By James Atteberry, Facilities Manager for Washington State Penitentiary
and Joslyn Rose Trivett, SPP Education and Outreach Manager
These LEDs are in the Steam Plant.
Starting in 2015, Washington State Department of Corrections (WA Corrections) has been committed to converting all lighting to LED (Light Emitting Diode) fixtures. LEDs are far more efficient than conventional fixtures, so replacements and retrofits should save energy and reduce expenses at the same time.
LEDs illuminate exercise in the South Complex gym.
East Complex parking lot lighting looking good after the switch to LEDs.
In the past year, Washington State Penitentiary (WSP)’s headway toward meeting the commitment stands out; WSP’s Electrical Department has transformed their lighting landscape. The in-house team of staff and incarcerated electricians has completed eight major projects so far, renovating the lighting for the steam plant, general store, engineers warehouse dock, Unit 7 roof, east complex parking lot, and inside and outside the Intensive Management Unit (IMU) and gyms.
Of course, these retrofits required a sizable investment up front, but the payoffs come quickly. For the in-house projects completed thus far, the initial costs were about $73,000; pay back from incentive programs cut more than 30% off that price, reducing it to around $50,000. An additional project was contracted out, and another funded by Capital Projects; even in these cases, WSP received the incentive pay back. Before long, expected energy savings will pay off the rest: reduced energy bills for each area will pay off installation costs in one to six years. For example, the new lighting in and around the IMU will save WA Corrections $5,181 in energy bills annually; the savings pays off installation costs in less than three years, and, after that point, it frees up funds to spend on other necessities and improvements.
If that’s not already sweet enough, the labor saving in maintenance is huge as well. Some LED fixtures can last up to 20 years before needing repair! LED retrofits look like a total win for the prison. We offer our credit and thanks to WSP’s Electrical Department and to WA Corrections leadership for the vision and hard work that has gone into saving energy and creating efficiency.
These are the new LED roof lights; image to the right shows a close up.
The Sustainable Practices Lab exterior is now lit by LEDs.
Text by former Cedar Creek Turtle Technician William “Bill” Anglemyer.
Forward by former SPP Turtle Program Coordinator, Jessica Brown.
Photos by SPP Conservation Coordinator, Marisa Pushee (unless otherwise noted).
I met Bill during my first visit to Cedar Creek over a year ago when I started as SPP’s Turtle Program Coordinator. Although Bill is quite humble in sharing his experience as a technician, he played a huge role in the success of the western pond turtle program: his organization, attention to detail, and dedication to the turtles’ health and welfare were instrumental to building the program. It was fun to witness his passion for reading and writing about environmental issues leading him to the Organic Farming Program at Evergreen. Recently, Marisa Pushee and I had the chance to visit Bill on the organic farm and get a tour of all the gardens and operations, including Bill’s carrots! Below are Bill’s own words about his time with SPP, and what he’s been up to since his time as a Turtle Technician.
Bill shows a harvest of his prized carrots at Evergeen’s Organic Farm. Photo by Tierra Petersen.
My name is William “Bill” Anglemyer. I spent over 3 years working as a Turtle Technician at Cedar Creek Correctional Center through SPP, in collaboration with the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife. In those 3+ years, I did much more than care for turtles. I also raised Oregon spotted frogs for the summer of the first year and maintained cricket and mealworm breeding operations. Additionally, I was involved in the video monitoring of four different species of woodpeckers for a research program conducted by the US Forest Service.
In the western pond turtle program, I learned about the importance of biodiversity and the role of different species within our world. At first, most of this learning was done to counter arguments by staff and other inmates who failed to see the value in preserving endangered species. I spent my time studying textbooks on conservation biology and animal behavior (ethology). After a few years studying those subjects and countering arguments from different people, I began to really understand the importance and the dangers that go along with the current climate situation.
Along with my passion for environmentalism, I have always been interested in journalism. This is because I believe journalism is the only field in which a person’s job is to learn all they can about everything in the world.
