Come on by the 39th Street Community Market this Wednesday from 4:30-7:30 for the latest in local food. We will have beans, root veggies, summer squash, greens, herbs, cheeses from cashew and almond, meats for people and dogs and possibly an early taste of tomatoes.
Also this week, check out the Urban Farm and Garden Tour this Sunday the 28th, featuring two of our 39th street vendors - Eastwind/Drumm Farm and Root Deep.
http://urbanfarmstourkc.com/
You can learn about various techniques and styles of KC area cultivation from regional experts. This is a great time for budding gardeners, curious locavores and adventurous families, as many of the farms will have entertainment and fun children's activities. Pick up tickets and info for this educational celebration of local (agri) culture from Root Deep (Sherri) or the market tent (me).
Enjoy!
www.39thstreetmarket.com
Troost Community Market - Linwood & Troost - SATURDAYS 8:30-12:00
Troost Community Market — NEW MARKET 2009
Linwood Boulevard and Troost Avenue
SATURDAYS 8:30am - 12 NOON
Linwood Boulevard and Troost Avenue
SATURDAYS 8:30am - 12 NOON
Claudia Toomim, Program Developer
Business Mail: 4743 Troost Ave, Suite 200, Kansas City, MO 65110-1727
816-797-1327 www.TroostMarket.org
Claudia (@) TroostMarket.org
KC Organics and Natural Farmers Market - Saturdays in Minor Park
We are now celebrating over 17 years of wholesome food through sustainable practices. Our organic family farmers offer fresh picked, locally grown produce, natural specialty meats, honey, edible flowers, herbs, grains, artisan breads and pies, eggs, fresh brewed "fair trade" coffee and more. We continue to pioneer eco-products, with organic hand-made bar soaps and body care items, hand made cards, wood crafts, and candles. |
MusicOur "Organica Music" venue showcases local up-and-coming talent. A complete schedule of musical events will be posted on this webpage shortly! |
Chefs' DemonstrationsThe Chefs' Series demonstrates ways to prepare the fresh meats and produce. Chefs will provide recipes and free samples of foods. The demonstrations begin at 9:30. A complete schedule of events for this year will be posted soon. |
Saturdays, 8AM to 12:30 PM
May 2th to October 17th
Download Flyer (pdf)
Our Location:
On the grass and under the trees
Holiday Market
Every December
Check back for details
Just East of Holmes on Red Bridge Road (11
1th Street)...BROOKSIDE - The Community Farmers Market at Brookside (KCMO) - SATURDAYS
Greetings Market Friends,
Judging from the drastic increase in the mercury level, I guess summer is here. But even if you do not have a thermometer, the sauna like heat and hits you in the face when you step out the door would have been notice enough. I do declare, the last two days have been scorchers!
Please note that a most important event of the summer is upon us – the Urban Farms Tour. You will see some links and more details in the KCCUA portion of the newsletter below. Several of our vendors are on the tour. This is your chance to see where your food comes from. Pretty cool, huh? You won’t get that from supermarket selections—unless you fly to California or Hawaii. There are also several great educational sessions in addition to the farm tours that you can take in. Check out the link and see the many options. You can also buy your tickets at the KCCUA tent at the market.
As always we look forward to seeing you every Saturday from April through October from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the heart of Brookside at the corner of 63rd and Wornall. Also, check us out at www.farmerscommunitymarket.com
See you Saturday!
Franki
Now from our vendors:
From Blue Door Farm:
I know we farmers have spent alot of time this year talking about the vast quantities of rain this spring, so I will spare you all my thoughts on the deluge/downpour/gully-washers that sent cataracts/flash floods/washouts tearing through my field, taking many a newly planted seed with them. I won't mention a thing. Nary a word. No need to thank me.
I will happily report that some crops are doing well, and I'll be bringing more of the popular italian broccoli, conveniently sized cabbages, scallions, freshly dug potatoes and more.
See you Saturday!
Laura
From Bear Creek Farm:
Another wet week with 4 inches of rain plus 70 mile an hour winds on Monday night. We got to spend most of Tuesday cleaning things up, though there are still tree limbs and such to deal with. This summer just gets more fun every day!
This week at market we'll have loads of broccoli, bright orange and snow white cauliflower, baskets full of sweet, sweet red and white Candy onions, purple, pink and yellow new potatoes, fabulous spring garlic, piles of kales and swiss chard, and, as always, many things I can't think of while sitting here writing.
Jim and Laine will be manning the tent at market this week. Hope you all have a cool dry Saturday (I can dream!).
Robbins and Jim
Laine
From the KC Center for Urban Agriculture:
What a week! Rain, wind, heat, humidity! Some really glorious sun, some really grey clouds! We’re glad to see some settled weather in the forecast, our boots are sprouting mushrooms and moss is growing in the high tunnels J
We want to invite everyone to come to the Kansas City Urban Farms & Gardens Tour. The tour is Sunday, June 28, from 10:00-5:00, and it showcases urban farms, charitable and educational gardens, community gardens, and some truly impressive “urban homesteads” all over the metro area. It is a self-directed tour, so look at all the sites on the tour and the overview map, and you can put together a tour to visit the sites that tickle your fancy. A number of the market vendors are on the tour- Ambrose Bee Pharm, Blue Door Farm, Drumm Farm Garden, our own farm, and the New Roots for Refugees farms (though they aren’t selling at the market quite yet- they’ll be here soon!) The tour website is www.urbanfarmstourkc.org.
