KCDP Blue Tigers Square Foot Urban Garden

Playing in the dirt. That’s what KCDP Blue Tigers are doing as our Square Foot Urban Garden community service project takes root and blossoms.

Blue Tigers is all about building strong communities. A focus this year has been to address the urgent issue of hunger, starting in February with our Hunger Moon project to support Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes.   With the arrival of growing season, helping families move from food insecurity to resilience and empowerment by growing food is a next step.

Taking a page from Square Foot Gardening, KCDP donated all the labor, materials and plants to help families create tomato and bean trellis gardens. Perfect for urban and apartment gardening, the trellis gardens need just a small 12” by 5’ sunny space to grow four tomato plants or up to 16 bean plants. Blue Tiger teams helped dig up the soil, add organic soil nutrients, build and string elegantly simple trellises, provide the tomato plants and bean seeds and in the process enjoy meeting wonderful people.

The Edison neighborhood has been especially eager with so much encouragement from the neighborhood council and Michigan Organizing Project.

According to Blue Tigers co-chair Janet Graham “It’s such a joy. We’ve been down on our hands and knees helping 3 year old twins pat in the bean seeds. One little girl was blowing kisses to the tomato plants. At another home we all joined hands as the father called in a blessing for the family garden. We all have memories that have opened our eyes and touched our hearts.   At every garden where I helped, they mentioned that they wanted to have food to share. Gardening just brings out the best in people.”

After an unusually cool late spring, the real growing season is underway, and  we’re receiving garden updates – tales of rogue bunnies scouting out the tender bean plants, helping the tomatoes start to wrap around the trellis strings, and already some blossoms setting on the plants. Seeing how easy it is to grow vining plants on trellises, some gardeners have expanded by adding more trellises for squash and cucumbers.

The KCDP Blue Tiger project is seen as an essential piece of a growing wave of interest in fresh food and neighborhood gardens. The following report from Paul Stermer of Fair Food Matters details some of the other positive actions in Kalamazoo.

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Dear friends of local food:

If you listen quietly, in the still of a warm summer’s night, you can hear a movement building.

The interest in local food is growing, quite literally, everywhere you look these days – from the community gardens of Kalamazoo to the kitchen garden on the south lawn of the White House.

NPR’s Morning Edition has taken its listeners to farm markets throughout the country, enjoying collard greens, fiddleheads, pluots and apriums along the way.

“By now everyone’s heard or seen something about the benefits of eating foods that are produced within 100 miles of where it is sold and consumed,” said an editorial in the June 25 Kalamazoo Gazette. “Here in Southwest Michigan, we’re blessed with an abundance of all kinds of farm-raised goods, from beef, pork and chicken to corn, berries, apples, asparagus, honey and lots more.”

The American College of Sports Medicine released its new list of America’s fittest cities, data based on such factors as access to primary health care providers, green space and (yep) farmers’ markets.

Dozens of new websites sprout up daily, providing information and other resources on the local food movement. We especially like www.localharvest.org, a great place to find information on farmers’ markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area.

Buying food from local sources offers many benefits (besides great taste). For example, consider the economic impact of supporting one of the state’s true growth industries. “Only Michigan’s food manufacturers have been able to generate job growth among the state’s goods-producing sectors,” said a recent report by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

Good for you, good for the planet, and good for the economy? Win-win-win!

Here at Fair Food Matters, we’re spending our favorite time of year (the growing season) capturing this momentum, and sharing our passion for local food with families, friends and neighbors.

Growing Matters Garden Community Workshops
This summer, the Growing Matters Garden will host a series of community workshops relating to sustainable, organic gardening. These low-cost, hands-on workshops are open to everyone, and include topics such as “Rain Barrels 101” (July 16), “The Basics of Composting” (August 6), and “Lessons in Seed Saving” (August 20). Additional information is coming soon to our website at www.fairfoodmatters.org/gardenClasses.php.

It’s not too late to Sponsor-A-Gardener!
Thank you to everyone who has donated to the Growing Matters Garden’s Sponsor-A-Gardener campaign. If you’re still interested in sponsoring a student or a thematic garden bed, it’s not too late! Visit www.fairfoodmatters.org/gardenSupport.php to learn more and to download a sponsorship letter.

100-Mile Market (every Wednesday)
Kalamazoo’s newest farmers’ market takes place at the corner of Burdick and Cedar Streets every Wednesday from 3-7 p.m. Hosted by the People’s Food Co-op, this local foods market takes its name taken from the 100-Mile Diet, a book about eating locally. Nine vendors offer produce, meats, plants, baked goods, cheeses and more. Learn more and see this week’s fare at www.peoplesfoodco-op.org.

In addition, the 100-Mile Market is a great opportunity to visit with Growing Matters Garden students and staff, and to pick up a variety of tasty, fresh, sustainably grown produce harvested from our educational gardens. All proceeds from GMG produce sales help fund our program. For more information and a list of what’s available for purchase each week, visit www.fairfoodmatters.org/gardenProduce.php.

Food stamps at farmers’ markets
Many vendors at both the Kalamazoo Farmers’ Market (1204 Bank Street) and the 100-Mile Market now accept food stamps via a token system. Just bring your Bridge Card to either market, and look for the friendly folks at the People’s Food Co-op table. For more information, please call Chris at 492.6468.

Can-Do Kitchen moves on
Fair Food Matters is pleased to announce that on July 1, the Can-Do Kitchen – which combines commercial kitchen space with business incubation services – will move to a new facility at First Baptist Church in downtown Kalamazoo. The new space offers more square footage, more storage and better equipment than the temporary trailer from Phase One. The Can-Do Kitchen will live here until we build our permanent site in the near future. To find out more, visit www.fairfoodmatters.org/candokitchen.php.

Future Chefs are cooking
The Future Chefs program, a partnership between Fair Food Matters and the City of Kalamazoo, kicked off last week. Future Chefs gives teenagers the skills to make healthy meals from whole ingredients. Instructor Channon Mondoux noted that the students are already showing a great passion for food and cooking.

Enjoy summer (and local food!).

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Paul A. Stermer
Executive Director
Fair Food Matters
323 N. Burdick St.
Kalamazoo MI 49007
(269) 492-1270