From the day as a chick, I have always been free. From glacier cap mountains, To sea to coral sea.
Brother species who play and breed below, Across fields and up rivers Migrating they flow. For thousand years Mother Earth grows, For thousand years climate change is slow.
For today my chick hasn’t a tree, Clear-cuts and mudslides left only for me. Snow cap mountains glaciers retreat, Dead baron seas with dried up reefs.
Polar bears, salmon, star fish, little honey bees, Man-kind harvest only greed selfish to you and me. In one hundred years Mother Earth slowly dies, In one hundred years climate change super sizes.
Bald eagle preparing to fly. Photo from wikipedia.
Text and photos by Graham Klag, Conservation Nursery Coordinator
This year’s pumpkin and squash harvest
Halloween pumpkins in prison! In addition to growing important prairie plants, technicians at Stafford Creek Corrections Center also grow a cornucopia of produce for Grays Harbor County’s Coastal Harvest Program. Their hard work and harvest provides food for hungry families and Halloween pumpkins for people in prison to enjoy. Happy Halloween!
Conservation nursery technician Dale King and the crew tilling new rows for the new seasonFrom hoop house to tableA week’s worth of produce harvested and headed out to the community
By Joslyn Rose Trivett, SPP Education and Outreach Manager
Beautiful heads of cabbage grow in Washington State Penitentiary’s main garden. Photo collage courtesy of Jim Atteberry, Facilities Manager.
Outside of the prison fences, Washington State Penitentiary (WSP) tends 10.5 acres of crops. This is the prison’s Institutional Sustainability Garden, and it’s the largest and most productive of all the prison gardens statewide.
This is a view from the garden looking back up the hill at the prison facilities. Photo by Bethany Shepler.
In 2017, the crew harvested 151,470 lbs of vegetables — that’s more than 75 tons. They donated 9,655 lbs to local non-profits. The rest went the prison kitchen, improving the taste and nutritional value of the meals. Producing the food on site also saved $122,677 worth of purchasing. 2018 was somewhat less productive year, the weather wasn’t as good, but still the garden produced ~110,000 lbs. Both years, WSP’s vegetable harvest was about half of the total harvest statewide…pretty amazing if you consider that eleven of the twelve prisons grow food!
This September, the crew harvested cabbage, squash, bell peppers, banana peppers, green peppers, tomatoes, and radishes from the fields. They also tended to the plants and pulled out weeds.
In mid-September, the crew attends to weeds in the Institutional Sustainability Garden. Photo by Bethany Shepler. Earlier in the growing season, the fields are full of vibrant greens. Photos courtesy of Jim Atteberry.A crew member talks with Garden Supervisor Daniel Randolph; from Jim Atteberry: “Daniel and Shawn Treib supervised this year’s Institutional Garden, they both did an outstanding job during a tough period of time.” Photo by Bethany Shepler.
by Joslyn Rose Trivett, SPP Education and Outreach Manager, and Susan Goldwitz, Beekeeper and Program Coordinator
Susan Goldwitz stands with one of her hives. Photo by David H. Deininger.
Two-and-a-half years ago, beekeeper Susan Goldwitz traveled from Massachusetts to Washington State and attended the first-ever beekeeping summit in a prison. More than a few beekeeping programs were born that day. Delightfully, Susan Goldwitz took some of that inspiration beyond Washington!
Beekeeping association partners, staff from every prison, incarcerated beekeepers, and the SPP team from Evergreen came together for an inspirational and productive day-long beekeeping summit at Washington Corrections Center for Women. Photo by Ricky Osborne.
For three years previous, Susan had been trying to create bee program in Massachusetts prisons and jails. She had been teaching literature and other classes in prison for nearly six years, but hadn’t yet found traction on adding beekeeping. After the summit, she returned home reenergized and with an improved, inspired pitch. She made her proposal more than a dozen times, to any facility willing to hear it.
As the “no”s and “maybe”s stacked up, she kept in touch with SPP. Susan is unusually good at asking for and receiving help — a strategy I admire — and I was happy to provide the advice and encouragement she requested. She also had the support of another ardent beekeeper, former Governor Deval Patrick; he encouraged her to “Keep pushing!” So she kept pushing. She knew how to take our optimism and translate it into programming success.
