It is shaping up to be a great
week at the Urban Farms & Gardens Tour! Our kick-off event had 175
people and presented a beautiful vision for
what a Growing Kansas City could look like. We invite you to join us at the
pre-tour events below- there is something for everyone’s interests! Go to
www.urbanfarmstourkc.com for more information.
Eating good food from
urban and local farms? “How to Eat Local in KC” on Sunday, June 21 and “Eat
out Local Night” on Wednesday, June 24
Urban planning and
development your passion? “Building
Edible Cities: Urban Agriculture for Planning and Design Professionals” on
Wednesday, June 24
Interested in youth gardens?
Check out “Generation G: Growing a new generation of gardeners” on
Thursday, June 25
Want to grow veggies for
yourselves and others? “Feed the People- Starting an Urban Farm” on Sunday,
June 21 or “Home Gardens & Urban Homesteads” on Friday, June 26
See below for these and more wonderful activities.
And, of course, all these events
culminate at the actual Farms & Gardens Tour, Sunday, June 28, from
10am-5pm. Buy your tickets online now at
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/57884
Look forward to seeing you during
this week of “Food from the City, For the City!”
Katherine Kelly
Executive Director, Farmer
KC Center for Urban Agriculture
How to Eat
Local in KC
- Hosted by Season Burnett, Director of the Kansas City CSA Coalition, and
Emily Akins, member of the Kansas City Food Circle Coordinating Committee
Trails West Branch of the KCMO Library - Sunday, June 21 (noon or 2PM) - no
cost
How can you reach out to your community while at the same time finding
local, sustainable methods for buying, making, and growing your own food?
Come learn and share information about the exploding number of Kansas City’s
local and organic farmers’ markets, CSAs, community and school gardening,
preserving, and other local-food efforts promoted by some fantastic
organizations actively involved in our local “foodshed.” As you grow more
inspired, you can find out how to help your friends and neighbors “go
local”!
Urban
Farms… Feed the People – Starting an Urban Farm
Sunday, June 21, 3:00-4:30pm - Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture
4223 Gibbs Road, Kansas City, KS 66106
Most people who go into urban farming are folks whose gardening habits got
out of control. Their garden overtook their lawn, the empty lot next door,
and part of the neighbor’s back yard, and all of a sudden they need more
land, some farming infrastructure, and a new set of skills on how to grow at
a bigger scale and how to manage a new farm business. This workshop will
introduce you to the basics of starting an urban farm- a business of growing
and selling vegetables- whether you are already starting, thinking about
starting, or are a few years into the process and realize you need to stand
back and look at what you’ve grown and where it needs to go next.
Community
Gardens… Grow the Neighborhood
Educational & Charitable Gardens… Sow the Seeds
Monday, June 22, 12:00-1:00pm: A How-To Introduction to Community Gardens
and Schoolyard Gardens, Kansas City Community Gardens - 6917 Kensington -
KCMO
Ben Sharda, Executive Director, and Andrea Mathew, Schoolyard Gardens
Coordinator, will offer an introduction to starting community gardens and
“edible” schoolyards. They’ll address the site needs for gardens (soil,
water, fencing, etc) as well as the organizational issues (participation in
the garden, curriculum development in a school-based program, and more).
They’ve got a wealth of knowledge on how to make gardens work for the
benefit of the community, you’ll walk away ready to get something growing in
your own community.
My
Blooming Garden - KCMO Library Staff
Tuesday, June 23 – 10AM @ Southeast Branch of KCMO Public Library - no cost
Come hear some fun stories about growing things and learn a bit about easy
ways you can grow your own stories, food, and/or flowers. The Beanstalk
Garden will provide information about gardening for kids and will help each
participant plant their own seed to take home and nurture.
Cocoa
Butter Ice Cream Bath Fizzie Making
(K-5) – Nancy, Noel & Natasha Gordon, of Pearly Gates Organic Soapery, Inc.
and Gardens
Tuesday, June 23 - 2PM @ Plaza Library Branch of KCMO Public Library – no
cost
Make Moisturizing Bath Fizzies shaped like scoops of vanilla ice cream and
have fizzy bath time fun. Each one contains skin softening cocoa butter,
smoothing bicarbonate of soda, corn starch, citric acid and lavender
essential oil. Each child and accompanying adult will make a fizzie to take
home, pop in bath water and watch it fizz away and release the goodness
inside. A recipe will also be provided to be able to make some more at home.
Mad City
Chickens Film–
Hosted by All Souls UU Documentary Series
Tuesday, June 23 – 7PM @ All Souls UU Church, 4501 Walnut – donations only
79 minute documentary about the raising chickens in the city movement. The
film is a sometimes wacky, sometimes serious look at the people who keep
urban chickens in their backyards. From experts and authors to a rescued
landfill chicken or an inexperienced family that takes the poultry
plunge—even a mad scientist and giant hen get into the act—it’s a humorous
and heartfelt trip through the world of backyard chickendom.
Grain,
Grinding and Granola
– Kathy Crowther, Bread of Life Organic Bakery, Stewartsville, Missouri
Wednesday, June 24-10:30AM @ Trails West Library Branch of KCMO Library–no
cost
Children 5 and up can get an up-close look and feel of grains such as oats
and flax and learn about the value of eating whole grains. Grinding of the
grain by hand turning a wheel comes next, to see how it can become flour.
