The Grower Chronicles

Summer Reading List 2011 (à la Green City Growers)

2011-08-09T12:24:00.006-04:00

The dog days of summer are currently in full swing. While that means that we at Green City Growers have had our hands full (and I mean that literally; I've picked plenty of zucchini over the last few weeks that are the length of my forearm), it's that time of the year when folks travel to new places, hit the beach, or maybe have a little stay-cation at home. If you've already read your share of Michael Pollan and want some other good food-related books, you can read...

Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit (Barry Estabrook)
Okay, so maybe the title and the topic aren't exactly cheerful, and maybe you don't want to read about something so morose when you're trying to enjoy some extended downtime. But this book was featured on NPR a few weeks ago and has been getting rave reviews from publications like the New York Times and prominent foodies like Jacques Pepin, so clearly there's something about this book that's resonating with someone out there. Estabrook explores the production of the tomato that you could find in your average American supermarket, and looks at the nutritional, environmental, and social problems that the tomato industry has created. Taking extra special care of those tricky heirlooms in your backyard might look like a mighty fine option after reading this book.

Weeds: In Defense of Nature's Most Unloved Plants (Richard Mabey)
Not to be confused with the popular Showtime series, Weeds is all about the roles weeds have played in our histories around the world and how they continue to affect us today. While Mabey isn't claiming that weeds are pure rainbows and sunshine that can do no wrong, he explores how weeds work and how they've impacted our lives from a variety of angles, including the ways they've actually helped us and how we need them. (But please don't hate us for pulling weeds out of your garden when they get to be overwhelming.)

Plan Bee: Everything You Wanted to Know about the Hardest-Working Creatures on the Planet (Susan Brackney)
Most of us at GCG are not expert beekeepers, but we're big fans of bees and how their work makes our job easier and more productive. Plan Bee is great because it accessibly discusses how bee colonies are structured, the work that bees do, the basics of beekeeping, and some of the problems bees are facing nowadays. And it talks about how bees are important for fruit and vegetable production!

Are there any foodie books out there that you like in particular? We love book suggestions, so hit us up at our Facebook page and feel free to post a food-related book that you've been digging recently.

Tomato explosion!

2011-07-25T23:35:00.005-04:00

It's the beginning of tomato season, and every time I swing by a garden I haven't seen in a few days, it seems like the tomato plants have exploded and been producing fruit like crazy. (The cherry tomato plants around the office have been doing particularly well, and I've been guilty on snacking on more than a few while working out there. Job perks, right?)

Beefsteak tomatoes in their baby phase

A Valencia tomato, which is ready for pickin' because of its orange skin

Although tomatoes are not the most difficult crop to grow and take care of, they tend to need a little more TLC than hardier crops like salad greens and radishes. Trellising tomatoes is key if you want to easily see the plant's development and keep pests at bay, so don't forget to tie up your tomatoes regularly as they grow. Sprinkling eggshells into the soil around them keeps them healthy and strong because the tomatoes benefit from eggshells' calcium. Pulling off suckers, or the branches that grow at a 45 degree angle between the main stem and the branches that grow perpendicular to the stem (especially on lower branches), is important because the plant can then direct more energy to the flowers and eventually fruit. And if you have access to compost tea, be sure to spray it generously all over your tomato plants, as compost tea can give your plant an extra boost with fighting off nasty diseases such as blight, which can really hurt tomato plants and is difficult to reverse.

The Inturnip

2011-07-19T23:35:00.004-04:00

Hey there!

I'm Marta and I'm the horticultural intern (the inturnip?) around Green City Growers this summer. I love earthworms and brassicas and spending my summer days outside rummaging around through soil, so it's no surprise that I've been having so much fun and learning a ton from this internship.

(Beets aren't in the brassica genus but I appreciate them nonetheless)

For the next few weeks, I will regularly post (the many) photos, stories, and tips that I've accumulated during my internship with GCG. Stay tuned!

Urban Food Harvest and Bike-Ride, Oh My!

2011-04-29T17:17:00.005-04:00

Have you heard of the Greenhorns? They are an awesome grass-roots non-profit that are all about promoting and supporting the new generation of young farmers. Check out their website for more information about the great things they are doing.

One such great thing is happening right here in Somerville! On May 14th from 12-6pm The Greenhorns is hosting a foraging bike-ride followed by a screening of their documentary “The Greenhorns”. What is a foraging bike ride you say? We’re glad you asked. It’s a bike ride in which a group of people forage for food growing along the bike route. This particular trip will be dedicated to finding Elderflower in the Boston area.

Check out the details on the poster------>

Following the ride will be a screening of the Greenhorns documentary which will include local beer and food. Yuuummmmm!

Green City Growers Just Got Greener!

2011-04-28T18:47:00.006-04:00

Here at Green City Growers we strive to do business in an environmentally responsible way.

We source organic seeds, and practice organic growing from compost to pest control. Now we’ve found a new way to reduce our environmental impact while increasing the quality of our service. We’re happy to announce that we are now working with Read Custom Soils in Canton, Ma. Through Read we receive soil in reusable bags which are sent back to Read and promptly reused. As you can imagine, this greatly reduces the waste of throw away bags. After all, we go through a lot of soil here at GCG!

We’re also happy that this new source is more local than our old supplier in Vermont and that they mix the soil for us, which reduces the prep time here at the office, making our lives easier through the busy spring season.

We have many new exciting developments in the works. Stay tuned for more updates from your friendly neighborhood backyard farmers!

Local and Educational Resources

2010-11-04T13:15:00.003-04:00

Hi! If you heard Jessie Banhazl speak at the American Heart Association's Go Red luncheon, or you are just interested in learning more about where to get local, healthy food, the history of the US food system, of how to grow your own, see below for resources recommended by Green City Growers:

Reading (Current Food Issues):

"In Defense of Food" and "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan

"Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" By Barbara Kingsolver

"Eating better than Organic" by John Cloud, Time Magazine (Click HERE for article)

Watch:

"Food, Inc" (it's available on Netflix Streaming!)

"Fresh"

"King Corn"

Reading (Growing your Own):

"All new Square Foot Gardening Method" by Mel Bartholomew

"The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener" by Eliot Coleman

"The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year-round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses" by Eliot Coleman

"Gaia's Garden: A guide to Home-Scale Permaculture" by Toby Hemenway

"Lasgna Gardening: A new Loayering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding!" by Patricia Lanza

"The Sustainable Vegetable Garden: A Backyard Guide to Healthy Soil and Higher Yields." by
John Jeavons

High-Quality Seeds:

High Mowing Seeds (Vermont)

Johnny's Seeds (Maine)

Find a Local Farm, Farmer's Market, or CSA:

www.Localharvest.org

www.Farmfresh.org

You are also welcome to ask GCG for advice! Email us at greencitygrowers@gmail.com

A New Kind of Tea

2010-07-28T19:31:00.006-04:00

Like any good southerner, I would enjoy a nice cold glass of sweet tea after a morning of installing garden beds in the hot sun. On cold winter afternoons I love to curl up with a hot mug of peppermint tea. When I'm feeling a little crazy I might even go for some chai.

Well, today Anne and I had an adventure with a new kind of tea. Loose leaf? Maybe, but it's made with what used to be leaves rather than what is still in its leaf-like state today. Where tea leaves are usually dried, our experimental leaves were, well, decomposed. What exactly were we doing? We were exploring the art of brewing tea for our plant friends.

Being inclined to have my tea sweetened with honey rather than rice hulls, I think I will leave it to the vegetables to do a taste test.

Here's how we made compost tea:

Step One: Get compost

Step Two: Find cheesecloth (at Market Basket it is located above the hot dogs in the refrigerator section), soybean meal (in lieu of aloe or yuca extract), and fish emulsion (a brown, lumpy, fishy smelling liquid fertilizer that shows up at GCG more often than you would wish for)

Step Three: Fill a bucket with water and place an air pump in the bottom to ensure good percolation

Step four: Suspend a cheesecloth teabag filled with compost into bucket with water, soybean meal, fish emulsion, pump, and sit back and enjoy your handiwork. (As you can see, Anne knows this tea is where it's at!)

An Essay from a Summer Intern

2010-07-21T12:38:00.004-04:00

Working at Green City growers will be unforgettable for me even when I go back to Korea.

Actually, when I decided to work here, I didn’t know exactly how this company would function to grow lots of vegetables and what I should do to make Green City Growers flourish. However, as I worked here longer, I learned lots of precious things that I was not interested in before.

Firstly, while I worked at G.C.G, I learned how to make lines of irrigation which can support plants firmly. It was a new experience for me to make these. When I accidentally found the lines of irrigation I had made in the garden outside, it made me feel worthwhile. Also, I used to sort seeds according to alphabetical order.

By sorting, I became familiar with what kinds of seeds can be helpful for people who want to eat vegetables such as tomatoes, broccoli, kale, spinach, basil and something like that.

And it was also an interesting experience for me to transplant plants to grow much bigger and healthier. After I learned how to transplant plants well, I recognized there are lots of ways to promote the growth of plants.

Even though I had never been interested in organic vegetables, now I think that I should protect plants just like humans and each creature.

What I want to thank Jessie and Anne for is that they not only gave me opportunities to get exciting experience but they gave me a realistic environment where I could speak and practice speaking English by working with other interns who are native speakers.

Even though I can’t speak English very well, they helped me achieve my goal to speak English better.

Although I go back to my country, I will not forget and I will miss Green City Growers’ staff.

