Garden Up - Urban Gardening & Living

You have to admit that the meteor ‘attack’ in Russia...

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:48:57 -0500

You have to admit that the meteor ‘attack’ in Russia is pretty awesome!

Photo

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 09:18:42 -0400

Organic Farm Manager Wanted: Hudson Valley

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 16:19:00 -0400

Organic Farm Manager Wanted: Hudson Valley
Well established and profitable organic vegetable farm in Orange County, NY seeks experienced and highly motivated grower(s) to co-manage 14-acre operation and, within 2 to 5 years, assume full management responsibility and enter into a partnership arrangement with owner. Must be genial, even-tempered, have experience with farm equipment, crew management, and be comfortable selling in New York City Greenmarket. Competitive salary and good housing provided. Contact Keith Stewart, 845-856-4955. keithsfarm@frontiernet.net

urbanorganicfarmer: VOTE

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 10:35:09 -0400

urbanorganicfarmer:

VOTE

US: Farmer grows pink pumpkins for breast cancer research

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 10:30:19 -0400

US: Farmer grows pink pumpkins for breast cancer research

A farmer has found a unique way to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month - by planting pink pumpkins.

Bert Bouwman, planted 15,000 seeds on his farm in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota and has been harvesting the light pink vegetables with his children this weekend.

The vegetable grower will donate 25 cents from every pumpkin sold to breast cancer research, and he said they are already flying off the shelves at local grocers.

Double tall no foam latte in a venti cup.

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 20:56:58 -0400

The Farm Bill - EXPIRED

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 11:27:25 -0400

There’s plenty at stake in the Food and Farm Bill—that tome of legislation covering everything from farmers markets to food stamps to farmland conservation. As of two days ago, our 2008 Farm Bill has officially expired, with no viable replacement. What does this mean? While big programs like SNAP (food stamps) are safe for now, several other lesser-known programs are left abandoned, or risk losing their funding altogether. Here are five programs that might matter to you.

1.) Are you a regular at your local farmers market? With the expiration of the farm bill, new farmers markets, community-supported agriculture programs, and roadside stands do not have access to startup funds.

2.) Prefer organic farming practices? Programs which offer incentives for farmers using sustainable practices or transitioning to organic production, as well as dedicated research funds for organic farming, are on hold.

3.) Care about land conservation? At present, farmers can’t enroll sensitive land like wetlands or grasslands in restoration projects.

4.) Want to see young farmers thrive? Programs which provide training opportunities, education, and technical assistance for beginning and young farmers—the future providers of food in this country—risk losing funding altogether.

5.) Do you like knowing which products use organic farming and production methods, and which do not? Programs which help cover the costs of becoming certified USDA organic—a pricey undertaking—are now at stake.

With the Food and Farm Bill in limbo, these important programs have been put on hold and their future remains unclear. I touched base with Dan Imhoff of Food Fight 2012 to find out why he’s worried, and how we can be proactive towards a better farm bill.

I see this [expiration] as something to be worried about because it seems that our leadership still doesn’t understand the crisis in the food system, and just how fundamental the Farm Bill is to getting things right in society. There is nothing more fundamental than food. And there are some real problems with how and what we are producing. The Farm Bill is our mechanism to right things that are wrong in the farm system, to do things that the market doesn’t compensate land owners for, to make sure everyone has access to healthy food. And by ignoring this important debate, they are putting off some of the most important work that should have been done this year. Congress refused to act and I think that’s a broader reflection of how dysfunctional things are right now at the national level.

ORE Design + Technology shows how to build planting beds out of...

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 10:55:30 -0400

ORE Design + Technology shows how to build planting beds out of milk crates—just like the ones designed for Riverpark Farm. All 6,000+ vegetables, herbs, and flowers have been planted using this unique milk crate system, making individual plants and the Farm, as a whole, portable.

PS: I’ve seen these milk crate containers in action—-they work VERY WELL!

GrowNYC has built more than 80 rainwater harvesting systems in...

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 10:53:11 -0400

GrowNYC has built more than 80 rainwater harvesting systems in New York City community gardens, collecting over a million gallons of rainwater a year from nearby roofs or shade structures, making water collection convenient for gardeners, and reducing demand on the public water supply system. They also help mitigate rainstorm runoff, which can overload storm drains and pollute the waters surrounding the city. Interested in having a system in your community garden? Contact us or read our How-To Guide and build your own!

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 09:21:11 -0400

Women Farmer Program

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 15:03:47 -0400

HMI now accepting applications for Beginning Women Farmer Programs

July 24, 2012 by Ann Adams 2 Comments

HMI and our collaborators are now accepting applications for our Beginning Women Farmer programs in Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Maine, and Texas.

HMI’s Holistic Management® whole farm/ranch planning curriculum focuses on business planning skills, time management, soil fertility management, and profitable sustainable livestock and crop farming practices.

