Garden Resoure Program from Mr Matt Arnold on Vimeo.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
News Letter
Subject / Headline: Detroit does it best
Greetings gardeners,
Detroit is rarely portrayed as the model of anything positive by the media, but our Urban Farming community is breaking that trend. Detroit is being used as an example for other major city’s such as New York and San Francisco for how to make urban gardening as successful.
What’s Detroit’s recipe for success? It takes a community that care deeply about their city, an administration that’s willing to help and space on which to build gardens.
Below we have links to a few of the articles highlighting the success of Detroit's urban gardening community and what it is that makes them so successful
Good Magazine explains all the things that Detroit is doing right, and advises other cites to take notice.
What makes the Detroit model so special? In addition to their large annual yields, the farms show strong community involvement and rate of return—over 80 percent of the gardeners in the GRP return to the program each spring.
Even the mayor is in support of Urban farming as Crain’s Detroit Business reports
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing’s administration works on a plan to align the city’s geography with its ability to deliver services, urban farming can be a key component of putting the city’s vacant land into productive use.
Detroit's new evolution from manufacturing to agriculture is catching the eye of cities around the country reports the Christian Science Monitor.
Detroit, which revolutionized manufacturing with its auto assembly lines, could once again be a model for the world as residents transform vacant, often-blighted land into a source of fresh food.With growing interest in locally raised food, cities including New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle are looking at ways to foster and manage urban agriculture. San Francisco's mayor has proposed creating community gardens on vacant public land citywide.
Great things are happening and we know even greater things are still to come. As always we encourage you or anyone you know that might need help to drop us a line, we’re happy to help out. Keep growing
15 Sec.
Anncr:
One small seed can help Detroit grow.
It's as easy as planting a garden. But If you don’t know where to begin, or want to find out how you can help Visit DetroitAgriculture.com And find out how the Garden Resource Program can help you, help Detroit.
Final Radio
Story teller:
Their once was a city that stood proud and shining, the envy of all.
But time passed and the beautiful metropolis became decayed from years of abuse and neglect.
People moved out in search of a city like the one they used to love.
One day, someone decided that, instead of running away, that they were going to plant a seed. It grew into a flower, and they liked it so much that they planted another.
People noticed, and it wasn’t long before everyone was planting gardens of their own.
The once despondent city soon became a lush kaleidoscope of colors and foods.
The citizens again had a city they could be proud of.
All this, from a single person, planting one small seed.
When you start a garden, you grow more than flowers or food, you grow Detroit.
The Garden Resource program has been providing support to gardens of all sizes in Detroit, for over seven years.
If you want to help Detroit grow, plant something.
Visit DetroitAgriculture.com to find out all the ways the Garden Resource Program can help you grow Detroit.
Rough Radio 1
Announcer: What are you going to get for the Detroiter on your list this holiday season? Get them what they really want. A hoe. They need something to plow long and hard. Get dirty
We have hoes in all shapes and sizes.
Not sure what kind of hoe to get? That’s fine, The Garden Resource Programs friendly volunteer staff have years of experience picking quality gardening products.
They can also help you find seeds, and plants that will grow best in you favorite Detroiters backyard.
Why not get the whole shed? We have all the resources you need to turn a backyard into a garden.
Create your own heart warming holiday story by letting our friendly staff help you start a community garden to help feed and beautify your neighborhood.
To learn more visit detroitagracuture.com
hoe hoe hoe a
Body copy Rough
Headline: Get Your Hands On A Hoe
Its not as easy to pick up a hoe as you might think. Your going to need a wingman in this Urban gardening game. The Garden Resource Program is here to help you discover the pleasures of your own garden.
Its not as easy to pick up a hoe as you might think. That’s why the Garden Resource Program is here with tips and classes to help you discover the pleasures only your own garden can bring. Visit detroitagriculture.org to learn more.
Its not hard to get a hoe and its not hard to put it to work either.