On her 12th or 13th try, at last, she found a willing host: Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office in Dedham, MA. They were willing to take a risk on this unusual program, to think outside of the normal menu of activities and educational programs for the incarcerated. The jail had an abundance of outdoor, open space and — bonus! — a member of the staff was already an enthusiastic beekeeper.
This summer, I
received a welcome update, which you may read below. It is so pleasing to share
Susan’s story of success!
“It’s been far too long since we connected and I’m taking this opportunity to send you a little note to let you know that persistence can pay off!
I was able to start a pilot beekeeping program at a jail in Dedham two years ago. It took the usual meetings and waiting, but finally (after three years of trying!) I found a jail willing to take a chance on this “out of the box” program.
I set up two little hives at the jail, paid for everything myself, and worked with a wonderful company here called Best Bees because they have an overarching insurance policy — helpful for assuaging the security concerns of the administration.
We had a great year; the bees might have known there was a great deal on their little shoulders. We had two thriving hives, a honey harvest, and only two little stings: one on an officer and one on a prisoner. That turned out to be a little blessing in a painful disguise: the men recovered, no one was in danger, and some institutional fears were allayed.
Both hives overwintered successfully (!) and the jail decided to take on the program themselves — to pay for and support it. Now I’m focused on getting a beekeeping school together to start (I hope) this winter. Small steps, as ever.
I’ve just set up a meeting with the Suffolk County House of Correction (Boston) to discuss starting a similar program there. Fingers crossed! I think I needed a sufficient track record at one facility before attempting to convince another.
I did talk to the head of a wonderful program here called the Urban Farming Institute about having a place for newly released prisoners to practice their beekeeping. We have just opened our discussion, but the President/CEO Patricia Spence was enthusiastic about the eventual opportunity and hopes they will be setting up hives at one of their gardens soon.
I wrote once more to our mutual friend, Governor Patrick, to let him know of the jail successes, and yet again he was encouraging and supportive.
That’s the brief news from here. Hope you are well and that you and your programs are thriving.
Let me thank you
and SPP once again for your unflagging support, expertise, and gentle
cheerleading. It definitely made all the
difference!”
Re-reading Susan’s news now, it’s no surprise me that she’s found success. Building programs in prison is really challenging. The best way to meet those challenges is large quantities of persistence, creativity, and positivity. Susan clearly has all three!
End Note
Susan’s other great love is poetry, especially Emily
Dickinson’s. The poet wrote about 100
poems concerning bees in her collection of about 1789 poems. Here are a few
delicious examples:
Identifying numbers are from Thomas H. Johnson, ed. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson.
A bee on flowers at Stafford Creek Corrections Center. Photo by Ricky Osborne.
#1627 Version II
The Pedigree of Honey Does not concern the Bee – A Clover, any time, to him, Is Aristocracy –
#1755
To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee, And revery. The revery alone will do, If bees are few.
#676 Least bee that brew – A Honey’s Weight The Summer multiply – Content her smallest fraction help The Amber Quantity –
#1220
Of Nature I shall have enough When I have enter these Entitled to a Bumble bee’s Familiarities.
By Situe Fuiava, SPP Conservation Technician at Washington Corrections Center. Mr. Fuiava wrote this piece in response to a call for writing on “science in prison.”
Note: please be aware that individuals featured in this story and in these images have victims who are concerned about re-victimization; any sharing or promoting should keep that risk in mind.
My name is Situe Fuiava and I have been incarcerated since the age of 16. When I first came into prison I only knew about street knowledge. I didn’t really know much about anything academically let alone science.
Situe Faiva receives seeds picked by a program visitor; program technicians collect seeds from violets and other prairie plants for Salish lowland restoration efforts. Photo by Ricky Osborne.
What led me to this path of learning is when my nephew asked me to help him with something in school. I couldn’t even answer him. I glamourized and answered everything he asked me about the streets, but could not give him anything academically. That was one of the worst feelings I have ever felt. That was when the light finally turned on for me. I knew that I had to change something before I was going to have a family reunion in prison instead of the community.
During my time of incarceration, one of the programs that dramatically changed my life is the Sustainability in Prisons Projects (SPP). The SPP program is responsible for involving incarcerated individuals in multiple sustainable programs in the United States. In Washington State, in conjunction with Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) and the Center for Natural Lands Management (CNLM), this program is working towards the restoration of prairies in the greater Northwest. To assist with the program, at Washington Correction Center (WCC) incarcerated individuals work with the largest violet nursery in the world. We also have created the very first demonstration prairie in Department of Corrections (DOC).
