Cultivating Community

Hoop house build!

2011-11-26T09:41:00.000-08:00

On Sunday November 2oth, we built a small hoop house in the yard of the Ginsberg Center! It was a fun workday and it only took us about two hours to build.

All photos on this post by: Nate Ayers

A few days later, the wind and rain took a toll on the hoop house, so we had to temporarily remove the plastic. We will be having a workday after Thanksgiving break to re-fit the plastic with the correct pvc clamps, so our hoop will be sturdy and snow-proof all winter long!

Hoop houses are like green houses, but made out of clear plastic and pvc or metal piping. They are cheaper and easier to move than traditional glass greenhouses, but still use the sun's energy to create a warm, humid environment. Hoop houses are great for places like Michigan, because they lengthen the growing season; we are hoping to grow lettuce, spinach, and other veggies all winter long! We put two of our rain barrels in the hoop house which will act as thermal reservoirs: heating up on sunny days and keeping the heat in the house through the chilly nights.

A huge thanks to the volunteers who came out, the Ginsberg Center for their cooperation, and especially to the hard work of Lauren for organizing the project and gathering the materials!!

Also a gigantic thanks to Nate Ayers, a local permaculturalist, who provided the hoops and helped us build the hoop house!! Check out Nate's company: Chiwara Permaculture. Nate also provided all of the photos for this post.

Step 1: Build wooden frame, dig holes for hoop bases

Step 2: bury the pvc hoop bases, attach hoops, cut the plastic

Step 3: secure hoops with a cross-beam

Step 4: stretch plastic over hoops

Step 5: secure plastic and install nifty plastic zipper-door

Step 6: Celebrate!

Next steps: we will ready the soil for planting, add compost to the soil from our compost bins, plant seeds, figure out a rain barrel watering system, and experiment with different vegetables.

Now that we have a hoop house, we will have outdoor garden work to do all winter long! If you are interested in helping out with the hoop house or participating in our indoor winter workdays and workshops please email us at mbgna.cc@umich.edu

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Ginsberg Garden Time Lapse Video!

2011-11-26T08:58:00.002-08:00

Watch the garden grow!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AggL0kffFw

Throughout the season, I took photos of the garden from the porch of the Ginsberg Center. The video starts on May 11 and ends on November 21.

Cultivating Community Summer and Fall 2011

2011-11-23T18:56:00.000-08:00

Now that Mother Nature is settling in for winter hibernation in Michigan, we have some time to enjoy the harvest, eat lots of food, cuddle by fireplaces, and look back on the season.

Here is a taste of how we worked to cultivate community this past summer and fall:

Ginsberg Garden Workdays, thanks to everyone who volunteered!!!

Harvesting potatoes, planting garlic, cleaning up the garden, jumping on the compost to compress it

Giant cabbage

Yum! Kale (top right) was our winning producer this summer!

Harvests!

We were able to share our harvests with others in the Ann Arbor community by donating produce to Food Gatherers, which is an organization that rescues food, cooks meals, and provides tons (literally tons) of food to those in need.

Focused Hands Garden, Detroit!

During the summer, we ran a weekly gardening activity for kids, where they learned how to care for their garden and how to make snacks from the food grown in the garden.

Detroit Urban Ag Tour!

Catherine Ferguson Academy, a school for teenage mothers, has a farm and a horse in the middle of the city.

Green Things Farm!

We helped harvest onions at Green Things Farm which is part of the Tilian Farm Development Center, a farmer-incubator program close to Ann Arbor.

Pickling Workshop!

Using cucumbers, dill, jalapeños, onions, and spices from the garden!

Late Summer Blueberry Picking!

Fall Raspberry Picking!

Almost-Halloween Apple Picking!

Pepper Preservation Workshop!

To preserve our bounty of jalapeños, we tied them up to dry.

Sunseed Farm Volunteer Day!

We helped harvest winter-storage crops, beets, carrots, and rutabagas, at the beautiful Sunseed farm.

We are thankful for all of the food and fun times we enjoyed with Cultivating Community this season, and look forward to an equally awesome winter!

Our giant pumpkin jack-o-lantern says, "Happy fall!"

We think that the giant pumpkin was actually a hybrid giant pumpkin X winter squash due to its curvy shape and stripes.

Bountiful Balconies

2011-08-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

How to grow food on your porch or balcony 'student-style'

By: Jessica Ruff

This is specific to Ann Arbor, but similar resources exist in other towns!

First of all... why grow food as a student?
1. Fun
2. Cheap
3. Fresh nutritious food
4. At your convenience
5. Impress your neighbors and friends
6. Reduce your carbon footprint by loving your plants, reusing materials, and reducing transportation to buy food at the grocery store!

Planting Schedule
Fall Semester
Start seeds and plants during first few weeks!
Fall crops: spinach, lettuce, kale, radishes, collards, turnips, mustard, herbs (i.e. basil, oregano, rosemary)
Harvest in early October through the fall!
Winter Semester
Start seeds indoors in March and April, plant spring crops outdoors in April
Spring Term
Plant summer crops outdoors: after the last frost, usually around Mothers Day
Harvest throughout Spring and Summer!
Summer Term
Harvest and eat your delicious fruits and veggies!

What you need:
1. Containers
2. Soil
3. Plants or Seeds
4. Sun
5. Water

How:

1. Find FREE containers (in your recycling bin)
Milk jugs, orange juice cartons, large yogurt tubs, cardboard boxes, coffee cans, two-liters, plastic storage tubs, old shoes, Styrofoam coolers, milk crates, egg cartons (for seed starting).

Punch holes in bottom of container for drainage

2. Fill container with potting soil or compost

Compost is FREE!

1. Make it yourself:

Home Composting Info from the City of Ann Arbor

http://www.howtocompost.org

2. Ann Arbor residents can pick it up for free from:

Ann Arbor Wheeler Service Center

4150 Platt Road, 48108 734.794.6380

3. Buy potting soil close to campus at:

Downtown Home and Garden

210 S. Ashley Street (734) 662 8122

3. Plant your plants!

Where to get plants in Ann Arbor:

1. Spring Plant Sale at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens
http://www.lsa.umich.edu/mbg
2. Ann Arbor Farmers Market
315 Detroit Street, open every Saturday and Wednesday
http://www.a2gov.org/government/communityservices/ParksandRecreation/FarmersMarket/Pages/FarmersMarkethome.aspx
3. Detroit's Eastern Market
Eastern Market has the best value!
http://www.detroitseasternmarket.com

Starting your own seeds is another cheap and fun alternative!
Seeds can be started indoors or outdoors in March, April, and May!
Link to seed-starting instructions

4. Water your plants every day or every other day! Keep watered during periods of extremely high temperatures!

5. Place plant on a sunny balcony, porch, windowsill, or yard and let Mother Nature do the trick!

Wala...

6. Harvest yummy herbs and veggies!

Tomato in a box!

I did an experiment to see if I could grow a tomato plant in a cardboard box. It works!

Here's what I did:

1. Found a cardboard box (poked drainage holes in bottom)
2. Lined it with a garbage bag (poked drainage holes in bottom)
3. Threw in some kitchen compost scraps (apple cores, ends of veggies, egg shells, etc.)
4. Made a cardboard barrier (with holes)
5. Filled up with potting soil
6. Planted a tomato!

So far my tomato-in-a-box is growing great and I will harvest some tomatoes from it soon!

*My tomato is eating up the extra nutrition of the compost; but, for a simpler project try filling the box with just potting soil!!

More fun container ideas:

More links about container gardening:

Container Gardening Info
Container Gardening Instructions
Growing Fall Vegetables
General Vegetable Growing
Lettuce Growing Tips

How to make a Container Fairy Garden
Mother Earth News Gardening Section

If you have any questions or comments.... stop by at a Ginsberg Garden Workday! Or feel free to email me at jmruff@umich.edu!

Happy Planting and Go Blue!

Cultivatin' Community so far this summer

2011-06-23T12:18:00.001-07:00

Happy Summer everyone! It's been a busy-bee spring for Cultivating Community! We've been learnin' and plantin' and harvestin' and field trippin'

Check out these photos of some of our activites so far:

Ginsberg Garden Progress

Late May, Tania in compost pile

Mid June, Our veggies are rockin' out so far!

The garden looks so beautiful thanks to our hard workin' friends

Ginsberg Garden workdays are Mondays and Thursday evenings, everyone is invited!

