Whew, hot!

It's been an exciting week.

Last Friday morning, I visited Astoria Park. Guided by the leadership of Merlin John Baptiste, new director of Astoria's afterschool program, they're organizing a school garden. My role was to present-- along with Ms Miaisha Mitchell, who's done extensive childhood obesity and diabetes work-- on the values (health, academic, behaviorial, etc) of gardens. By the end of the presentation two more teachers had volunteered to help make it happen.

Saturday, I took a trip to the UF Ag Extention in Quincy for an "Edible Landscape" workshop hosted by The Gardening Friends of the Big Bend, Inc.

Later that afternoon, I visited the FAMU Grape Harvest Festival with two students involved with Tallahassee Sustainability Group, an official Florida State student group. While walking the vineyards, we discussed how to find FAMU students talking/working on urban agriculture and community gardens in order that students from both FSU and FAMU might coordinate or eventually partner on common endeavors. How to network with FAM folks? But duh! We were walking on FAMU property.

Inside the research building we met Ms Harriet Paul, Dean of International Ag who has been involved with urban gardening for decades. (Next year her department will be starting an urban gardening program at four area high schools in four different counties. The students involved with the best garden will qualify to apply for a trip to visit South Africa's urban gardens.) Ms Paul also referred us to Dr Ray Mobley, FAMU Extension Agent responsible for community gardening and to Mr Damon Miller, who oversees the Orange Ave (FAMU) Community Garden.

Sunday, my friends, I took a day off.

Monday, bright and early, the first time in a while, I returned to the roadside.

Standing beside the road is just too much fun. From the rolled eyes, to the honks, to the questions ("What are you growing this fall?"), to the double-takes, to the lady saying, "I wish I could vote for you," to waves, congratulations, head nods, and looks of utter confusion; I love it all. Even the sweat at 12-noon in the middle of Apalachee Parkway. Every day since Monday, I've been out on the roadside at rush times and will be through Thursday afternoon. In between roadsiding...

Monday mid morning, I met with Marc Dick with TCC's Workforce Development. He offered me the opportunity to teach food gardening classes within the Workforce Development "Green Academy." I'm excited to see how this might develop.

Later Monday morning, I swung by to meet briefly with folks in the City of Tallahassee's Environmental Policy and Energy Resources Office to discuss the possibility of creating a sanctioned process for the establishment of community gardens on public land (e.g., vacant lots, city parks).

At noon on Monday, I joined the rest of the Tallahassee Food Policy Council (FPC) at Second Harvest Food Bank's new facility on Four Points Way to update one another on conferences (Small Farms conference in S. Florida, the American Community Gardening Association annual conference, and others), to talk about a "Local Food Guide" in development by members of the FPC, and to discuss how to link interested parties with already existing community garden and small farm space.

Tuesday, I joined up with students leaders in the Tallahassee Sustainability Group again-- this time at Ghazvini Learning Center's school garden and green house. Our task was to pull weeds and summer crops to prep the garden for fall planting. The Ghazvini teachers Gale Albritton and Shannon Gooden and the FSU students should get an award for their good work. In addition to overseeing the planting eight or ten raised beds by students, they also coordinate seedling and propagation activities in their green house-- plus have a demonstration hydroponic system they're looking to turn into an Aquaponic system complete with Tilapia.

For lunch on Tuesday, I met up with Mike Herrin, Goodwood Museum's Director of Horticulture. There's talk of hosting a Leon County horticultural afterschool program at Goodwood if a grant comes through. So we dreamed about possibilities.

Wednesday morning, I met with Tracy Haley, science teacher at Cobb Middle School. She dreams of having a school garden wherein every four kids could have their own 4x4 raised beds to maintain in order to observe, compare, experiment, etc.

And today, lunch, I met with Edward Accoff, representative to CONA, Council of Neighborhood Associations to plan for an upcoming presentation on Sept 13th regarding the Tallahassee Delegation's attendance to the American Community Gardening Association in early August.