I hope Green City Growers can flourish more and more.

-Nyeong Soo Jung, a summer intern

Nyeon Soo is a student in the Kaplan English as a second language program. She interned at Green City Growers this summer in order to improve her English.

In the Garden

2010-07-18T21:44:00.016-04:00

Here are some photos of the things we saw in the gardens last week:

We continued to harvest chard with brightly colored stalks in reds and yellows.

The carrots are getting so big!

Tomatoes are starting to grow larger on the vines, still mostly green. We harvested some Heirloom Black Prince tomatoes at a house in JP! Why are these particular tomatoes so ahead of the game? Perhaps the saxophone player who lives next door is working wonders with his musical interludes. Do tomatoes like jazz?

We also saw some adorable baby cucumbers, covered in a prickly outer layer, flowers still clinging on.

Cucurbits!

2010-07-13T11:05:00.002-04:00

Many of our clients chose to plant a variety of cucurbits in their gardens for the summer. The cucurbit family includes squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and melons. After sprouting up their initial oval seed leaves, the plants grow heart-shaped leaves that are often covered in a gentle layer of fuzz. When cucumbers and melons start to take off, the plants look like massive bushes of stems displaying their green hearts to the world and holding their yellow flowers close to the center.

Cucurbits are monoecious, meaning that each plant has both male and female flowers. The plant first produces male flowers, the ones that make the pollen, and then grows the female flowers. Honeybees carry the pollen from the male flowers to the female flowers, where little cucumbers and melons begin to form. A few days ago, Allison and I were looking at some cucurbits in a client’s garden and were surprised to see what looked like little baby cucumbers at the base of some of the flowers while the flowers were still in full bloom. It turns out that the flowers that are swollen at the base are the female flowers, and the ones that have thin stalks are male flowers. Once the female flower is pollinated, the base of the flower will continue to grow into a cucumber or squash, but if the flower isn’t pollinated for some reason, the flower will eventually drop off the plant.

Recently we have been spraying our cucurbits with a solution of kaolin clay. This turns the leaves a speckled white, but is very helpful in the quest to keep away destructive critters. Kaolin clay reduces the risk of squash vine borers and squash bugs from finding the leaves and vines tasty and killing the whole or part of the plant. Squash vine borer larvae tunnel into the vines, damaging the tissue and killing everything beyond where they have entered the plant. Squash bugs drink the sap out of the leaves and inject a harmful toxin that severely damages the plant.

Make sure your cucurbits are getting enough sun, water, and fertilizer this summer! We mound the dirt up around the base of the plants to make sure they are getting as much warmth from the sun as possible.

Green City Growers in the Globe!

2010-07-07T10:43:00.005-04:00

Green City Growers' partnership with Recover Green Roofs at Ledge Kitchen and Drinks is featured in the G section of today's Boston Globe! The article, which talks about restaurants making an effort to grow their own herbs and produce, includes a video of Green City Growers employees planting the rooftop garden. The article also mentions Green City Growers' partnerships with b. good, Tables of Content, and Gourmet Caterers. Green City Growers has also planted an herb garden for Ula Cafe in JP.

If you are interested in the logistics of turning a roof into a vegetable garden, check out the Recover Green Roofs blog, which provides an explanation of the project. The blog also has a great video showing the process from bringing the dirt onto the roof to planting in the vegetables.

We're very excited about this project!

Bolting

2010-07-06T12:36:00.009-04:00

In the gardens around Somerville, summer crops are starting to take off. Gardens that were planted early in the season and have plenty of sun are starting to overflow with fat sugar snap peas hiding among green leaves on the vine, and tomato plants are growing big enough to be velcroed to stakes and produce tiny green tomatoes. Clients who have been used to going out into their gardens to harvest a salad for dinner are seeing some changes. As the days get longer and hotter, lettuce begins to go through a process known as bolting. The plant shoots up a tall stalk with flowers at the top, getting ready to go to seed. Although it may be charming to watch your lettuce flower, bitter bolting lettuce is not so charming to the pallet.

There are a variety of ways to slow the process of bolting and extend the life of your lettuce crop farther into the summer. One method is using the other plants in the garden to create shade. We planted new mixed greens a few weeks ago in a garden in Cambridge using the shade created by a wild and abundant crop of sugar snap peas. The peas, growing ferociously up and away from their trellising, extend out over a few squares of the garden, protecting the little lettuces from the sun and the heat.

Another method of extending the life of your lettuce is known as ‘cut and come again.’ Rather than waiting for the entire plant to grow to a harvestable size, cut the outer leaves as they grow big enough to eat. The lettuce plant will continue to grow leaves from the center out. Cutting a few leaves at a time keeps the plant from feeling mature and ready to bolt.

Or, if you have had enough of salad, you can enjoy the summer crops that are about to come—peas and carrots are already big enough to eat, squash and cucumbers are growing on the vine. If you are in the mood to embrace your bolted lettuce, some people recommend cooking the leaves in stir fry or soup. Others advocate harvesting your own lettuce seeds to plant next season!

Whatever you choices you make about your lettuce, don’t forget to make sure your whole garden is getting enough water in this heat!

From the Jungle to the Ledge

2010-07-02T08:45:00.003-04:00

Until about two days ago the yard outside of the Green City Growers office was getting very difficult to navigate. Looking out the office window, you were transported into a jungle of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and melons. Eggplants held their own in a bed, herbs poked their little leaves out of the fray, blueberry bushes calmly ripened their berries. The tomatoes and peppers were jumbled together: Black Prince next to Black Velvet, Yellow Brandiwine in between a Sun Cherry and a Jet Star, Commandment pepper squeezed beside a Jalepeno. There was nowhere to walk because the squash were in the path. The gate could barely open as the jungle inside, bursting with leaves and flowers hoping to turn into fruit, pushed its way outwards.

Then, the jungle moved to a farm. Well, much of the jungle. And the farm isn’t traditional. It’s rather small on the scale of farms. But it’s on a roof. This “farm” is the rooftop garden on a restaurant called the Ledge, in Dorchester. This installation is different than some of our other rooftop projects because we are working with green roofing engineers: instead of putting garden beds on the roof, the entire roof has become a garden.

When you step onto the roof, it appears that you are walking on mulch, but it is really recycled car tires that have been painted brown. Underneath are a few different materials designed to help with drainage. The garden beds themselves are much larger than our typical 4x4. There are four beds which stretch out across the roof, each containing two, or three, or more, mounds wide enough for two tomato plants to sit comfortably next to each other. The planting medium is a special lighter-weight soil mix that will allow the plants to grow while keeping the roof from collapsing under its weight.

Yesterday we finished planting at the Ledge. The garden is filled with tomatoes, squash, eggplants, and herbs. After mapping out the crops, Marianna estimated that there might be over two hundred plants on the roof.

The jungle next to Green City Growers has moved. The space next to the office looks rather prim: the plants politely staying out of the paths, the vegetables respectfully giving each other room to breathe. On the roof, the newly planted vegetables have an exciting view: guests dining on the patio, cars moving on the street, and other, less attractive, roofs nearby which are, sadly, plant-less.

Ladybugs in the Refrigerator

2010-06-28T19:13:00.003-04:00

In the small fridge in the back room of the office, nestled behind a chocolate mocha cake, is a bag of rather subdued ladybugs. They are not a snack for hungry Green City Growers employees. No, instead of hanging out in the fridge waiting to be eaten, they are hanging out waiting to eat.

Ladybugs are one of the best biological controls for aphids, as they find this common garden pest to be particularly delectable. Aphids are small insects that suck the sap out of plants. This can stunt the plants’ growth, make the leaves curled or yellowed, and transmit viruses to the plants. Aphids also excrete a sticky liquid called honeydew on the leaves that can lead to a build-up of black sooty mold. Bad news.

A plant with aphids on it might look like this:

Last Friday, one of the gardeners, Allison, and I released ladybugs in a client’s garden in an attempt to rid the garden bed of aphids. Hopefully, this will happen:

So that’s why we have a bag of presumably slightly hungry ladybugs in the office. Why are they in the refrigerator? It helps them chill out.

Some tips on releasing ladybugs in your garden and make sure they stay:

-Put them in the refrigerator for a few hours to calm them down first
-Spray your plants with water so that the ladybugs will want to stay and drink
-Release them in the evening so they will stick around and get acclimated
-go to http://www.naturescontrol.com/ladybugs.html for more tips

The Art of Mixing Soil

2010-06-23T08:34:00.002-04:00

You might not think very much about the soil that fills your garden bed. Maybe it looks dark brown, you notice if it is dry, or it is just the background to the beautiful flowers and tasty vegetables that grow out of it. Here at Green City Growers we think about your dirt. We spend abundant time on the art of mixing dirt, working with a palette of peat moss, compost, vermiculite, and top soil to create that deep brown that makes your greens happy.

Last week we mixed some quality soil for two new clients: Ula Café in Jamaica Plain and Mathworks, a software company in Natick, MA. After loading up the truck with forty-two bags of compost, an assortment of other soil components, a wheelbarrow, seven wooden raised bed frames, and irrigation tubing, Jessie and I drove to Ula Café where we met her brother Brett to install the beds. Once the beds were laid out, we mixed the soil, pouring the different ingredients onto a tarp, swinging the tarp from side to side so that the peat moss, compost, and vermiculite swirled together in a mess of brown, black, and silver, and dumping the mixture into the beds. We reached our arms into the dirt, mashing up large clumps of compost and looking for buried treasure: a hidden heap of airy vermiculite or a dry pocket of peat moss. Our work done, we ate a lunch of delicious sandwiches at Ula Café where the beds would soon grow a variety of herbs, and moved on to Mathworks where we installed four vegetable beds on the patio outside of the cafeteria.