One of our bountiful harvest days

We've harvested kale, green onions, strawberries, sage, lavender, chives, one raspberry, sage, basil, more kale, and some more kale!

Yum! Fresh Michigan strawberries are the sweetest treats, and a little dirt never hurt anyone! Photo: Kinsey Brock

Greening of Detroit Tree Planting

Tania and Jen working hard to help replant Detroit streets with native trees. Check out Greening of Detroit at http://www.greeningofdetroit.com/5_1_trees.php

Ann Arbor Compost Tour

We learned how the city manages compost on a large municipal scale.

20 Hoophouses in 20 Days!

Theresa and I helped attach the plastic film to this hoophouse in Stockbridge. Hoophouses extend the growing season in Michigan, which helps out local farmers and local eaters. More info about the community hoop house movement http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/food-drink/selma-cafes-farmers-fund-builds-hoop-houses/

"Have a beautiful weekend everyone!" Says our new garden guardian (he still needs a name, any ideas?)

Stay tuned for more news about the Ginsberg Garden, potlucks and workshops, and our weekly Detroit kids camp adventures!

Cultivating Community's "Kitchen Favorites" Plant Sale Fundraiser!

2011-04-06T10:59:00.000-07:00

Join us for Cultivating Community's "Kitchen Favorites" Plant Sale Fundraiser this spring (part of a series of plant sales at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens!)

May 21 and May 22, 2011, 10 am to 4 pm, Matthaei Botanical Gardens

Help support student gardeners and stock up on some great heirloom vegetables and herbs grown by Cultivating Community! Also, on May 21 only, the Herb Study Group will be hosting its Herbfest, with herbal information, free herbal samples and recipes, items for sale such as used books about herbs, and more.

Below is the list of plants that will be available at the sale. Want to get involved in Cultivating Community and help prepare for the sale? We love new volunteers! Email mbgna.cc@umich.edu!

Vegetables and Fruits

Artichoke- Imperial Star

Broccoli- Belstar

Cabbage- Famosa

Cauliflower- Cheddar

Cauliflower- Skywalker

Cucumber- Little Leaf

Cucumber- Marketmore

Edible flowers-Trailing Nasturtium

Eggplant- Orient Express

Eggplant- Rosa Bianca

Kale- Red Russian

Kale- Toscano

Kohlrabi- Korridor

Melon, Cantaloupe- Sweet Granite

Pac Choi- Mei Qing Choi

Pepper, yellow bell- Flavorburst

Pepper, red bell Red Knight

Pepper, hot cayenne- Andy

Pepper, hot jalapeno- El Jefe

Pepper, hot- Ancho

Pumpkin- Dill’s Atlantic Giant

Strawberry - Ozark

Tomato, paste - Granadero

Tomato, plum - Monica

Tomato, grape - Red Pearl

Tomato, grape - Solid Gold

Tomato, cherry- Sun Cherry

Tomato, pear- Yellow Pear

Tomato, heirloom - Japanese Black Trifele

Tomato, heirloom- Beefsteak

Tomato, heirloom- Black Cherry

Tomato, heirloom- Brandywine

Tomato, heirloom- Cherokee Green

Tomato, heirloom- Cherokee Purple

Tomato, heirloom- Green Zebra

Tomato, heirloom- Mortgage Lifter

Tomato, heirloom- Striped German

Tomato, heirloom- Yellow Brandywine

Tomato, heirloom-Great White

Tomato, heirloom-Pruden's Purple

Watermelon- Sweet Favorite

Winter squash- Organic Waltham Butternut

Zucchini, green- Raven

Zucchini, yellow- Soleil

Herbs

Basil- Genovese

Basil- Nufar

Basil- Red Rubin

Basil- Sweet Thai

Chives - Common

Chives - Garlic

Dill- Bouquet

Chocolate Peppermint

Lavender - Hidcote

Lavender - Munstead

Marjoram, Sweet

Oregano- Greek

Parsley- Giant of Italy

Parsley - Forest Green

Peppermint

Rosemary - common

Sage- Beggarten

Sage- Grower's Friend

Sage- Icterina

Sage- Purpurascens

Spearmint

Tarragon- French

Thyme - Doone Valley

Thyme - English

Thyme - Golden Lemon

Thyme - Lemon

Cultivating Community hosts workshop at Know Your Foodshed Conference

2011-03-07T14:44:00.000-08:00

Cultivating Community members leading DIY Herb Window Farm Workshop on February 17th @ Know Your Foodshed conference hosted by EnviroDems in partnership with the Michigan Sustainable Food Initiative. What a wonderful event and wonderful day! Interested in making your own herb window farm? The instructions we used are right here

I SMELL a Cultivating Community Workshop :)

2011-01-28T21:08:00.001-08:00

Here is a great link with instructions on how to make your own homemade deodorant. Not only do the ingredients smell pretty, but they also serve their purpose. I learned that sage oil, for instance, is an antiperspirant (can reduce ~ 50%). Check it out!! http://www.a1-natural-beauty.com/Herbal_Deodorant.html

Butternut squash recipe!

2010-10-13T13:10:00.000-07:00

Hello! Here is the link to the butternut squash recipe I used for our last Garden to your Plate workshop:
http://www.all-creatures.org/recipes/rice-bas-bnsqraiscur.html

Happy cooking (and EATING!) :D

From the Garden to Your Plate: August

2010-08-16T12:52:00.000-07:00

From the Garden to Your Plate was a success yet again! On August 10th, eight Cultivating Community volunteers gathered at the Ginsberg garden for a cooking demonstration and tasting with fresh ingredients from the garden.

First, we made fried-green tomatoes, served with fresh mozzarella, basil, and a balsamic vinegar dressing.

Many volunteers had never even tasted fried-green tomatoes before, let alone prepared them. Frying them on a camp stove was a great learning experience, and it was also a delicious way to utilized what the garden was offering.

Next, we prepared an eggplant and couscous stir-fry, abundant with fresh zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, and of course, eggplant.

In addition to garden fresh veggies, this stir-fry featured couscous, an alternative to rice or pasta with a ton more protein. We also threw in some cashews, which added a crunchy and salty twist, and raisins for a final sweet touch.

We finished the meal and demonstration with peach shortcake cookies. Though I prepared the cookies ahead of time, we made delicious homemade whipped cream to adorn them.

These cookies are proof that it's easy and cost-effective to incorporate seasonal ingredients into every dish. So strawberries aren't in season any more but shortcake is as tempting as ever. It's okay! In many desserts, ingredients can be adjusted to suit your seasonal needs!

Here's a link to the Cultivating Community's August Newsletter: https://ctools.umich.edu/access/content/group/1102366804842-3971381/Monthly%20Newsletters/August%20Newsletter.pdf Read! And enjoy!

Pumpkin (aka Henry) as of last week

2010-07-30T07:34:00.000-07:00

What our pumpkin is aspiring to become...

2010-07-29T10:42:00.000-07:00

These pumpkins are huge! These are Dill's Atlantic Giant Pumpkins. They are around 1700 pounds, amazing! In fact this variety produces the largest pumpkins in the world. The world record for the largest pumpkin is 1725 lbs (as of 2009). These giants are huge, and quite a culture surrounding them.

My personal favorite thing in the garden this year is our Dill's Atlantic Giant pumpkin, affectionately named Henry. Henry is not quite as large as the photos above, but he is perhaps getting close...he's 2-3ft in diameter, and he has to be at least 50 lbs, it's only July. My dream for growing a giant pumpkin began as a small child, I used to grow patches of pumpkins, and this year as an intern with the Cultivating Community, I decided to continue the tradition. The pumpkin seeds were started in late March, and were grown inside until being transplanted outside halfway through May. The pumpkin plant took some time to adjust to conditions in the outdoors, but soon enough Henry was ready to grow. And grow he did!

Henry grew many vines, and many baby pumpkins took shape. It gave me great pain, but I sacrificed all but one of those baby pumpkins, leaving just Henry to be the only child of the pumpkin plant. The reasoning behind killing all the pumpkin babies was so that all the nutrients that the plant creates/uses can be focused solely on growing one pumpkin, Henry. Doing this is rumored to lead to larger pumpkins.

So far Henry has fared well in this growing season. After doing some research I am going to try some more tactics to help henry grow even more. I have read that pumpkins in late July need potassium, so I am either going to make a baked banana peel organic fertilizer or simply place some banana peels around the stem base to decay in the sun. Also, I have read that pumpkins require shade from the sun so they don't crack, I am going to look into some sort of covering for Henry to protect his skin!

