Man in Overalls

Registration Info Here. "2011 Thriving, Beyond Sustainability Workshop" Featuring Growing Powers’ Will Allen DATE:   March 06, 2011 HOURS:    Noon- 6:30pm LOCATION:   FAMU Center of Viticulture and Small Fruit  6505 East Mayhan Drive (Hwy 90) Tallahassee. FAMU StateWide Small Farm Programs, local small farmers, and a coalition of sustainable food advocates including Tallahassee Sustainability Group, Man in Overalls with Tallahassee Food Gardens, Greater FrenchTown Revitalization Council,  Damayan Garden Project, Project Food, and Sowing Seeds Sewing Comfort Ministry, have worked together to provide a wonderful opportunity for the community to come out and learn from  innovative urban farmer, Will Allen,  founder and CEO of Growing Power, Inc. Will Allen , "Farmer, Founder, CEO of Growing Power" will be in Tallahassee for sometime in March for an all-day workshop to discuss the work and success of Growing Power's Commun...

Last June, I got an email from Marcy Rosner, a native of Tallahassee that had been-- for a handful of years-- living in Oakland.  She was back home for the month and hoped to find some volunteer opportunities with community gardens or some other volunteer urban ag project in Tallahassee.  Eventually she linked up with Shelby Stec, an awesome FSU student that coordinates a garden at the Salvation Army on Jackson Bluff. Last week, the day before catching a plane for the Bay area (for a visit to see my sister, Kelley), I sent Marcy my own email.  I'd been hearing reports about all kinds of food movement work in Oakland like this YES! Magazine article featuring the work of Urban Tilth .  I'd also heard stories about People's Grocery from Marcy, and, via Farm City, a book by Novella Carpenter , I'd heard about City Slicker Farms .  I hoped to see a bit of what's going on in Oakland with reference to the food movement and to catch a few stories. Marcy invited me ...

Meet my buddy, Jorge Lopez. He and I attended Warren Wilson College together, where he studied biology with a focus on plants.  Prior to  "Wilson," he earned his AA at the University of Florida, served for four years in the US Marine Corps.  He's worked as an EMT for three years in New York City and for three years as an ER tech.  He also worked for a year in a health food store. Currently, Jorge's attending the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, AZ.  It also so happens that he's an amazing cook. A couple months back Jorge and I communicated via facebook about the possibility that he could guest-post on my blog to provide nutritional tidbits that link food gardening with healthy eating and health, in general. This is the first of such posts.  Thanks go to Jorge. "Eat Your Veggies" - by Jorge Lopez- When I was a child I remember my mom telling me, “Eat your veggies they're good for you."  I would often ignore my...

Amazing images courtesy Inga Finch Photography "Wowww! Look at Our Garden!" So said teenage Christine when she came around the side of the house in view of our workshop garden this past Saturday.  For four saturdays, once a month, for four months (skipping December), I'm leading an introductory food garden class with a friends' group of nine special needs teens at the home of Kelly Hetherington, one of the teen's mothers. Back in July/August, Kelly, Annie's mother got in touch with me: "I want my daughter to learn how to grow vegetables, and I wonder whether you'd be willing to do a workshop with her and her friends."  Turned out, she also wanted her own food garden, so we developed a workshop + double raised bed install plan: one for her uses and the other for the workshop. In mid October, the teens and I (with ample support from parents and a few of my friends) launched the food garden workshop series by filling a raised bed frame wit...

Here's a few images from the workshop: Square Foot Gardening: vidalia onions Man in Overalls answering food gardening questions Notice the square foot grid for ease of plant spacing Beautiful garden design created by Meghan Mick with Design from the Ground Up.

Have you ever heard-tell of the citizenship schools of the 50s and 60s?  ( Click here for a mini-history from the perspective of the Highlander Folks School in eastern Tennessee.) On the surface level, the citizenship schools were simply a place where black folks taught other black folks how to read and write, the point being to pass the literacy exams and register to vote.  But since the focus was voter registration, there was an emphasis on empowerment, on learning how to be good citizens, and, more immediately, on how to participate in the civil rights movement.  The schools also functioned as hubs of community, economic, and political activity.  Folks didn't learn how to read Pooh Bear, they began reading by learning the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights .  Once they'd learned to read about their rights, they began raising questions like, "Why don't we enjoy these rights?"  And from there, "Once we register to vote, what and who are we going to vote f...

The past two days I was working out at the Ferrel's garden on the east side of town with my buddy, Lindsay .  With a busy schedule and a sore back, Kathy Ferrel's garden had grown-over.  Here's the story through pictures. "Lotsa" weeds. Weeds All Gone! Garden Planted Closer up, the before/after is more exciting. Voila! As you can tell from the images, Kathy's garden was in-ground.  My friend, Lindsay and I working together, we cleared the brush; raked up; transplanted irises, day lilies, agapanthuses, and garlic chives; top dressed the area with greensand (a good remedy for N. Florida soils that tend to be potassium deficient) and compost; shaped the beds; and lastly put seeds and plants in the ground. In the picture above, you can see the Rosemary in the bottom left-hand corner surrounded by johnny jump-ups (which you can eat).  Back behind the rosemary, there's a bed of kale and chard and broccoli.  To the left, there's a bed with...