Growing America: Student Run Farm and Farmers Market

student farmers needed

The Ohio State University, The PAST Foundation and Metro High School in Columbus have teamed up to create a student-run farm and farmers market through its new Growing America program.

This program has been created to introduce students to farm planning, design, management and operations, plant growth and development, and produce marketing through a small-scale farm and student-run farmers market. The project is led by teacher Neal Bluel, who is a Botany/Research faculty member with the school. The farm will be at the Waterman Dairy Farm on Ohio State’s campus. The farmers market will run from July 25 to Aug.15 at The Metro School, which is  located at 1929 Kenny Road at the intersection of Kenny and Kinnear Roads in Columbus.

Students will be able to experience a variety of opportunities and may serve in several levels of leadership and responsibility. Participants will learn about the path that food travels from farm to market, as well as gaining hands-on experience in food production, harvesting and distribution.

This experience will be valuable to students with all interests—such as business, marketing, and entrepreneurship. The time students spend in the program will be based on the position they accept. The program is accepting applications on a rolling basis. Currently, the project needs students for 12 week, six week, and one-week programs.

Growing America will take applications for the 12-week program until May 20, for the six- week leadership program until June 10; and applications for the weeklong program until July 10. For questions or applications visit The PAST Foundation, or contact Neal Bluel or call 614-247-2276.

What is the farmers market? It is a project hosted by Metro High School through the Growing America program and The Ohio State University. This is a great opportunity to teach urban students (and future farmers) and consumers about the growth and distribution of produce, as well as a source to connect with the local community. Students will be working with nonprofit organizations and corporations to develop the marketing ideas and then implementing them with the help of volunteers and vendors.

What can you do? The Metro High School is looking for local producers to set up a stand at the market. As you know, few people know the benefits of a farmers market: the quality of the produce and the affordable prices. The only way that can change is to provide you, the vendor, with a publicized chance to sell your product.

The cost? The cost to you is only $12.50/market day with a minimum commitment of two market days through July 25 to Aug. 15. You can opt for Metro High School to highlight your business as a “vendor of the week”. For an additional $10, we will connect you with the chefs from Ohio State dining services to create a cooking demonstration using only your product.

This program will allow you to sell your produce, teach students about farming, and in the process meet new customers from neighboring communities. If you are interested, contact the market leadership team at growingamerica@themetroschool.org or bluel@themetroschool.org call 614-247-2276.

Filed under: Dayton Ohio

McPherson Town Community Garden

Photos from this Dayton Daily News photo thread:

Residents of Dayton’s McPherson Town Historic District begin transforming an urban lot into a community garden on Saturday, April 2.

McPherson Town neighbors clear a lot of debris on West McPherson Street in the Dayton historic district on Saturday, April 2, for a community garden.

McPherson Town neighbors clear a lot of debris on West McPherson Street in the Dayton historic district on Saturday, April 2, for a community garden.

An organic mixture of compost and manure is delivered to the McPherson Town community garden on Thursday, April 9.

An organic mixture of compost and manure is spread by McPherson Town residents Aimee Noel, left, and Tim Meyers at the new neighborhood garden on Thursday, April 9.

Compost is spread by residents over the the area to become the new McPherson Town community garden on Thursday, April 9.

The McPherson Town garden is tilled after compost was added and the sod turned.

McPherson Town community garden plots are chosen during a lottery on Saturday, April 18.

McPherson Town residents gather on Saturday, April 18, for a lottery to select community garden plots.

The record book for the McPherson Town garden.

With the promise of a bountiful harvest, McPherson Town residents participating in the community garden also signed agreements promising to take care of their plots.

McPherson Town residents John Strieter, left, and Tim Meyers clear their plots in a new community garden in the historic McPherson Town neighborhood in Dayton.

McPherson Town resident John Strieter sifts rocks from his family plot in the new community garden

Residents of Dayton’s historic McPherson Town neighborhood work their plots in a new community garden on Monday, May 4.

Filed under: urban gardens , McPherson Town Community Garden

Grow with your neighbors: Dayton Community Gardens

Anthony Gottschlich has written two pieces on community gardens this week.  Here they are:

Community gardens growing like weeds

DAYTON — In a vacant lot in McPherson Town, Aimee Noel and her neighbors cultivate the earth with visions of deep red tomatoes, green leafy lettuce and fresh brussels sprouts in their heads.

They spend hours each afternoon, weather permitting, transforming this rocky soil to fertile ground, planting seeds for food and friendship in a garden they hope will nourish this neighborhood for years to come.

“It’s just been really fantastic,” Noel said as she planted beans in her 9-by-12 plot, one of 24 in this lot along McPherson Street near downtown. “I’ve met people I wouldn’t have met otherwise. It’s kind of a gathering place now.”

The McPherson garden is just the latest among a growing number of community gardens to sprout up in the Dayton area under the Grow With Your Neighbors program of Fiver Rivers MetroParks.

“This has been the busiest year as long as most folks here can remember,” program manager Luci Beachdell said. “I had maybe three new groups last year and probably twice that many this year.”

While some neighborhoods, such as McPherson, garden for the love of it, Beachdell said the economy is the driving factor for others.

“People know they can save money by growing their own food instead of buying it, and it will taste better, too,” she said.

