Grow Your Own

[Rumi]

The MagicDuel Community Garden will be hosting an ongoing contest for the entire community.

One mission of the MagicDuel Community Garden is to encourage all members of the community to grow gardens in their own part of the world. Now, with Mur's blessing, we are hosting the Grow Your Own contest and offering substantial rewards for players who demonstrate some gardening prowess.

The goal of the contest is simple. Grow a plant. Document your progress.

Participants will need to document their progress from seed to harvest with photography. Your plant should be labeled with MagicDuel and your playername. We're primarily looking for annual vegetables, but other types of vegetation are welcome too. If you want to grow a whole garden, by all means do so.

We all live in different climates, latitudes, and hemispheres. As such, the contest will begin anew eight times a year, at the turn of each season and on the mid-season Sabbats. We will have a festival at the Community Garden on each of these days, such as our recent the Mid-Winter Festival. These festivals will also serve as completion dates and rewards will be given out at that time.

Every Esbat (new moon and full moon) you will need to post an image of your plant in the appropriate thread on the Community Garden forum. More frequent posting is welcome, but this two week interval is the bare minimum. On each of these dates, I or another member of the Community Garden leadership will be available to discuss gardening and offer tips and advice. These dates are also important for planting. The general recommendation is that above-ground crops should be planted while the moon is waxing, and root-crops should be planted while the moon is waning.

There will be a variety of rewards for players who participate. These include tools, seeds, and other items useful in the Community Garden and other areas of MagicDuel. Each year, one of our seasonal festivals will be an annual celebration in which a medal and trophy will be given to the player whose garden and documentation receives the most votes by the MagicDuel Community. There will also be an unreleased creature which is ONLY awarded in this contest. All players who keep their annual vegetables alive for over a year and document a second year harvest will be eligible for even more valuable rewards.

And you can win a wishpoint! In order to win a wishpoint, you need to photograph your plant or garden daily from the exact same location (and preferably at the same time of day) and make a stop motion video of your progress. The entire catalog of your photos must be submitted in addition to the full video. You will probably need to build some kind of semi-permanent mount for your camera to make a decent video.

Images from this contest will also be posted in the Community Garden toolshed for you to see. The crops you grow in your home gardens may just find their way into the Community Garden at the Meeting of the Roads. You might think about crops that suit your role.

Spring (or fall ) is just around the corner. Do you have your seeds?

All garden photography should be posted in the [url="http://magicduel.invisionzone.com/forum/305-grow-your-own/"]Grow Your Own Sub-Forum[/url]. Please read the pinned thread before posting.

Edited February 25, 2013 by Rumi

[dst]

[quote]And you can win a wishpoint! In order to win a wishpoint, you need to photograph your plant or garden daily from the exact same location (and preferably at the same time of day) and make a stop motion video of your progress.[/quote]

You do realize that this is not possible because people have lives. Every 2 days or so maybe but daily is simply impossible for a normal person.

[purplebunny]

I have to agree with dst on this on, with my current w*rk schedule and family life daily photographs (never mind at the same time) will not be possible. Is any chance of some flexibility on this?

[Rumi]

There will be flexibility and there will be a limit to that flexibility as well. Plants can grow a lot in a day and that daily photography is necessary, especially for seedlings. If your stop motion video is full of gaps, you will not win a wishpoint. You will be eligible for the many other rewards.

If you want to attain this wishpoint, make photography of your garden part of your daily routine. Do it when you brush your teeth in the morning or when you vote for free credits. Taking a single photograph won't take as long as either of those tasks.

[Eagle Eye]

Any idea how to uploads some photos for the Garden?

[dst]

[quote name='Rumi' timestamp='1360067907' post='132109']
There will be flexibility and there will be a limit to that flexibility as well. Plants can grow a lot in a day and that daily photography is necessary, especially for seedlings. If your stop motion video is full of gaps, you will not win a wishpoint. You will be eligible for the many other rewards.

If you want to attain this wishpoint, make photography of your garden part of your daily routine. Do it when you brush your teeth in the morning or when you vote for free credits. Taking a single photograph won't take as long as either of those tasks.
[/quote]


How about the days I am not at home? The days I have to travel for my own entertainment or work? Should I just quit all that so I can be home and take photos?

[DARK DEMON]

[quote name='dst' timestamp='1360073309' post='132119']
How about the days I am not at home? The days I have to travel for my own entertainment or work? Should I just quit all that so I can be home and take photos?
[/quote]

[font=comic sans ms,cursive][color=#006400]Then this quest simply isn't for you.[/color][/font]

[font=comic sans ms,cursive][color=#006400]Just like a drawing contest isn't for me or others who can't draw, a gardening contest is not for those, eg: you, who have no interest and just want to end it with such attacking posts so that others can't.[/color][/font]

[font=comic sans ms,cursive][color=#006400]Let people enjoy themselves, be it gardening or traveling for entertainment.[/color][/font]

Edited February 5, 2013 by DARK DEMON

[Change]

She's not saying she has no interest? In fact, her questions imply that she has great interest. It's a simple fact that some people [i]can't[/i] be at one location for months at a time. For instance, I live in residence at the university that I'm going to. However, I'll be leaving there to go home for the spring-summer semester. Luckily for me, I live quite close to home, and I could potentially take the bus home every day to take photographs and take care of my plant. This would take me about two hours each day, and my commuting time is [i]short.[/i]

Here are some more examples of people who either 'apparently have no interest' or 'simply can't garden':
[list]
[*]People who travel all around the world on a regular basis.
[*]People who change residences frequently
[*]People who go on vacations or who visit relatives for more than one day.
[/list]
Also, I'm not sure how accurate Rumi wants this to be, but one would either have to dedicate a camera to this quest, a tripod, or be able to find a way so that the camera is in the same place each time, with the same zoom settings/etc. Most people have a cellphone, and quite a few cellphones have cameras, however unless one has an apple product it'd be quite difficult to make a mount for a phone. Now obviously this part of the quest is restricted to those who have access to a camera on a daily basis, and that's fine, however some people might just have a cellphone camera.

