Author: EPA

Radical Care Sitting: Offering refuge to a crown vetch and other weedy species

EPA
IMG_8093
IMG_8095
IMG_8097

Artist andrea haenggi engages in her practice of radical care sitting, providing refuge for the spontaneous urban plants of Pacific Street in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Today we start by surveying a nearby lot that will soon be paved over with cement and asphalt. We look closely amongst the rubble for plants that need a home. At first we only see nightshade, tree of heaven, and a field of knotweed.

We then find a young crown vetch (Securigera varia) and what we think may be the humble beginnings of a devil’s beggarticks (Bidens frondosa). In the video above, andrea extracts the crown vetch to begin its relocation to the Urban Weeds Community Garden at the Environmental Performance Agency.

We hope these plants will take root and find refuge here at the EPA.

Airing Out the Mugwort + Plant-based Dye Making

EPA

IMG_8074
IMG_8077

At the EPA today, we’ve been caring for the Urban Weeds Community Garden by “airing out” some of the Mugwort (Artemesia vulgaris) that has taken root throughout the site. As a rhizomatic plant, Mugwort extends its roots horizontally and is able to develop a complex and thick network with just a small amount of soil or permeable surface. Rather than merely disposing of our Mugwort friends and mentors, we are experimenting with natural dye making – using the leaves of the Mugwort as a pigment for textiles. Above is documentation from some of our experiments. We used a recipe of boiling water for 90 minutes with the plant fully submerged. We’ll let it cool over night, and boil again for 60 minutes, and then the dye should be ready for dipping.

Urban Weeds Community Garden Mapping: day 1

EPA

EPA explores the eastern half of Pacific Street, extending the Urban Weeds Community Garden to include the MTA island and Luck Garden.

A process of Radical Care Sitting (pictured above) offers an inventory and extraction of waste so the plants can breathe and talk to us again.

radical care sitting

EPA

18891473_10212989976843034_1973313409843502630_o (1)
18891884_10212989973842959_5318532888524241611_o (1)
18815033_10212989912921436_2840213080119750738_o
18953241_10212989975122991_3794608947573709537_o

A field report from the EPA’s radical care sitter, andrea haenggi:

“The EPA’s neighbor Milton, who has a Truck Repair business, did not get a new lease from the landlord. After 15 years in business he was forced to move. He has found a temporary place but told us that this is not easy and he may have to leave New York. Milton loves plants and we decided to rescue one of his wild plants since we know the landlord will come with the bulldozers, as he did with the other yard, and concrete the place. We transplanted the plant to the EPA Urban Weeds Community Garden.”