Man in Overalls

Tallahassee Democrat Thursday 20th, 2011 Dear Editor- On a routine trip to Ro-Mac Lumber and Supply [ map ] last week, I saw a handwritten door sign: "All Sales Final: Going Out of Business." With disappointment, I shook my head. Not Ro-Mac . Two years ago, I started Tallahassee Food Gardens with $300 and a pickup. My mission was to enable "wannabe" food gardeners, network local food and community garden activists, and, generally, support the food movement. From the beginning, Ro-Mac was my supplier for raised-bed lumber, hardware and tools. By my third visit, they greeted me by name. Unlike the big boxes, the folks in Ro-Mac knew things. Frequently, they cut my boards to size; occasionally, they charged me. Ro-Mac was and remains a great local business that's far more than a store. It's a storehouse of great people, trade wisdom and incredible service. Ro-Mac opened in 1946. It closes shop in March. The guys at the front desk jokingly told me, ...

A Few Words on Herbs: Rosemary, Garlic, and Tumeric by Jorge Lopez Jorge Lopez cooking- more info on Jorge down below. Sometimes I find that the ordinary and everyday becomes dull and unexciting. Unlike a child’s world view of adventure and discovery, as I get older I have found ways to light my passion for the simple. I find often that to ignite the beauty in the everyday I have to set out and rediscover! For example every herb, flower, fruit, vegetable and tuber has more than one story. Cooking with herbs for flavor and aroma to create the perfect dish is one story. How those wonderful herbs help us to heal can be another. Rosemary, Garlic, and curcuma (Tumeric), are among the many herbs used every day to enhance flavor. Lets look at how they benefit our health. One the most pleasantly pungent and bitter herbs I often use is rosemary. Rosemary is one of those herbs you don’t want to overdo when cooking because of its incredible strong taste. Rosemary is known to be an anti-i...

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.