Compost Confidential

Good People Doing Good Things with Locally Grown, Organic Vegetables

 
Last week I was in Baltimore to install another Community Garden for Fiskars, under their Project Orange Thumb initiative. Believing that community gardens can provide the catalyst and inspiration for great change, it’s common for the company to select sites for these major gardens in neighborhoods where poverty rates are high and urban blight is all too apparent. The neighborhood chosen for this particular installation was just such a place. Known as the Oliver community, it is located in the east-central part of the city.

Now, several organizations are attempting to revitalize the area. Installing a major community garden in such a place will hopefully be a serious shot in the arm. But this post in not about that community garden project. It’s about another grass-roots effort taking place on that same block, as well as in other neighborhoods across the city.  I wouldn’t have known anything about it, except for the four or five fresh vegetable-laden tables and handmade signs lined up on a nearby street corner that quickly caught my eye and drew me in.

It was a bit of a strange site. So many fresh vegetables, obviously picked only hours earlier, stacked tall and wide, just waiting for people to buy them at bargain basement prices. But where were all the people? Recreate this scene in a heavily trafficked part of any city, or place them for sale at a farmers market on Saturday morning, and they wouldn’t last the hour. But that was the beauty of this program as I soon learned.

As it turns out, he project is a joint partnership between Knox Presbyterian Church and the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) (specifically, the Baltimore Food and Faith Project. I introduced myself and met several of the volunteers, including Angela Smith, Project Coordinator for CLF. She fills in the rest of the details for this amazing program.

“CFL recently undertook a food assessment of Baltimore and found there were certain areas where people didn't have much access to healthy, fresh foods. Often, these neighborhoods were located where poverty rates were high and which had suffered from urban blight for decades. Because the poor are at greater risk for developing diet-related diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity, etc., and are the very people who have the most trouble finding and affording good food, we were particularly interested in finding a way to bring healthy food to them.

Knox Presbyterian is located in East Baltimore, an area that suffers from poverty and blight.  The majority of its food outlets are corner stores, which typically don't sell fresh produce. Knox has hosted a weekly soup kitchen, serving around 120 people each week for years now, and the church was interested in further reaching out to the community. They saw the opportunity to bring fresh, organic fruits and vegetables to neighbors as a natural extension of the work they were already doing.

Joan and Drew Norman operate Maryland's largest organic farm, One Straw Farm , and they operate a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. In a CSA, an individual pays to become a shareholder at the beginning of the season and receives several items of fresh produce each week until the end of the season. It's great for the farmer because it diminishes their financial risk; and it's great for the consumer because they develop a relationship with their farmer and know exactly where and how their food was grown. (Many people do this because they want to support locally-grown and sustainably-produced foods as well).

Since many people can't afford the large upfront cost of becoming a shareholder (sometimes hundreds of dollars), especially in East Baltimore, we purchased 10 CSA shares with money donated from a private foundation. For every 10 shares a congregation purchases, One Straw Farm throws one in for free, so, Knox receives the equivalent of 11 shares (plus a few donated by CLF), and we price the food as individual items based on what individuals would pay in a nearby grocery store for non-organic produce. All proceeds are put into a fund that will be used to purchase shares in upcoming years, the hope being that within three to four years, it will be economically self-sufficient and no longer need grant money to help maintain.

Unpurchased produce is either donated to Knox's soup kitchen or to local residents in need. Since many individuals are not used to eating seasonally, or cooking certain types of fruits and veggies, we give samples and recipes to take home and try out.

We've been doing the co-op every Tuesday since the beginning of July and it's really starting to pick up now. Members of the congregation, their kids and grandkids, and folks from CLF come every week to help man the table” (Angela Smith).

I applaud you and every person and organization mentioned here for your genuine desire to make fresh, healthy produce available to all in such a creative and sustainable way. Good things really to come out of a garden, especially when you add the efforts of so many good people!
JL

Oh Deer! - My Quest for the Twenty-five Dollar Victory Garden

(If you'd like to watch this video in better HD quality, click here to view it on Vimeo)

So, this is what I love about gardening. There is never a dull moment. Just when one challenge subsides (incessant rain), another one presents itself, hence the title of this latest video, “Oh Deer!”

