Edible Schoolyard on PBS

Edible Schoolyard chef/teacher Esther Cook points out that the lessons’ intentions go well beyond food preparation: “We want to empower the students to take care of themselves, and to be generous and make something for somebody else. We want them to experience the simple act of working together and eating together, which is something a lot of them don’t do at home.”

and the Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/28/AR2005062800761.html

and Edutopia
http://www.edutopia.org/edible-schoolyard-video

and Battle Creek Enquirer
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070313/LIFESTYLE08/703130302/1032

and Epicurious
http://video.epicurious.com/?fr_story=4caa58c24098543fb5cd684b1d3eb86156582fa4&rf=sitemap

Welcome to the Edible Schoolyard New Orleans

The mission of Edible Schoolyard New Orleans (ESY NOLA) is to create and sustain an expansive organic garden on the public school campus of Samuel J. Green Charter School in New Orleans. The Edible Schoolyard is integrating organic gardening and fresh seasonal cooking into the school’s curriculum, culture and food programs. It involves students in all aspects of farming the garden—along with preparing, serving and eating the food—as a means of awakening their senses and encouraging awareness and appreciation of the transformative values of nourishment, community, and stewardship of the land.

good 'n planty blog

A new (to me) blog by Organic Gardening's Abby Poulette just mentioned Columbus in regards to the the Waterworks Project award and Dr. Demas's "Food is Elementary" presentation.

I did a little research and discovered that one of our blog authors is the recipient of that award at The Farm Garden at the Early Childhood Education Center...Paul!

Here is the description from the Organic Gardening/Waterworks website:

The Farm Garden at the Early Childhood Education & Family Center is a unique garden education program for students of the Outdoor Learning Environment school serving 700 children and 100 staff. The garden features an organic fruit, vegetable herb and flower garden, a play cabin/potting shed, compost area, native plantings and much more.

The program is run by local farmer Paul Etheridge, known to the school students as Farmer Paul. Farmer Paul teaches a structured farm garden curriculum for families that incorporates staff and children of all ages and abilities, helping the children build the connection between the garden and the source of their food. The program also includes a summer job training program for area teens who help to maintain the garden and work with children over summer months.

Crop to Cuisine

A great site for resources, recipes, links and much more!

There is potential for national keynote speakers, bands and presentations for the 09 conference.

Majora Carter, founder , Sustainable South Bronx

Majora Carter is an inspiring leader, who took on her own neighborhood in the South Bronx. She believes passionately in environmental justice, that regardless of your race or class that we all have the right to live in a safe and livable neighborhood. She rallied the community around kids' health and pollution in the air and water effecting everyone. She left the "Sustainable South Bronx" and started "The Majora Carter Group", a consulting firm that "trains people who need work to shepherd in new green technologies, transforming polluted sites into lush community spaces and generally ensuring that EVERYONE has a stake in the clean energy economy." (UTNE Reader Nov-Dec.'08)

Check out her moving interview. She speaks from the heart, shares her personal experience and brings that passion into to everything she does. I just quoted this yesterday and feel compelled to do it again today!

"Although the connections are not always obvious, personal change is inseparable from social and political change."---Harriet Lerner

We live in a time of struggle in our community, regardless of how we're personally effected...we are all connected. This is a time for all of us to come together, collaborate, share resources and make some real change here in Columbus, Ohio. There has been an elephant in the room and that is that many of our neighborhoods are NOT EQUAL in safety and livability. Now is the time for that to change on a city wide level and it's exiting to see it actually happening. Community Gardening, Graffiti and Litter Clean ups, Safety plans, increases in civic association memberships and a collective understanding that it is not only the time for change, but it is a necessity. Pulling out the old slogan, "Think Globally, Garden (or fill in the blank) Locally!

CHECK IT! Majora Carter's TED interview:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/majora_carter_s_tale_of_urban_renewal.html

Autumnal Assesment

In the shadow seasons the reasons are unknown to all save a few who hold the seeds in their hearts. Hello Columbusopolis! The gardens @Milo and 4scf are brushing their teeth and preparing for bed. Removing the waste at this stage of the year is both a melancholy and meaningful activity. One can prune in autumn. The metaphor of the maker remains self evident. What is impeding progress and growth? What needs attention at this stage of the green life cycle? Who cares? We do - the plant people. The grass roots givers and shakers. Community gardens are a way we can help our new president to solve social problems. It is scary simple. A friend and I just had a nice lunch with mustard greens from our fall planting. Nourishment Nice New Day!

Teleconference For ACGA Members

I just read about this from the ACGA listserv:

TELECONFERENCE FOR ACGA MEMBERS

To Join ACGA Click Here

Join us for Involving Community with David King, November 28th, 7:00 pm Eastern time, 6:00 pm Central, 5:00 pm Mountain, and 4:00 pm Pacific.

David King is the Gardenmaster/Director of the Learning Garden at Venice High School in Los Angeles and a member of ACGA's Board of Directors. David's horticultural blog is lagarden.blogspot.com.