In advance of the tour, we’ve also got a lively slate of activities planned, including a movie showing of “Mad City Chickens” about urban chickens in Milwaukee (we just can’t resist the title, let alone the topic) at the All Soul’s UU Church on Tuesday, June 23. Wednesday, June 24, is “Eat out Local and Eat Out Responsibly” night. If you go eat at the Bluebird Bistro, http://www.bluebirdbistro.com/
At the market this weekend, you can buy tickets to the tour, and you can also feed yourself well all week long from the KC Community Farm’s bounty! We’ll have beautiful SUGAR SNAP PEAS, FAVA BEANS, SUMMER SQUASH of all types, CUCUMBERS, SPRING GARLIC (oh my this is the best garlic ever!), FENNEL, CABBAGE, MICRO MIX, SALAD MIX, HEAD LETTUCE (very very pretty and tasty), CHARD, KALE, HERBS, ARUGULA, CARROTS, TURNIPS, RADISHES, and BEETS. The featured veggies for the week however are TOMATOES! both cherry and slicers and NEW POTATOES, which cook up so incredibly tasty and melty.
It looks like a beautiful day on Saturday- we’ll see you then!
From Bread of Life Bakery:
Hello from Bread of Life Bakery,
The hot weather is here this week so we will have to remember to drink lots of water in the Bakery. Josiah and Bethany spent today working in the garden and it was hot work also. The ground is still very wet so weeding is done with care. Josiah is also waiting to mow hay but the weather is not cooperating for that project. I guess he will have to get some other task done until the rain stops for a few days.
Our breakfast burritos and coffee will be available for the market with greens from market added to the burritos and Benedict Builders sausage for the sausage and egg burritos. Our usual Whole Grain breads, specialty breads, homemade jams and jellies, cookies, scones and granolas will be available so stock up for the week.
Luke, Chris and Kathy---
Farmers' Community Market at Brookside
Saturdays, 8am to 1pm
under the white tents at theBorder Star Montessori School
63rd & Wornall, Kansas City, MO 64113 << Map it!
The Farmers' Community Market at Brookside is Dedicated toCreating a Unique Partnership between the Community andFarmers who provide High Quality, Local and Organic Productsin an atmosphere that is mutually beneficial, wholesome and fun.The Market also helps to support the Border Star PTA.
Farmers' Community Market at Brookside
Saturdays, 8am to 1pm
under the white tents at theBorder Star Montessori School
63rd & Wornall, Kansas City, MO 64113 << Map it!
The Farmers' Community Market at Brookside is Dedicated toCreating a Unique Partnership between the Community andFarmers who provide High Quality, Local and Organic Productsin an atmosphere that is mutually beneficial, wholesome and fun.The Market also helps to support the Border Star PTA.
Troostwood Youth Garden Market - FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS (KCMO)
Check out our Green Fest photos…
Troostwood Youth Garden & Market
5142 Paseo, Kansas City, Missouri 64110
Friday nights, 5 pm to 8pm
and
Saturdays, 8 am to 2 pm
May 15 thru late October
816-444-5788 — eMail:
Managers (@) TroostwoodYouthGarden.info
All foods grown on-site using organic methods. We are members of JJ FArms. Please call if you have questions.
Funky Friday Night Farmers' Market - BADSEED - FRIDAYS
Its all happening at BadSeed
BadSeed Farmers Market
1909 McGee, Kansas City Mo
In the Crossroads Art District
Every Friday
4:30 – 9:00 PM
THURSDAYS
Come introduce yourself and get to know our local farmers with their fresh organically-grown produce, free-range meats, fruits and other locally grown products. The market is open every Thursday on the east end of the Mission Farms parking lot. Join in the fun.
GROWERS & VENDORS 2009
Robert Jones | produce, sprouts, wheatgrass | |
Cherie Schenker | beef, pork, lamb, honey, brats | |
Nancy Gordon | soap, body care, greens, produce | |
Kathy Crowther | bread, produce, cane juice, | |
Rick Newson | eggs | |
Tammy Crandell | produce, herbs, sweet corn, eggs | |
Denise and Dan May | produce | |
Kay Peoples | Kay Peoples | organic dog treats |
Pete | vegetable, fruits, meat, grains |
Bear Creek Farms | Robbins Hail | vegetable produce, eggs |
39th Street Community Farmers' Market - WEDNESDAYS -
One too many rain dances have resulted in some gushy soil. That won't likely stop the vendors at the 39th Street Community Market from bringing you these choice offerings...
fennel
beets
lettuce
green onions
carrots
chard
kale
varied greens
turnips
kohlrabi
new potatoes
green beans
bulb onions
snow peas
zucchini
herbs
jams
sweet breads
jams and jellies
mosquito repellant
potted plants
grass fed beef
smoking hickory wood
handmade gifts
and possibly zinnia flowers and raspberries, if not this week then next.
