Eat Healthy for Less

As economic times get harder, and winter gets colder, we are all struggling to keep eating healthy on a budget. This article, from the NY Times, has a great list of healthy foods for under $1. I was surprised by how many of these I already eat. Enjoy - and cheap healthy eating to you all!

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/29
/healthy-foods-for-under-1

Growing Hope Welcomes the Newest Crew!

Effective the second week in December, Growing Help brought on board five fabulous new folk. They bring diverse skills and interest, all of which engage the mission of Growing Hope.


Pictured: Raman, Ashe, Sarah, Dan, Kelly

Raman Agrawal hails from East Lansing, Michigan. He's a crafty artist and artsy crafter, with aspirations of producing food from the earth. Raman enjoys riding bikes and fixing bikes and billiards. He joins GH and is focusing his energy on marketing and fundraising.

Tall, bearded and in flannel, Daniel Bair has traversed Michigan to be Growing Hopes Farm Manager. Dan has worked on several farms along the way and is excited to aid in the continued expansion of the Growing Hope Center's Garden. Feel free to thank Dan in advance for the bountiful harvest that will come in the following year.

Happily nestled between disheveled and legit, Ashley Bishop has arrived most recently from Kalamazoo, MI. Ashley will work to build awareness of Growing Hope throughout Ypsilanti and Washtenaw County, recruit volunteers, and ensure the sustainability of community and school gardens.

Kelly King was born in Madison Heights Michigan. At the age of four, her parents moved to a rural town in Southeast Michigan in order to start a farm. After high school Kelly went to college at the University of Michigan, where she is currently pursuing a B.S. in Environmental Science. Although Kelly swore she would never work on a farm again, her passion for alleviating hunger brought her to Growing Hope.

Sarah Smith finds herself immersed in the world of food after multifarious jaunts in work that ranges from the film industry, to organic farming and landscaping, to front of the house managing at a local brewery. Sarah will be taking on the role of Downtown Ypsilanti Farmers' Market Manager. Originally from Oklahoma, Sarah has called Michigan her home for almost six years, and loves its people and all four of its seasons.

Urban Farms As Creative, Public Spaces

Hi everybody, Meg here!
My friend just sent me a link to New York City's Public Farm 1 (P.F.1). At P.S.1, in Queens, WORK Architecture Company for MoMA and P.S.1's Young Architects Program have successfully built an urban farm. The design is so innovative and it is refreshing to see an urban garden doubling as a creative, social space. The website is fairly interactive, so explore!
Here's the link:
http://www.publicfarm1.org/

10 Easy Ways to Reduce Food Waste

Good Afternoon Everyone!

As an avid farmers' market shopper, I know that it can be difficult to use up all of the delicious veggies you purchase on Tuesday afternoons at the Downtown Ypsilanti Farmers' Market. That is why I love these 10 easy ways to reduce food waste! Use it as a guide to create your weekly shopping list and make sure you make through all of your delicious farmers' market buys.

Blackbird Gardens

Check out Blackbird Gardens, a CSA and local foods catering company located near Petosky, Michigan. They are a model of social and agricultural change, and sustainability!

Next time you're up north, check them out June through October at Boyne City Farmers' Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and at Petoskey’s farmers' market on Fridays- they specialize in heirloom varieties of your favorite vegetables. If you're throwing a party up north, be sure to inquire about their catering services, which source as much as possible from local, organic growers and producers, and pay particular attention to maintaining sustainable practices.
Browse the site for more information about their organic CSA, garden tours, farm dinners, and more, as well as gorgeous photography of the farm and food. Be sure to take a look at their Community Links page (Growing Hope is listed!) to see some other great slow food activities happening in Michigan.

In Honor of the Downtown Ypsilanti Farmers' Market Today...

Here is an article reminding us all of something we have known for ages! Eat fruits and veggies and be happy!

A different view of the locavore movement

First of all, read this article from the New York Times, a criticism of the locavore movement.

I think there are a lot of good points, particularly about nutritional holes in a self sufficient diet, but I also think the author misses a few major ideas. First of all, he talks almost exclusively about the locavore movement being about producing your OWN food, but what about participating in u-pick, or simply going to buy directly from the producer at a Farmers' Market? I think he over looks the benefits of pumping money back into the local economy instead of supporting huge agri business. By supporting local farmers, you are supporting individuals with a job that is meaningful and something they can be proud of, and I think the value of that is hard to quantify. You are also supporting an economically diverse community.

Second of all, he does not even touch on the ecological benefits of supporting small scale, diverse based farmers versus large "specialized" (ie monoculture) producers. Most of the farmers' at our farmers' market have a diverse, seasonal spread of produce from a small (10 acres) amount of land, and the produce is ususualy organicQ This style of farming is obviously more supportive of biodiversity than fields and fields of one crop as far as the eye can see.
Also, What about the decreased costs over time? Sure, farming your own food in a raised bed for a year is cost intensive. Purchasing the bed ($25-$50), the soil (up to $50 more), the tools($20) and the plants($50) can be a bit expensive. But the following year you may spend $10 on compost and $50 on seedlings, but that is about equivalent to what most of us are spendng on produce in a just a few weeks. While I agree that making everything at home is impractical and unsustainable, I think he is applying the term "locavore" in an incorrect manor.