Friday, December 2, 2011

Stream Restoration 2011

Christian, Amelia, and Jackson are currently working on a new stream restoration plan. Above is their design.

The image above is a perspective created off Google SketchUp to show what the design will look like once constructed.

Stream Restoration 2010

This design was created by the 2010 class. The main areas the class was concerned with were the banks surrounding the Creek because it was necessary to stabilize the banks in order to prevent erosion and control runoff.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Work day 12/4

Come help remove invasive species from the garden site this Sunday from noon to 2. Bring work gloves or any other tools (clippers, shovels, etc) that you might have! Meet in the parking lot behind Bens Bikes off of Broad st.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Updating the Community Garden Design

One group of students, Drew, Andrew M. and Andrew D. are updating the design to mesh into the work that has been done on the site so far. This design focuses on the area to the North of the creek. It features a central demonstration garden with trellises, raised informational podiums, and an integrated perimeter food forest.

The design objectives of the team are the following:
1. Social Interaction: Create gathering spaces
2. Self- reliance: Use low maintenance materials.
3. Production of Nutritious Foods: Grow culturally significant crops.
4. Reduce Family Food Budget: Provide information regarding garden use and harvesting to provide educational values.
5. Conserve Resources: Re use existing site materials.
6. Recreation Opportunities: Open spaces.
7. Therapy: Formulate peaceful spaces.
8. Cultural Connections: Create a "soul food" garden.
9. Signage: Create signage to educate.

Building on last year's work...

Last year's class started the ball rolling on the future Tanyard Creek Community garden by putting in some work days to remove kudzu, dig a small rain garden, and create an initial plan to unite the community around the idea of having a food-producing permaculture park in the heart of the urban and historic Reese Historic District.

the vision....

[PROPOSAL 1]: conceptual design (showing overall site) for possibilities of expanding the “Edible Park” into the existing community park.
[PROPOSAL 2]: design for garden mater plan, featuring teaching and seating spaces, educational signage, a rain garden, and many fruit trees.

Monday, November 14, 2011

November 9th, 2011 Workday

existing conditions of tanyard creek taken from pope st. the area to the right of the black silt fence in this picture is the site for the proposed garden.

A view of the church and playground after plant removal.

Students are deciding which plants to start on!

Jason & Andrew digging up kudzu and making sure to remove all the roots.
Jason is working hard.

Sean is digging  a small trench to delineate the garden area and keep weeds from spreading.

Haddie is working on a planting bed here.


Students are working together to remove invasives.

Andrew is hard at work making sure to dig up the entire root!

Quite a brush pile of invasive exotics!

Trash pile!
Last year's class dug out a drainage path for a rain garden. here, Hattie transplants some yarrow, a medicinal plant used as herbal "stitches" to heal cuts.
A view looking away from Ben's Bikes.

Students working together to remove the plants.


This a view of the first day's work accomplishments.

This view is looking to Ben's Bikes from the park area.


This is another view looking to Ben's Bikes.

Jason and Zach plot what move to make next.

A clean Site!

What a trash pile!



2010 Student Work

Last fall, students in Professor Lee's class also did work on the site. These pictures show their work.

This is an overview of the site and the students at work.

This image is a view from the bottom of Tanyard Creek. You can see the kudzu growing along the banks.

 A student finds an old couch!



This image shows how dirty the site is. Don't litter!

This is another view of the mass amount of kudzu growing on the site.

A student works here to pick out trash.

These were his findings!

Trash!

Old rock and pavement that was found on the site.

This is a mulched path that goes around the Creek from Ben's Bikes.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Class Project

We are hoping our work in class becomes more than just a project so that the community can benefit from our ideas. Our class is split up into the following sections:

Site Analysis- Taylor, Wes, Haddie
Community Engagement- Kitt, Carson, Sean
Garden Design- Drew, Andrew M., Andrew D.
Stream Restoration- Christian, Amelia, Jackson
Management Group- Myles, Laura Zach

Each team is working together to create a garden that will bring the community together and be useful to its neighbors.

2011 Student Workday

On November 2nd, students from Professor Lee's Landscape Architecture class removed evasive plants and cleared the site. The students made sure to pull up the roots of all the kudzu and privet plants so they would not grow back. They also planted figs, blueberries, and rosemary. This process is the beginning state in preparing the site for a future garden.


This is the walkway between Ben's Bikes and Tanyard Creek.


Students are working on removing evasive plants.


Karen is demonstrating how to pull up evasive plants from the root so they will not grow back.


Team work pays off! You can see the site becoming clear.

Our pile of trash plants is growing!


Sean is planting a small tree to help prevent erosion on the bank now that the evasive plants are gone.

Taylor is demonstrating the proper way to plant a tree.


Jackson is working hard to remove privet.




Drew and Christian are standing in the center of Tanyard Creek on a large fallen tree.



This is a view into the creek. You can see kudzu has overtaken the banks.

Zach makes a friend!


Kitt waters a new plant.


Haddie is planting a new plant and creating a barrier around it so it won't be trampled.