Second trip to Focus: HOPE in Detroit

2010-07-28T13:19:00.000-07:00

Today the CC ventured back into Detroit for a second visit to the Focus: HOPE garden. Unfortunately I have no pictures from the event, but it was a very busy and very fun day! When we first got there we set to work putting in some compost bins for the garden. We set up two circular bins, along the back fence; we secured them using zip-ties. Then we prepared for the kids and walked down to the park to meet them. We received a late notice that there could be up to 35 kids in the program, so we weren’t sure what to expect, luckily for us there were only about 20 kids and 15 summer-in-the-city volunteers.
We introduced ourselves and then walked to the park. First we started weeding the plants and picking out all of the tomatoes that had an end rot problem. These we put in a pile to later add to the compost bins. Then we talked about what plants eat, some of the kids knew all about photosynthesis which was great! We then introduced kelp meal as an organic fertilizer and asked the kids if they’d eaten seaweed before… many hadn’t. Then we told them that seaweed is in chocolate milk! They were all surprised! We also offered them so real seaweed; some people loved it, while other people seemed a bit repulsed by it. Then we gave some organic kelp meal fertilizer to the plants in the garden, this should help make the plants more drought resistant and cold tolerant, it will also provide stabilization and nutrients to the soil.
Next we learned about compost and filled the compost bins full with different things: the rotten tomatoes, lots of weeds, tree leaves and branches… etc. After the kids learned about composting, what you can and can’t put in a compost bin, we then gave the kids their own containers to collect twigs, leaves and veggie scraps on their own. The kids decorated their containers with paint, stickers, and glitter. Everyone seemed to have a great time! The kids were excited to go home and search for compostable things in their own yard to fill up their buckets for the Focus: HOPE garden.
All in all it was a great day; things went more smoothly than last week. I’m looking forward to next week’s visit.

Photo Montage: Beauty and Bounty

2010-07-28T12:37:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Here's a photo montage of what's been happening with the Cultivating Community!

1.) A smoothie potluck. We're slightly curious about why everyone isn't jumping on this bandwagon we've started. We provided the blender, ice, and yogurt. Volunteers all brought a favorite fruit or veggie. The concept allows for trying many different combinations of ingredients, and sampling tons of concoctions. Here's the worksheet we discussed at the potluck: https://ctools.umich.edu/access/content/group/1102366804842-3971381/Recipes/smoothie.pdf

First, we made a berry medley blend, with raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, ice, and vanilla yogurt.

Cheers! Laura and Kathleen celebrate the success of our first smoothie attempt!

Bananas help to thicken and sweeten smoothies.

Green smoothies have been on the radar of health nuts everywhere, so we had to see what the hype was all about. I like the idea as much as the next nature-lover garden girl, but based on our attempt, the green smoothie is best in theory. Laura, Kathleen, and Laurie bravely sampled a blend of kale, cabbage, spicy salad greens, carrots, and banana.

2.) Amanda, Jen, and Sangum joined us for a field trip to the Makielski U-Pick Berry Farm in Ypsilanti. There were acres of blackberry and raspberry bushes heavy with fruit for us to pick!

3.) Signage! The Ginsberg garden has a new look!

Andrea designed this sign for us, and it is now hanging beautifully in front of the garden. It's catching the eye of many passersby on Hill St. More and more students and community members are stopping to compliment and ask about our garden!

We also installed podiums featuring a description of the Cultivating Community, an explanation of the purpose the garden serves, and gardening tips! This added interpretation indicates that the Ginsberg garden is a place for learning and exploring, not just a pretty thing to look at from afar!

4.) Natural tie-dying.

We used this yellow flower, Coreopsis, to tie-dye silk scarves and bandanas! The flowers dyed the silk a pretty golden color (it could almost pass for maize!).

5.) Growth.

Cherry tomatoes

Swiss chard

Eggplant

Sunflower

Hot peppers and raspberries

Will write again soon,

Sara

From the Garden to Your Plate: July Newsletter Link

2010-07-28T11:52:00.000-07:00

Hi there!

My personal undertaking at the Cultivating Community this summer was to create a monthly newsletter and host seasonal cooking demonstrations with fresh food from the garden. My goal was to demonstrate the link between gardening and eating, and bridge the gap between rounding up the harvest and putting it on the table to eat, share, and enjoy. Here is the link to the first ever Cultivating Community newsletter:

https://ctools.umich.edu/access/content/group/1102366804842-3971381/Monthly%20Newsletters/July%20Final_1_.pdf

The cherry pie lollipops we indulged on at the July cooking demonstration, made from fresh local cherries.

In August's edition (to be released the 2nd week of the month), look forward to heirloom recipes, suggestions for sprucing up staple college meals, a list of local food references, and a few other cool things that are in the works :).

Stop by the garden tonight (5-7). Laugh, snack, splash in the mud. We'll see you there, and we'll have a great time!

Sara

Gourmet Garden!

2010-07-22T07:15:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago Sara hosted the Cultivating Community’s very first “From your garden to your plate” workshop. The event was an amazing success, we made creamy swiss chard pasta, and learned all about eating locally and organically from the garden and around town. It seems as if recognition of the event’s success has not happened on the blog.

So here are some photos of the lovely event.

First we harvested: garlic, herbs, swiss chard, tomatoes, and peppers for the delicious dinner. Then we cooked up some pasta and chopped the veggies. We sautéed them in a pan with olive oil and added some sour cream, and other ingredients, then walah! The pasta was complete! It was very yummy too! To drink, we had rosemary oregano sun tea, freshly made with herbs from the garden. And for dessert we had adorable mini cherry pies! They were so cute!

The whole event was filmed by a film crew from the Big Ten Network for a segment they are dong on the Cultivating Community. Sara made her debut in her celebrity top chef career!

Soon to come: a link to the wonderful handouts and recipes from the workshop!

Garden Update!

2010-07-22T06:55:00.000-07:00

Looking around the garden, things have gotten out of control, huge! The pumpkins and squash have literally taken over the garden! It is hard to walk between the new space and the old space because there are so many vines in the way… if only we would have known an expansion project would take place, and we could have planned for it. Overall the garden is lush and alive. We harvested about 10-15 garlic plants at the last workday, and we hung them up in the shed, just like how we learned to do so from Agrarian Adventure. Now our shed will probably smell like garlic for the next year or two.

I know I am always raving about the pumpkin and how large it is getting, but seriously, it is so big, and it is only July. The monster probably weighs at least 30lbs, and is 2ft in diameter now. I am just worried that someone will take it… does anyone have suggestions for hiding it?

Also in the garden is our first full sized tomato that has turned to a nice full red color. I can’t wait for the rest of the tomatoes to ripen as well. The basil is finally thriving in its new home in the expansion area, can’t wait to make some homemade pesto.

A passerby recommended spraying the pepper flowers with Epsom salts in order to have a higher yield, I have heard of this before, perhaps we will try to spray some of the pepper plants this week or next, to see if this actually works.

Something ate our red express cabbage! We are going to try to make something to hold the gate closed to keep the animals out. Stay tuned for more updates!

Our first Trip to the Focus: HOPE garden

2010-07-22T06:48:00.000-07:00

Today we officially began our partnership with Focus: HOPE. We started out summer workshop series in Detroit. We first started off with introductions, and some chocolate milk, then we walked over to the garden to do some plant identifying. We gave the kids journals & magnifying glasses, and worked with the kids, helping them to find some cool plants to draw or write down the names of. Then we started to do some weeding. We were able to get four of the beds weeded, leaving some more weeding for other groups later in the week. The boys fought to pick the largest weeds out of the garden. Everyone was intrigued by the idea of eating leaves, as we dared the kids to eat some herb leaves, like mint, basil, thyme, etc. All too soon, the time with the kids was over. The CC volunteers stayed on to pick up some trash, tidy things up and finish up a few projects. Next time we go, we will find an easier route to get there, and will hopefully have more time to spend with the campers! We will also hopefully be able to give a small presentation on organic fertilizers and make a compost pile for the garden.

Volunteering with Agrarian Adventure

2010-07-22T06:31:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday Cultivating Community members packed up and headed over to Tappan Middle school to help out their school gardening program called Agrarian Adventure. We were led on a wonderful tour of the space, which is quite large. The garden was much bigger than ours; it had tomatoes, carrots, garlic, cucumbers, and sunflowers… so many different things. The garden also had a large storage shed for storing supplies and a very tall hoop house for growing things throughout the year. After our tour we set to work harvesting the garlic. We pulled it out of the ground, brushed off the dirt, trimmed the tops off of them and tied them together in bundles of three.

