Preserving Time in a Bottle (or a Jar)

Check out this article on canning and food security in the Dining and Wine section of the NY Times last month!

Green is the New Black...

Our own Advisory Board member and GH friend Dr. Michael Dorsey was featured in a photo essay on blackvoices.com... as was Bryant Terry, a rad eco-chef/activist who has a great new Vegan Soul Food cookbook, and was in town hanging out with us when he premiered his first book with Anna Lappe-- "Grub: Lessons from an Urban Organic Kitchen.". Congrats, Michael & Bryant-- and thanks for the continued leadership in the movement!

April Showers, Vegetables, Seedlings

Spring is in full swing at the Growing Hope Center.

Look for Growing Hope produce at Vinology in Ann Arbor and Beezy's in Ypsilanti. On May 5th you can purchase fresh veggies, herbs, and transplants at the Downtown Ypsilanti Farmers Market.

Growing Hope's crew of dedicated volunteers have been instrumental in our big spring projects so far. We've been woodchuck proofing the hoophouse, potting up seedlings donated from Raker and the Michigan State Student Organic Farm. We've also been spending many hours putting together 12" pots for our Spring Plant Sale.

Jeff McCabe of The Selma Cafe lead the construction of installation of a roll up side for the hoophouse. Local carpenter Ian built us a barn door for the hoophouse. Stop by the Growing Hope Center at 922 W. Michigan Ave. sometime and check it out.

Square Foot Gardening Class in Milan

A GH friend from a community garden in Milan emailed us about this class going on tomorrow, april 8th.  Mike Romanowski will be presenting "Intensive Vegetable Gardening--Or Square Foot Gardening" at the Marble Memorial United Methodist Church on Park Street in Milan.  The program is at 6:45 and the garden club will meet afterwards.  This class is free and open to the public, and those who come for the class can stay for the meeting or leave during the break.  Learn about how to make the most of your small-space garden through interplanting, successive planting, and square foot gardening techniques.  

Turning to the Freezer

Today's freak snow storm reminds us that it may be April, but here in Michigan we're still in the grasp of weather's winter moods.  We're longing for the lettuce leaves of May and June, but they are still only sprouts.  That makes it a good time to turn to the last of the fall's produce from the freezer.  I went to this handy page at the New York Times's Recipes for Health series and looked for a use for my slabs of frozen pumpkin that I had neglected since their October harvest.  I came out with a recipe for White Bean and Winter Squash Soup.  Lovely, but I was in need of a faster and spicier modification as the snow began to fall.  So instead of using a pot, sauteein carefully, adding the ingredients one by one, I threw it all into my crockpot, set it on "high", and added chiles and Thai spices. 

The best part about this solution is the crockpot did the work of both defrosting and cooking the pumpkin while I was sound asleep.  The next morning, I pureed it all and threw a jar into my lunch bag. This recipe is totally vegan and can be spiced up with other additions.  

 So explore the Recipes of Health series--it conveniently lists recipes by ingredients and has intro paragraphs of facts about each healthy food.   

Hurrah! An initiative to address increasing needs for fresh fruits and vegetables for local food banks due to the current economic crisis has been funded! Growing Hope has teamed with ICPJ: Interfaith Community of Peace and Justice and Food Gathers to work with local faith-based communities to donate produce from their community gardens to Food Gatherers. Are you part of a faith-based community that would like to start a community garden to donate food to the hungry?

Here is a link to connect to ICPJ to find out more information and fill out an application: http://www.icpj.net/2009/faith-in-food-hunger-collaboration-initiative/

Thank you for considering being part of hunger relief!

Celebrating Growing Readers at the African American Read-in

Area families, educators, farmers, gardeners, and Growing Hope staff were pleased to participate in the 5th Annual Ypsilanti Area African-American Read-In at the Ypsilanti District Library on February 2nd, organized by Splendor Educational Consulting's Dr. Pauline Bigby, who is also a Growing Hope board member. The local event is part of a international network of African-American Read Ins that occur each February.

This year's theme, "Farmers and Gardeners Read", featured local youth and adults reading their favorite African-American authors. Students from the area delivered a biography of agronomist George Washington Carver and excerpts from W.E.B. Dubois. Local farmer Norris Stephens informed us about the heritage of Ypsilanti and the life Elijah McCoy, an Ypsi resident and inventor in the 1800's. GH staff members Terry Carpenter and Karen Spangler each read a favorite story, and Amanda Edmonds delivered an afterword on the relationship between reading and gardening. The Reverend Jerry Hatter gave a moving talk about the importance of taking time with one another to read and share stories, and the enriching effect it has on our lives. Thank you to all those who helped and participated to make this event a success!