Out of the garden, into the frying pan

Green Zone has been slacking transitioning. As September winds down, I’ve slowed down on tending the garden and blog. I cooked up Green Zone’s kale and beet greens with a whole lot of garlic and oil for the Firehouse 13 potluck. How’s that for closure?

I still have some seed gathering to do: morning glories, bachelor’s button, dill, and black-and-pink scarlet runner bean beans. If you can get to Providence for a pickup, I’d be glad to set aside some Green Zone seeds for you!

Now, I’ve got to hit the books, looking for information on Rhode Island’s history of war gardens, liberty gardens, victory gardens, community gardens, school gardens, allotment gardens.  If you’re familiar with an example in RI, please let me know. Is it true that there’s a guy who still tends his WWII-era Victory Garden in Bristol?  Did your parents garden at school, or did your grandmother volunteer on a farm during during the war? Did you tune out during the Vietnam War and go back to the land?

I’ll share bits and pieces from my research as it progresses, and I’ll continue to blog sporadically about gardens I encounter. Doesn’t this look like an installation artist’s work on Parcel 12 (“triangle parcel” at Exchange St.)? A cluster of mossy bumps amidst the seven grassy hills (or was it six)? Actually it’s a bunch of those gorgeous Downtown flower and vine baskets dumped on the ground.

Coming attractions: Provflux V

ProvFlux V is starting up on Thursday, and Green Zone is part of the program.

From their website: “Part carnival and part conference, ProvFlux brings together artists, theorists, urban adventurers and the general public to share their visions of what the city can be, and to take action to make it a reality.” The 2008 ProvFlux marks the fifth yearly event created by PIPS (Providence Initiative for Psychogeographic Studies). I’ve participated a couple of times, most recently as part of the Seven Hills Errant Pioneers Association (SHErPA).

ProvFlux is an amazing opportunity to meet creative people inventing new ways of experiencing places…Providence and beyond. Some of the past participants include Fritz Haeg (a.k.a. Edible Estates), the Institute for Infinitely Small Things, and Anna Shapiro. I loved it when the ProvFluxers staged a viral invasion of the Congress for New Urbanism happy hour in 2006. Side by each, everyone was drawing maps on tabletops, and only half were in on the joke.

Though there are no New Urbanists to rumble with this year, the schedule looks good. There will be parties, lectures, a clothing-optional bike ride, a yoga-in, a kickball bout, and an invasion of Block Island. Firehouse 13 will be one of the ProvFlux headquarters, so stop by to visit Green Zone anytime or join me there for talks and presentations on Saturday, Aug. 6, starting at 3pm. Viva el flux!