Archive for the ‘Local Food’ Category

9 Aug

Community Garden day on Saturday!

Posted by rakhi in Community Gardens, Gardening, Inspiration, Local Events, Local Food, Local Gardening Information. Tagged: , , , , , .

Wanna get to know the Twin Cities? Make time on Saturday! Statewide, participating gardens celebrate Community Garden Day  by opening up their (mostly figurative) gates to their communities to commiserate, socialize, share, and show-off their hard work so far this year!

You might be shy about showing up to some of these unfamiliar gardens with unfamiliar people, but I guarantee these community gardeners are so excited about hosting hoards of guests for the day, and more importantly, getting to know their neighbors. Here is a directory of participating gardens and their planned events.  I love the Community Garden Day Map on the CGD website. You can see the locations of the gardens that are participating, and click on the dots to see what’s going on. Many of the gardens are hosting meals, live music, projects, games, classes, tours, and hundreds of other activities to suit your interests.

The community garden I participate in, Sholom Community Garden in Saint Paul, was pretty late to the show this year, but we’re still planning on a casual potluck lunch, garden tours, and lawn games from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.  Many of my fellow gardeners will be there, and I know at least a few of us are so proud of our garden space. With all of the challenges it has given us (mostly having to do with weed-seeds), we’ve still managed to transform a weedy, empty piece of land into a productive, beautiful space. And we really want you to come see it! So please stop by for lunch!

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Some events I noticed:

MCTC Urban Farm Collective in Downtown Minneapolis

3-7pm – Potluck, art in the garden, live music, kids cooking classes, and educational demonstrations of several types of composting

Midway Green Spirit Community Garden  – Pierce Butler Rd & Hamline Ave

12-3pm – visitors can do our Show and Tell Activity at their own pace, meandering through the garden to read what our gardeners have learned and what makes them proud!
1pm – Community Circle: One of our gardeners will talk about the volunteer effort to grow and donate food to a local food pantry.
1:15pm – Growing Peppers for Seasoning: Another gardener has been growing peppers for 10+ years and has developed his own method for preparing the peppers to make spice blends.
1:30pm – Beehive Demonstration: One of our bee-keepers will talk about caring for the beehives at Green Spirit.

NE United Methodist Church Gardens – Cleveland & Lowry NE

7-9pm – Enjoy a grilled slice of the pizza garden; garden tours; recycled garden art activity.

Eat Street Community Garden – 2416 1st Ave

4-5pm – Opening night of “The Return of King Idomeneo: A Picnic Operetta,” by Mixed Precipitation. 5-course tasting menu of performance inspired delicacies served during the show. Donations accepted; reservations encouraged.

5-6pm – Gathering.

North End Community Garden – 3027 Penn Ave N

11 – 2pm – Fresh, homemade foods, using gardengrown ingredients; steel pan drum duo; tours of the garden.

Cornercopia U of M Student Organic Farm – Dudley Ave & Lindig Ave

4-7pm -  Potluck; live music; tours; season extension & composting workshops; croquet tournament; make a Cornercopia T-shirt; plant fall crop seedlings to take home!

Community Garden Day on Twin Cities Daily Planet

20 Jul

Eat Local Farm Tour Tomorrow – Free and Self-Guided!

Posted by rakhi in Food, Local Events, Local Food. Tagged: , , , .

From this month’s Edible Twin Cities:

Cute little pollinator.

Have you ever been curious about the men and women who are operating local, sustainable farms in the Twin Cities area? You have an opportunity this Saturday to meet some of them by taking the second annual Eat Local Farm Tour.

Sponsored by Twin Cities’ co-op grocers, “Meet Your Farmer!” encourages urbanites to discover where their food comes from, peek at the inner workings of farm life and sample products.

Eleven Minnesota farmers participated in the 2011 inaugural tour, which drew more than 500 attendees. The farms, which supply vegetable, meat and dairy products to local food cooperatives, are all within a 100-mile radius of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

The free, self-guided tour is Saturday, July 21. Hours of operations differ from farm to farm. Find a free, detailed guidebook with maps at all participating co-op locations: Eastside, Just Food, Lakewinds, Linden Hills, Mississippi Market, River Market, Seward, St. Peter, Valley Natural Foods and The Wedge.

