SALEM — A robust “food farm” has popped up at Mack Park and is doling out thousands of pounds of food to local families. But the farm is growing a lot more than carrots and kale. Described as “a municipal farm and future food forest,” the Mack Park food farm replaced an unused baseball practice area at the base of the park’s hilly...
A survey by the Royal Horticultural Society found that 80% of millennials own a houseplant of some sort. But did you know that caring for indoor plants also comes with its share of benefits? Besides improving our well-being by boosting moods and concentration, indoor plants are beneficial to our home. Growing plants indoors, especially edibles, eliminates the need...
When Edmunds heard that a local nursery, Soil Sisters, was offering a gardening camp this summer, she enrolled her daughter Lenyxx, 7, in it. “It is just a great idea,” she said. “I am really grateful.” The Soil Sisters are Raynise and Taray Kelly. Thanks to a grant, they started the camp to give children in the Beltzhoover neighborhood of Pittsburgh outdoor...
BOISE, ID (CBS2) — “Now more than ever it is especially important to know where your food comes from, the importance of environmental education is huge,” explains Executive Director of Boise Urban Garden, Lisa Duplessie. “Getting outside of that traditional classroom where they get to put their hands in the dirt.” Boise’s Urban Garden...
HAVANA, July 5 (Xinhua) — Angel Hernandez, a resident of Havana’s central Playa district, never imagined he would be cultivating crops again after retiring, but the COVID-19 pandemic presented a good excuse. Like many Cubans, he has been supportive of the country’s efforts to increase food production amid economic restrictions, the tightening of...
This sudden, shared urge to grow food in the middle of America’s cities intrigued us — enough to make an episode on urban agriculture, featured above. As the creators of a food podcast, we’re well aware of the harms caused by the intensive, industrial system of agriculture that feeds America, from the food miles racked up by the average spinach leaf to the...
BBG is the Brooklyn partner for the NYC Department of Sanitation’s Bureau of Recycling and Sustainability’s NYC Compost Project hosted by Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which helps to reduce waste in NYC and rebuild city soils by giving New Yorkers the knowledge, skills, and opportunities they need to produce and use compost. Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Community Greening...
Over the past few months, the COVID-19 crisis has hit Detroit hard, resulting in more 12,000 cases and more than 1,500 deaths. It’s also produced an unemployment rate perhaps as high as 29 percent and a surging demand at area food banks. These problems have brought renewed focus to the importance of food sovereignty in Detroit and elsewhere, and on a changing climate,...
In Mid-March, Ibraheem came up with a free food delivery concept she called Kids with Coworkers, a riff on all the children who were now stuck at home with their parents (i.e. coworkers). Her goal was to cook and deliver “farm-to-fork” meals to needy families across Chicago. Many of the parents she knew in her community were furloughed or laid off from their...
In Dorchester, where the clatter of a passing train gives way to the scrape of a rake, the Greenwood Street Community Garden is thriving. It’s one of roughly 175 community gardens scattered like jewels through the city of Boston. And at this time of pandemic and social upheaval, these gardens are being treasured. On a recent sunny day, retired teacher Barry Lawton...
Camp Washington is a little rough around the edges. That’s obvious from a casual drive-by perspective. But what if this disenfranchised, low-income neighborhood isn’t as “poor” as it seems? The neighborhood is gritty and quirky. And the running themes throughout Camp Washington are opportunity and productivity. Residents who are willing to dig in and invest...
New study reveals the importance of cities for pollinators and highlights how to attract bees and other insects to urban areas It is well documented that access to parks, gardens and forests is good for our mental health. One study, by Denmark’s University of Aarhus, found that children who grew up without regular access to green spaces were up to 55 per cent...
Three years ago, Christina Clum left the corporate world to become an urban flower farmer. Her backyard in Kensington, Brooklyn, however, “is the size of a postage stamp,” she said. “And it doesn’t get good light.” So in February 2018, she put the word out to other Brooklyn residents about doing plantings in their yards. The exchange would be simple:...
Chico, Calif. — You might have a backyard garden where you grow some fruits and veggies, but some people grow enough to live off the produce. Orlan Luna has a very impressive backyard garden. He and his siblings grew up on a quarter acre of land where his parents started a garden, it was then up to the kids to handle the growing and cultivating. “When we...
Urban gardening advocates are supporting this policy which would make access to water for their community gardens more affordable. “Community gardens and urban farms might have an easier time getting the water they need after the city changed its fire hydrant policy. The mid-summer changes reduce some of the barriers that have prevented many urban growers from...
Samuel S. T. Pressman had wanted to build a food garden on the rooftop of his Clinton Hill apartment for years. The artist and sculptor had lived on a farm when he was younger and had studied Sustainable Environmental Systems at Pratt. But in a city with a “time is money” mentality, he never found the right moment to start his passion project. That changed when...
Growing food at home is one of the most rewarding things you can do for yourself and your family right now. Maybe you feel like the current growing season has passed you by, and you will need to wait until next spring to start? or maybe you want to try something new this coming fall or winter? Regardless of why you found yourself reading this article, we’re going...
Urban farming is one way to help replenish food deserts in Milwaukee’s impoverished neighborhoods, and it’s not just about growing food. “It’s not just about the fresh, healthy foods, but also the education behind it,” said Venice Williams, executive director of Alice’s Garden, an urban garden and farm that dates to 1972. “We do a lot of...
BOISE, ID (CBS2) — “Now more than ever it is especially important to know where your food comes from, the importance of environmental education is huge,” explains Executive Director of Boise Urban Garden, Lisa Duplessie. “Getting outside of that traditional classroom where they get to put their hands in the dirt.” Boise’s Urban Garden...
OLEAN — A group of Olean residents are enjoying the “fruits of their labor” this summer as they work in two community gardens sponsored by Healthy Families Allegany-Cattaraugus and Rural Revitalization Corporation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in the self-reliance of communities to provide for their own food needs. In collaboration,...