Register today by emailing your name, organization, city, and short description of your garden/program to share with other particpants: info@communitygarden.org, or call toll-free (877) 275-2242. Those who register will receive a reply email from ACGA with the telephone number and access code you will need to use to enter the call. Conference calls typically last 60-90 minutes and involve a portion of time for questions and answers from the guest speaker and the audience. All Teleconferences are recorded and are available for download from the ACGA website. Click Here to access previous workshops.

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 11TH

"An Evening with Dr. Antonia Demas"

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008

Indianola Alternative School, 100 West 4th Avenue, Columbus 43201

Reception & Food Tasting from 6:30-7pm

Keynote Speaker: Dr.Antonia Demas 7-8:30pm

Sponsored by The Greener Grocer and Two Caterers

Local Matters, a nonprofit organization that plays a leadership role in providing equal access to healthy, locally grown food for everyone in our community, invites you to join Dr. Antonia Demas for a special evening of discussion about the importance of healthy, nutritious food in each of our lives and especially its effects and benefits for our children.

Dr. Demas has taught food studies in a variety of educational settings to people of diverse ages, ethnicities, and economic backgrounds all of her life. After graduating from Godard College with a B.A. in Community Nutrition, she worked for 20 years in food education before completing a Ph.D. at Cornell University.

Dr. Demas will begin speaking at 7pm and will talk about her book, "Food is Elementary", a hands-on, experiential food-based curriculum designed for teachers and trained food educators. This book contains 28 sequential (and 8 supplemental) lessons with age-appropriate lesson plans for pre-K through 2nd grade and 3rd grade through 8th grade, in addition to equipment lists and “how to” guidelines. Additionally, Dr. Demas will also answer questions from the audience in a town hall style format.

The evening will begin with a tasting of delicious, local foods, hosted by The Greener Grocer and their “green” catering partner, Two Caterers. The cooking teams will prepare several recipes from the "Food is Elementary Curriculum” and as our guest, you will have the opportunity to get to know each other and enjoy some of Ohio's best local products!

We encourage you to attend this evening and to join in this discussion about the role of food in our schools and it’s effects on our children’s health and performance. We also encourage you to invite other members of your community, including professionals in other fields, who could benefit from this conversation and help Local Matters promote our mission of equal access to healthy, nutritious food for everyone in our community.

Please call 614.263.5662 or email info@local-matters.org with any questions.

We look forward to seeing you!

Another great resource from the Ready Made Blog:

"Talk about beneficial growth: In the 1940s, San Francisco played host to some of the most productive Victory Gardens in the country. Sixty years later, the idea still has roots in the city: This past July, the greenspace in front of San Francisco’s City Hall was transformed into a Victory Garden as part of the city's Victory Gardens 2008+ program (conceived by ReadyMade darling Amy Franceshchini). The city hall garden will donate the fruits (and veggies) of its labor to the San Francisco Food Bank, and 15 more city gardens are on the way. Want to participate? Join the program's Garden Registry and check out the tools and ingredients you'll need to start a garden of your own."

Check out the community garden starter kit. So clever!

Fenway Victory Gardens

Today on the ACG's listserv, people were talking about Fenway Victory Gardens. I decided to see what all the fuss was about, and let me tell you, these gardens seem to be run efficiently! If anyone is trying to begin a community garden (like me) or improve on a community garden that is already established, I HIGHLY SUGGEST you check out this site. You can tell right away that they have been doing this for a long time. As always, click on the title of this posting. It is a link!

CAC-Another Amazing Resource for CG

I see this blog as sort of a locker of ideas, some that are worth going back to reconsider later when the right time comes. I think I just found a jewel of a resource for community gardening. They have welcome letters for gardeners, a timeline for the garden, and so much more. WOW.

Garden Works

I cannot believe how many great resources are on this Minneapolis based site for community gardening. Check it out.

DOWLING COMMUNITY GARDEN

Wow. This is a community garden that has it all (except for a fantastic teen program like Trish's Godman Guild/Weiland Park CG). Click on the title of this post to go to their site and see what a deeply meaningful, organized, and well run a 60 year old community garden looks like.

You Grow Girl Was Here!

http://www.fluffco.com/gayla/

Click on the title of this blog to see Gayla Trail's blog entry about Columbus Community Gardening from her perspective.

This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader

I am reading a fantastic book by Joan Dye Gussow that my friend Elaine gave to me. Thanks, Elaine! Gussow's narrative is informational and engaging. By page 40, I have already learned how to grow and store sweet potatoes, how to garden to feed yourself for the whole year, and a great technique for building up soil. I can't wait to find out more.

Liz Christy: Founder of Guerrilla Gardening in NYC

While watching the latest Garden Story, I learned about the original guerrilla gardener, Liz Christy. The community garden that she started in NYC on the corner of Houston and Bowery now honors her name and vision. Go find out more.