Getting your hands on a hoe is not as hard as you might think,
Headline: A hoe on every corner
If everyone grabbed a hoe and went home and started a garden, our city would be a better place. Gardens make more than just vegetables, they make our city a better place to live. Visit detroitagriculture.org to learn how the Garden Resource Program can help you get started.
Getting your hands on a hoe is one thing, doing something with it is completely different
Headline Ideas
Grow something good
Growing Detroit
Grow a better Detroit
Grow a healthier life
Grow a better community
Grown in Detroit
Grow yourself
Grow your skills
____________________________________________________
You don’t need to be a farmer to have a garden
Planting seeds
Harvesting a crop
Harvesting the benefits
Plant seeds for a healthier life
We got the seeds if you’ve got the time
Eat your vegetables
You don’t have to grow broccoli, the dog doesn’t want it.
Grow yourself
Eat your backyard
Getin’ dirty in the D
Roll up your sleeves
Gardening is for gangsters
Be a G- gardener
A green thumb goes a long way in the mitten
__________________________________________
Eat your backyard
Your backyard is a plate
Backyard harvest
A garden grows in Coarktown
Make it rain
Make it rain, but not on da hoe’s
Get dirty in the garden
Fertilize something
Make it rain on them hoes
Make it rain in your community
Community gardeners
Renegade gardeners
Gardener gang
Gang affiliated
Take produce into your own hands
Make it rain on them seeds
I got to feed my seeds
Stacks and stacks of veggies
You gotta stack ya produce playa
Gangsta gardeners
Spend some time in the backyard with the hoe
Spend some time with a hoe
Get your hands on a hoe
Let me intoduce you to a hoe
This hoe works for free
Garden tools
Weeder
Gloves
Hand tools
Rake
Cultivator
Trowel
Tiller
bucket
Pruner
Watering can
Shears
Fetilizer
Soil testing
Wood chips
Mulch
Tool sharing
Shovel
Transplant
Scoop
Turf
Axe
Hatchet
Bulb
Roots
Leaf
Stem
Sprout
Seedling
Bud
Petal
Farming words
Harvest
Grow
Reap
Sew
Plant
Water
Soil
Rain
Tractor
Shovel
Dirty
Dawn till dusk
Tilling
Weeding
Fertilizing
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Subject / Headline: Detroit does it best
Greetings gardeners,
Detroit is rarely portrayed as the model of anything positive by the media, but our Urban Farming community is breaking that trend. Detroit is being used as an example for other major city’s such as New York and San Francisco for how to make urban gardening as successful.
What’s Detroit’s recipe for success? It takesa community that care deeply about their city, an administration that’s willing to help and space on which to build gardens.
Below we have links to a few of the articles highlighting the success of Detroit gardens and what it is that makes them so successful
Good Magazine explains all the things that Detroit is doing right, and advises other cites to take notice.
What makes the Detroit model so special? In addition to their large annual yields, the farms show strong community involvement and rate of return—over 80 percent of the gardeners in the GRP return to the program each spring.
Even the mayor is in support of Urban farming as Crain’s Detroit Business reports
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing’s administration works on a plan to align the city’s geography with its ability to deliver services, urban farming can be a key component of putting the city’s vacant land into productive use.
Detroit's new evolution from manufacturing to agriculture is catching the eye of cities around the country reports the Christian Science Monitor.
Detroit, which revolutionized manufacturing with its auto assembly lines, could once again be a model for the world as residents transform vacant, often-blighted land into a source of fresh food.With growing interest in locally raised food, cities including New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle are looking at ways to foster and manage urban agriculture. San Francisco's mayor has proposed creating community gardens on vacant public land citywide.