Yesterday, another summer intern, Marianna, and I spent the morning mixing up two large tubs of soil to repot some zucchini, peppers, and eggplants that had outgrown their small pots. With the heat of summer upon us, the summer crops are raring to go!

-Amy Shmania, summer intern

Making Local and Sustainable Choices: Panel Discussion

2009-11-10T10:53:00.007-05:00

Jessie from GCG will be speaking on a panel next Tuesday, November 17th at Suffolk University hosted by the On-Your-Feet-Project. The topic: making the right choices. Come join us for what should be an interesting and informative event

Speaker Series on Local and Sustainable Food

OYFP is holding the 2nd Round of their Speaker Series at Suffolk University Law School. Learn about local and sustainable cooking and eating choices just in time for the season of over eating.

Our distinguished speakers:

Alex Loud, Slow Food Boston
Matthew Kochka, ReVision Urban Farm
Jessica Banhazl, Green City Growers
Jamey Lionette, Lionette's Market

More Information to Come!

The Details

Date: Tuesday, November 17th
Time: 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Location: Suffolk Law School Faculty Dining Room, 4th FL Suite 495 120 Tremont Street Boston, MA, 02108-4977 617.573.8000
Cost: Free

Slow Food Event! Urban Farming: Livestock Edition.

2009-11-02T17:38:00.005-05:00

Slow Food is hosting an exciting talk that we here at GCG are very much looking forward to. Details Below:

A Discussion with 'Farm City' Author Novella Carpenter

Location: Fort Point Artists Community store, 12 Farnsworth St, Boston

Cost: Free
When: Friday, 11/13/2009 5:30PM

Details (From Slow Food's Site)
Novella Carpenter lives in Oakland. I mean, really IN Oakland. As in downtown. But that certainly hasn't stopped her from farming - and she has now written a memoir chronicling the transformation of her backyard from bare land to full-blown animal & veggie paradise!

The book, Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer, is newly released, and we've coaxed Novella out of sunny California to cool New England to read from it and talk more about her experiences. By doing so, we hope to be inspired to make a little more out of our available space on rooftops, outside windowsills or in yards.

In order to tie Novella's work back to local issues, we've invited Belmont resident (& resident chicken expert) Joan Teebagy to join us. More people are opting to raise their own hens for eggs, and Joan teaches classes on the subject at Codman Farms in Lincoln. But be sure to check your town laws! As many of you may have read, there is an on-going battle in Arlington about residents rights to keep backyard chickens.

So join us right after work on Friday, November 13th at 5:30pm. We'll have some light nibbles, a little cider, and enjoy the reading & discussions that commence. Advance RSVPs and a $10 donation to the Slow Food fund that supports local agriculture are duly requested!

Directions:
Made in Fort Point, the FPAC Store is located at 12 Farnsworth St, just off Congress Street and next to the new Flour Bakery.

The gallery space is a 5 to 10 minute walk from the South Station Red Line T, or the Court House stop on the Silver Line. There is also street parking in the area.

Special MOS Food Inc. Screening

2009-10-01T22:18:00.000-04:00

Jessie Banhazl, Green City Grower's Managing Director/Owner was invited to take part in a panel discussion following Harvard Pilgrim's (HPHC)/MOS's special screening of "Food, Inc." The conversation was moderated by Louisa Kasden (health & lifestyle journalist) featuring Gary Hirshberg, Founder/CE-Yo of Stonyfield Farm and Jody Adams, Founder & Executive Chef of Rialto. In addition, Judith Frampton, RN VP of Medical Management for HPHC and David Sittenfeld, the MOS's Forum Program Manager offered their comments at the beginning of the screening, warning of the potential "discomfort" some of the images would generate as well as the great opportunity we had to engage with the panelists.

If you're at all interested in food and asking questions about where it all comes from then watching this movie is probably a good thing. If you've already read Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver, Eric Schlosser, and others and the well-known books "Omnivore's Dilemma", "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and "Fast Food Nation" then you probably will not learn anything new, and just might reinforce what you already know; that our industrialized food system is good at what it does, create "food" and "food-like-substances", and has generated many unintended consequences along the way.

This not a movie review (click here for Roger Ebert's and David Edelstein's reviews) or a synopsis, it is a brief overview of some of the interesting topics and themes.

What was so fascinating about this film is the fact that there is no one bogeyman that we can both finger and pin the blame on. Sure, it's easy to target Monsanto, McDonald's, Wal-Mart, IBP, Smithfield, Cargill, and any number of large companies for suing farmers to protect their patented seeds, providing salty, sweet, and fattening food that we are hard-wired to desire, and making aisles and aisles (the average supermarket contains ~47,000 products) of inexpensive products available. But, didn't the market demand this? Sort of; policy decisions, most notably the continued subsidization of corn and soybean production, the raw materials that end up in many manufactured foods, contribute to our poor eating habits and the environmental and animal welfare issued illuminated in the film.

It's easy to notice the revolving door from industry trade associations and companies to the federal agencies that are charged with regulating these industries, the FDA and the USDA. At one point in the film, we see business cards with Federal officials' titles on the screen flip over to display their "corporate" alter-egos; it was quite interesting. It's easy to blame the politicians for appointing these "regulators". It's easy to blame the billions paid to lobbyists to represent the interests of the large companies at the expense of the average American consumer/taxpayer. What about the consumers that demand affordable food (in the US we pay the lowest proportion of our earnings for food in the world)? Ultimately, it is not one thing, person, or organization that we need to stop or change, but the system we are all part of, the way we treat what we put into our bodies, the level of consciousness we dedicate to what we eat, how it's grown and harvested, and our role in the political processes that create the systems we are all part of.

Upon the completion of the film, the crowd filling Cahner's Auditorium was invited to ask questions of the panelists and continue the conversation about food. There were some good comments and without providing a transcript of the event here's some of the key points made by the panelists:

Jessie of Green City Growers: We're continuing to use our business as an educational tool for individuals and businesses, building and maintaining raised-bed organic farms in people's backyards and helping them understand that they can indeed grow their own food. They're also very interested in working with schools (an issue currently focused on by Slowfood USA), helping them grow healthy food, teaching them where it comes from, and creating young advocates for locally produced food. We certainly have challenges of scaling, considering the logistical needs of a distributed farming model. We're collaborating with MIT graduate students to use appropriate technologies that support our mission for sustainable food production.
Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm: The consumer is king. He made continued good points that as much as the industrialized food system appears like an overwhelming giant, we have the power to vote for the food we want with every dollar we spend. He also reminded us, "do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good." Yes, the organic food industry is not necessarily energy neutral and free from the same issues that afflict the traditional industrialized food economy, and it is moving us in the right direction.
Jody Adams of Rialto: Jody talked about the balance she seeks to achieve (a very difficult one) between meeting customers' dining expectations and maintaining her mission to healthy eating. She commented on the serving sizes of protein in her entrees, specifically following nutritional guidelines for portion size and sometimes not meeting the expectations of her customers. It can be a delicate balance seeking to guide your customers' behavior without making them feel patronized.

The answer is never simple and straight-forward. There are multiple actors in this on-going real-time play and their roles change based upon the winds of the global economy and the political leanings of administrations and the public.

At Green City Growers, we're striving to create a local business that contributed to the well-being of our customers, our employees, the communities we work in, and the environment we are all a part of. Perhaps we'll be building a mini-farm in your (or your company's) backyard in the near future.

Thank you for reading, and remember that the money you spend on food makes a difference.

EVENT: "Food, Inc" Screening and Panel

2009-09-24T12:07:00.002-04:00

SEPTEMBER 30TH EVENT Featuring. Jessie from Green City Growers. ALMOST SOLD OUT!!! Register ASAP to save your seat.

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care has teamed up with the Museum of Science to show the critically acclaimed Food, Inc., by filmmaker Robert Kenner.

The film features interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) along with forward-thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield Farm's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farm's Joel Salatin. Food, Inc. reveals surprising — and often shocking — truths about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation, and where we are going from here.

Following the screening, Stonyfield Farms Chairman, President, and CE-Yo Gary Hirshberg; Rialto chef / owner Jody Adams; and Green City Growers Owner Jessie Banhazl discuss possible solutions to the environmental concerns raised by our current methods of food production and consider questions from the audience.

The screening takes place on September 30th in Cahners Theater; doors open at 1:30 p.m. The event is free, but space is limited; please register by following the link here:

http://www.mos.org/events_activities/special_programs&d=3954

Companies & Green City Growers

2009-09-20T17:40:00.004-04:00

This is taken directly from the Wickedlocal website, and we should have had it up months ago. As part time "marketing guy", Renewacycle apologizes.

An organic farm is sprouting on Route 9, within sight of thousands of commuters.

In an effort to promote a healthy lifestyle, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care is offering its employees the chance to learn how to grow organic vegetables at its Wellesley and Quincy offices. Partnering with Green City Growers, a Somerville-based group specializing in building farms in urban locations, more than 50 employees have signed up to be a part of the project. Their harvest will be donated to Second Helping, a Greater Boston Food Bank program.

“This organic farm started with the notion that people don’t know how to use food that’s whole and fresh,” said Judith Frampton, the company’s vice president of medical management. “My hope for the company, for the people that are volunteering, [is] that some learn how to garden that didn’t know how to before, but that everybody learns how to use nutritious, whole food in ways they never knew before.”

