Report from the Frankenart Mart

Our evening at the Frankenart Mart was fantastic.

Some veteran PSL members came by (Yay for Vanessa, Lily, Megan, Michele, Kat & Redwood!) and lots of new people joined. Han and Elocin brought great seeds to share and Leslie, Zeke, and Reuben were perfect hosts.

We used the evening to make seed packets, organize our collection and . . . . reveal our newest gardening tool: a vegetable planting calendar.

It's still in prototype form and specifically for the Outer Richmond. We're refining it and can't wait to share it (and make calendars for other Bay Area micro-climates).

The planting calendar and the Tall Telephone Pea seed packet are both part of the PSL Tool Collection. Stay tuned for more information about this aspect of the library--it's crucial.


Photo by Leslie Henslee

Dream Job at the Frankenart Mart, November 21, 6-9pm

Frankenart Mart is one of our top favorite places.

It's an art-play-gallery-store invented and run by Leslie Henslee. The Mart has quarterly themes for the exhibits and all the art is created by the public. Everyone is invited to go to the Mart, make some art, buy some art, sell some art (50/50 split with the Mart), buy a t-shirt, hang-out, or have a free hot dog (on monthly Free Hot Dog Days). The Frankenart Mart is, as Leslie says, "A playground that earnestly celebrates creation." It is a super fun place.

The Mart's current theme is "Dream Job."

Our dream job is to be the PSL Librarians.

So, on Friday November 21 from 6-9pm we'll be the PSL Librarians at the Frankenart Mart. We'll be making seed envelopes, trading seeds, and designing the seed cataloging system. It's going to be really fun. Join us!

Travelers from my grandmother's garden

These are all flowers my grandmother has grown from seed. The rubeckia and bee balm reseed every year and line her back porch all summer. The monk's hood is the treasure: the original was grown by my great-grandmother. My mother has a vine of it too--and my grandmother is collecting the seeds for me too. So, assuming I can make it grow, the vine will have traveled through four generation and 2,739 miles from Waneta Lake to Caton, NY to Ann Arbor, MI to Oakland, CA.

My grandmother sent me home with seeds from her rubeckia and I'll be sharing some at the picnic.

Birdhouse Gourds

I have two birdhouse gourd vines growing along my garden fence. I got the seeds at the last February's Bay Area Seed Interchange Library's (BASIL) annual hoedown and seed exchange--(an evening field trip with Zoey and Lily).

It was a perfect seed-exchange moment. As I picked them up, the woman who collected them was standing next to me and said, "I live in Oakland and I've tried to grow a lot of birdhouse gourds--these are the only ones that have worked. The gourds are beautiful. To dry them you'll need to put them in a dark warm place--I have them over my stove--and let them completely dry out. It will take all winter and they'll get nasty looking as the outer skin pulls off. Then in the spring they'll be ready!"

These instructions aren't as complete as what I've found since then--but it was an astonishing moment--these seeds are from an Oakland garden! Collected by the woman who is talking to me! She is telling me how to dry them! She is a helping me.

The vines are important (even symbolic) for other reasons:
-They are among the first plants I've successfully grown from seed
-They are growing along the fence at my garden which makes me think of them as for me and the larger neighborhood
-The BASIL seed exchange is the first time I really thought about collecting my own seeds
-They are beautiful

A Garden Picnic: How Seeds Travel

A Garden Picnic: How Seeds Travel
Saturday, October 18, 12-4pm
at Southern Exposure Gallery
417 14th Street (@ Valencia), San Francisco, CA 94103
RSVP: (415) 863-2141.
email: soex@soex.org. web: www.soex.org

Calling all gardeners, citizen scientists, and picnickers! Enjoy city-grown food and participate in a group planting party. Picnickers will get two mystery seed packets—one to plant right away and one to experiment with later. Information designers and picnic organizers, Zoey Kroll and Erin Wilson, will gather the results of these neighborhood garden experiments to create a cataloging system for the Pocket Seed Library.

Seeds and salad provided. Bring a dish to share and RSVP so we know how much lettuce to grow!

About the Pocket Seed Library

The Pocket Seed Library (PSL) contains seeds collected by local gardeners and documentation of the seed’s history. The PSL is a blog, a seed swap, a plant cataloging system and an experiment in your kitchen or backyard.

The PSL blog will be unfolding on October 18th, as we practice the art of picnicking and planting--with you! Come picnic with us at Southern Exposure's gallery garden.