Opening Day Festivities and Fervor

Hello all,

If you happened to drive by this small triangular plot of land at the beginning of October 2011, this is what you would have seen…

You’re invited to the BJP GRAND OPENING!!!! Saturday, April 28 from 11 AM – 1 PM

Come join us on Saturday, April 28, as we unveil our new community garden, The Blue Jay’s Perch, to the Johns Hopkins and surrounding Waverly communities.

This exciting day will feature plant-based t-shirt tie-dying (with FREE SHIRTS for the first 225 attendees!), construction of bird houses (for the garden), fruit tree planting, seedling sales, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The event will last from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m; come for as long or as little as you want.

Special guests include Charlene Hayes, VP of Human Resources, and the Blue Jay mascot.

FREE lunch provided (special thanks to Niman Ranch for donating all-natural, sustainably raised hot dogs and sausages; to Rudi’s Organic Bakery for whole wheat hot dog buns and bread; to Crofter’s Organic for the “All Fruit” spreads for AB&J sandwiches; and to Whole Foods for condiment donations). Vegan option available, too.

Please save up rinsed and dried egg shells this week and bring them with you to the event. We’re collecting them to add to our mulch beds for additional calcium and as a pest deterrent.

This event is open to all – students, staff, faculty, community members, current gardeners and all others interested!

A guided walk to the garden will be meeting at the Center for Social Concern at 10:30 AM. Otherwise, you can arrive at the BJP at 11 AM: 1101 East 33rd Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 (http://www.google.com/mapmaker?gw=39&fid=0x89c804fe22478ee1%3A0x7be9db78bbb86514)

Join the Facebook event and invite all of your friends, too! http://www.facebook.com/events/113137392154400

Reminder: General Garden Meeting 4/12 and Upcoming Gardening/Earth Week Events

Hello gardeners!

This is just a quick reminder of our General Garden Meeting TOMORROW, Thursday, April 12 from 5:30-6:30 in the Emerging Technology Center conference room (3^rd floor) at JH Eastern building. Staff, faculty, students, community members – all are welcome! We can’t wait to hear your ideas for how we can best improve on our communication and coordination efforts among all of you!

In regards to volunteer days this weekend, we have TWO opportunities again this week (both on Saturday):

• 11 a.m. – 1 p.m (students only?) at the CSC garden – This will be a site for the spring mini President’s Day of Service, organized by the JHU Center for Social Concern and the Student Advocacy Board. Sign up at http://www.jhu.edu/csc/events/springPDOS.html if you’re interested.
• 1 p.m. – 3ish p.m. (open to ALL!) at Blue Jay’s Perch. This is a general volunteer workday, and all are welcome of any age! Please come out if you can!

In addition, in case you haven’t heard, next week is EARTH WEEK at Hopkins. BJP is participating in a few events directly, including 2 guided garden tours (on 4/20 and 4/21) and a booth at Spring Fair “Healthy Planet Festival.” You may also be interested in Real Food Hopkins’ screening of the film Cafeteria Man, which will be followed by a guest panel featuring local “organic” farmer Joan Norman, Cafeteria Man co-producer and director Richard Chisolm, and Greg Strella, from Great Kids Farm. Visit http://www.sustainability.jhu.edu/projects/earthweek.html for more info.

Thank you all and hope to see you tomorrow!

The Blue Jay’s Perch

 

Earth Week 2012. April 16-22. One Hopkins, One Earth.

A week long series of events leading up to Earth Day on April 22, uniting the university and celebrating sustainability.

Featuring over 40 events across the university focused on sustainability from a local, regional, and global perspective.

Highlights include…

- JHU Green Buildings Town Hall

- Sustainability Career & Internship Panel & Networking Session

- Talk from Academy Award Nominated Director of “Gasland”

- Electronics Recycling Drives

- Tour of Hopkins Community Gardens

- Toxic Tour of Baltimore City

- Tree Plantings and Urban Gardening throughout the city

- Panel on Lead Remediation in Baltimore and Worldwide

- Fighting for Healthy Food in Baltimore City Public Schools Movie Screening

- Healthy Planet Festival at Spring Fair

and more!

For the full calendar of events visit http://www.sustainability.jhu.edu/projects/earthweek.html

Successful Garden Day and Upcoming General Garden Meeting this Thursday, April 12

Hello gardeners,

Thank you all for helping us kick off the gardening season with such a great start! From early plantings to garden demos, the seed fair to partner plot preparations, it’s been great to see so many staff, students, faculty, and community members getting involved to make this a truly thriving place!

Today was a very successful day at both gardens (the Blue Jay’s Perch and the N. Charles St. garden). Some highlights include planting a new fig and cherry tree at the BJP and weeding/planting at the CSC garden. Check out the gallery below to see the volunteers in action!

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As we want to make this garden as much of a collaborative effort as possible, now’s when we want to know what you think about how we’re doing so far with the organization and management of the garden. From improving our communal row volunteer days to updates on beekeeping and other unique ventures, we’d like to get your input to make this first season the best it can be!

Thus, we are holding a general meeting for all garden affiliates this THURSDAY, April 12 from 5:30-6:30 in the 

Emerging Technology Center conference room on the 3rd floor of the Johns Hopkins Eastern (the building next to the garden). 

Thank you and hope to see you there!

The BJP Committee

TWO Gardening opportunities this Saturday!

Come garden with us this Saturday, April 7. We’ve got two possibilities for new and returning volunteers.

Morning opportunities at the Blue Jay’s Perch – 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Plant fruit trees, vines, and tending to plants in the communal rows.
map: http://www.google.com/mapmaker?gw=39&fid=0x89c804fe22478ee1:0x7be9db78bbb86514

Afternoon shift behind the Center For Social Concern – from 4 p.m. on
Help us weed the beds, trim overgrown plants and even sow some seeds for the spring season.
3105 N. Charles Street.

See you on Saturday!

Week one updates

We hit many milestones this past weekend! We participated in a city-wide garden event. We hosted the youngest volunteer yet (2-year-old). We built our communal rows and put in a bunch of seeds and seed starts.  We hosted our first garden demo/workshop (thanks, Steve!).  We led our first impromptu garden tour for a group of children who live in the neighborhood. This garden gets better and better each day. Come visit! Check out our picture here!

The Blue Jay’s Perch is Officially Open for the Season!

This is the garden 7 months ago.

The Blue Jay's Perch - October, 2011

And look at the space today – we are ready for the 2012 growing season!

The Blue Jay's Perch, March 25, 2012