Category: Urban Farming

The coronavirus crisis has increased interest in individuals wanting to grow their own food during stay-at-home orders, massive layoffs and community planting postponements. About 1,000 people a day are signing up for a free, online vegetable gardening course offered by Oregon State University Extension Service.

As of April 1, more than 17,656 people had registered for the introductory course, according to OSU Extension, which waived the $45 fee through the end of April.

The course offers information that can be accessed anytime online on how to plan a garden, prepare the soil, care for plants and harvest.

People are also being encouraged to donate surplus produce to local food agencies through the Plant a Row for the Hungry effort.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE: https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/2020/04/oregons-free-online-vegetable-gardening-course-draws-in-18000-people-following-stay-home-order.html

👨‍🌾 During World War II, those at home grew Victory Gardens to ease food shortages & boost morale. While there may not be a shortage of food, those quarantined at home may find their garden to be a place of joy, wonder and peace. BONUS… you’ll end up with some pretty great things to eat.

“SOW the Seeds of VICTORY”! 💪
🛒 SHOP our Homestead Seed Bank, NOW: https://www.seedsnow.com/products/homestead-seed-bank

Spring weather and extra time at home may have you thinking about putting in or tending to a garden. It’s something past generations always did in times of turmoil. Home gardens provide extra fruits, veggies and herbs when store shelves may be bare.

During both World Wars, the U.S. government encouraged Americans to grow their own food to relieve shortages. Gardening was promoted as a family-friendly activity that provided exercise and stretched food budgets.

With wartime food rationing in 1942, the Oregon Victory Garden Advisory Committee formed to help people grow personal plots of fruits and vegetables. Community groups and government agencies partnered to offer free public classes, they produced and distributed how-to manuals, provided hands-on assistance through home visits, and broadcast gardening information on KOAC radio – later known as Oregon Public Broadcasting.

The coordinated effort worked. All over the state, residents dug up and cultivated their yards, public parks, empty lots and even a portion of the Oregon Zoo.

READ THE FULL STORY: https://www.opb.org/artsandlife/article/victory-gardens-america-coronavirus-history-oregon/

A nine-year-old builds houses from scratch and they aren’t the kind for dolls. 

When Hailey Fort was just five-years-old, it broke her heart to see a homeless man on the street. After asking her parents how she could help him, she’s been assisting the homeless by providing food and housing ever since.

Hailey of King Fort, Washington is building a mobile shelter for her homeless friend Edward and others like him. She plans to build 12 this year.

Edward recently lost his job working at the local supermarket and Hailey made it her goal to make sure he could sleep someplace warm and dry.

READ THE FULL STORY: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3111720/Nine-year-old-girl-builds-makeshift-homes-homeless-grows-food-garden.html

Historically, farms and forests have been at odds. Conventional wisdom says we have to cut down the forest to make way for agriculture.

But a growing movement called agro-forestry “capitalizes” on the free services forests provide farmers and gardeners.

Not only do trees protect more delicate edible plants from the elements and extreme weather, they provide nutrients, water, pest control and pollination services.

Although you might not find all your traditional annual veggies in a forest garden, you will discover hundreds of new varieties of edible plants you never knew existed, that are often more nutrient-dense and flavorful.

And if you choose your plants carefully, they will propagate themselves each year and live symbiotically among the hundreds of diverse species around them, requiring no tilling, planting, fertilizing, weeding or watering.

This is what Martin Crawford has done in his 2-acre forest garden in England for over 20 years — let it do the work for him for the most part, after a few years of research and legwork.

READ THE FULL STORY: https://returntonow.net/2019/10/28/forest-garden-with-500-kinds-of-food-requires-only-a-few-hours-of-work-per-month/?fbclid=IwAR1n5udnKnaFLBC9hI9pCnNv4R3ryKXXzQKfOlXeurHyYcURiXHMSPVTN6o

In recent years, there has been a growing disconnect between children and their food. Most kids have never set foot on a farm or in an orchard, only ever seeing food go from the grocery store to their house to their plate. Thousands of children have never before witnessed the food they eat actually growing in the ground.

What better way to introduce this concept, and foster an appreciation for the food they eat, then integrating it into their play?

Benefits of gardening with your kids

Gardening with children has so many benefits to their physical and mental health:

1. Body control and development: There is a lot of physical activity involved with gardening, such as carrying tools, digging, planting, and more. This helps children develop their body management and locomotor skills. There is also quite a bit of precision involved with gardening, which helps children master their fine motor skills. (1, 2, 3)
2. Sensory development: Working in a garden exposes children to a huge range of sounds, smells, sights, and textures. The cold water from the hose, the smell and feel of the soil, the clinking sound of shovels and trowels – all of these stimulate the senses and allow children to experiment with those.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT: https://theheartysoul.com/grow-a-living-playhouse-for-your-kids/?fbclid=IwAR0n2ysG3MG1ZiBAINy8ecsyQMAw-GOdDMbDb4tKAOpf2yjPbYFq0VGARmA