My point being, this part of the quest happens to reward people who luckily have the ability to do all the things required. Does their luck mean that they have any more dedication than others who aren't so fortunate? No.

Even if dst is trying to 'end it' in some way, her points are still very valid.

[dst]

Actually I am not trying to end it. I am really interested in this and I want to participate but I travel quite a lot (sometimes for 2 days sometimes for more) and I will not be able to take daily photos of the plant especially if I choose one that takes a lot of time to grow.
+ what will happen with the ones that have an emergency: relative dies, someone goes to hospital, player is sick and in hospital or not able to move too much etc etc ?

[DARK DEMON]

[font=comic sans ms,cursive][color=#006400]Fine, I understand that.[/color][/font]

[font=comic sans ms,cursive][color=#006400]But Rumi said that you would STILL be eligible for other rewards if you don't take daily photographs. It's just that you won't win a wishpoint.[/color][/font]

[font=comic sans ms,cursive][color=#006400]The "luck" you are pointing out, Change, is the same as being "lucky" enough to be blessed with the ability to be an artist.[/color][/font]

[font=comic sans ms,cursive][color=#006400]Hence, in that case, only those who are lucky to be artists would have more chance of winning the wishpoint, if there were a drawing contest with a wishpoint as a reward. In this case, only those who are lucky to have free time everyday to take photos have more chance of winning the wishpoint.[/color][/font]

[quote name='Change' timestamp='1360076052' post='132122']
Does their luck mean that they have any more dedication than others who aren't so fortunate? No.
[/quote]

[font=comic sans ms,cursive][color=#006400]Does an artist's luck mean they have more dedication who aren't fortunate to have the ability? No. [/color][/font]

[font=comic sans ms,cursive][color=#006400]Yet, they have more chance of winning the big prize, i.e. the wishpoint.[/color][/font]

[font=comic sans ms,cursive][color=#006400]Every quest is suitable to some, and not to some.[/color][/font]

Edited February 5, 2013 by DARK DEMON

[Change]

That's what I thought, dst, but my point still stands.

@Dark Demon. The whole awarding a wishpoint implies that this is the part of the quest that awards the most dedicated, as opposed to those who are doing it, but not taking it that seriously. However, someone who lives with one of their divorced parents on weekdays and who lives with the other on weekends might be incredibly dedicated to the quest, but doing this part of it would be simply impossible for them.

Hey, look, here's a [url="http://magicduel.invisionzone.com/topic/13706-unfolding-the-cube/"]quest about art[/url]. Are you saying that an extremely talented artist should win an art contest for a drawing that they make in five minutes, as opposed to someone with a tremour who spends over twenty hours or more to make a piece of art that doesn't look nearly as good, but it's obvious that they put a huge amount of effort into it?

Edit: Yes, some quests are directed at lucky people. However they don't have to be, and people can work on designing quests where effort is rewarded as opposed to natural talent or luck.

Edited February 5, 2013 by Change

[dst]

I don't believe all people are equal and I will never fight for that but I will always fight for equal chances. I have 2 left hands but that didn't stop me from entering the drawing contest. I want to have the option to CHOOSE and not be restricted by "chance". I want to be able to try and if I fail to be because of me, not because of outside events that I have no control over.

Just remembered a quote from a movie: I say who, I say when, I say...WHO

[Rumi]

We just passed the first new moon and I have received questions about where to post your photos. I am adding a new sub-forum to the Community Garden forum where each participant can have their own thread, just like the community garden logs. A link will be added to the top post on this thread when it's ready.

Until the new sub-forum is approved and set up by chewett, please just sit tight and hold onto your photos.

A reminder as well, you will need to use another upload service as our forum storage remains near capacity. It won't hurt to think about this ahead of time and set it up if you're ready. As far as I know, storenow.net (Mur's upload service) links are supposed to expire, but don't. Maybe Chewett or someone else can offer a better recommendation. I having begun storing all my uploads on a hidden section of my business website.

Happy gardening!

[dst]

So...what about my questions?

Also, what if I missed the start (since I was waiting for some answers which never came). Can I still participate? Or I should have started exactly when this thread was made?

[Chewett]

Flickr
Photobucket

[Rumi]

@dst

You have not missed the start. Where I live today is the best first day for planting cool session seeds. In fact, that's just what I did today. I started about 1600 brassica seeds in the greenhouse on the organic farm where I work.

As for your questions, I told you there will be flexibility. Injuries and funerals are the very definition of flexibility in this case. If your work schedule makes it prohibitive, do your best. I don't want to exclude anyone, but the wishpoint contest really requires the best work. Your stop motion video will speak for itself if you've done well. Depending on how many people make these videos, we'll determine how many wishpoints (if more than one) we can award. If you're competing against someone whose video has been daily photography, they're simply going to have an advantage.

I hope this clears up your concerns. Feel free to PM if you have questions specific to your situation.

[Menhir]

I would love to participate but will be on tour in India for about 6 months this year and so it´s impossible for me to join all who will be able to grow their own stuff. I wish you all the best results with your growing projects I will have fun with my garden in Summertime.

[Rumi]

The Grow Your Own Sub-Forum is all ready.

http://magicduel.invisionzone.com/forum/305-grow-your-own/

Contest participants should read the pinned thread and begin posting. Starting today, every full moon and new moon require a post to participate. More frequent posting is welcome.

Happy gardening everyone! I'm looking forward to seeing your work.