All in all we harvest dozens of garlic cloves, perhaps even one hundred! The garlic was hung along the fence in the interim, and eventually we hung them in the shed… won’t need to worry about vampires hanging out in the shed…ever.

We were also able to take home some cucumbers! Yum!

Here are some more photos for your perusing pleasure:

A beautiful sunflower

The garlic hanging on the fence

Pick a berry, eat a berry…

2010-07-13T11:35:00.001-07:00

Yesterday night members of the CC gathered at the Arb entrance for an trip that involved huge blackberries, bumble bees, honey, and raspberries. It was a peaceful evening at the Makielski farm. The sun was on the way down, temperatures were cooling and there were many berries just waiting to be picked!

The family owned patch was cute but also expansive. Winding roads led us to giant patches of berries. Intermixed among the berry fields were also squash and pumpkin patches. Everyone enjoyed picking the blackberries, but the best ones were in the middle of the bushes. I didn’t remember how thorny blackberry bushes were; I was quickly reminded of those prickly thorns as I unknowingly reached to the middle of the branches for the best looking ones.

The owner said the best raspberries will be in November! At that time they will be the size of quarters! Well I’m pretty satisfied with how large they were, and how tasty too. Tonight, I make raspberry blackberry jam.

Cropping up

2010-07-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday we finished planting the Ginsberg garden expansion area. It’s finally done, and it promises to be a bountiful harvest. The new space is a bit farther behind in the growing cycle form the older part of the garden, however this will be great, it will hopefully provide for a bumper harvest at the perfect time… at the beginning of the school year.

The new space offers a variety of new things as well as some old favorites:

Flying saucer Squash (anyone seen a UFO?),

Chocolate peppers,

Basil plants galore,

Celery,

Connecticut field pumpkins (the classic large deep orange pumpkins),

Old faves:

Bright Lights Swiss Chard,

Cherry Tomatoes,

Marigolds,

Red express cabbage

Cauliflower

Cucumber

Stop by and check it out!

Painting painting paints galore...

2010-07-08T11:45:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday members from the Cultivating Community used their artistic skills to give a little more spunk and a little more color to the Ginsberg Garden. We worked on two art projects. The first was a sign for the front of the garden. First a white coat of mural paint was applied. And then Andrea stenciled on a design. The sign says Cultivating Community, with the word community made entirely out of fruits/vegetables/garden things. The sign is now hanging in front of the garden, and attracts many gazes from people passing by.

Next we jazzed up the rain barrels. The barrels went from drab to fab in just a few minutes! We painted flowers, dots, stripes and more flowers on all the barrels with acrylic paints. These barrels add a little something extra to the eye catching garden.

Thanks to all of our artists who stopped by to lend their artistic talent. Also photos are provided courtesy of Laurie Gendron.

New space in the Ginsberg Garden

2010-06-29T06:59:00.001-07:00

The Ginsberg garden expansion project is nearly complete. It took numerous workdays and the help of many volunteers, but finally we have the new area fenced in, and the soil turned. The fencing was probably the most difficult part. The fencing was reused from leftover materials, to try to save money and resources. Consequently the fence was bent and ornery to work with. However we managed. The fence looks great! We turned the soil the old fashioned way… with shovels. We turned the entire area 3-4 times, and the clumps of grass finally broke up enough to plant something. Also a delivery of compost from U of M grounds services on Friday was spread throughout the new garden. As the sun set on the garden, volunteers planted hills of pumpkins in the new area of the garden. Hopefully the pumpkins will be fruitful and people will be able to take home a pumpkin in the fall. Pumpkin carving party anyone!?

Looking around the garden, many great things are happening. The tomatoes are growing uncontrollably; we finally procured some tomato cages and had to carefully cage in the large plants. Also, the hot peppers are beginning to arrive, if you look closely in the garden you will see many peppers hanging from the plants. As soon as they turn red they will be perfect for eating. Curiosity over the elephant garlic took over us, and we had to harvest one or two of them, just to see what it looks like. The garlic cloves were huge, larger than a softball! They were also pretty tasty too; I took a piece of one home and added it to a veggie rice dish, delicious!

Overall, I just can’t wait for those tomatoes to be ready! Yum! J

Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam

2010-06-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

Oops! I almost forgot to provide an update and post pictures of our jam making workshop! No one at the workshop had experience making jam, so we all learned a little something along the way. The jam turned out just slightly chunky, but it's sweet and fresh and homemade with love, so it's the best jam ever to hit a piece of toast.

Tender Loving Care

2010-06-28T18:32:00.000-07:00

We decided to show the Ginsberg Garden a little love last week. Here’s a peek at the garden’s improvements:

Last Monday, at our very productive meeting, we all made silverware wind chimes to display in the Ginsberg Garden. Everyone had fun making these simple and crafty decorations, which visibly combine themes of food, gardening, and creativity!

Holy cats, the garden is growing! By 225 sq. ft! We began the expansion of the garden last Tuesday by moving and turning the compost (a stinky job!).

Last Wednesday, we dug up fencing, put in posts, and reused the old fencing to create new barriers for the expansion. Initially, we thought that the bushes along the outside of the expansion would serve as a natural fence for the new space in the garden. This conveniently placed shrubbery thrilled us, as it reduced the intensity of our labor and the amount of new materials we needed to complete the project. However, while turning the soil on Wednesday afternoon, we spotted a very cute, but very destructive little creature near our beloved tomatoes. A groundhog. Or a woodchuck. Something fuzzy and fat and feeling snacky. On Friday, after the little rascal destroyed an alarming number of leafy greens, we decided to install additional fencing first thing on Monday morning.

And now it’s Monday night, and the labor-intensive part of the expansion is complete! Later this week we’ll be painting and installing pretty signs and planting more veggies!

In addition to the tomatoes and pumpkins, hot peppers, kohlrabi, and red cabbage, are now making their big debut. We also harvested some of the elephant garlic, and were shocked by its size! After uprooting the giant bulbs, the entire garden smelled heavily of garlic for the remainder of the day.

And lastly, a flower to brighten your day :)

Happy gardening!

What’s growing on at the Ginsberg Garden!?

2010-06-21T14:06:00.001-07:00

A quick look around the Ginsberg garden will reveal the wonders of bat guano for all. The bat guano has transformed our garden from a slowly creeping garden, to a garden booming with growth! I can see why people fought wars over this stuff! Take a look for yourself…

Here is a picture of some of our tomatoes, who’s ever heard of tomatoes this early in the season!?

And here is a picture of the giant pumpkin. Right now it is small, however don’t be fooled, this guy will turn into a behemoth pumpkin that will most likely take over the entire garden…

Lesson from the organic fertilizer workshop: bat guano is awesome!

Saturday in Detroit!

2010-06-21T13:55:00.001-07:00

Volunteers woke up with the roosters on Saturday morning, and left the reader center in the MBGNA van toward Detroit. On the way we discussed Detroit, and what the day might hold. After a quick 45 minute drive, we arrived at the Central Detroit Christian garden, a cute garden set up in a vacant lot in a quaint neighborhood in Detroit. The garden was located right around the corner from the Peaches &Greens produce store, a store that sells produce to local neighborhoods. The garden we worked at had a cute sign, and about 20 raised gardening beds. The beds needed prep work for the upcoming children’s day camp. In the day camp, local children will be able to plant their own vegetable plants and tend to them. When it comes time to harvest them, children will be able to take home the fruits of their labor to their families.

Upon arrival the raised beds were in need of some tender loving care. After first speaking with some people from CDC, the seven in of us joined in on the work. First, we weeded out the beds that had been overgrown with weeds and pretty flowers. It was sad to pull out the flowers but we had to make way for the vegetables. In the beds one volunteer found some remnants from last years garden, some baby carrots! I even found a radish!

After weeding the beds we used wheelbarrows to bring fresh soil and peat to the beds. The soil looks great and will be perfect for the veggie transplants that the CDC will put in. After filling the beds, our work was almost done! Using mulch donated by home depot, we mulched around the edges on the raised beds to prevent weeds from growing in the aisles.

We took a break for lunch, yummy sandwiches, homemade cookies, and fresh mulberries from the tree. After lunch we did some picking up, and said good bye to the garden! Overall it was a great day and we accomplished quite a bit!

Strawberry Picking!

