[Communications] Fwd: ACGA March/April 2020 Newsletter
Julie Samuels
jsamuels1966 at gmail.com
Mon Mar 30 14:28:59 CDT 2020
This notice is interesting and supportive of our goals like "backyard
gardening" ........and possibly getting some free seeds!!
-
From: ACGA <info at communitygarden.org>
Date: Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 5:56 PM
Subject: ACGA March/April 2020 Newsletter
To: <jsamuels1966 at gmail.com>
Gardening Through Covid-19
View this email in your browser
<https://mailchi.mp/1528b2c9faf6/acga-february-2020-newsletter-917633?e=e2e8ba817b>
*What you'll find in this month's newsletter:*
1. Letter from The President
2. Community Garden Guidelines During the COVID-19
3. 2020 ACGA Conference Speaker Request for Proposals
4. Backyard Gardening with Bobby Wilson
5. The Crazy Chile Farm: Effort adds spice to church's outreach programs
6. 2020 ACGA Conference
7. Produce of the Month Spotlight on Arugula
8. Recipe of The Month: The Reset Salad
9. Share your garden stories with us for our next issue
*Letter from the President*
*[image: C:\Users\bobby\Documents\2020 MAUF\2020 Work List\IMG_1657
(3).jpg]*
*Safe Way to Gardening*
*Dear Community Gardeners and Growers*
During these trying times, let us all do our part in keeping everyone safe.
Make sure you follow the CDC
guidelines and follow the mandated orders that has been put in place in
your area. Here are the CDC
recommendations for halting the spread of COVID-19
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-
ncov/prepare/prevention.html
As we go through these trying times remember Gardening/Farming is a major
part of living. As
community gardeners and growers we must continue to grow food for the
community. Food is essential
for all living things to live. All living things need plants to survive.
Plants help keep the air clean by
releasing oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide. This not only freshen up the
air, but also eliminates
harmful toxins. Our bodies need fresh fruits and vegetables to keep our
immune systems built up to
fight off diseases. At this time, we don’t know where this pandemic will
lead this world to.
ACGA is offering free seeds to those who want to grow their own vegetables.
Contact us at
info at communitygarden.org to request your seed. If you cannot plant in a
community garden you can
always plant at home.
ACGA will always put your safety first. Please remember to follow all
safety guideline that has been put
forth.
This too shall pass.
Cathy Walker, ACGA President
A
*CGA 2020 Conference, Los Angeles REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS*
* "We at ACGA continue to monitor the effects of COVID-19 and will make a
final decisions on the annual conference in Early June. With Growing food
and protecting our ecosystems at top of our priority we remain hopeful with
ACGA education."*
The mission of the American Community Gardening Association (ACGA) is to
build community by increasing and enhancing community gardening and
greening across the United States and Canada.
Each year, ACGA organizes an Annual Conference hosted by a different city.
The 2020 ACGA Annual Conference will be in Los Angeles at the Hollywood
Hotel and adjacent East Hollywood Community Garden from Thursday, August
6th to Sunday, August 9th. Workshops will be held from 9:45 am to 4:00 pm
on Friday, August 7th and from 8:30 am to noon on Saturday, August 8th.
Each workshop will be 60 minutes long including Q&A. We welcome workshops
in Spanish as well as English. The theme of this year’s conference is
“Community Gardening Without Borders”.
We are seeking proposals for workshops on themes that relate directly to
community gardening. Workshop Leaders will receive a $100 discount off the
conference registration price of $275. This discount can be split across
the leaders if there are multiple presenters. ACGC is not able to pay
stipends or travel expenses for workshop leaders. You may choose to donate
your conference discount to ACGA.
If you are interested in leading a workshop, please complete and submit the
information below by June 1st, 2020. Our Education Committee will review
all proposals and let you know if your proposal has been accepted.
Questions?
Please contact Fred Conrad at fred.conrad at communitygarden.org or
404-397-6028.
*Link to the form for Request for Proposals* *
https://forms.gle/ApRCJBSnPUaDAabc6
<https://communitygarden.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dabf5464da64e1cd36e90b8f7&id=5e0a75518b&e=e2e8ba817b>*
*3271 Main St College Park, Georgia 30337*
*Themetroatlantaurbanfarm.org 404-788-2432 bobbymauf at gmail.com
<bobbymauf at gmail.com>*
*Backyard Gardening*
*From the Field of Metro Atlanta Urban Farm (MAUF)*
*By Bobby Wilson*
*[image: C:\Users\bobby\Documents\2019 MAUF\03-07-19 Bobby on Tractor.jpg]*
Have you and your family ever considered planting your own backyard
garden? Could Covid-19 and the impending lock-down threaten your access to
fresh vegetables? If you think so, then the time may be right for families
across this great nation to experience the joy and excitement of planning
and planting a backyard garden?
