This blog moving to new address

We're Moving!

Future posts will all appear on our new blog; find us at our new address, https://friendsbaltsustainability.wordpress.com/

All prior posts are now available there as well. If you follow with RSS, there's a new feed for the new blog, just head over to the new blog and find the RSS logo in the sidebar. You can also follow by email, and you sign up over there.

With this new address, we will be able to highlight more aspects of sustainability at Friends, and to create some new related pages about aquaponics, the MD Green school application process, Native Plants Teaching Gardens, etc....

Contact Joshua Ratner with questions.

Yeehaw, Paw Paw!

This spring, paw paw, or Asimina triloba had beautiful dark maroon flowers. Sadly, I have no picture for you. But then, right after school started, it looked like this.

Paw paw tree, with fruit

Then on the morning of September 17, I was sad that I couldn't find any, and assumed the squirrels had gotten them before me. But then I found an uneaten, ripe one on the ground. Penny included for size to show you that this is NORTH AMERICA'S LARGEST NATIVE FRUIT. And it's growing on our campus. Yeehaw, paw paw!

And I, at least, thought it was delicious. My students in Literature and the Land, who had to write about it during a sensory descriptive writing exercise--they were not so sure. A few brave souls get a lot of credit for testing that fifth sense: taste. 

Friends School of Baltimore's Native Plants Teaching Garden: not just for looking at, y'all. 

Small Green Thumbs and a Big Orange Harvest

More Friday afternoon pictures of Friends school kids getting their (little) hands dirty. Here are Ms. Morrisey's students in in April, 2015:

.... And then scrubbing clean again:

But WAIT A MINUTE: those aren't the same kids, and they aren't scrubbing their hands. That's this year's Ms. Morrisey's kindergarten crew, cleaning this fall's carrot harvest:

,

These are small raised beds, but they get a lot of love and a lot of use in the spring and fall. There's a lot of jargon and debate about what "real" or "tangible" results should look like in twentieth-century education: personally, I think it should like this colander full of knobby, crunchy beta-carotene.

People and Planet First Conference in downtown Baltimore this weekend

I don't think anyone from Friends is presenting at this conference, but enough parents, teachers and fellow travelers have emailed us to recommend or say that they are going to this conference that I think I should pass along the information:
the People and Planet First Conference this weekend in downtown Baltimore sounds very exciting. And it's free!  Greenpeace USA Director and Story of Stuff founder Annie Leonard gives the evening keynote. Meanwhile, on campus, even before it's completely finished, the new fallen tree garden is already reducing erosion during today's (rather impressive) rainstorm:

The Birds and the Bees (and other pollinators too)

In late July, Catherine Zimmerman came to Friends to film as Friends students young and old planted the new Little Friends Swale (one of the most recent additions to the Native Plants Teaching Gardens) as part of The Meadow Project, a documentary film about the role that native plants and meadows play in supporting pollinators like bees and butterflies.





As she says, if you like butterflies, you need to give them something to eat! And if you like birds, you need to give them seeds and bugs and berries; native plants are the best way to encourage wildlife in our backyards.

 Zimmerman came to film a new planting at the swale because it's full of (among other things) winterberry, milkweed, and mountain mint--these are plants vital to a complete ecology at multiple trophic levels. Here's a post with some details about why we need swales like this and what the garden used to look like. And there's this Flickr set of the most recent planting.

And here are students in Mr. Ratner's US English elective, "Literature and the Land," where students read plenty of Dickinson, Thoreau and McPhee, but also get outside to choose one plant to study, sketch, and journal about all semester.

US students, Mountain Mint, and Cassia Marylandia

Also, see those white placards with the red flags? Those will tell you what you're looking at throughout the garden. If you just want to see the list of the 68(!) native plants species represented in the Little Friends Swale, well, here you go.



-Joshua Ratner

Water Water Everywhere and a lovely place to think: New fallen tree gardens

Here's a note from Bonnie Hearn about work happening on campus right now:

We have tried many times to obtain grants to fund the “fallen tree garden” near the Lower School playground.  One of our top priorities with all of our native plant teaching gardens is to mitigate runoff that is so detrimental to our campus.  The Lower School playground has been eroding for years due to runoff from heavy storms.  Please stop by and see the progress.  We ‘recycled’ the two large oak trees that we needed to remove for safety reasons.
                Once again, the Guilford Garden Club has stepped in with their efforts and designs in collaboration with European Landscapes to get this work completed.  Additionally, with the resources of the Native Plant Garden Fund, we should abate the runoff! 