Great things are happening and we know even greater things are still to come. As always we encourage you or anyone you know that might need help to drop us a line, we’re happy to help out. Keep growing
Monday, December 6, 2010
Last Night I Attended Soup
Last night I attended Soup, A gathering held on the first Sunday of every month above the Mexican Town Bakery on Vernor Ave. Soup has been going on for about a year now and its really starting to pick up in popularity. The Idea is to get a group of Detroiters together to microfinance projects in Detroit. It costs five dollars to get in and that scores you soup, salad and desert. The majority of the night is spent mingling and conversing about how to make the city a better place with other young, optimistic Detroiters. During dinner, a few people from the group (you’ll be able to recognize them because they are wearing capes) present projects their working on. Each presenter is given three minutes to sell the group on the importance of their particular project and then the group is allowed four questions per presenter to try and better understand or poke holes in the presenters project. Everyone is generally positive and friendly, even when the ideas and or presentations are laughable. After everyone presents and before you leave you are asked to cast your vote for what project you think in most deserving of funding. The votes are tallied and the winner receives the money raised from the five-dollar entry fee. My friend Veronica won last month for her Empowerment Plan and scored over 700 dollars.
Soup is another example of how the Detroit community is working together on a grass roots level to improve the city. In attendance last night, there were students, professionals, teachers, urban farmers and creative’s of all variety. The common thread was that all these people want to see a better Detroit and their willing to roll up their sleeves and do it themselves or at least give some money to help others in their pursuit. I think its fantastic, why should we go at it alone or depend on handouts from corporations? Most of us have five bucks a month to give to something charitable and Soup is possible the coolest way I’ve found to give back to the community without needing to do work of any kind.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Six Months and a Million Bucks
I was once asked asked what would I do to make Detroit a better place, if I was given a million bucks and 6 months. After almost six months of just thinking, I have an answer.
“So what are you going to do when you graduate?” I ask my friends in the Crafts department this on a regular basis. Woodworkers, Glassblowers, Ceramicists, I ask them all, because for them, there is no obvious choice for places to work after graduation. I’m majoring in Art Direction so an obvious choice is to work in an agency. But for these guys, the whole “getting a job” thing, is a little different. Most want to make a living creating and selling their own work. But to do this, they need a studio to work at equipped with the unique tools required for their craft. Also, a place to display and sell their work is vital to keeping their studio afloat. How though, do you afford rent along with the supplies and tools you need, if you’re already weighed down by debt?
So If I had a million bucks and a few months I would like to set up a Detroit Crafts CoOp. A studio for recent graduates to produce and sell their work to get them on their feet and going. The goal would be to not have to charge the young creators anything, but instead to have the CO-OP run and maintained by the residents. The work created at the CO-OP would be sold in the store to help pay the studios bills. Recent graduates from schools around the world could apply for a spot at the studio, but their would always be spots reserved for Detroit artists. Having artists from beyond Detroit would help the recent graduates make new connections and discover other points of view. The CO-OP could also be open to none recent grads at a monthly rate. All this would work to promote young artists and keep the studio afloat as well as grow the Detroit art community.
The million bucks would go to getting a shop space, storefront and supplies. The CO-OP would have a glass hotshop, a metal shop, a wood shop, and a ceramic studio with kilns. There would also be a digital shop with computers, scanners and a C&C machine to cut out 3D models. This dream stet up would cost a lot to set up but having a lot of the tools like glass furnaces and kilns built by volunteers who would get to use the studio once its completed would save a lot of money.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Detroit Knows how to eat
The Atlantic wrote a great article about the food scene in detroit. A lot of this great food is coming directly from Urban Farms. Detroit needs a better food scene. ever since I got back from NYC I've been looking for the places where you can get creative food. Looks like dreams come true.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Adam Purple and his Garden of Eden
Adam Purple, the legendary Lower East Side artist best known for creating The Garden of Eden, a world-famous "Earthwork," has been living without gas, electricity or running water for 17 years. Now he is being threatened with eviction from his home of 26 years.
