First Annual Community Garden Tour

The Tennessee Valley Community Garden Association is proud to announce its first annual public tour of community gardens!

When: Saturday, June 16th

Time: 10am to 3pm

Gardens on the tour include Asbury Farm where volunteers grow fresh vegetables to feed the hungry and Pecan Grove Gardens that began as a personal backyard garden and now has 2.5 acres open to others who want to grow their own food.

There’s also Legacy Elementary School “Pond Project,” an outdoor math and science learning laboratory with a ½ acre fully stocked pond surrounded by flower beds, vegetable plots, a bog garden, songbird sanctuary and animal tracking station.

These and eight other member gardens will be open to any and all visitors for free who want to learn more about community gardening. Visit one garden or all eleven, and stay for as long as you like!

For a map and description of all the gardens, visit http://g.co/maps/guewx. Please contact tennesseevalleycga@gmail.com  or             (256) 682-5742       for additional information. The event flyer can be found here.

Hosted by the Tennessee Valley Community Garden Association

Community Gardens on the Tour

• Asbury Farm - 788 Hughes Road, Madison. Just south of intersection of Gillespie and Hughes, turn in at the white sign for Asbury Counseling Center The Asbury Farm is a ministry of the youth at Asbury United Methodist Church.
• CASA Community Garden - 4275 Bob Wallace Avenue, east of the Botanical Gardens, follow sign to Mulch Pile CASA of Madison County's Community Garden was established in 1988. 
• Cove Kidz Community Garden - Artisans Cove, 220 Old Highway 431 South, Hampton Cove. Geared specifically towards the youth of our local community, this Garden's mission is to educate our children on the methods of sustainable farming.  More at http://g.co/maps/guewx
• Flying Monkey Community Garden - 2211 Seminole Dr SW, Huntsville 35805
• Hampton Cove Middle School Garden - 261B Old Highway 431, Hampton Cove 35763
• Howe Avenue Community Garden - Howe Avenue and Price Alley, behind the Children’s Advocacy Center Started in 2012, we are a ⅓-acre garden near Huntsville’s 5 Points. All our members collectively tend a single, shared plot, and th... More at http://g.co/maps/guewx
• Legacy Elementary School "Project Pond" - 165 Pine Grove Road, Harvest. About 3.4 miles north on Wall Triana from where it intersects Hwy 72, turn right onto Pine Grove Rd. School is on the left. "Project Pond," established in 2009 with fu... More at http://g.co/maps/guewx
• Lewter Park Neighborhood Garden - Windham St. and Wellman Ave., 5 Points Huntsville A new community garden is growing at Lewter Park in the Five Points neighborhood. Launched in partnership with Operation Green Team, there are 5 rai... More at http://g.co/maps/guewx
• Monte Sano Community Garden - 820 Monte Sano Boulevard, next to The Little Green Store. The Monte Sano Community Garden provides space for the Monte Sano community to garden together, and to teach and inspire one another. We hav... More at http://g.co/maps/guewx
• Pecan Grove Gardens - 3712 Pecan Grove Dr, Huntsville, 35810. Garden is in backyard - just walk on back! Pecan Grove Gardens started as a personal backyard garden in 2011. With 2.5 acres to work with, the garden has bee... More at http://g.co/maps/guewx
• UAH Community Garden - UAHuntsville Campus 301 Sparkman Dr. Huntsville, AL 35899, parking lot of WLRH/Physical Plant Our Community Garden provides a space for education and discussion around the environmental, social and e... More at http://g.co/maps/guewx

 With the thanks of the following sponsors:

 

How To Be Healthy and Save the Planet: “The World Peace Diet” A lecture/presentation by Will Tuttle, Ph.D.

Wonder how the food you eat affects your health and well-being and that of those you care about? Will Tuttle delivers an inspiring talk about the food we choose, where it comes from, and how it may harm us physically and culturally. Learn how we have become disconnected from nature and how to make positive changes to promote health, encourage compassion, and minimize our eco-footprint.

When: Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Doors open at 6:30pm for refreshments, presentation from 7:15-8:15

(Q&A and book signing after the lecture)

Where: Unity Church on the Mountain

1328 Governors Drive SE, in Huntsville (256) 536-2271

Recommended donation: $5, but no one will be turned away due to lack of funds.

For more information or to RSVP:

Online: huntsvillevegans.com

facebook.com/huntsville.vegans

meetup.com/Huntsville-Vegans/events

email: huntsvilleveg@gmail.com

“A profoundly insightful and important book, The World Peace Diet is sure to be a catalyst and powerful tool in the evolution of human consciousness.”

-Satya Magazine

“The World Peace Diet is one of the most provocative books I’ve ever read. This is a deep book, aglow with insights that penetrate and expose the complacency of a culture that has strayed painfully far from compassion.”

- John Robbins, noted author

Dr. Will Tuttle, acclaimed educator and artist, has lectured and performed throughout NorthAmerica and Europe. He obtained his doctorate focusing on adult education at UC Berkeley, and has taught many varied humanities courses. He is noted for his clear and inspiring presentations that often include original piano music. Tuttle is a practicing “Dharma Master” in Zen Buddhism and lives with his wife Madeleine, a Swiss painter.

