E-Z Grow Vegetable Workshop

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Trying to make the best of your paltry city lot? Or maybe you’re interested a larger plot that aims towards vegetable self-sufficiency? Either way, it’s good to learn the tricks of the trade.

April 9, 2011
Penn State Philadelphia Master Gardeners 2nd Saturday
EZ Steps to Grow Vegetables (Come and Learn from my Mistakes!)

Fairmount Park Horticultural Center
N. Horticultural and Montgomery Drive Phila., Pa.19131
9AM Registration    
9:30 Workshop Begins  
$10.00 registration fee

Julie Cox, Penn State Philadelphia Master Gardener and avid long time
vegetable gardener, will be addressing the questions and dilemmas of
the beginning vegetable gardener. Topics will include site selection,
soil testing, planning, planting, nurturing, and harvesting in a
mostly organic approach. A fan of “Intensive” or “Square Foot”
gardening—she will have you hooked on homegrown tomatoes in no time.

This Week’s Philadelphia Orchard Project Work Days

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Spend a few hours helping Philadelphia Orchard Project green our city with edible trees! Volunteers of all ages and skill levels are welcome. These events often involve digging, planting, and spreading compost and mulch, so expect to get dirty. We can’t guarantee tools for all; if you bring your own, it is advisable to write your name on them. Snacks and beverages to share are also welcome.

Orchard events can generally be expected to last between 2 and 4 hours (smaller events are designated with an *asterisk).  We recommend that you check your email the morning of an event to confirm whether it will be postponed to the rain date. If you intend to volunteer at an event, please RSVP via their website (www.phillyorchards.org). By clicking on an event description, you can see how many people have signed up and where your help is most needed!

CALVARY ORCHARD PLANTING
Saturday, April 9 @10am
41st & Reno St, West Philadelphia
Join in a follow-up work day with volunteers from the Calvary St. Augustine church. We’ll be mulching and planting more in the new orchard. Please RSVP if you plan to attend.
POP NURSERY WORK DAY
Saturday, April 9 @ 1pm
Weavers Way Farm @ Awbury Arboretum, North Philadelphia
Lend a hand potting up plants and spreading mulch at POP’s nursery yard at Weavers Way Farm. See (www.weaversway.coop/index.php?page=185) for directions.
Please RSVP if you plan to attend.
RAINDATE: Sunday, 4/10 @ 1pm
PEPPER ORCHARD PLANTING
Tuesday, April 12 @ 1pm
South side of Pepper Middle School, 2901 S. 84th St, West Philadelphia  
Assist students from Pepper Middle School in expanding their orchard with new fruit trees, berry bushes, and perennials.  In collaboration with community partner the Urban Nutrition Initiative.
Please RSVP if you plan to attend.
RAINDATE: Wednesday, 5/13 @ 1pm.

Planting the Urban Orchard

Monday, April 04, 2011

UC Green has been planting trees and engaging community volunteers in Philadelphia since 1998.  And this Fall they are ready to take their street tree planting efforts one step further by planting fruit and nut trees along the streets of West and Southwest Philly!  In partnership with the Philadelphia Orchard Project, UC Green will plant 100 new fruit and nut trees that will add to the urban orchard and provide foraging opportunities for years to come.  Watch the video then support these great organizations with a pledge on their Kickstarter page.

April Green Drinks at Standard Tap

Grab a drink with like-minded people and make some new connections! Green Drinks is a monthly networking gathering for environmentalists of any discipline and is affiliated with the national Green Drinks network. Meets every first Wednesday of the month, 6-8pm, at Standard Tap in Northern Liberties

http://www.greendrinks.org
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
386-290-8749

Book Review: The Dirty Life - on farming, food and love

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

The Dirty Life does not try to glamorize the farming lifestyle. When Kristin Kimball, a freelance writer living in Manhattan, meets a dynamic farmer with an outrageous hat, she finds herself chucking her city lifestyle and moving with him to a decrepit house on some muddy land in upstate New York. The next year is an outrageous experience in learning to farm (for Kristin) and putting to practical use previous skills (her farmer) while constantly learning new ones. The couple not only wants to create a farm out of the boggy land they are loaning, they want to only use draft horses (no tractors) which requires finding horses, learning how to drive them, and learning how to fix the antique equipment needed to farm this way.

There are blizzards,  run-away pig disasters, experiments in organ meat eating and cheese making, and a whole lot of dirt. Somehow, by the end of the book, Kristin and her farmer end up not only married, but running a “whole diet” CSA for 100 people - enough dairy, vegetable, grains, meat and fat to supply the entire diets of these families. A good read, if a bit perplexing at times (how do they NEVER sleep and not kill each other), The Dirty Life is a glimpse into a very ambitious, and now successful, farming experiment.

