Farm Fresh to Urban Communities in the Midwest

Spring is always one of the busiest times of year for Growing Power. We are preparing our outdoor growing spaces for the busy growing season, tending to our livestock and finalizing our weekend workshop series. This spring proved to be an even more challenging time with the late arrival of warm weather and several additional activities being conducted. Each year as we begin this busy time it all seems overwhelming, but the Growing Power staff always digs in and gets the job done.

Once each month, January through June, Growing Power hosts weekend “From the Ground Up” workshops. These workshops, attended by people from all over the world, provide hands-on training in all aspects of developing and maintaining a sustainable community food system. Participants can take part in several breakout sessions that cover topics such as: hoop house construction, mushroom cultivation, aquaponics, sprout production, vermi-composting, beekeeping, and community project planning. Our 2014 “From the Ground Up” workshop series concluded in June, with more than 350 people participating this year. Coinciding with these workshops, Growing Power offers a Commercial Urban Agriculture course through which participants attend workshops for five consecutive months, concluding in May with a graduation. This course provides them with intensive hands-on training supplemented with classroom instruction that focuses on building the individuals skills in preparation for operating their own farming venture. The 2014 CUA training program concluded in May with 10 participants graduating.

On May 10th, Growing Power held our first Good Food Revolution 5K Walk/Run. This event took place in the neighborhood surrounding our Community Food Center at 55th Street and Silver Spring Drive in Milwaukee. The route looped through Wisconsin’s largest public housing developments, Westlawn Gardens, providing participants with a glimpse of Growing Power’s community garden in Westlawn. The event was attended by more than 220 people and was supported by the Milwaukee Housing Authority. Additional sponsors included: Whole Foods; Chipotle; Naturally Green Products; Il Mito; Lakefront Brewery; and Natalie’s Juices. We are grateful to all of our sponsors and look forward to hosting this event again next year. We hope that you will consider joining us!
In June Growing Power received a large donation of fruit trees and plants from the nation’s largest direct-to-consumer grower of fruit and nut trees, Stark Bros Nurseries. On June 12th 4000 apple, peach, plum and pear trees and blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, strawberry and asparagus plants were delivered to Growing Power’s Community Food Center to be used to create urban fruit farms. Growing Power will be working with the City of Milwaukee Office of Environmental Sustainability’s Home Gr/Own Initiative to plant the donated trees and plants on some of Milwaukee’s 2400 vacant lots. Planting is expected to begin this fall, the optimum time to plant fruit trees.

We are also busily preparing for our bi-annual National-International Urban & Small Farms Conference to take place in Milwaukee on November 7th-9th at the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino. This year’s conference will include a special event featuring a conversation with Michael Pollan and Will Allen. Michael Pollan is a 4-time New York Times Bestselling author, James Beard Award winner for best food writing, a 2009 Newsweek “New Though Leader” and one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2010. Will Allen is the Farmer, Founder and CEO of Growing Power, a “Genius Grant” winner from the MacAurther Foundation, and was also named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2010. The event will be moderated by author and former Wisconsin Public Radio talk show host, Jean Feraca. This event is open to the general public and tickets will be on sale very soon. We hope to see you there!