Daily Archives: October 31, 2021

Thursday, November 4, 5:15 pm – 6:30 pm – The “Science” of Dry-Farming: The Emergence of a Concept in Global Perspective, Live or Online

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This Massachusetts Historical Society presentation on November 4 by Elizabeth Williams, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, examines the emergence of dry farming as a new “scientific” agricultural method in the late 19th and early 20th centuries within broader global circulations of agricultural knowledge. Connecting the dry farming knowledge of American agronomists to that of French colonial officials working in North Africa who were themselves indebted to centuries of knowledge about dry farming techniques developed by farmers working in rainfed lands around the Mediterranean basin, it sheds light on the politics of expertise involved in the production of this “science.”

The Environmental History Seminar invites you to join the conversation. Seminars bring together a diverse group of scholars and interested members of the public to workshop a pre-circulated paper. Learn more.

Please note, this is a hybrid event which may be attended either in person at the MHS or virtually on the video conference platform, Zoom. Registrants will receive a confirmation message with attendance information. Register for the in person event HERE or online HERE

Wednesday, November 3, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm – Eco-Answers with an ELA Eco-Pro: Specialty Gardens, Online

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Do you have (or desire to have) a specialty garden but need a little help getting started?
Sometimes referred to as garden niches, there are many types of specialty gardens. They can include gardens with a particular aesthetic (like Japanese Gardens), focus on a particular type of plants (herb gardens), or be characterized by their size (small pocket gardens or large meadows).

Join ecological landscape specialist Pennington (Penn) Marchael to ask your questions about garden niches and get professional advice to help solve your problems or get your project started. During this 90-minute Zoom live forum, Penn will provide answers to some common questions and then focus on audience questions.

Penn will start the evening with brief opening remarks about a couple of specialty gardens and then jump right into your questions for the bulk of the Q&A session. Some topics that Penn can address are:

  • Building a biodiverse meadow
  • Creating gardens for winter interest
  • Sizing plants for a small courtyard
  • Leaving semi-wild garden areas
  • Designing a butterfly garden
  • Featuring texture in a shade garden
  • And more…

Please send your questions in advance so that Penn will know where to focus his attention. Also send photos of the plants in question to provide some reference and to add interest to the discussion. Email photos along with your questions to: penny@ecolandscaping.org.
If you don’t submit questions in advance, no problem, we will also be taking questions throughout the event.

Once you are registered for Eco-Answers with the ELA Eco-Pros, you will receive an email with the Zoom Webinar link. Pennington Marchael is a landscape contractor based in Brooklyn and Bedford Hills, New York. Throughout his career he has cultivated a deep understanding of horticulture and ecology, which he uses to execute successfully vibrant landscapes. Mr. Marchael has over ten years of experience in project management, landscape construction, and maintenance. In those ten years, he has installed and maintained meadows from Virginia to Northern New York with a total of over one hundred fifty acres installed and many more maintained and monitored. His present focus is growing his business, Pennington Grey, where he aspires to train a new generation of land managers who will lead the landscape industry away from traditional practices and toward a more sustainable and dynamic approach.

This webinar is free but open only to ELA members. Annual memberships start at $25. To join, visit https://www.ecolandscaping.org/membership/