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PROFILE OF AN ORGANIC FARM, PROVIDING PRODUCE TO ASHLAND OREGON

www.ashlandfood.coop | “Chi and his wife, Michelle Scherer have been farming in southern Oregon since the mid ’80s.  They build their soil structure, or “tilth,” in a sustainable way through rigorous annual and perennial cover cropping.”

“~ PROFILE OF AN ORGANIC FARM, PROVIDING PRODUCE TO ASHLAND OREGON
Profiles of 22 other growers can be found at this website.
http://www.ashlandfood.coop/growers/hi-hoe-produce-bluebird-farm
Hi Hoe Produce at Bluebird Farm | Ashland Food Co-op
www.ashlandfood.coop
Listening to Chi Scherer talk at an Ashland Food Co-op sponsored farm tour of his farm can be a mystical experience. “Plants are the skin of the earth,” he observes, explaining further that when you turn soil, “you’ve created a wound.” To heal that wound, you plant either a cover crop or a productio…”
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May 16, 2012 GoodNews FortheEarth on Facebook Leave a Comment
Filed under: Community Gardens, Farms & Gardens, Local Food, Organic Farming, People, Profiles

New Yorkers branch into ‘beyond organic’ urban fish farming

January 17, 2013, www.rawstory.com | “So you recycle, drive a small car, and try to eat organic. But what about running an eco-sustainable fish farm combined with a naturally fertilized vegetable patch in your kitchen? Christopher Toole and Anya Pozdeeva, two former New York bankers who founded the Society for Aquaponic Values and Education (SAVE), are there to help.”

GoodNews FortheEarth shared a link

New Yorkers branch into ‘beyond organic’ urban fish farming
www.rawstory.com
So you recycle, drive a small car, and try to eat organic. But what about running an eco-sustainable fish farm combined with a naturally fertilized vegetable patch in your kitchen?
  • Joa Lila, Next Evolution Cooperative Pennsylvania, Gerardo Salvador Molina, Juan Navas Trisan, and Mountaingirl Budz like this.
Apr 27, 2012 GoodNews FortheEarth on Facebook Leave a Comment
Filed under: Community Gardens, Education, Farms & Gardens, Local Food, Ocean Fish, Organic Farming, Urban Agriculture

No vacancy: Unleashing the potential of empty urban land

March 27, 2012, www.grist.org | Tia Jackson’s family has lived on the same block of Halsey Street in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood for five generations. Kristen Rapp is a newcomer. Jackson is black. Rapp is white. In a part of town where the gentrification process has been grinding along painfully for years, the two might never have met if not for a sign on a fence on a vacant lot, left there by the members of a group called 596 Acres.

Now Jackson and Rapp have keys that let them into that vacant lot at 462 Halsey. They are shoveling dirt and planting seeds. Together with a dedicated group of neighborhood residents, they are turning an abandoned scrap of urban soil into a garden.

 

No vacancy: Unleashing the potential of empty urban land
grist.org
A group of volunteers in Brooklyn mapped all the vacant properties in the borough, and discovered a remarkable amount of unused real estate. Now, they’re giving residents the tools to reclaim the…

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Mar 27, 2012 GoodNews FortheEarth on Facebook Leave a Comment
Filed under: Community Gardens, Farms & Gardens, Urban Agriculture

Indoor farm in Brooklyn helps feed hundreds of families

13 Mar 2012, www.grist.org | In Bedford-Stuyvesant, an increasingly hip but historically low-income Brooklyn neighborhood, one food pantry is also an indoor farm. The New York Daily News visited the Child Development Support Corporation, where every Thursday morning clients harvest lettuce, bok choy, and collard greens that help feed hundreds of families.

Right now the greens are all grown hydroponically indoors, but the farm has plans to expand, adding a rooftop garden with cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers. It will also be offering hydroponics workshops and cooking demos.

