Kansas City Sweet Potato Project 2012

 This is the Fifth year that Food Not Lawns Kansas City has worked to help the community grow and enjoy sweet potatoes. Sweet Potatoes are a nutritious, beautiful landscape plant that is low maintenance and doesn’t require excessive water. They are well suited for public flower beds and have the added bonus of providing a nutritious and popular yield.

Kansas City Sweet Potato Project is growing 20,000lb of sweet potatoes in public places, parks, schools, churches, businesses, community gardens and in your lawn.           

The goal is to grow, tend, harvest and cure for storage 10,000 lb for Harvester and local food pantries.  And another 10,000 for the growers supporting the program.

 We ask the growers to purchase the transplants.

They are available at Kansas City Community Gardens http://www.kccg.org/ ,

Squash Blossom Food Cooperative http://squashblossomcoop.org/  

and many farmers markets.

 We are seeking people, organizations and businesses to adopt a sweet potato bed or a Green Wall prototype sweet potato growing system designed and built by Kansas State University architecture students.

 Sponsors can either supply volunteers or donate money to support their bed. This is a chance to make a real difference for people and the environment in Kansas City and is going to be so much fun.

The Kansas City Sweet Potato Project  is a project of Reconciliation Services 3101 Troost  a 501(c)3, Food Not Lawns Kansas City , the  Society of St. Andrew  West http://www.endhunger.org/sosawest.htm   and Troost Village Community Association http://www.troostvillage.org/   

You can find out more about the project at the Kansas City Sweet Potato Project Facebook page. To volunteer or for more information contact Karin Page, SOSA West Program Coordinator at 816-921-0856 or Steve Mann 816 352-9213

 Grow Food Nor Lawns

Not just another gardening class, “Food Not Lawns” will help you turn your lawn into a garden and your neighborhood into a community. Our goals are to help increase local food security, improve your diet, beautify your surroundings, reduce pollution and energy use. Topics include: whole system design, garden preparation, permaculture principles, water wise gardening, seed saving and free resources (see foodnotlawanskc.org). The Food Not Lawns KC Collaborative has been working to transform Kansas City into a paradise garden one lawn at a time since 2007.

4 sessions Wednesdays March 7,14,21,28  7:00 – 9:00PM

UMKC School of Medicine, Theatre C, first floor, 2411 Charlotte, KCMO

Register Online at www.umkc.edu/commu or call 816-235-1407

 Learn Essential Survival Skills 

Eradicate your Lawn Grow Food Not Lawns

Food Not Lawns Kansas City  will have a  Hands-on Sheet Mulching/Sweet Potato Harvest Workshop Sunday October  23rd  3 – 5 PM Troost Village Community Garden Linwood & Troost – South West Corner
Call Steve  at 816 352-9213 for more information.

Living Planet Report

http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/all_publications/living_planet_report/living_planet_report_timeline/lpr_2008/ 

No-Till Pioneers: 

THE ONE-STRAW REVOLUTION

Over a period of thirty-five years, Masanobu Fukuoka developed a rotation of successive crops of summer and winter grains sown into a permanent bed of clover. With this method, which Fukuoka san described in The One-Straw Revolution, he was able to achieve yields of rice, wheat and barley equal to or surpassing the highest in Japan without ever tilling the ground and without adding either chemical fertilizers or prepared

http://fukuokafarmingol.info/

Ruth Stout ‘No-Work Garden Book: Secrets of the Famous Year-Round Mulch Method’

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2004-02-01/Ruth-Stouts-System.aspx

Lee Reich ‘Weedless Gardening’  http://leereich.com/

Patricia Lanza ‘Lasagna Gardening’  http://www.lasagnagardening.com/

Cover Crop Chart

http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=20323

Sources:

http://www.greencoverseed.com/

http://www.groworganic.com/seeds/cover-crop.html

http://www.territorialseed.com/prod_detail_list/cover_crops

Compost/Mulch

http://www.missouriorganic.com/products.html  

Mulch from leaves, limbs  and brush

Kansas City Mo Solid Waste Division has mixed wood mulch (processed from our leaves and brush collection ) available free of charge to the public. During scheduled times, the City also will load mulch into pickup trucks at no cost to residents.

The City operates two sites where mulch is available on scheduled Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.:

1815 N. Chouteau Trafficway   and  I-470 / Raytown Road Site (on the southeast corner of Raytown Road and I-470).

These sites are open to the public, residents, businesses and institutions of Kansas City, Mo. For further questions, please call (816) 513-1313.
 Olathe residents can pick up free mulch and compost from the City’s Composting Facility, located at 127th & Hedge Lane (old city landfill), Mon-Sat, 8 am – 4 pm. The compost and mulch are made from the processing of materials collected and managed through the City’s residential yard waste collection program, and they are offered back to residents, free of charge, for use in their home landscapes. Please call beforehand (913) 971-9311 to confirm the availability of materials, and remember to bring a shovel and a container to load it yourself!