The Prairie Conservation Nursery Crew: pictured from left to right are technician Fred Burr, TAs John Thompson and Situe Fuiava, and technicians Michael Johnson and Dustin Sutherland.
Situe Fuiava collects violet seeds in the nursery. Photo by Ricky Osborne.
I love that we have our own demonstration prairie garden here at this facility because it shows everyone the relationship between the violets and other species that are also found in the prairies of the South Puget Sound area. For me, the best ways of learning and teaching about prairies is by providing hands-on experiences and allowing people to see what happens in a natural prairie. This teaches us what species grow best around the violets and what species are not as beneficial for them. This is one of the few times being incarcerated has been a benefit to me. Having the ability to care for the violets around the clock (besides weekends) is pleasant as well as challenging. We have the ability to sustain life. We built the demonstration garden in 2018 and have seen it flourish in the first season. This is our way of teaching and learning; science in its finest form.
I have worked in many places in the prison system. Some of my jobs have been gym porter, barber, kitchen worker, unit porter, dayroom porter, and plumber. Only now do I have a job that challenges me mentally.
A good brother of mine was already working in the program introduced me to the SPP program and horticulture program. I decided to go into it without expectations and have an open mind. I was eager to learn something new and further my academic education, but I did not want to expect to get something from it and end up disappointed.
This job has been the best I have had. It gives me the opportunity to work and to gain knowledge I would have never taken the time to learn otherwise. Since starting my job with the SPP program, I’ve taken classes on bee handling, record keeping, seed germination, stratification process, transplanting, watering techniques planting depth, how to check the soil, water P.H levels, and when the first and last frost are so that we know when to sow.
I have also learned that everything is connected in one way or another. Everything has the same needs. These are things that we might not understand because we did not grow up learning them. All matter on earth is made up of one or more of the 118 chemical elements that are found on earth. The chemical element carbon is essential to everything because it is the building block for all living organisms. Just as carbon is vital to the foundation of an organism, water is also needed to sustain life on earth. We need soil because the soil is the building block for the evolution of vascular plants. Vascular plants played a big role in a plant’s ability to live further away from water. Without one of the three elements, life on earth as we know it would be nonexistent. Without carbon or water, life on earth would be stuck at the Bryophyte stage.
We need “Nature”. Nature is a great teacher of science. It has a way of creating great relationships within its own ecosystem. I find it interesting that this planet has been here for billions of years. Humans take up a small fraction of that timeline. With minimal time we inhabited the earth, we caused more harm than good to our planet. I believe that if we start paying attention to the relationships that happen organically and naturally in nature, that knowledge can give us the answer of how to prolong our time on earth.
Viola adunca blooms in the beds at Washington Corrections Center. Photo by Alexandra James.
Like I said, the more I learn, the more I believe that everything is connected.
When I first started talking about nature, I thought of nature as a place that hasn’t been touched or bothered by humans. I have learned that nature is everything. Nature is everything that the earth produces naturally. So if everything provided by the earth is considered nature, would we consider a manmade environment nature? If everything on earth is created on earth, why would we say that everything that is manmade isn’t nature when the things that we use to make these structures are from earth. In the wild, animals use everything within their means to survive. When we humans take from nature we take more than what we need. I believe that when we build man-made structures it’s still nature as long as it has a way to give back to nature, instead of just leeching off the eco-system.
When I think of sustainability I think of the ability to keep life going. What we are doing here at Washington Corrections Center is helping with sustaining the life of the silverspot butterfly by growing Viola adunca and Viola praemorsa. With growing these species we are naturally creating an environment for the pollinators.
Someone’s in-prison experience with science can positively affect his or her choices by simply using the scientific method. Most men incarcerated are here because we tend to make claims without even having any evidence to back up what we claim to have been real or true. If we are never taught to research or question what we learn, it can have a negative effect on our behanviors. What we display on a day-to-day basis are learned behaviors. If we are raised up and we see everyone doing the same thing, whether right or wrong, we automatically think it’s the norm.
Professor Winterbottom first came to WCCW early in 2016, along with Dr. Barb Toews of UW-Tacoma. Both academics saw potential for building restorative landscapes at the prison, for the benefit of both incarcerated individuals and prison staff. They also found willing partners among WCCW’s leadership, particularly Associate Superintendent Felice Davis, Facilities Manager Rod Coberly, and Superintendent Jo Wofford. Even so, it took three years of persistence before Professor Winterbottom had the go-ahead to make the prison the topic of his Therapeutic Master Plan Studio class.