We hope you, too, are bursting your buttons at all the local food you get to eat at this time of year. Here's a great suggestion someone made to me this evening regarding the wise use of greens...
http://www.jamesbeard.org/index.php?q=recipes/show/gratin_of_greens
This week we will also be visited by local band, the Night Owls. Give 'em a listen here...
http://www.myspace.com/thenightowls2
While you're at the market get tickets and/or info about the exciting and educational Urban Farms Tour. Here's a link to more about this one of a kind event...
http://urbanfarmstourkc.com/
See y'all Wednesday from 4:30-7:30.
www.39thstreetmarket.com
Get some green and stay healthy!
fennel
beets
lettuce
green onions
carrots
chard
kale
varied greens
turnips
kohlrabi
new potatoes
green beans
bulb onions
snow peas
zucchini
herbs
jams
sweet breads
jams and jellies
mosquito repellant
potted plants
grass fed beef
smoking hickory wood
handmade gifts
and possibly zinnia flowers and raspberries, if not this week then next.
We hope you, too, are bursting your buttons at all the local food you get to eat at this time of year. Here's a great suggestion someone made to me this evening regarding the wise use of greens...
http://www.jamesbeard.org/
This week we will also be visited by local band, the Night Owls. Give 'em a listen here...
http://www.myspace.com/
While you're at the market get tickets and/or info about the exciting and educational Urban Farms Tour. Here's a link to more about this one of a kind event...
http://urbanfarmstourkc.com/
See y'all Wednesday from 4:30-7:30.
www.39thstreetmarket.com
Dave Bennett - 39th Street Market
===
Get some green and stay healthy!
39th St. Community Market
39th and Genessee, Kansas City, Missouri
Wednesdays, 4:30-7:30pm, May 6th - Oct. 7th 2009
www.39thStreetMarket.com
The 39th Street Community Market is conveniently located near KU Medical Center in the 39th Street shopping area. Stop by after work and talk with your local farmers. Organic and sustainably grown vegetables and fruit, free range meat and other goodies are available. If you live in the neighborhood, stroll on over and bring your kids! Regular music events and children's activities are also scheduled.
Call 913-432-4101 for specific dates, or check on our web site.
Troostwood Youth Garden Market - FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS - 52nd & Paseo
Troostwood Youth Garden Market
Nieghborhood youth, providing fresh produce from A to Z...
| Dates/Times: | Fridays 5-8pm Saturdays 8am-2pm |
| Street: | |
| Phone: | 816-444-5788 |
| Email: |
** CLICK IT!! -- At the top-left of the mapping site,
our garden is green, green, GREEN now...
www.troostwoodyouthgarden.info
Youth gardeners have the opportunity to explore urban agriculture in Kansas City, MO at the Troostwood Garden in Kansas City. Located on a corner lot donated for use by Rockhurst University, Troostwood Gardens is in an urban neighborhood.
There, a master gardener and ten youth work with Ericka Wright’s “Urban Agriculture Youth Program,” building their urban agriculture skills. They grow produce to sell at the Troostwood Youth Garden Market. Through the help of a 2005 grant from the NCR-SARE Farmer Rancher Grant Program, the Urban Agriculture Youth Program at Troostwood Garden’s hopes to in uence a change in youths’ lifestyle and at the same time improve their nutrition, environment, social and economic practices. Ericka Wright’s family started Troostwood Gardens on their property in 2000 as an activity for neighborhood youth.
“In the community I live in, we were the only house in the neighborhood with a swing set, so we had always kids in the yard. Many of the kids had low scores in reading and math,” explained Wright. “Most people enjoy eating, whatever level they’re at, and we gured we could read a little, eat a little, do a little math, and learn together in the garden with the kids.”
At 41 years-old, Wright is disabled from muscular dystrophy, and values a healthful diet. Wright wanted to show children healthful nutrition as part of a healthy lifestyle. “In terms of sustainable agriculture, our project falls in line with community. It brings people together in an outdoor classroom, and makes people aware of sustainable gardening practices in the inner city, saving seeds, and eating healthfully,” said Wright.
Youth begin gardening each March and continue working in the garden and at the Troostwood Youth Garden Market until the last vegetables are harvested, typically in late October. “We’ve found that the youth developed better self esteem. They saw the fruits of their labor and how their hard work had paid off…They now have knowledge of a garden, what it takes to have and build one, and team work.”
Article above excerpted from:
http://www.sare.org/ncrsare/newsletter/NCRSARE_WinterSpring2008.pdf
VISIT US
ON THE
URBAN FARMS & GARDENS TOUR
10am - 5pm
Sunday, June 28th, 2009
Funky Friday Farmers Market at BADSEED
Hey hey hey,
Hope everyone spent the weekend stuffing themselves with the swiss chard, goat cheese, sprouts, and other delights from last week's market! Summer is upon us and June is bearing down! Things haven't been too terribly hot, yet. But it's coming. Indeed, spring sprang sprung it's way out of here, and some delicious produce will go with it. So we take this opportunity to remind you of the splendor of the spring greens (images above are clickable for larger format) that are still going strong.