CITY OF LAWRENCE WOOD CHIP SALE
Thursday-Saturday,   8:00am-3:00pm (til 4:00 on Sat.)

1420 E 11th Street, Lawrence KS (east of 11th and Haskell, over the tracks)
The material is chipped from trees cut down by the City.  Cost is $10 per standard pick-up load, more for larger trucks or trailers.  For more info, contact the Waste Reduction and Recycling Division at 832-3030 or visit www.LawrenceRecycles.org.

CITY OF LAWRENCE COMPOST SALE  

Thursday-Saturday, 20-22 October 2011, 8:00am-3:00pm (til 4:00 on Sat.)

1420 E 11th Street, Lawrence KS (east of 11th and Haskell, over the tracks)
The material is composted from leaves, grass clippings, and prunings collected by the City.  Quantities are restricted to pick-ups and small trailers for residential use, not commercial use.  Cost is $10 per load if loaded by tractor, or free if self-loaded by hand.  For more info, contact the Waste Reduction and Recycling Division at 832-3030 or visit www.LawrenceRecycles.org.  The City certifies that the material has been tested for the herbicide, chlorpyralid.

1 cubic yard will cover 100 sq ft 3” thick

Fertilizers from organic sources

Soybean meal

Alfalfa meal

Blood, bone meal

Fish emulsion

Wood ash, granite dust

Manure

Compost

Rule of thumb for 5% nitrogen

#cups = area  X .04  ~ .06

4 To 6 lb 100 sqft

Get a soil test

http://www.agronomy.ksu.edu/soiltesting/p.aspx?tabid=20

http://soilplantlab.missouri.edu/soil/testfees.aspx 

soil test including heavy metals

http://www.umass.edu/soiltest/soil_test_intro.htm

World Food Day KC 2011

 This event seeks to raise awareness of genetically engineered food and the issues surrounding the future of organic food.

 more info at:

From Safe Food Action St. Louis:

Why Are St. Louisans Concerned about Food? 

Nutritious food is based on agricultural integrity.  At a minimum, this means that farmers are able to control their crops by saving seeds and consumers have the right to know what is in their food.  But Monsanto has worked against both of these.  It has brought hundreds of lawsuits against farmers for saving their seeds.  And it has vigorously opposed labeling foods with genetically modified organisms (GMOs). 

Now Monsanto is using a new tactic.  Its “American Farmers Grow Communities” program aims to award $3 million in early 2012 in addition to $4 million distributed in 2011.  Intended recipients include urban farming groups, homeless shelters and school garden programs. 

Monsanto also intends to provide money to local Farmer’s Markets groups promoting local, sustainable agriculture.  Yet, organic farming is the polar opposite of industrial agriculture, which is based on monocultures, genetically engineered plants, patenting of life forms, and of course herbicides like Round Up.  People have a right to food security: access to a sustainable supply of safe, nutritious foods that is free of toxins and biological hazards.

It appears that Monsanto has designed a “feel good” campaign of giving to St. Louis area organizations in hopes that they will refrain from criticizing Monsanto’s aggressive actions to punish farmers and force unlabelled GMOs on the world.

Safe Food Action St. Louis urges you to stand with farmers, consumers, food retailers and others who will not let corporate money and PR campaigns compromise our principals. We invite you to speak out for the right of people to know what is in their food and the rights of farmers to choose traditional agricultural practices by signing on to the “Foundations of Agricultural Integrity.” 

Foundations of Agricultural Integrity

1. We ask Monsanto to cease all legal actions against farmers for saving seed.

 2. We ask all organizations and businesses to label all Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in any food or food product that they sell or distribute.

________________________________________________________

Individual, Organization or Business

_________________________________________________________

Representative for the Organization or Business

__________________________________________

Date

Register Online at www.umkc.edu/commu or call 816-235-1407.

 2312A Four Season Gardens

Grow food, not lawns. Grow your own vegetables year round. Vegetable varieties and methods for fall and winter gardens. Learn to use cover crops to build soil and reduce pests.

