Fresh for Florida Kids Food Garden

 

My largest and most exciting project this spring has been the Fresh for Florida Kids Food Garden at the Holland Building, downtown on Calhoun Street.

Here are a couple pictures:

The garden has received a lot of press:
Florida Helps Mom with Age Old Message (Tampa Bay ch 10)
 Commissioner Putnam Opens Fresh for Florida Kids Food Garden (Capital Soup)
Adam Putnam Plants Healthy Eating Gardens in Tallahassee (Sunshine State News)
     Adam Putnam on YouTube
Florida School Garden Program (WCTV)
Learning We've Got to Get Ourselves Back to the Garden (Tallahassee Democrat)

Amy Campbell-Smith at the FL Dept of Ag and Consumer Services (Food, Nutrition, and Wellness) has been doing a superb job of overseeing and writing about the garden.  Here's a sample of one of her fun updates written to her fellow gardeners:

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Kathy Sanders and I were just outside gathering good things from our garden!  There are strawberries, blueberries and a couple peppers on the filing cabinet outside my cubicle, rinsed and ready to eat. Some of the strawberries have been munched on by ants BUT—they are still good to eat. Just cut away the bad parts!

We also noticed the first tomato starting to ripen. It is a pretty yellow and may ripen to red or a beautiful school bus orange. We shall see!

There was a GIANT zucchini that Kathy is taking home. With its size, she may have enough to make 10 loaves of zucchini bread!  Haha!

The elongated eggplants are growing every day. They are not quite big enough to pick yet, but I’ll keep my eye on them for you, Jackie!!!

There are hot and mild peppers galore, so please help yourselves. Monday night, I made stuffed peppers with two green bells from the plant in the mosaic bed (the high bed over towards the picnic tables) and they were delicious. Nothing beats ultra fresh produce in taste or health!

Here's a picture of today’s bounty!  Gorgeous!

We will soon be having a bounty of yellow squash. There are more zucchini forming. I hope they all become the size of Kathy’s prize!

There are tons of cucumber blooms, which means that the cukes themselves aren’t far behind.

The corn in the bed in front has completely tasseled and we saw bumblebees all over the blooms, pollinating the heck out of it. You’ll start to notice tiny ears growing along the sides of the corn stalks before you know it. Then we’ll have to be extra vigilant and keep the squirrels and birds away! The other beds of corn aren’t far behind—everyday they seem to grow another inch or two.

We also picked a family-sizes serving of tender green beans. Once you pick green beans, more and more grow so keep an eye on them. They’re best picked when the beans are about 4 to 5 inches long.

The zipper peas and black-eyes peas are blooming and starting to form pea pods. The soy beans are coming along nicely and a couple of the plants already have tiny flower buds. The potatoes are flowering and working hard to produce their tuberous roots. I noticed a couple okra pods also.

If you poke around in the beds, you’ll notice quite a few ants. What they are doing is “farming” colonies of aphids. The aphids produce what is termed honeydew (no, not melons!), which is the aphids’ waste from munching on the plants. The ants then take the honeydew back to their nests to feed their queens, so that she will perpetuate their colony. It’s very interesting to watch them for a while. The ants were especially prevalent in the lettuces we had planted (which have been removed to make room for more okra plants and herbs).

I’ve seen many ladybugs munching on aphids. Ladybugs are “beneficial” insects in that they consume nothing but naughty aphids. Here’s a picture that my husband took while we were weeding one weekend. 

Here’s also another picture of our resident mockingbird. 

Be careful—Abbey was closely swooped earlier this week when she was enjoying some warm strawberries. I think the bird is getting ready to roost in the trees above the outdoor classroom!

Have a great rest of the week!  Enjoy the garden!

Amy

- - -

If you're searching for the movers and shakers behind the scenes who navigated Florida state bureaucracy and had the vision for such a cool garden, you're looking for Robin Safely and Katrice Howell.  Kudos to them.