On February 24, 1972, Adam moved to 184 Forsyth Street as a tenant, and later became the building superintendent for landlord Sol Janklowitz of Bermike Realty in Brooklyn. When Janklowitz abandoned the building in November of 1976, Adam and the building's residents took over and kept the furnace running. In February 1981, in an effort to get paid for utilities, Con Edison asked the city who owned the building. According to the Inner City Light newspaper, Con Ed was told the "Purple People" owned it, even though the City of New York had taken the building in an "In-Rem" foreclosure. As the landlord, the city is responsible for providing electricity for hall lights and the furnace, but it has refused. Con Ed then cut off all utilities to184 Forsyth. Soon, the water pipes froze and burst, and the water had to be cut off. Adam says that the tenants tried to get help from various city agencies, but "we got the runaround." The tenants then moved out one by one, until finally, only Adam was left. In July 1980, the city began billing Adam $2,400 per month for rent as "John Peter Zenger II". The bills stopped in August of 1992 when a reporter asked the city why they were charging rent while providing no services at 184 Forsyth. By then, the total rent charge had reached $352,706.
At the time Adam moved to 184 Forsyth, the city was facing bankruptcy. With the economy in a deep recession, insurance companies and banks "redlined" certain neighborhoods, making it impossible for small landlords to keep their buildings. Some landlords who were insured torched their buildings to cash out, while others simply walked away. At the same time, crime increased as heroin flooded the Lower East Side, further fueling the cycle of arson, abandonment, and "white flight" (the middle class moving from the city to suburbs). Throughout the 1970s, the City of New York amassed a huge portfolio of real estate. Instead of repairing their housing stock, buildings that were unsafe or burned out were either sealed or simply demolished.
Around 1974, Adam, watching kids at play in a rubble-strewn pit where two buildings had stood on Eldridge Street, decided that a garden would better serve his community. By the time he and his neighbors finished creating a garden, the city had taken down more adjacent buildings, and the garden expanded into those lots as well. At its peak, The Garden of Eden, with a large double yin-yang center, encompassed five lots, had 45 fruit and nut trees, attracted tourists from all over the world and was featured in National Geographic magazine (Sept. 1984).
By 1985, Adam says, the city considered The Garden of Eden a threat: "They couldn't just say `go away,' so they found a HUD project and got all the local poverty pimps to jump up and down and say `we need housing, we don't need flowers.' They divide the community, conquer it, and everybody loses." A transcript of testimony in an August 22, 1985 US District Court hearing provided to the SHADOW by Adam reveals false and contradictory testimony by "housing organizers," including Margarita Lopez, now city councilmember representing part of the Lower East Side. At the time, Lopez said: "our people don't go there...that garden never was put together in a way that included our children..." The purpose of this testimony was to support the false claim that Adam had created a private garden, unavailable to the community. One poverty pimp remarked "Well, it may be art, but his canvas is too big."
On January 8, 1986, The Garden of Eden was destroyed to make way for the "Infil" housing project, that Adam says was chosen for the site of the garden "because the garden was there. It was deliberately used by the city to smash something they found offensive.
On February 24, 1972, Adam moved to 184 Forsyth Street as a tenant, and later became the building superintendent for landlord Sol Janklowitz of Bermike Realty in Brooklyn. When Janklowitz abandoned the building in November of 1976, Adam and the building's residents took over and kept the furnace running. In February 1981, in an effort to get paid for utilities, Con Edison asked the city who owned the building. According to the Inner City Light newspaper, Con Ed was told the "Purple People" owned it, even though the City of New York had taken the building in an "In-Rem" foreclosure. As the landlord, the city is responsible for providing electricity for hall lights and the furnace, but it has refused. Con Ed then cut off all utilities to184 Forsyth. Soon, the water pipes froze and burst, and the water had to be cut off. Adam says that the tenants tried to get help from various city agencies, but "we got the runaround." The tenants then moved out one by one, until finally, only Adam was left. In July 1980, the city began billing Adam $2,400 per month for rent as "John Peter Zenger II". The bills stopped in August of 1992 when a reporter asked the city why they were charging rent while providing no services at 184 Forsyth. By then, the total rent charge had reached $352,706.