Of course, we're all twiddling our thumbs waiting for tomatoes, peppers, squash, and the other heavy hitters. Us farmers want that stuff, too. But lets not let pass unnoticed the enormous, brilliantly colored bunches of swiss chard. Nor should we let fat bags of arugula, begging to be mixed into a pasta, sit idle on the market table. Soon there will be no nasturtium blossoms for your salads, nor mixed mustards to fry up southern style. And the kale will be so holey not even the pope would touch it.
So please, do yourself a favor - Load up and chow down on some of the finest local organic greens available anywhere.
This week at the BADSEED Farmers' Market, we will have the full range of spring flavors, including:
BAD and BADDER SEEDS Dan Heryer and Brooke Salvaggio from those southern suburbs.
Hows about some more big beautiful multicolored CHARD BUNCHES for all those early comers. You haven't seen companion planting until you've seen our row of nasturtiums down the middle of our kale bed. We'll have some of the bunched KALE leaves from that bed, as well as bagged NASTURTIUM blossoms for all you EDIBLE FLOWER folks. Also, lots of ARUGULA - not too spicy. Look for the Brooke's fabulous SALAD MIX with assorted herbs (we've gotten so many rave reviews, it seems that this salad mix really might change your life). STIR-FRY Mix. A few more LETTUCE HEADS, maybe. We have more TARRAGON than we know what to do with, as well as some other FRESH-CUT HERBS. And of course RADISHES and TURNIPS - some of the most amazing turnips ever tasted.
Lew "The Herb'n Gardener" Edminster from the West Side of KC
this week i'll have a small amount of zinnias and larkspur cut flowers. arugla is taking a rest for a couple of weeks and is being replaced with mild mesclun. there'll be more russian kale for the kale freaks and all-star gourmet mix continues for only maybe two weeks and then it's bye-bye until fall crops. green beans will be on next week. i could auction off the one or two packs of cherry tomatos i'll get.
Steve "the Platte Prairie" Mann with the Squash Blossom in his hand from the land Up North
This Mann has some juicy Mulberries, kale, arugula, salad mix, turnips and borage.
Pudd'n Head Coffee
Micro-Roasted Fair Trade Organic Coffee Beans, as well as fresh brewed coffee by the glass.
Bread of Life
Savory, sweet and otherwise delicious baked goods.
And of course, Pastured EGGS from Bread of Life
and amazing aged and fresh GOAT CHEESE from Goatsbeard Farm.
Spring is still here. Get these great goods before their season passes.
Happy eating!
Dan and Brooke
An Urban-Organic Farm & Market
Celebrating Local Food, Culture, and Community
1909 McGee*KCMO*64108
How to Eat Local in KC - Olathe Public Library - TONIGHT!
...a reminder for
How to Eat Local in KC
Thu Jun 11
7pm – 9pm
(Timezone: Central Time)
201 E. Park St, Olathe, KS 66061 (map)
Calendar: KC FoodCircle
As part of the activities leading up to the Greater Kansas City Urban Farms & Gardens Tour 2009, local libraries in Independence, MO, and Olathe, KS, are featuring the following program:
"How to Eat Local in KC" - hosted by Season Burnett (Director of the Kansas City CSA Coalition) and Emily Akins (member of the Kansas City Food Circle Coordinating Committee)
How can you reach out to your community while at the same time finding local, sustainable methods for buying, making, and growing your own food? Come learn and share information about the exploding number of Kansas City's local and organic farmers' markets, Community Supported Agriculture and CSAs, community and school gardening, preserving, and other local-food efforts promoted by some fantastic organizations actively involved in our local "foodshed." As you grow more inspired, you can find out how to help your friends and neighbors "go local"!
* Thursday, June 11, 7 p.m., Olathe Public Library, 201 E. Park St., Olathe, KS 66061 (call 913.971.6888 to register)
* Sunday, June 21, 2 p.m., Trails West Branch of the KCMO Library, 11401 East 23rd Street, Independence, MO 64052 (call 816.701.3483 for more information) RSVP Now for Trails West Event
https://www.kclibrary.org/
For information on other events throughout the month of June and for tickets for Urban Farm Tour 2009, go to http://urbanfarmstourkc.com/
www.KCFoodCircle.orgTHURSDAYS - Farmers' Market in Leawood, KS - Mission Farms Farmers' Market
Mission Farms
ORGANIC
Farmer's Market
THURSDAYS
4:00 PM - 8:30 PM
10601 Mission Road
Leawood, KS 66206
10601 Mission Road
Leawood, KS 66206
Come introduce yourself and get to know our local farmers with their fresh organically-grown produce, free-range meats, fruits and other locally grown products. The market is open every Thursday on the east end of the Mission Farms parking lot. Join in the fun.
GROWERS & VENDORS 2009
Robert | produce, sprouts, wheatgrass | |
Cherie | beef, pork, lamb, honey, brats | |
Nancy | soap, body care, greens, produce | |
Kathy | bread, produce, cane juice, | |
Rick | eggs | |
Tammy | produce, herbs, sweet corn | |
Denise and | produce | |
Kay Peoples | Kay | organic dog treats |
Pete | vegetable, fruits, meat, grains |
39th Street Community Farmers Market - Wednesdays 4:30-7:30pm
We have been having lots of potential vendors trying to get into the market of late-giving us a bit of a reality check. The reason you are likely to see some empty space still in the lot of the marketspace is because we insist on offering a place for food sold under high standards of integrity and care in the way that it comes to you. Although it may have to been driven in from a farm miles from town, it was all grown or made by the people you see at the market. They are committed to avoiding any chemical -icides or other potentially harmful treatments. So, though you may not see a slew of groceries flooding your vision in our little lot, all you see is the best you can get in the area from the area. So, what is available this week?
