Friday 26 July 2013
Wednesday 24 July 2013
City Announces Fruit And Veggie Prescription Program
City Announces Fruit And Veggie
Prescription Program
'This Is Probably Going To
Prevent an Awful Lot More Disease'
July 23, 2013 6:18 PM
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Two New York City hospitals have a
new way to combat the epidemic of obesity. Pediatricians at Lincoln Medical
Center in the Bronx and at Harlem Hospital are writing prescriptions for fruits
and vegetables to at-risk youths. Patients who receive the prescriptions get
coupons for produce at local farmers markets and city green carts. It’s part of a four-month pilot program to
get kids to slim down. “This is probably going to prevent an awful lot more
disease over the long-term than a lot of the medicines we tend to write for,”
New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said Tuesday in the green
market outside Lincoln Medical Center.
The prescription worked for the Bronx’s Tammy Fudge and her
11-year-old son, Tai-Jay. They told WCBS 880′s Marla Diamond that he lost 40
pounds and significantly reduced his asthma symptoms. “I lost the weight by
eating vegetables and fruits and also exercising with my dear mother,” Tai-Jay
said.
(Mother and son at the Lincoln Medical Center Farmers
Market, July 23, 2013.)
“We started eating right. My son has not been in the
hospital at all,” Tammy said. Precious River, a shopper at the green market,
told Diamond she thought the program was a start. “[But] it starts at home. It
starts at home. Because the doctor can encourage and can offer whatever, but it
starts at home,” she said.
Mother Earth News: Fall Veggies Article
Grow Your Best Fall Garden Vegetables: What, When and How
August/September 2009
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/fall-garden-vegetables-zmaz09aszraw.aspx
Start a fall garden this summer and you’ll be able to enjoy homegrown produce at winter holiday meals.
PHOTO: LYNN KARLIN
PHOTO: LYNN KARLIN
Right now, before you forget, put a rubber band around your wrist to remind you of one gardening task that cannot be postponed: Planting seeds for fall garden vegetables. As summer draws to a close, gardens everywhere can morph into a tapestry of delicious greens, from tender lettuce to frost-proof spinach, with a sprinkling of red mustard added for spice. In North America’s southern half, as long as seeds germinate in late July or early August, fall gardens can grow the best cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower you’ve ever tasted. In colder climates it’s prime time to sow carrots, rutabagas, and turnips to harvest in the fall. Filling space vacated by spring crops with summer-sown vegetables will keep your garden productive well into fall, and even winter.
Granted, the height of summer is not the best time to start tender seedlings of anything. Hot days, sparse rain, and heavy pest pressure must be factored into a sound planting plan, and then there’s the challenge of keeping fall plantings on schedule. But you can meet all of the basic requirements for a successful, surprisingly low-maintenance fall garden by following the steps outlined below. The time you invest now will pay off big time as you continue to harvest fresh veggies from your garden long after frost has killed your tomatoes and blackened your beans.
If you’re already running late, you can try direct-seeding fast-growing varieties of broccoli, kale or kohlrabi. Sow the seeds in shallow furrows covered with half an inch of potting soil. Keep the soil moist until the seedlings germinate, then thin them. The important thing is to get the plants up and growing in time to catch the last waves of summer heat.
When is too late? The end of July marks the close of planting season for cabbage family crops in northern areas (USDA Zones 6 and lower); August is perfect in warmer climates. Be forewarned: If cabbage family crops are set out after temperatures have cooled, they grow so slowly that they may not make a crop. Fortunately, leafy greens (keep reading) do not have this problem.
You can also use vigorous leafy greens to “mop up” excess nitrogen left behind by spring crops (the organic matter in soil can hold quite a bit of nitrogen, but some leaches away during winter). Space that has recently been vacated by snap beans or garden peas is often a great place to grow heavy feeders such as spinach and cabbage family crops. When sown into corn stubble, comparatively easy-to-please leafy greens such as lettuce and mustard are great at finding hidden caches of nitrogen.