I'll be in the Fresh for Florida Kids Food Garden every Friday, 4-5pm tending and teaching.  Stop by, lend a hand, ask questions. See you in the garden.  -- Nathan, the Man in Overalls

A Few Late Night Thoughts on Food Movement Success

Pushing three years ago, I clambered into overalls to earn my living encouraging and assisting folks to grow food for self and neighbor. I got my start standing beside the road with a pitchfork and sign that read, "Will Garden for Food."

On one level, I launched my business to earn an income*. On a deeper level, however, I got into food gardening, I reclaimed the overall-style of my grandfather because I sought to develop a platform of legitimacy from which I could support the food movement by connecting and aiding the many local players working to grow a resilient, community-based food system. (Much of my food movement facilitation work these days I do through the Tallahassee Food Network and with iGrow-"Whatever You Like," a Frenchtown-based youth-empowerment and urban ag project.)

The iGrow Team just after hearing the news that they had won the Junior League's Big, Bold Idea Grant.

The past few years have certainly been an exciting time to do food movement work. There's so much happening. I'll note a few highlights. (Just to be clear, I can in no way claim responsibility for all these happenings; I'm just privy to the info. Only in a few instances am I a co-conspirator in the work.)

• Launch of the Tallahassee Food Network
• Launch of the Red Hills Small Farms Alliance and their Online Market 
• Launch of the Tallahassee Community Gardening Program (a TFN initiative)
• Launch of iGrow
• Green Industries' Sustainable Ag Vocational Certificate Program
• October 2011: Food Day and the Youth Symposium on Hunger and Food
• Globally acclaimed Food Movement leaders Will Allen and Vandana Shiva have come to town to speak/teach
• New School Gardens: Ruediger, Astoria Park, Killarn Lakes, Seminole Montisorri, Wesson VPK, Crawfordville, Florida High
• New Community Gardens: Levy Park, The Space at Feather Oaks, Betton Hills, Southwood, Havana, Fort Braden, Veterans' Village, Second Harvest, Thomasville University, Bethel Towers
• New Church and Workplace Gardens: St Johns Missionary Baptist, FBMC Benefits Management, Manna on Meridian/Faith Presbyterian, Christ Presbyterian, Trinity Methodist,
• Groundwork laid for a Tallahassee-area local food directory
• Coordinated Tallahassee delegation trips to Southern Sustainable Ag Working Group, American Community Gardening Association, the Community Food Security Coalition, and the Growing Power National-International Urban and Small Farms conferences.
• New Farmers markets: Frenchtown Heritage, Killarn, Lafayette Street, Department of Environmental Protection, Innovation Park.
• Launch of the FSU student org, Tallahassee Sustainability Group, which includes their Ghazvini and Salvation Army Garden projects.
• Growth of Dr Dena Dennard and Dr Imani's Aaket Center Garden that engages FAMU students
• Launch of 6th Ave Farm

If you'd like to connect with any of the efforts you see, let me know.

*Folks regularly ask, "How do you make money?"
I've consulted with folks about where, when and how to plant and maintain their food gardens; I've built raised beds, reseeded existing gardens, planted fruit trees, berry bushes, grape vines and herbs.  I've aided workplaces, neighborhoods, churches, schools, and recently, the Florida Department of Ag  to develop community food garden projects. As needed, I've provided community organizing, team-building, leadership development, design, supply sourcing, installation, planting, maintenance, instruction, and youth engagement services.

Tour of Spring

Front yard gardens, school gardens, community gardens, church gardens, workshops and iGrow Buckets... it all happens at once in the spring time.  Below is a sampling of what's been keeping Wendell and I busy the past several weeks.

Fresh for Florida Kids Dept of Ag and Consumer Services (Holland Building) Garden
(which is going to serve as the set for You Tube Food Garden Education clips to be shared state-wide with students and teachers as part of the DOA's new Farm to School program).

Seminole Montessori Preschool Garden
(Lots of fun working with parents and children throughout the day.)

Faith Presbyterian Church Garden
(Kids grow food to give away through Manna on Meridian food pantry. Also the location for workshops that we offer on distribution Saturdays with folks coming to get food.)