Beautiful flowers growing at the Organic Farm on Evergreen’s campus.
I am currently enrolled in The Evergreen State College where I’m studying organic farming and the local food movement. My plan is to be a voice for small farmers in future journalistic pursuits. In one year I will complete my bachelor’s degree. My plan is to produce pieces on environmental, socio-economic, and social justice issues without the sensationalization that is part and parcel of many mainstream media productions. As to current projects, a classmate and I are working on a coffee table book of photography with pictures of recreational vehicles which feature a comical prefix added to their names.
After I complete my degree at Evergreen, I hope to attend the environmental journalism school at CU Boulder — more schooling never hurts when it comes to learning skills and making contacts.
Bill hard at work on the Organic Farm at Evergreen.
by Joslyn Trivett, SPP Education and Outreach Manager
Airway Heights Corrections Center (AHCC) is a fair trip from the Evergreen team’s offices in Olympia—a six hour drive, or a flight to Spokane and renting a car. Even so, each of us who has been before looks for excuses to go again. AHCC positivity and enthusiasm are infectious, and it is great fun to join them whenever we can.
A likely source of the positivity is the staff culture; it is easy to feel the influence of AHCC leadership and staff wellness and productivity throughout the facility. They take on new projects expecting to succeed, and work hard. At the same time, they don’t take themselves too seriously. They laugh a lot! They talk openly about their own faults, and poke friendly fun at others.
AHCC staff make fun during a sustainability meeting. Photo by Ricky Osborne.
AHCC’s waste sorting program is so effective that the incarcerated porter didn’t understand what the corrections staff meant when asking about “garbage.” That word starting to lose its meaning was so delightful that we all started to laugh.
Before a nature illustration class, Associate Heinrich talks with an incarcerated student. Photo by Ricky Osborne.
Just as important, they also listen intently to others’ ideas and questions. They believe in each other, and do a grand job of celebrating everyone’s successes. The work environment is pervaded by a can-do attitude. As Kraig Witt, Recreation Specialist 4, has said, “This is our giant coloring book. Let’s play…there’s no can’t. We can do anything.”
Their optimism finds many willing partners. AHCC hosts extraordinarily productive sustainability programs. To name a few: a thriving in-prison beekeeping club; Pawsitive dog training supported by two humane societies; more than 500 cords of firewood processed for donation to low income families each year; new quilting and vermicomposting programs. Most of the prison grounds are devoted to gardens, and when regional water contamination meant they needed to suspend growing vegetables, they planted flowers instead; they know how to make lemonade from lemons!
Correctional Program Manager Mike Klemke describes the Computers 4 Kids program. In the last year, incarcerated technicians refurbished 4,321 computers.
At the heart of these efforts is investing in AHCC staff. Associate Superintendent Kay Heinrich has said, “It really engages the staff to care about the environment of where they work. People care about where they’re working; it increases their morale.” A previously incarcerated SPP technician and current Evergreen student advised us that taking care of staff makes the prison experience better for everyone. We look to follow AHCC’s example on what that can look like.
Text and Photos by Erin Lynam, SPP Workshop Series Coordinator and Alexandra James, SPP Conservation Nursery Coordinator
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.
July’s Environmental Workshopat Washington Corrections Center (WCC) was a very special one. This month’s guest experts were Conservation Technicians from SPP’s Conservation Nursery Program at WCC. Presenting alongside were the Teaching Assistants (TAs) that work with and support the technicians every day.
The workshop was about the technicians’ day-to-day work in WCC’s greenhouse and gardens to promote ecological and cultural restoration projects across Washington State. They covered the ecological importance of the early blue violet, especially its connection to the silverspot butterfly. They described the tedious but incredibly important process of growing violets and collecting their seeds, and how that work directly impacts the greater South Sound communities. They spoke to personal impacts their environmental work has had on them. In addition, they talked about the future of their work and the initiation of new conservation-minded projects at WCC.