Established in 1986, Grow With Your Neighbors includes more than two dozen (mostly vegetable) gardens in Montgomery County, the majority of those in Dayton. Depending on a neighborhood’s needs, Five Rivers will help find a suitable location, test the soil for heavy metals, till the land, provide seeds and offer numerous tips and resources for successful gardening.

Noel said when she and neighbor Debbie Leibrock raised the garden idea to neighbors earlier this year, they got an “enthusiastic” response. Around 30 neighbors jumped in, including David Dominic, who offered the lot next door to his house and a water spigot, too.

The neighbors plan to share their bounty, and they’ll throw a harvest party at the end of the season.

“I would love for this to continue,” Noel said.

Want to start a garden?

For groups looking to start a community garden, Five Rivers will help. Some things to keep in mind:

• Decide on the size and scope of your garden ahead of time. Flowers, vegetables, a mixture of both?

• Is there a readily accessible water source? Work out a deal with a neighbor, if possible.

• Are you and your neighbors prepared to do the work and stick with it? Those who don’t won’t get help from Five Rivers.

• Consider liability insurance or at least a “hold harmless” waiver in case someone gets injured on the property.

• Minor theft. It’s not unusual for the unlawful sort to pluck the fruits of your labor.

For more information, contact Luci Beachdell at (937) 276-7053 or visit metroparks.org/gwyn

and today’s article:

Urban garden an oasis in tough times

Neighborhood plots put vacant lots to good use with help of parks program.

For groups looking to start a community garden, Five Rivers will help. Depending on a neighborhood’s needs, the park district will help find a suitable location, test the soil for heavy metals, till the land, provide seeds and offer numerous tips and resources for successful gardening.

The American author Orson Scott Card once said, “Unemployment is capitalism’s way of getting you to plant a garden.”

And so it goes in the Dayton area, too. With the economy in the dumper and food prices rising, interest in Five River MetroParks community gardening program is at unprecedented levels, park officials say.

“Mostly what I get are people wanting to find out how to use the vacant land in their neighborhoods to grow food,” said Luci Beachdell, manager of Five Rivers’ Grow With Your Neighbors community gardening program.

Established in 1986 to serve low- to moderate-income neighborhoods, Grow With Your Neighbors has expanded to more than two dozen (mostly vegetable) gardens today. Most are within Dayton’s city limits, Beachdell said, but interest is growing in suburban areas, and local schools are getting involved as well, including E.J. Brown Elementary in north Dayton.

“There’s tons of room for more community gardens in the Dayton area and lots of other places where people already can go,” Beachdell said.

In Wegerzyn Gardens off Siebenthaler Avenue, Five Rivers offers more than 300 28-by-28-foot plots that rent for $20 each per season. Possum Creek MetroPark at Ohio 4 and Frytown Road offers a similar deal, but for free.

Filed under: Assertive citizenry, Dayton Ohio, Five Rivers Metroparks, urban gardens , community gardens, Dayton Ohio urban gardens, Grow With Your Neighbors

Urban Nights and lots more

Come on downtown for Urban Nights on Friday and a lot of other great things list weekend.

Filed under: Things to do in Dayton Ohio

The Dayton Arcade has new owners: $30 Million Restoration to begin in 2010

In a reverse coup de grace, the Dayton Arcade has not only been purchased but it has been resuscitated.  Life support is kicking in with the recent purchase of the historic multi-building block.  The owners, Berg and Strutz, have a strong track record behind them.  Berg is flying to Germany next week to finalize financing for the $30 million project that is expected to begin next year.

From the Dayton Daily News article “$30M Arcade restoration will begin early next year“:

“We still are amazed each day about how many positive people there are in Dayton regarding our project and downtown Dayton as a whole,” Strutz said.

This quote shows the impact that the Dayton community has on the investor class, both the responsible and the irresponsible.  Frankly, I think the Dayton online community (ahem, Dayton Most Metro!) has a lot to be proud (Bill Pote and everyone else out there!) for showing their pride in the city in their life and online.  Dayton has its cheerleaders and they are coming out of the woodwork and reconnecting using every tool at their disposal.

The Dayton Most Metro post about the Arcade sale ends in this most appropriate way:

Perhaps this marks a new day for downtown.  The complete restoration of the Arcade may have a significant healing effect on a community that has been beaten down over the years and has seemed to have lost all hope in their city.  Other developers may see the enormous investment being made in the Arcade and decide now is the time to grab one of the surrounding buildings for redevelopment.  Downtown Dayton just might rise up and once again be a magnificent city it once was.  Yes, anything is possible…

The post also has a photo (thanks to TG) of a banner that was provided by Friends of the Dayton Arcade.

It is below and reads:

Therefore when we build, let us think that we build (public edifices) forever. Let us not be for present delight, nor for present use alone, let i be for such work as our descendants will thank us for, and let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time will come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, “See! this our fathers did for us!”

-Ruskin

-Seven Lamps of Architecture: The Lamp of Memory

Filed under: Assertive citizenry, Dayton Arcade, Dayton Ohio, Downtown Dayton, Urban Living, Urban workspaces, historic preservation, ideas for Dayton Ohio, leadership, urban redevelopment

Dayton MostMetro Calendar

Never find yourself bored again!  The Dayton MostMetro Calendar has the area’s most complete list of events in an easy to navigate website.  You can subscribe via RSS or access it via your mobile phone.  Go to www.daytonmostmetro.com for more info.

Filed under: Things to do in Dayton Ohio