Dacha Harvest Summer 2016
Dacha Farms has a small CSA and here is the latest harvest. Matt Ocone has been working hard in the dirt to be able to collect the bounty of the land and display it on our kitchen table. Who’s coming over for dinner?
Theater @ Ithaca Festival: The Pics
Well, despite the rain, we were able to try out our experimental, interactive bit of theater @ Ithaca Festival 2016. It was our first attempt at this type of performance art and we learned a lot. Our favorite part was collaborating with Art Club – amazing! There may be another round of I Sense a Presence coming up, and we will certainly keep working on more art in this vein. If you’d like to know what we’re up to join our mailing list:
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Dacha Presents: Interactive Theater @ Ithaca Festival
Art Club & Dacha Presents…
I SENSE A PRESENCE
An interactive, promenade theater experience.* Sunday, June 5th @ the Ithaca Festival 12-8pm BACK-TO-BACK, ONE-OF-A-KIND 15 MINUTE FREE PERFORMANCES Step on in… For you, the audience, have a role to play! Wander curiously, investigate & devour. Respond adventurously or perch silently. EXPLORE AND ENGAGE We can’t do it without you!
*What is “interactive, promenade theater”? A performance where the audience literally steps into the set and becomes an active member in the scene. The audience is encouraged to hands-on explore & uncover their surroundings. To be present & alive in the action and conversation. Every comfort level is WELCOME! Curiosity did not kill this cat.
Dacha Does the Bathroom
Recently, we have decided to really finish the bathroom. DIY style as usual, we got a lot of broken pieces of granite for free from a local tile shop for our floor. Next, we got a used claw foot tub and cleaned it up real good. It’s really coming together! More on this breaking news as we make progress! 🙂
Mutant Corn Call for Collaborators!!!
Triforce Triangular Formation, Activate!
Mutant Corn is a collaborative, agricultural art project that wants well…collaborators. The project is inspired by the genetic, economic and social history of corn, and is in many ways an experiment in cross-breeding corn. More importantly, it is an experiment in crossing the social boundaries of agriculture, science and art, which is something that can be achieved only through getting more people to join in.
Mutant Corn is looking for folks to come in, get inspired by the project and people involved, and then to add something of their own creation to the foundation that has already been laid. Collaborators will get the chance to show their work at the gallery exhibit that will happen at the Dacha Project during harvest time. Learn more about the project and how you can get involved below, and read the full project statement.
For the summer of 2015 the Dacha Project (Freeville, NY) and artCodex (Brooklyn, NY) have teamed up to lay the framework for a project that will gather a community to discuss corn in all of its natural beauty, as well as the many problematic issues that surround it.
(diagram)
At harvest time, we will have a gallery exhibit at the Dacha Project during which people can observe the effects of cross-fertilization, and also to see the collaborative projects that have been born out of the discussions that Mutant Corn has generated. For example, one recent collaborator has decided to plant three chestnut trees in a triangle formation nearby the triangular beds of corn, in a sort of protest to growing corn altogether. The collaborator will do a write up of why she esteems chestnuts to be a superior alternative to growing corn. The write-up will be available at the gallery opening. Other ideas for collaborations include: an illustration of corn genetics, maps of where GMO is banned, and a timeline of the history of corn. The possibilities are all exciting and infinite, and more people are needed to generate and execute those possibilities in time for the opening, which is set for sometime in September. Other ways of getting involved include planting, de-tasseling, and caring for the corn all summer long, as well as getting the word out.
The next meeting and work party is schedule for May 30-31, and you can check the Dacha Project website closer to the time to see a more detailed schedule.
If you would like to be involved, please contact Lea LSF from Dacha Project at dachaproject at g mail dot you-know-what.
MUTANT CORN : A Collaborative Agricultural Art Project
We’re collaborating on an art and agriculture project! And we’d love your help to make it awesome. Check out the details below and get in touch if you’d like to get in on it.
MUTANT CORN : TRIFORCE
For Summer 2015, The Dacha Project (Freevile, NY) and ArtCodex (Brooklyn, NY) are collaborating on “Mutant Corn,” a project inspired by the genetic and economic history of corn. Essentially an experiment in cross-breeding corn, it is also an experiment in crossing the social boundaries of agriculture, science and art. We will be executing this project in the region surrounding Ithaca, New York. The long history of agriculture mixed with alternative living initiatives makes this city a perfect venue for an experiment such as this.
The Project
In front of the main house at The Dacha Project, we will grow a small field of different colored corn to see how, at the end of the season, the corn will cross-pollinate. The structure of this field will be triangular, divided into three smaller triangles that meet together to form the boundaries of a fourth triangle in the center.
The three outer triangles will each be planted with different, brightly colored corn: red, blue, pink. In the center triangle, we will plant a commercially produced genetically modified maize (GMM). This will be a pale yellow or white corn. This central corn will be our neutral test subject, growing ears that will display a mosaic of color reflecting the genetic influence of its neighbors. Unlike the rest of the corn, it will be de-tasseled (stripped of its pollen producing flowers) to prevent both cross- and self-pollination.
An important aspect of this project is social. During its development, we have worked with scientists, artists, and agriculturalists, and will be seeking many other collaborators for the physical growing projects. Work parties – much like an amish barn raising, will be a very important part of this process. This will include building the raised beds, planting the seeds, de-tasseling the GMM corn, and harvest. In addition to gathering interested minds and hands together for this necessary work, we would like to program cultural events such as film screenings and performances.
Around harvest time, we will have a gallery exhibit at The Dacha Project that explores the cultural landmarks that have grown up around corn. This will include a simultaneous screening of the classic horror movie “Children of the Corn”, with the agricultural documentary “King Corn”. There will also be a collaborative mapping project reflecting the results of the cross-pollination, as well as photographic and video documentation of the process.
Get Involved
We are looking for collaborators on all different levels for the project. Though the basic project has been fleshed out, we would like to invite artists and other creative people to bring their own ideas into the mix. We will be programming events throughout the growing season where interested folks can bring music, discussions, performance that converges around the topics of agriculture, commodity and community. We will also be hosting an art exhibition in the autumn to coincide with the harvest.
Also, we will definitely be needing lots of help with the physical tasks of the project- lining the pond for irrigation, creating the raised beds and filling them with soil, planting, weeding, and harvesting. One of the greatest parts of this is that it’s been designed with long-term results in mind, and both the pond and the raised beds will benefit Dacha’s gardens for some years to come.
If you would like to be involved, please contact us.