Last month, he and his students presented their recommendations to WCCW’s leadership, which were met with further support and enthusiasm. The next step was to get feedback from the incarcerated individuals, the folks who might be most affected by the potential project. Luckily, there was an opening in the workshop series calendar, creating the perfect opportunity to bring everyone together!
The student groups, with architecture models and posters in hand, presented projects focused on designing a nurturing and healing environment as an exercise of rethinking the landscape of incarceration.
They proposed creating places that stimulate the senses, and that offer both respite and engagement through the garden. Each proposal offered different approaches and methods, but all were intended to create a more humane place for both residents and staff.
Workshop students were especially respectful of the time and effort the UW students put into their projects, and their comments and questions reflected that appreciation.
Overall, workshop students were engaged and excited to hear about the potential to transform their built living environment.
For the past year and a half, I’ve had a truly unique and remarkable opportunity. Once per month, I made the hour long trek out to Washington’s coast, not to surf or go clamming, but to teach a garden class to over 50 incarcerated individuals. The garden class began as a way for Ed Baldwin, the Ground/Nursery Specialist at Stafford Creek Corrections Center (SCCC), to support and encourage the gardens at the facility. Former SPP Coordinator, Joey Burgess, joined the effort by offering a superb (and free) introductory gardening curriculum called Seed to Supper. Oregon Food Bank and Oregon State University Extension Service teamed up to create the course which aims to educate and inspire adults to grow a portion of their own food and build more food secure communities. Topics covered range from building and planning to maintaining and harvesting a garden.
A PowerPoint slide from one of the very first lessons of the Seed to Supper curriculum.
During one of my first trips to prison, I got to watch Joey teach one of these classes. Joey made teaching look effortless with a laid back, but confident persona. But the following month, it was me up in front of 50 inmates and not Joey. I’m not a shy person by any means (I acted on stage in college and high school in front of well more than 50 people) but this was a bit different. For one, when I started I was by no means ‘an expert’ on gardening. And two, I wasn’t sure how well my teaching style would be received.
SPP Nursery Coordinator, Joey Burgess, presenting the Seed to Supper curriculum to gardeners at Stafford Creek Correctional Center. Photo Credit: Ricky Osborne
I remember staying up late the night before my first class scouring the material over and over to make sure I could answer any and every question thrown my way. Of course, I had no such luck. But at the same time I find it kind of funny that I was so worried. I should have guessed that the class would be full of smart, thoughtful, knowledgeable and kind individuals, and it was. They asked me tough questions and challenged me. They took what I offered them, and—with their ideas and questions—made it better. I had been too focused not being a gardening expert or that I am not a perfect teacher. It was helpful to remember that the students weren’t expecting me to be just as I wasn’t expecting them to be perfect students, or any of us to be perfect people. Sure, these men (and women) have made mistakes, but they are people. Many of whom are eager and thirsty for knowledge.
One of the unit gardeners at SCCC raises his hand to ask a question. Photo credit: Ricky Osborne
So for the past year and a half I’ve made the same trek every month not just to teach a group of men about gardening and growing vegetables, but also to learn from them.
However, in 2019 the gardening education program is transitioning and so is my role in it. I won’t be leading the class at SCCC anymore, but there are exciting developments underway. SPP has signed an agreement with Oregon Food Bank to propose changes to the Seeds to Supper curriculum. SPP staff along with incarcerated students and educators at Monroe Correctional Complex and Stafford Creek Corrections Center, Department of Corrections staff, Institute for Applied Ecology, University Beyond Bars, and Tilth Alliance, will be suggesting revisions to the existing Seed to Supper curriculum, enhancing the course with additional modules on select topics, and transitioning the resources to support a peer-led model. Developing this peer-led format builds on a growing number of efforts to empower incarcerated people with resources and support to increase educational opportunities in prisons across the state. So while it means my time delivering the program has ended, the possibility for reaching more incarcerated men and women and sharing the joys and wonders of gardening has never been higher.
And so to the unit gardeners I had the privilege to teach and learn with and to the staff at Stafford Creek I got to work with, I say goodbye for now. Hopefully someday, I will see you in the garden.
