On Saturday, September 25, 2010, from 10am – 12pm, Slow Food CNY is breaking ground in Syracuse.  We are tying in with Slow Food USA and other Dig In events all over the country to help create a world where food is good for you, good for the grower and good for the planet.

Where: Hughes Elementary School, 345 Jamesville Avenue, Outer Comstock neighborhood, Syracuse 13210.

Here’s what we are up to on Saturday, come on out and put down some roots!

• 10:00am:  Help us establish “edible landscaping” for students and neighbors of Hughes Elementary to enjoy and add to in the coming years. We’ll prepare garden beds and plant apple trees, blueberries, and flowering perennials.

• 11:30am:  Take a guided “edible walk” near the school and learn about edible and medicinal plants growing all around us.

• 12:00pm:  Break bread at the celebratory potluck in the Hughes cafeteria.  Bring a dish to pass!

Please bring:  shovels, garden gloves, perennial garden plants you’d like to donate, a lunch dish to share with others, and your own plates and utensils.

This event is free and open to the public.  Parking is available at the school.  Hughes Elementary is located south of East Colvin Street on Jamesville Avenue.  The edible landscape site can be accessed most easily from Hughes Place.  Here is a map to Hughes Elementary.  See you Saturday!

This Saturday, February 13, 2010, Syracuse Grows and Canopy present Gardening in Syracuse, from 10am – 1pm at the Bob Cecile Center, 174 West Seneca Turnpike, Syracuse.  Three workshops will focus on managing physical conditions of soil, successful vegetable gardening, and soil toxicity.  Learn more about this free event here.

On Saturday, March 13, 2010, the 2010 Upstate NY Permaculture Gathering, hosted by Alchemical Nursery, will  be at the Gear Factory, 200 South Geddes Street, from 10am-5pm.  RSVP and flyer are now available here.

Both events help us build experience towards a sustainable, self-reliant CNY food supply and fit right in with Slow Food.  To get inspired, take a look at Josh Viertel’s essay in the Atlantic, “Why Big Ag Won’t Feed the World.”  Josh Viertel is president of Slow Food USA.

Syracuse Grows

Community Gardening Resource Drive and Clean Up
April 25

Resource Drive: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Bring donations to Lipe Art Park, W Fayette St., near S Geddes St.
Rain Location: The Gear Factory, corner of W Fayette and S Geddes

All new and gently used gardening tools are greatly appreciated.
Donations should be clean and in good working order.
Monetary donations are also welcome!
Make checks payable to Syracuse Grows.

Needed:

Tools and equipment…
Shovels, pitch forks, hoes, trowels, metal and plasic rakes, pruners, scissors, loppers, hedge clippers, wheelbarrows, rototillers, push mowers, hammers, nails, screws, nuts, bolts, handsaws, and children’s gardening tools.

Planting and Gardening Materials…
Vegetable and flower seed, starter plants and cover crop seed, tomato cages and dowels, compost, soil, pre-bagged commercial fertilizer (manure), pesticide-free mulch, plant pots, tubs, containers, garden bed liner, garden gloves, watering cans, compost bins, food grade barrels for rain barrels, soaker hoses and spray nozzles, twine, wire, and string.

Building Materials…
Plywood and lumber: untreated lumber of various widths and at least 4 ft. in length

Structural Materials…
Tool sheds, greenhouses, shade houses, arbors, trellises, bricks and cinder blocks, chipping, pebbles and stones, wood chips and wooden pallets, picnic tables, chairs, benches, char-coal barbeque grills, and fencing material: wood posts, medium gauge wiring, hardware cloth, mesh fencing.

Garden Clean Up: 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Volunteer at any of 11 gardens. See map below.

Volunteer:

Garden…
Pull weeds, till soil, apply compost and fertilizers, trim hedges and trees, plant trees, hedges and starter plants

Build…
Build raised beds and fencing, paint signs and picnic tables

Neighborhood cleanup…
Work with OCRRA to clean litter on streets surrounding the gardens

Meet your neighborhood community gardeners…

For more information, or to arrange early donation drop-off or pick-up, please contact:
(315) 443-4890 or syracusegrows@gmail.com
Lipe Art Park is on W Fayette St, near S Geddes St. See map HERE.

Participating Community Gardens

1. Northside Community Garden I
207 Isabella Street * Beth Killian * 415-9594
2. Northside Community Garden II
1004 Townsend Street * Beth Killian * 415-9594
3. Eastside PEACE, Inc. Community Garden
202 S. Beech Street * Lori Covington * 470-3325
4. Westcott Neighborhood Community Garden
127 Harvard Place * Sasha Salayda * 447-8593
5. Lipe Art Park Community Garden
W. Fayette and S Geddes Streets * Jeanie Gleisner * 677-9147
6. Avery House Residential Garden
420 S Avery Avenue * Ron Reid * 487-3314
7. Midland Ave Community Garden
341 Midland Avenue * Aggie Lane * 478-4571
8. McLennan Ave Community Garden
258 McLennan Avenue * Tony Williams * 472-3221
9. Cannon Street Community Center Community Garden
515 Cannon Street * Denise Moore * 491-1382
10. Cannon Street Community Garden
620 Cannon Street * Carolyn Stanley * 478-8525
11. West Newell Street Community Garden
612 W Newell Street * Mable Wilson * 471-7063

Come learn about your neighborhood’s community gardens and help them prepare for spring planting. Community gardens will host spring clean up and open house events from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 25.

RSVP

Please call or email to let us know which garden you’d like to volunteer at:
443-4890 or syracusegrows@gmail.com

“CREATING GARDEN HARMONY: Integrated planting to avoid pests and disease.”

The meeting will go from 6PM to 8PM – I hope some of you can make it. Bring snacks or a dish to share too!

This, by the way, is not a Slow Food event, but rather part of a series called “Learning to Learn Together.” It is sponsored by the Newell St. Community Garden. Again, I think this goes back to the idea of working with and supporting sister organizations whenever possible.