As you consider the possibilities, veer toward open-pollinated varieties for leafy greens, which are usually as good as — or better than — hybrids when grown in home gardens. The unopened flower buds of collards and kale pass for the gourmet vegetable called broccolini, and the young green seed pods of immature turnips and all types of mustard are great in stir-fries and salads. Allow your strongest plants to produce mature seeds. Collect some of the seeds for replanting, and scatter others where you want future greens to grow. In my garden, arugula, mizuna and turnips naturalize themselves with very little help from me, as long as I leave a few plants to flower and set seed each year.
With broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and their close cousins, hybrid varieties generally excel in terms of fast, uniform growth, so this is one veggie group for which the hybrid edge is a huge asset. Breeding work is underway to develop better open-pollinated varieties for organic growers, but for now, trusted hybrids such as ‘Belstar’ broccoli, ‘Gonzales’ cabbage or ‘Snow Crown’ cauliflower are usually the best choices.
Finally, be sure to leave ample space for garlic, which is planted later on, when you can smell winter in the air. Shallots, multiplying onions, and perennial “nest” onions are also best planted in mid-fall, after the soil has cooled. In short-season areas these alliums are planted in September; elsewhere they are planted in October.
Keeping newly planted beds moist long enough for seeds to germinate is easy with leafy greens such as arugula, Chinese cabbage, collards, mizuna or turnips, because the seeds naturally germinate quickly, in five days or less. But beets, carrots, lettuce and spinach are often slower to appear, which means you must keep the seeded bed moist longer. Simple shade covers made from boards held above the bed by bricks do a great job of shielding the germination zone from drying sunshine, or you can shade seeded soil with cloth held aloft with stakes or hoops. You may still need to water by hand to make sure conditions stay moist, but shade covers can make the difference between watering once a day or four times as often.
Mulching can have one drawback in that organic mulches are ideal nighttime hide-outs for slugs and snails, which come out at night and chew holes in the leaves of dozens of plants, and may ruin mature green tomatoes, too. Watch for mollusk outbreaks, and use iron phosphate baits or beer-baited traps, if needed, to bring problem populations under control.
Summer sun can be your seedlings’ best friend or worst enemy. Always allow at least a week of adjustment time for seedlings started indoors, gradually exposing them to more direct sunlight. Even transplants that are given a week to get used to strong sun appreciate a few days of shade after they are set out, which can be easily provided by placing an old sheet over the row cover. Or, you can simply pop flower pots over the seedlings for a couple of days after transplanting. In most areas, insect pressures ease as nights become chilly in mid-fall, but you might want to keep your row covers on a little longer if your garden is visited by deer, which tend to become more troublesome as summer turns to fall.
12 to 14 weeks before your first killing frost
Cut-and-come-again harvesting can prolong the productive lives of heading crops such as spring-planted cabbage and Chinese cabbage. As long as the primary head is cut high, leaving a stout stub behind, small secondary heads often will develop within a few weeks. Many varieties of broccoli are enthusiastic cut-and-come-again vegetables, too. After the main head has been harvested (taking only 3 inches or so of stem), varieties such as ‘Belstar,’ ‘Green Goliath’ and many others produce numerous tender side shoots. The harvest will continue until temperatures drop into the teens, which seriously damages broccoli plants. In much of Zone 7 and 8, healthy broccoli plants will keep spewing out shoots for months, and sometimes all winter.
Transplant the untransplantable if that’s what it takes to get a good stand. For example, most gardeners have read that beets, carrots, and rutabagas should be sown directly in the garden, but I often get better filled, more uniform rows in late summer by starting seeds indoors and setting out seedlings when they show their first true leaf. If the seedlings are kept moist and shaded for a few days after transplanting, about 75 percent of them survive. If you feel the need to brush up on your seedling-handling skills, see Garden Transplanting: Expert Advice.
