Inside Big Tex Urban Farms

“Among all the fried food at the State Fair of Texas you’ll find a greenhouse working to feed North Texas.

The Big Tex Urban Farms grows fruits and vegetables year round on the fair grounds. The project started in 2016 as a mission to help food-insecure communities in southern Dallas.

Farm manager Drew Demler said all the produce grown goes to charities working to fight hunger. The farm uses raised boxes and hydroponic systems to grow green beans, black eyes peas, cucumbers, onions, potatoes, herbs and more.

During the fair they invite people to step inside the greenhouse to see what they’re doing and ask questions.”

Read the FULL STORY: “NBCDFW.com“

Grant program offers money, and legitimacy, for urban agriculture

Michael Chaney, Project Sweetie Pie founder, talks to student workers Wednesday about trellising tomatoes at Karamu Garden in north Minneapolis.

“Urban farming in Minnesota reached a milestone this summer, when the state announced the first round of grants for agriculture education and development projects in cities.

It’s the first time the state has allocated money specifically for urban agriculture, and it took several tries to get the legislation passed. Michael Chaney, a long-time advocate from north Minneapolis who founded Project Sweetie Pie, a grant recipient, said he approached lawmakers with the idea about four years ago. At the time, he saw plenty of interest in urban agriculture — but not the kind of financial support that exists for rural farmers. “I was disenchanted and discouraged,” Chaney said.

Advocates said state investment is crucial because it lends credibility to what Chaney calls the “changing face of agriculture.” Such state funding, even a small amount, can usher in a shift toward seeing urban areas as potential farms and their residents as fellow food producers.

That shift can also bring education and economic opportunities that are often more associated with rural areas. “Agriculture has been deemed corporate ag with rural roots and conventional farming techniques,” Chaney said. “What we’re proposing with urban farming is a whole reconfiguring. … What’s the role of urban communities in growing food?””

READ THE FULL STORY: “MinnPost.com“

Healing in the garden ‘The Pesto Project’ at East Side Center aids mental wellness

“GLENS FALLS — It might not seem like soil and some seeds could make a difference in someone’s life but for the clients at the East Side Center, nurturing plants and flowers have helped them to blossom.

Jodi Gagnon, who said she deals with alcoholism and has post-traumatic stress disorder, was attending a dual recovery meeting last February when she learned about an ongoing gardening project behind the adult psychiatric rehabilitation building on Maple Street.

Gagnon was new to the area and the outside world was “terrifying” for her. She had never gardened before but soon she was planting seeds in little containers and gradually progressed to doing small tasks in the flower and vegetable beds.

When her PTSD symptoms worsened on weekends she found salvation in the garden, picking up debris and touching the flowers and crops.

“I would feel this sense of relief,” she said. ”It was a very big part of my recovery by getting out of my comfort zone.””

READ THE FULL STORY AT: “PostStar.com“

Urban farm offers women a place to live & work after getting out of prison

“INDIANAPOLIS — An urban farm opening in central Indiana will provide women coming out of the criminal justice system with a place to live and work so they can get their lives back on track.

While working at Bellfound Farm, the women will also receive mental health counseling, coaching and skill development training.

Alena Jones, co-founder and COO of Bellfound Farms, says they are getting started with a grant from the Women’s Fund of central Indiana.

“When we’re talking about how nine out of 10 women who have been incarcerated have experienced trauma, what we know about being in a green environment is that it calms your nervous system down and gives you a little bit more brain space to process what’s going on inside of you,” said Jones.”

READ THE FULL STORY AT: “TheIndyChannel.com”

9 QUICK GROWING Cool-Season Veggies

Curious as to what you should be planting before your first fall frost gets here? Take a look at these 9 cool-season veggies that you can start now, and enjoy in 60 days or less!

Carrots, Spinach, Green Onions, Radishes, Lettuce, Kale, Mustard Greens, Swiss Chard & Mizuna!

Carrots are an annual cool-season crop, half-hardy to frost and light freezes. They develop quite normally under a variety of temperature conditions, except very warm temperatures. It is often said that frost or cold weather will make them even sweeter. Shop all CARROT seeds! 

