Friday, July 10

G8 Promises Farm Aid to Make African Countries More Self-Sufficient

In a marked shift, the U.S. and other G8 nations are promising aid to promote local agriculture in food-insecure countries instead of supplying them with surplus commodities from the farms of developed nations (largely the U.S.):

"Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade told Reuters that Barack Obama, who will make his first visit to Africa as U.S. president after the G8, brought a welcome new focus on African farming.

Wade, who has championed efforts to increase agriculture in his West African country, which relies heavily on food imports, said Obama "really has the will to focus on food in Africa."

"The United States produces maize and some crops and sends it to people in famine, but the new conception is to produce these crops in Africa and not in the United States," Wade said."

Monday, July 6

Garden Updates!

If you haven't been by the garden recently, check it out! It is looking great - there is an abundance of lettuce, peas, radishes and even some raspberries! The herb garden is thriving and there are beautiful sunflowers. We have a great group of volunteers this summer who have been working hard. Right now we have a couple projects going on... first we are working on weeding and creating better paths on our newest plot (the north-east plot). Next, we are starting up the compost again. So please bring your compostable items to the first metal bin as you walk back in the west plot. Make sure to turn the compost. Please click here to check out what can and cannot go in the bin.

WORK DAY TOMORROW - TUESDAY, JULY 7th, 6:30pm

We are hosting a workday July 7th at 6:30pm for some early evening gardening. We will be continuing to weed and clean up the north-east plot. Hopefully we will also get some more mulch on the paths. Please come by and help out!
--If you would like to receive more frequent updates about summer workdays please email Kristina at
ksg2116@columbia.edu--

If you are interested in working with kids at the Grant Houses this summer please email Becky at
rmd2154@columbia.edu and check out: http://grantgarden.blogspot.com She is working on creating a colaborative summer cirriculum about gardening + farming.

Have a great summer!

Friday, June 19

New Garden Pictures!


pretty flowering herbs!



strawberries!!

more strawberries!


North East plot, looking better :)

gourmet salad mix, getting larger

<3beets<3

artichoke/swiss chard

Wednesday, June 17

Rooftop Gardens Grow!

Friday, June 5

U.S. Food Aid

Buying food locally--wherever it's needed.

From Reuters
Food aid cheaper, faster when bought locally: GAO

Tuesday, May 26

From College to Farm

Our very own Erin Axelrod, now a CUFSP alum, made a cameo in the first line of a recent NY Times article about the trend of college grads appearing on small farms! Read link below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/dining/24interns.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=erin%20axelrod%20&st=cse


Also, another opportunity for you to get involve in NYC local food:

The Brooklyn Healthy Food Campaign is seeking volunteers. Please see link for
more information to see if you might be interested.

http://www.brooklynhealthyfoodcampaign.org/fs_volunteerapp.html

Sunday, May 17

Garden Pictures!

Hey everyone,
Below are pics from our last work day, when we planted all of the starts we bought from the Silver Heights Farm. Happy Spring!
-Kristina


Future co-president Kristina (left) and treasurer Arianna (right)


It was a successful day of planting!

Me with the flamingo pink swiss chard!

Rhubarb/ fennel!

Ari with the gourmet salad mix

Assorted hot/sweet peppers

Tomatoes

Arianna with the pepper/tomato starts

Broccoli starts