from Wendell Phillips @ Chicago, IL... to Isaac Dickson @ Asheville, NC

Just in case the old email subscription list for this blog still works -- and, moreover, just in case any of you all are curious where my food growing endeavors have led me -- check out the Sept. 29 (today's) post in the link:

http://roaringgarden.blogspot.com/

Thank you all for being such an integral part of my beginnings getting kids to participate extensively and meaningfully in an educational, local-food-growing operation. Here's to the prospect that I can keep doing this kind of work -- together with teachers, students, and community members in and around our kids' city school down here in Asheville, NC -- for years to come!

PS -- I just realized the common thread of the school names... very interesting. One, a white northern abolitionist and passionate orator and advocator for the rights of native Americans and slaves; the other, a freed southern black man who among other accomplishments rallied the black community in Asheville late in the 19th century to vote for the creation of the city's first public schools (for blacks and whites).

Fun group photo from last year!

Having found it for the first time two days ago, I could not resist posting this.. My old phone is effectively dead and when I got a new one to replace it, I was looking through the photos on my old SD card for a good wallpaper. Here is what I found:

Not pictured is Dorothea of course, who I believe took the photo (FYI she's my lovely wife and was always a helping had during harvests -- especially when the kids joined us!). Thank you to our paid summer interns Ousmane (not pictured), Gaylon (not pictured), Jasmine (not pictured), Sheera, and Rebekah (not pictured) for the help last year; and an even bigger thank you to the unpaid students who volunteered countless hours to learn new things and help make the garden a success -- Miani, Macqui and Tarique (all pictured) as well as Destiny, Devin, Desmond, Zayvon, and Quantavia (not pictured). Finally, thanks to ALL the adults who volunteered their time, either as share members or simply as a transitory helping hand!!!

The state of 37G Youth Veggie Farm for this year (the 2014 growing season) is still being figured out. I took a position (a grand opportunity, really) early this school year to work closer to where I live and also to try my hand at teaching at a small, alternative high school with some innovative youth support structures. I rarely make it to the Bronzeville neighborhood now, so I am definitely not in any position to single-handedly push the project to fruition again this year. Another key helper on last year's garden through all stages (planning, seeding, planting, caring, harvesting), Ms. Ebright (pictured second-to-last on the right) has also changed schools...

I am trying to remain in contact with Mr. Ng, who still works as a science teacher at Phillips (pictured on the far left). I am also planning to reach back out to Principal Horton and Athletic Director John Byrne, who are still at Phillips working hard to make it a better and better school for the young people in that neighborhood. They were both always there to help with the odds and ends of things; basically, the garden could not have been the unique learning experience for students that it was without their support. Maybe they have some ideas as to how the space can be productively used once again. Finally, I remain in close communication with community resident, fellow 'urban farmer' and soul/R&B legend Syl Johnson, who might also be able to lend a critical hand in keeping 37G Youth Veggie Farm going this year. Stay tuned!

End-of-season share member picnic next Sunday, Nov. 3rd... you are invited!

Hi veggie team (students who worked at the garden, Ms. Goodman, Ms. Schulz, Mr. Ng)... hello veggie share members!

I am pleased to announce two things:

1) The garden is now officially open for gleaning. Gleaning means, gathering up useful produce that is still around but that the landowner has no intention of harvesting him/herself. What this means is, if you are ever in the neighborhood (or, want to plan to come by) -- you can walk onto the garden grounds (3733 S Giles) and pick whatever is around that you'd like to have. For example, there are some people who LOVE fried green tomatoes; this is your time to rake in those gems, you can cook them for months after you've collected them... there are also lots of cabbages, kohlrabi, some root veggies (rutabagas, turnips) and even lots of peppers (there until first frost, after which I'll probably grab them all up to make into pepper powder!)

2) Dorothea, Andrew and I will be hosting an end-of-season share worker + share member picnic on Nov. 3. All students who worked at the garden, their families, and all adults who were share members are invited to attend. I will also be inviting our school principal, Mr. Horton, one of our big supporters at the school, Mr. Byrne, and finally a neighbor who has been very supportive -- Mr. Johnson -- to attend. We have some yummy culinary plans, including: Digging our own potatoes and then making fresh french fries on-site; picking cabbages and kohlrabi on-site and making coleslaw from it; picking cherry tomatoes on-site and making toppings from it; and finally, I will be bringing some grass-fed cow from the quarter cow share that Doro and I subscribed to this year, and I'll be grilling some hamburgers for all! I might also bring some wild-harvested sumac juice to add a refreshing local beverage to the mix.