A backyard garden can serve as a great teaching tool for parents who are
homeschooling their children during these challenging times. One can
hardly turn on the television or radio without hearing breaking news on the
Coronavirus. To quiet the anxiety, NOISE-free gardening can be used as a
source of relaxation along your journey to having fresh vegetables at your
fingertips. Gardening can also be used as a tool to teach many subjects
and life skills, especially S.T.E.A.M., science, technology, engineering,
agriculture and mathematics.
Additionally, gardening can help improve a child’s reading and language
arts skills. In today’s times of constant noise, a small backyard garden
can serve as a NOISE-free sanctuary for the entire family, a place to
relax, reconnect, discover and gain new skills.
Metro Atlanta Urban Farm can serve as a resource to assist you in designing
a garden to suit your needs. We are also available to provide you with
seeds, technical assistance, or to answer any questions you might have.
Here are just a few tips for planting a garden:
Location: 8 – 10 hours per day of sunlight;
Irrigation: Source of water close by;
Soil: Prepared by turning it over, either with a shovel or a tiller;
Optional: Build a small 4x4 or 4x8 raised bed; add bagged soil
For more information, please contact Metro Atlanta Urban Farm, 3271 Main
Street, College Park, GA 30337; bobbymauf at gmail.com.
We look forward to hearing from you.
*Community Garden Guidelines During the COVID-19 Pandemic*
As we know, community gardens vary in size and scope and serve different
populations. Yet, all community gardens provide a space for community
members to be proactive, relieve stress, nurture the earth, and take care
of their emotional health. During the coronavirus pandemic, we want to help
our community garden committees and leaders make the best decisions and
spread the most useful information to the communities they serve. Below are
guidelines to help gardeners protect each other and implement best
practices during these times of uncertainty.
1. *Stay informed*. Establish ongoing communication with your local
public health department. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says
building strong alliances before an outbreak may provide your organization
with the support and resources needed to respond effectively. For a list of
health departments in North Carolina, see
https://www.ncdhhs.gov/divisions/public-health/county-health-departments
<https://communitygarden.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dabf5464da64e1cd36e90b8f7&id=f0e318eb60&e=e2e8ba817b>.
For an update on the state’s response to COVID-19 see the Department of
Health and Human Service website
<https://communitygarden.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dabf5464da64e1cd36e90b8f7&id=7dce1d6e15&e=e2e8ba817b>
.
2. *Communicate.* Contact garden members to let them know what the
advisory committee is doing to keep people safe and how they plan to move
forward during this public health crisis. Keep the gardeners informed.
3. *Enjoy the outdoors.* Continue to remain open to your members as the
garden is in an outdoor environment. Please limit the number of people in
the garden to no more than 10 at a time.
4. *Keep your distance.* Follow the CDC’s social distancing guidelines
within the garden. This means gardeners should maintain a distance of at
least 6 feet from other gardeners.
5. *Cancel events.* Do not host workshops, potlucks or any other garden
group gatherings.
6. *Stay sanitary.* Wear gloves and sanitize any home tools that you use
in the garden. Also, sanitize your hands before and after using any shared
tools.
7. *Stay home.* If you are feeling sick, have a temperature or cough,
stay home and get better.
8. *Stay sanitary, part 2.* Sanitize all gates, shed handles and all
other communal spaces and equipment that people touch regularly after using.
9. *Avoid isolation*. Remember, social distancing is necessary, but not
social isolation. Continue to keep the garden members engaged by giving
online workshops, and sending recipes and newsletters. Use this time to do
the planning and organizing you never have time for.
The information below comes from the CDC website
<https://communitygarden.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dabf5464da64e1cd36e90b8f7&id=37d34474d6&e=e2e8ba817b>
recommendations
for community and faith-based organizations:
*Provide COVID-prevention supplies to staff, volunteers, and those you
serve*
- Ensure that your organization has supplies, such as hand sanitizer
that contains at least 60% alcohol, tissues, trash baskets, and disposable
facemasks for staff, volunteers, and those you serve. Clean frequently
touched surfaces and objects daily (e.g., tables, countertops, light
switches, doorknobs, and cabinet handles) using a regular detergent and
water.