2010-06-21T13:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to Rowe’s Strawberry Patch in Ypsilanti! It was a very fun field trip, and the weather worked out for us. It looked as if it would rain all day, but thankfully we had blue skies and stayed dry. The strawberries were being harvested in full force, there were 13 of us in all, and the patch was packed with numerous other patrons as well. The vines were ripe with tons of berries and picking them was very enjoyable. We all ate quite a few berries while we were out picking; the berries were delicious! We joked that Rowe’s should weigh us before and after and charge us accordingly. Everyone had a great time, and brought home some berries, destined to be made into shortcake, jam, and even dipped in chocolate. On Friday we are hosting a workshop on making strawberry rhubarb jam, using rhubarb from the garden, and strawberries from Rowe’s, Yum! In the words of the Rowe’s employee, Have a Very Berry Day!

Fertilizers and Strawberry Fields

2010-06-15T09:42:00.000-07:00

Hi fellow gardeners and other gracious followers of this blog!

My name is Sara, and I’m the newest intern at the Cultivating Community. In my first week here, we’ve been happy, busy little bees. Here’s what we’ve been up to:

Last Wednesday, we used organic fertilizer to give the Ginsberg Garden a boost. We used a combination of kelp meal and bat guano to encourage our veggies to grow, grow, grow! Kelp meal is brown seaweed harvested from cold sea waters. It acts as a mild fertilizer, improving the overall health of plants and helping them to become heartier and less affected by extreme temperatures. Bat guano, on the other hand, is far from mild. It is extraordinarily high in phosphorus, making it a very effective aid in root and flower development. Its nutrients also improve the texture of soil, kill fungus, and help to activate compost piles. It can be used to clean up toxic spills (useful?!), and is so valuable that the War of the Pacific (1879-1893) was actually fought over the taxation of bat guano. Not too many species can say that their poop started a war! Although bat guano is organic, there are components in the fertilizer that make it dangerous to inhale, hence the fashionable face masks and goggles we wore as we fertilized. On Friday, at our first lunchtime workday in the Ginsberg Garden, many of the plants showed remarkable growth!

Tonight we’re taking a field trip to Rowe’s Produce in Ypsilanti to pick fresh strawberries! Most of the yummy little gems will be used for our jam making workshop on Friday afternoon. An update on those and many other exciting adventures is soon to come!

Happy gardening!

Sara

Future Ginsberg Expansion site

2010-06-08T12:55:00.001-07:00

Great news everyone! Pending approval from Miss Dig, we will soon begin expanding the Ginsberg Garden, the area shown in the above picture will be the site of our garden expansion! Hopefully in the coming weeks we will be able to break ground in this area, and add roughly 150 square feet to our garden. No plans for this space have been finalized and we are relying on CC volunteers to come forward with their input for the space. Stay tuned for updates, and for our groundbreaking workday.

The rain barrels are in!

2010-06-08T12:37:00.001-07:00

These are rain barrels! As of last Friday they were installed at the Ginsberg Center garden for the season. Rain from the roof is collected in the gutters and directed into the barrels, there are four barrels; each barrel is connected by a hose, which allows the water levels to adjust themselves. If more than four barrels worth of water is collected, a large hose drains the excess out into the storm drain, thus preventing flooding. The barrels are placed on large flats, which give the barrels elevation and thus some water pressure. This pressure allows us to run an underground hose into our garden. Additionally the water collected can be used through spigots in the side of the barrels. The water collected in the barrels will be used to water the garden.

Rain barrels are easy to set up, and can be made out of recycled materials, (old barrels, and hoses). Not only do rain barrels help you create a sustainable way to water your garden, they also will save you money on your utility bill. The water collected in the barrels has also been sitting in the sun during the day and has been heated up a bit. Plants love to be showered with warm water, (cold water gives plants a shock).

The environmental benefits for using rain barrels are enormous, they help protect against erosion, and they also help prevent runoff pollution. Overall i can't seem to think of why someone wouldn't want a rain barrel?

This summer it would be great to get some Cultivating Community artists to paint the barrels to make them look a bit snazzier....

The peonies are in bloom!

2010-06-01T07:29:00.000-07:00

The peonies are in bloom! In case you haven’t heard, Nichols Arboretum is home to the largest collection of antique and heirloom peonies in North America. There are over 270 different varieties to see. Stop by the Arb (Washington Heights entrance) this week or next to catch a glimpse of the blooming peonies and wander through the garden. Tour cards are available so you can choose various tours such as the Scented peony tour or the Famous ladies tour, which showcase different types of peonies. The garden is absolutely stunning, so don’t forget a camera! (there is also a photo contest, more details are available at mbgna.umich.edu) See the photos below for a preview of what you will see on your visit.

Cold Frames are in

2010-06-01T07:16:00.000-07:00

Last week we finished the installation of our two cold frames! They are finally done and in the ground. It was a lot of work, (the project began in late fall of last year), but they are looking great in their new home at the Ginsberg garden. If you don’t know what cold frames are, allow me to explain. Cold frames are used for extending the growing season of plants. Things planted inside the cold frames are protected from the wind and insulated from the frosty cold, thereby allowing the plants to live longer into the fall and winter. Cold frames take shape in many forms, some are made out of cinder blocks or straw bales, but our cold frames are large wooden boxes. Large windows are hinged to the top of our cold frames to allow the light to pass through. The boxes are placed 10” into the ground, to provide insulation for plants late into the season.
The cold frames are painted bright yellow on the outside, and black on the inside to attract the sunlight. They will be used to extend the growing season past the frosty fall and hopefully into the winter. The idea is to have a later harvest toward the end of first semester, and also to experiment with growing other things in second semester.

First Ginsberg Workdays of the Summer

2010-05-18T11:23:00.000-07:00

Last week, we had our first workdays of the season at Cultivating Community's demonstration garden at the Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning.

The Ginsberg Garden, as we like to call it, is located in front of the Center on the corner of Hill St. and East University Ave. This garden is about six years old now, but every year brings new surprises. At our most recent workday, we discovered a number of "volunteers," which is a gardening term for plants that show up unexpectedly in the garden from seeds dropped by birds, inadvertantly mixed into compost, or fallen from last year's plants.

Among our volunteer plants were dill, tomatoes, kale, borage, and calendula. We chose to pull out many of them simply because there would not be room left in the garden for anything else if we let them grow, but we let a few of these "freebies" stay for the season.

We also pulled out several rows of rye grass, which served as a cover crop for the winter. Cover crops refer to any plants (typically grasses or legumes) that are planted during the off-season to protect or add nutrients to garden soil. Cover crops prevent erosion by keeping soil covered through winter's harsh winds. They have other benefits, too: they suppress weeds, reduce insect pests and diseases, and can add valuable nutrients back to the land. Legumes are excellent as cover crops because they fix nitrogen from the air into the soil, increasing soil fertility. Cover crops removed in the spring can be composted with other organic matter and reapplied to the garden as compost later in the season. Cover crops that are not removed but rather plowed directly back into the soil, called "green manure," also add valuable organic matter to the soil.

Once all the unwanted plants were removed and tossed into the compost pile, we added a layer of finished compost to each row of the garden. The photo below shows the end result- a garden ready for spring planting. Thank you to all the volunteers who came out on a blustery Wednesday and a beautiful Friday to get the job done!

Join us this week for more weeding, turning compost, transplanting seedlings, and more!

Look at what we've grown!

2010-05-14T06:38:00.000-07:00

This past semester we've been spending a lot of time at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens doing some planting for the plant sale. The volunteers have been a huge help with planting, trasplanting and giving input throughout the process. We've grown many types of plants from the traditional tomatoes, broccoli, peppers, & hundred of hot peppers, to novelty plants such as cheddar cauliflower, totem endive, pac choi, and my personal favorite, the Dill's atlantic giant pumpkin!

We started most of the seeds using the "common pot" method, meaning we planted all of the seeds we wanted in a 5" common pot. Then once the seeds sprouted, and the plants became larger, we transplanted them into four packs. (see the photo below of some of our cabbages and broccoli in four packs). Some of the plants even outgrew the four packs and were transplanted into larger, 3.5" compostable pots.

Plants that don't like their roots to be disturbed, such as the greens mixes, were planted directly into their four pack cells to avoid them being unhappy about being transplanted from common pots into four packs.

