You are Invited!  Take home a bit of BCC! — Transplanting plants in the Quad on 5/24/2023

From: Christina Wynn

Hi there…

As you know, the quad will be under construction for the better part of the summer as we make accessibility improvements to our campus. BCC Student and Green Team member Roberta Hayes and others are spearheading a project to transplant plantings from the quad, and she needs some volunteers to help.

In that spirit, please join us….

When: Wednesday, May 24^th (the same day as the picnic at Paterson), beginning at 8:30 AM

Where: BCC Quad

Who: All BCC campus groups (students, staff, faculty)

Why: You are invited to put on their gardening clothes and work with Roberta to move plantings before the construction starts. For their efforts, volunteers can take home a bit of BCC. Roberta will help guide you through the transplanting process and provide information on how to best care for the plantings you take home. No gardening experience is necessary, and we will provide gloves and shovels. If you’d like to take plantings, please come with a strong cardboard box so you can carefully take them home.

Click here to let us know if you’d like to help!

Please let me know if you have any questions.

My thanks,

Christina

Christina L. Wynn

Interim Vice President for Administration & Finance

Berkshire Community College

Tool List Update

These are the tools and supplies we use every day — outdoors —for many Green Team tasks.

Green Team is currently looking for two types of tools, for Summer 2023 garden and landscape projects, and the Pollinator Pathway Project!

1. Spading forks, four-tine, on strong wood or fiberglass d-handles, preferably new or gently used. 

2. Garden shovels for transplanting, long handled, on strong wood or fiberglass d-handles, preferably new or gently used.

The brands we have used before are “Fiskars” and “Husky”, yet if you have good tools you would like to donate to BCC Green Team, any sturdy brand is great!

If folks have questions please feel free to reach out and let Green Team know.

Thank you, and please send questions and suggestions to Roberta Hayes:

roberta_hayes@student.berkshirecc.edu

Thank you for your participation and interest in the Green Team of Berkshire Community College.

Green Team Blog—Garden Tool Wish List Update

…

Sunflowers.   Growing sunflowers can be one of the most rewarding endeavors when

planting a garden.  For many, the sunflower is one of the first seeds many children may

have planted at a school or community garden, or even a farm if you grew up in a rural

community.  An easy plant to grow — tolerant of drought, beneficial to ecosystems,

providing a nutritious food source for people and animals, a boon for pollinators –

the list of why sunflowers are great is a long one.  Sunflowers are an important plant

worldwide – and have a fascinating story – a story that is still evolving.

Would you like to learn more?

Here are topics in the full files you can download:

(with some examples)

• Sunflowers in History and Sunflowers today.
• Sunflower products benefit people worldwide.
• Sunflowers grown at home and commercially are a versatile and sustainable crop.

• Sunflowers are pollinator friendly.

One of the most promising plants for pollinators of all types, farmers have for decades in the U.S. planted companion fields adjacent to huge food crops such as corn.  They are a food source for an uncountable number of bird species, rodents, small and even large mammals.  They provide links of all types for food webs.  This is true not only on massive farms but also in your backyard.  Sunflowers of course offer nectar and pollen, and not only are they a resource for wild and managed bees – they are crucial to butterflies, moths, flies, hoverflies, beetles, and myriad other important wildlife.

• Sunflowers as a symbol of hope amidst tragedy.

Early during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, a video on social media shows a Ukrainian woman bravely on her own confronting heavily armed Russian soldiers – telling the latter to “take these seeds, put them in your pockets so at least sunflowers will grow when you all lie down here” – on Ukraine’s soil.

The sunflower, an ever important traditional facet of Ukrainian culture, has since become a global symbol of hope, resistance, and unity. 

Photo-copyright-2022—Hakan-Akgun–SOPA–Light-Rocket–Getty Images —– Photo-copyright-2022–Ukraineworld.org—articles-ukraine-explained–putin-misread-ukraine —– Photo-copyright-2022–Reuters-Images-UK —– Photo-copyright-2022—Diane-BeZucha—Wisconsin-Public-Radio—Protest–Russian-born-students–University-of-Wisconsin-and Wisconsin Educational-Communications

Download the first two “Planting For Pollinators”;

“Sunflower Resources” and “Sunflower Tips and Suggestions” files here:

Resources to Learn Much More About Amazing Sunflowers

Sunflower seeds – Tips and Suggestions

….. Thank you for growing sunflowers …..

Questions?  —  Want to learn more about “planting for pollinators” at B.C.C.? —  Want to learn about seed saving technique and seed sharing for next year?  —  Would you like to receive Green Team posts via e-mail? — Would you like to be sent the two new “planting for pollinators” full documents? —  Please e-mail:  roberta_hayes@student.berkshirecc.edu

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