Sunday, June 5, 2011

Vegetable are going in...

Friday I swapped out cool weather crops for warm weather crops in the canoe garden. Out with the lettuce and in with yellow squash, sweet peppers, and cucumber. Yum.

Thank goodness for the rain today. The rest of the farm will be getting warm weather transplants and direct sows this week. It is on!!!

If you live on Kentucky, Cardenas or Brendan remember to call into BENI to become a Belair-Edison Farmer. We are starting to plant that farm too this week.

See ya in the soil.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

I am a Belair-Edison Farmer

The community partnership consisting of The Green School of Baltimore, Belair-Edison Neighborhoods, Inc., Blue Water Baltimore and Real Food Farms won a grant through Healthy Neighborhoods, Inc. to start a community front porch farm in Belair-Edison (B-E). This year 25 B-E households will receive containers, potting soil, vegetable plants, organic fertilizer, instruction and guidance to grow their own vegetables. Of the 25 households 10 will also have rain barrels installed to capture rainwater for their front porch farm, and keeping that water out of the storm drain system and watershed.

Starting in mid-July the residents and the partnership will meet once a week to swap veggies, watch and taste from cooking demonstrations, trade growing secrets or woes while enjoying each others company. Additionally, residents will be paired with 4th and 5th graders from The Green School of Baltimore. Residents will be keeping basic weather and production data that the students will compile and analyse. Lessons learned this year will be applied to next year's growing season. The students will also be bringing produce from their own farm that they keep up at school.

GSB is excited that their curriculum is spilling out into the neighborhood giving residents and students an opportunity to further interact in such a positive and social way.