 

~ WIN-WIN … LOCAL FRESH FOOD – Hydroponic farm in low income neighborhood helps hundreds of families put fresh food in their diet. Project funded via A United Way grant to Brooklyn’s “Child Development Support Corporation” http://cdscnyc.publishpath.com/hydroponic-farm
PHOTO from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/brooklyn-food-pantries-grow-your-own-indoor-hydroponic-farms-article-1.1037717
via Polly Howells and this article from Grist, http://grist.org/list/indoor-farm-in-brooklyn-helps-feed-hundreds-of-families/
Virginia Bryan, Sally Brocklehurst, Vicky Wacky, Andrea Jo Clingaman, Regina Siegel, Kristi Marcus, and Mariel Lozano like this
Mar 13, 2012 GoodNews FortheEarth on Facebook Leave a Comment
Filed under: Community Gardens, Farms & Gardens, Local Food, Urban Agriculture

The Number Of Farmers’ Markets In America Has Exploded — Here’s Where They’re Really Popular

farmers markets mapAugust 4, 2011, www.businessinsider.com | “There’s a growing desire among many Americans to have a closer connection to the food they eat, and one place where that connection is fostered is the local farmers’ market. The USDA’s Economic Research Service tracks multiple aspects of how food is produced and consumed in the United States. They recently made a chart showing how the number of farmers’ markets in the U.S. has more than quadrupled since the mid-nineties.”

Robert Brothers‎GoodNews FortheEarth
Thanks to Mitzi Reed for sharing this.* * * FARMER’S MARKETS HAVE GROWN FAST * * * _____ from 2,000 in 1994 __ to 8,000 in 2014 _____
Data from the USDA shows how the number of farmers’ markets in the US has changed, and where markets are concentrated.
businessinsider.com
COMMENTS:
  •   Jeffreys Raynolds “This is so great – we have the largest ground swell of permaculture and small home farmers in this country right now – hundreds of groups on Facebook, and this good news! YAY humans!”
Aug 4, 2011 GoodNews FortheEarth on Facebook Leave a Comment
Filed under: Buy Local, Community Gardens, Economics, Farmers' Markets, Farms & Gardens, GMO set backs, GMOs, Green Jobs, Local Food, Organic Farming, Urban Agriculture

In 1999, 35 million small family plots produced 90% of Russia’s potatoes, 77% of vegetables, 87% of fruits, 59% of meat, 49% of milk — way to go, people!

August 9, 2009, www.thebovine.wordpress.com | “In 2003 the Russian President signed into law a further “Private Garden Plot Act” enabling Russian citizens to receive free of charge from the state, plots of land in private inheritable ownership. Sizes of the plots differ by region but are between one and three hectares each [1 hectare = 2.2 acres]. Produce grown on these plots is not subject to taxation.”

 

Leila Bee shared a link.
“In 1999, 35 million small family plots produced 90% of Russia’s potatoes, 77% of vegetables, 87% of.
thebovine.wordpress.com
And since 1999, it seems things have only gotten better when it comes to small-scale agriculture in Russia. In 2003 the Russian President signed into law a further “Private Garden Plot Act…”
  • Comments:
    • Leila Bee‎”in Russia, we can already see the evidence that they are thinking small. How else can you explain that in 1997 small households in Russia independently grew 97% of Russia’s potatoes, 77% of its berries and fruit, and 73% of its vegetables, and those percentages have risen in the decade since then.” Vladmir Megré not quite the same percentages but close…I’ll see if I can find more.
    • Leila Bee finding lots of interesting russian gardening sites..http://www.the-village.ru/village/people/people/96403-moskovskie-ogorodnikithe movement is everywhere, I love it!
    • Leila Bee http://www.freshcongress.com/resources/documents/1271673375andriyyarmak.pdfSeems to pretty much agree with the previous statements, although production of domestic veg% is not as high. However this data may not be taking into account fruit and veg that never hits the market but goes from garden to table (dasha produce.)
    • GoodNews FortheEarth‎~ Thanks for the other sources! Now we all have some reading to do : ) It makes a lot of sense that people faced with economic hardship will start growing more of their own food, and wonderful that they are able to do so.
    • Leila Bee The dacha system in Russia is not a new one, it’s been in and out of vogue since Peter the Great. Growing one’s own food is part of Russian tradition:-) It just tricky finding solid facts when I don’t speak Russian, I’m working with translator programs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dacha
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Aug 9, 2009 GoodNews FortheEarth on Facebook Leave a Comment
Filed under: Animals & Plants, Buy Local, Community Gardens, Economics, Farms & Gardens, Local Food, Organic Farming, Plants, Urban Agriculture