Garden Update: September 2014

I just had to take a break from making Small Spaces-related posts to share a little garden update.

After the freaky hail storm in August, Zach pulled up most of our destroyed eggplants, tomato, and pepper plants. The ones that we saved, have now fully recovered.

It's a little late in the growing season though, so we're hoping everything will have enough time to ripen. Especially those mellow star peppers. They are so delicious!

The week after the hail storm, we planted for fall. We have broccoli,

cabbage,

komatsuna,

collard greens,

bok choy,

rat's tail radish,

beets,

kale,

peas,

and carrots.

We are growing a lot of these veggies for the first time, and we're not even sure if some of the varieties we have chosen do well in containers. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. One thing I do know for certain, is that it's a royal pain to grow brassicas. The white butterflies will not leave our plants alone and we battle them everyday. I don't mind the search-and-destroy game with the eggs, but I hate finding cabbage worms. Hate!!!!! For the first couple of weeks, I was using row covers for the collards, kale, komatsuna, and bok choy. But they were really cumbersome to work with and some of the plants still ended up at the mercy of the cabbage worms. I'm starting to wonder if it'll be less stressful to just buy brassicas instead of trying to grow them!

Our herb corner is a mess! Our tarragon plant is covered in cobwebs, our mints are gangly looking, the thyme and the marjoram look sad, and the cilantro have bolted. But it seems the oregano,

parsley,

and shiso are still hanging in there and loving this slightly cooler weather!

It's also a lot of fun for us that our everbearing and "wild" strawberries are making a fall comeback and putting out handfuls of treats every couple of days!

We may lament the loss of our 15 tomato plants, but the cat is definitely happy to have space on the patio to roam again! He snacks freely from the catnip plant,

and occasionally, he even finds a friend to play with!

p.s. in case you're wondering, the chipmunk survived the ordeal!

Small Spaces: I Got My iPod On Shuffle

throughout the month of september, i've been meeting with a group of kids at tippecanoe arts federation to design and install a mural to be part of the small spaces: lafayette project. we started by walking over to Haywood Printing to see our space. then we had brainstorm/sketching sessions for the first 3 weeks and came up with a theme of music. each student designed their own character elements in the mural.  then we spent each day after school last week installing.

this is one of three educational pieces being created for small spaces. branden aptiz is creating a piece behind lafayette theater with kids from tippecanoe youth services day reporting program. and carrie wing is creating a piece with the lafayette jeff high school art club behind lafayette printing. it was important to me that we had elements in this project that included education. projects like this give kids a bit of community ownership and it helps to build a sense of social responsibility as they move into adulthood.

Small Spaces: Latest pieces at Haywood Printing

The Small Spaces artists have been busy painting up Haywood Printing Company! Here are some pictures of the new works.

artist: Cathryn English

artist: Carrie Wing

artist: Alejandra Carrillo-Munoz

artist: Aaron Bumgarner

artist: Pete Brown

artist: Temre Stanchfield

artist: Sagan Newham

artist: Richard Brumbaugh

artist: Bethany Hohman

artist: Jason Profant

yarn bomb, artist: Aaron Bumgarner

artist: Lisa Wicka

Small Spaces: 5 Questions with Aaron Bumgarner

Zach and I have been brainstorming about how we can help make the Small Spaces project more accessible to the public. For Zach, part of the idea of accessibility is to have as wide a range of art as possible, so that no matter what your taste is, you will still be able to find something that you can connect with. He is also working with Pete Brown to put together an interactive app that you can use to help navigate and provide information on the various pieces around town. As for me ... well, I'm an art historian by training, so I am drawn to contexts. I like knowing the significance of each individual piece, and I love knowing about the artist as well. I thought it would be fun to have Small Spaces artists share a little bit about themselves and a morsel of their views of (street) art. To that end, I came up with "5 Questions," a short and simple questionnaire I handed out to the artists who participated in last week's pop up show.

After yesterday's slightly poignant post and all the nasty flak we were receiving over the "zombie" mural, I decided that I would kick off our "5 Questions" series with local artist Aaron Bumgarner. Aaron makes the happiest, most uplifting art I know and this feels like the perfect time and day to share something much more positive!

For Small Spaces, Aaron has painted a couple of wall pieces,

@ Lafayette Printing

@T-Bird Engineering, a collaboration with Cathryn English. Watch a performance of this piece here.

@ Haywood Printing Company

@ N. 6th Street

yarn bombed,

@Haywood Printing Company

@ Haywood Printing Company

and hung a ton of handmade signs around town.

Instagram photos via @aaronbum25

Zach and I spotted this one yesterday and it warmed my heart.

Here are Aaron's answers to my five questions.

Please also check out the work Aaron is doing for Tiny Places, a West Lafayette public arts project. Here are some of his completed pieces.

Instagram photos via @aaronbum25