from the farm.
Summer Into Fall: Farm Update
As winter starts to show signs of it’s arrival, we wanted to review our year at the Green Planet Educational Farm. First, we’d like to thank our volunteers and Grad Student Stephen Ratasky, in particular, for all their hard work. It’s difficult to explain the feeling of working a field, burying your hands in the soil with friends and volunteers, all while witnessing stunning pink and purple sunsets. Even though we went through some unbearably hot days we had fun, worked hard, and ended up with some delicious produce. To enjoy the fruits of our labor well into winter we pickled and sauced some or our favorite items to use in dishes.
(produce basket of cantaloupes, sun gold tomatoes, and cukes)
This summer we hosted a fun and educational event for a passionate group of people from Food and Water Watch out on the farm. They stopped by during their Fair Farm Bill Road Trip. In thirty days they traveled to over twenty states, from California to North Carolina, discussing food and water issues related to farmers and we felt honored to be chosen as a stop. To learn more about Food & Water Watch and support the Fair Farm Bill, please visit their website.
(Daniel and Graduate Student, Stephen Ratasky, speak to a group from Food and Water Watch)
Currently Fall season is drawing to an end and we’re preparing to winter-over some of the items already in the ground. Although there are not as many options as there are in the spring and summer we are still highlighting some of the the best produce NC has to offer. We are growing mostly beets, greens, carrots, radishes, purple cabbage and leafy greens.
Check out our Locals Only Menu for our seasonal dishes.
(Daniel and volunteer, Stephanie Bogue, enjoying a break during a day of fall planting)
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What's in season? Apples, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cucumbers, Leafy Greens, Peanuts, Pecans & Sweet Potatoes
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City farm on the way?
From the News & Observer
BY CHELSEA KELLNER - STAFF WRITER
A farm may take root at the site of a vacant shopping center near downtown Raleigh as soon as summer.
Local nonprofit startup Raleigh City Farm, working with the Triangle Land Conservancy, is in talks with the landowner and the city to convert an empty 1.3 acre plot on North Blount Street next to the old Person Street Plaza into a sustainable farm.
"It would go from being a completely unused parcel of land to one of the best-used in the entire city," Raleigh City Farm spokesman Joshua Whiton said. "We want to be a demo site where people can come by and see how much food can be grown in a small space."
This would be the first farm site for Raleigh City Farm, a new group that hopes to provide fresh fruit, vegetables, mushrooms and more to downtown residents. The group is seeking involvement and input from the surrounding Mordecai neighborhood as it works through zoning issues and to figure out the best way to move forward as a rather unorthodox city neighbor.
The group's mission has its roots in the nationwide "localvore" movement, a growing number of consumers committed to fostering sustainable agriculture and better health by eating food grown as close to home as possible. In Raleigh, the movement's rapidly growing following needs a larger number of local food resources to keep up with demand, Whiton said.
Person Street Plaza has stood vacant for about five years, said John Holmes, vice president of Hobby Properties, which owns the land. The company tore down the residential buildings that formerly stood on the empty lot next to the shopping center, but a sour economy shelved the company's original plans for redevelopment. They hope a project like Raleigh City Farm would draw interest to new tenants for the currently boarded-up shopping center, Holmes said.
The nonprofit's vision for the site includes a small central farm in downtown that grows and markets food in the city, as well as composting local waste, Whiton said. While currently donation-based and seeking grants as seed money, the eventual idea is to be sustained by sales revenue.
The plan for the North Blount Street site is on hold while the group works to roll back an old zoning restriction that bans using that plot of land for agricultural purposes. The group hopes to resolve that issue with the city in time to start work this summer, Whiton said.
Neighborhood reception has been warm so far, Mordecai Citizens Advisory Council chairman Reid Serozi said. Serozi praised the farm's potential to boost healthy eating and eco-friendly living, while helping revitalize the neighborhood.
"An organization like this ... could bring vibrant energy to that area, give it a new look, a new feel," Serozi said.
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Vertical Vegetable Gardens
Instead of having to continually bend down to tend to vegetables, having them grow upwards is another alternative. These types of vertical gardens can be as complex as you want them to be, but a basic garden consists of a container, vegetable, and stake for growing. Tomatoes are the most popular type of vegetable, but beans, peas, and other small vegetables make for great vertical plants.
To read other methods of vertical gardening: http://www.doityourself.com/stry/6-different-ways-to-grow-a-vertical-garden#ixzz14p4kBBCS
- Basil
- Bay
- Chervil
- Chives
- Oregano
- Parsley
- Rosemary
- Sage
- Tarragon
- Thyme
(Managing Partner, Daniel Whittaker, happy about the new site)
(Lettuce rows at the new site)
(the student plots led to some cool topography)