Grange Park: Let's go!



I know it's a little late. Better late than never?

Stop 1: Grange Park

 

Some sights and sounds. Aka me being creepy and trying to subtly catch people on video but not having the guts to do it.

 

 

OCAD. Kenny said he was part of a zine sale or something in the park? I forget now. :( And I've lost the cute book he gave me to upload onto here. Boo. Well I'm sure OCAD students do lots of cool things in this park. Curriculur, extra-curricular, and...extra-extra curricular I'm sure :)

I like this cursor from Dave Colangelo. gore-REAL-AH. Apparently there are other ones in Trinity Bellwoods. Hopefully when I make it there (in the next 10 years at the rate I'm going) it will still be up.

It's on a horsechesnut! I had always seen these trees around the city, but didn't know what they were. I learned on the job at High Park from the knowledgeable staff at Colborne Lodge. Native to Europe, likely brought over as early street trees...

 

Hypothesis! We won't see these much outside the downtown as we get to younger parts of the city. I'm excited to find out.

 

Real knowledge about horsechesnuts from Todd Irvine on Spacing Toronto.

 

 

What is this? Correct me please if I'm wrong but I think it's Common Mallow? Latin name Malva neglecta. Neglecta? How sad!

Yup, I don't think it's a particularly attractive plant, but Google images show its light purple flowers to be pretty. And apparently they are edible!
These people made MARSHMALLOWS from them!

Definitely want to try that one day. However, the Mallows are really good at sucking up nitrates, so that may not be so healthy for you? Are nitrates an issue at Dundas and Spadina? I don't know. Hopefully this isn't a dog/person's pee spot.

Keith Haring?

"Banker, philantropist, patron of the arts" says Wikipedia. He helped to found U of T, the AGO and the ROM. No wonder he's a sir.

 

In the shadow of the AGO's south tower. Apparently, Frank Gehry chose this blue titanium cladding from the sky. However, the sky looks a little too gorgeous in comparison right now. Still nice though.

On the day of the AGO's opening a few years ago, my mom and I were just walking by. They were letting people in for free! So we joined the line, which curled into Grange Park here.

 

Solid play structure. Classic. This is very similar to the one in the kindergarten yard at Willy (my elementary school). This playground is just outside the Alexandra Park Community Centre.

 

As I was sitting there - people I recognised came out! A grade 3 kid and his mom who came to High Park for a field trip when I was working at the Toronto Urban Studies Centre. We can discovered Plants and Early Settlers in High Park together! From park to park. But I didn't say anything. Maybe I should have. (If you are a Grade 3 teacher, you should do this field trip with TUSC! Fun stuff.)

In all the greenspaces in between

Welcome to my greenspace adventure!

Urban greenspaces: the parks, parkettes, conservation areas, trails, river corridors, cemeteries...I am visiting, observing, and learning! Earlier, I had planned to go through a the list of parks in Toronto, but in the current transient nature of my life, it has been difficult to use that strategy.

But - Oh the places I've been! I have been blessed with the opportunity to see some fresh ground, and so my adventure has expanded beyond Toronto to Whitehorse, Waterloo and Hamilton.

So, a new objective: To explore and document stories about urban greenspaces.

Why? A list.
1. I like stories. There are so many layers to be told, including those about the city history, ecology, and the personal.
2. I love cities, and this is a chance to explore it!
3. I want to learn the stories of the green spaces in urban places: their ecological histories and statuses, and the role they play in the lives of the city and its citizens. (Ugh, that sounds like the beginnings of an undergraduate thesis title. Loosey goosey and full of somewhat naive ideals...hmmm, sounds just like me! Perfect. haha.)

Rachael rediscovering the city

When I started my program at University of Waterloo, Environment and Resource Studies, I felt a bit out of place. Feeling like the only student in my class who hadn't led canoe trips in Algonquin Park, I have lived in and loved Toronto for most of my life, and confess I am fully a city mouse. 

 (I have to "confess" with a little shame because everyone knows City Mouse is a huge wimp compared to dear Country Mouse)

I know many city-dwellers travel beyond our concrete to cottage or camp in Ontario's wilder places, but I simply hadn't had a true experience of this yet. My family, my circle of friends - we simply didn't do this. Our grandparents didn't own cottages we could go to in the summer - they had owned Chinese restaurants and laundromats, no island in Georgian Bay.

Whatever my excuses, I was not sure how I could be in this program as someone who would rather be navigating subway routes rather than hiking trails. Clearly I have much to learn in life. I now have been exposed to Algonquin Park, trails, and rural areas, canoeing and it's all wonderful. I needed my horizons expanded.

But I also learned that
the city is an amazing diverse place,
with hidden bits of wild everywhere.

Further, urban policy is changing and forming, seeing greenspaces in entirely new and exciting ways. That said, cities can also do "nature" incredibly wrong, causing great harm, struggling to balance the needs of diverse park users, and neighbours of  both Kingdoms Plantae, and Animalia (and  Monera, Protista and Fungi, I guess). The world is rapidly urbanizing, and much rests on how maintain, protect, and create greenspace as we do that.

Okay, let's go! Let's learn!