Granted, the height of summer is not the best time to start tender seedlings of anything. Hot days, sparse rain, and heavy pest pressure must be factored into a sound planting plan, and then there’s the challenge of keeping fall plantings on schedule. But you can meet all of the basic requirements for a successful, surprisingly low-maintenance fall garden by following the steps outlined below. The time you invest now will pay off big time as you continue to harvest fresh veggies from your garden long after frost has killed your tomatoes and blackened your beans.
1. Starting Seeds
Count back 12 to 14 weeks from your average first fall frost date (see “Fall Garden Planting Schedule” below) to plan your first task: starting seeds of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, and kale indoors, where germination conditions are better than they are in the garden. Some garden centers carry a few cabbage family seedlings for fall planting, but don’t expect a good selection. The only sure way to have vigorous young seedlings is to grow your own, using the same procedures you would use in spring (see Start Your Own Seeds). As soon as the seedlings are three weeks old, be ready to set them out during a period of cloudy weather.If you’re already running late, you can try direct-seeding fast-growing varieties of broccoli, kale or kohlrabi. Sow the seeds in shallow furrows covered with half an inch of potting soil. Keep the soil moist until the seedlings germinate, then thin them. The important thing is to get the plants up and growing in time to catch the last waves of summer heat.
When is too late? The end of July marks the close of planting season for cabbage family crops in northern areas (USDA Zones 6 and lower); August is perfect in warmer climates. Be forewarned: If cabbage family crops are set out after temperatures have cooled, they grow so slowly that they may not make a crop. Fortunately, leafy greens (keep reading) do not have this problem.
2. Think Soil First
In addition to putting plenty of supernutritious food on your table, your fall garden provides an opportunity to manage soil fertility, and even control weeds. Rustic greens including arugula, mustard, and turnips make great triple-use fall garden crops. They taste great, their broad leaves shade out weeds, and nutrients they take up in fall are cycled back into the soil as the winter-killed residue rots. If you have time, enrich the soil with compost or aged manure to replenish micronutrients and give the plants a strong start.You can also use vigorous leafy greens to “mop up” excess nitrogen left behind by spring crops (the organic matter in soil can hold quite a bit of nitrogen, but some leaches away during winter). Space that has recently been vacated by snap beans or garden peas is often a great place to grow heavy feeders such as spinach and cabbage family crops. When sown into corn stubble, comparatively easy-to-please leafy greens such as lettuce and mustard are great at finding hidden caches of nitrogen.
3. Try New Crops
Several of the best crops for your fall garden may not only be new to your garden, but new to your kitchen, too. Set aside small spaces to experiment with nutty arugula, crunchy Chinese cabbage, and super-cold-hardy mâche (corn salad). Definitely put rutabaga on your “gotta try it” list: Dense and nutty “Swede turnips” are really good (and easy!) when grown in the fall. Many Asian greens have been specially selected for growing in fall, too. Examples include ‘Vitamin Green’ spinach-mustard, supervigorous mizuna and glossy green tatsoi (also spelled tah tsai), which is beautiful enough to use as flower bed edging.As you consider the possibilities, veer toward open-pollinated varieties for leafy greens, which are usually as good as — or better than — hybrids when grown in home gardens. The unopened flower buds of collards and kale pass for the gourmet vegetable called broccolini, and the young green seed pods of immature turnips and all types of mustard are great in stir-fries and salads. Allow your strongest plants to produce mature seeds. Collect some of the seeds for replanting, and scatter others where you want future greens to grow. In my garden, arugula, mizuna and turnips naturalize themselves with very little help from me, as long as I leave a few plants to flower and set seed each year.
With broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and their close cousins, hybrid varieties generally excel in terms of fast, uniform growth, so this is one veggie group for which the hybrid edge is a huge asset. Breeding work is underway to develop better open-pollinated varieties for organic growers, but for now, trusted hybrids such as ‘Belstar’ broccoli, ‘Gonzales’ cabbage or ‘Snow Crown’ cauliflower are usually the best choices.