SPP’s Conservation Nursery hosted by WCC continues to be among the most generative nurseries for native violet production for restoration of South Salish lowland prairies. The violets grown at WCC are used in prairie restoration efforts by state and federal agencies and conservation organizations including U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, Joint-Base Lewis McChord, WA Department of Fish and Wildlife, WA Department of Natural Resources, and the Center for Natural Lands Management. Violet seed collection is the focus for WCC’s Conservation Nursery Program, where Technicians learn how to nurture thousands of violet plants to optimize seed production. Technicians collect seeds from June to November. Collected seeds require cleaning, which requires sifting through a 5-plate seed sifter, inspection, and stowing in seed-safe containers. The technicians’ careful work ensure that seeds are well cleaned and ready for delivery to the various agencies and organizations.
Pictured on the left side of the table, TA Situe Fuiava and technician Dustin Sutherland show the process of sorting violet seeds.
Just like anyone who has to speak in front of a group of people, the technicians and TAs were nervous, but it didn’t show: they were cool as cucumbers through the presentation. However, by sharing their immense knowledge, demonstrating how seeds are sorted, and addressing challenging questions about the conservation work they do, their workshop was both engaging and interesting. After the workshop, it was evident that the successful experience had been a boost to their confidence. They were chatty with excitement, and were even walking a little taller.
And it wasn’t just the technicians who were positively affected by their presentation; the staff was affected as well. They showed honor and excitement for the excellent crew. WCC’s Workshop Series Liaison, Jeff Sanders, said he could not stop smiling through the whole workshop. Nursery Coordinator Alexandra James expressed that she felt incredibly proud of the crew for their hard work, dedication, and passion for the program and its positive impact on our prairie ecosystems.
Technicians and TAs present; Conservation Nursery Coordinator, Alexandra James, was only needed for technical support.
The town of Airway Heights was greatly impacted by the contamination, and the local prison was no exception. AHCC has a large agriculture and gardening program that was forced to throw out about 100,000 pounds of fresh vegetables grown on site because of contamination concerns.
A view of a field inside at AHCC where inmates grow produce. This picture was taken in early spring of 2016.
This is the same AHCC field when I visited in late May. No produce was growing, and none would be for the remainder of 2018.
A year later, things have mostly righted themselves in Airway Heights. Prison administrators told me that soil tests have shown their soil has low amounts of contaminants in it, if any. Even so, they wanted to be sure the soil was completely clear before planting produce again. For 2018, many of the vegetable gardens were growing flowers only. Flowers can “clean” the soil by pulling the contaminants out of it.
The courtyard at AHCC full of produce in Spring of 2016.
This Spring, showy flowers are found throughout the courtyard and gardens, in most places where you could find vegetables in recent years.
The inmates and staff are confident they will be growing produce again next year. Until then the flowers look beautiful, and the pollinators love them!
A honeybee collects pollen from bluebonnets growing in the prison courtyard.
Inmates at the WSRU Vermiculture program partner with the University of Washington to test the ability of soil health to influence human health
By Nick, Teaching Assistant for University Beyond Bars, Monroe Correctional Complex Photos courtesy of Joel Strom, University Beyond Bars
Ms. Landefeld harvests from the plots with the help of a composting technician.
With the goal of improving how we grow food, Washington State Reformatory (WSRU) vermiculture technicians and scientists from the University of Washington (UW) are studying soil health at the prison. The incarcerated technicians are assisting with scientific trials of different types of soils to see if they can produce vegetables containing higher levels of key elements that have been shown to improve human health.
Earlier this year the vermiculture program was approached by Dr. Sally Brown, a professor at the UW Ecosystem Science Division, College of Forest Resources, to assist in this project. Dr. Brown had become familiar with the vermiculture program when she co-authored an article with one of the inmate technicians about some of the composting techniques employed at the facility. Dr. Brown had been working with graduate student Sally Landefeld on a series of trials to grow vegetables in several different types of soil to test for relationships between soil health and antioxidants and other important disease-fighting nutrients. On a tour of the facility, Dr. Brown noticed a unique opportunity in the gardens adjacent to the worm farm: the soil there had been treated with composting by-products for several years, some areas with Bokashi-treated (fermented) compost and others with vermicompost (worm castings).
