The Center for Environmental Transformation
August 17, 2012
Hello everyone on this
beautiful August day!
This has been a difficult
summer for many farmers throughout our country, particularly in the mid-West,
the proverbially bread basket of the US. The drought conditions, high
temperatures and wild storms of this summer of 2012 have created havoc for the
farmers and ranchers who supply the food for so many of us. We will
certainly see higher prices for many food products, since so much of what we
eat, particularly meat and processed foods, depend on corn and soybean, the
very crops that have been damaged so severely this summer. We have all
experienced the weather-related challenges of this summer, to some
degree. But I wager that few of us, other than potentially higher food
prices, have any idea what this kind of weather does to the livelihoods of
farmers and ranchers.
One of the benefits of
community-supported agriculture (CSA) is that members share in the risks and
benefits that farmers and ranchers normally must shoulder on their own.
As a member of a CSA, one must pay the full price of his or her share in
February of the given year. The money generated from membership fees
enables the farmers to purchase seed, any fertilizers they need, and other
capital equipment. Each week a member comes to the farm or to the
designated pick up spot to receive his or share of the bounty of the
farm. Often CSAs are strictly vegetables and fruits, though there are
CSAs that include dairy, eggs, and meat products. This year the Center,
in partnership with Greensgrow
Farm of Philadelphia, hosted a CSA pick up spot (Fridays between
4-7PM). There are 50 members in this CSA, which we hope to grow by 50%
next year. Our CSA includes some dairy, but it is mostly fresh vegetables
and fruits. The produce is grown on locally owned farms in the Greater
Philadelphia region. To date, Greensgrow-related farmers are from
Pennsylvania, though inroads are being made to bring South Jersey farmers into
the circle. If you’d like to get information on the CSA for next year,
please send an email to info@camdencenterfortransformation.org.
We have become disconnected from the source of the food we eat each day.
A CSA connects us to farmers, whether directly or indirectly, so that
more people can more directly share the burdens of the fickleness of mother
nature.
Another way that we can
connect with the work that farmers do is to join in that work. On the
first Saturdays of each month the Center hosts a work day to which are all
invited. We begin at 9AM and end around Noon. We meet at 412 Jasper
Street. We advise people to bring their own water and a pair of work
gloves. I thought it might be helpful if I shared with you what we did on
Saturday, August 4th, so that you have a sense of what might be
involved. There were seven adults who showed up to work with Andrea, our
director of sustainability initiatives. There were also 15 young people
who came as part of Camden’s Day of Service. We worked in the garden
located on Emerald Street. It has been there for over twenty years.
Some of us call it the Emerald Street Garden, others call it Eve’s Garden after
a local woman of the street who loved to spend time there. In any event,
it is a place with history and hope intertwined. It has vegetable and
flower plants, as well as a fully functioning greenhouse.
There were several jobs that
we were able to accomplish.
1. The Emerald Street side of Eve’s Garden had become
“hostage” to some ferociously fertile weeds. We cleared out all the
weeds, putting them into our compost pile.
2. The compost pile was quite large and unwieldy at the
start of the morning. However, one of us worked on the pile, tidying it
up, and was able to “harvest” several large containers of unbelievably
beautiful compost that will be used in freshly planted garden beds.
3. Eve’s Garden has lots of tomatoes growing. When
these plants were first put in the ground, a wooden stake was placed next to
them. By August 4th, these plants were enormous, and flopping
left and right, so a group of us worked to gather the individual tomato plants,
and using strips of cloth, tying them more closely to their stakes. This
will increase the air flow to the entire plant, and insure that the fruit will
be off the ground.
4. One of our group used the lawnmower and weed whacker
to cut the grass on the paths throughout the Emerald Street Garden. This
task is a regular one, both to keep the grass down, as well as to keep the
garden beds clear of grass that hungers for the rich nutrients in the garden
bed soil.
5. The group from Camden’s Day of Service helped to create
a brand new garden bed near the Emerald Street side of the greenhouse.
This area was filled with weeds. The group straightened up the many pots and
such leftover from the spring/early summer planting. They then pulled the
weeds and plowed them under, making a raised bed, which they then filled with
native plants grown in our native plant nursery. It looks
beautiful there, added to the native plant beds that have been put into on the
edges of the Emerald Street garden.
6. The group also began to clean up the greenhouse from
its intensive spring/early summer production. There were many starter
containers that need to be emptied of their soil, emptied into the compost
pile, and then piled up, ready for use next February.