Finally, be sure to leave ample space for garlic, which is planted later on, when you can smell winter in the air. Shallots, multiplying onions, and perennial “nest” onions are also best planted in mid-fall, after the soil has cooled. In short-season areas these alliums are planted in September; elsewhere they are planted in October.
4. Watering Fall Garden Plants: Keep ’Em Soaked
Even short periods of drought stress can put a nasty kink in the growth curve of most fall crops. Dry soil can be murder on slow-growing beets and carrots, and any type of setback can devastate temperamental cauliflower. Your best defense is to install a soaker hose before you set out plants or sow seeds. Try laying out the hose in various patterns and turning it on to get a good look at its coverage first. If the hose won’t stay where you put it, use short stakes or wire staples to hold it in place.Keeping newly planted beds moist long enough for seeds to germinate is easy with leafy greens such as arugula, Chinese cabbage, collards, mizuna or turnips, because the seeds naturally germinate quickly, in five days or less. But beets, carrots, lettuce and spinach are often slower to appear, which means you must keep the seeded bed moist longer. Simple shade covers made from boards held above the bed by bricks do a great job of shielding the germination zone from drying sunshine, or you can shade seeded soil with cloth held aloft with stakes or hoops. You may still need to water by hand to make sure conditions stay moist, but shade covers can make the difference between watering once a day or four times as often.
5. Go Mad for Mulch
Whether you use fresh green grass clippings, last year’s almost-rotted leaves, spoiled hay, or another great mulch you have on hand, place it over sheets of newspaper between plants. The newspaper will block light, which will prevent weed growth, help keep the soil cool and moist, and attract night crawlers and other earthworms. To get the best coverage, lay down the double-mulch and wet it thoroughly before you plant your seedlings. Cover the soaker hose with mulch, too.Mulching can have one drawback in that organic mulches are ideal nighttime hide-outs for slugs and snails, which come out at night and chew holes in the leaves of dozens of plants, and may ruin mature green tomatoes, too. Watch for mollusk outbreaks, and use iron phosphate baits or beer-baited traps, if needed, to bring problem populations under control.
6. Deploy Your Defenses Against Garden Pests
Luscious little seedlings attract a long list of aggressive pests, including cabbageworms, army worms, and ever-voracious grasshoppers. Damage from all of these pests (and more) can be prevented by covering seedlings with row covers the day they go into the garden. Use a “summer-weight” insect barrier row cover that retains little heat, or make your own by sewing or pinning two pieces of wedding net (tulle) into a long, wide shroud. Hold the row cover above the plants with stakes or hoops, and be prepared to raise its height as the plants grow. See The No-spray Way to Protect Plants for more details on using row covers in your garden.Summer sun can be your seedlings’ best friend or worst enemy. Always allow at least a week of adjustment time for seedlings started indoors, gradually exposing them to more direct sunlight. Even transplants that are given a week to get used to strong sun appreciate a few days of shade after they are set out, which can be easily provided by placing an old sheet over the row cover. Or, you can simply pop flower pots over the seedlings for a couple of days after transplanting. In most areas, insect pressures ease as nights become chilly in mid-fall, but you might want to keep your row covers on a little longer if your garden is visited by deer, which tend to become more troublesome as summer turns to fall.
Fall Garden Planting Schedule
There is no time to waste getting your fall garden crops into the ground, but exactly when should you plant them? Exact dates vary with location, and we have two online tools to help you find the best planting times for your garden. See Know When to Plant What: Find Your Average First Fall Frost Date to find an article that includes a link to tables showing average frost dates for cities in your state. For fall gardens, we suggest using the date given for a 50 percent chance of having a 28-degree night — what gardeners call a killing frost. (Keep in mind that cold temperatures may come and go for several weeks in late fall. In most areas, you can easily stretch your fall season by covering plants with old blankets on subfreezing nights.) Also check out our What to Plant Nowpages for monthly planting checklists of vegetables and kitchen herbs for your region.12 to 14 weeks before your first killing frost
- Direct-sow last plantings of fast-maturing, warm-season vegetables such as snap beans, cucumbers, and summer squash. Also sow parsnips and rutabagas, and begin planting cilantro, lettuce, and radishes.
