Circle of Hope

However inappropriate it may seem right now, Spring has been on our minds. The Urban Farm team has put in our seed order, is setting up the florescent lights in the basement Grow-Lab and is trying to get our plan in place for the upcoming season. Our friend, Dan, has been working over the winter adding more plating space, paths and a whole new design to the south side of the garden, we can’t wait to see how it turns out. For the past few years, we’ve been working on adding a little bit of color to Frankford Avenue by working on our large garden, growing a variety of flowers, vegetables, and fruit trees. It’s a place where we can be reminded that there’s more out there just than concrete and brick, experience a change of season, and maybe get a fresh bite to eat. There’s always people around, and we’ve made so many friends from people just stopping by and wanting to do some work outside. We’ve always relied on the help from all of you: the weeding, new construction and clean up of the relentless tide of trash the blows in - and this year is no exception. Please, drop in to help out, or just drop in to walk around or hang out. If you’re interested in joining the team and being a part of the next stage where we start a small scale urban vegetable farm, drop us a line.

Another way to help out this year is by participating in our nursery sale fundraiser. As we’re starting seeds to plant in the garden, we’re also starting some to sell to help us cover the costs of operations. This spring, we’ll be selling:

• Market Pack Veggies (6 pack): 2 Tomatoes (slicing & cherry), 2 Bell Pepper (Orange & Red) and 2 Eggplant.

• Market Pack Herbs (6 pack): Classic herb mix of Italian basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano & other culinary herbs.

• Also, individual seedlings of Cucumber, Zucchini, Rainbow Chard, herbs, tomatoes, peppers and Eggplants.

All you need is a sunny spot in your backyard, on your roof or balcony or even your front stoop and a container, and you can just transplant these packs and enjoy fresh veggies all summer while you also help keep the garden running for another year. Free compost is available from the Garden Center on Frankford Ave, and any bucket, enamel-ware pot from Circle Thrift or simple raised bed structure (with good drainage!) should be enough for any of these plants. We’re also going to be selling a pot-culture dwarf pea, called Tom Thumb, that can be grown inside on your window-sill. We’ll have complete care guides to go with any plants you take.

The sale will be in mid to late May, just as these plants are getting hardy enough to be put outside. We haven’t come up with the price for these yet, but the market packs should be under $10, and the individual pots will be just a couple bucks. We’ll post info on the dialogue as we get closer. These plants would make great gifts for your neighbors or family, and please spread the word!

To help us start the right number of seeds, it would be really helpful if you could let us know what you’d be interested in getting this Spring. Email us at urbanfarmteam@gmail.com with the quantity you might want, we won’t hold you to it, but it’ll help prevent us from having too few or too many seedlings come May. So enjoy your last few weeks of Winter and we’ll see you in the Spring.