This is the first time Harvard Pilgrim has gone the route of farming. Frampton said the program will be a test run and if it goes well, the company will encourage its members to try and grow their own organic peppers and eggplants. The farming not only encourages people to eat locally and more healthily, but it also gets employees out of the office during warm summer days. “I just jumped to it,” said Yvonne Kantak, who works in general accounting. “I love gardening. I find it very calming.”

At the company’s Wellesley headquarters, more than a half-dozen wooden frames have been installed in the lawn. While most of the beds lay flat on the ground, two are raised to about waist height, for employees who have bad backs or knees and can’t bend down to tend to the vegetables. Each frame is divided into 16 sections, with different plants growing in each square.

“Harvard Pilgrim is the first health-care provider to ever do this,” said Green City Growers co-founder Jessie Banhazl. “It’s the first corporation that we’ve worked with and, I think, that is doing anything similar in Massachusetts. The … prospect of doing something on this large of a scale was really exciting for us.”

This past Monday, Banhazl stopped by the Wellesley headquarters to check up on the vegetables. She showed volunteers how to mulch the plants. Throughout the summer, members from Green City Growers will also come by to offer advice and helpful tips to the volunteers. “The beauty of this, too, is that we’ve got volunteers from across the company, but also from a wide range of gardening experience,” Frampton said, who has grown peppers and tomatoes before, but not much else. “We’re going to have people with lots of experience and people who have never put their fingers in the dirt before.”

Harvard Pilgrim plans to donate around $25,000 in produce to Second Helping, said Frampton. Although the summer has been rainy and not the best weather for growing plants in, Banhazl said she still expects a strong harvest.

Frampton said the farm will last through the fall. There will be tasting sessions and lessons on how to cook what is being grown. She said Harvard Pilgrim would be interested in joining with local schools and sponsor educational programs around healthy, locally grown, organic food.

“This is a commitment,” she said. “We are definitely going to keep doing this.”

Kantak and co-workers Andra Barnette and Linda Fei were enthusiastic about the vegetable beds. Wearing gardening gloves from home, the three women walked around to each frame, carefully tending to individual plants. In some cases, the seeds had been planted too close to one another and were separated. The ladies also put mulch around every plant.

“I think it’s just a wonderful project,” Barnette said. “If it will get other companies to start thinking the same way, it would be really good. Plus, you get to come out in the sunshine and feel like you’re doing something good.”

Basic Care for your Backyard Farm

2009-07-16T12:05:00.000-04:00

Basic Care for your Backyard Farm

Square Foot Gardening

Your raised bed farm utilizes a technique called square foot gardening, developed in the 1970’s by Mel Bartholomew. It allows for you to grow more crops in less space, and with less work. Raised bed farms are easy to tend to and care for, and can be placed anywhere with adequate sunlight, including driveways, decks, or rooftops.

An important general tip is to never stand on top of your raised bed. This will compact the soil and make it difficult for your plants to grow.

Planning

Plan your garden before you start planting. Group together plants with similar watering requirements, and plant companion plants together. Companion plants can help each other grow in a variety of ways, while antagonistic plants impede one another’s growth.

Consider the time of year you will be planting and which crops will grow best at that time. Remember- you can have a spring, summer and fall crop in your backyard farm.

Plant your taller crops are on the north side of your raised beds. This way, they won’t shade your smaller plants.

Remember to calculate how many of each plant you will need before going to purchase your seeds or seedlings.

Planting

There are two ways to plant: by planting seeds directly into the ground or by using transplants that you have purchased or grown indoors. When a spring crop is finished, you can replant that square with a summer crop, and later for a fall crop.

For both: Draw a grid with your fingers inside each square foot to make the appropriate number of squares (4, 9, or 16) and plant seeds or seedlings in the center of each newly drawn square. Always remember to label where you have planted which seeds or transplants.

Seeds

Generally, seeds should be planted at a depth of two to four times their size (around 2 in cold weather, 4 in hot weather.) This is about 1/8 to 1 inch. Plant seeds below a moist surface to prevent them from drying out. After planting, gently tap the soil down on top of the seed to bring it into contact with the soil. The best way to water newly planted seeds is with a light mist or spray from the hose so that they are not unearthed.

Transplants

The best time to transplant is in the early morning or on cloudy days to minimize stress on the new plant.

To transplant, dig a hole slightly larger than the container in which the seedling is growing. With vegetables, bury the plant up to the first set of leaves. Pat down the soil firmly around the plant and smooth it around the stem at a slight decline so that water drains toward the plant.

When you plant transplants, check to see if the roots are rootbound (if they are growing in circles.) If they are, cut off the bottom of the roots and soil or gently tease the bottoms of the roots before transplanting.

Climbing Plants

“Vertical crops” such as peas, pole beans and cucumbers grow well on trellises, which will conserve space. Plant the seeds in a line underneath the trellis and train them to climb by twisting the main stem through the trellis once a week.

Watering

Keep newly planted seeds moist, not drenched.

After transplanting, water each seedling immediately and every day for the next few days until they are established.

To water, pour warm water directly at the base of the plant. Warm water is better for the plants (they can absorb more nutrients from warm water and in the spring and fall it helps to warm the soil.) Make sure to water close to the ground so you do not form puddles in the soil. Only water the base of plants- wet leaves are more susceptible to fungal diseases. The best time to water is early in the morning.

Water frequently (every one or two days,) based on the weather how your plants look, and what the soil feels like. Plants need more water if it is hot and sunny than if it is cool or cloudy. If plants turn yellow, they are getting too much water. If they are wilting, they are not getting enough. If the top one or two inches of the soil feel dry, it is time to water. Water the soil deeply to encourage deep root growth.

Mulching

Mulching helps to conserve moisture and keep weeds under control. Spread a thick layer (several inches thick) of straw, shredded leaves, compost, dried leaves, or anything else that can be used as mulch, around your bed once your plants are established.

Weeding

Weed when the weeds are young and when the soil is wet. Always take care of weeds before they bloom to prevent having more of them the following year.

Extreme Weather Conditions

Hot, Dry Weather: Frequent and heavy watering.

Heavy Rains: If soil has been washed away, recover any exposed roots with soil; eliminate snail and slug hiding places (such as under rocks,); watch for fungal and bacterial disease.

Late (or early) Frost: Cover plants with a protective covering such as a storm window cover or even newspaper.

Further Resources

Mel Bartholomew’s Square Foot Gardening is a great resource for learning more about square foot gardening.

Post Cheap Energy: Food From the Backyard

2009-07-14T21:06:00.008-04:00

As an ad-hoc/occasional member of the Green City Growers team, I'm clearly interested in the concept of local food production. I've also taken an interest in the concept of peak oil, not so much for the "end of the world" elements that some might believe in but because of the re-localization of our economies that it will hasten. Seems that the former Chief Strategist of CIBC World Markets Jeff Rubin agrees. In his new book "Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller" Mr. Rubin spends some time on the future of food in a world made smaller by expensive shipping fuel. On page 221,

Where is the food of the future going to come from? Your own backyard. That shift in food supply is already starting to take place. An increasingly carbon-conscious and energy-conscious food consumer in North America is already clamoring for more homegrown food. Not only does replacing foreign food with local food save energy, but in the process it reduces carbon emissions - a double win in an economy that not only had to contend with triple-digit oil prices but that will soon put a price on burning oil as well.

Seems like Green City Growers is on the forefront (along with many other organizations like Growing Power, Farm Fresh Rhode Island, BALLE, Slowfood, etc.) of a post cheap energy food infrastructure.

View From the Crowd (Urban Intensive Clinic 5/23)

2009-05-31T11:34:00.002-04:00

I guess I'm a "part-time" member of the Green City Growers (GCG) team, working on a business plan with a team of fellow BGI students based upon GCG's business. Of course, I know little to nothing about farming or gardening besides gleaning information about our incredibly energy intensive and "unhealthy" industrial food system from reports like this one from the Post Carbon Institute and (of course) Michael Pollan's and Mark Bittman's books on the massive changes required in our industrialized food system.

Anyway, I decided to stop by at the Heartbeat Collective in Jamaica Plain for a little while at the Urban Intensive Workshop and see what it's all about. Most of my work with GCG has been through e-mails and phone calls with Jessie and Gabe, and for all my hemming and hawing about local food, I'd yet to plant a single seedling in anything. In fact, the Cyclamen I bought for work lasted a few months before I managed to kill it (I think with too much water, at least that's what Joe the Gardener thought).

It was great! There were about ten "students" there listening to Gabe passionately talk about the creation of urban food systems. Jessie mixed up a great salad along with a vegan pasta salad for lunch. Then we dove in and built a 4'x4' raised bed complete with soil mixing (1/3 Intervale diverse compost. 1/3 sphagnum peat, 1/3 coarse horticultural vermiculite - the "lite" is for more than one reason!). I loved the fact that Gabe talked about the fact that the materials going into the construction of the bed were NOT local nor sustainable; the wood came from Home Depot (GCG is working on gaining access to New England Fir), the Intervale compost is from The Intervale Center in Burlington, VT, the peat's from somewhere in the UK (GCG would prefer to use a material derived from coconut shells, but its availability is spotty and it comes from the East Indies) and the vermiculite...who knows.

GCG is acting, not waiting for the perfect solution; they'll help develop it.

