September Volunteer Newsletter

As the season changes so will things with ECO City Farms. First, we are changing the way we publish our newsletter. Going forward, the newsletter will be produced using Constant Contact, an online publishing software. Do you like this format? E-mail your thoughts and feedback at volunteer@ecocityfarms.org.

Second, we have decided to limit open volunteer hours to Saturday only from 9 am to 1 pm. Once a month we will have a potluck at the end of the Saturday volunteer hours, so that we can get to know each other and find more connections. Hopefully, as the weather cools down, sharing food with each other will keep the fire burning in our quest to grow our own food.

Finally, this fall we need your help with mulching, weeding, and maintenance of the property, so that our farmers (Christian and Adam) can focus on farming. As a non-profit urban farm, our success depends on the community’s ability to help us through volunteer hours. Please come out, roll up your sleeves, and help us make ECO City Farms a shining example of a successfully run urban farm.

See you on Saturday!

John

Volunteer Coordinator

P.S. – Come see us at the Port Towns Day Festival on September 17 and keep an eye out for our farm mural unveiling celebration later in September.

Finally, a break from the heat.  Although it still can be sweaty out there, this is nothing compared to July.  In fact, we’ve already been thinking about winter! We’ve seeded fall/winter crops like kale, collard, mustard, pac choi, kohlrabi, turnip, beet, and much more, as the cool weather will be here soon enough.  In the meantime, we’ve been harvesting salad mix, spinach, arugula, beet greens, Italian and Thai basil, cherry tomatoes and heirloom tomatoes, and green and yellow snap beans. Come to the Riverdale Park Farmers Market, open Thursdays from 3-7pm at the Riverdale MARC Train Station to buy the most local veggies at the market!

We’ve also had lots of projects at the farm, from fixing our solar lamppost, to getting the windmill in action, building more nursery benches, making more compost, and painting a mural!  Local artist Matt Gifford has been commissioned to paint the mural at the farm, encompassing many different aspects of our local food shed. Stay tuned for news of an unveiling celebration soon!

Finally, the second offering of our Certificate of Commercial Urban Agriculture in partnership with the Prince George’s Community College is about to get underway.  See the link below in this newsletter for more information.  We’ll have classes on urban farm design, urban livestock, hoophouse construction, compost production, and harvesting and marketing.

Enjoy!

Christian

Farm Coordinator

1. ECO City Farms on WUSA 9 for Buy Local Week - Rene Catacalos talk about Buying Local

2. Natalya’s Photo Essay - Photos of the busy bees and people on the farm during July

1. Legacy of outgoing Edmonston Mayor Adam Ortiz – A video on Mayor Ortiz

2. World Bank unveils food price warning – a repost from Democracy Now!

3. Berkeley and Oakland come to the table – an interview of two sustainable food system advocate

4. Ethiopia gives farmland to foreigners while thousands starve – expose on farming in Africa

ECO City Farms Opportunities

1. Urban Farm Apprentice/Internship - ECO City Farm is seeking two interns to help with operating our greenhouse during the Fall and Winter growing season. Interns will learn about year-round farming from methods of protection, to choosing the right varieties, and timing out the planting to get a winter-long harvest.

 

“All of life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied to a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly .”

Martin Luther King Jr