Whole Child Leon/ Wesson VPK Garden -- TD article
(Engaging kids in the 95210; encouraging children to get their five fruits and veggies every day.)

Dena and Jenna's Garden
(Jenna's a pro.  I showed her once, and from there she had the knack.)

The Space at Feather Oaks Food Garden
(Eight family plots.  We have a workshop at the start of each season.)

iGrow Bucket Building Workshop at New Leaf

Esposito Workshop Garden

Like I said, a sampling.  Spring is always a whirlwind of planning, planting, teaching, and supporting new growers.

And lest I forget, we keep getting press here and there.  Much thanks to all those who have offered me and others amidst the Tallahassee Food Network a chance to share our story:

• Miaisha Mitchell and Nathan Ballentine on Tallahassee Talks 2/11/2012
• Man in Overalls and Youth on 411 Teen to talk about Youth Gardening and Hunger
• "Kids Learn How to Plant and Play" Tallahassee Democrat article 4/3/2012 

Child of a Farmworker

My mother grew up in Jackson County on a small farm.  Her family grew cotton, corn, and peanuts like everyone around them.  Unable to pay the mortgage, her family planted crops in the spring; laid them by; headed to Michigan for the summer to pick cheeries, strawberries, peaches and the like before returning to harvest their crops in north Florida.  With the onset of winter, the family loaded up for a temporary move to south Florida to harvest citrus before coming back to north Florida in the springtime to repeat the process.

I was raised by a farmworker who taught me to identify with folks tending our food, to recognize the skill and ceaseless work necessary to grow and harvest the groceries we can easily take for granted. 

I was raised in a faith that is rooted in the cries of the enslaved Israelite people who were expected to make bricks without straw. From an early age, I heard words such as, "In Christ there is neither slave nor free...."

It is with such a background that I stand in support of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers as they fast to encourage Publix to hold their tomato suppliers accountable for poor (i.e. outrageous) labor practices in Florida's fields, not least of which is modern-day slavery.  The coalition asks that Publix enter a three-way agreement with them and Florida growers to pay 1 penny more per pound for tomatoes that will deliver farmworkers the first wage increase they've seen since the 1970's.  Instead of 1.5 cents, they'll be paid 2.5 cents for each pound of tomatoes they pick.

I'll be passing up lunch this week to honor the CIW's dedication to just food. Learn more by watching the below video about their fast.

March 2012 Natural Awakenings Features Man in Overalls and iGrow Buckets

Open publication - Free publishing - More march 2012

Food Sovereignty
Nathan Ballentine
"Though we do not talk about it much in the food movement -- even, for that matter, amidst the Tallahassee Food Network -- what we are working on is the democratization, the decentralization of our food system, soil to seed to harvest to dinner.
        The big question is, "Who controls your food?"
        ...more on page 28 in Natural Awakenings.

Grow Your Groceries
"The iGrow Bucket is a self-watering mini food garden build using two five-gallon buckets.  It was a water-reservoir at the base that allows for bottom-up watering, which encourages the roots to grow down and helps ensure consistent moisture for maximum food production.

"The buckets -- a product developed by Wendell Mitchell and Nathan Ballentine of Tallahassee Food Gardens -- are being manufactured by the Frenchtown based iGrow- "Whatever you like"- Youth in order to underwrite their dream to start an urban farm in Frenchtown....

The iGrow team is making three versions of the buckets, all available for sale via their website (igrow-whateveryoulike.weebly.com) and the below paypal buttons.

$32 Just Add Water 

iGrow Bucket. Filled with magic compost-mix. Pre-planted with heirloom tomato. Comes with built in trellis.

 

$24 Ready To Plant 

iGrow Bucket. Pre-filled with magic compost-mix. 

 

$20 Do it Yourself 

iGrow Bucket. Fill. Plant. Water. Eat. 

 

Feel free to email igrow.whateveryoulike@gmail.com with questions."