You should really see it yourself. It's remarkable to see the work they've done, splitting logs, creating areas for the water to move, etc... And I can't wait to see what it looks like once it's planted! It's going to be another great place to sit and think on campus (except in the middle of or just after a rainstorm).

Introducing Aquaponics and the Maker Space

The Aquaponics club met this summer in the new Makerspace to get started, thanks to a generous grant from the Parents Association. Thanks also to Katherine Jenkins, club advisor and to Ramsay Antonio-Barnes, Makerspace advisor and powertool master!

What started with this:

became this:

which necessitated this:

 which made possible this:

Oh what's that? You want to see the final finished product and the sustainably raised fish? Yes, well it turns out this is, you know, kindacomplicatedlike.

Aquaponics Club is going to keep working on the design this Fall and we'll let you know when there are fish and grow beds to see!

Reading, Writing, and Arugula

9th Grade environmental science students taking notes, trying the radishes, and learning about Real Foods Farms in May 2015.

We were studying the nitrogen cycle and agriculture at the time. On the farm we focused on their nitrogen management practices ( composting, legume cover crops, and a bioswale ) and then planted the Native American trio of the 3 Sisters ( corn, beans and squash) which is both nutritionally and ecologically sustainable. ( FS donated the seeds and seedlings )

What Blooms: Beardtongue and Bluestar

Another early summer post:

Kay says:

This white and blue combination is Penstemon digitalis 'Husker Red'--Beardtongue--and Amsonia tabernaemontana 'Blue Ice'--Bluestar--, a cultivar of Amsonia tabernaemontana that has been selected for its dwarf size and peacock blue flowers as well as its brilliant yellow and maroon fall foliage.  

Amsonias are a very useful, carefree garden plant that tolerate many conditions--wet, dry, sun, shade.  They have various leaf shapes and heights, and are a wonderful plant for massing and texture.

You can find these in gym beds, beautiful anytime of year, blooming in early June. 

Ask Kay What's Blooming? #5 Sweetspire and Beardtongue

The summer got away, so these posts aren't about what's blooming now--these are from early June.

Kay says:

Virginia Sweetspire--in this case Itea virginica 'Merlot'--is a wonderful four season shrub that is an important design element in the Staircase Garden.  It forms colonies and prefers moist conditions, so we have placed it on the uphill side of the sitting walls and near boulders where water will collect.  This generous plant offers dense red twigging in winter, lustrous green leaves that turn brilliant red in fall, and fragrant creamy white flower racemes--"spires"--in spring is a wonderful nectar plant for butterflies and a great plant for massing and stabilizing banks in the garden.

The second plant in this white and white color pairing is Penstemon digitalis 'Husker Red'--Beardtongue--a signature plant throughout the Native Plant Teaching Gardens.  Its burgundy basal leaves are semi-evergreen, and in late May, clouds of white flower spikes can be seen in many gardens.  Allowing these spikes to form seedheads and drop seed has created great drifts of plants that form a sturdy groundcover. 
By covering as much soil as possible with plants, there is less space available for weeds so that less mulch is necessary in the beds, conserving labor, money, and all of the fossil fuels necessary to transport mulch. It also reduces the opportunity for weed seeds that may travel within the mulch to be brought into the gardens. 

Ask Kay: What's Blooming #4 Columbine

...in which we ask Kay, what's this?

The harlequin red/orange and yellow flowers are Aquilegia canadensis--Columbine.  They are a great hummingbird and butterfly attractor and have large reservoirs of nectar.  They are also the only food source for the larvae for the Columbine Duskywing butterfly, Erynnis lucilius, a little green caterpillar that will eat the lovely fine-textured blue green leaves but not the flowers; Columbine leaf miners will also eat the foliage, and you can sometimes see their tracks across the leaves.  Columbine will set seed and spread itself around in gardens in a charming, unpredictable way.  The plants go semi-dormant in the summer.


Columbine grows in woodland ledges and rocky outcrops in nature and enjoys moisture in the spring and dry conditions in the summer.  It is not easy to transplant, but can be planted from the dried seed capsule in mid-summer.  I let it grow wherever it wants to be!

Editor's notes:
That's Penstemon digitalis blooming behind it. You can find both of these flowers around campus but especially on the US step beds and in the MS beds. I posted this in August, but they bloom in late May and June. 

Ask Kay #3 Chrysogonum virginianum

In Ask Kay #3, we learn about:

chrysogonum virginianum

Chrysogonum virginianum (Green and Gold or Goldstar) is a compact, lush groundcover that grows in partly sunny to shady sites.  It has clean, green foliage and abundant bright golden yellow flowers.  Chrysoganum blooms heavily in mid spring and sporadically throughout the rest of the growing season.  Look for it in the Staircase Garden around the boulders at the top.

