Posts Tagged ‘local events’

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

21 Jun

1978 Urban Gardening Definition

Posted by rakhi in Gardening, Where do I put all this [delicious] crap?!. Tagged: , , , , .

1978 Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening

Thanks to the Book ‘Em Sale this year, I’ve acquired the beginnings of a gardening library for pennies on the dollar. The book I’ve been most obsessed with is this 1978 Encyclopedia of Organic gardening. Thirty-four-years-old doesn’t seem so old for a gardening book.  :)

In any case, I thought I’d post their definition of Urban Gardening:

In recent years, many people have discovered that gardening in the city is not simply fun, but is economical and produces better-quality food that is available in stores. Surprising yields of vegetables can be obtained from an intensively gardened, postage stamp-size backyard, and fruits and vegetables can be grown in contained on the roof, balcony or front porch. Some people manage to keep livestock in their backyards or on a roof; pigeons, chickens, bees, and rabbits can all be raised in the city if health codes allow and if the animals are not a nuisance to their human neighbors.

Although city gardening is similar in some ways to gardening in the country, it does require some special skills. Although city gardening has its disadvantages, one can learn to manipulate the microclimate of plants, in order to produce food over a longer period of time than would be possible in the country. By necessity, city gardeners learn to grow more produce in less space, increasing the theoretical productivity per acre.

There are many ways to maximize outdoor space for more efficient vegetable production. Use window boxed to grow small plants such are herbs, radishes, carrots, and onions. Plant vegetables such as lettuce, that, when cut, will continue to reproduce. Stick to compact varieties of plants that do not shade our other areas of the garden and avoid planting crops along a north wall. Build trellises or fences to utilize vertical space for plants such as tomatoes, peas, squashes, cucumbers, and beans.

Interplant slow- and fast-growing vegetables: the fast-growing vegetables will be harvested before they can crowd slower-growing plants. See also Intensive Gardening.

Some urbanites are fortunate enough to live in a city that has a community garden program In many localities throughout the country, city governments, social agencies, industry, public institutions, churches, and private individuals have made land available to gardeners in their cities, often at no expense to the gardeners. Such programs are proving to be increasingly popular as the cost of food increases, and people seeking to raise their own food should investigate their own communities to see if there is already a community garden project there, or should try to initiate one on public land that is currently not being used.

For you urban-gardeners out there, what do you do to maximize your space? My main approach is to use trellises pretty heavily, but other than that I’m not sure there’s much else that I do. Leave a comment with your ideas!

18 Jun

Hippie Developes an Ego Problem After West End Garden Tour

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

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Thank you so much to everyone who came out for the West End Garden Tour. If nothing else, you at least saved my friends hours of “conversation” where I talk at them about my garden – and they smile and nod absently…

I was amazed that so many people came out, even during the pouring rain! I had a constant stream of people from the very beginning to the very end, and really got a feeling for the types of projects that I’m working on that people are interested in. I will be blogging about those soon-to-come.

This year the garden tour was a double-edged sword for me because while I did get to show my own garden off, I was unable to see the other incredible gardens on the tour. So, if you have a garden in the neighborhood and happen to see a hippie wading through your perennial bed in her running clothes, please just take it as a compliment of the highest order.  :)

15 Jun

St. Paul West-End Garden Tour Tomorrow!

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

One thing that’s super-awesome about my neighborhood is that there are a ton of gorgeous gardens. When I go on runs I find that exercise is secondary to examining all the cool gardening spaces that I smell and see. Hence the beer-belly. I’m pretty proud of my garden, but it is a tiny little piece of poo compared to some of the other ones. :) I feel that my place is the tour is to show people that edible gardening is accessible to normal people who don’t really know anything.

The garden tour is free, and they have a plant sale from donations by the gardeners. They’ll also have master gardeners on-site answer all my questions – and maybe they’ll even have time to answer your questions, too! :) Here is a map of the event.

If you stop by my garden (#3) on the tour and mention that you read this, I’ll give you a pack of seeds that it’s not too late to plant (while supplies last!).