- Start cabbage family seedlings indoors, and set out the seedlings as promptly as possible.
- In climates with long autumns, plant celery, bulb fennel, and parsley in the fall.
- Set out broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, and cauliflower seedlings, along with celery, bulb fennel and parsley.
- Direct-sow beets, carrots, collards, leeks and scallions, along with more lettuce and radishes. In some areas, even fast-maturing peas and potatoes will do well in the fall garden.
- Direct-sow arugula, Chinese cabbage, lettuce, turnips, spinach, mustard, pac choi, tatsoi, and other Asian greens.
- Sow more lettuce and radishes, including daikons.
- Make a final sowing of spinach along with mâche, which matches spinach for super winter-hardiness. (In most regions, you can expect to enjoy these crops in your Christmas salads!)
- Make a final sowing of lettuce beneath a protective tunnel or frame.
- Every fall garden should include garlic and shallots. If you love onions, be sure to try multiplying onions and perennial “nest” onions.
Getting the Most from Your Fall Garden
High-density planting in double or triple rows can increase your per-square-foot return by 40 percent with broccoli, or up to 70 percent with cabbage. Use a zigzag planting pattern to fit more plants into less space while allowing 18 inches between plants. Use dwarf varieties when spacing plants closer together, because too much crowding can lead to delayed maturation and low yields.Cut-and-come-again harvesting can prolong the productive lives of heading crops such as spring-planted cabbage and Chinese cabbage. As long as the primary head is cut high, leaving a stout stub behind, small secondary heads often will develop within a few weeks. Many varieties of broccoli are enthusiastic cut-and-come-again vegetables, too. After the main head has been harvested (taking only 3 inches or so of stem), varieties such as ‘Belstar,’ ‘Green Goliath’ and many others produce numerous tender side shoots. The harvest will continue until temperatures drop into the teens, which seriously damages broccoli plants. In much of Zone 7 and 8, healthy broccoli plants will keep spewing out shoots for months, and sometimes all winter.
Transplant the untransplantable if that’s what it takes to get a good stand. For example, most gardeners have read that beets, carrots, and rutabagas should be sown directly in the garden, but I often get better filled, more uniform rows in late summer by starting seeds indoors and setting out seedlings when they show their first true leaf. If the seedlings are kept moist and shaded for a few days after transplanting, about 75 percent of them survive. If you feel the need to brush up on your seedling-handling skills, see Garden Transplanting: Expert Advice.
Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/print.aspx?id={E12AADD6-B599-46F9-AF14-D80638639472}#ixzz2ZyZ9C9Sv
Monday 22 July 2013
Montreal Quebec Student Exchange 2013
Montreal / Quebec Student Exchange 2013
We are grateful for the Montreal Quebec Student Exchange that came this year! Thanks also to Karlene N. from Ford City Neighbourhood Renewal Team for all her help as well!
All photos by Adam Wright
Rob helping, Bill looking, Student working!
Karlene providing some instruction.
Rob telling students how we enriched the soil with active beneficial microorganisms and stir it into the compost and peat moss, let it settle, and how we will use these beds as cold frames in the late fall!
Rob sleeping while displaying his beets.
Scardycrow and the students having a visit.
Our plant ladder gets a 'makeover'.
We paint when we garden!
Painting
Giving the grass another cut! Twice this week with all the rain!
Karlene and Steve
Steve and Bill ushering Scardycrow out of the garden for bad behavior.
Quebec, Montreal Student Exchange day
Working hard
Bill talking Student's ear off.
Rob R.
Rob saving his peas for next year.
Steve
Steve
Steve and Karlene
Water is Life!