Visit him on the web at worldpeacediet.org.

SPIN Farming Workshop!

Thinking about starting to farm? Interested in profitable sub-acre farming? Looking to make your small farm more profitable? 

Join me on Saturday, April 28th at the Anderson Nature Center Classroom (Huntsville Botanical Garden) from 8am to 12pm for Alabama's first SPIN Farming Workshop! 

SPIN is a farm production system for land bases under an acre in size, and it can be implemented by aspiring and practicing backyard, front lawn and neighborhood lot farmers everywhere. You need is to equip yourself with the right gear and a radically new understanding of what it means to be a farmer. SPIN provides a good business concept, marketing advice, financial benchmarks and a detailed day-to-day workflow. By offering a non-technical, easy-to-understand and inexpensive-to-implement farming system, it allows many more people to farm commercially,  wherever they live, as long as there are nearby markets to support them. The farmer who resides in the city enjoys many advantages.

Seating is limited. Please email to reserve your space hcotton@hsvbg.org or call 256 430 3372 x 240. 

Cost of the workshop is $40 

Textbooks are available at a discount for this class. The SPIN farming manuals 1.0 and 2.0 will be available for purchase at $54, regular price is $83. We will take orders for books at this price for delivery later, if we run out. 


Let's grow local agriculture one farmer, one neighborhood, one community at a time. 

Please tell your friends, 

Lee McBride 

Green Living Expo 2012 to Feature Award Winning Nutrition Group

February 2012, Normal, AL---The Alabama Cooperative Extension System’s Green 

Living Expo 2012 will be held on Thursday, April 19 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at 

Alabama A&M University’s Agribition Center located at 4925 Moores Mill Road in 

Huntsville, Alabama. 

With a focus on being eco-friendly and living healthy, the theme this year is “Living 

green from the inside out,” and the featured guests are award winning dieticians 

from HEBNI Nutrition Consultants, Inc. (HNC) of Orlando, Florida. HNC is a nonprofit agency established in 1995 to educate culturally diverse populations and individuals at risk for obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension about healthy eating. 

Now in its third year, the Green Living Expo is designed to raise awareness about environmental issues and to help consumers and organizations to become better stewards of our natural resources.  Participants will not only obtain information on “green” products and services, but will also enjoy free refreshments, live entertainment, a chance to win door prizes, and an opportunity to participate in food demonstrations from top chefs and nutritionists in the Southeast. In addition, the Anthony-Masterson film “GROW!” will be featured that takes a look at 20 young sustainable farmers around the nation.

 

The Green Living Expo 2012 is open to individuals of all ages, and it’s the ideal event for businesses and agencies to showcase their green products and services. So, bring your family, your students, coworkers, or just yourself for an educational and an enjoyable experience at Alabama A&M University’s Agribition Center. 

While there is no charge to attend this event, participants are asked to bring a canned food item instead that will be donated to a local food bank. In addition, please bring paper and plastic items for recycling.

For updated information, visit our website at www.aces.edu/urban. If you are interested in being an exhibitor or a sponsor, please contact Erica James at (256) 372-4951. Exhibitors and sponsors must be confirmed by Thursday, April 5. 

For questions or media interviews, please contact the Green Living Expo Co-chairs Tamara Warren (tcw0004@aces.edu) at (256) 372-4981, Andrea Morris at (256) 372-8082, or Donnie Cook at (256) 372-4983.

Expert to Speak about How our Food Choices are in the Hands of Fewer and Fewer Corporations

Grocery store aisles may appear to showcase abundant choices; however, fewer and fewer companies own the array of foods marketed to us.
 
Few people realize, for example, that over 80 percent of beef cattle in the US are slaughtered by only four companies. With this level of concentration in the food industry, what are the implications for consumers, farmers, food security and a fair, competitive marketplace? 
 
Dr. C. Robert Taylor, an Alfa Eminent Scholar (Distinguished University Professor) in Agricultural Economics and Public Policy at Auburn University, will speak about these issues on Tuesday, April 3^rd, 2012 at 5:30 pm at the Madison City Council Chambers, 100 Hughes Road.
 
Prior to joining the Auburn faculty in 1988, Dr. Taylor held faculty positions at the University of Illinois, Texas A&M University, and Montana State University. He has conducted applied research on a wide variety of topics, including market concentration, conservation, buyer power, bioenergy, and sustainable agriculture. He has authored or coauthored 5 books and over 200 articles and reports.
 
He has testified to Congress on concentration and consolidation of the food system and, in 2010, was invited by the U.S. Department of Justice and USDA to testify at two of their Joint Workshops on Competition Issues in Agriculture.

This free event is hosted by the North Alabama Food Policy Council Steering Committee as part of an ongoing educational series.

Our Food Choices: In Whose Hands?

Presentation by Dr. C. Robert Taylor

5:30 PM

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

Madison City Council Chambers

100 Hughes Road, Madison, AL

For questions, call 256-655-8585 or email kstrickland@fbofna.org