The Providential Gardener

RI Food Day Events ~ October 24, 2011

The RI Food Policy Council released its first RI Food Assessment report this morning at the State House in a standing-room-only presentation. The assessment is the topic of a two-hour public discussion later this afternoon. Come to this presentation of a statewide food assessment and share your ideas for making RI's food system stronger, sustainable, and more equitable. Help launch the RI Food Policy Council and add your voice to the movement!

• Community Presentation on RI Food Assessment, URI Providence - 4:00pm

Also today:

• Film: Urban Roots, Johnson & Wales Harborside Campus Providence - 7:00pm

See What Grows On in RI for other discussions of local food security in Newport and North Kingstown later in the week.

The RI Food Policy Council will create partnerships, develop policies, and advocate for improvements to the local food system that increase and expand its capacity, viability, and sustainability. Working groups will be formed in 2012 to carry out its mission.

Rhode Island's Winter Farmers' Market Begins! Buy LOCAL!

Farm Fresh Rhode Island , our four-year-old dynamo of a Buy-LOCAL organization, has established an indoor Farmers' Market for Rhode Islanders, with 34 vendors in a beautifully restored mill building just over the Providence-Pawtucket city line in the Hope Artiste Village,1005 Main St, Pawtucket, beginning Saturday, December 6, from 11 am to 2 pm. I went over there this morning for a press conference and saw the space, which looks vast today, but which Noah Fulmer, the director of Farm Fresh RI, says will be jam packed on Saturday.  

Gleaners Wanted!

If you'd like to help the great folks at the Rhode Island Food Bank out, read on....

This is a cross reference to a post today (September 19, 2008) on the What Grows On in Rhode Island News Blog, a companion to the What Grows On in Rhode Island Calendar, the most comprehensive environment-related calendar in Little Rhody. The News Blog and Calendar are Providential Gardener projects.

Farm Fresh Rhode Island is looking for volunteer gleaners. Our local farms have produced more than the farmers can harvest, and they're looking for folks to volunteer to harvest some fresh food to be delivered to the Food Bank. The photo is from today's Farm Fresh RI email update ~ recommended weekly reading! See the News Blog post for details and contact information.

A bit about What Grows On in RI .... The Calendar has several subcalendars, including the Outdoors calendar, which lists lots of hikes, walks, paddles, and cruises led by Audubon, Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council, and the Appalachian Mountain Club among others. You can add events from this calendar to your own online calendar; change the views from day to month to map; search by categories such as farms, gardens, waste & pollution, and water; and limit the view by town or city. It's quite amazing what Rhode Islanders are doing for our environment, so check it out! There is a LOT "growing on" in Rhode Island!

However, even though it has more event listings than you'll find in any one place anywhere else, the Calendar still missing many activities. Anybody can submit event listings ~ it's free. And you can run segments of the Calendar on your website. For instance, if you'd like to let your readers know of cleanups & workdays, or children's events, or outdoor activities, contact me about making this happen on your website.

Blueberries ~ What's Not to Like?

Early this morning I picked a quart and a half of blueberries off my ancient blueberry bush. There are plenty more out there under the net, but that's what I had time for today.

Why everyone doesn't have a blueberry bush in their yards is beyond me. In my experience, there's hardly any work involved, and the rewards are many. My bush is about 10 feet high, and it's been blueberrying away for more than 25 ~ maybe 50 ~ years. All I do is cut out some of the old wood now and then in spring ~ no fertilizer, no pesticides, no watering. It's sitting in a sea of pachysandra or else I'd keep it mulched.

Beginning in early July the berries begin to ripen, although in most recent years you wouldn't know that because the birds take every one as soon as there's a hint of color. Some years the mocking birds think they own it, and other years the bluejays muscle in. Cardinals really like the berries, too. They have their fill for a few days or a week or two, and they have grand fights over the berries. There are blue stains on the sidewalk and the car if it's out ~ this is the only downside of blueberry bushes besides early morning bird ruckuses. [If you live where there are deer, though, you'll have to contend with them also. In Providence, this isn't a problem (yet).]