At the time Adam moved to 184 Forsyth, the city was facing bankruptcy. With the economy in a deep recession, insurance companies and banks "redlined" certain neighborhoods, making it impossible for small landlords to keep their buildings. Some landlords who were insured torched their buildings to cash out, while others simply walked away. At the same time, crime increased as heroin flooded the Lower East Side, further fueling the cycle of arson, abandonment, and "white flight" (the middle class moving from the city to suburbs). Throughout the 1970s, the City of New York amassed a huge portfolio of real estate. Instead of repairing their housing stock, buildings that were unsafe or burned out were either sealed or simply demolished.
Around 1974, Adam, watching kids at play in a rubble-strewn pit where two buildings had stood on Eldridge Street, decided that a garden would better serve his community. By the time he and his neighbors finished creating a garden, the city had taken down more adjacent buildings, and the garden expanded into those lots as well. At its peak, The Garden of Eden, with a large double yin-yang center, encompassed five lots, had 45 fruit and nut trees, attracted tourists from all over the world and was featured in National Geographic magazine (Sept. 1984).
By 1985, Adam says, the city considered The Garden of Eden a threat: "They couldn't just say `go away,' so they found a HUD project and got all the local poverty pimps to jump up and down and say `we need housing, we don't need flowers.' They divide the community, conquer it, and everybody loses." A transcript of testimony in an August 22, 1985 US District Court hearing provided to the SHADOW by Adam reveals false and contradictory testimony by "housing organizers," including Margarita Lopez, now city councilmember representing part of the Lower East Side. At the time, Lopez said: "our people don't go there...that garden never was put together in a way that included our children..." The purpose of this testimony was to support the false claim that Adam had created a private garden, unavailable to the community. One poverty pimp remarked "Well, it may be art, but his canvas is too big."
On January 8, 1986, The Garden of Eden was destroyed to make way for the "Infil" housing project, that Adam says was chosen for the site of the garden "because the garden was there. It was deliberately used by the city to smash something they found offensive.
The Greening of Detroit
The Greening of Detroit
The Greening of Detroit, is a not for profit organization, established in 1989 to guide and inspire the reforestation of Detroit. Our latest strategic plan reflects commitment to a clear sense of direction that will guide the organization's development over the next five years.
A new vision was established, expanding The Greening's mission to guide and inspire others to create a 'greener' Detroit through planting and educational programs environmental leadership, advocacy, and by building community capacity.
A new vision was established, expanding The Greening's mission to guide and inspire others to create a 'greener' Detroit through planting and educational programs environmental leadership, advocacy, and by building community capacity.
Over the years, we’ve learned that when people are actively involved in the community, neighborhoods see results. To this end, The Greening of Detroit has developed partnerships with community associations, schools, businesses and corporations throughout the metropolitan area. These partnerships have proven to be our greatest strength, allowing us to reach the many sectors that make Detroit a unique community.
Working with schools
Each year, our work with Detroit area schools has provided 18,000 youth with the opportunity to learn how to care for their environment - more than 100 schools have participated in The Greening’s urban forestry education programs, and 263 schools have planted trees.
We’re supporting urban gardeners
As part of our work with the Garden Resource Program Collaborative, a project developed by The Greening of Detroit, Michigan State University Extension, the Capuchin Soup Kitchen’s Earthwork’s Garden, and the Detroit Agriculture Network. Through this collaboration, we’re working year-round to provide urban gardeners with resources and educational workshops. What’s more, we’ve formed cluster groups throughout the city to provide urban gardeners with the ability to meet and learn from one another and share resources, including tools. The Garden Resource Collaborative also provides training designed to empower individuals to lead the way with gardening initiatives citywide including farmer’s markets, compost bins and greenhouses.