A trial plot is ready for planting; Washington State Reformatory Unit (WSRU) at Monroe Correctional Complex (MCC). Photo courtesy of Joel Strom, University Beyond Bars (UBB).
In April, Dr. Brown and Ms. Landefeld met with vermiculture technicians and set out three separate plots that would be used for the trials:
No soil treatments with soil amendments
Several treatments of Bokashi composted food waste over several years
Heavily treated with worm castings and vermicompost.
One of the vermiculture technicians was asked to be the project lead. He and his peers prepared and marked the plots for planting.
Dr. Brown and Ms. Landefeld returned in May and planted broccoli, carrots and onions in all three plots. Despite an ongoing battle with rabbits throughout the spring, by June the crops in all three plots were growing well.
Ms. Landefeld returned to the vermiculture program in mid-June to deliver an instructional presentation on how she decided on the path for her doctorate and what she was hoping to accomplish with the prison-hosted study. The WSRU vermiculture program offers a 1,000 hour SPP certification in collaboration with Tilth Alliance, and guest lecture are part of the curriculum. In this presentation, Ms. Landefelt said:
“We are just starting to understand the intricate relationship between soil health and public health. Healthy soil contains plenty of organic matter, which provides nutrients to plants, fosters microbial life, and improves soil physical properties including water holding ability and tilth. If we deplete soil organic matter, we may reduce the soil’s ability to produce high yielding crops that are also rich in nutrients. This project aims to (i) characterize soil health by analyzing soil properties including carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, organic matter, soil structure and microbial content, and to (ii) quantify both quantity and quality of the vegetables grown on the control and high organic matter plots. In addition to plant yield, we will test the vegetables for nutrients, vitamin B6 (pyroxidal) and phytochemicals including sulforaphane, beta-carotene (provitamin A), and quercetin.”
Broccoli growing in the vermicompost plot.
By mid-July, the broccoli was ready to be harvested and Dr. Brown and Ms. Landefeld worked with the technicians to harvest from all three plots.
As the project progresses they will return to the prison periodically to harvest other vegetables and take soil samples. The vitamins and phytochemicals will be tested using a technique called liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) in order to relate the phytochemical content of common garden crops with soil health.
This project is a great example of SPP’s vision to create a collaborative, intellectually stimulating environment in which incarcerated men and women play key roles in conservation and advancing scientific knowledge and has been a win-win for the vermiculture program as well as the University.
Dr. Brown and a vermiculture technician harvest from a trial plot.
Photos and text by Jacob Meyers, Prairie Conservation Nursery Coordinator
Pop. Pop. Pop. Scream. Laughter. Pop. Pop. Pop.
Crew members (left to right) Tammera Thurlby, Danielle Castillo, and Angela Jantzi harvesting Viola adunca on a hot summer day.
That may sound like a group of teenagers watching a horror movie while waiting for the popcorn to finish in the microwave. In reality, it was a scene that played out a couple weeks ago, as I and several nursery technicians spent the afternoon harvesting Viola (violet) seeds. The scream was mine: a seed pod caught me off guard when it unexpectedly exploded in my cup. The crew (rightfully so) hasn’t let me forget that a Viola seed pod scared me half to death. (In my defense, a spider had just crawled across my leg and I was a little bit on edge.)
It’s rarely a dull moment at WCCW these days. While most of the flowers finished blooming in early May, June and July have been full of exploding violet pods and which means there is a lot of work to be done! As my co-worker wrote a few weeks back, the early-blue violet (Viola adunca) is an extremely important prairie plant in the recovery of prairie landscapes, and to the Fritillary butterflies (Zerene Fritillary – Speyeria zerene bremnerii – and the Great Spangled Fritillary – Speyeria cybele pugetensis) in particular. At WCCW, we have two species of viola currently – the aforementioned early blue violet and the yellow violet (Viola praemorsa). The Viola adunca cultivated at WCCW is collected for seed to aid in the recovery of the Zerene fritillary (Speyeria zerene hippolyta) on the Oregon Coast.