According to my next-door neighbor, there has never been a deer sighting in our hood (50+ years); that is until I started a vegetable garden! Why am I not surprised? But how ironic the timing and how thankful I was to have my video camera out to capture that moment. I may not have a garden by tomorrow thanks to him, but at least I have proof of the culprit, should the worst-case scenario occur.

Not to be deterred, I see that I’ve been given another opportunity to present a real-life scenario to fellow gardeners. This time it’s about how to defend your garden against deer when you only have twenty-five dollars to do it all! Personally it is a challenge I’d rather not take on right now. I’m not even sure I have enough money for mildew control, not to mention a foe of much greater consequences. And truth be told, I’ve never personally had to deal with deer before, as they’ve never ventured into my semi-urban gardens.  Clearly this deer works for God and this is some movie with script writers far more divine than I. I’m sure they’re up there yucking it up to see what else they can throw at me.

I hope you enjoy this video and by now you should know to always watch it to the very end. I apologize if you find my humor in this one slightly warped. I’m having fun with this twenty-five dollar victory garden project for sure and thankful that you all have been so encouraging along the way. You’ve made it very inspiring for me to see this project through successfully. We have a long way to go but it helps to know I’ve got you guys in my corner. 

In real-time, we are six days ahead of what you see in the video as I write this on June 13th.  The garden is filling in nicely and so far I have no other problems to report. I’m very happy with the results and encouraged now more than ever. Thanks for joining me on this adventure and as always, you know I love to hear from you. By the way, if you love those hand-painted garden signs you see in the video as much as I do, you can order your own from Emily. Reach her on Twitter, username: "@emilyoftexas" or on her webiste here.
JL

p.s. My expenses are holding steady for now. Here’s the summary:

Seed starting Mix: 2 bags….$7.00
Twine for bamboo………....$2.27
Two tomato plants…………$5.28

Total……………………….$14.55
Available…………......……$10.45

First Look Outside – My Quest for a Twenty-five Dollar Organic Victory Garden

The Outside Reveal - My Twenty-five Dollar Victory Garden from Joe Lamp'l on Vimeo.

Finally, it only took four video episodes to reveal the actual place where my Twenty-five Dollar Organic Victory Garden will live. Why so long? No real reason except that I was so focused on showing you what I was doing inside the house to get my seeds started, I just didn’t feel the sense of urgency to get outside too soon. After all, once we do move outdoors, that’s about all you’re going to see, so I don’t think it hurt any to put that off until now.

So where are we with all of this? So far, I’m still at only seven dollars spent. I have many seedlings started and plan on direct sowing, possibly as early as tomorrow. My only expense to date is two bags of organic seed starting mix. I actually did intend to spring for another four dollars at this point and buy some organic container mix to bump up my seedlings. But now that it is the last week of April, I need to get those plants outside and in the ground, so I’ll be skipping this normal intermediate step.

Last week, I failed to tell you how much time I spent just clearing the site for my new garden. As this video will explain, I had five large Nandina domestica that, try as I might, I could not get them out of the ground with shovels and even a pick ax. So, once I figured out plan B, I was finally able to extract them. And just in case you’re wondering, “plan B” was a large chain wrapped around the root balls and my truck pulling them out of the ground. The plan worked like a charm.

Once the plants and gravel mulch were out of there, thanks to members of Freecycle.org, I had a clean slate to start my garden. On Saturday, I loaded my truck with two full beds of leaf compost. The mixed blessing was that my relatively new tiller stopped working before I could incorporate the compost into my new garden so I was forced to turn it in with a spading fork. And although it was painstaking work, it was the best thing that could have happened. By turning the compost in manually, I was able to infuse it further down into the soil and break through the hardpan layer; something I would have been unable to do with only a tiller.