Friday 19 July 2013
Stone’s Throw Urban Farm
Leasing Abandoned City Lots, Six Young Farmers Cobble Together a Sustainable Urban Farming Enterprise
“There’s a lot of interest in urban agriculture right now, in coming outside and reconnecting with the earth and it just seems like there are a lot of people who are hungry for that.” - Emily Hanson, Stone’s Throw Urban Farm
Alex Leibman, Emily Hanson, Eric Larsen, Klaus Zimmerman-Mayo, Robin Major and John Seitz ofStone’s Throw Urban Farm are making a sustainable name for themselves by leasing empty lots throughout the inner city areas of Saint Paul and Minneapolis to grow food. The sustainable grown produce is in turn sold to the local community. It’s hard work for this six-farmer partnership, but so far the business model has borne fruit.
The founders of Stone’s Throw Urban Farm all have experience farming in the real world as well as education in sustainable agriculture. To launch Stone’s Throw they created a limited liability partnership comprised of numerous city lots that could produce a healthy sustainable diet for the local community.
In finding the lots to support their urban farming enterprise, the team sought to combat one of the main downfalls to starting an urban farm business: the high cost of land within the city limits. Hanson explains that rather than paying exorbitant rents for prime lots, the farmers drive around the city searching for empty space.
“Often times we see vacant lots in our neighborhood especially, and here in Ramsey County we have a tax look up system and you can look up a property’s tax information online and then find the owner. Often it has their contact information listed, or you can find it in the White Pages and that’s kind of how we come by a lot of lots,” shares Hanson. “You know, cold calling people and saying, ‘hey here’s where we are, here’s what we do, we’d love to use your lot.’ You basically offer maintenance of the lot. They don’t have to mow or take care of it during the growing season in exchange for use of the land.”
Farmers planting tomatoes on one of Stone’s Throw Urban Farm’s plots. Photo Credit: Stone’s Throw Urban Farm.
For some plots, the farm does pay a small rent, but none of the leases amount to more than a few hundred dollars a season. The largest lease payment is for Stone’s Throw’s seed farm. For the 2013 growing season, which lasts for eight months, Stone’s Throw will utilize 13 plots. Stone’s Throw tests each farm plot site for safe levels of trace minerals before planting begins.
For labor, Stone’s Throw relies on a bevy of volunteers, who spend their time in the plots, weeding, planting and placing tomato cages alongside the farmers. Hanson explains that 30 volunteers in one day aren’t unusual. “We have a lot of volunteer help. That’s a huge advantage for us being in the city. We’re so easy for people to come, stop by and help out,” explains Hanson. “We get emails every week people asking ‘please can I be on your volunteer list?’ You know we live in a big metropolitan area so there’s a lot of people that don’t get to see that every day,” states Hanson.
Stone’s Throw has achieved some success and according to Hanson, it’s all about diversity and hard work. “I would say that the best source of profit in running a small urban farm like we do is diversity of market,” states Hanson. “We run a CSA and that’s really wonderful for us to get up front investment. We have a committed place that the majority of our produce is going every week that we know we have a market for. The farmer’s market that we sell at is also great. The Mill City market is one of the few markets in town where we feel that farmers are actually able to make a reasonable income. Restaurants are great because they’re flexible and they have chefs who are creative about how to use food. If we were to lose anyone of those pieces we would be very much less able to farm,” explains Hanson.
Hanson views Stone’s Throw’s mission as political as well as practical. “We’d like to see more farming everywhere, in the city and outside the city. We’re working towards making a model of our farm where we have a rural arm and an urban arm. Where we grow perishable produce right in the city and market it to people and do a lot of education. We really believe that agriculture is a tool for reconnecting with our neighbors, for teaching people about the ecological systems that affect our lives so much and being right in the city enables us to do that.”
“We want to see more small farms growing real food for people, more people back on the land means more ownership of the land and more control over what’s going on. The countryside has really been depopulated and the urban masses are more and more disconnected from where food comes from and we believe we have the power to take agriculture back into our own hands,” concludes Hanson.
