Update from the Urban Farm

Posted on September 14, 2011 by johnrife

We had a great time at our first “work and learn” session this past Monday.

Join us for our next two garden workdays on Tuesday Sept 20th from 10am-noon and Monday Sept 26th from 5-7pm.

Here is the write up from Tia letting you know what we were up to on the Farm!

On Monday September 12th the first of the fall crops were planted at the Winter Park Urban Farm.

September is prime time for planting warm season crops and we planted transplants of cucumber, zucchini, and yellow squash in the garden.  We also direct sewed green beans, yellow wax beans, and three different varieties of carrots into the garden beds.

So far we have made four biointensive beds that are 4×12′ wide with a one foot pathway in between.  With biointensive gardening we can get the most yield out of the smallest space, we also added lots of fresh compost to sustain the close plantings of vegetables.

Cool season plants including broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and kale were planted in seed blocks.  We’ll let these grow for a few weeks before planting in the garden.

We’ll be preparing an additional in-ground plot during next Tuesday’s work and learn session as well as creating more soil blocks (you can even take some home for your own gardens.)

Hope to see you then.

~Tia

Posted in Agriculture, Gardening, Local Food, Urban Agriculture, Volunteer | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Urban Farming Experiment

Posted on September 8, 2011 by johnrife

Next Monday the 12th at 5pm we will be breaking ground on an urban farming experiment in the heart of Winter Park.  We will be meeting once a week throughout this Fall to work the farm and learn about urban agriculture.  The mission is to take a vacant residential lot in Winter Park and convert its fallow land into a productive harvest garden.

With 11 weeks to work with we are looking to see just how much produce we can grow and bring to market at this year’s Harvest Festival.  Along the way we will be offering volunteers and our “ag-curious” neighbors free lessons on the in’s and out’s of organic agriculture.

The green-thumb wielding Tia Meer will be our organic farming guru on the project. Tia and her husband Terry run the incredible Econ Farm, a 5 acre organic farm and sustainable residence in E. Orlando.   Tia has an amazing ability to coax beautiful and tasty vegetables from Florida’s sandy soils and we are so excited to be working with her on this project.

The experiment is open to the public and volunteers will learn first hand, from Tia and Festival founder John Rife the step by step process of gleaning a healthy wholefood harvest from any backyard or patio.  Space is limited as we are striving for the volunteer experience to be hands on and intimate so please RSVP via our contact page if you’d like to participate in this Monday’s groundbreaking or in future work and learn opportunities.

Posted in Agriculture, Local Food, Market, Urban Agriculture | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Local Food Investment Club: Webinar

Posted on September 6, 2011 by johnrife

Are you interested in new ways that small food companies can build social and working capital? Do you love the idea of being the owner of a slow food business? Or are you someone who has capital to invest, but are not sure where to direct it?

If so, join us tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon at 1pm at the home of Harvest Festival founder John Rife to watch a webinar put on by BALLE the non-profit dedicated to creating, strengthening and connecting local business networks dedicated to building strong local living economies.

The webinar is part of their “Accelerating Community Capital” series which seeks to

• Connect local businesses with local lenders, investors and donors,
• Earn a “living rate of return” while supporting the local economy, and
• Create jobs by strengthening family farms, local manufacturing, and independent business.

Tomorrow’s webinar will focus on The No Small Potatoes Investment Club. Inspired by Slow Money, the club is a group pooling funds and making micro-loans to farmers and food businesses in Maine since the fall of 2010. The club provides working capital in the form of low-interest loans, and meets three times a year to evaluate loan applications. Initially, the club made individual self-directed loans, but since April of this year has been pooling funds and making loans as a group. Loans thus far have ranged from $2,000 to $15,000, with $5,000 as the investment commitment to join the club.  Loan recipients have included organic vegetable growers, a composter, a butcher, and tofu and goat cheese producers.

We are hoping to  to debut during the Saturday November 19th Harvest Festival. Come be a part of our clubs establishing by participating in this one of a kind webinar.

We hope you can make it ☺ If you can’t join us feel free to register and watch it from your own computer.

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Jazz and gourmet food to benefit Orlando’s Eat Local Week

Posted on August 4, 2011 by johnrife

The Fall is shaping up to be an incredible “Local Food” smorgasbord.  Not only has the Harvest Festival expanded to two days, including a new conference component, but we are also partnering with Slow Food Orlando to establish the entire week leading up the festival as “Eat Local Week”.

For those of you unfamiliar with Eat Local Week here is a primer:  It is a week-long celebration promoting connection, community, culture and cuisine in Central Florida, November 11-18, 2011.  Think fresh food from local farms cooked by some of your favorite chefs for 7 days straight. You will be served a 3 course meal at some of the area’s top restaurants and local food purveyors with prices organized into 4 tiers $15, $25, $35, $45.  There is a ton more information on the Eat Local Week website so head on over for all the detail.

BUT WAIT!!!!  There is more local food loveliness!

Slow Food Orlando is hosting a fundraiser on Aug 19th, 2011 from 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at Napa Restaurant in the Peabody Hotel (across from the Orlando Convention Center) on International Drive. Proceeds from the event will benefit Eat Local Week.

Napa Chefs will prepare a variety of gourmet dishes throughout seven stations at Napa, featuring organic and local produce, meats and seafood from area farmers and purveyors such as Deep Creek Ranch, Heart of Christmas farms, Lake Meadows Farms, Healthy Living Produce, Wild Ocean Seafood, Bear Wolf Ranch and Winter Park Dairy.

Tickets are $65.00 per person which includes dinner, music, wine, beer, soft drinks, and free valet parking for event guests.

Space is limited. Call 407-345-4570 for reservations and mention Slow Food to reserve your seats for this exciting culinary event.

Event info:

An Evening of Jazz and Gourmet Food

August 19, 2011
6:30 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Napa Restaurant, Peabody Hotel
$65 per person, all-inclusive event
Call 407-345-4570 for reservations

Posted in Farm to Table, Local Food, Slow Food | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Community Garden Day @ Mead Gardens this Saturday

Posted on July 20, 2011 by johnrife

Have you ever seen the community garden at Mead Garden’s in Winter Park?  Did you even know there was one?

Although it is just yards from Denning Dr. it is almost impossible to see.  Plus….considering most of us use Denning as a cut-through street to avoid the train it is easy to understand why we’d miss spotting this incredible garden.

That is all about to change!

This Saturday, Keep Winter Park Beautiful is coordinating with a number of Rollins students and Harvest Festival volunteers to thin out and clear the underbrush that is hiding this wonderful amenity from view.  As you can see from picture it’s quite the unkempt jungle.

A community garden takes a community effort and we’d certainly love to have you join us. We want to bring more visibility and awareness of the garden to the neighborhood and the citizens of Winter Park as a whole and clearing away the overgrowth along the road will go along way towards making that a reality.

Come join students, local foodies, green thumbs, civic leaders and friends of the Festival and get your hands dirty for a good cause.

We’ll be meeting on Mills Laws on Rollins Campus at 8:00 am Saturday.  We’ll be walking to Mead Garden along with Forest Michaels the architect/planner behind Winter Park’s Central Park design.  He will be be giving us a tour of the new design for Mead Garden as we walk through the grounds en route to the community garden.

OR You are welcome to skip the walk and just meet at 8:45 at the garden itself.  We’ll be there until noon.  We will have all the tools and glove’s you’ll need but you are welcome to bring your favorite machete :)   Water bottles, close toed shoes and sunscreen are good items to bring as well.  Click here for a map and here for a street view.

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