Thing are moving forward y'all. It's hot. I'm sweating doing what I love. Garden Consultations Thursday Friday. Next week I'll be putting in my first fall garden. Get ready for fall.

Why Can I Eat Bread in France, but not the USA?

Updated 10/31/2017 as the National Organic Standards Board meets in Jacksonville, FL. This may well be the most important thing you read this year for your health. (Originally written in 2015 while I was traveling-- and eating bread-- with my wife in France.) I've got a food riddle for you from Paris, France: Why can I eat bread over here when it makes me sick at home? I'll share my best guess in a minute, but first, a little personal background. Since my senior year of high school, I've not been able to eat much bread at all. For five years, I was severely hypoglycemic, and everything I ate had to have more protein than carbohydrates. That meant, in effect, that I spent my years of college beer-less and eating lots of salad with meat on top. I ate tons of vegetables, very little fruit, basically no carbohydrates to speak of, meat, nuts, eggs, and cheese. If I accidentally ate, say, meat loaf that was, unbeknownst to me, made with bread in it, I'd spend the n...

Man in Overalls - It's Like Washing Your Dishes

I often hear folks joke, "Yeah, I had a garden once. I put in all this money & effort, and I only got a handful of tomatoes. Each one of them cost $27!" And they usually end by saying something about not having a green thumb. My first tomatoes of the season I smile and think about a mental model I've been working on: Growing your groceries is like washing your dishes. While they're raving about how many plants they've killed, I'm thinking, "It's not your thumbs. I bet you don't have a sink. And if you do, are you using decent soap or that garbage from the dollar store? And did you mention you've never washed dishes before in your life? And you're surprised you broke a couple wine glasses with no more experience than a four-year-old?" My eyebrows furrow involuntarily belying my thoughts, "Really? That doesn't seem all that surprising to me." But, of course, not only would saying all that confuse people, it...

Man in Overalls - The Valley of Food & Ag Startups: Warren Wilson College

If you're interested in tech, pay attention to Silicon Valley. If you're interested in food and agriculture, Swannnoa Valley, more specifically Warren Wilson College , is the place to keep on your radar. Man in Overalls with (L to R) Mary Elizabeth, my wife and Rachel (Williamson) Perry, WW alum and herbal tea entrepreneuer I'm an alum and proud of it, class of 2008. I studied community organizing, wrote a 140 page thesis about social movements as my capstone. Nathan, as college Freshman on WW Electric Crew. (Look for the blue water bottle) It's a work college, one of seven in the country. Think universal work-study, so in addition to whatever one's academic track, students are also working in the cafeteria, the library, admissions, as carpenters, lock smiths, lab techs, and-- per the agricultural legacy of Warren Wilson-- as row crop, animal, and vegetable farmers, gardeners, and edible landscapers. Personally, I worked on the electric crew a...

Man in Overalls - Growing Great Soil

Good soil will basically grow your groceries for you, but how do you build great soil? The answer is that there are two options: a quick & easy way and a DIY, hard(er) way. So we're on the same page, I'm continuing my #GrowYourGroceries The Easy Way series by digging into the how-tos of growing great soil. These stories and techniques will likely make the most sense after reading Geeking on Good Soil , my last update. (I outlined where I was headed in The Big Picture.) As I was saying, the easy way to build a great soil is to fill raised beds with a terrific compost-based soil mix like my Magic Mix to jump start your food garden productivity from year one. From there, seasonally, you simply top-dress each season before planting with another few inches of compost-based soil mix. This is how I manage my own food garden and those of my customers. Why? Because at the root of things, I'm a lazy food gar...