Friday 12 July 2013
July Bike Ride
Biking Around...
Jade and I were out biking around and took a couple pictures while we visited Campus Community Garden and Dave Fields Hoop House.
Tuesday 9 July 2013
Garden Recipe Call!
Hi Everyone:
Just received an email from Ted Whipp, who is a great supporter of our Community Gardens, and he is doing a Mid-August feature in the Windsor Star. He would love to have a recipe from as many of our Community Gardens as possible. Please consider submitting one. You can send them to me and I will send them all off to Ted in one document if you want.
Alternatively, you can send them straight to Ted:
300 Ouellette Avenue, Windsor Ontario N9A 7B4
Steve Green
Windsor Essex County
Community Garden
Network Coordinator
Monday 8 July 2013
Food Forest Mapping Survey
About five years ago, I ran into an organization called "Not Far From The Tree" located in Toronto. They so impressed me that I have been taking notes about our own city for a few years. Now, with the Windsor Essex County Community Garden Network Coordinator position, I'll be able to start mapping these locations so that we can put this fruit to good use by picking and sharing the bounty.
Sometimes you find fruit trees, nuts, berry bushes around your neighbourhood and you just don't know what to do. You think, "Oh my gosh! I've got to tell all my friends! We can't let this go to waste!". Mapping the Food Forest locations for Windsor Essex can help us all glean wasted fruit. Our warm, hot, long season is great for producing outstanding food. Will you help us?
Take notes. Where is it? What kind of produce is it? Is it private land, public land, not sure? Do you know the owners? Do you watch the food go to waste every year? This project will seek to provide a collective approach to wasted food in our city.
Not Far From The Tree sure knows how to do it right. Here is a quote from their website stating how they negotiate with homeowners who cannot deal with all their produce.
When a homeowner can’t keep up with the abundant harvest produced by their tree, they let us know and we mobilize our volunteers to pick the bounty. The harvest is split three ways: 1/3 is offered to the tree owner, 1/3 is shared among the volunteers, and 1/3 is delivered by bicycle to be donated to food banks, shelters, and community kitchens in the neighbourhood so that we’re putting this existing source of fresh fruit to good use. It’s a win-win-win situation!This simple act has profound impact. With an incredible crew of volunteers, we’re making good use of healthy food, addressing climate change with hands-on community action, and building community by sharing the urban abundance.
Thursday 4 July 2013
Jimson Weed Removal
Harvested my first Illegal Crop at Ford City Community Garden. Please be alert for this weed (Jimson Weed) and pull it if you see it. This weed can cause serious damage to anyone experimenting with it. SEE BELOW!
"Jimson weed (Datura stramonium) is also known as devil's apple, fireweed, stinkweed and stinkwort. It is both a potent hallucinogen and highly toxic. According to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, symptoms of poisoning may include dry mucous membranes, thirst, difficulty swallowing and speaking, blurred vision and photophobia, followed by hyperthermia, confusion, agitation, combative behaviour, urinary retention, seizures and coma. As one cliché-loving nursing supervisor told the Salt Lake Tribune last year: "They are red as a beet, dry as a bone, blind as a bat and mad as a hatter."
All parts of the plant are poisonous, although the highest concentrations of the anticholinergic agent are found in the seeds (typically equivalent to 0.1 mg of atropine per seed.) A student hospitalized last month in London reported ingesting just 1 seed.
Recreational users may ingest seeds or prepare jimson-based tea or cigarettes. The plant is also used in folk medicine to make topical salves and poultices. Some teens learn how to use the plant through Web sites and news-groups. However, most news-groups accessed by CMAJ described it as a bad trip. "The high lasts about 36 to 48 hours," said one. "It will allow you to do very stupid and dangerous things."
Thanks to Chris Reid for pointing it out to me. I made an incorrect suggestion that it was Moon Flower. It looked very similar. And is in the same family, also toxic!
Tuesday 2 July 2013
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