The hands on construction project of the bed was great, and we all pitched in to the completion. Their commitment to making a micro-farm that has the best possible odds of success for the urban farmer (or one of their customers) was clear to me. They used the best possible soil mixture for this climate, planted their own starts, and installed a timed irrigation system to ensure the proper plant hydration.

Now, to develop a solar powered rain catchment with a timer system to provide the watering system (the WPI geek in me is re-emerging!)

Urban Intensive Workshop: Coming up Fast!

2009-05-07T22:00:00.002-04:00

The new date for the Urban Intensive Workshop is coming up fast!

The Event will be held on May 23rd, from 10am-5pm, at the Heartbeat Collective in JP (35 Wyman st)

Here is a description of the event:

If you are interested in learning the skills that we are using to transform Boston into a Green City, join us May 23rd for our hands-on full day Urban Intensive Growing Workshop. We will be exploring the principles of Urban Sustainability, and will be getting our hands dirty transforming an urban yard over the course of the day. Through discussion, games, and good old fashioned hard work, we will cover:

Site Design, Composting/Worm Composting, Organic Remediation Methods, Micro Farming, Market Gardening, Square Foot Gardening, Micro Livestock, Urban Homesteading, Four Season Harvest, Natural Building, Urban farmer’s treasure hunt

Lunch (Vegan friendly) will be provided

This Workshop will be held in the heart of Jamaica Plain at the HeartBeat Collective house.

$90 payable in advance, $110 at the door

EMAIL US if you are interested in attending...

YouTube!

2009-05-07T21:46:00.002-04:00

Somerville News Article

2009-04-14T17:25:00.005-04:00

Backyard farming business touts healthy food, healthy bodies, happy mind

By Julia Fairclough

Gabriel Erde-Cohen and Jessie Banhazl were onto something when they thought about how today's earth and health conscious people would appreciate growing the vegetables that they put on the table. They really hit it on the nail when they decided to do the actual farming for people and in a space as little as four-by-four feet...

more at TheSomervilleNews.com

Events at The Institute for Human Sciences

2009-04-14T15:27:00.005-04:00

The Institute for Human Sciences is hosting a multitude of amazing events focused on food-justice, food-security, health and cooking. And a lot of the events are FREE which is just icing on the already yummy cake. Check out the link here, or read below.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Fermentation lecture and workshop:
Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods

Join Sandor Ellix Katz (aka Sandorkraut), author of Wild Fermentation and The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved, for this workshop. Learn how easy it is to make sauerkraut, pickles and other live-culture ferments in your own kitchen. Highly nutritious and filled with life, fermented foods have a long history and a promising future. Empower yourself to create these delicious and healthful foods!

2:30 PM - 5:00 PM
808 Commonwealth Avenue (Fuller Building)
Demonstration Room

Seating limited | $30 includes signed copy of Wild Fermentation | $20 without book.

Registration information>>

Lecture, book-signing and dinner:
Cooking with a Conscience

Featuring ec0-chef, author, and food-justice activist Bryant Terry

Bryant Terry is a nationally recognized eco chef, author, and food justice activist. He is currently a Food and Society Policy Fellow, a national program of the WK Kellogg Foundation. He is co-author, with Anna Lappé, of Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen and author of the recently released Vegan Soul Kitchen. With the help of a Kellogg Foundation Food and Society Policy Fellowship, he has started the Southern Organic Kitchen Project in order to educate primarily African-Americans living in the Southern United States about the connections between diet and health.

Dinner will feature recipes from Bryant's Vegan Soul Kitchen

5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
808 Commonwealth Avenue (Fuller Building)
Demonstration Room

Seating limited | $45.00 includes signed copy of Vegan Soul Kitchen

Registration information>>

Film Screening and discussion:
King Corn

King Corn is a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation.

In King Corn, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from college on the east coast, move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America's most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat - and how we farm.

Film-screening will be introduced by Ian Cheney, filmmaker, and followed by discussion with Aaron Woolf, director.

8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Boston University Law School
Auditorium | Barristers' Hall
765 Commonwealth Avenue
[Directions]

Free and open to the public | Reception to follow

Note: These events are taking place in conjunction with an international conference on "The Future of Food." Detailed conference description here>>

Saturday, May 9, 2009

International Conference:
The Future of Food: Transatlantic Perspectives

Free and open to the public
(includes all panels, breakfast, coffee breaks, reception)

8:00 AM - 8:45 AM: Breakfast and Registration

8:45 AM - 9:00 AM: Introductions

9:00 AM - 9:30 AM: Opening Keynote Address
Satish Kumar, Editor, Resurgence

9:30 AM – 11:00 AM: Session I: From Farm to Fork: The Global Food Chain
This session traces the increasingly obscure path of food from farm to fork. The focus is on “food production” and the industrialization of agriculture. It will consider the growing influence of “agribusiness” and the “politics of food,” comparing the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union with agricultural policy in the United States. We will explore the alignment (or lack thereof) of business and consumer interests and the impact of the transformation of the food system on culture.
Participants:
Arie van den Brand, President, Biologica and former Member of Parliament, the Netherlands
Helena Norberg-Hodge, founder and director of the International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC)
Mark Winne, author of Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty
Moderator: James McCann, Professor of History and Associate Director for Development, African Studies Center, Boston University

11:00 AM – 11:30AM: Coffee Break

11:30 AM – 1:00 PM: Session II: The End of Cheap Food: Food and Geopolitics
This session will center on “food security.” It will address the rising cost of food and the “fuel vs. food” debate. Is the growing demand for biofuels responsible for food inflation? Other threats to food security will also be explored, namely, fossil fuel dependence, loss of biodiversity, and water shortages.
Participants:
Benedikt Haerlin, Foundation on Future Farming | Save Our Seeds
Jim Harkness, President, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Tim Wise, Director of the Research and Policy Program at the Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
Moderator: Cutler Cleveland, Professor of Geography and Environmental Science, Boston University

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM: Vegetarian lunch with guest speakers
Seating limited | $15.00 | Please indicate when registering whether or not you will attend the lunch.

2:00 PM – 3:30 PM: Session III: What’s in What You Eat? Food Safety in a New Ecology
This panel focuses on “food safety” with an emphasis on regulation in the United States and Europe, the GMO debate, recent “food scares,” and the looming threat of bioterrorism.
Participants:
Simone Gabbi, European Food Safety Authority
Helen Holder, GM Campaign Coordinator for Friends of the Earth Europe
Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director, Center for Food Safety
Moderator: Adil Najam, Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Boston University

3:30 PM – 4:00 PM: Coffee Break

4:00 PM – 5:30 PM: Session IV: Eating Green: Food and Climate Change
This panel looks at the relationship between food production and climate change, addressing issues of deforestation, soil degradation, and factory farms and considers whether what we eat can make a difference.
Participants:
Daniel Hillel, Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University
Björn-Ola Linnér, Linköping University, the Tema Institute
Mia MacDonald, Founder and Executive Director, Brighter Green
Cynthia Rosenzweig, Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University
Moderator: Henrik Selin, Professor of International Relations, Boston University

5:30 PM – 6:00 PM: Coffee Break

6:00 PM – 7:30 PM: Session V: What Is “Good” Food? The Ethics
of Eating
Is “good” food healthy, sustainable, delectable or cheap? This panel explores why our food choices matter. It addresses the “ethics of eating” and the health and environmental costs of “cheap food.” It looks at some of the grassroots alternatives including the rise of organic farming, locavorism, and the “slow food” movement.
Participants:
Sandor Ellix Katz, author of Wild Fermentation and The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved
Harriet Lamb, Executive Director, Fair Trade Foundation
Helena Norberg-Hodge, founder and director of the International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC)
Moderator: Molly Anderson, independent consultant on science and policy for sustainability

7:30 PM - 8:00 PM: Closing Keynote Address
Michael Ableman, farmer, author, and photographer and a recognized practitioner of sustainable agriculture and proponent of regional food systems

8:00 PM - 8:30 PM: Reception

Please join us! Location, registration, and conference description availablehere>>

All Saturday events, with exception of lunch, are free and open to the public. Registration in advance is appreciated and helps us with planning.

Conference is funded by the European Commission Delegation in Washington, DC with additional support from the Ford Foundation.

In cooperation with the Center for International Relations at Boston University, Boston University’s Master of Liberal Arts in Gastronomy and programs in food studies, and Slow Food BU

Green Drinks Wednesday April 15 at Vlora

2009-04-14T14:54:00.006-04:00

Can you think of a better way to spend a Wednesday night than with your friends at Green Drinks? Me neither, check it out!

We'll be gathering at our usual mid-month Wednesday haunt, Vlora, 465

Boylston St., at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the 15th. Vlora is located
just up from Clarendon St., by just below street level, though you can
see its atrium windows from the sidewalk, where its stairs will take
you down.

Our guest this month will be Marshall Chapin, regional director for
New England at EnerNOC, which goes between large-building owners and
utility companies to conserve energy in peak periods.

See you Wednesday.

Michael, Jesse, Elaine, and Eric

The Garden

2009-04-14T14:32:00.006-04:00

Coming soon to a local-independently owned-socially responsible-sustainable-organic pop-corn serving-theatre near you... o.k. so AMC might screen it too.

The 14 acre community garden in South Central Los Angeles was the
largest of it's kind in the United States. It was started as a form of
healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992. Since that time, the
South Central Farmers have created a miracle in one of the country's
most blighted neighborhoods. Growing their own food. Feeding their
families. Creating a community. But now bulldozers threaten their
oasis. "The Garden" is an unflinching look at the struggle between
these urban farmers and the City of Los Angeles and a powerful
developer who want to evict them and build warehouses.