Join the Program

If you are a beginning (less than ten years experience) women farmer or rancher in Texas or the Northeast and you are interested in joining the program, please contact the individuals below. While there is a small fee to join the program in the Northeast, scholarships are available for those in need of financial assistance. The program is free in Texas. Program applications are currently being accepted, so contact these state coordinators now!

New York—Lauren Lines, Central NY RC&D, llrlines@aol.com (deadline October 15, 2012)
Connecticut—Deb Legge, CT NOFA, deb@ctnofa.org (deadline September 15, 2012)
New Hampshire—Kate Kerman, Small & Beginning Farmers of NH,kkerman@phoenixfarm.org (deadline October 31, 2012)
Vermont—Jessie Schmidt, New Farmer Project UVM, Jessica.a.schmidt@uvm.edu(deadline November 1, 2012)
Massachusetts—Devon Whitney-Deal, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA), devon@buylocalfood.org (deadline October 1, 2012)
Maine—Gail Chase, Women’s Agriculture Network (WAgN) ME, gchase@kvcog.org(deadline October 1, 2012)

Texas—Peggy Cole, Holistic Management International, pcole@holisticmanagement.org (deadline is July 31, 2012)

Sweden recycles so effectively that it has to import garbage to incinerate

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 08:49:55 -0400

As reported by Public Radio International, Sweden has a remarkably effective recycling program. Only 4 percent of the country’s waste ends up in landfills, with the other 96 percent being reused in some way. There is one problem with that, however: The country has incinerators that burn waste to create heat (a must-have in the region) and electricity. And too little waste means not enough fuel for those fires.

More HERE

How to Squat and Own A Home

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 10:57:45 -0400

One night a little more than a decade ago, Steve DeCaprio pulled his bike up to an abandoned house in Ghost Town, a poor neighborhood in West Oakland dotted with vacant lots. He cut through the rusty lock on the chain-link fence with bolt cutters, then pried open a plywood sheet that stood where the front door once had. Then he replaced the locks with his own. This is how DeCaprio, a longtime East Bay squatter and veteran of the punk and metal scenes, acquired his home.

He already knew that the previous owner of the house had died in the early 1980s and that no one had come forward to claim it. The turn-of-the-century bungalow had sat empty for many years. The kitchen floor was burned out, and the back of the house hung off the foundation. An acacia tree in the backyard had grown into the roof, leaving the interior open to the elements. The top floor was piled with the carcasses of dead raccoons and other small animals.

DeCaprio and a crew of friends got to work making the place habitable. “At first, it was basically just urban camping,” he remembers. It took eight months of on-and-off work to fix the roof. He got the water flowing, bought storm doors and painted the exterior, planted cacti in the front yard, and yanked out another backyard tree that had begun to menace the house next door. He named it Noodle House, and he currently shares it with three people plus the occasional touring underground band.

DeCaprio, who turns 40 in August, has tousled, graying hair and favors Carharts and black T-shirts bearing band logos. In a more mainstream context, he would be described as a “go-getter.” He plays guitar in a black-metal band named Embers, works as a member representative for the California League of Conservation Voters, and is pursuing a law degree through an independent study program (he expects to take the bar exam next year). And, of course, there’s the house. Right now, DeCaprio is working on a solar array to provide electricity. “There’s gonna be this moment when I turn on a light switch and it’ll be epic,” he says.

Perhaps most impressively, DeCaprio is no longer simply a squatter. He didn’t buy his house, but, after more than a decade of struggle, he owns it. Indeed, he has lived in his house so long that he has gained ownership of it under an obscure law called “adverse possession,” which allows ownership not through purchase or inheritance (the common paths to home ownership), but through occupation—provided no one else can prove he or she is the real owner. Adverse possession, DeCaprio says, is the “holy grail of squatting.”

"To change one’s life: 1. Start immediately. 2. Do it flamboyantly. 3. No exceptions."

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 10:31:40 -0400

“To change one’s life:
1. Start immediately.
2. Do it flamboyantly.
3. No exceptions.”

- William James (via lupeyused)

Van Art, Haverstraw, NY. September 2012.

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 09:52:05 -0400

Van Art, Haverstraw, NY. September 2012.

Sun rises over Manhattan. September 12’th, 2012.

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 14:58:21 -0400

Sun rises over Manhattan. September 12’th, 2012.

THE ENLIGHTENED HAPPY HOUR: AN INTERACTIVE DRINK GUIDE

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 12:52:56 -0400

As more restaurants make their nutrition information available, patrons are becoming all too aware of the shocking calorie counts behind some of their favorite menu items. Gut-busting appetizers like Chili’s Hot Spinach & Artichoke Dip with Chips (1,520 calories), Cheesecake Factory’s Factory Nachos with Spicy Chicken (1,930 calories), or Outback Steakhouse’s Bloomin’ Onion (1,959 calories) are dangerously delicious.