Violets are commonly known to even the most inexperienced gardener. Heck, even people who don’t garden are familiar with the small, heart-shaped flowers that are typical of the genera. But what you may not know is that the Viola genus contains more than 500 species! The ones we grow at SPP are a bit hardier than your typical Viola. The species we cultivate are found in places where water is hard to come by—prairies, savannahs, sand dunes and on the edges of woodlands. Regardless of where they are found, Viola species serve as an important nectar source for pollinators.
Here are some pictures of the beautiful blooms we had at WCCW this year:
The early-blue violet (Viola adunca) is found across the cooler states and provinces of North America in coastal sand bluffs, prairies, and woods. Another of its common names is the sand violet.
There are 8 beds of Viola adunca at WCCW. The plants are six inches apart, which is a bit tighter than is typical for a seed farm or nursery, but allows us to cram in approximately 400 Violas in each bed!!
Viola praemorsa, or the canary violet, is far less common than its bluish-purple cousin. This violet is only found in western North American oak savannahs and oak woodlands.
This is a wide view of all the raised beds at WCCW. Viola praemorsa in the foreground, Viola adunca (purple flowers) beyond, and two beds of wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana) all the way in the back. Strawberries are also an important pollinator plant in prairie habitat.
Scott Skaggs is the Grounds & Facilities Supervisor at WCCW and helps manage the Nursery Crew. In the photo above Scott is doing a little bit of spot weeding.
While very pretty, the beautiful flowers have a forthcoming message – it’s reproduction time! And after those beautiful signals go off and a little bit of magic (sexual reproduction via pollination), little baby plants (aka seeds) begin to emerge!! After baking in the sun for a number of days or weeks, Viola species all form capsules or “pods” that split open and disperse. Or as is the case in the species we grow at SPP – the pods explode like the one in my cup. The photos below show seed pods developing, and their processing after we harvest them.
In the above photo, a Viola adunca plant is starting the reproduction process. The seed pods are typically green colored and curled up like an umbrella when they first emerge. As the pods mature, their color whitens and the stems stands up straight in preparation for pod explosion.
A mature Viola adunca seed pod: notice the whiter coloring and erect stem; this is the perfect time to harvest the pods.
This photo shows what happens when Viola pods go unharvested. Most of the pods’ seed disperses about 5 feet in every direction during the explosion – some have been found up to 10 feet from their parent plants!!
Sometimes, however, the seed stays put. This isn’t great for the plant’s reproductive success rate; for people collecting seed, it’s a welcome sight!
Harvesting all of the seed pods ready at one time can take the entire WCCW crew anywhere from 3 to 5 or 6 hours. Depending on when during the collection season we’re harvesting, there can be a lot of pods to pick!
After harvesting, all of the pods go into bins where they can continue to dry out and “pop” for easy collection. Here is a bin of Viola praemorsa sitting on a window ledge to get a little extra sunlight.
A tule cloth on top keeps all the seeds from flying all over the office!
In this photo most of the pods have already exploded and left behind their seed on the bin floor. These are Viola praemorsa seed which is quite a bit larger (at least 2-3x larger) than Viola adunca seed.
After going through several rounds of sifting with professional grade sieves all that remains is A LOT of Viola adunca seed. It has been a tremendously successful season at WCCW. We anticipate easily surpassing our goal of 2-3 pounds!
This picture illustrates just how small Viola adunca seed actually is! The small size is another reason why harvesting seed mechanically or after the pods explode is nearly impossible!!
Looking through these pictures one might be able to deduce that the task of harvesting viola seed can be monotonous, and quite time consuming. As technician Tammera Thurlby told me, “I harvested so many viola seeds/pods that when I close my eyes it’s all I can see.” But beyond helping the Fritillary butterflies prairie habitat here in the Pacific Northwest, the caring for and cultivation of violas at WCCW also produces something that might be harder to see – an opportunity for the technicians to grow and heal themselves. “My life has been a lot of taking, so it’s nice to be able to give back,” said Ms. Thurlby.