Some of the plants that grow larger very quickly, (i.e. the pumpkin, cucumber, melon, and watermelon), were directly sown into larger pots. These plants had excellent germination rates, and were immediatly happy with the large space available to them. For all of the plants, we used an organic soil mixture, and watered them frequently. Additionally, an organic fish fertlizer was used to give the plants a little boost before the sale.

It was a lot of work transplanting the over 3,000 plants that sprouted, but we also found some time for fun! One of the many laughs we had was over how many hungarian hot wax peppers we got, 435 to be exact. In fact, we still have some if anyone has a passion or use for hot peppers, we'd be happy to give you some!

Special thanks to all of our volunteers for helping to make the plant sale a huge succes, and also to Adrienne for giving us advice and keeping us on track!

Field Trip to Detroit!

2010-05-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago the Cultivating Community went on a field trip to Detroit. We started off the morning at Earthworks Urban Farm. Our first task was shoveling mountains of broccoli into wheel barrows and transporting them to compost piles, it was quite fun (I love broccoli). We alternated carrying loads of broccoli with loads of leaves in order to ensure that the compost had a good mix of components. Some members then began planting green onions, while another member threw compost at a large upright screen with a shovel. The compost that fell through the screen was ready for use, while the compost that bounced back was returned to the pile for more decomposition. It was an interesting technique for determining whether or not the compost is ready to be used. Finally we wrapped up our time at the farm by weeding out the rows and rows of garlic (as seen above!). The group had a great time, and afterwards went to Eastern Market, and a spaghetti dinner at the Catherine Ferguson Academy (an all girl's school with a farm).

Special thanks to our participants: Rachel Lu, Lenora, Alicia, Will, Patrick, Danielle and Maya who volunteered at Earthworks!

Supergrains harvest time go!!!

2009-08-31T12:50:00.000-07:00

Over at the Botanical Gardens "secret" garden site, we are harvesting the quinoa we started from seed in May. No one on the Cultivating Community team has experience with harvesting quinoa so we delved the internet for answers. When the quinoa plant leaves are dried and the plant itself looks dead the quinoa should be ready. The seeds are mature when you can no longer make an indent on the kernels with your fingernail.

The quinoa stalk in the above photo is ready to harvest. In fact, we were late on collecting the seed because many of them started to germinate while on the plant!

We collected the seed by rubbing up the stalk and angling the seed head into a bowl we used to store the quinoa. The collection process left us with a bowl full of quinoa seed and the dried "chaff". We used a technique called wind winnowing to remove some of the "chaff" from the quinoa. Wind winnowing is a simple method of grain processing that has been used for thousands of years.

Many cultures developed simple contraptions to accomplish winnowing. We are substantially lower tech at this garden plot, so we simply would wait for a light breeze and take handfuls of the mixture and drop it back into the bowl. The wind would blow away the unwanted plant parts because they were so light while the seeds fell right back into the container. We also did this for amaranth seed. A photo of those plants can be seen below.

Both of these grains have their roots in the Andean region of South America. The Incans cultivated these plants to fuel their empire. After the Conquest several indigenous groups kept the strains alive despite Spanish government prohibitions. The Rodale Institute considers them "supergrains" because of their high protein, fiber, and iron content. Quinoa contains all twenty essential amino acids for human nutrition. North Americans grew Amaranth for years, mainly for its asethetic appeal, but now it is gaining popularity as a food crop. There are detailed Wikipedia articles on both plants if you want to know more about these wonder foods.

Quinoa: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa
Amaranth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaranth

Hope everyone is ready for school to begin! Be sure to check out the Cultivating Community table at Festifall and at Northfest!

We have worms!

2009-08-26T07:03:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago the Cultivating Community team recieved a package containing a wrigging mass of worms. We ordered four pounds of red wigglers (Eisenia fetida) from Flowerfield Enterprises which is based out of Kalamazoo. The worm woman, Mary Appelhof founded the business to further educate and provide people with the means to start vermicomposting for themselves. She wrote Worms Eat My Garbage a comprehensive how to guide for people desiring to start "worm wrangling". We use her book as a reference guide on the handling and housing requirements for the worms. We followed her bin specifications to handle the scraps of a single person as well as a small group of individuals. The smallest bin volumes were reserved for those that lived on their own while the larger bins were for two to three people, maybe more if the group did not produce that much food scraps that the worms could eat. We made up containers and divided up the worms by weight into the bins that we then gave away at the vermicomposting workshop we held last Wednesday. The bed preparation went as follows:

We used shredded computer paper for the worm bedding and lined the bottom of the bins with it. Other materials that can be used for the bedding are newspaper, leaf mold, animal manures, coconut fibers, woodchips, and peat moss. We picked computer paper because it was already shredded and in amble supply in the Garden's recycling baskets. The bedding functions to hold moisture, and provide a medium for the worms to move and eat.

We then added small rocks and sand to each bin to give the worms "grit". Worms do not have teeth and because of this they need a hard and fine material to use in their gizzard to break down food so it is digestable. We put finished compost into the bins to increase the bedding volume and to inoculate the containers with the microbial community found in the soil. The worms work in tandem with other organisms in the soil to decompose food scraps.

Many came for the workshop, and took bins for themselves. If you are interested in starting your own worm bin or have a bin, but lack experience Worms Eat My Garbage is a fantastic reference. Be sure to visit Appelhof's website here for tips and as a source to order your own crawly critters.

Jam making: berries not beats

2009-08-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

Last week Wednesday the Cultivating Community team and students made jam! We hosted a jam making workshop to instruct participants on one of the more famous methods of food preservation. Everyone brought fruit to jam. Because time and equipment was limited, one jam including all of the fruits was made. The fruits used to make this "monster" jam were: plums, grapes, raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries. They mashed the fruits until it was a thick paste.

And then put all of the mashed fruit into a large pot and cooked the fruit using a gas stove.

The jamming group poured the fully cooked jam into several sterilized Ball jars. They then placed the jammed jars into a rolling boil water bath for about ten minutes to seal the jars from the outside air. Dana removed the jars from the water bath using tongs.

The jam making team left the jars at the Trotter Multicultural Center overnight to cool. The Cultivating Community team and the other participants picked up their share of the jam the following day. I recently tried the jam and it is one of the best jams I have tasted...ever. So myself and the rest of the Cultivating Community team encourage you all to experiment with canning, and jamming!

Detroit Urban Ag Tour: Farming in the D!

2009-08-07T07:27:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday night the other interns, myself, and a CC member went on the Detroit Urban Agriculture Tour. The tour had three separate buses going to different parts of Detroit (east side, central, and west side) as well as two bike tours. Our group went on the east side bus tour which visited Earthworks Urban Farm, Farnsworth street neighborhood, Peacemakers Ministries, and Georgia Street community gardens.

The full history and origins of Earthworks Urban Farm can be read here. The farm looked amazing with native wildflowers interspersed with massive eggplants, beans, and tomatoes. The Farm has youth outreach programs that teach entrepenuership, and healthy eating so there were many young volunteers explaining different parts of the farm to us as we moved through. There was a hoophouse on the property showcasing one of the main methods for farms in Michigan to have a longer growing season. This farm used to be a vacant lot of open grass, but now feeds the soup kitchen patrons as well as supplies the Gleaner's Food Bank with fresh produce. There are several other initiatives around Detroit that are doing similar things to combat poverty and hunger within the city.

The next point of interest we saw was the Farnsworth neighborhood. We drove by many quaint houses that were teeming with plant life, both ornamental and edible. The neighborhood is home to Paul Weertz, the science teacher at Catherine Fergueson Academy that founded the farm program at the school. Himself and others in his immediate community fully embrace the joys of gardening as evidenced by what we witnessed.

The next stop was at Peacemakers Ministries International which is a non-profit that offers transitional housing, and food organizers grow in adjacent lots, for people suffering from substance abuse. This visit was especially intriguing because one of the garden spaces is in an old abandoned building that no longer has a roof. Within the building, there is a chicken coop and several raised beds that have flowers and vegetables.

The final stop on the tour before the reception was the Georgia Street Community Collective. This organization is right in the middle of the community it serves with its garden in close proxmity to a great number of houses. They are also starting an orchard on an adjacent lot to the garden. I especially admired the garden because it had a great deal of artwork in the signage which is great to see because gardens are spectacular community art spaces.

The tour reception was held at Catherine Fergueson Academy, where the tour organizers, local chefs, and volunteers provided a taste of Detroit's harvest with small samplings of various dishes made from Detroit grown produce. After the meal we explored Catherine Fergueson's fields, which were filled with vegetables, fruit trees, bee hives, goats, rabbits, ducks, geese, and a horse!