For more information, visit the tour’s Facebook page: facebook.com/EatLocalFarmTour.coop.

Edible Twin Cities Facebook Page

Eat Local Farm Tour Guidebook

16 Apr

Tomatoes!

Posted by rakhi in a gardening problem, Food, Gardening, Local Food, The environment. Tagged: , , , , , .

Last June Fresh Air aired an interview with Barry Estabrook based on Barry Estabrook‘s book Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit.  I meant to write a post about it back then, but laziness got the best of me. Don’t judge.

I have not read the book, but the interview with Estabrook was endlessly fascinating.  I guess anyone who has made the mistake of purchasing a tomato in the winter from a big box grocery store knows how actual garden tomatoes don’t even compare, but it sounds like his book tells us why this is the case.  Much of the reason is through breeding and development that favors ship-ability, volume, and attractiveness of the fruit rather than nutrition and taste, and another reason is inhospitable climates that the tomatoes are grown in.  He also delves into the horrendous labor practices in the tomato industry, and how some growers have been successfully prosecuted for having slaves.  I learned a bunch of other stuff, too, but I’m trying to keep this post to a palatable length.

I had always assumed that tomatoes are grown in Florida because the climate is perfect for them, but apparently this is not the case.  The humidity is actually really bad for the tomato plants, and so the farmers are resigned to constantly spraying their crops so as to prevent mildew and disease problems that would naturally arise.  Estabrook has identified 100 different herbicides and pesticides that are recommended for farmers in Florida to use on one crop of tomatoes.

Thinking back to my own experience with tomatoes, it makes sense that Florida is not ideal.  Our summers here are much shorter than Florida, but it still gets very humid.  By the end of the 2010 summer year all my tomato plants were a pretty sad sight from the powdery mildew that I was unable to control.  Last year it was less of a problem because I did a few things differently:

1. watered early in the day.

2. avoided water on the leaves of the plants while watering.

3. spaced the plants properly.

4. Got lucky.

14 Jun

Timely Story on The Story

Posted by rakhi in Food, Gardening, Local Food. Tagged: , , .

Last Tuesday’s “The Story” with Dick Gordon was really interesting if you’re a nerd.  The first segment is about the Global Seed Bank and a fella in Peru who is helping collect potato seeds of all the potato varieties in Peru.  This is the first time I have heard about the extinction of species of food crops (and, therefore, the loss of genetic diversity) simply because gardeners and farmers choose to plant more desirable crops and neglect others.  The second segment is about a sixth story rooftop farm in Queens, NY, that sells their produce to the locals below them.  How awesome is that?  Very.

I say it’s timely because this past weekend I had the pleasure of visiting a good friend of mine in the Windy City, and little did she know that I would drag her to some urban gardens as a result of my recently-found obsession.  Behold the Rooftop Garden on Chicago’s City Hall:

Despite my bribery attempts, we could not actually get on the roof. You need to call ahead to schedule. They clearly have no idea who I am. How embarrassing for them.

Grant Park "Art on the Farm" Organic Potager

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Art on the Farm” teaches organic farming skills, is beautiful for the masses, and raises money through selling the produce at the local farmer’s markets.  The trellises are for climbing beans that have just recently made their appearance (why haven’t mine?!?).  Swiss chard, dandelion leaves, arugula, lettuce, and spinach were a few of the veggies we spied.

4 May

Two Sweet Events in one Spot

Posted by rakhi in Gardening, Local Food, Local Gardening Information. Tagged: , , , , .

It is way too cold for the crocuses to be gone already :(

This weekend, as I’ve mentioned, is the Friends School Plant Sale.  I’ve compiled my most-wanted list and narrowed it down to my 74 top choices…and that was challenging enough.  Luckily there were a few crop failures this year, forcing me to remove the bush cherries, purple sugarcane, prickly pear, citrus fruit, and miracle berry from my list.  Much to my dismay, however, they found substitutions to the failed citrus fruits.  And late plant additions to the sale.  I’m not sure why they are interested in making my life so difficult, but clearly there is some sort of conspiracy here.