1 session Wednesday, August 03, 2011 7:00 PM – 9:00PM;

 Hands on workshop Saturday Aug 6  5223 N Merrimac KCMO 64151

 UMKC School of Medicine, Theatre B, first floor, 2411 Charlotte, KCMO,

2310A Ecosystems Management for Urban Food Production Learn about a new model for urban sustainable food production. We’ll explore food production possibilities in the urban forest, abandoned urban lots, yards, commercial lands, roofs and flood plains. We’ll discuss holistic ecology based on managing sustainable urban agriculture systems that protect and restore our place on Earth. Please bring $20 for a reference book (optional

2 sessions  Wednesday, August 17,  24 2011 7:00 PM 9:00PM

UMKC School of Medicine, Theatre C, first floor, 2411 Charlotte, KCMO

2306A (Fall) Food Not Lawns

Grow Food Not Lawns Not just another gardening class, “Food Not Lawns” will help you turn your lawn into a garden and your neighborhood into a community. Our goals are to help increase local food security, improve your diet, beautify your surroundings, reduce pollution and energy use. Topics include whole system design, garden preparation, permaculture, water wise gardening, planting and free resources, The Food Not Lawns KC Collaborative has been working to transform Kansas City into a paradise garden one lawn at a time since 2007.

4 sessions Wednesdays October 5, 12, 18, 25   7:00 – 9:00PM

UMKC School of Medicine, Theatre C, first floor, 2411 Charlotte, KCMO

2205A (Fall) Cob Oven Construction Workshop

Learn wood fired cob oven construction techniques as we build a cob oven at Platte Prairie Farm. We will tap into the flow of resources to repurpose our construction materials. Three construction session and a ‘fire up’ pizza party.

Saturdays October 22, 29  November 5, 12 10:00:00 AM – 1:00PM

Platte Prairie Farm 5223 N Merrimac KCMO  64151

For the fourth year in partnership with the Squash Blossom Food Cooperative, Food Not Lawns is offering KState Organic sweet potato slips.

This year we have 3 varieties available:

Beauregard          orange skin and flesh

NC Japanese        purple skin white flesh — great for fries and mashing.

O’Henry                white skin and flesh — great for fries and mashing

$2.50/doz plus .50 donation to Food Not Lawns Kansas City for website expenses.

Pick up slips at:

Troost Village Sweet Potato planting workshop Saturday June 18th 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM. Learn how to plant, grow, harvest and store your sweet potatoes.

Troost Village Community Garden Linewood & Troost

Sweet potatoes will save are asses some day. Highly nutritious, easy to grow and they can be stored for over a year. Sweet potatoes contain 8-14% sugars, 1-4% protein, 20-26% starch, vitamins A and C. They grow underground and are safe from garden marauders. And the greens are tasty cooked like spinach.

Thanks to research by Ted Cary and others at K State Extention we have identified varieties well suited for our region.

What makes sweet potatoes so appealing for a Food Not Lawns perspective is their usefulness in lawn eradication and edible landscaping. The beautiful vines form a dense matt that cools the soil and provides a living mulch for large areas. They can be grown in front yards and public spaces without offending lawn enthusiasts.

Planting tips from MU Extension bulletin G6368, Growing Sweet Potatoes in Missouri:http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=G6368 

Plants (slips) are planted three to four nodes deep (3 to 4 inches deep), 9 to 18 inches between plants in rows 36 to 48 inches apart

Make sure that there is good soil moisture and use starter fertilizer solution or water after transplanting. The wider the spacing between plants, the faster the sweet potatoes grow or “size up”.

 Sweet potatoes should be planted on ridges or raised beds (6 to 9 inches high). Raised beds aid in root development and improve soil drainage and aeration.

 Sweet potatoes do not tolerate waterlogged soils. Avoid planting in fields that were previously in sod because this could result in significant white grub and wireworm problems in the sweet potato planting. Check for these pests and grow daikon radish as a summer cover crop if they are present.

 Soils that are high in organic matter may not produce quality sweet potatoes.

You can create a polyculture patch by adding native flowers and grasses around your sweet potato beds. This will increase diversity and bring in beneficial insects and birds.   

 Sweet potatoes should be rotated with a cover crop to prevent pest buildup.

Let’s create a sweet potato Paradise Garden in Kansas City

 

Learn how to mimic the structure and function of forest ecosystems using sheet mulching, layering, planting patterns, species diversity, guilds, species selection, and more in this introductory workshop on small scale Urban Forest Garden design.. Bring $15 for resource CD.
CONVENER: Steve Mann
CLASS FEE: $9.00
Sec. A: 1 session(s); Beginning Saturday, June 25, 2011 2:00 PM;
 Rethink Energy, 2052 N. 3rd St. Kansas City, KS 66101;
LIMIT: 24