At this point, the garden is ready for sowing. I hope to begin that process tomorrow. However, I’ll have to wait until my girls get home from school and do their homework. But the good news is, they’ve both expressed a strong interest in helping me plant the garden. In fact they seem rather excited about it. So, I’d say it’s worth the wait until then. And you can be sure it will make an upcoming episode of the video series. I can only imagine what I’m in store for. It sounds cute now but just wait.

And one last note; I have lots of video already recorded of the making of my outside garden. I plan on posting a new video just about everyday until I catch up so please check back often. I can already tell you, it will be worth the visit!
JL

An Update from the Road

Hello all. We interrupt my quest for the Twenty-Five Dollar Victory Garden to let you know I'm on the road until the end of this week. Before I left I made sure everything was taken care of in regards to my emerging garden, currently in the stage of seeds and a few seedlings. As long as the cat stays away (big question mark), things should be alright until I get home. By then I expect to post another video or even two if I have time, since they've already been taped.

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to address the Alabama Master Gardeners at their State Conference in Huntsville. They had a huge turnout and the event was outstanding. When I arrived on Friday afternoon, I had the pleasure of touring the Huntsville Botanical Garden with Harvey Cotten, Chief Operating Officer. Overall the garden was spectacular but the highlight was the most beautiful and grand dogwood I have ever experienced. She's a very famous lady and I was very fortunate to catch her in full bloom. It was truly a breathtaking sight. In this picture, note that Harvey is standing in front of her. He is six-feet tall.

This majestic dogwood is the native Cornus florida. She's well over 100 years old and was moved here in 1995 from an estate when the city was widening a road. She was standing dead in its proposed path. Fortunately, The HBG was ambitious enough to take on the challenge of saving and relocating her to the garden. An 18 foot rootball was dug and the 90,000 specimen was loaded onto a house moving trailer for the five mile ride to her new home. Rather than digging a large hole for her new place of honor, they simply placed the rootball on top of the existing berm and brought in massive amounts of soil to cover her roots. She's bloomed faithfully like this every year, and has great fall color and fruit. Put a trip to see her on your bucket list as this is a must-see!

Today I travel to Toronto to scout the site of a community garden I will design and oversee installation of in May for Fiskars Project Orange Thumb. Then it's on to New York City for another round with GMA-Health to talk about the health benefits of gardening and growing your own food. The bonus is we'll talk about the Twenty-five Dollar Victory Garden as the basis for the six minute segment. I'm still a little foggy on the air times but I understand it will be on the 9th, possibly during the ABC News. I'll let you know more about this when I get more details.

Stand by for another video and more updates very soon.
JL

The Healing Benefits of Gardening – How a Garden Saved My Life

Today's post is by my friend and guest blogger, Shawna Coronado. Little did I know, when I met Shawna only a few months ago on Twitter, her story would be so perfect for a new campaign I was working. With all the cutbacks and reduced media exposure these days to gardening, I embarked on a mission to be a champion for the cause. With apologies to Michael Pollan, I wanted to entitle my campaign; "In Defense of Gardening", but for now, I'm calling it "Why Gardening is Important".

Part of what makes this popular pastime so vital to millions, is the health benefits derived from it. We all know what we get out of it personally as it relates to stress reduction and a bit of exercise, but countless studies worldwide, support just how important the act of gardening really is in so many ways, well beyond simply what we do as a hobby.

So today, I introduce  you to Shawna, and her story of how gardening literally may have saved her young life:

Over 10 years ago, I was very ill of health. A single Mom, I had endometriosis, combined with stress, lack of outdoor exposure, poor eating habits, severe allergies, high blood pressure, asthma, sugar and chemical sensitivities. This escalated to severe upper respiratory problems. I was always sick with bronchitis triggered by allergies as well as non-stop woman issues such as yeast and bacterial infections, and I frequently suffered migraines and head and back pain.

All these things and many other pressures began to build in my life. Before I knew it I looked like a skeletal stick figure and weighed only 96 pounds. My back would go out often and I would be left unable to walk for days or even a week at a time. I worked and came home and rarely went out doors. At one point I took over a dozen prescriptions a day just to survive. It was a grim existence.