This website also has some pretty fantastic 70s photos, like the one above. The 70s in NYC? Can you imagine?

The story seems to go that in 1973, she came upon a fenced in, large rubble-strewn lot that needed some assistance. She couldn't get over the fence, so she threw seed bombs (seeds, water, fertilizer) over the fence to begin her work beautifying the area. Eventually, the city leased the land for $1 to her and her compadres, and thus the garden was born.

We have a similar program in Columbus for leasing land. Some local community gardeners have taken advantage of it: check out the 4 Seasons City Farms website and the One Plot of Land blog when you get a chance. They are beautiful, inspiring, and informative.

If you would like to find out more about guerrilla gardening, there are a wealth of articles out there. Start here (CNN version) or here (PopMatters: international magazine of cultural criticism).

Garden Story on WOSU

Have you been watching Garden Story on WOSU/PBS? The most recent episode featured community gardens in New York City, especially on the Lower East Side. The episode before that talked about educational gardens. This series is really fantastic.

It makes me think of what my own garden story might be. Have you thought of yours? Do the members of your garden know it's story? Perhaps co-creating and performing a history of the "___" Community Garden would be an exciting and energizing activity for your CG.

Let us know your stories/histories if you get a chance!

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Releases Newest All-Region Guide: Community Gardening

Brooklyn, NY—June 18, 2008—Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) announces the release of its newest All-Region Guide, Community Gardening, a comprehensive guide to growing and sustaining community garden programs. Community Gardening is a practical tool written from a broad perspective that mirrors the kaleidoscope of exciting community projects taking place throughout North America. It documents a contemporary social movement while providing practical tips based on the experience of proven programs that supply healthy food, bring neighbors together, and enrich communities. More...

Mary Janes Farm in Moscow, Idaho

You must check out her website! It is amazing! http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/About/

One Straw Blog Is a Must See

Here is a fantastic post about compost bins to get you started:

I spend alot of energy trying to literally build soils on site for my little Garden of Eatin. Year 1 had us going form over function as I struggled to plant an entire half acre by hand, including a lawn and 2000 sq ft of perennial beds, and 1000 sq ft of prairie. But the next year I went up to a nice cedar two bin system that was intended to be a display model for our side business. That bin is/was gorgeous, but even with 2.5 cu yards of capacity, we still outgrew it in the winter when nothing was breaking down. We make about 5 yards annually, so I had Bigger Plans. Imagine that… So I sold the 2 bin system to the daycare that lives in our Church during the week, and Got Busy.

When we built our Earth Victory Gardens, we discovered a source for 3×12x16′ reclaimed fir boards. A company had salvaged them from a warehouse that was being torn down. And they were selling them for $20. Sure they’re full of nails, but that is an INSANE amount of lumber. The day after I visited the salvage yard the idea for this bin was born. It was to be 4 bins wide, and made almost entirely of these Titan Sized boards. It was to be a bin that just may become an heirloom in our family for generations. I bought 6 3×12’s for $120, and purchased another $100 in cedar and got to work this past Saturday. The pile of lumber at left weighs over 600 pounds and I had to borrow a circular saw that takes a 8.5″ blade to cut them. From Great Beginnings come Great Things! I will spare you the play by play -the design is amazingly simple and should be apparent from the pics. So here it is:

Each “Stall” is 36″ deep by 39″ tall for no other reason than that is the max I could eck out of a 16′ board with little to no waste. The cedar slats in the front are made from decking so they are 5/4″ thick and pretty dang stout. Here is another shot from the side to show the interior:

You can see the 3×12’s are spaced about 1.5″ to allow in some air, and the stall sides are assembled with 2×2 cedar to set the spacing, and the back 3×12’s, which are 153 inches long, are screwed into the stall sides using 5″ long lags. Once they were drawn tight this thing is Rock Solid. In fact it didn’t even tweak out of square when I levered it into place with a 6′ pry bar! The doors to the stalls are just decking run in slats formed by a 2×2 and a piece of decking screwed into the front edge of the stall divider. Spacing for the front slats? A galvanized roofing nail:

This set up will be able to hold 3 separate 1 cu yard piles in various stages of decomposition with an empty bin to allow me to turn the piles into to… which should be just right. I am VERY pleased with the results of a weekend’s labor -as Mia said, its a nice mix between Farm practicality and HOA looks. And it is so tough not even I should be able to break it! Why do I need so much compost space if I don’t have any trees?


The buckets are 3 weeks worth of “gorp” that the local Coffee Shop saves for me -to the tune of about 25 gallons weekly. The barrow load is weeds from half of one of my large perennial beds. True its been a while since I weeded, but that is a 10 cu ft wheel barrow… We are essentially a “pioneer” ecosystem that I have yet to fill all the niches in, and Nature is filling them for me with thistle, quack grass, and bladder campanula.
But that still begs the question of WHY I go through all this. The answer couldn’t be simpler:

The Smooth Penstemon is in bloom in the prairie…
Be the Change.
-Rob