Bag of Seeds

This is Christina's bag of collected native plant seeds.  (bag design by Janet Morton 2008)

Contents:

Flower Seeds

Blue Vervain - verbena hastata

Thimbleweed - anemone virginiana

Swamp Aster - aster puniceus

Foxglove Beardtongue - penstemon digitalis

New England Aster - aster novae-angliae

Dense Blazing Star - liatris spicata

Grass seeds

Switch Grass - panicha virgatum

Virginia Wild Rye - elymus virginiana

Indian Grass - sorghastrum nutans

Little Bluestem - schizachirium scoparia

Earth Day

Louisa wrote:

Happy Earth Day, all!  

On the first day of spring, I made a quick video of the grounds just outside Studio 490 and I thought I'd share it with you today.

Studio 490, as mentioned earlier, is where the Sewing Seeds event will take place in June.  It's a studio shared by me and Anne.

It's in a lightly industrial part of Guelph, near York and Victoria roads.

The warehouse space was the former Guelph Stove Company and now is home to several woodworking shops, artists and other businesses.  A train yard is nearby, along with several businesses involved in steel fabricating or automotive parts, and also a brown field which has a makeshift skate park in a corner of it, that one can get to via a hole in the fence.

I've often been fascinated with the juxtaposition of human industry and nature, sometimes lamenting the harmful interactions, but also noticing the life that does inhabit and perhaps thrive in industrial landscapes.

On two occasions, I have noticed a groundhog ambling through the shadows of the parking lot. A few weeks ago, two geese landed on the roof adjacent to the studio, and then flew up right above our window, honking loudly to see if anyone was home!

Besides the honking, there is so much birdsong lately...I couldn't resist documenting it.

Check out the video on the right-hand side.

Spring!

The ground and skies are filling with the subtle colours of spring, the songs of birds and smells of the thawing, warming earth.  There are green shoots poking through the dirt, crocuses and other blooming bulbs, buds on the tree branches and sap colouring the yellow willows. The sun comes up earlier and sets later.

We have photos to share, but first...

Let me (Louisa) introduce the members of the Sewing Seed Collective.  

They are Christina, Anne, Colin and Louisa.

We have news...

SpOtlight Update!!!

Back in February, we all got together over tea at the Red Brick and came up with a project proposal for the Ontario Art Council's SpOtlight program.

This is a weekend event showcasing local artists and arts organizations within a specific locale. This year the spotlight is on Guelph, K-W, Cambridge and area, and will take place over the weekend of June 5-7, 2009.  Please visit www.spotlightfestival.ca.

We will host a Paper Making, Paper Embroidery and Paper Planting workshop during this weekend.  Our collection of native plant seeds will be scattered and sown, making its way from paper packets into a slurry of recycled paper pulp, which will then be strained over a screen and made into a paper 'patch'. Designs will be embroidered into the paper patch once it is dry.  

The patches will then be ready for planting (or decoratively hanging).  

There will be most definitely be an informal discussion about native plants and perhaps a planting demo onsite.  The workshops will be held at Studio 490.

More details to follow...

Excursion

Christina wrote...

In the chilly month of November, I went for an excursion with a german shepherd and one of my favourite people in this town.  We drove up to Edinburgh just south of Woodlawn and spent a few cold hours at the restoration area harvesting wildflower and grass seeds.  On that bleak crisp day, I fell in love with the plethora of browns, greys and silvers, the curled dried leaves and wisps of seed hairs.  Several weeks later, my friend dropped off a paper bag filed with seeds, all sleeping in their labelled packets.  I think of them now as the earth awakens around me and I put away my stitched snowflakes.  Perhaps they will emerge soon to see the light of day, to be embedded into paper and stitched into a blanket of sorts.  I anticipate their unfolding and imagine them rooting in the little nooks and crannies I see as I walk through the city.  

Wake up, wake up- it's the first day of spring.

Sleeping Seeds

Welcome to the Sewing Seeds space here, there or anywhere you are.

It is wintertime and seeds are sleeping in the earth (or in their little packets in which they've been collected), waiting for spring.  We are happy you've taken the time to visit us here.

Who is 'We'?

This blog was initiated by several artists and native plant enthusiasts from Guelph, Ontario, for the purpose of sharing information about grasses and wildflowers native to our local habitat. We are interested in the interplay of art and ecology - where creative forces draw on our knowledge of our environment, on natural or reused materials and on traditional hand-skills that require patience and care.

 

Watch for information about upcoming events.  Feel free to post or contact us!