 One day a surprising thing happened that changed my life; I got the genius idea to build a garden on the city easement area around my front mail box. That experience was the beginning of an incredible journey for me both emotionally and physically. It was a revelation and within a few years, “down-sized” my career, became a professional garden designer and full-time writer. I feel better and look better than I ever have – I am thirty pounds heavier than I was ten years ago, but I look healthy and feel well. It is still necessary for me to take prescriptions, but now I only take three per day instead of over a dozen.

 Many gardens later, I am still gardening heartily. As I became exposed to the outdoors and increased my physical activity, I started feeling relief with all my health ailments. Better diet, exercise, and outdoor exposure truly helped me to recover and feel as if I am alive again. Although far from perfect, it was such a tremendous change that I still feel it could be called “a miracle.” Building my health back through gardening had become such an amazing experience for me that in 2008 I wrote and published "Gardening Nude", a book about better health through environmental exposure and greening.

Gardening and green lifestyle living helps me cope with stress better and in-turn it also helps my body tolerate my allergies and other conditions as well. I make time for the outdoors, and even more important to my plan, I make time for community. Building a healthier community, particularly in the gardening world, is a fantastic prelude to expanding your soul. Meeting people who live in the surrounding area and building wacky relationships with wonderful friends in my community helped me realize how important being a part of a community contributes to my better health and can do so for you too. 

Gardening is a natural step towards community. Who has a plant to share or a vegetable to share during the gardening season? Every gardener I know. The simple act of giving to another human being is enough to begin a healthy mental relationship with that person. While making the physical effort to get out into nature and build a garden is important, it is the act of following through with community which will truly make a difference for your emotional health.

It has become my passion to bring community together and to teach people that it is possible to be energetic, healthy, and to live a lifestyle which is good for the environment and the world. It is possible to be less stressed, less isolated and more satisfied with who you are and the life you are living. I know because my family and I are happily living it; the green life.

All thanks to a garden and one determined woman.

Shawna Lee Coronado is an author, locally syndicated newspaper columnist, energetic speaker, and environmental and health correspondent. Her book “Gardening Nude” is focused on health improvement by exposure to nature, greening, and community building and can be purchased on www.amazon.com. Find more about Shawna through her website – www.thecasualgardener.com.

Project Orange Thumb Shines Brightly in This Florida Extreme Garden Makeover

 What do you get when you combine passionate company employees, with a neighborhood intensely interested in revitalizing their community, but with little money to do anything about it?  Well in this case, an extreme garden makeover, compliments of the Fiskars Company, Project Orange Thumb. Today was the third installation of a major garden this year by Team Orange, along with the help of Home Depot, Leu Gardens and neighbors from this Orlando Florida church and surrounding community. And once again, I had the privilege and opportunity to be a part of this project, from plan all the way through to completion.

The site for this project was the corner lot of the Miracle Tabernacle Full Gospel Church. For years, it has served as the anchor and safe haven in an area of town otherwise known for its share of challenges. However, in recent years, the need has become even greater for another type of miracle like this to revitalize the community as well as this rather barren and neglected site. And according to the many dignitaries in attendance at today’s garden dedication, that’s exactly what they got. Amidst tornado warnings, gusting winds and torrential rains, over 50 people worked unceasingly to see this garden transformation through to completion with time to spare before the 3:00 pm dedication.

What culminates with the beehive of activity on installation day is really the manifestation of a well-orchestrated and intensely coordinated event that begins months in advance. But for a garden makeover of this magnitude to be completed in just a matter of hours requires not only careful planning but also the herculean efforts of all the volunteers on the actual workday. Yet no matter how thorough the planning or great the pep talk, you still can’t control the weather. But it didn’t matter. There was no stopping the determined volunteers set on seeing this garden completed on schedule, no matter what Mother Nature had in store. Ironically, although much of the day was spent under a steady downpour, by mid afternoon, the skies cleared and the sun shined brightly on this garden and all who had come to celebrate it’s completion. What a fitting bit of symbolism for the fresh start and bright future that’s sure to come as the result of Project Orange Thumb’s impression left here today.

JL

for more great photos click here