Time to Plant:  Potatoes and Peas

Monday, March 28, 2011

St. Patrick’s Day is the unofficial first day of the year when you should start to think about planting those really early crops like potatoes and peas.  So if your soil can be worked, get to digging!  Potatoes should be planted 3 inches deep, 1 foot apart.  When they have grown to about 1 foot high, cover them with a mound of soil to increase your harvest.  Potatoes are actually stem tissue (not root tissue as they are commonly mistaken for), so the more of the stem that is underground, the better!  They can be harvested about two months after planting, or one month after the first emergence of flowers.  Peas can be pushed into the ground about a half inch to an inch deep, and remember to build them a trellis!

The Soil Kitchen Opens!

Friday, March 25, 2011

Please join Mayor Michael Nutter and the artist group Futurefarmers for a special reception to celebrate the opening of Soil Kitchen, the first temporary public art project to be commissioned by the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy. Stop by for the grand opening, and check out these neat programs in the future.

Friday, April 1st
5:00pm - 7:00pm

1148 N. 2nd Street
(corner of 2nd & Girard)
Philadelphia, PA 19123
PLEASE RSVP

Questions? Call 215.686.8446

Vacant Land Management Panel

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Trader Travis delivers rain barrels by bicycle!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Still don’t have your very own rain barrel, or two? Not sure that you want to order one and pay for the shipping and waste of packing material? No worries! Local rain barrel construction-est Trader Travis will make you a rain barrel and even deliver it to you on bicycle - all for $70 - a great deal! Support the local economy, harvest your rain, and help Philadelphia’s run-off problem all at the same time!

Contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

A Philadelphian Fictionalizes the Urban Homesteading Movement

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

West Philly’s Nic Esposito (you may have seen him speaking at last fall’s TEDx Philly event) has completed a novel about urban homesteading.  He writes about the current sustainability movement in Philly and its broader implications across our entire country by focusing on the journey of a few Philadelphians who are homesteading in the city.  BUT he’s self-publishing, so in order for any of us to see this lovely book, he needs our help.  Head on over to his Kickstarter page to throw him a few bucks.  In return you can get a signed copy of the book, a garden consultation from Nic, AND a secondary character named after you!

USDA Launches Community Garden Database

Photo credit - Gary Sieling, taken at the Schuykill Center Community Garden

WASHINGTON – March 11, 2011 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today urged people across the Nation to start People’s Gardens in their communities and to register their gardens in the new People’s Garden database, a tool for USDA partners to showcase their People’s Gardens on an interactive map. This past year, thousands of USDA employees and partners heeded Secretary Vilsack’s call to give back to their communities by volunteering their time to participate in the department-wide People’s Garden initiative.

“Real and effective change starts small and it starts in our own communities, and through the People’s Garden initiative, people can be engaged in their own towns and neighborhoods to promote access to fresh, healthy food, as well as sustainable practices,” said Vilsack.

With the opportunity for the people to enter their People’s Gardens into the database, they will be able to describe each garden, identify who is involved¸ where it is located as well as attach photos and add the contact information for their partners. For those who start a People’s Garden, they can ask to have a People’s Garden sign shipped to them. To view the interactive People’s Garden map and access the database, go to http://www.pubinfo.usda.gov/garden.

The People’s Gardens initiative was launched by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Feb. 12, 2009, to commemorate the bicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Because Abraham Lincoln called USDA “The People’s Department,” it was fitting to create the initiative, The People’s Garden, as a platform through which USDA could challenge others to create gardens which benefit the community and incorporate sustainable practices.

A recent example of a People’s Garden community partnership is with Powell Elementary School in Washington, DC and the Washington Capitals Defensemen and 2011 NHL All-Star Mike Green. Last month, USDA and Mike Green held a session which captured the school community’s best ideas for elements that were important to the success of its garden. This week, the design was revealed to the school before garden construction begins. In late April, the new garden will be unveiled.

The People’s Garden at USDA Headquarters is now one of 1,241 gardens that have expanded to all 50 states, two U.S. territories and three foreign countries. The surge in the number of gardens can in part be attributed to USDA’s recent partnership with Keep America Beautiful and demonstrates how others can get involved and make a difference.

Initially, the initiative started as an effort by USDA to challenge its employees to establish People’s Gardens at USDA facilities or help communities create gardens through collaborative efforts. Today, Agriculture Secretary Vilsack urges people to join the movement. Each ‘People’s Garden’ can vary in size and type, but they must include the following three components:

Benefit the Community: Gardens benefit communities in many different ways. They can create spaces for leisure or recreation that the public can use, provide a harvest to a local food bank, be a wildlife friendly landscape, or be a rain garden to absorb storm water run-off and protect the soil from erosion.