1 Jun

Free Saint Paul Compost Bin Workshop & Plant Exchange

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

Composting: An Underutilized yet Rich Resource for Home and Community Gardening

Come ’round for a workshop to learn HOW TO BUILD A PEST RESISTANT COMPOST BIN for your home or community garden. (for about $65)

Patsy Parker and her merry crew of compost bin builders, AKA COMPOSTIDORES, will arrive at the Greenhouse Urban Farming Community Garden @ GFCDC, Saturday, June 4 around 1:00 pm. for a 2-1/2 hour hands-on workshop on How to Build your Own Compost bin from wooden shipping pallets and hardware cloth.

There will also be a perennial plant exchange in celebration of FROGTOWN FARM, & [maybe] a chance to pick up some FrogTown Farm “Magic” Beans to take home & grow to show your support for grassroots efforts to create a beautiful, artful, community supported and community enhancing 13 acre public space at the old Wilder Foundation site in Frogtown.

Plan to join us for a practical and fun workshop and an opportunity to bring some of your seeds and/or plants to share with others, and pick up some new ones for your own yard & garden.

See you at the Greenhouse Urban Farming Community Garden at the Greater Frogtown CDC, Saturday, June 4 at 1:00 pm.

GREENHOUSE COMMUNITY GARDEN @ GFCDC in St. Paul.

533 Dale Street is about 2 1/2 short blocks north of University on west side of Dale.

Some parking is available in the alley on the south side of the CDC, also on the west side of Dale Street.

10 May

Yeah *shrug* I Build my own Coldframes…

Posted by rakhi in Making, Building, and Crafting, Stuff, Upcycling, Zone 4 Madness. Tagged: , , , , , , .

The class at work

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending a “Build Your Own Cold-Frame Workshop” taught by Angela Graney, who converted her yard in Northeast Minneapolis to an urban farm.  The class was fantastic. Each person walked away with a cold frame to paint that they built themselves.  I got to man-handle a circular saw to cut some of my pieces of wood, and subsequently feel like a total bad-ass.

The cold-frames were constructed of trashed windows and donated pieces of wood.  You stick them over a garden plot, and they can extend the growing season for those plants by a month on each end.  Angela recommended putting a tea light in the cold frame on particularly cold night.  The class attracted such a fun group of people, who were all helping each other and laughing through the process.  Angela teaches community workshops, group, and individual projects related to permaculture design and sustainable urban design.  I highly recommend getting in touch with her if you’re interested in integrating aspects of an urban homestead in your own abode.

Gabriel taking over after a hammer, unprovoked, attacked my thumb.

Naomi finishing her cold frame.  Beautiful!

4 May

UWM Horticultural Plant Sale Tomorrow!

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

Starting tomorrow, the UWM Horticultural Club is having a plant sale that will be between Larpenter and Folwell Ave. in the research plots.  Become the Hort Club’s friend on Facebook for info on their future plant sales and what-not.

Hours:
Thurs. May 5: 8am-7pm
Fri. May 6:  8am-7pm
Sat. May 7: 9am-5pm

List of plants at the Horticultural Club Plant Sale.


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.

26 Apr

Minneapolis Food Swap & Sunchokes

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

sunchoke tubers

Sunchokes

I had never had sunchokes before a couple months ago.  I had vaguely heard of them before, and so when I saw a large bag up for grabs at the inaugural Minneapolis Food Swap, I gave up a jar of my homemade sauerkraut to give ‘em a go.  They were delicious!  Eaten raw, they were as crisp as a radish, with a much milder flavor, and cooked they reminded me of potatoes, except not as starchy and a lot lighter.  I looked them up on Wikipedia,  and saw them on the Friends School Plant Sale site, and now am contemplating planting a left over rhizome out by the garage, per their suggestion.  An awesome part is that they are 8-10 feet tall flowers, so they’re decorative, too.

Sunchoke Flower

Photo by Paul Fenwick from the Wikimedia Commons

The Minneapolis Food Swappers Blog is here, and the Facebook page is here.  The next food swap is scheduled for May 14th, and I just realized it’s totally booked!  NICE JOB! We might need a Saint Paul version :)

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