This beautiful photo was taken by UCONN landscape arcitecture student Sabrina Buttitta from the roof of the Underswood Senior Apartments. It is a great perspective on how urban agriculture fits into our cityscape. You can see I-84 winding in the background just as the banks of the Park River used to hug the land against the garden. Urban mini-farms such as GROW are an oasis of new opportunity for our cities; from outdoor education, to micro-enterprise potentials, for wildlife, and transformative beauty. For me it is a reminder that the city still connects to the earth, where natural features and topography are released to express themselves and interact with the human elements fo the modern city. This is an easy thing to forget as sit in traffic on Park St. watching layers of asphalt and stone laid down, but important to remember when you create the opportunity to harvest red sweet tomatoes on a lot that used to be filled with debris and scare the squirrels away from a neat and row of rasberries.-Shannon
Monday, October 24, 2005
Red Tail Hawk's Eye View
This beautiful photo was taken by UCONN landscape arcitecture student Sabrina Buttitta from the roof of the Underswood Senior Apartments. It is a great perspective on how urban agriculture fits into our cityscape. You can see I-84 winding in the background just as the banks of the Park River used to hug the land against the garden. Urban mini-farms such as GROW are an oasis of new opportunity for our cities; from outdoor education, to micro-enterprise potentials, for wildlife, and transformative beauty. For me it is a reminder that the city still connects to the earth, where natural features and topography are released to express themselves and interact with the human elements fo the modern city. This is an easy thing to forget as sit in traffic on Park St. watching layers of asphalt and stone laid down, but important to remember when you create the opportunity to harvest red sweet tomatoes on a lot that used to be filled with debris and scare the squirrels away from a neat and row of rasberries.-Shannon
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Striking a Pose at the Durham Fair
Despite a fuss over the smell the ruminant barn was a picturesque background for these crazy animals to check out goats, sheep and llamas! And while I could have spent all day watching the beasts of burden pull 1000's of pounds of bricks, The crew spent the most time in the crafts barn and seemed thouroughly impressed by the paintings , dioramas, and knitting of their peers!
Blue Ribbon Bunny
The challenge was to leave the fair with a favorite farm animal..in your head, not under your arm. Almost unanimously was the bunny!
Monday, September 19, 2005
A successful close to our first market season
This past Saturday was our final day of the market. It was beautiful weather, not a rainy day all season. We want to thank all the supports and shoppers who made our market a success. Through 15 markets we saw an average of of 200 shoppers each week buying the freshest tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, greens, garlic, onions, and berries, from farmers all growing within 30 miles of Hartford.
At the GROW booth we had the last of our tomatoes for sale including green tomatoes...Here is what to do with them:
-Heat to a boil a brine of about 1 cup water to 1/2 cup white vineger and 2 tbs salt (have enough brine to cover tomatoes)
-Place tomatoes (about 2 cups worth) in glass jars or corning weara bowl w/lid
-Add a few cloves of garlic, chunks of onion, and a a hot pepper, if you like
-Add a tsp of dill seed (opitional)
-Pour hot brine over tomatoes and other seasoniongs, cover and put in the frinde for a least a week for pickles to sour....Enjoy
See you all at the market next season!
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
The Seed Season
This year we planted over 75 sunflowers in the garden. Aside from feeding the bees and birds we will dry and clean the seeds, eating some and saving some to plant next year.