Flowers in full bloom at one of the gardens at Stafford Creek Corrections Center. Photo credit: Ricky Osborne
Letter by a Horticulture Program graduate, courtesy of Scott Knapp, Horticulture Instructor
In 2013, a gardener works next to the pumpkin patch. Photo by Cyril Ruoso.
The Centralia College Horticulture Program at the Cedar Creek Correction Center (CCCC) is a valuable asset to our Communities. It teaches us the many aspects of horticulture such as Basic Botany, Equipment Operations, Composting, Pruning, Vertebrate Pest Management, Basic Entomology, Vegetable Gardening, Plant and Flower Propagation, Lawns and Weeds. These are all sustainable resources and very important in our ongoing endeavors to make the planet a better place.
Horticulture students and TAs cultivate ornamental and pollinator plantings throughout the grounds. This display is from summer, 2018.
This season we grew more than twenty-five thousand annual flowers in our greenhouses and planted them around the facility. In addition we grew 8,000 pounds of fresh garden bounty such as Walla Walla, Red and Candy onions, Blue Lake bush beans, Gold summer squash, zucchini, Beets, Carrots, Broccoli, Cabbage, tomatoes, radishes, apples, Bell peppers and strawberries.
Pumpkins await the Fall Family Fun event.
In addition, we support some of our Family Friendly events —most notably the Fall Family Fun event growing about two hundred pumpkins that the kids got to decorate with their dads, and the spring science fair with the plant a plant booth. These are great events and keep the kids and the dads connected to family.
All students and Horticulture Teaching Assistants (TA’s) in Mr. Knapp’s Horticulture program have earned twenty college credits toward our education in the horticulture industry. This will also assist us in our re-entry efforts when we return to our communities.
We learn how to work with a very diverse group of individuals as well as troubleshoot problems that may arise, not just in horticulture but in life. Accomplishing these things gives us a sense of self-worth and builds our self-esteem. Thank you to the Centralia College Faculty and Staff for making our lives better and helping us make the planet a better place.
Sincerely
Current Horticulture Graduate and Teachers Assistant.
Summer 2018 looked like a good one for growing Brassicas!
Emily Butler, Biologist with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), delivers this year’s western pond turtles to Cedar Creek.
Biological Technicians George Gonzalez, Donald McLain, and Jeramie Inge help the turtles settle in.
Biological Technician, Lorenzo Stewart, examines the effects of shell disease on one of the turtles.
Upon arrival, and before technicians transfer them to their new homes, the turtles are offered an appealing snack of prison-grown mealworms.
A state listed endangered species, the western pond turtle struggles with a shell disease. Each year, wildlife veterinarians at Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) treat afflicted turtles. Technicians at CCCC then care for, feed, and monitor the turtles through their recovery period. In the spring, they will be released back into their habitat.
Lorenzo Stewart labels each enclosure.
The turtles at Cedar Creek have access to underwater and basking areas, both heated to comfortable temperatures for the turtles. While their surroundings are kept simple and clean during their recovery, it is important that the turtles have hides where they can escape for some privacy. This enclosure features two hides, one for each of the turtles.
The turtles are typically housed two per enclosure, for companionship. Technicians monitor each pair to ensure compatibility.
CCCC has been caring for western pond turtles from the Puget Sound region since 2013. The biological technicians have the program running smoothly and efficiently.
By Bethany Shepler, SPP Green Track Program Coordinator
Graduates from the Roots of Success class proudly display their certificates; from the top left, you see graduates Jill Robinson, Dara Alvarez, Shannon Marie Xiap, Nikkea Marin, Katlynn Draughon, and instructor Chelsey Johnson.
We’re so excited to announce that Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women (MCCCW) just graduated their first Roots of Success (Roots) course since 2015! Five students completed the 10-module course, and they are excited to put their education to work, and continue learning more.
These graduates are about to lose their instructor to release, leaving a potential void. The SPP team at Evergreen sees this as a worthy challenge, one that we are happy to address. We have put together a package of supplemental education materials that don’t require a certified instructor: movies, books, and articles that relate to the material presented in the Roots curriculum.
Roots instructor Chelsey Johnson presents Nikkea Marin with her certificate.
Graduates have the support of MCCCW
staff who also want to implement some of the things students learned about in the
Roots course. For example, they hope to start working with the folks from TerraCycle
to recycle the “non-recyclable” waste the facility generates. We can’t wait to
hear about their continued successes – keep up the good work!