Spinach can grow anywhere there is at least a month and a half of cool growing weather. Spinach is a cool-season crop, hardy to frosts and light freezes. In rows 12 inches apart, space seedlings 3 inches apart. Shop all SPINACH seeds! 

Onions are easy to grow, have a fairly short growing period and take up little space in the garden. If you don’t have a vegetable garden, plant a few onions in your flower garden or in a pot or box and set them on your patio or in a sunny window. Plant onions 1/4 inch deep and 3 to 4 inches apart in double rows, leaving 6 to 10 inches between rows. If the onions are planted closer together, you can harvest every other plant as a green onion so that bulb development of the remaining plants is not impeded. Shop all GREEN ONION seeds!

Radishes are a fast-growing, cool-season crop that can be harvested in as little as twenty days.  Eaten raw they can be whole, sliced, diced, or grated. You can also cook and pickle them. Most of them are typically eaten fresh and make a good addition to a salad or a substitute to pepper on a sandwich. Shop all RADISH seeds!

Lettuce Seed should be sown thinly in rows 1 foot apart; for leaf types, thin plants to 2-3 inches apart, then thin again by pulling every other plant when half grown. This will encourage thickly developed plants. For head types, space rows 18 inches apart, plants 8-10 inches apart. Closer spacing results in smaller heads, which may be preferable for small families. Specialty growers are spacing lettuce very close for selling baby lettuces, a rapidly growing produce market. Shop all LETTUCE seeds!

Kale can be planted pretty much anywhere in the United States where there’s a cool fall growing season. It’s a cool-season crop, hardy to frosts and light freezes. Shop all KALE seeds!

Mustards are a quick and easy crop to grow in your home garden.  They are a spicy green, which will quickly become one of your favorite crops. When growing from seed, start them outdoors 3 weeks before the last frost. For a more steady harvest, plant seeds about every 3 weeks or every month to give you a successive harvest. Shop all MUSTARD seeds!

Swiss Chard is a leafy green vegetable often used in Mediterranean cooking. Fresh young chard can be used raw in salads. Mature chard leaves and stalks are typically cooked (like in pizzoccheri) or sauteed; their bitterness fades with cooking, leaving a refined flavor which is more delicate than that of cooked spinach. Shop all CHARD seeds!

Mizuna is a vigorous grower, which produces numerous stalks bearing dark green, deeply cut and fringed leaves. Shop MIZUNA seeds!

SHOP all of these varieties and more at: www.SeedsNow.com

Above the Waterline: Growing good food and community

“Atlanta’s urban agriculture movement is fortunate to have no shortage of charismatic and passionate people who can, and will, expound at length about their love of land and soil, fresh produce, food security and growing community.

When Carol Hunter is having a rough day at work, she thinks of the mothers and children who are nourished physically and mentally while learning how to grow food at an urban garden on Lawton Street in southwest Atlanta. That image and their smiles keep her going.

When Ras Kofi Kwayana touches the earth, as he teaches urban farming in the city, he feels the therapeutic effect of working in the soil and growing food – and he observes the transformation in his students. When Patience Allen-Glick has trouble going to sleep at night, she closes her eyes and mentally walks around the garden on land next to the Wheat Street Baptist Church in the Old Fourth Ward, where she worked years ago; she still remembers the smell of the flowers and herbs and the sense of community.”

READ THE FULL STORY AT: “AtlantaInTownPaper.com“

Urban garden near City Hall that feeds homeless facing final harvest

“CENTER CITY (WPVI) –A garden in the shadow of Philadelphia City Hall is providing food for the city’s hungry. But it could be facing its final harvest. The plot along the 1400 block of JFK Boulevard is running out of funding.

To date it has produced more than 1,300 pounds of fresh vegetables for the homeless served by Broad Street Ministries. That’s why it has so many supporters, including Councilman Al Taubenberger. He and others are looking to secure enough grant money to keep the garden open.”

READ THE FULL STORY AT: “6ABC.com“