Urban Jacksonville

I wrote about Adopting-a-Bed at the Springfield Community Garden a while back, now there are only a few spots left.

In partnership with the University of Florida Cooperative Extension service, we will be teaching a group of 17 gardeners all there is to know about growing food organically in Northeast Florida. The class will run through the fall growing season, and if it goes well we’ll continue it all the way through the spring season as well.

Students will gain technical knowledge on plants themselves, seasonal and regional varieties, organic pest control, organic fertilization, and more. In addition, we’ll get the chance to discuss other topics surrounding the notion of local food, social justice, environmental responsibility, and living “the good life”, as the Nearings would say. Everyone will get a notebook full of the lessons we discuss.

Classes will be weekly starting in late August, with one or two meetings before then to learn about what a garden needs during the fallow season, which for us is the hottest part of the summer.

There is no cost for the class and gardeners who sign up first will have a plot in the Springfield Community Garden to try out what they’re learning. There will also be space for a few “observers” who will attend all the classes but won’t have a plot. Contact jmccharen@gmail.com if you’re interested.

Tags: community garden

Join the Springfield Community Garden for sustainable, local food this fall.

The Springfield Community Garden is looking for adopt-a-bed gardeners. This is a pretty amazing program and I’m really excited it’s right here in Springfield. This initiative is in step with other programs around the country that emphasize eating locally and organic farming.

Starting Saturday, August 30th, we will be hosting our first season of food gardeners, who will join us in learning how to grow food organically here in Northeast Florida.

The first team of gardeners will get a season-long education on food production put together by JCNI and the County Extension office, including:

• what crops to grow when
• propagation
• organic techniques for pest control and fertilization
• seed-saving and much more

Seeding will begin in September and there will be weekly classes throughout the growing season, all the way to food preservation ideas after the harvest. After the harvest there will be a potluck to celebrate at the end of the season. Depending on the success of this first course we’ll start again in the Spring, with classes tailored to those crops.

Interested gardeners should get in touch now. The garden can accommodate up to 15 individual gardeners, or couples and that’s sure to fill up quick!

At the moment, we are still working on Saturdays to complete the raised beds and will soon begin work on the garden shed. We’re now meeting to work in the morning, at from 8am until we’re finished, to escape the heat.

The shed will be an essential part of the site, and will offer us much needed shade, irrigation through rainwater catchment, secure storage and a small office. Right now we need 2×6 lumber at least 10 feet long, and as always, we prefer to use recycled and reclaimed material, or anything that might otherwise go to waste.

Also here is a general Community Garden alert! They also looking for recycled 2×6 lumber, at least 10 feet long. If you’ve got a source, let them know.

Any interested gardeners should email jaxgreen at gmail dot com, or call Jennifer at 904.657.1177 (you must dial the area code).

More photos of the Springfield Community Garden
Interview with Phillip Ramsey and Jennifer McCharen about the Springfield community garden

Tags: community garden

If you don’t have fun this weekend, it’s not our fault. Don’t forget Friday! Buffalo Tears at TSI. Correction!! Poster show in Springfield is NEXT WEEKEND. Silly Joey.

Sunday May 25th is the Community Community Community Festival at the Springfield Community Garden and The Pearl.

Community Community Community Festival releases lineup

From 12 to 6 at the Springfield Garden and the lot next to it, we’ll be hanging out, eating food and listening to some awesome music. Really, Khalid and his crew will be playing some ancient afghan music, the Naughty Pines String band will be plucking some beautiful Bluegrass. The Homesteaders will also be jamming out.

Ultimate Picnic is a Community Garden program that plans to share food all day, so bring a dish to share. Even if you don’t want to eat, you can still bring food in the form of a non perishable food type to donate to future ultimate picnic gatherings. There will also be workshops in the garden and Seed Bombs.

Seed bombing, also known as “Seed Grenades” is a technique of introducing vegetation to arid soils or otherwise inhospitable terrains. A seed bomb is a compressed clod of soil containing live vegetation that may be thrown or dropped onto a terrain to be modified.

The term “seed grenade” was first used by Liz Christy in 1973 when she started the “Green Guerillas”. The first seed grenades were made from balloons filled with local wildflower seeds, water and fertilizer. The seed grenades were tossed over fences onto empty lots in New York City in order to make the neighborhoods look better. It was the start of the Guerrilla Gardening movement.

Art Sparks Saturday Night at Eclipse

Featuring: Miwa K. Fiore, Ali Isabelle, Sarah Colado, Crash The Satellites, Chris Estes, Our Name is Legion, Jonah Whalebelly & many more!

Not only is ART SPARKS! an event featuring art local to its respective city, ART SPARKS! showcases art of ALL mediums including visual, photography, live music, deejays, dance, comedy, culinary, gaming and film from those artists who, typically, may not garner the recognition they deserve.