Release date: April 24, 2009

Guerrilla Gardening and May 1st Sunflower Sowing!

2009-04-14T10:51:00.015-04:00

If planting flowers at 2 AM under the cover of darkness sounds like a great time, check out Richard Reynold's radical approach to beautifying neglected green space: GuerrillaGardening.org

Reynolds started his blog out of the U.K. in 2004 as...

a record of [his] illicit cultivation around London. It is now also a growing arsenal for anyone interested in the war against neglect and scarcity of public space as a place to grow things, be they beautiful, tasty (or both!)

We can get behind that!

The site includes Community links to happenings around the globe, including Massachusetts as well as updates about global events. May 1st is the third annual International Sunflower Guerilla Gardening Day. Facebook provides details as:

The third annual event for guerrilla gardeners around the world to get out there and sow sunflower seeds in their neighbourhood. All you need are the seeds, something to poke a hole 2cm in the ground and a bit of imagination.

Launched by the Brussels' Farmers in 2007
http://brussels-farmer.blogspot.com/ and championed by http://www.GuerrillaGardening.orgthis year should be a bigger planting event than ever! More people are feeling the urge to make a positive contribution to their local environment and have some fun at the same time.

The sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is a beacon of the potential in our land. Not only do they boldly beautify space but also to make it productive too as a favourite with wildlife across the urban jungle.

Make a plan for May 1 to meet somewhere public at 8pm (your local time) with seeds, tools and a location or route of neglected land. Post your ideas on the wall of this event or on your local COMMUNITY pages of GuerrillaGardening.org.
http://guerrillagardening.org/community/index.php

And hey, there's really no need to wait until May 1 across much of the world, it's fine to be planting sunflower from now, or indeed most other hardy annuals!

Tips about planting are here: http://www.guerrillagardening.org/ggsunflower.html

(At this time of the year sunflowers are best suited to residents of the Northern Hemisphere so go for daffodils if you're coming into winter.)

Plant a seed, join a group, and meet other people with the same mission. Enjoy!

SPROUT 2009: A Benefit for Waltham Fields Community Farm

2009-04-13T10:28:00.000-04:00

SPROUT 2009: A Benefit for Waltham Fields Community Farm

Come out to support local agriculture in Waltham!

Saturday, May 16th 6-9pm
at the Charles River Museum of Industry, 154 Moody St. in Waltham
Fabulous silent auction, great food and an open bar!
Ticket Prices: $35 for members, $45 for non-members.
Purchase Tickets Now through Wainwright Bank's secure website. When you go to the site - skip down to #2, enter the dollar amount, and make sure to WRITE THE NUMBER OF TICKETS AND MENTION SPROUT IN THE SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS BOX.

Obamas to Plant Vegetable Garden at White House

2009-03-21T10:14:00.002-04:00

Would you like to be like the first family? Time to plant a garden, or better yet, if you're not the green thumb type, have a local business do it for you...Green City Growers of course!

By MARIAN BURROS

Published: March 19, 2009

WASHINGTON — Michelle Obama will begin digging up a patch of the South Lawn on Friday to plant a vegetable garden, the first at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden in World War II. There will be no beets — the president does not like them — but arugula will make the cut.

Sam Kass, an assistant White House chef, left, and Dale Haney, the White House gardener, at the site of the new vegetable garden on the South Lawn.

While the organic garden will provide food for the first family’s meals and formal dinners, its most important role, Mrs. Obama said, will be to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern.

“My hope,” the first lady said in an interview in her East Wing office, “is that through children, they will begin to educate their families and that will, in turn, begin to educate our communities.”

Read on here...

Ten Reasons to Own a Backyard Farm

2009-03-11T17:10:00.006-04:00

1. Locally Grown Food Tastes Better - You can taste the difference. Fresh food simply tastes better. As Julia Child put it, “You don’t have cook fancy or complicated masterpieces-just good food from fresh ingredients.”

2. Local Produce is Better for You - The fresher the produce, the more nutrients it retains. Food picked right from the ground and eaten will be healthier for you than food that has traveled thousands of miles just to sit at the market. Supermarket produce can spend up to fourteen days in transit.

3. Backyard Farms can Cost Less than the Supermarket - On average, a 4-person family spends around $60 a week on organic produce at the market. A backyard farm costs around 20% less for even fresher, chemical-free vegetables that haven’t been packaged and shipped from all over the world. Your farm will cost about the same as buying chemically-treated produce from the supermarket, except with exponentially greater benefits for the environment, community, and your health.

4.You Know Where your Food is Coming From - We use ethical, chemical-free techniques to keep your backyard flourishing. An average piece of food will touch at least 6 set of hands before reaching your table. Food from your yard is solely a relationship between you, your farmer, and the earth. With all the current health and food safety issues, the less hands touching your food the better.

5. Backyard Farms make a Lighter Carbon Footprint - On average, food travels 1,500 miles from the farm to your dinner table. Every calorie of food eaten requires ten times the fossil fuel to produce, distribute, travel, and refrigerate. Eating from your yard not only bypasses this energy waste but also reduces harmful emissions from the chemicals and pesticides used to accelerate plant growth and extend shelf life.

6. Local Foods have more Variety- In the modern industrial agricultural system, produce varieties are selected for their tough skin in order to survive packaging and shipping, and preserve longer. This limits the genetic diversity of plants being grown and sold at the market, eliminating our access to original flavors and overall freshness. Food from your yard isn’t limited by genetic selection, and allows for a wide variety of heirloom, micro, and a-typical vegetable varieties that taste distinctly different and fresher than what you can typically find at the supermarket.

7. Guaranteed Natural- Bio-engineered food can lose some of the natural antioxidants and nutrition that organic or naturally created produce will always contain. Industrially grown produce is often treated using chemicals that we then ingest. Your seeds will never be genetically modified, or produce treated with chemicals, as nature intended.

8. Support your Local Farmer! Shake his hand. Your relationship with your farmer is as direct as it gets. Open your back door and say hello…or help them harvest fresh food from your farm. Supporting Green City Growers will help create local jobs and allow us the means to give back to the community.

9. Backyard Farms Build a Stronger Community. Recipe exchanges, food drives, and a variety of community-based relationships will develop from owning a backyard farm. Donate excess veggies or create a produce exchange with your neighbors.

10. A Backyard Farm is an Investment in Your Future. Controlling your food source, learning from it, and teaching your children and neighbors how to be more self-sustainable is good for everyone involved. With a little work, sun, and water, your backyard farm will always produce food, a basic necessity, regardless of the economy.

GCG Urban Intensive Workshop

2009-03-10T21:31:00.002-04:00

If you are interested in learning the skills that we are using to transform Boston into a Green City, join us April 25th for our hands-on full day Urban Intensive Growing Workshop. We will be exploring the principles of Urban Sustainability, and will be getting our hands dirty transforming an urban yard over the course of the day. Through discussion, games, and good old fashioned hard work, we will cover:

Site Design, Composting/Worm Composting, Organic Remediation Methods, Micro Farming, Market Gardening, Square Foot Gardening, Micro Livestock, Urban Homesteading, Four Season Harvest, Natural Building, Urban farmer’s treasure hunt

Lunch (Vegan friendly) will be provided

This Workshop will be held in the heart of Jamaica Plain at the HeartBeat Collective house.

$90 payable in advance, $110 at the door

EMAIL US if you are interested in attending...

It Comes from the President's Wife, it MUST be true

2009-03-10T12:28:00.001-04:00

Torn from the virtual pages of the NYTimes.

When you have your bounty from the Green City Growers Garden, you will have the opportunity to share with your neighbors, friends, and those less fortunate.

It's all about the food.

WASHINGTON

THE television cameras were rolling, the journalists were scribbling and the first lady, Michelle Obama, was standing in a soup kitchen rhapsodizing about steamed broccoli. And homemade mushroom risotto. And freshly baked apple-carrot muffins.

Mrs. Obama was praising the menu last week at Miriam’s Kitchen, a nonprofit drop-in center serving this city’s homeless. And she seized the moment to urge Americans to provide fresh, unprocessed and locally grown foods to their families and to the neediest in their communities.

“You know, we want to make sure our guests here and across the nation are eating nutritious items,” said Mrs. Obama, who served lunch to several homeless men and women and delivered eight cases of fresh fruit to the soup kitchen, all donated by White House employees.

“Collect some fruits and vegetables; bring by some good healthy food,” she said. “We can provide this kind of healthy food for communities across the country, and we can do it by each of us lending a hand.”

In her first weeks in the White House, Mrs. Obama has emerged as a champion of healthy food and healthy living. She has praised community vegetable gardens, opened up her own kitchen to show off the White House chefs’ prowess with vegetables and told stories about feeding less fattening foods to her daughters.

White House officials say the focus on healthy living will be a significant item on Mrs. Obama’s agenda, which already includes supporting working families and military spouses. As the nation battles an obesity epidemic and a hard-to-break taste for oversweetened and oversalted dishes, her message is clear: Fresh, nutritious foods are not delicacies to be savored by the wealthy, but critical components of the diets of ordinary and struggling families.

EVENT Tonight

2009-03-03T08:57:00.001-05:00

Reminder:

Tonight @ 7pm:

Urban Sustainability Series: Growing Container and Urban Plots

Tuesday, 3 March 2009
7:00pm to 9:00pm
6 Eliot st Jamaica Plain

The first is our Urban Sustainability Series, this workshop will explore many options for growing your own food in the city. From container gardening to raised-beds, Gabriel Erde-Cohen of Green City Growers will share basic skills and tips to help you grow the most local food possible - directly from your front yard, porch, or windowsill!