More details here at Missouri Botanical Garden page about this flower. This is a great resource for anyone interested in North American plants.

Ask Kay What's Blooming #2: Fringe Tree

Hi Kay,

what do we have here? 

Fringe Tree and Wild Geranium

Kay Says: 

On the north side of the Middle School, on the south side of the Dining Hall/Gym, and in the Picnic Glade, and by Admissions, Chionanthus virginicus, (common names: Fringe Tree, Grancy Greybeard, Old Man's Beard) is blooming.  "Chionanthus" comes from combining  the Greek words "chion" and "anthus" to make "snowflower".
 A spine of Geranium maculatum (Wild Geranium) runs up the slope beneath the Fringe trees next to the Middle School--the geranium is a shade loving plant that will be happy in the shelter of the taller perennials and shrubs that will fill out and bloom later in the summer and fall.  If you look closely, you will also see some tiny iris--Iris cristata--intermingled with the Geranium.
 Look for the peacock blue of  Amsonia tabernaemontana 'Blue Ice' (Blue-star) under the trees against the wall of the Dining Hall/Gym, another fun color combination for this tree.

 Thanks Kay! So: next time you find yourself serenading someone with Oklahoma lyrics, try this variant: "When I take you out in a surrey with the fringe Chionanthus virginicus on top." Pro tip: If you're serenading, probably best not to call anyone on your Oklahoma-themed date "Grancy Greybeard."

Ask Kay What's Blooming #1: Poppywort Report

Here at Friends we are doubly lucky: we have lovely Native Plants Teaching Gardens, and we have master gardener, designer, educator Kay McConnell, who is responsible for much of their design, plantings and yearly maintenance. See this post for more on the Native Plants Teaching Gardens. But here's our news today: Kay has offered to identify and describe what's blooming now. Here's how it works: I send her a photo of something pretty on campus, and she tells us what it is. So, time for a poppywort report:

Dear Kay, What's this?

Kay says: 

This cheerful wildflower is Stylophorum diphyllum.  The common names are Wood Poppy, Celandine Poppy, and Poppywort.  It loves to grow in moist woodlands and freely seeds where it is happy.  It is planted in front of the Lower School by the bridge. 

Thanks Kay! 

MS Earth Day: Sweat, Sunblock and Seedlings at the Boone Street Farm

Scott Harrington, Middle School Principal, writes in to tell us about the group of MS students busy at Boone Street Farm last Friday:

It was quite a surprise to be worrying about sunburns while gardening on April 17, the Friends School version of Earth Day.  It was supposed to be cold and rainy.  But a group of 12 Friends Middle School students spent the day weeding, preparing beds, mulching, and planting seedlings at Boone Street Farm an urban garden that's part of the Farm Alliance of Baltimore City, and many of us turned a shade of red from the hot sun. 

We not only helped four of the Boone Street Farm staff prepare the beds for the summer crop, but also gave the place a bit of a shine for their own Earth Day celebration on April 22.  One special treat of the day was our partnering, unexpectedly, with some neighborhood children who have taken interest in the farm, and decided to help out and join us for lunch.  If you are interested in supporting Boone Street Farm, you can purchase their produce at the Waverly Farmers Market (under the Farm Alliance of Baltimore's tent), or you can contact them to join their CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).  

Proper Puddles Prevent Pollution

Now that's a good-looking puddle. Actually, that's the new rain garden significantly reducing parking-lot runoff by the new Little Friends building. As a Quaker school, stewardship of the local environment is a core value, and this puddle is doing its part. After a recent heavy rain, all of this water ends up here instead of flowing directly into the storm drains. Too much rainwater (especially when it comes off of hot asphalt and is contaminated by engine oil and other pollutants that accumulate on impervious parking lot surfaces) can cause severe damage to local waterways. That puddle will drain over the next day or so, and the plants in this swale will filter and dilute the pollutants, keeping them out of Stony Run.

Rain Garden by Little Friends

Time to Cheer for Amelanchier (Native Trees Aflower on Campus Now!)

It must be spring: we've got redbud and serviceberry trees blooming all over the place!

Cercis Canadensis (Redbud) by Admissions:

Serviceberry (also known as Shadbush and Juneberry) produces a delicious edible berry in, yupp, June. These are an important food source for native birds too, but sneak a few yourself if you can (and only if you're sure you know it's not something else--remember lots of berries only look edible.)

Amelanchier Canadensis (Serviceberry) by Lower school and adjacent to the community garden:

Meanwhile, in 9th grade English, we're about to start Shipwrecks, a book about medieval Japan in which seasonal change and "mono no aware" (the bittersweetness of ephemeral beauty and bounty) are key concepts. See 'em while you can!