When I've had it with the birds, I get the large net out and somehow get the net over the entire bush, securing it with clothespins ~ that's the main work involved in blueberry bush ownership besides picking the berries. In a couple of days I finally see the berries turning blue now that the birds are banished. In a week I start pickin' 'em.

Here are some rewards:

• Pints and pints of free, juicy berries. At $4.50/pint or more for native berries, why not grow your own?
• Clouds of blueberries from July through August ~ yes, for nearly two months!
• Unlike raspberries, blueberries don't ripen too fast. They can stay on the bush for a while if you can't get out there for a couple of days.
• Beautiful fall foliage.
• Birds will love your yard if you don't cover the bush. The smart birds might love your yard anyway, though ~ I watched a bluejay snatch a blueberry right through the net last week.

About three years ago I added another high-bush plant, and it had a decent crop this year ~ at least, the birds thought so, because I didn't cover it. Last week, I bought a low-bush blueberry plant at a South County farmers' market, and I can't wait to see how it likes my yard.

Don't you wish you had a blueberry bush in your yard right now? Take a look around and see if you have a spot for one. My mature high bush probably fills a 12-foot circle. It won't spread, but I hear that the low-bush berries will spread slowly and like to be near the edge of the woods. You might read about blueberry maggots and other yucky problems, but if you only have a couple of bushes and have a good mix of plants in your yard and neighborhood, it's unlikely to be a problem. Monocultures ~ large areas with only one type of plant ~ are more prone to insect pests and diseases.

Community Supported Agriculture ~ Time to Sign Up for the Coming Growing Season

Farm Fresh Rhode Island sends this news about joining CSAs:

CSA Sign-ups Give Us Hope That Someday, Summer Will Return.
the Providence Wintertime Market has satiated our desires for local fruits, veggies, eggs, cheeses, and so on, many of us can't help but long for the early days of summer, when we can venture to the outdoor farmers' markets almost any day of the week.

Signing up for a Summer/Fall CSA is a great way to jump-start your way into warm-weather flavors.

What is a CSA?

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and you can think of it as a prepaid subscription to a farm's produce for the season. Participants pay a certain amount early in the year to buy a share of the farm. Once the summer rolls around, farms will provide a weekly supply of their fresh veggies, fruit, herbs, eggs, flowers, and meats to CSA participants. The early investment gives farmers the capital to buy seeds, soil, and other necessities. Participants are guaranteed fresh, locally grown food, directly from the people who grow it!

*The foods available vary for each CSA. Most CSAs provide goods from June to October. You can find more information on the Farm Fresh RI website.

Backyard Gardens Made Easier

Here is a great idea. Maybe others have thought of this, but I found it in Seven Arrows Early Winter Newsletter.  [Ed. note: I encourage any and every commercial nursery to provide workshops, educational opportunities, and encouragement to us Rhode Islanders who are seeking to live closer to the earth and understand our place in the natural world. The Providential Gardener does not recommend particular businesses, but rather focuses on how Rhode Islanders can tend our shared garden ~ anyone with good ideas to that end including businesses, organizations, and individuals, is welcome to send along their news and suggestions. sk]

Seven Arrows has figured out everything you need to build a backyard garden and is offering it as a sort of kit, complete with a raised-bed frame, organic compost and loam, and a selection of seeds. They report that a 20' x 20' plot can feed a family of four (10' x 10' for 1-2 people). Help overcoming startup obstacles is important to many of us who wonder how we could ever set up a vegetable garden ourselves. It's really not that hard to do, but there's a trip to hardware stores or lumber yards (you want to be sure to have wood that is NOT treated with chemicals that will be picked up by the vegetables you plant), lugging of boards, arranging delivery of clean, rich soil/compost (anywhere near painted houses built before the 1970s can have lead in the soil ~ hence the importance of RAISED beds ~ and there are other possible contaminants even out in the suburbs and country. HAVE YOUR SOIL TESTED THIS SPRING!)

Seven Arrows Farm is just over the border into (gasp!) Massachusetts, and I've been there myself a few times.  Those of us who love flowers enjoy traveling around and browsing in many of our local nurseries, seeing for ourselves what appeals to us. Gardeners develop their preferences, but it's worth exploring regularly ~ you never know how the various garden centers may have changed. Don't get set in your ways. Mix it up!

