TO: Friends and Neighbors

FROM: John Gerber

My gardens are open for your to enjoy. Please feel free to wander about, sit and relax, and pick anything you would like. If you are unfamiliar with the garden, you can access it just west of the path between Harlow and Rolling Ridge (off of East Pleasant). The entrance looks like this….

The first edible plant you’ll find is the mulberry tree to the left of the chairs near the entrance. Mulberries should be picked when they are just about to fall off the plant (otherwise they will be kind of bitter).

Continue reading My Rolling Ridge Gardens are Open →

Lord Jeffrey Amherst might be considered the 18th century poster child for white supremacy culture, yet he is still honored today….

Adapted from Jordan Gill · CBC News · Posted: Apr 29, 2017

As an initiative to change the name of Port-la-Joye–Fort Amherst National Historic Site on Prince Edwards Island in Canada. is being debated, a researcher weighs in on the history of Jeffery Amherst.

Mi’kmaq elders and the Mi’kmaq Confederacy of Prince Edwards Island, Canada, have raised questions about the honouring of Amherst, by naming sites after him — arguing he was not only an enemy of Indigenous people, but worse.

To say Amherst was a decorated military man would be an understatement. He was a Field Marshal in the British Army. He served during the Seven Years’ War in New France or modern day Nova Scotia. He also held the offices of Governor of Quebec as well as Crown Governor of Virginia and was named a Lord.

But scholars have long debated Amherst’s actions during his service, including allegations he advocated the use of biological warfare, through smallpox blankets, to kill Indigenous peoples.

See an example of a scholarly document here.

Continue reading Why do we continue to honor Jeffrey Amherst? →

There is a garden where you are welcome to come and sit, walk, meditate, pick blueberries when they are ready, cut flowers in season, and bring your kids to see the chickens…..

The entrance to the garden is through a gate between 132 and 158 Rolling Ridge Rd., right next to the walking path between Harlow and Rolling Ridge. This almost one acre garden produced vegetables, chickens and turkeys for my family for many years. Now that I am living alone, I would like to share the garden with neighbors.

Anytime the gate is open, you are welcome to come in and explore.

This garden is currently under development as I have done very little there for the past few years. I asked an ecological landscape designer to give me some advice and they produced a map as a guide to development, which will likely take several years.

I am not following the design exactly, but this gives you an idea of what it might be like someday.

This project is related to a study I did on our neighborhood last winter that may be seen here: https://changingthestory.net/2020/11/22/our-backyard/

If you would like to be on an email list to receive notice when something is ready to pick, please send me a note at jgerber@umass.edu.

Welcome to the sharing garden……

The following article is taken from a web page called “FairyGodBoss”, a resource for women in the workplace offering advice on how to be successful. It offers interesting advice and tips on professional behavior, regardless of gender identity. Original Post

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Professionalism is pivotal to career success, a recent study on Career Readiness conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) found, with 97.5% of employers who responded calling it absolutely essential or essential. The workplace has certainly changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but that doesn’t mean professionalism is any less important.

What is career professionalism? 

Being professional might mean a variety of things, from how you dress at work to how you perform. Mastering professionalism at work is vital for success and happiness on the job. Contrary to what some believe, true professionalism in the workplace is not restricted to any industry. Whether you’re a waitress working a part-time job or a lawyer making six-figures, you need to practice professional behavior and be hard working. There are certain standards of professional conduct, and not meeting them could make or break your future at a company.

Continue reading Professionalism: 11 Important Workplace Qualities →

A symbol of re-birth

As the seasons move into autumn and winter, many trees will enter a hibernation phase and lose their leaves. Come springtime however, trees will slowly re-emerge, sprouting tiny buds at first before blossoming to life. Much like the life cycle of trees, our lives can experience seasons of darkness and light, death and re-birth. The Tree of Life symbol therefore represents re-birth, positive energy and new beginnings.