We will explore:
Easy raised bed construction
Site selection for containers, pots and raised beds
Choosing between container gardens and raised-bed gardens
Deciding what plants to grow and where
Come with your questions about growing food in a container and/or small garden setting, and share your insights with fellow JP green-thumbs.

Survey Reveals Double-Digit Increase in Food Gardening for 2009

2009-02-27T04:12:00.000-05:00

Wow! This is very interesting data!

National Gardening Association poll finds more American households are starting food gardens to "grow their own groceries"

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt., Feb. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Findings from the National Gardening Association's (NGA) new survey, The Impact of Home and Community Gardening in America, indicate food gardening in the United States is on the rise as 7 million more households plan to grow their own fruits, vegetables, herbs or berries in 2009, up 19 percent from 2008. This anticipated increase is nearly double the 10 percent growth in vegetable gardening activity from 2007 to 2008 as more food gardeners emerge this year.

More Americans are recognizing the benefits of growing their own produce, including improved quality, taste and cost savings. In 2008, gardeners spent a total of $2.5 billion to purchase seeds, plants, fertilizer, tools and other gardening supplies to grow their own food. According to NGA estimates, a well-maintained food garden yields a $500 average return per garden when considering a typical gardener's investment and the market price of produce.

The survey findings were announced yesterday at the 5th Annual Garden Writers Teleconference, co-sponsored by The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company and the Garden Writers Association, which discussed recent trends in Americans' gardening behaviors.

Key highlights from The Impact of Home and Community Gardening Survey include:

43 million U.S. households plan to grow their own fruits, vegetables, herbs and berries in 2009, up 19 percent from 36 million households in 2008

21 percent of households said they plan to start a food garden in 2009

11 percent of households already active in food gardening plan to increase both the amount and variety of vegetables they will grow in 2009; 10 percent also said they will spend more time food gardening this year

"As in previous recessions, we've seen increased participation in and spending on food gardening as people look for ways to economize," explained Bruce Butterfield, research director for the NGA. "That said, these results suggest the interest in food gardening may continue to increase, even after the economy improves."

The economy is believed to be among the leading factors potentially driving Americans away from grocery stores and into their backyards to grow their own fruits and vegetables. However, when asked, only one in three respondents surveyed said they were motivated to grow their own food because of the recession.

Among the other reasons respondents gave as to why their households are growing their own food:

58 percent said for better-tasting food

54 percent said to save money on food bills

51 percent said for better quality food

48 percent said to grow food they know is safe

EVENT: Container Gardening Workshop

2009-02-23T14:21:00.003-05:00

Upcoming GCG Event for JP Forum:

Tuesday, March 3rd
7:00pm to 9:00pm
First Chruch in Jamaica Plain
6 Eliot st, JP, MA

The first is our Urban Sustainability Series, this hands-on workshop will explore many options for growing your own food in the city. From container gardening to raised-beds, Gabriel Erde-Cohen of Green City Growers will share basic skills and tips to help you grow the most local food possible - directly from your front yard, porch, or windowsill!

We will explore:

Easy raised bed construction
Site selection for containers, pots and raised beds
Choosing between container gardens and raised-bed gardens
Deciding what plants to grow and where
Come with your questions about growing food in a container and/or small garden setting, and share your insights with fellow JP green-thumbs.

Come and check it out!

Market Research (Call to Action!)

2009-02-18T12:28:00.005-05:00

So, for those of you in the Boston area (or elsewhere for that matter) that are interested in what Green City Growers is doing and would like to assist in our business development efforts, do we have the job for you! Seriously, some crazy & creative sustainable MBA students at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute in Seattle, WA (there's two members of the team here in the northeast) are working on an entrepreneurship project in tandem with Green City Growers. They've put together a short survey on people's food buying habits, perceptions about food, and even some info on yard-care. So, click here to take the survey, take a few minutes (5-10 to be exact) to let us know what you think. I am certain your insight will be very helpful as we ramp this business up heading into the spring of 2009. Oh, and at the end of the survey, you have the chance to stay connected as well as enter to win some tasty treats from Dancing Deer right here in Boston, MA

Oh, and look what Wegman's is up to with gardening & kids.

In case you missed it, here's the survey link again.

Locavores Represent!

2009-02-11T09:16:00.004-05:00

Three of my buddies/fellow souper bowl chefs (Heather, Erik, and Ryan) in the Globe today, talking about being locavores through the winter...

My Epic Soup Journey: Saigon Soup

2009-02-10T11:35:00.021-05:00

I had the pleasure of being featured as a local chef this past Sunday for the Boston Localvore's Souper Bowl, a soup-oriented event featuring 6 different soups made of mostly local, and all-natural ingredients at the Haley House in Roxbury. The event was a ton of fun, and as usual with Boston Localvores events, full of amazing food and good company.

Darry and Kristi (the localvore's team) are friends of mine, and without second thought I agreed to cooking for the event...I didn't realize until later HOW MUCH soup 40 people's worth adds up to. It is also pretty complicated to collect enough local ingredients dead of winter to do the exact soup you want to, and I ambitiously chose Saigon Soup, which is a Vietnamese Breakfast soup including pork, beef, chicken, shrimp, crab, and vegetables. I have eaten Saigon soup many times, and it seemed natural to cook it for an event. Little did I know what I was getting myself into....

THE STOCK:

So, to make enough stock for 40 people (20 quarts, about), I got 15lbs of chicken backs and legs for the stock. They are admittedly from Whole Foods, but Lionette's was out of parts and I was running out of time. There is a whole debate about Whole Foods and their creditability in terms of quality of meat and treatment of animals at their farms, but it was either get natural meat from Whole Foods or put myself in the open arms of the industrial food chain (Star Market, Stop and Shop, or the Super 88 Market, which I love, but their meat? I don't think anyone knows where it is from, not to mention what part of the animal it came from). Whole Foods, for the most part, stays relatively local in terms of supplying their markets from farms on the same coast, at least, and my chicken parts came from one of their farms in PA, which is better than coming from Taiwan, or even California.

Local food eating is hard if you have what you want in mind before you approach the shopping. It is always better/easier to plan your meal around what is available, instead of seeking out your pre-decided grocery list. Go to the farmer's market or Co-op with an open mind, see what is available from local sources, and let your imagination take over. You might have to re-adjust your eating to be more seasonal, but that's how humans used to eat before preservatives and refrigeration anyway.

I threw in some carrots, Celery, Leeks, Onions, Garlic, and Tomato skins/seeds from Verrill farms in Concord. I had 3 pots of meat and veggies simmering all day Saturday, for 5 hours. I then removed all the parts, sieved the broth, and let it cool overnight on the porch.

THE MEAT:

I have to say, after buying in bulk and calling and haggling with a few different butchers and fishmongers, I was feeling pretty pro-chef. I managed to get my Pork Butt from Lionette's on Tremont st in Boston, shrimp and crab from Maine (bought at Whole Foods), and chicken and beef were Whole Foods brand.

I chopped and prepped all the meats with some salt, pepper, and Nok Chaam (sp?), which is a Vietnamese fish/garlic sauce that is amazing on almost anything.

I then sliced and chopped a ton of Shallots (from Verrill) for both the crab and the meats, and prepped for cooking. I cooked the chicken, pork, shrimp and beef with shallots and garlic, and cooked the crab separately with garlic as well, frying up some sliced shallots and tossed them on top of the crab.

I also sliced some celery and got some watercress, putting them aside for garnishes.

THE NOODLES:

were from Chao Chow noodle factory on Essex St in Boston. I bought them fresh at the Super 88 market. I boiled up 3 pounds of rice noodles for about 10 minutes and put them aside to add to the soup later.

I put everything in separate containers for transport. I left the meats and noodles out of the broth since if I had thrown them all together, it seemed likely the noodles would get too mushy and the meat over cooked.

THE SOUPER BOWL (The Main Event):

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. I was one of six soups at the event, with choices like rutabaga soup, potato and kale, bean chili, vegan mushroom, and jota (which was an amazing pork and bean soup). The full menu is available here.

I stuck to my post, and served the Saigon soup ingredient after ingredient, as it is meant to be served. The event was a success, and my local meats journey came to an end.

Here are some pics from the event:

The veggie soup table

Haley House

The Saigon Soup assembly line

Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world

2009-02-10T10:50:00.001-05:00

Edible Boston!

2009-02-10T10:39:00.003-05:00

GCG is going to be featured in the 2009 Spring issue! I will keep you updated...

Green Drinks Tomorrow

2009-02-02T21:28:00.001-05:00

Green Drinks is tomorrow night at Lir on Boylston Street. Here is the blurb from the Green Drinks people:

"This is your friendly reminder that we're meeting tomorrow night, Feb.3, from 6:30 onward, upstairs at Lir, 905 Boylston St. At 7, we'llhear from group member Jason Delambre, a carbon consultant, on whatcarbon consulting is, and what he's working on currently. After a 15-minute presentation, he'll entertain questions for another 15 minutesor so."

Its a great meet-up, Check it out!

More White House Farmer News

2009-01-27T07:56:00.000-05:00

Who Will Be the First White House Farmer?

The United States has a White House chef . . . and now is the time for a White House Farmer.

