Garden Fuss

The Southside Local Food Resource Hub will be joining the very warm and welcoming folks at Transition Longfellow for their monthly movie night. [ new movie every 3rd Friday of the month ] This month's movie will be The Power of Community . I have had the opportunity to watch this before and I must say that there are some great take-away points for all. I can't wait to experience this with a group such as this! If you are planning on joining us there will be a potluck which will include a tomato tasting!  So please bring a dish to share and get ready for some tomato talk. When:  Friday, September 20, 2013 What: Potluck at 6:30 PM, movie at 7:15 PM Where : Bethany Church, 3901 36th Ave S. Minneapolis, MN 55406 For more information on Transition Longfellow click here or visit: https://sites.google.com/site/transitionlongfellow For more information on the Local Food Resource Hubs please visit the Gardening Matters website at  http://www.gardeningmatters.org/ Spe

Then it was September As a blogger there can be a little bit of guilt for not posting as regular as one would like... Speaking for myself that is. If there was a way to upload directly from my mind to this page you would experience all of the beautiful images and stories from past events I've attended starting with Community Garden day, to Open Streets Minneapolis, Food Truck Tuesdays & Movie in the Parks, the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington, and then to the Minnesota State Fair. Besides these events children around the country have gone back to school including my own which has given me more or less " the time " to grab a few moments to recap and catch you all up on my urban Ag Adventures. So I'll give it a go and start where I left off with my Community Garden Day 2013 experience and in between my food preservation efforts you will get a glimpse into some of the ways Minneapolis grows together.... COMMUNITY GARDEN DAY 2013 John Ghizoni, Ajan

I have been talking about Community Garden day for a couple of months now. [ previous post here ]  Today I wanted to share with you all, that Minneapolis has passed a resolution declaring August 10th Community Garden Day .  How exciting?   That means you can check out a map of participating gardens for tours and activity information on the Gardening Matters website and plan which tour(s) to go on  this Saturday .   Each garden will be celebrating in their own unique way with activities that range from: Collard Green Cook-off, Tomato testing, kids activities, art projects, story telling, and African drumming .   I hope you can find one or more gardens to visit through out the day. Maybe I'll bump into you and your family there!   For more info please visit: http:// www.gardeningmatters.org/   Happy Planting, Harvesting, and Garden Touring,   Tina

Backyard Foraged Salad Foraging was a topic my elderly neighbor who was also a retired science teacher and botanist spoke about constantly. Friends thought my brother and I were crazy when we stopped mid game (football) to pick and eat a juicy looking patch of wood sorrel we spotted on the other side of the fence. I can't remember all of the lessons she taught but I remember her passion for eating local and not overlooking the simplest of plants. It's because of her that I jumped at an opportunity to learn some foraging here in the city. I've participated in some monthly classes that have helped me and by proxy my family, become more of an adventurous eaters. Below is a  picture of a salad foraged from our backyard. We paired it with our baked chicken [no pictured] and this meal was more than a hit!  The greens included lambs quarters, Orach (purple mountain spinach), Plantain, Egyptian walking onions, Wood Sorrel, Flat leaf Parsley, Raspberries, and Purslane. All b

Have you ever driven by a garden space in the city and seen multiple people digging, pulling weeds while socializing and wondered; "What's up with that?". Community Gardens are popping up a to feed individuals and families and as a way to build community all over the Twin Cities. If you have an interest in or have ever had questions about community gardens check out the map of gardens participating in Community Garden Day Saturday August 10th. Get all of your questions answered and participate in various activities ranging from skill shares, children's activities, tastings, and even live music. You never know you may even sign up for your own space for next year!   More information can be found at http:// www.gardeningmatters.org/ events/cgday2013

In may we dug up 190 bare root strawberry plants. The majority of them were for a friend of mine who is getting rid of the grass in the front and sides of his home and putting in an edible landscape. I have nothing against strawberries they are one of my most favorite fruits ever; but there were four varieties battling it out in the space I needed for the blueberry plants I had pined for all winter (then received from the Friends School Plant Sale). I kept thirty of the plants my beautiful assistant dug up with the help of her brother. I then soaked, wrapped, and bundled them so that they would be so overwhelming to plant in their new homes. After dropping off the bountiful berry root stock we were gifted with two types of cherry trees. One is a Balaton Cherry and the other is a Dogwood called a Cornelian Cherry. If you live in the state you know that this spring was cold and hella wet... That being said after putting it in it's new home the Balaton developed a b

Spring sprung after winter went out like a lion... Fighting and roaring all the way. I have so many updates for you all I don't know where to begin. Back tracking a little I am several steps closer to having my technology up to date so that I can do this blog. An integral piece to my work in the past has been my cell phone a what I thought was a decent camera, and a pretty reliable PC. The camera started to develop issues first, taking a while to come on then after a battery change refusing to come on at all. The PC developed so many problems it had to be re-imaged and every program restored which required way too much time.  This spring was not just hard on my technology it was also hard on my body. I was able to teach a couple classes and then able to get a bit of my own winter sowing done; but not hardly enough. There are still blank spots in my garden today but I'll get to that later. I can't remember if I posted about my bum knee or not, but a December knee injury ke