A Connection to Everything: The Tree of Life commonly represents the interconnectedness of everything in the universe. It symbolizes togetherness and serves as a reminder that you are never alone or isolated, but rather that you are connected to the world. The roots of the Tree of Life dig deep and spread into the earth, thereby accepting nourishment from Mother Earth, and its branches reach up into the sky, accepting energy from the sun and moon.  

Ancestry, Family, and Fertility: The Tree of Life symbol also represents the connection to one’s family and ancestors. The Tree of Life has an intricate network of branches that represents how a family grows and expands throughout many generations. It also symbolizes fertility as it always finds a way to keep growing, through seeds or new saplings, and is lush and green, which signifies its vitality. 

As one of the assignments in STOCKSCH 382 – Professional Development in Sustainable Food and Farming, students are asked to write a Personal Diversity and Inclusion paragraph. This is becoming more common among employers as part of a routine job application package. This blog will help you to create your own D & I statement.

Why write a Diversity and Inclusion Statement

Writing a Diversity and Inclusion Statement of your own allows you to clarify your own thinking with respect to these issues in your life and in the work place or school.  Many employers are now requiring such a statement as part of a routine job application process.  In addition, you may find yourself on a team some day where your workplace is trying to create such a statement.  This is good practice! 

Continue reading Your personal diversity and inclusion statement →

Author: Suresh V. Kuchipudi

Clinical Professor and Associate Director of Animal Diagnostic Laboratory, Penn State – March 4, 2020

The coronavirus disease, known as COVID-19, is a frightening reminder of the imminent global threat posed by emerging infectious diseases. Although epidemics have arisen during all of human history, they now seem to be on the rise. In just the past 20 years, coronaviruses alone have caused three major outbreaks worldwide. Even more troubling, the duration between these three pandemics has gotten shorter.

I am a virologist and associate director of the Animal Diagnostic Laboratory at Penn State University, and my laboratory studies zoonotic viruses, those that jump from animals and infect people. Most of the pandemics have at least one thing in common: They began their deadly work in Asia or Africa. The reasons why may surprise you.

Continue reading Why so many epidemics originate in Asia and Africa – and why we can expect more →

Shortly after Phyl died, I asked friends and family to send me a short video clip of themselves talking to our grandchildren about their GG. I made the following two videos from these clips. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

John Gerber

1.Family and friends from the “old days” tell GG’s grandchildren about their GG – 28 minutes

2. Remembering Phyl Part II – Amherst Friends – 45 minutes

In addition, there are two videos from Phyl’s Celebration of Life

3. Wildwood Celebration for Phyl – Part I

4. Wildwood Celebration for Phyl – Part II

And a few favorites

5. There is Love – 4 minutes

6. A Parade for Phyl and Sue – May 22, 2020

7. Three Years of Phyl in Four Minutes – 4 minutes

8. Phyl Goes to MIT – 3 minutes

9. Phyl at the Beach – 3 minutes

And finally…

10. Phyl’s story – 38 blog posts

This is what our mermaid is doing now……

The seeds of truly green technologies are being planted now.

By Linda Rodriguez McRobbie – November 29, 2020

Karen Sarkisyan’s tobacco plants glow. Not quite enough to read by, and less than, say, a freshly cracked glow stick, but much more than your average tobacco plant glows, because your average tobacco plant doesn’t glow at all. In fact, although many species of marine creatures, insects, fungi, and bacteria naturally emit light, no plants do.

“I personally am amazed every time when I look at them in the dark room,” says Sarkisyan, a synthetic biologist at the London Institute of Medical Sciences at Imperial College London and the CEO of the biotech startup Planta, based in Russia, where Sarkisyan got his degree. A time-lapse video of the plants growing over several weeks shows their

glowing leaves and trumpet-shaped flowers, green as an alien invasion, flaring bright as they curl upwards. Sarkisyan acknowledges that the video makes the genetically modified plants look a bit brighter than they are to the naked eye, but in any case, the sight is captivating.

Continue reading Plants will save us – if we let them do it →