Everyone, from your family and friends to our First Family and their guests, needs to know who grew their food and how it was grown.
There are hundreds of knowledgeable, passionate farmers out there who could fill this post, and we encourage you to nominate your favorite one.

The fact that there is more attention being paid to reconnecting the First Family with the land is nothing but a good thing. They want the most nutritious and energy efficient food don't they? Imagine if they added some goats to help trim the grass!

Really? THAT Far?

2009-01-22T12:40:00.000-05:00

According to recent statistics, The average bite of American food has traveled 1,500 miles before reaching your table, changing hands an average of six times along the way. With that said, the growth and distribution of traveling produce requires almost 10 times as much energy as the food contains.

Really?

Gabe recently told me there is a Strawberry producer that grows their strawberries in California, ships them to Colorado to get packaged, and sends them back to CA to be sold. WHAT?

There is something so wrong about all of this. There is perfectly good land to grow on all around us, not to mention regional produce is being grown where it shouldn't be, and being shipped to where it should be growing. This is what happens when eating becomes industrial and economic. Production of food is done as fast and cheap as possible, and these large industrial farms are detached from the earth they are growing in. Not to mention, we are eating up resources that aren't replenishing, and consuming energy that really, truly, doesn't have to be consumed.

One-fifth of America's petroleum consumption goes to producing and transporting our food!

The local food movement isn't simply about supporting the local economy, or eating fresher food. It is a statement against the industrialization of eating and this backwards way our food system have been structured. Next time you go to the market, check out where your produce is coming from, and think about how much energy is used getting it to you.

Of course not every type of food can be grown locally. But it would be a good idea for all of us to start thinking seasonally and become a teeny, tiny bit more aware.

Where to start? Maybe with a uber-local, energy efficient, Backyard Farm.....

(All stats were pulled from "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. Read it, it's pretty great.)

Ask the Obamas to Plant a Garden!

2009-01-22T10:19:00.000-05:00

The Eat the View campaign:

"Eat the View!" is a campaign to urge the Obamas to replant a large organic Victory Garden on the First Lawn with the produce going to the White House kitchen and to local food pantries.

has made it to Facebook:

About this Petition:
This petition drive is part of the Eat the View campaign (EatTheView.org) which is seeking to to plant healthy food gardens in high-profile, high-impact places. What better, more symbolic place to start than at the White House, "America's House."

This petition drive is part of the Eat the View campaign (EatTheView.org) which is seeking to to plant healthy food gardens in high-profile, high-impact places. What better, more symbolic place to start than at the White House, "America's House." (show less)

The Desired Outcome of this Petition:

A garden at the White House that will inspire millions of Americans and people around the world to grow some healthy, tasty, and environmentally-responsible food of their own.

Imagine a nice veggie garden right on the steps of the White House. Instead of a symbol of "hard times", it will be one of hope and renewal, reconnecting the First Family with the land that supplies what we eat and drink.

Green Drinks Boston!

2009-01-11T14:12:00.000-05:00

Gabe and I attended and spoke at the Green Drinks Boston event this last Tuesday, the 6th. Green Drinks takes place the first Tuesday of every month and the 3rd Wednesday of the month. Their current location is the upstairs room at Lir (903 Bolyston st, Boston). The event is a great schmooze for anyone interested in sustainability, environmentalism, or green issues all-around.

We spoke primarily about our business model, and about our operations, since the crowd was pretty seasoned/versed in Green issues. We met a bunch of interesting, passionate people and made some great connections. I highly recommend the event, if only to make a few new friends and down a couple beers.

Dead of Winter Blues: Local Food BBQ cure-all

2009-01-11T12:38:00.000-05:00

There is still hope in the dead of winter for tasty, local foods. I am heading into Cambridge tonight to spend the evening with the Boston Localvores. Indulging in local foods and good company. There are still plenty root vegetables around, and if the farm have a good greenhouse, some nice surprises (the Natick Community Organic Farm has organic salad greens year-round). As an active, and avid meat-eater, I usually opt for bringing meat to these events since most people go for vegetarian choices. My family has been blessed with an epic smoker/cooker called The Orion, which gave me the idea to make BBQ pulled turkey. I got my turkey from Verrill Farms in Concord, which has a really nice year-round farm stand, and their own turkey (Warning: Their smallest Turkey was 20lbs! And it's not cheap, at 2.75 a lb. We are using the meat for multiple events/meals/freezing for later meals, so think of it as an investment for future lunches). To accompany the pulled turkey, I am making BBQ sauce and a coleslaw with local cabbage, also from Verrill Farms, and picking up some rolls at my local grocery store bakery. Pickles are also recommended for accompaniments to pulled meat. I rubbed the turkey with orange, salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil, and maple syrup, stuck it in the Orion, and three hours later there was a plethora of tender, juicy, local meat.

Pulled turkey, or pork, or chicken, is not an easy task without a smoker or Orion, and it takes a long time to make. Let me know if you want to know the basics and I can send you in the right direction. Any sort of meat, especially chicken, with BBQ sauce is delicious, and accompanied by a good slaw, creates the perfect combo of sweet and salty.

Here is the coleslaw recipe I used:

Local Coleslaw

1 1/2 cups Mayonnaise

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon celery seed

salt and pepper to taste

1 head (local) green cabbage

2 (local) carrots, finely grated

In a bowl, blend mayo vinegar, sugar, celery seed, and salt and pepper. Mix well.

In a large bowl, combine the cabbage and carrots. pour the dressing over the mix.

Easy!

Pick up a good BBQ sauce, or check out the Food Network's site for a ton of variations of the classic sauce. There is something to be said for eating traditionally summer food in the dead of Winter, I think it warms the soul a little.

Urban farming after school program!

2009-01-02T14:02:00.000-05:00

Here is a briefing about our Green City Schoolyards program that was posted on the MassPTA website. This is a pretty basic overview of what the program looks like, but it definitely gets the point across. Check it out to see if this is something your school, or a school you are involved with, would be interested in:

GREEN CITY SCHOOLYARDS

GREEN CITY SCHOOLYARDS An Urban Farming After School Program providing urban students with the opportunity to grow and harvest organic vegetables in their own schoolyard. The program gives students a hands-on practical experience growing food -- learning to think globally and act locally. Students build a sense of community while creating a productive outdoor space. They gain an understanding of the science of farming, nutrition and agriculture. Students also gain confidence as they watch the plants they have nurtured grow and then take the produce home to feed themselves and their families. The students will also recieve a 5-gallon bucket-garden to grow their own vegetables at home.

The GREEN CITY SCHOOLYARDS teachers are organic farmers experienced in gardening, sustainability, nutrition, and education. The 4'x16' raised-bed farm can be built anywhere: pavement, parking lots, a roof, or schoolyard. The vegetables will be grown and harvested on a rotating basis for each program. Depending on the season, students grow a variety of vegetables such as mixed greens, carrots, radishes, cucumbers, tomato, spinach, potato, broccoli, and onions, parsley, celery, cabbage, kale, and beets.

For more information contact: Gabriel Erde-Cohen and Jessie Banhazl
Green City Growers: urban farming and sustainable education 508 395 1987

Snowed in?

2008-12-31T13:11:00.000-05:00

Check out "Deep Economy" by Bill McKibben.

McKibben discusses the construction of our modern economic system (from the industrial revolution onwards), and how it came to base itself on a "more is better" and "growth is more" system, which we are no longer able to sustain both economically and physically (in terms of the environment). The conclusion is in the formation of local, community based economies, and restructuring how we consume our natural resources. He emphasizes that "More" is not only no longer functional, it is no longer making us Happy. Anyone else agree? I do.

I am right in the middle of it of the book, I will get back some more insights from Mr. McKibben when I finish.

Some Visuals...

2008-12-31T12:29:00.000-05:00

Wondering what we mean by raised-bed farms? This is what a typical backyard farm looks like after it has been built. Size can range widely, from 4x4 to as big as you can fit in your yard. A 4x4 can feed 1-2 people, depending on what type of produce is being grown. The farms below are in Brookline, Jamaica Plain, and Quincy, MA.

Quincy, MA

Jamaica Plain, MA

Brookline, MA

We use Organic, chemical-free soil, wood, and gravel, to build the farms. The sides of the raised-bed can also be made out of stones, depending on what you think is nicer for your yard (no functional differences). We're excited to see how much produce will grow out of these farms (above). Once the snow stops falling, of course.

GCG in Intentionally Urban Magazine

2008-12-18T17:00:00.000-05:00

Check us out in In/Ur Magazine. Gabe gives some helpful tips for winterizing your garden.

Read the Article Here (Page 43)

Welcome to the Green City Growers Blog!

2008-12-18T16:43:00.000-05:00

Hello!

Welcome the the Green City Growers Blog. We are a Boston-based business specializing in backyard and rooftop farms, urban farming education programs, and sustainability consulting. We are excited to be blogging! We will try to keep you updated as to the latest happenings in the sustainablity movement, as well as up to date with What GCG is working on in the community. Expect some recipes, sustainability tips, and other fun stuff as well.

Green City Growers was founded as an attempt to create energy efficient, locally conscious alternatives to the current produce market. Backyard farms save both money and energy, and allow the owner more control over what they are putting in their body. Our produce is organic, tasty, and as local as it can get (your backyard!).

We are also working on an urban farming after school program, as well as creating consciousness about sustainable issues for the community.

For more info on our business, check out our website here

We are excited to be out and about in the Internet, please let us know what you want to hear more about, or about the awesome garden you have on your roof, or that delicious local meal you threw together last night. Bring it on.