“Give back to what?” I asked.
“To everything. Helping save an endangered species, doing something positive and constructive with my life rather than destructive,” she replied.
Her words reminded me of what I heard from a technician at Stafford Creek, Michael Gorski; he said to a group of partners, “A lot of what they’re [SPP] growing is people. They’re saving lives – opening the master key for life.”
Little Viola seeds turn into plants with beautiful flowers, which in turn may feed an endangered butterfly; but you never know what kind of seed you are planting in any given moment or interaction when working with people.
Technician Tammera Thurlby holds up a tiny Viola adunca seed pod during a day of harvesting this past summer.
By Keegan Curry, SPP Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Program Coordinator
Two community service crewmembers from MCCCW transplant lettuce at the GRACE project.
I recently visited the Kitsap Conservation District (KCD) near Poulsbo, WA to learn more about their innovative GRACE project. GRACE is an acronym for Gardening for Restoration and Conservation Education. Each week, a community service crew from Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women (MCCCW) visits the KCD property and
The KCD offers assistance to landowners throughout the county to help improve their water and soil quality, along with managing other resources in the area.
tends a large vegetable garden that provides fresh produce to local food banks. This gives the incarcerated crew a chance to help those in need while gaining valuable skills in small-scale agriculture and farm management.
“This is where it all happens,” said Diane as she led me through a hi-tunnel full of lush tomato plants. Beyond the tunnel lay several rows of mixed veggies, including onions, garlic, chard, kale, zucchini, yellow squash, collards, green lettuce, and more. It seemed like a diverse crop for such a small area! Shortly after my introduction to the garden, the crew from MCCCW arrived. Diane described their objectives for the morning and soon everyone had an assigned task, spade or shovel in hand.
Resource Planner Diane Fish coordinates the GRACE project, along with other KCD programs. She is an expert farm manager!
I spoke to the crew as they worked in pairs. “I didn’t know anything about gardening before I started coming here,” said one crewmember as she transplanted lettuce starts into carefully-spaced rows. “Now, I want to have my own garden at home once I get out.”
This sentiment was echoed by many women on the crew. They were also keen to mention that their labor was contributing to a good cause. Not only has the garden produced thousands of pounds of produce for local food banks, but the crew even planted a field of carving pumpkins that will be donated to food bank clients via vouchers; families who receive the vouchers can visit the KCD the week before Halloween and pick out their own jack-o-lantern free of charge!
A community service crewmember searches for the ripest zucchini.
MCCCW crews have worked on various KCD projects over the years including stream restoration for salmon recovery, native habitat revegetation, and other less glamorous conservation work. I spoke to Diane again after my visit and she emphasized that these crews “really are saving the world, a little bit at a time, in all the work they do for KCD.” The GRACE project was conceived as a way to enhance the KCD’s existing collaboration with MCCCW. This special initiative adds a meaningful service experience for the incarcerated gardeners while producing much-wanted, high-quality vegetables and herbs for local food banks.
By the end of July, 2018, the GRACE project had donated 4,356 pounds of fresh produce to Central Kitsap Food Bank, St. Vincent DePaul Food Bank, and the Bremerton Foodline. And in an exciting new development, the kitchen at MCCCW has agreed to take donations of produce that can be used for the prison cafeteria.
Thank you to Diane Fish and the KCD for giving me the grand tour, and for working with MCCCW to develop this project. And thanks to the incarcerated crew for getting soil between their fingers as they work to help communities in-need. Yet again, I am reminded of the transformative power of simply growing food.
A wide shot of the GRACE project farm, with MCCCW community service crewmembers harvesting produce for this week’s donations.
A running tally of donated pounds of produce for 2018. The year is only halfway over, and the GRACE project farm is designed to yield fresh produce year-round!