Cucumbers-tasty little picklers
Greens-Asian and otherworldly
Berries-some straw and possibly others
Peppers-first tastes of the season
Carrots-bringing in some summer color
Salad Mix-and a few exotic natives
Beets-great as a roasted root
Beans-green and getting longer each week
Herbs-Basil, Cilantro, Mint, Oregano
Baked Goods-breads, cinn rolls, cookies, lil pies
Beef-healthy cows never fattened on grain
Sauces & spreads-vegan cheese, BBQ, apple butter
Hickory-get it to grill/smoke up your foodstuffs
Curious Canine-dog foods for those healthy best friends
Expect more and you'll get it...
Dave Bennett - 39th Street Market
Get some green and stay healthy!
Cucumbers-tasty little picklers
Greens-Asian and otherworldly
Berries-some straw and possibly others
Peppers-first tastes of the season
Carrots-bringing in some summer color
Salad Mix-and a few exotic natives
Beets-great as a roasted root
Beans-green and getting longer each week
Herbs-Basil, Cilantro, Mint, Oregano
Baked Goods-breads, cinn rolls, cookies, lil pies
Beef-healthy cows never fattened on grain
Sauces & spreads-vegan cheese, BBQ, apple butter
Hickory-get it to grill/smoke up your foodstuffs
Curious Canine-dog foods for those healthy best friends
Expect more and you'll get it...
Dave Bennett - 39th Street Market
===
Get some green and stay healthy!
39th St. Community Market
39th and Genessee, Kansas City, Missouri
Wednesdays, 5 to 8 pm, May 6th - Oct. 7th 2009
www.39thStreetMarket.com
The 39th Street Community Market is conveniently located near KU Medical Center in the 39th Street shopping area. Stop by after work and talk with your local farmers. Organic and sustainably grown vegetables and fruit, free range meat and other goodies are available. If you live in the neighborhood, stroll on over and bring your kids! Regular music events and children's activities are also scheduled.
Call 913-432-4101 for specific dates, or check on our web site.
WORKSHOP - Post Harvest Handling - Lexington (MO)
(RE-POSTED from the Growing Growers eList (listserv)
Monday afternoon (TODAY - June 8th), Growing Growers will hold a workshop on Post Harvest Handling, with a presentation that covers how to keep your vegetables fresh, flavorful and safe after harvest. We'll follow that up with a tour of Fahrmeier Farms in Lexington, Missouri, where Brandon and Brett Fahrmeier grow on 60+ acres, including 2 acres under Haygrove high tunnels.
As with all GG workshops, we welcome participants of all experience levels. All that is required is an interest in learning about sustainably growing for market.
You are welcome to pay the registration fee at the door, but please call or email Laura to pre-register: growers (@) ksu.edu or (816) 805-0362
What: Post Harvest Handling Workshop and Farm tour
When: June 8th, 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Where: Lexington United Methodist Church, 1211 S. Highway 13, Lexington, MO
Farm tour: Fahrmeier Farms
Cost: $15
A flyer with more detailed information is available - you can go to: http://www.growinggrowers.org/Pages/workshop.htm for a complete workshop schedule.
Hope to see you there,
Laura Christensen
Growing Growers Training Program
www.growinggrowers.org
(RE-POSTED from the Growing Growers eList (listserv) - see also
the KC Food Circle Calendar)
Monday afternoon (TODAY - June 8th), Growing Growers will hold a workshop on Post Harvest Handling, with a presentation that covers how to keep your vegetables fresh, flavorful and safe after harvest. We'll follow that up with a tour of Fahrmeier Farms in Lexington, Missouri, where Brandon and Brett Fahrmeier grow on 60+ acres, including 2 acres under Haygrove high tunnels.
As with all GG workshops, we welcome participants of all experience levels. All that is required is an interest in learning about sustainably growing for market.
