Class is in Session!
Christian M
What's happening everyone?
Changes are in season around the urban farm. New crops, new classes, and new projects are on the horizon. We hope you enjoy the big update and come hang out sometime soon. We've started having potlucks with the grill and even a masseuse at our Saturday volunteer day!
Cheers,
Vinnie and Christian
Volunteer Hours:
Mon/Thurs 8a-12p
Saturday 9a-3p
Address:
4913 Crittenden Street
Edmonston, MD 20781
http://www.youtube.com/user/ecoffshoots
Twitter and Facebook us too!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the Farm...
We've taken down the shade cloth in our first 2 hoophouses, signifying the coming cooler weather. And the plants are responding well. We've got arugula, basil, lettuce, mustard greens, collards, kales, nasturtiums, cilantro, spinach, spring mix, spicy mix, green beans, some cucumbers, radishes, turnips, swiss chard, and beets!
Also, our 4th hoophouse is finally looking as it should. We've almost done building all 16 worm bins, with their worm racks built and ready to go, plus lots of space to grow our sunflower and pea shoots! At least 4 bins are filled with worms we drove back from Milwaukee.
We've finished our 3rd week at the Crossroads Farmers Market, too. Located at the front parking lot of 7606 New Hampshire Avenue in Takoma Park, MD. Its just off 193 and New Hampshire. They're open 3-7p on Wednesdays. Come visit us! And to entice you more, one of the new urban farmer trainees (Jose Castillo) is bringing his final batch of locally-produced pure honey; at least come get a sample.
Speaking of the new urban farmer training program, our participants are joining other local residents who have signed up for the 6-week Commercial Urban Ag course we're doing through the Prince George's Community College. Every Tuesday evening and Saturday morning through mid-October, they'll be building hoophouses, composting, and learning the basics of commercial urban agriculture. This past week they completed part 1 of our hoophouse class, which meant laying down the stakes, bending the metal themselves(!), and raising the hoops.
If you couldn't participate in this fall round of urban ag classes, look forward to the spring, as we plan to do another series of classes, and potentially include some new topics, such as shoots production.
Check our new blog! Natalya Dikhanov is a University of Maryland student who's been interning with us, especially with our online personality. She's started a blog to better communicate what is going on here in Edmonston: http://www.ecoffshoots.org/category/blog/
Lastly, a big thank you to the volunteers who stepped up last weekend while I was in Milwaukee for the Growing Power conference. We wouldn't be as successful with our work without the dedicated volunteers who've helped make it happen.
News...
*An article about last week's huge international urban agriculture gathering at Growing Power:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/102672789.html
*How the FDA is opposed to food producers labeling their foods as free from genetic modification:
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/09/19-0
*The case of Percy Schmeiser v. Monsanto: A Canadian Farmer's Fight to Defend the Rights of Farmers and the Future of Seeds
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/17/percy_schmeiser_vs_monsanto_the_story
Events and Opportunities...
1) Global Exchange Tour to Cuba: Sustainable Agriculture and Urban Gardens: Nov 12-21
http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/1044.html
From the website: "Cuba is involved in the most comprehensive conversion from chemical to organic agriculture that any nation has yet attempted." -- Institute for Food and Development Policy.
ECO CUBA EXCHANGE invites you to participate on a Global Exchange research delegation to study Sustainable Agriculture and Urban Gardens in Cuba.
In the early 1990's, Cuba's agricultural system and food supply were decimated by the tightening of the U.S. embargo and the collapse of the Soviet Union (which had supplied the majority of Cuba's food imports (chemical fertilizers and pesticides, fuel for transportation, feed for farm animals, and almost 60% of Cuba's food. Cubans referred to these years as the "Special Period."
Due to the severe shortage of hard currency for the importation of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, Cuba was forced, in the early 1990's to begin to practice organic agriculture on a nationwide scale, with some very exciting results. There are currently tens of thousands of organic gardens in Havana alone and over a million across the country. In the late 1990's, the Cuban Association for Organic Agriculture was granted the International Right Livelihood Award (the Alternative Nobel Prize) for its efforts.
Organic agriculture continues to be supported and expanded at government and grassroots levels. Havana now grows over half its fresh food organically, and locally. Cuba hopes to be self sufficient in the production of many of its basic foods within the next decade.
2) Historic Global Climate Conference and Food Justice
http://viaorganica.org/eventos/cop16-english/
In 1999 and 2003, the OCA helped organize protests and teach-ins against the World Trade Organization in Seattle and Cancun. These mobilizatons were the coming of age of the global grassroots and the recognition that international crises demand global grassroots action. Now you have the opportunity to join OCA Director Ronnie Cummins and other OCA staff on an escorted delegation to the historic teach-ins and rallies for climate justice and organic agriculture at the global climate crisis summit in Cancun, Mexico.
Over 100,000 concerned citizens from North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia are expected to converge on Cancun, including leading farm, food, Fair Trade, climate justice, and anti-GE activists. They’ll attend a wide range of workshops, forums, and cultural events. Following up on the theme of the World Social Forum, “Another World is Possible,” the emphasis in Cancun will be on presenting solutions and alternatives to the climate crisis.
The OCA delegation, limited to 100 people, will include international experts on organic agriculture and climate justice, including OCA Directors Ronnie Cummins and Alexis Baden-Mayer, organic farm leader and author, Will Allen, and author and food activist Jill Richardson.