But did you know that the happy hour drinks you guzzle also come with their own significant calorie count?

Use this interactive guide to help you make smarter decisions about what you sip at the bar. If you’re counting calories, the guide offers info on a variety of popular drinks by total calories and approximate calories per ounce.

The interactive also breaks down the alcohol beverage content in each drink, in case you’re looking to get the best buzz for your buck. Either way, click through to study up for your next happy hour.

Marketing to Kids

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 10:55:01 -0400

Dole Food Company and Hy-Vee Food Stores recently celebrated the donation of five salad bars to schools in the central Iowa area at the United Community School in Boone, Iowa. The salad bars were donated as a part of the First Lady’s Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools initiative, which has donated more than 1,440 salad bars serving more than 720,000 children across the country.

NOTE: Dole Food Company had $6.7 billion in reported sales during the last year. Do they really need to have a logo on these salad bars which is bigger than the heads of the children!?

FairMail Helps Global Youth Become Commercial Photographers

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 09:05:45 -0400

Many travelers know that handing your digital camera over to a local kid in a place like Mombasa, Bogota, or Jakarta can yield some seriously cool shots. It’s also a fact of globalization that this common exchange can serve as the first hands-on experience with digital technology for many young people growing up in developing countries.

When Dutch couple Janneke Smeulders and Peter den Hond lived in Peru in 2006, Smeulders noticed the enthusiasm the local kids had for photography. She also knew they’d never be able to afford a camera of their own. Thus began FairMail Peru, Smeulders and den Hond’s project to sell greeting cards with photographs shot by local teens in the vegetarian restaurant they were running.

When dining patrons, who also happened to be ethical venture capitalists, told the Dutch duo that they were “morally obliged” to make the project bigger, they acquiesced. The Fair Trade certified business now operates out of three countries—Peru, India, and just recently, Morocco— and was named a winner in the Ben & Jerry’s Join Our Core sustainable businesses competition in Europe earlier this summer.

“Who would have thought kids [would be] able to take such good pictures that can compete in the global photography market?” den Hond said. “But they all take to it quite quickly just as all teenagers get the hang of electronic gadgets easily.”

In each location—selected to offer “different cultural backgrounds” throughout their image catalogue—the business partners with local NGOs and youth projects which work with at-risk youth to provide well-rounded support. They then loan out a camera to each teenager and have them sign a contract in which they agree to pay off broken or lost cameras with their earnings if necessary.

FairMail sells the images to publishing houses who licence them everywhere from stock photography websites to on-demand print shops. The progress of each individual photographer can be tracked on FairMail’s website, and each product sold also includes a picture of the photographer on the back, as a reminder of their story. Sales are tracked and money is dispersed each quarter to the photographers for their sold work. Some of FairMail’s top earners have reached more than $10,000 in their careers.

“There are big income differences between the teenagers, depending on their talent, motivation and effort,” den Hond said. “We want to show the kids that they can control their destiny by working for it.”

Den Hond is proud of FairMail’s recent recognition as a leading model of social enterprise and he thinks the idea that businesses can find fixes for social problems needs further understanding.

“Our teenagers don’t need pity,” he said. “They need customers who buy their product just because they love their pictures. After that it is great if they come back for more because they also love the story behind each of the cards.”

Land Available: Upstate New York

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 08:57:49 -0400

Contact: Christine Dunphy
For more information, e-mail catskillconcepts@gmail.com
Website: www.catskillconcepts.com

Property address: Lee Hollow Road, Bovina, NY 13740
(Lee Hollow Road is accessed from Rte. 28 in Bovina. It also becomes Bramley Mountain Road that is accessed from Rte. 18 in Bovina/Kortright.)

Available for: Lease/Share/Partnership/Sale
Sale or lease, including lease with option to buy will be considered. Owner would also consider some participation in an agricultural enterprise with the land value and use considered for equity or partnership interest.

Acreage available: 76-100 acres

Land use: The property is currently used for hay. About 29 acres were in corn production a few years ago. The land could be used for a variety of agricultural crops and could also be used for livestock grazing.

Land description: The land consists of roughly 50-60 acres of meadow, with the balance being forested. It is subdivided into 3 lots for ease of multiple leasing or combination ag use and home sites. The Little Delaware River is a property border and the land slopes from Lee Hollow Road toward eventual steeper drops to the river. The land is used for hay and is otherwise idle.

Organic: Yes (without certification)

Conservation restrictions:

Water description: River, stream and water drainage creek. Possibilities for ponds exist in a few locations on the property.

Housing available: No

Buildings available: No structures available

Other details: Property was owned by the Inman family of Bovina and was allied to their dairy farm as a producer of hay and corn.