Then each child will put together a small take-home bag of granola. All of
this with the guidance of Kathy Crowther, of Bread of Life Organic Bakery,
Stewartsville, Missouri.
Teens
Growing Greens…and Other Stuff
– Harvesters, KC Urban Youth Center, Troostwood Youth Garden
Wednesday, June 24 – 6-7:30PM - Central Library
There’s teens like you growing food in the city….and eating and cooking what
they grow. omg! Can you believe it? Are you a teen? Do you want to know
some stuff about growing food and why teens growing food are glad they are?
If you do, come to this session and listen to what these teens are doing and
why they are doing it. They will tell you. If you want you can bring your
parent, aunt, uncle, granny or gramp along – or any grownup who wants to
come. If you don’t want to bring one of them, just come on yourself.
There’ll be some fun.
Eat Out Local Night
– Metro Area Restaurants that serve locally grown food
Wednesday, June 24
Eden Alley-
www.edenalley.com
Renee
Kelly-
www.reneekellys.com
Bluebird
Café-
www.bluebirdbistro.com
Chipotle
on 39th Street-
www.chipotle.com
Building
Edible Cities: Urban Agriculture for Planning and Design Professionals
Wednesday, June 24 – reception at 5:30PM, program at 6PM
Epperson House, 5200 Cherry St. — UMKC Dept. of Architecture, Urban Planning
and Design
Urban planners, landscape architects, architects and engineers are asking
how urban agriculture can benefit communities and how it can become part of
urban design. Explore these questions with a panel of distinguished Kansas
City professionals.
Co-sponsored by the KC Center for Urban Agriculture and the UMKC Department
of Architecture, Urban Planning and Design.
Registration is requested for this free event. Please email Daniel
Dermitzel (daniel AT kccua.org) or Jacob Wagner (wagnerjaco AT umkc.edu) for
more information.
My
Blooming Garden
- KCMO Library Staff
Thursday, June 25 – 10AM @ Central Library – KCMO Public Library – no cost
Come hear some fun stories about growing things and learn a bit about easy
ways you can grow your own stories, food, and/or flowers. The Beanstalk
Garden will provide information about gardening for kids and will help each
participant plant their own seed to take home and nurture.
Worms Eat
Our Trash
– Eric Williams & Sarah McCoy-Harms of the green worm
Thurs. June 25 at 2pm @ Waldo Branch Library – KCMO Public Library – no cost
Eric & Sarah, the green worm friends, will guide children through the
process of “farming” worms. Participants will learn introductory
information about composting; how worms turn our trash into healthy soil in
which happy, beautiful, good-tasting plants grow and bloom. There is a
demonstration of how composting with a worm bin works! (Pre-K to 5th Grade)
Generation
G: Growing Youth Gardeners
–
Thursday, June 25, 6:00-8:00pm
Urban Youth Center, 2740 Troost, Kansas City, MO
All over the city, new youth gardening programs are being planted.
Churches, social service agencies, neighborhood associations and all kinds
of groups are putting in gardens and working with youth from the littlest
ones up to the teens and young twenties. We invite you to come and listen
to some of their stories, and then participate in group discussions and
information sharing. Whether you’ve already started a program or are
thinking of starting one, this first ever get-together of youth gardening
programs will get you growing.
Summer
Harvest Dinner, Bread of Life Outreach Ministries,
Thursday, June 25 - 7PM - 2510 Nebraska, Kansas City, KS
A meal featuring locally-grown produce from Greeley Gardens, the church’s
youth market garden in Quindaro. Tickets are $10 each, deadline for RSVP is
June 18. Call Warren Kittler at 913.217.5950 or email warren.kittler AT
gmail.com for more information and tickets.
Home
Gardens & Urban Homesteads… Feed the Family
Friday, June 26, 4:30-9:00pm: Urban Homesteading and Farmers’ Market, Bad
Seed Farmers’ Market – no cost
In honor of Kansas City’s Urban Farms & Gardens Tour, the BADSEED Farmers
Market will be hosting a special Market for all you “urban homesteaders” and
wannabes!! Along with the regular gang of urban growers and producers of
“other worldly delights”, special guests will include KC’s FOOD NOT LAWNS,
an emerging national movement which promotes turning our lawns into
gardens! “By growing food not lawns we can increase local food security,
become more self-reliant, improve our diets, reduce energy use and
pollution, and build stronger local communities.” Canning and Preserving
Demos will take place in the BADSEED Kitchen from 6-7:30 PM. Demos will
include Blanching and Freezing Greens, Pickling, Jams and Jellies, and
Fermentation.
Mini
Market Tours @ Farmers Markets
– Dave Lawrence – Saturday, June 27
Z’s Fall
Garden - Offered by Communiversity,
Convener: Zoe Lagrece
Saturday, June 27; 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM; 1029 S. 47th Terr., KCKS, From I-635,
exit on Metropolitan, go west on Metropolitan, right at Leo Alvey Park
(approx. 49th St. ), turns into 47th Terr.; LIMIT: 20 - CLASS FEE: $9- #2215
A
WHOOPS!!! Missed that spring garden window of opportunity? Prepare to take
action! There’s still lots of growing season for a bountiful fall harvest
and numerous frost tolerant plant choices like broccoli, beets, carrots,
parsley and more. Proper timing combined with good preparation and sound
plant choices will help you succeed in your gardening venture. Please bring
$3 for handout to class and your gloves and shovel if you want to dig in!!
(913-722-2628) email: zoelagrece AT yahoo.com