Be Collaborative: The garden must be created and maintained by a partnership of local individuals, groups, or organizations.

Incorporate Sustainable Practices: The garden must include gardening practices that nurture, maintain and protect the environment such as:

• Capturing rainwater in rain barrels
• Composting and mulching
• Planting native species
• Encouraging beneficial insects that feed on destructive pests

More information about The People’s Garden initiative can be found at www.usda.gov/peoplesgarden or follow the initiative for real-time updates at twitter.com/peoplesgarden. Information also is available on the USDA Facebook page at www.facebook.com/USDA and photos are available at www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov. Blogs from the gardeners involved in these “People’s Gardens” are featured at www.usda.gov/blog/usda.

Become a Master Gardener!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Penn State Philadelphia County Outreach Accepting Applications for the Master Gardener Class of 2012

The Penn State Master Gardeners are taking applications for the Class of 2012, which commences in August 2011. We are looking for dedicated organizers, horticulturalists and environmental stewards with at least 5 to 10 hours of volunteer time to work in areas of elementary gardening education, workshop presentation series and answering gardening questions via our Hortline. For more information and an application, please refer to the Penn State Philly website at http://philadelphia.extension.psu.edu/. From the home page, select Horticulture/Gardening tab and find the Master Gardener section.

Applications and inquiries may be send to Kim Labno at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Philadelphia Beekeeper’s Guild Talk on Hive Management

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Come join the Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild on Thursday, March 17th at 7:30 for our March general meeting. Vince Aloyo, PA State Apiary Inspector for our region, will be speaking about spring hive management. Vince’s talk will be aimed at both beginner beekeepers who are getting ready to start their first year and experienced beekeepers with overwintered hives.

We will be meeting at the Unitarian Society of Germantown, 6511 Lincoln Dr., Philadelphia, PA. The meeting will start at 7:30. Please enter off of Johnson Street and follow the driveway down to the parking lot.

All are welcome, you don’t have to be a member to attend (though of course you are welcome to join the Guild if you are not a member!) We hope to see you there!

If you can’t come, but are dying to learn more about bees, Garreson Publishing recently posted a talk by Randy Oliver, of ScientificBeekeeping.com.

Congolese Dinner Fundraiser for Women for Women International

Friday, March 11, 2011

Congolese Fundraising Dinner for Women to Women International
March 26th, 2011
6:30 - 8:30 PM
Kelly Writers House
3805 Locust Walk
Phila., PA 19139
RSVP: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or

Hello blog buddies!

I’ve been given a small grant by Foobooz.com’s 24 X 24 program to host a dinner fundraiser for Women to Women International, an organization that helps women in war torn countries rebuild their lives, and their families.

I will be cooking a humble traditional Congolese meal (in honor of the amazing work that WfW does with Congolese rape and violence victims) and am asking guests to make a donation ($10 +) to support Women for Women International. Through your donation, women in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovinia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kosovo, Rwanda and Sudan receive:

- direct aid for food, medicine, clothing and schooling

- microcredit loans and access to other economic opportunities

- rights awareness and leadership education

- job skills training and

- emotional support from the exchange of letter through the Sponsorship Program

You’re invited to this event! If you would like to attend, please send me an RSVP (so that I cook enough food!) at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). If you can’t attend, but would like to contribute and support this fundraiser and Women for Women International, you can do so safely and easily here:

Since 1993, Women for Women International has directly assisted more than 153,000 women and approximately 655,000 family members have benefited from its programs. Women for Women International has distributed nearly $42 million in direct aid and microcredit loans since 1993.

Donating through this website is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to support my fundraising efforts. Women for Women will send you a notice of donation for your tax purposes. Women for Women International receives high marks from Charity Navigator for meeting or exceeding industry standards for nonprofit organizations.

Brunch with Malik K. Yakini on Urban Farming and Food Justice + Flower Show!

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

You’re invited to brunch with one of America’s leading forces in urban farming, food justice, and the urban school system. Your seat at brunch will also garner you a ticket to the Philadelphia Flower Show.

Malik K. Yakini is the chairman and Interim Executive Director of DBCFSN. He has worked in urban organic agriculture for ten years. He is Executive Director of Nsoroma Institute, one of Detroit’s leading African-centered schools. In that capacity he was instrumental in the development of the school’s food security curriculum and student organic garden. He has done presentations on “Food Security and Food Justice in the African-American Community” at numerous conferences throughout the United States. He is a member of the Michigan Food Policy Council and Chairman of the Detroit Food Policy Council.

RSVP
PHS Community Brunch
Sunday, March 13, 2011