A lovely commenter brought up the Living Green Expo, which is the weekend of the plant sale…also at the MN State Fairgrounds.  I have to say, I’m pretty excited to attend that, too, and I won’t have to exert much effort to get there.  They have an amazing array of workshops and presentations, many of which are about gardening, sustainability, and other hippie-stuff.  Local chefs will be presenting and cooking for audiences. And, I know that the link for their “Creative Activities” page includes the term “children’s activities,” but I think I might go try to build a green robot anyways.

15 Apr

Vote for a Community Orchard in the Twin Cities!

Posted by rakhi in Gardening, Local Food. Tagged: , , .

The Summit-University Planning Council is in the running to win a community orchard for the empty lot/burgeoning community garden at Victoria & Concordia Avenues.

The proposed orchard site is a previously vacant lot that is being developed into a community green space. A community orchard will serve as a community asset and gathering place, helping neighbors and other community members build stronger relationships with one another, grow healthy food and beautify the community. It will enhance the green space currently being developed, providing a strong focal point for the neighborhood. It will also help to foster interest in community gardening, as well as education on nutrition and local food production.

Voting starts Friday, April 15th at www.communitiestakeroot.com. Anyone and everyone can vote once per day –so “vote early and often!” Please pass the word along to your networks!

Communities Take Root: Program Overview/Facts

• Communities Take Root is a program created by Edy’s Fruit Bars that helps

the brand give back by providing fruit orchards in deserving communities

across the U.S. Our hope is to not only beautify these neighborhoods, but to

encourage healthy eating and build strong community relationships.

• Edy’s Fruit Bars has partnered with the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, an

international nonprofit organization dedicated to planting fruitful trees and

plants in places that best benefit communities across the world. Their hope is

to help alleviate world hunger and global warming, while strengthening

communities and improving surrounding air, water and soil. The Fruit Tree

Planting Foundation will be responsible for sourcing the plants and trees, and

helping to plant the winning orchards.


• People of all ages are invited to cast one vote per day from April 15 through

August 31st by visiting www.CommunitiesTakeRoot.com.


• The 20 locations with the most votes will win a fruit orchard provided by

Edy’s Fruit Bars and planted by the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation. From June

through September, we will announce 5 winners every 1st of the month.

• 120 organizations are participating in Communities Take Root this year,

including city parks, community gardens, educational centers, YMCA’s, local

food banks, and other deserving establishments.


• 2011 is the second year of the Communities Take Root program. Edy’s Fruit

Bars has already planted 25 orchards in communities across the US, and will

award 20 more as part of this year’s campaign.

12 Apr

Local Upcoming Classes and Events

Posted by rakhi in Gardening, Local Food, Local Gardening Information, Making, Building, and Crafting. Tagged: , .

watermelon seedling

This is about where my watermelon seedlings are at...

The Twin Cities is really a great place to develop a taste for gardening.  There is so much community support, such as these class offerings:

I just discovered Egg Plant Urban Farm Supply, and although I’ve never been, they’ve won my heart.  I noticed their class list and I can’t wait to give one a go.  Has anyone out there had the pleasure?  Details!

Gardening Matters has a Resource Hub that lists a variety of gardening classes and other learning opportunities.  Check out their event calendar.

Bachmans is hosting a class tonight by The Minnesota Project on Growing Fruits in the City.  Bachmans also has a list of seminars, classes, and other events here.

Sustainable Yards class at REI.

Saint Paul Community Education Program has a rain barrel workshop, a native plants, rain garden, and lawn care class, managing yard waste & composting, and a garden design class (tomorrow!).

Minneapolis Community Education Program has a ridiculous list of gardening classes, these are the ones that still have room: container gardening, gardens for dogs and people, health benefits of gardening, low maintenance landscaping, native prairie wildflowers, two rain

garden, sustainable landscape design and care, and two beginning veggie gardening classes.

Hibiscus and Copia seedlings!

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