Again, the date for this season-finale picnic event will be two Sundays from now, on November 3rd. The time will be from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. I imagine we'll start harvesting and preparing no later than 11:15, start cooking (burgers, fries) no later than noon, and will be enjoying food and good company starting no later than 1 PM. I'll ask that if you have folding chairs, that you bring them; we'll provide everything else! Please RSVP by emailing me back at veggies37g@yahoo.com

I hope that you'll plan to come out for this great end-of-year picnic at the 37G Youth Veggie Farm! It will be great to gather everyone together, with good food at hand (and the ground it came from merely yards away)!

best,
Mr. M

no share today, last share next sunday

Hi everybody! 

Sorry for the late notice. 

There will be no veggie box today. We are not in town today and can't pack your boxes. 

Next Sunday will be the last share day. There will also be a potato-dig, so come on out to the garden and give us a hand if you can! More on that soon...

Share #12 on its way today... and, four more weeks!

We're trying to make your last boxes pretty AND tasty. Just wanted to send out a quick reminder: unless we get a bumper crop of late season stuff (potatoes? tomatoes, maybe, the last share pickup will be Sunday, Oct. 6th.

Will let you all know what ends up in today's box later on in the day... and, I want to say, thank you for giving us the pleasure of growing you some local, organic food over the past few months!!!

best,
Mr. M

Yesterday's box... and, bring back bags and boxes!!!

Someone got a surprise via a little bundle of wild grapes (if curious, google 'river grapes') that I left in a box by mistake... I like these sour things, and the students and I picked enough during our field trip on Friday to make a couple quarts of juice. Hopefully whoever found them in their box dared to try them, and not just throw them away!

Just a quick recap of what exactly you got yesterday: packaged mixed tomato bundle (golden and red cherries + a smaller red slicing variety), kohlrabi, cabbage, semi-spicy peppers, radishes, kale or broccoli florettes/flowers, possibly a rutabaga, onions, a couple of embarrassingly crooked and undersized cucumbers (sorry, I'm not sure exactly why all our plants are dying so early) and some goose's foot. Yes, a bird's walking appendage :) This was the green plant on top, with the long tough stalk and the spade-shaped, small green leaves. Pick the leaves off the stalk of the goose's foot and eat them either raw (added to salads, thrown on a sandwich) or cooked like spinach.

One last note: please bring back the zip-lock bags, so we can keep bagging the fresh lettuce separately from everything else. I didn't have enough bags yesterday, because we've had about a 50% return rate -- so this time around I had to put the lettuces loose in the box. Finally, if you have a wood box hiding at home, please get it to me! We are four short in advance of next Sunday's share packaging, and I'm running out of creative options as to how to pack up all thirteen share members' produce...

best,

Mr. M

Quick rundown on what's in this week's box...

Thanks to Doro for the fun "over-the-truck" photo. What you'll find in this week's box is the following: onions, beets, turnips, salad greens (bagged), peppers N' tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, kohlrabi and kale greens. Fun stuff like eggplant and even some melons coming soon :)

Substitutions: You may not have received a squash, as there weren't enough fruits to put in each box, but you should have gotten more cukes if this is the case. Also, if you didn't get broccoli florets (ugly as ours are), you should have gotten kale. Finally, if you didn't get a head of salad lettuce, you should have gotten delicious Tatsoi (asian) greens instead -- they look like dark green, marbled spoons.

Two more things, and then I'll go:

#1 -- Check out a post by one of our garden student interns, Sheera, below!!! For whatever reason, you all don't get email notices when 'guest' bloggers like her create a new page. But she's going to make at least a few more -- so I'll try to send out timely emails to keep you aware!

#2 -- Please use our new wiki (link at top right of page) to share recipes! For those of you who signed up and can't figure out why you can't make pages yet -- you must request to be added as a member. I just tried to join and was successful, and this is the step I think you all might be missing. I didn't have to find a link for it (though there should be one); when I did it, the notice popped up automatically, and I said, 'sure, request away!"

best,
Mr. M