The day’s harvest begins to accumulate as community service crewmembers check on their progress. It’s satisfying to know that these bountiful crates of produce will provide nourishment for those in need.
Text and photos by Amanda Mintz unless otherwise noted.
If you have never seen Stafford Creek Corrections Center, you might be surprised; among the fences and gray buildings are one and a half acres of flower and vegetable gardens. This includes several very large plots, many ornamental plantings, and a plot for every living unit. Inmates tend the gardens daily among the bees and butterflies; they experiment with novel gardening techniques, and carefully hand-water the plants.
A unit garden at Stafford Creek Corrections Center. Photograph by Kelly Peterson.
The incarcerated gardeners take a monthly class called Seed to Supper, co-lead by SPP Conservation Nursery Coordinator Jacob Meyers and SCCC’s Grounds and Nursery Supervisor Ed Baldwin (Ed is also the Prairie Conservation Nursery Liaison). Seed to Supper lasts nine sessions, during which participants learn how to grow and harvest produce in the Pacific Northwest. Mr. Baldwin decides what to grow, sometimes choosing unusual vegetables new to the gardeners. In class, the gardeners are encouraged to share their strategies and successes with one another to improve their skills collectively. Each class concludes with Mr. Baldwin announcing the weekly haul for each living unit—usually several hundred pounds per garden. Last year, SCCC produced 11,000 pounds of food. This year they have already broken that record, and will harvest over 19,000 pounds of produce by the end of this month!
This hoop house was donated by SPP’s conservation nursery for growing food, and according to Ed Baldwin, it has increased production of heat and sun loving vegetables that are difficult to grow in the cooler coastal climate of SCCC.
Conservation Nursery Technicians Shabazz Malekk and Aaron Bander strike a pose in the hoop house.
SPP’s Conservation Nursery Technicians maintain the HUB gardens, where they use experimental techniques for natural pest suppression and increasing plant growth.
Most garden seed comes from Harvest Now, an organization that works with correctional facilities nationwide to grow-to-donate and provide fresh food for their own cafeterias. At SCCC, most of the produce is donated to Coastal Harvest, a non-profit organization serving food banks and pantries in a seven-county area of Southwestern Washington. Ed Baldwin was responsible for initiating the partnership; he visited Coastal Harvest and invited them to come tour the gardens at SCCC. According to Coastal Harvest staff, the response to the partnership from the community is very positive; SCCC is their only regular weekly contributor of fresh produce, and they are grateful for it.
I asked some of SPP’s Conservation Nursery Technicians, who also tend the HUB gardens and greenhouse, and Mr. Baldwin how they feel about donating most of the food they grow.
Technician Dale King said that, before he came to Stafford Creek, his life was all about himself; he never did anything for anyone else. Now he feels good about the opportunity to do something for others in need.
Conservation Nursery Technicians Dale King and Daniel Travatte are proud to provide food for Coastal Harvest.
In addition to experimenting with growing techniques, the garden crew re-purposes as many items as possible, such as using plastic bags and buckets to grow tomatoes and eggplants.
The other technicians agreed; because they have their basic needs addressed, their work has become a labor of love; the gratitude from the community is more important to them than eating the food themselves. The community served by Coastal Harvest is their community too, and it cultivates a sense of pride to be able to give back. They brought up the idea that it takes one to one-and-a-half acres to feed one person for a year. There are almost 2000 people at SCCC, and not even two acres of gardens; Ed Baldwin and the technicians agreed that what they grow would be only a drop in the bucket at the prison.
Starting in July, they figured out how to send some produce to the inmate kitchen; kitchen staff come out every Monday to look through the harvest and take what they can use to supplement inmate meals for the week, usually salad greens and herbs. Many of the prison-grown pumpkins will be contributed to SCCC’s monthly Family Fun Night in October, where inmates and their families will paint them for Halloween.