People's Grocery
People's Grocery (Oakland CA)
People's Grocery was founded in 2002 by three residents who were disturbed by the lack of access to healthy food and its impacts on local health and quality of life in West Oakland. In an effort to promote healthy local foods and urban agriculture, the founders created People's Grocery as a model that integrates education, sustainable agriculture and the development of local food businesses. In addition to contributing to community health and awareness, the organization aimed to create training and employment opportunities for youth and adults in the community, and to support a new vision for economic development based on principles of sustainability, health and self-reliance.
Fundamentally, People's Grocery is a health and wealth organization--our mission is to improve the health and economy of West Oakland. We are engaging the conversation around wellness, socio-economic status and social determinants of health through a food lens, and ensuring that diet and nutrition play a large part in the revitalization of communities. Check back soon for our strategic plan and 3 year goals.
Who We Are
Our mission is to build a local food system that improves the health and economy of West Oakland. West Oakland is a community with the highest joblessness and chronic disease rates in the city—its residents also have limited access to healthy and fresh foods. Our work involves increasing local supply of fresh foods; advocating for living-wage business and job opportunities; and developing strong relationships and community leadership.
Our Philosophy
We want to change the way the food system works.
We believe everyone should have access to healthy food, regardless of income. We call this "food justice" - the belief that healthy food is a human right. The food system is failing to provide low-income people with the healthy foods they need to thrive. It is also failing to create good jobs and support local food businesses in urban communities. People’s Grocery works toward creating a food system that prioritizes the needs of the urban poor.
Our Work
People's Grocery has attracted local and national attention in our effort to transform the inner city food environment and address health problems in West Oakland. We pursue unique approaches to community health and food security that contribute new ways of solving our community's needs. Our efforts to build more innovation into our approaches has provided us with first hand knowledge and in-depth understanding of how to provide healthy foods and nutrition education to inner city residents. This is the essence of how People's Grocery lives its mission in the community everyday.
The Food Project
The Food Project (Boston)
Since 1991, The Food Project has built a national model of engaging young people in personal and social change through sustainable agriculture. Each year, we work with over a hundred teens and thousands of volunteers to farm on 37 acres in eastern Massachusetts in the towns and cities of Beverly, Boston, Ipswich, Lincoln and Lynn. We consider our hallmark to be our focus on identifying and transforming a new generation of leaders by placing teens in unusually responsible roles, with deeply meaningful work.
Food from our farms is distributed through our Community Supported Agriculture programs, Farmers' Markets, and to hunger relief organizations. The young people working in our programs participate in all of these distribution streams, giving them valuable job experiences and a personal connection to our food system and issues of food justice.
In addition to producing and distributing food, we help others grow their own through our Community Programs, and provide training resources based on all we've learned since '91.
The Food Project is a founding sponsor of the Real Food Challenge, a campaign organizing students to increase the amount of real food at their schools.
Why Eat Local?
- Local food tastes better! You can eat local food the same day it is picked, so it is fresh.
- Local food is better for the environment! By eating local, you save your food from being transported to distribution centers, processors, and retailers far away.
- Local food supports your community's economy! Buying local food supports local farms and keeps farms in your community.
washing them down
Every day millions of Americans venture to their local grocery stores in hopes of procuring ingredients for breakfasts, dinners, and snacks.
They turn over shiny green apples and squeeze ripe, red tomatoes. Rarely do they stop to ask how their food was produced. Whose hands touched their apples? Where was their carrot pulled from the ground?
A local food system changes this because it gives people the opportunity to take an active role in the production of their food such programs as U-Pick or Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Local food systems keep farms in our neighborhoods and sustain the local economy by keeping funds generated from agriculture within the community. They also cut down on pollution by reducing gas emissions from transportation. Most importantly, local food just tastes better!
Eating local will put a face to your food. By supporting local endeavors like farms, CSA’s, farmer's markets and farm stands, you will know who produced your apple, your pepper, and your carrot. Eating local ensures a connection between the consumer and the product.
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