You are welcome to pay the registration fee at the door, but please call or email Laura to pre-register: growers (@) ksu.edu or (816) 805-0362
What: Post Harvest Handling Workshop and Farm tour
When: June 8th, 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Where: Lexington United Methodist Church, 1211 S. Highway 13, Lexington, MO
Farm tour: Fahrmeier Farms
Cost: $15
A flyer with more detailed information is available - you can go to: http://www.growinggrowers.org/
Hope to see you there,
Laura Christensen
Growing Growers Training Program
www.growinggrowers.org
(RE-POSTED from the Growing Growers eList (listserv) - see also
the KC Food Circle Calendar)
Kenya shows leadership in Conservation Agriculture
From:
The Climate Ark News Archive: Non-profit climate news archive provided on these terms to help find solutions and for posterity
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=129543
Source: Copyright 2009, Guardian
The Climate Ark News Archive: Non-profit climate news archive provided on these terms to help find solutions and for posterity
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=129543
Kenya: The eco evangelist
While recovering from a brain haemorrhage, Craig Sorley had an epiphany – to spread the environmental word using the Bible. He took his green gospel to Kenya – now crop yields are up, the monkeys are back and even the Church is won over
Source: Copyright 2009, Guardian
Date: June 7, 2009
Byline: Xan Rice
Original URL
In God's fields rats are the problem. They crawled under the old maize stalks that Paul Kiongo Thuo carefully placed on his soil as mulch, as the missionary had shown him, and ate the seeds he had planted in neat rows the day after the rains came. Thuo killed seven of the rodents, but more have moved in. Perhaps it is best to let the seeds germinate first before laying down the mulch, his wife Grace suggests as they stand in the middle of their four-acre farm, where they also grow beans, bananas and cabbage. Thuo bobs his white beanie in agreement. Craig Sorley, a 6ft 3in American with a shaved head, Levis, a lumberjack shirt and muddy boots, listens and thinks for a moment. He has already sought advice on the rat problem from Christian colleagues in Zimbabwe who pioneered Farming God's Way, which uses biblical teachings to encourage a practice known as conservation agriculture. In reply, his colleagues had asked why raptors had not eaten the rats. But here, on the eastern edge of the Great Rift Valley in central Kenya, where small-scale farmers have traditionally struggled to grow enough food even to feed their families, virtually all the indigenous trees have been chopped down for firewood. The few exotic eucalyptus trees scattered around the farms are not suitable for nesting.
"You mess with one part of God's creation and you'll pay for it another," Sorley says, examining a handful of soil from Thuo's bean patch.
Sorley is a self-proclaimed environmental missionary. He represents the Baptist General Conference on the "conservative side of the evangelical movement" in the US. For many (perhaps most) of his church colleagues back home, the environment barely registers on the scale of challenges facing the world today. Climate change is still widely regarded as a myth, while creationism trumps evolution.
But for Sorley, 41, who discovered his calling after being diagnosed with a potentially fatal brain tumour two decades ago, global warming, environmental degradation and food and water shortages are some of the greatest threats to mankind today, particularly in the developing world. An easy-going, mild-mannered man who signs off his emails with "Blessings", Sorley becomes exasperated when trying to explain his church's reluctance to recognise the urgent need to protect God's creation.
"The deeply embedded view is that Christ is returning soon, so why should we care for the environment? Well, what if I had a child with leukaemia and I said to my wife, 'We don't need to give him food because he's going to die anyway'? Man, it's the same thing!"
In Kenya, where Sorley has chosen to test his pioneering mission work, it is clear that the natural resources are dying. A fast-growing population is putting huge pressure on both wildlife and the land. In April, a study revealed losses of hoofed animals such as giraffe, warthog and hartebeest of up to 95% in the famous Masai Mara reserve between 1979 and 2002, mainly due to human settlement around the park. The Mau Forest, the largest water catchment area in the country, whose rivers feed Lake Victoria and the Masai Mara, has lost a quarter of its trees since the early 1990s. In total, Kenya may once have had 8% of closed forest cover, scientists say; now it has less than 1.7 per cent. The resultant soil erosion is a major problem; the UN estimates that the dollar value of the soil lost each year is more than $2.5bn - more than three times the annual tourist income. Throw in increasingly erratic rainfall, apparently due to global climatic change, and decreasing agricultural yields and the prognosis is dire.
To Sorley, it is also an affront to God - especially in Kenya, where the clergy enjoys great respect and exercises significant moral influence. More than two-thirds of Kenyans are Christian, and church attendance is high - particularly in rural areas, where on Sundays families can be seen walking on the roadside in their finest clothes, Bibles in hand. Preachers offer a mostly conservative message of Christianity, with the gospel of salvation the main theme.
When not bumping along dirt roads in his 17-year-old red Land Cruiser, trying to persuade people to plant trees, harvest water and rejuvenate their soil in God's name, Sorley holds theological workshops. He often begins by asking whether anyone has ever heard a sermon about the environment. Faced with a sea of shaking heads, he then reels off the biblical verses that make his case, from Genesis 2:15: "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden in Eden to work it and care of it", through to Revelations 4:11: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
Even the biblically illiterate should be able to understand the message of caring for the environment, Sorley says.
"You've got Noah's Ark - talk about an endangered species programme. For animal stewardship you have the Good Shepherd. And everybody knows about the Garden of Eden."
Sorley spent much of his youth in east Africa. His father, a doctor, was a medical missionary and the family lived in Ethiopia until they were chased out during the Marxist revolution in the 70s. Later, they lived in Uganda during the rule of Milton Obote, where child soldiers with AK-47s occupied checkpoints and the Aids epidemic emerged with devastating effect. Sorley, who learned to appreciate nature while on long drives to boarding school near Nairobi, became aware of another impending crisis. "Even then it was visible that the forests were coming down and wildlife was on the retreat," he says.
After school, Sorley moved to Minnesota to attend a Christian college. He began getting recurrent headaches. The doctor ordered a CAT scan, which revealed a highly malignant brain tumour. He had immediate surgery, radiation treatment and chemotherapy. While waiting for the results of the treatment, he picked up a Bible. He says he opened it randomly to Psalm 103, which talks about praising the Lord who heals diseases, keeps one from the grave, and enables one to "stay young and strong like an eagle".