Man In Overalls - My Compost System

Composting, they say, is an art form. But, truth be told, I'm just too lazy for all that. My own compost philosophy is, "Crap rots in the woods, doesn't it?" But really. :) Whenever I think of home gardening systems, I always reflect back on my grandmother. She gardened up until the week she died at 93. She planted by the signs and assured me that's why her collards were not eaten up by bugs and were able to grow for 3 years running and up to 8 or 9 feet tall. She had a little rototiller, planted straight rows, mulched by spreading leaves to keep the weeds down. She threw out a little 10-10-10 from time to time and kept the cabbage worms at bay with Sevin dust. She hoed if the weeds called for it. But mostly, she harvested. Her pots were always full and her freezer always stuffed with produce: collards, mustards, turnips, peas, tomato gravy, squash, you name it. Now, I don't use 10-10-10 or sevin dust, and I'm not big on tilling. However, the thi...

Man in Overalls - Summer Garden Blues & What To Do

Welcome to mid summer in the Deep South! If you're anything like me, you're actively looking for excuses to avoid going outside this time of year. The heat doesn't so much radiate down from the sun as it seems to rise from the side walk. Rain helps- for about ten minutes- and then simply adds to the humidity as it vaporizes on the payment, so that it feels like you need a snorkel to make it from the house to the car, but of course, it only gets worse when you turn on the AC, and that first puff of hot air feels as though someone just wrapped your face in a plastic bag - not to mention that if you cut your grass yesterday, you're going to have to do it again... tomorrow. And, lets not even talk about how fast the weeds grow this time of year! Or the insects seem to multiply! Oh, home... :) Here's the good news: If your garden looks a little worse for wear, it's okay. Really. Mine does too. As much as I aim for- and largely achieve- a productive & beauti...

Man in Overalls - How to Start a School Garden: Design

Before you get to build your school garden like this, before you can help kids get their hands dirty like this, or teach kids in your school garden like this, there are a few things you've got to take care of first. The #1 most important thing you've got to do is build your team. I say- with no exaggeration-- that human infrastructure is THE most important aspect of developing a successful school garden. But, I already wrote about building your school garden team last time. Assuming you're on track with that, a simultaneous step is to begin developing your school garden design. Here are a few things to should consider as you develop a school garden design: Purpose In your school garden interest meeting, one of the first questions you should ask is: "Why are you interested in a school garden?" Interestingly, this question serves two purposes. First, it helps the team gel because there will likely be a lot of overlap in answers. This will ...

Man in Overalls - When to Plant Tomatoes

" Plant 'em in the spring. Eat 'em the summer. All winter without 'em's a culinary bummer ," as John Denver sings in "Home Grown Tomatoes." So, just when should you plant* your homegrown tomatoes? Or, more generally, when should you plant your spring food garden? (For an abbreviated version of this post revised & published in Edible Northeast Florida, click here. ) Since tomatoes along with other spring favorites like squash, corn, green beans, cucumbers, peppers, and the like are "frost sensitive" (in other words, they'll die if it freezes), it's all about the "last frost date" for your area. Unless you're a weather savant and remember the last freeze for the past twenty years, you'll have to do some investigating. You could look up your Plant Hardiness Zone on this cool "interactive" map from the USDA, and you'd learn that Jacksonville is in zone 9a, Tallahassee is in 8b, and At...

Man in Overalls - An Ode to Collards (Now with my recipes)

I love growing my groceries in the fall - watching the miracle of growth, having ready-access to the freshest produce money-can't buy, the many flavors, getting to try new varieties - all while the temperature drops to more and more pleasant levels. I enjoy growing most anything in the fall, but, if I had to choose just one thing to grow every fall for the rest of my life, it would be collard greens, hands down. It's a health thing and an effort-to-yield calculation, but in the beginning, the roots of my collard green passion were seeded by family. When I was a kid about 9 or 10, just a couple years into gardening in the front yard , my aunt, the family documentarian showed me a clipping of my late grandfather from the Graceville New (or was it the Jackson County Times?) beneath his 9ft collard greens that he had kept alive multiple years, growing them into small trees. Not to be outdone, my grandmother grew a collard forest of her own. Seizing the moment, my...

Man in Overalls

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