- If surfaces are dirty, they should be cleaned using a detergent and
water prior to disinfection. For disinfection, a list of products with
Environmental Protection Agency-approved emerging viral pathogens claims is
available from the American Chemistry Council Center for Biocide
Chemistries (CBC). Visit
https://www.americanchemistry.com/Novel-Coronavirus-Fighting-Products-List.pdf
<https://communitygarden.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dabf5464da64e1cd36e90b8f7&id=3468ba3d85&e=e2e8ba817b>
- Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions for all cleaning and
disinfection products.
M. Alyssa McKim
Community Garden Coordinator
Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T
N.C. Agricultural & Technical State University
Crazy Chile Farm:
Effort adds spice to church’s outreach programs
BY MARLYS WEAVER-STOESZ
<https://communitygarden.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dabf5464da64e1cd36e90b8f7&id=d2aa6fae06&e=e2e8ba817b>
/
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DEBBY WOLVOS
<https://communitygarden.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dabf5464da64e1cd36e90b8f7&id=d148ff0407&e=e2e8ba817b>
| SEPTEMBER
15, 2018
<https://communitygarden.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dabf5464da64e1cd36e90b8f7&id=ace705cc7e&e=e2e8ba817b>
*S*hirley Johnson’s and Janet Zuber’s fingers rhythmically slice in half
red-orange peppers—some small and round like young strawberries, others
shaped like a curly jalapeño. A few people crouch in the nearby chile
field, cutting the scarlet pods from the leafy plants to drop into small
plastic buckets.
This is a typical Monday morning at the Episcopal Church of the
Transfiguration in Mesa, at least during harvest season for the 1,100
Chimayo chile plants outside the church buildings.
Now in its fourth year, the Crazy Chile Farm started as an effort to raise
money for the church’s outreach programs, particularly one that provides
meals through United Food Bank. A group of church leaders wanted to
continue and expand those programs without continually asking parishioners
for more money.
“We started looking into community gardens and the rate of failure is
pretty high,” said Bill Robinson, the Crazy Chile Farm’s manager. “One of
our guys said, ‘Hey, why don’t we work like a commercial farm and raise a
commercial crop, sell it, and use the money to support the outreach
programs?’”
<https://communitygarden.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dabf5464da64e1cd36e90b8f7&id=d34d533047&e=e2e8ba817b>
The church now grows hundreds of pounds of Chimayo chiles, producing dozens
of pounds of ground Chimayo chile pepper. After expenses, all the profits
from the farm’s sales go to United Food Bank, Apache Junction Unified
School District, Mesa Public Schools and emergency relief efforts, like
communities hit by Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
“Most of the chile powder that’s sitting on a shelf in the grocery store is
usually a chile mix. It’s got cumin in it and oregano and garlic and a
bunch of other stuff,” Robinson said. You can find pure chile powder in
grocery stores, he continued, but you don’t know how old it is and “it
seems to be primarily geared for heat, rather than flavor.
“The Chimayo chile powder is a medium heat and it has a distinct flavor,”
he said. “One of the things that is definitely noticeable is that there is
a sweetness to it—not a sticky sweet, but definitely a sweetness you can
taste.”
<https://communitygarden.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dabf5464da64e1cd36e90b8f7&id=0b9505df2e&e=e2e8ba817b>
On trips to New Mexico, Robinson had loved the namesake peppers he ate
around the town of Chimayo. When the church group found Chimayo chile seeds
in Native Seed/SEARCH’s catalog, they connected with University of New
Mexico’s Agricultural Science Center at Alcalde for advice on growing them
a state farther west than where they usually grow.
“The village of Chimayo is almost at 6,000 feet and we’re at 1,600 here,”
Robinson said. “We didn’t know if it would even work.”
“We ended up with a crop that [first] year that not only covered all of our
start-up expenses, it gave us about $600 to $700 at the end of the year to
start dumping into outreach programs,” Robinson said. The group had learned
a lot by planting, growing and harvesting the first year’s crop, and in the
second year brought in more profit from the 4,000-square-foot plot.
<https://communitygarden.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dabf5464da64e1cd36e90b8f7&id=9d4e2d4384&e=e2e8ba817b>
Last year, church members were excited about another prosperous chile
season. The plants were doing well, Robinson said, and produced 36 pounds
of chile peppers the third week of harvesting. The following week, though,
Robinson and other volunteers returned to chile plants that seemed
emaciated. Eventually, most of the plants dried up and died. Pathogens had
built up in the ground and the fungal disease called verticillium wilt had
taken hold in the plants, Robinson said. He blamed growing the peppers
three years in a row in the same field.