Overall I really enjoyed the tour and it was exciting to see all the dynamic things that are happening in this post-industrial city. The blending of urban and rural elements within the city helps to establish a greater ecological balance because Detroit is not currently experiencing pressures to develop land, but instead has vacant land that can be farmed which produces a harvest that is every more closely approaching food self-sufficiency.

Mini herb gardens!

2009-08-03T06:55:00.000-07:00

On July 15th, the Cultivating Community team hosted a mini herb garden workshop outside the Ginsberg Center. We provided the containers, seeds, soil, and water. First step in the workshop was the punching of drain holes into the window box containers. Then we filled the containers with organic potting soil and each participant chose which seeds and/or plants to put into their herb gardens. The herb seeds we had to offer were chives, lavendar, basil, oregano, thyme, and mint. Also we brought some cilantro plants to offer as transplants. Herb plants do not take up that much space, therefore many plants could fit into one container. So everyone selected and planted their plants, watered their container, and carried it home to watch it grow. We would love to hear feedback on how your herbs are doing so email me at alexandermiranda222@gmail.com to let us know, maybe even send pictures so we can post them to the blog!

Spray baby spray

2009-07-08T12:27:00.001-07:00

Aphids have taken residence in the Secret Garden at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. Luckily, we have been staving off major losses by using a special organic spray. The spray we use is very effective and simple to make. We take about a handful of tomato plant leaves and place them in a container filled with water and let that steep for twenty four hours inside the Gardens’ main building. The next day we removed the leaves from the container and funneled the liquid into a spray bottle. We used a spray bottle that had been designated as the organic methods bottle so we were sure it did not have any pesticide or other questionable chemical residues. We then went out to the garden with the bottle and sprayed the leaves of the afflicted plants which in this case are the nasturtiums in the square foot bed. I am confident the aphids will no longer pose problems because we have used this spray before on one of our quinoa plants and it has made a complete recovery with no aphids in sight.

There are other home remedies for pests on plants. Here is a link to one of the pages we found that has different spray recipes and other techniques for eliminating pesky insects.

We made sure to spray both the tops and undersides of the leaves to make all the leaf parts undesirable for the aphids.

The tomato spray had a strong offensive odor, but I took great joy in applying it knowing that I was not using synthetic pesticides. I felt free to spray as much as I wanted without fear of poisoning myself or the garden.

2009-06-24T12:50:00.000-07:00

This past Monday the other interns and I hosted a fieldtrip to Rowe’s Produce Farm (http://www.rowesproducefarm.com/) in Ypsilanti. The farm is a u-pick with fresh and ripe strawberries as well as sugar snap peas. We arrived around five in the afternoon and the sun was still baking the fields. The strawberries were warm and sweet. Also the water they contained was a welcome respite from the heat. The farm is all u-pick so the choicest berries are up for the picking while they are in season. U-pick farms are private operations that plant and care for the plants, but leave the activity of harvesting to the public, who then purchase what they pick.

Rowe’s farm has an email list that they use to notify their patrons about the picking conditions of their various crops. They call it “the” list and you can join it by emailing them at: rowesproducefarm@sbcglobal.net. The season for strawberries ends around the beginning of July so head out there soon for some fresh berries and peas!

We helped the Habitat for Humanity cluster in Ypsilanti with weeding their raised beds, but more work needs to be done to ready the beds for planting. The cluster is a very quaint neighborhood of young families. If you want to assist with the community establishing a beautiful and bountiful garden contact Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley through the email: lynnep@h4h.org and specify your interest in setting up garden spaces.

The plants in the secret garden have grown tremendously in the past few days. The corn towers over all the other crops and the tassels are now visible.

The polyculture bed’s radishes were picked, topped, and washed. By clearing out the radishes, sunlight can now reach tiny seedlings of the other plants. I will need to thin in the next few weeks and I have the agonizing decision to choose which vegetables will grow to full size and those that will not. I cannot wait until the seedlings grow larger and observe how much this method yields.

2009-06-24T07:43:00.000-07:00

An uninvited volunteer helped himself to our Ritz crackers at our Ginsberg workday last Friday...

The display garden

2009-06-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

The second garden that the other interns and I have been nurturing is the Display Garden. As the name suggests this garden is open for public viewing near many of the other garden collections. Several features of the garden make it out of the ordinary. All of the beds are raised and done so with reused/reclaimed materials like cinder blocks, bricks, and wood. Also it showcases using vertical growing space through trellising.

Another goal is to demonstrate that gardening practices can be adapted to people’s personal needs. An example of this is the enabling table, which is a raised bed that is elevated to a height for a seated gardener to plant, weed, and harvest. One of my favorite features is the “rabbit” bed. It shows that gardens do not have to be rectangular rows and as such are more pleasing to behold. In addition, the bed maximizes edge in a small compact space thereby making it easy to reach all parts of the bed. The plants needing more frequent attention are placed near the edges of the bed while less needy plants are more in the center. This makes weeding and general upkeep more manageable and decreases the likelihood of work strain.

Enabling table

The "Rabbit" Garden

Old bed springs used as trellises

The primary caretaker of the garden is Project Grow volunteer Dan Marcus. We joyfully help Dan make the garden beautiful and healthy. He has been taking many of the unwanted plants from the Botanical Garden plant sale and placing them in the display garden. Most of them are flowers that should blossom in the coming weeks, adding some more color while attracting a swarm of pollinators.

One organization that is doing great things in the Ypsilanti-Ann Arbor area is Growing Hope. Growing Hope’s mission and their current and past projects are displayed on their website: http://www.growinghope.net/. They have made big strides in providing people with the means to grow their own food and opening access for people to purchase wholesome nutritious foods from gardeners/farmers. There are many volunteer opportunities with Growing Hope. Feel free to email the volunteer coordinator Karen Spangler (Karen@growinghope.net) to find out how you can get involved. Currently they are providing forty families with three four by four raised beds and plants. The raised bed builds and installs are going on all this week. Be sure to check the Growing Hope Google calendar to see what times work for you to head to the Growing Hope center (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl) and lend a hand (http://www.growinghope.net/calendar/index.shtml). We will be helping Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley and Growing Hope tomorrow by doing raised bed repairs and general garden maintenance at a Habitat community site.

Also an aside to the bike enthusiasts: there is a great bike trail linking Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti which is called the border to border trail.
Map link: (http://www.ewashtenaw.org/government/departments/parks_recreation/forms_pubs/brochure_b2b.pdf).
It is a very peaceful ride with a large portion of it running along the bank of the Huron River. Flowering trees adorn the path making for a very fragrant journey.

“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.” H.G. Wells

The secret garden revealed!

2009-06-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

In addition to managing the Ginsberg Garden site, the other interns and I have been gardening at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. We work at two gardens each with their own unique charms. One of them is between greenhouses one and two. We call it the secret garden because of its secluded location. There is one main bed with four raised beds. We had first arrived at the secret garden at the beginning of May and cleared the beds of the cover crop from the previous season. Also we composted several dried out sunflower stalks. These sunflowers seeded almost every corner of the garden so now we have many, many sunflower seedlings. We tilled with rakes, planted and now the garden is buzzing with:

beets

chard

spinach

lettuce

arugula

corn

tomatoes

sage

dill

melons

cucumbers

peas

nasturtiums

lavander

squash

Along with all these new additions we also are nurturing several volunteer plants and perennials. One of the raised beds has almost been completely colonized by strawberries that recently have started to bear fruit.

The strawberries take up most of the bed space, but one of the corners has a teepee with cucumber seedlings planted along its base. The other raised beds in the garden are showcasing different small scale gardening techniques.

The bed pictured above is our companion planting bed. Companion planting is placing different plants in close proxmity to one another because it is believed that they aid in nutrient uptake, pest reduction, weed reduction, attract pollinators, etc. We learned of the pairings we did through the book Roses Love Garlic by Louise Riotte. There is little to no scientific evidence in support of companion planting, however, many gardeners, and farmers believe it works.

This bed is using the methods outlined in Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening. A gird is placed on the bed cordonning it off into foot by foot squares which serves as a guideline for spacing. An example would be that one corn would fit in one square while sixteen beets can be in the same space. There are other aspects to the technique that we chose not to follow, such as the soil requirements. The author wants his readers to use a specially measured out soil mixture, but we simply used the soil that was preexisting in the bed.