Many of the owner-operated nurseries and gardening centers in and near Rhode Island offer workshops and lectures on how to grow all kinds of fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers, and shrubs. And of course, all sorts of councils, societies, and associations offer many more workshops and training sessions on every aspect of gardening, horticulture, and landscaping. You will find these kinds of events in What Grows On in Rhode Island, our state's most comprehensive calendar of gardening and environmental events. Anyone can send in their meeting notices, and listings are free. I hope to automate this soon (in fact, I wish I could already provide a submission form ~ I can hardly keep up with everything coming in manually, there's so much growing on around here!).

But no matter ~ I'll keep on building the Calendar.  Send the Providential Gardener your meeting notices and share your expertise with your neighbors!

Edible Forest Gardens

If you follow through on the link to The Real Food Summit (the post before this one), you'll find links to a great green blog by NYU students called The Wild Green Yonder. They work on such things as local food initiatives in New York City. Their post, "Three Shades of Green," caught my eye, as did Edible Forest Gardening, another blog. This fascinating approach is gardening like the forest, as described on the About page:

...Edible forest gardening is the art and science of putting plants together in woodlandlike patterns that forge mutually beneficial relationships, creating a garden ecosystem that is more than the sum of its parts. You can grow fruits, nuts, vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, other useful plants, and animals in a way that mimics natural ecosystems. You can create a beautiful, diverse, high-yield garden. If designed with care and deep understanding of ecosystem function, you can also design a garden that is largely self-maintaining....

...Forest gardeners use the forest as a design metaphor, a model of structure and function, while adapting the design to focus on meeting human needs in a small space. While you can forest garden if you have a shady site, it is best if your garden site has good sun if you want the highest yields of fruits, nuts, berries, and most other products. Edible forest gardening is about expanding the horizons of our food gardening across the full range of the successional sequence, from field to forest, and everything in between.

I must read up on this! I think it would really suit me with its emphasis on perennials. Personally, I prefer my gardens to require as little intervention from me as possible. I'm still spending a lot of time out there refereeing the reseeding and spreading plants that compete with each other for room. This year, although we are (still!) in a drought, I watered as little as possible ~ I'd just as soon have plants that survive and thrive without needing life-support systems. As far as the lawn goes, well, it goes as far as it will grow well. If there are too many problems with a section of lawn, I make it into another garden. I'd rather have plants that can survive dry spells than be out watering every day or install an irrigation system.

Forest gardening sounds like the way to go. Have you ever heard of Forest Gardening, and do you know anyone in Rhode Island with a "forest garden?"

Rhode Island Real Food Coalition ~ A New Statewide Campus Initiative

The Sustainable Food Initiative (SuFI) at Brown University is well organized and active on several fronts.  I think these excerpts from their November 19th, 2007, email will interest readers of The Providential Gardener, especially those who are connected with other Rhode Island colleges and universities:

Here is a link to a report about The Real Food Summit at Yale:

The Real Food Summit: A Campus Movement Takes Shape

"Now the Sustainable Food Initiative is  working with students from the Green Collaborative at Johnson and Wales University, Providence College, and our friends at RISD to start a "RI Real Food" group--a statewide coalition of students demanding a change in campus dining--working to leverage a big change in the way our colleges and universities spend their money.  We are planning to officially associate in January.

IF you know folks who are (potentially) interested in environmental issues, or just and sustainable food at other schools in RI (Salve Regina, CCRI, Roger William, URI, etc.), LET US KNOW!!!

Email contact for SuFI: David Schwartz

edible RHODY ~ A New Quarterly Magazine You'll Eat Up

edible RHODY began publishing this year (2007), and the Fall issue, Number 3, is now available. The Providential Gardener senses a kindred spirit when reading the tagline ~ "Celebrating the Bounty of Rhode Island, Season by Season," so let me tell you about the current issue's contents. I have to say that each issue is the better than the last, and the first issue was great! You'll find regular features and departments in each issue, and don't forget to read the ads ~ the whole magazine is a feast for the eyes, and it's full of recipes that would make really tasty feasts.