"It was the most spiritual moment of my life," Sorley says. "All my fears seemed to melt away, and my health reports have been good ever since."
At the same time, he says, "God laid a burden on my heart, to do with the environment."
While recuperating in Kenya for a few months, Sorley told a close friend that he wanted to pursue environmentalism, using the church to carry the message. His friend claimed that Christians didn't care about the environment. "It was an accusation, a challenge," says Sorley.
While studying environmental science at the University of Minnesota, Sorley sought evidence that would prove his friend wrong. He found none.
He became even more dismayed about the church's stance when looking at the mounting scientific evidence that climate change was caused by man, a conclusion he agreed with. He also accepted that the universe was billions of years old - "A testament to God's eternity" - rather than less than 10,000 years old, as creationist teaching suggests.
"Within the conservative church we really commit hypocrisy on this issue by the selective acceptance of science," Sorley says. "We reject the findings of climatologists and astronomers yet we would go to an oncologist - even an atheist, Buddhist or Hindu one - to get cancer treatment without batting an eyelid."
He saw it as his Christian duty to do something to help the victims of climate change. The Bible was the only weapon he needed.
Limuru, a 30-minute drive from the Kenyan capital Nairobi, was one of the favourite spots for the British settlers in the late 19th century. More than 2,100 metres above sea level, it has misty mornings, abundant rain; ideal conditions for growing tea. Among the emerald tea fields today sits Brackenhurst, a Baptist-owned conference centre that occupies 100 acres of land. So abundant are the trees and so rich the birdlife that visitors sometimes make reference to the Garden of Eden, which pleases Sorley.
He has his office and an indigenous tree nursery on the grounds, and also rents a small colonial-era house, where he lives with his wife, his two young sons, his dog and an augur buzzard, which he took in after it was found with a permanently damaged wing.
After moving to Brackenhurst in 2003, Sorley spent one year learning about Kenya's forests, and was deeply concerned by what he found. While there are more than 1,000 indigenous species in Kenya, their volume was dwindling due to deforestation caused by farmers seeking land to grow crops, or by people looking for firewood. Of the new trees being planted the vast majority were exotic species. Not only was this reducing the overall diversity of tree and plant species, but also the range of bird, mammal and insect species.
At Brackenhurst, a programme that started in 2000 to clear more than 12 acres of exotic trees planted for their timber and replace them with indigenous trees was already yielding promising results. Within a few years the number of bird species counted had tripled, Sorley says, while duikers, mongoose, monkeys and genet cats had all returned to the young forests.
In 2005, Sorley started up his own organisation, Care of Creation Kenya, to try to replicate that success elsewhere. He now grows 20,000 trees a year from 72 different indigenous species. The young trees are donated or sold for between 40p and £1.60 to local communities, schools and churches.
One chilly morning we drive to the All Saints Church in Limuru, a beautiful old stone building. The church purchased 50 young trees from Sorley two years ago, which now stand head high behind the graveyard. Weavers had built nests in several of the trees. At the Ngecha Primary School, a short drive but an economic light year away in a densely populated part of town, headmaster Joseph Mathenge escorts us around the school grounds where 600 of Sorley's trees had been planted since 2007. As kids in threadbare jerseys and battered shoes kick footballs made of rags, Mathenge explains how before, where there had been no shade for the 800 pupils to sit under; soon there would be a "forested park" outside the classroom block.
Kenya's most famous tree planter is the environmental activist Wangari Maathai. She attended one of Sorley's workshops just weeks before she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, and was impressed by his approach. She had previously tried to persuade the church to champion the environmental cause, without success.
"People in Kenya are religious, but often in a superficial way. They look at God like he's a magician... rather than a God who wants us to use and protect the tools he has given us," she told me.
"Craig was talking about the environment from a biblical perspective, which I never heard anyone doing before. I thought at the time that if we could get that sort of language coming from the pulpit on Sundays then we would start to see all Christians looking to protect the planet."
Elizabeth Nyanga Mugo looks pleased. The soil beneath her toes is wet from the previous night's downpour, the biggest of the year. Earlier rains have been poor; farmers who planted seeds saw them rot due to the lack of follow-up rain. Now, in the early afternoon in Ndeiya, a 30-minute drive west of Limuru, the clouds are bruised and plump with precipitation again.
"We are very hard-working people," says Mugo, 48. "But only God can bring the rain."
Mugo owns 10 acres of land where she grows maize, beans, potatoes and bananas, some for her family, and some for sale. Her husband herds cattle.
Theirs has not always been a content existence. In Kenya the small-scale farmer occupies the lowest rung in society, "sometimes even below the lowest rung, in their minds", Sorley says. Though the farmers' toils feed most of their countrymen, they are regarded as peasants, people not to be emulated.
"After independence, to be seen as a modern African you had to be educated and get a job as a government clerk," says James Shikwati, director of the Inter Region Economic Network, a think-tank in Nairobi. "In my village if you farmed it was assumed that you failed at school."