The final bed is being used to test the idea of a polyculture bed, which I first read about on the blog Homegrown Evolution (http://www.homegrownevolution.com/2006/12/polyculture.html). Several different vegetable and herb seeds were broadcast (thrown evenly over the surface of the bed, not in rows). A thin layer of topsoil was placed over the seeds and was watered. The vegetables chosen all have differing maturation times and plant families so it serves to save space because multiple things can be grown in the same area without plants crowding out, and directly competing for nutrients.

In other news we have picked a date for the Earthworks Urban Farm fieldtrip: August 8th!! All those wanting to go... mark your calendars! Toodles.

Bringing the farm to school

2009-05-27T08:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the other interns and I went to the Agrarian Adventure, which is a program based at Tappan Middle School. They have a really cool operation that tries to integrate the garden into almost every academic subject for the students. The math classes measure out the garden beds, and make sure they are parallel to each other. History classes take food from the three sisters’ garden to make a colonial American meal. Science teachers instruct students on the greenhouse effect, and basic botany. These are a few examples of how the garden is part of school life. They have a large strawberry patch, several garden beds, and a huge green house. Tappan students constructed the green house with help from the MSU student organic farm, which leads the state in investigating season extension possibilities.

Link to MSU student organic farm: http://www.msuorganicfarm.com/

Beds in the green house are filled with healthy kale, chard, sunflowers, tomatoes, and lettuce greens that were started at the beginning of January! The program is expanding with discussion of starting an orchard nearby the garden. Those interested in getting their hands dirty more than two days a week with us can help out at the Adventure Tuesday evenings from 5 to 7 pm at Tappan Middle School. Elissa (email: elissa@agrarianadventure.org), the program director, told me that they will be doing Tuesday evening work from now until October! Google map (or Mapquest, etc) this address to find the sweetest route that works for you to get gardening!
Tappan Middle School
2251 E Stadium Blvd, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(The garden is behind the school on the soccer field.)

Note: AA has an ongoing fundraiser, where they are selling tickets for a garden tour that happens on June 13. More details can be found here: http://agrarian.dreamhosters.com/agrarianadventure/?q=node/77

Jeremy, one of the managers of the MSU student organic farm, was at the workday yesterday and he mentioned that the Sustainable Agriculture and Education Association (http://sustainableaged.org/) is having a national conference July 15-17 in Ames, Iowa. Student farms as well as other groups/farms around the country that promote sustainable agriculture will come together to discuss their successes, failures, and how best to move forward collectively. Deadline for early registration is July 1 so if interested look into it now!

I went by Ginsberg yesterday and the potatoes, spinach and radishes are doing really well. The warm weather vegetables seem like they are still recovering from their transplanting, but these recent rains are a definite help.

Nifty Trick for Starting Seeds

2009-05-27T07:13:00.000-07:00

At instructables.com, Andrea found a cool way to start seeds:

Instructions are here. The egg carton is biodegradable, so you can cut apart the compartments and plant them directly in the ground.

Also, Alex says that his housemate uses toilet paper tubes cut in half (also biodegradable) to start his seeds. Try it!

Out, out brief candle

2009-05-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

I have some bad news to report. Three of the tomato plants, all of the basil and all of the bean plants in the Ginsberg Garden died. We have many more replacements in the greenhouses at the gardens and plan on replacing the lost plants. We investigated the dead plants and the garden at large to try and determine the cause of their untimely end. From inspecting the dead plants, it appears frost killed them. Frost burn is a condition that plants exhibit when damaged by frost with the “burned” portions of the plant looking reddish orange and very dry.

Image of frost burn (not taken at Ginsberg)

Frost burn does not necessarily mean the plant is doomed. If the burned part of the plant is cut from the plant, it has a chance to recover. In our case, however, the plants were very small and completely burned. Although we transplanted these plants after the USDA frost date, that date is a guideline and not iron clad in their certainty about climatic conditions year to year. For this reason it is good to check weather forecasts to assess frost risk and take steps to protect frost intolerant plants. A common tactic would be to cover the vulnerable plants with a sheet or tarp at night to trap the heat collected by the soil during the day. If the plants are in containers simply moving them inside before the frost hits should be fine.

We are having drop in hours today from three to four this afternoon. We are going to install PVC piping underground that we are going to put the water barrel hose through so it can reach the garden while being out of the way of the U of M grounds lawn mowers. Also we are going to replace the lost plants by transplanting. I plan on making a dent on the garlic mustard patch that is on the grounds because it appears that the patch is sending seeds into the garden plots and the herb spiral. Garlic mustard is a very prolific invasive species that produces allelochemcials that harm mycorrhizal fungi which are vital for many plants to fix nitrogen into the soil thereby inhibiting other plants’ growth. When weeding garlic mustard be sure to not place the plants in the compost because it is known to seed even if uprooted and also be sure to introduce a diverse mix of native species into the newly cleared area to fill the niche that was vacated.

Garlic Mustard

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlic_Mustard#As_an_invasive_species, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1216/is_n6_v187/ai_11609293/

It's getting hot in here....

2009-05-19T06:32:00.000-07:00

We had another Ginsberg Garden workday on the 15th because that is the USDA frost free date for southeastern Michigan and we had a lot of plants that needed transplanting. The plants we planted were:

rhubarb

raspberries

tomatoes

eggplants

peppers

beans

rosemary

squash
melons

Around eight volunteers helped with the workday. They watered, planted, and aided in the installation of a bean teepee.

Bean teepees are supportive structures that allow bean plants to vine upwards. The teepee we used is four wooden posts tied together at the top with string. The string was then tied around the teepee in a trellising pattern to give the plants more opportunites to vine. I have seen instructions on how to make a bean teepee so large that people can go inside it when the beans are at their peak of growth. Bean leaves are large and numerous so the teepee is very well shaded.

We mulched all of the plants with straw that we found on site. There are a myriad of reasons to mulch such as to prevent weeds, and to retain moisture in the soil for longer periods. Straw is an organic mulch so over time the straw will decompose which improves the quality of the soil. Also the mulch acts as a windbreak for the tiny new transplants keeping them warmer than if they were more exposed. The volunteers then watered the plants with buckets because we forgot to bring the hoses (we will bring them next time, promise!).

Tips about watering:

Be sure to water in gentle streams and have the water temperature be lukewarm to warm to not shock the plants. Another thing about watering is that you would want to focus on watering the plants low near the roots to prevent the water you are using from evaporating into the air. In order to avoid daily waterings make sure that when you water it is a deep soaking. Soil that contains a large amount of organic matter is like a sponge in that it can absorb large quantities of water at once without washing out. The soil will stay moist for longer so the plants can be watered less often.

We have an upcoming field trip to Agrarian Adventure, this is their website: http://agrarian.dreamhosters.com/agrarianadventure/

It is a great program that has tons of youth and community involvement in the Ann Arbor area. Also the garden they manage at Tappan Middle School has a huge strawberry patch! I hope the strawberries will have fruited by the time we head out there on May 26th.

Happy gardening!

References: Rodale's Complete Guide to Organic Gardening

First post of summer 2009!

2009-05-15T07:46:00.000-07:00

I have been really excited with all the activity the Cultivating Community team have been up these past two weeks. We have already had the first Ginsberg workday of the summer and three volunteers showed up!

The volunteers and interns roused the garden from its winter slumber by removing the Rye Grass cover crop and weeding out several maple saplings that had taken root in the garden beds and herb spiral. The purpose of the cover crop is to prevent soil erosion as the beds overwinter, to prevent the establishment of hardy weeds, and to provide nutrient rich plants that can be composted when the summer begins. Rye grass is a very good choice as a cover crop because it is regularly used for erosion control programs.

Through clearing of the straw and rye grass we discovered several plants from last year: dill, Russian kale, turnip, cilantro, and parsley. Many of the perennials planted last year are coming back as well like the raspberries, chives, mint, and flowers.

In late April, we planted potatoes, spinach, onions, radishes, and carrots. They have all started to sprout especially the radishes which needed to be thinned on the workday.
The healthy cover crop of Rye grass that we pulled went straight into our compost bins. We turned the newly formed piles and watered them down to aid in the establishment of the microbial community that will break down the plant matter into humus-rich compost.

Composting closes the loop between growth and decay. The remains of dead and unwanted plants decompose into a black soil that serves as a great growth medium for future plants. There are many sources on how to compost online and in print. Some sources: The Rodale Book of Composting, Compost Guide (http://vegweb.com/composting/).