More details on Art Sparks
Art Sparks on ExperienceJax
Art Sparks MySpace

Earth Day at Gateway Saturday during the day

The local non-profit, War on Poverty-Florida is having an Earth Day at Gateway Celebration on Saturday May 24, 2008 from 10am-3pm at The Gateway Town Centre 5000 Norwood Avenue Jacksonville, Fl 32208.

The event is packed with great events for the community- including- urban gardening, environmental educational sessions, free weekend give-away for the Wyndham Hotel, Eco-Friendly craft Making Contests for the Kids, Step Shows, Story Telling and much more.

A big component is the Open Air Market. We are inviting local artists, churches and schools to bring their art or crafts and sell it as a way to increase community building and the regional economy.

Tags: art sparks, community community community, gateway, war on poverty

The Jacksonville Community Council will be hosting a discussion of Code of the Street: Decency, Violence and the Moral Life of the Inner City on May 20th.

JCCI released it’s study Reducing Murder: A Community Response in 2006 and two years later we’re still having the discussion finding a cure for our violent city. The discussion is designed for everyone, whether or not they have read Code of the Street. For those interested, a blog authored by JCCI staff offers thumbnail sketches of each of the book’s chapters.

JCCI, 2434 Atlantic Blvd
Tuesday, May 20
5:30 to 7 p.m.
Space is limited, please RSVP by calling 396-3052

A review on Amazon says:

Not content to sugarcoat problems or to stockpile blame, Anderson takes a piercing look at the complex issues surrounding respect, social etiquette and family values in the multicultural neighborhoods along Philadelphia’s Germantown Avenue. A major artery of the city, the street reflects the vast social and economic difficulties confronting many of the nation’s urban centers.

Dr. Michael Hallett, chair of the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department at University of North Florida, recommended the book in two separate editorials in the Florida Times Union. He will be the opening speaker.

Tags: Code of the Streets, JCCI

If you went to Earthday at the Landing last Saturday you were probably kicking yourself in the head like I was, trying to wade through all the people. NOT a stroller friendly event. You might have also been snickering at the ironic-ness of people consuming armloads of promotional materials from companies like CSX and JEA that will probably end up in our landfills this week.

If you are looking for a lower-key Earthday event, try Native Sun in Mandarin this weekend (Map) where all of your plates, plasticware, cups and napkins will be biodegrable, recycled and/or made from non-GMO corn!

• Delicious Organic Cookout
• Free Ice Cream from Ben & Jerry’s
• Tips on How to Go Green
• Kids Activities
• Live Music

The first 500 customers will receive a FREE reusable grocery bag as part of Native Sun’s new Treecycle Initiative! This is just one of the MANY green programs we will be launching that day to help introduce our new community outreach program — GreenApples!

The Cookout Menu
Fresh Salad from our Organic Salad Bar
Organic Veggie Platter with Dips
7 Layer Mexican Dip with Chips
Mini Bean Burrito Roll Ups
Mediterranean Pasta Salad
Native Sun’s Coleslaw
Tex-Mex Bean Salad
Fresh Fruit Salad
Baked Beans
Turkey Burgers
Veggie Burgers
Condiments
Assorted Drinks

Go Green Education!
Meet representatives from St. Johns Riverkeeper, The Green Team and Florida Lawn & Neighborhoods to learn how you can go green at home! Learn about Native Sun’s new GreenApples program, Treecycle Initiative and all the green changes you will find around the store!

Kids Activities
Nature Arts & Crafts
Plant Your Own Organic Seed Station
Coloring Books with Beeswax Crayons
Native American Storytelling at 12 p.m., 1p.m. and 2 p.m.
Fun & Games from the St. Johns Riverkeeper
Meet the Treeatures from Greenscape of Jacksonville

Tags: earthday, native sun

As a public service, and in support of this historic election, I offered to post about this event. I would say it qualifies as “Urban Jacksonville”, c’mon St. Nicholas is so the new San Marco.

The target audience is persons 18 to 45, those who are interested in young voter issues and the League of Women Voters general membership. Parking is available both in front and in back of the building. Lunch will be provided. The cost of the event is free.

The League of Women Voters Jacksonville/First Coast is sponsoring this event that includes a panel discussion addressing young voter issues. The panel will meet Friday April 11th 12pm at JCCI 2434 Atlantic Boulevard Suite 100. Panel members include:

• Ginny Myrick, Senior Policy Advisor with Holland & Knight
• Shannon Clarke, Senior at the University of North Florida and contract consultant with the Duval County Democratic Executive Committee
• Brock Mikosky, Government Affairs Advocate for the North Florida Region for the Florida Chamber of Commerce
• Jerry Holland, Supervisor of Elections of Duval County

Tags: 2008 election, get out the vote, Politics

No post today. I spent most of my time last night working on an important proposal that will change the face of the city. Or at least the 2nd of your August.