, Allotment Sunday / Niedziele na działce won’t be happening for awhile — it will be more like Codzienne na działce — everyday at the garden! So if you want to stop by, please let me know. Everyone is always welcome and there is always something to do.

Though the Pixxe Garden is not squatted, it also sort-of is. I thought I was beginning to understand how the allotment gardens work here, but now I have discovered a whole new in-between type of garden, called tymczasowy, or temporary. The Pixxe Garden is tymczasowy.

As I have written about before, there are “official” gardens (the Rodzinny Ogród Działkowy or ROD / Family Garden Allotments) and then there are “unofficial” gardens, like the Railroad Garden, which is basically a squat. ROD are gated communities. You must be a member and have a key to gain access. What is interested about temporary gardens like the Pixxe Garden is that sometimes they are located WITHIN an ROD, but are legally “unofficial”. This particular stretch of land abuts an “official” ROD and was taken by people in 1980. They have been temporary for 32 years! So the Pixxe Garden has one “Public” entrance, on Racławicka, and one “Private” entrance from within the ROD Zelmot. This dual status suits me well. I like being in between. And afterall, the city owns the land in any case!