Seeing firsthand the importance of rotating crops, the group established a
second field to grow the chiles while the original plot now bears Yoeme
blue corn. Volunteers will rotate the two crops every two years, Robinson
said.
“We had to make a lot of adjustments, but we made it work,” Robinson said.
“Our first year’s crop was puny compared to what we have now.” This summer,
volunteers have been collecting between 50 and 80 pounds of chiles each
week.
<https://communitygarden.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dabf5464da64e1cd36e90b8f7&id=d68da09734&e=e2e8ba817b>
Those successes, though, have come from a lot of learning, persistence and
figuring out decision making within a team of volunteers. The Rev. Robert
Saik, rector of Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, applauded the
several people who have dedicated the time and energy to make the farm work.
“We’ve had a group of people, particularly Bill, who have really stuck with
it regardless of what happens,” Saik said. “So, all along the way, just
like many farmers, we’ve had plenty of issues. We’ve had issues with
varmints, we’ve had issues with birds, we’ve had issues with water, we’ve
had issues with diseases—that’s the biggest one. We’ve had questions about
how we’re supposed to pick, how we’re supposed to process, how we’re
supposed to sell, how we’re supposed to package. There have been issues
with all that stuff, but each time somebody’s found an answer and we keep
going.”
<https://communitygarden.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dabf5464da64e1cd36e90b8f7&id=0733afdc99&e=e2e8ba817b>
Crazy Chile Farm volunteers include mostly church members, but also others
who heard about the project and wanted to help. Laura Ward started
regularly coming to work with the chiles after Robinson contacted her about
bringing her pair of draft horses to the church to plow and establish the
church’s second field. The area, which had been a parking lot, was so
compacted that the horse-drawn plow wasn’t able to turn the soil and a
parishioner later rented a tractor to break ground. Ward has continued
helping out in other ways, including bringing the Clydesdales to the annual
Chile Pepper Harvest Festival.
Along with the chiles and the Yoeme blue corn, the church is growing brown
tepary beans, Mexican oregano and some native varieties of squash and
pumpkin. Seeds for those native types of corn and beans are very limited,
Robinson explained, so the church partnered with Native Seeds/SEARCH and
the Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture to help build up the supply.
By selectively saving seeds from the chiles year to year and as the plants
adapt to their new environment over time, the church is creating a new
landrace variety of the Chimayo chile, Robinson explained. The church has
named its chiles “Campo Dorado,” meaning “gold field” in Spanish, in honor
of the Goldfield Mountains just to the north of the church.
But how did the farm get its name?
Robinson described how, soon after the church’s vestry had decided to
embark on the small farm project, several of the group were attending an
annual conference for the Episcopalian church diocese. The final night of
the conference, the bishop was speaking on the Biblical parable of the
sower, where a man scatters seeds across a path, onto rocks, in thorns and
some on good soil.
The bishop mentioned that his wife was from a farming community and that if
anyone there would have been so careless with seed, people would have said
they’re crazy. Robinson says the fellow parishioner sitting next to him
elbowed him in the side and exclaimed, “We must be the crazy chile farm!”
*Born into a farming family in northern Indiana, Marlys Weaver- Stoesz grew
up as involved in growing and harvesting food as in eating it. Her passion
for food and farming began on that small, heritage-breed dairy farm, but it
has also taken her to harvesting coffee beans on a farm in Peru and working
at natural food cooperatives and farmers markets. Marlys’ writing work
focuses on agriculture and education. Learn more at marlysws.com
<https://communitygarden.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dabf5464da64e1cd36e90b8f7&id=8da2e03747&e=e2e8ba817b>.*
<https://communitygarden.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dabf5464da64e1cd36e90b8f7&id=488f7d8af1&e=e2e8ba817b>
*Chile Pepper Harvest Festival*
Pick up Crazy Chile Farm chile powder, compete in a cookoff and enjoy a
horse-drawn wagon ride at the farm’s third annual Chile Pepper Harvest
Festival on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018.
The event is from 8am to 2pm at the Episcopal Church of the
Transfiguration, 514 S. Mountain Rd., Mesa.
A variety of Crazy Chile Farm products and other area goods will be
available at a farmers market during the festival. The day will also
include live music, Clydesdale-drawn wagon rides, a freethrow shooting
contest, a children’s art booth, tours of the farm and a chile cookoff.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://chicagocommunitygardens.org/pipermail/communications_chicagocommunitygardens.org/attachments/20200330/77e2154d/attachment-0001.html>
More information about the Communications
mailing list