Some regular features:

• "In the Fridge," which explores the contents of somebody's refrigerator ~ this issue it's Miss Rhode Island, Allison Rogers. [I don't think they'll be into my fridge, ever, but you never know. The contents are not remarkable, but my fridge is a pink 1957 GE with revolving shelves.]
• "From the Earth" ~ this issue it's about Allan Hill and Hill Orchards, one of my favorite farmers and farms
• Artisans ~ "Easy as Pie" is the title in this issue, about Paul Bergeron's Sakonnet River Pie Company [recipe for Sakonnet River Apple Pie included]
• Fermentations ~ This issue about Newport Vineyards
• "In the Kitchen" ~ featuring different Executive Chefs ~ This issue, Joe Hafner of Gracie's [also with several recipes]
• "On the Bay" ~ this issue is about striped bass [also with recipes!]
• "Edible Nation"  ~ This issue: "Your Local Grocer Can Save the World"

There are also stories about children and food: how local farms supply food for school lunches ~ "We're not just growing flowers and vegetables, we're growing future citizens"; and "Class Act: Getting Kids into the Kitchen."

Some departments:

• Grist for the Mill ~ the editor's introduction
• Notable Edibles ~ honey ~ jams ~ hot sauce
• "Rhodeside Diaries" ~ This issue about "Rhode Island's Milk Mustache of Choice" ~ Coffee Milk
• Vegetable Matter ~ this issue about pumpkins
• Rhode Trip ~ this issue an "Edible Itinerary" in northwest Rhode Island
• "In the Garden" ~ this issue about wrapping things up as fall arrives

And the ads include the opportunity (see page 7) to nominate and vote for local Rhode Island food community folks in the Local Hero Awards:

• Farm/Farmer
• Chef/Restaurant
• Food Artisan
• Beverage Artisan
• Non-Profit Organization

The magazine's website displays the gorgeous covers and Tables of Contents of all the issues. You can see why the Providential Gardener really enjoys this magazine. A subscription makes a great gift for expatriate Rhode Islanders, by the way, and of course anyone who eats in Rhode Island.

Well, I'm off to the kitchen now, because browsing through edible RHODY and writing this has made me hungry!

How about Moving U.S. Agriculture back East?

Katherine Brown of Southside Community Land Trust sent the Providential Gardener the link to a September 22, 2007, article, "Let the East Bloom Again," which argues that the Eastern United States is much more suited to agriculture than the West because of the abundance of water here. An excerpt:

...Until the middle of the 1900s, much of our country’s food and fiber was produced east of the Mississippi River. Maine led the nation in potato production in 1940, and New York wasn’t far behind. The South, including Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, dominated cotton. Large amounts of corn were grown in almost every state for consumption by the local livestock and poultry. Regional vegetable markets, especially in the mid-Atlantic states, served the population centers of the East.

...Through irrigation, Western farmers were spared the occasional droughts that had plagued Eastern farmers, but the specialized Western system came with a price. Water projects dried up the area’s rivers. Salmon runs disappeared. Soils were poisoned from the salt in irrigated water that is left behind after evaporation....

The key is to invest in irrigation systems that make the most of the East's winter rains that currently run into the sea. Having been in Colorado recently, I can tell you that water is in short supply there and it's a contentious issue. This is an interesting article that gives broad, national, and also historical perspective to our local farming initiatives ~ well worth serious consideration. If we don't deal intelligently with the West's limitations there are consequences:

...If the United States does not expand agriculture in the East, the nation’s food production will move offshore, to developing countries that may not manage herbicides, pesticides and health safety as well as our country does.

Is this what we want?

The authors of the article are Richard T. McNider and John R. Christy, professors of atmospheric science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Here are some links to reports they have written:

• Developing Opportunities: Feasibility of Large Scale                       Irrigated Assisted Rain-fed Agriculture in Alabama (2003)
• Bringing Agriculture back to Water: A Sustainable Solution for the 21st Century (2005) [Also, link at the American Meteorological Society to this paper, and recorded presentation.]