Sorley says that when he meets farmers such as Mugo, they are often filled with despair at their decreasing yields and lowly place in the community. And while the ultimate aim of Sorley and his project manager, Francis Githaigah, a jovial 49-year-old ex industrial chemist, is to increase agricultural productivity through soil rejuvenation, first they try to repair the farmer's sense of self-worth through biblical teaching.
Githaigah, who navigates the dusty roads to Ndeiya on a Honda motorcycle, conducts discipleship classes for farmers, using Sorley's chosen biblical verses to build up esteem and provide theological reasons for environmental stewardship. Githaigah began planting trees around his mother's home near Mount Kenya in the 90s after seeing her struggle to find firewood, and describes farmers like Mugo as "my friends and disciples".
"Today, I feel strong in my heart about farming," says Mugo, who often has baboons and antelope wandering past her house. "We live here through the wonder of God - this land is our paradise."
Yet it is a paradise that is offering less to its custodians by the year. Sorley says that many farmers report yields of only a quarter of those achieved 25 years ago. Erratic rainfall is partly to blame but the main reason is that the soil is exhausted after decades of continuous farming using the same methods that extract nutrients from the earth but put nothing back.
As the pressure grows on farmers to produce more - Kenya is again facing a food crisis this year - local and multinational agricultural companies are trying to cash in. A better seed can improve yields, and companies have realised that the millions of small-scale farmers in Kenya represent a lucrative market. Shikwati, the economist, says that some firms have bought land alongside the main rural roads to showcase the effectiveness of their seeds.
But to Sorley seeds are not the answer. For starters, the seeds being hawked are mostly hybrids. The plants that grow will not produce seeds of the same quality, so farmers are locked into buying new seeds each year rather than saving their own. What's more, many of the seeds require fertiliser to be effective, Sorley says, which is too expensive for many poor farmers.
Sorley has set up his own demonstration plots to convince farmers like Mugo and Thuo that by caring for their land, in accordance with God's will, output can increase significantly. Conservation Agriculture, a method promoted by the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation, calls for crop rotation and minimal soil disturbance, since tilling or ploughing can lead to a destruction of organic matter. The third key element is permanent soil covering - essentially putting down a layer of mulch that encourages micro-organisms to grow in the soil and which will eventually break down the mulch into a natural form of fertiliser.
On a quarter-acre plot next to Sorley's house he has been growing beans, maize, broccoli and potatoes using these techniques. In the maize patch the soil is barely visible under the rows of old maize stalks; for the other vegetables grass clippings and pine needles are the mulch. Last year his maize yield was more than double that of other local farmers, Sorley says. "Farming God's Way is based on science, and it makes sense for economic reasons. But small farmers are still reluctant to set aside land to experiment with - it's a risk for them - and they usually use the maize stalks that we would use for mulch as feed for their cows after the harvest. It is only when you add the biblical and moral mandate of good stewardship to the economic interest that there's a good chance of getting people to give it a try."
This year, for the first time, five farmers in Ndeiya have created their own test plots, including Thuo and Mugo. And while Thuo's rat problem has been a setback, the early signs elsewhere are positive. Mugo says that her neighbours have come around to examine the "crazy thing" she is doing to produce such an impressive crop. "One day soon we will be able to get electricity here," she says proudly. "Jeremiah chapter 17: He who trusts in the Lord is like a tree planted by the riverside."
This fusion of God and Green, especially coming from the conservative evangelical base, could be expected to sit uncomfortably with some leading environmentalists. George Monbiot, the activist and Guardian columnist, says that much of the opposition to climate-change science that characterised the George W Bush administration came from the conservative Christian base with ties to the big business agenda.
"There was also a refusal to accept that man could have an effect on the environment," he says. "It was 'God is in charge and omnipotent, so bugger off and leave us alone.'"
But Monbiot has no objection to evangelicals moving to the side of the greens, especially as they already have a large constituency that they can potentially influence in a positive way.
"We are facing a global crisis and we must use every tool at our disposal in preventing climate breakdown and a food and water crisis. I don't mind how the message reaches people or who is doing it," Monbiot says.
There are signs of a change in direction within the US church, driven in part by a realisation that the world's poor will suffer most from global warming, however it is caused. Last year a coalition of Southern Baptists, among the most conservative denominations in the US, issued a declaration on the environment and climate change, calling for a "unified moral voice".
"Our cautious response to these issues in the face of mounting evidence may be seen by the world as uncaring, reckless and ill-informed," the Southern Baptist Environment and Climate Initiative said. "We can do better. To abandon these issues to the secular world is to shirk from our responsibility to be salt and light. The time for timidity regarding God's creation is no more."
Still, it is just a small step forward. And in Kenya, where Sorley wants all seminaries and Bible colleges to teach mandatory courses in creation care, the top religious leaders have yet to show any strong intent to help tackle the steep environmental challenges facing the country.
Wangari Maathai says: "There are still few people of God going up on to our mountains to see how the natural forests are being cut, and how the rivers run red with silt."
Sorley acknowledges that a change in the broader church mentality will take some time yet. In the meantime he dreams of opening Care of Creation offices across East Africa, and more in Kenya, too, but says that church funding is far more difficult to obtain than if he were running a project for Aids orphans or street children. "This is still a new frontier for mission work."
Copyright 2009, Guardian
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