More than anything else, the Conservation Nursery Technicians at SCCC expressed that they appreciate the learning experience created by the partnership with Coastal Harvest. They have experimented with unusual fruit and vegetable varieties and adjusted their production based on feedback about the most popular items at the food banks and pantries. Mr. Baldwin thinks that at this point, each participating gardener could easily start his own business. Technician Daniel Travatte even went as far as saying he would pay to do this work!
Conservation Nursery Technicians Kelly Lund and Stanley Feliciano cool off inside the squash trellis.
Many plants begin their lives in the greenhouse and move into the gardens as they mature.
Although less popular at the food banks, Coastal Harvest uses unusual or unknown vegetable varieties at their pantries, where they prepare and give away meals.
In late April, the Astrobiology for the Incarcerated program visited five prisons plus a youth facility in Ohio. In four densely-packed days, we reached 440 incarcerated participants and 55 staff and teacher participants—it was a satisfying whirlwind of activity and ideas. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction‘s Energy Conservation & Sustainability Administrator Jacqueline Langhals gave excellent administrative support for the program, and Corrections staff and incarcerated students were gracious and enthusiastic hosts. Whereas Dr Drew Gorman-Lewis presented on astrobiology research in the Washington State series, in Ohio it was Dr Jackie Goordial who covered research; she is a microbiologist currently at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences.
In Ohio, nearly every event was held in the prison chapel, which—for many—elicited a perceived conflict between science and spirituality. Luckily, Daniella Scalice is a master of taking a hard question and suggesting how to transform it into a beautiful idea. She offered that we think about astrobiology’s origin stories as complementary, even reinforcing, the origin stories of many religions. She pointed to the root meaning of the word Universe:uni meaning one; verse meaning story. Thinking about it this way, astrobiology gives us one of many powerful and meaningful origin stories.
At every presentation, Daniella read a moving quote by Carl Sagan in which he describes a photograph of Earth taken by Voyager 1 from about 4 billion miles away; the earth appears as a pale blue dot—barely visible at that distance:
Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there—on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
~ Carl Sagan, 1994
At Grafton Corrections Institution, Daniella Scalice reads Carl Sagan’s response to an image of Earth from 4 billion miles away.
Impromptu Seminars
At every facility, the incarcerated students brought excellent observations and queries. As Jackie described her research on microbes in an Antarctic desert and the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, she was peppered with keen questions. Sometimes, the questions were so insightful that Jackie would pause before responding to say, “That’s amazing.” Then she would explain how the question exposed the very heart of the topic, bringing up questions that she and her colleagues had investigated for months, or would be central to her future work as a scientist.
Students at Franklin Medical Center, just south of Columbus, asked highly scientific questions of Dr Jackie Goordial, to her delight.Many students engaged in informal seminars following the presentation; this one is at Noble Corrections Institution.
Following every presentation, many students would gather for informal seminar on astrobiology topics. Jackie and Daniella fielded their questions and input with grace and humor, listening carefully and validating the many astute observations. They discussed pathways for studying astrobiology and other scientific disciplines, how a person can become a scientist, and who pays for scientific research and outreach.
At Cuyahoga Hills Youth Facility, Daniella Scalice supported teams of students and teachers designing and budgeting a mission to search for life elsewhere in our Solar System. Photo by Doc Brown.
What next?
Next on the schedule is Florida Department of Corrections, where seven facilities will host the program in September. At the same time, the team will offer return visits and multimedia materials for prison libraries. Noble Corrections Institution plans to do even more, creating a multi-speaker series that’s a proper “program” yielding a certificate; speakers would present via video, and those sessions would tie to the multimedia library with post-lecture “homework” assignments. Sounds like an ideal iteration of the program!
Abundant thanks to all the staff, leadership, and incarcerated students in Ohio. It would be wonderful to bring the program back again in the future!
The crowd at Noble Corrections Institution takes in Daniella’s presentation.Jackie is charmed by Miss Josie at Grafton Reintegration Center. The tie to astrobiology? Well, even the atoms of adorable Miss Josie were built in the heart of a star.;-)