Watch this Space: Sq Ft Gardening With Mr. Spawn

Square Foot Garden by the Middle School

See that nifty grid, the smiling student, and the ever-moving Mr. Spawn? Thanks to Mr. Spawn, the students in his gardening club and the (mostly future) efforts of students in his classes, these will soon be "square foot gardens," in which all students in his class will plant and care for vegetables in their individual gridded square foot. We'll post again when the grids turn green!

Long Live Sustainability (Friendsbalt page is LIVE!)

Woohoo! Our webpage is live!


We're proud that sustainability now has a home on the "About" section of the Friendsbalt.org website. This means that current and prospective students, parents, and employees can search for and learn about what we're doing at Friends. (I know that personally it was one of the things I looked for when I was applying for a job).

Thanks again to everyone who was involved--Jane Huth Walsh, Stephanie McLoughlin, Heidi Blalock, Danielle Keeney, Scott Harrington, Katherine Jenkins, Joshua Ratner, and the Sustainability Council.

Our webpage and our blog are linked, with excerpts from all new posts to this blog automatically appearing on the webpage, so you can now stay up-to-date by checking either location. Go ahead and try it now, following this link to your webpage, and then the link back to the blog, and then back to the webpage....in an endlessly sustainable loop of sustainability. Actually, don't do that; instead you should email us and come help us think about what work to do next on the Green Schools MD application!

Talking Squawk: Friends Alum on Maryland Poultry Pollution

Time for another Guest Post! Recent alum involved in Maryland environmental work emailed sustainability@friendsbalt.org to tell us about her work on poultry pollution:

Hi everyone! I'm Lindsey Sellman, Friends Class of 2014. This summer I worked as a canvasser for a non-profit organization that you may have heard of called Food and Water Watch. It is located right on Hopkins campus in a building right across from the shopping center with Chipotle, Potbelly, and Starbucks.

This summer we worked to pass a bill called the Poultry Fair Share Act-- a bill in which would hold the large, corporate poultry producers of Maryland's eastern shore accountable for their own mess in the Bay, as they dump millions of pounds of chicken waste into the Bay each year. This summer, I knocked on doors and encouraged people to donate to our organization and write letters to their senators and O'Malley supporting the Poultry Fair Share Act. 

Food and Water Watch has offices in other cities around the U.S. including Cincinnati (only about 40 minutes from my college, Miami University), Austin, TX, East Lansing, Michigan, and New Brunswick, NJ. This summer, I had the opportunity to work with people from the other offices. The office in Austin recently banned the distribution of plastic bags in stores throughout the city. The office in Michigan is working to clean up the Great Lakes and follow the Clean Water Act. The Baltimore office has worked to ban fracking in Maryland. I hope you guys can take a look at my blog, as it explains how passionate I am for this awesome organization!

Feb 10 Swap Shop = Green (even when the dresses are black or the shorts are scarlet and gray)

Sustainability: not just for treehuggers anymore.

Time for another Swap Shop!

Swap shop events encourage reuse, save people money, and reduce or eliminate the need for new raw materials. So when you donate gently used scarlet and gray shorts, your black bow ties or party dresses, you turn those colors green. Check it out:

The Parents Association and Diversity Council are hosting a 2nd Swap Shop event on Tuesday, February 10th from 3-6 pm in the MS lobby. Please donate gently-used party dresses or sports equipment, as well as clothing with the Friends School logo and music performance attire. Donations will be accepted in front of the ZAC on Friday 2/6 from 7:30-8:00 am. Drop-off boxes will also be located outside all divisional offices. You don't have to donate to participate in the swap on February 10th. For questions, please contact Rebecca Murphy at rmurphyjones66@yahoo.com

Hi There: This is Sustainability at Friends

Hi! If you're encountering this blog for the first time, this is a good spot to start. Friends School Sustainability Council uses this blog to record and celebrate all things sustainable at Friends. You can find the long version of our mission statement or a (brief, we promise) history of our Sustainability Council. Maybe you just want to learn more about the Native Plant Teaching Gardens or you're curious about how sustainability enters our humanities or our science classes. 
This blog will continue to give students a chance to reflect on their thinking, highlight collaborations across divisions on campus and beyond, and document green infrastructure plans and progress on campus. We hope you'll check back again and that you'll email sustainability@friendsbalt.org with ideas or to volunteer. We're always eager to have people join the Sustainability Council: here's what we're focusing on this year.

Hope to see or hear from you soon,

-Sustainability Council Clerks (Scott Harrington, Katherine Jenkins, Joshua Ratner)