This is the work we
accomplished in the three hours we spent at the garden with Andrea on August 4th.
Gardens demand a lot of attention, particularly the ones at the Center which
are chock full of produce-bearing plants as well as native flowering plants.
Ours are organic gardens, so we do not use commercial pesticides or
herbicides. We do use some organic pesticides and plant foods, but there
is a constant need to weed, tie up towering tomato plants, clean out a
harvested bed, and prepare it for a new planting. This work is not
limited to the first Saturday, but it is the first Saturday when we invite our
friends and neighbors to join us.
As we were pulling out the
weeds along Emerald Street garden, several neighbors, at different times,
thanked us for working on the garden. They want to see the beauty of the
garden, and its bounty! So do we. It takes a whole community,
whether through a CSA or through volunteering with us at Eve’s Garden, to make
something beautiful and bountiful. We look forward to pulling on work
gloves with you, taking up a trowel and working with the soil, the sun and
water to transform this patch of Camden and to enjoy the wonders of Mother
Earth!
Peace,
Mark Doorley, Ph.D.
President, Board of Trustees
NEWS & NOTES
1.
September Work Day: Join
us on Saturday, September 1, 2012 from 9AM til Noon. Meet at 9AM at 412
Jasper Street. Bring your own water and work gloves. If you can join us,
please contact Andrea Ferich at aferich@gmail.com.
It is Labor Day Weekend, but if you plan to stick around the area, what
better way to celebrate than to get your hands dirty in Waterfront South!
2.
Thomas Berry Lecture:
Sunday, October 7, 2012 at 3PM we are hosting a lecture by a wonderful woman
named Mary Evelyn Tucker.
She co-produced the film “The
Journey of the Universe,” which tells the story of the universe from its
beginning so many millions of years ago to today. She is a professor in the
Divinity School at Yale University and she also hs an appointment in Yale’s
School of Forestry and Environmental Science. She is a dynamic speaker,
and has dedicated her writing and speaking to helping us reimagine and retell
our own story as part of the story of the universe. The title of the talk
is “An Integrating Story for the Earth Community.” It will be at Sacred
Heart Church at the corner of Ferry Ave. & South Broadway. This is a
major fundraiser for us, so tickets are $20 each. We are in need of
ticket sellers and ticket buyers. Join us on that day, and invite a
friend or friends. Contact Susan Cedrone at smecedrone@aol.com to get tickets. A
flyer is attached. Please send it to your friends.
3.
WATERFRONT SOUTH
FARMERS MARKET: Every Friday, from 4-7PM, at 1729 Ferry Avenue, Greensgrow and the Center
collaborate to bring all who come an amazing assortment of vegetables,
storytelling, laughter, perhaps even a treat to take the edge off after a long
work week. The Greensgrow/CFET CSA is going strong! By all
accounts, our members are quite happy with what they’ve received so far,
including the fantastic recipes. Come out and pick up some fresh herbs
and other early summer produce. There may even be some peaches.
Yummy!
4.
We have several
groups coming to the Center in the next few months. A group of first year
students from Villanova University who
have chosen to focus on environmental issues this coming academic year will
spend an overnight with us in September. Also in September a group of
students from Bishop Eustace Preparatory
School will spent three nights with us on retreat. Then in October,
for their fall break, a group from Villanova
University will spend the week with us. These retreat/service
experiences provide opportunities for people to work in the community, with our
neighbors, in the gardens, planting trees, tutoring children, etc. There
is time to reflect on this experience, to get some insight into issues related
to environmental injustice and to the systems that give rise, in part, to the
challenges we face as a people. Those who spend time with us leave
with a different understanding of their world and their role in transforming
it. If you or your group is interested in coming to the Center for a
weekend or week, please email us at info@camdencenterfortransformation.org.
5.
In the past month
we received several significant grants from area
foundations/corporations. We received a $5,000 grant from the Citizens Bank
Foundation, to support the Jr. Farmer Program. We also received a $5,000
grant from the Danellie Foundation or Marlton, NJ, to support the ongoing
operations of Eve’s Garden. We are proud to be collaborators with these
two organizations. We have partnered with Danellie for the last four
years, and have found them generous and committed partners. We thank them for
their continued faith in our efforts. With the Citizens Bank Foundation,
we enter into a new partnership about which we are very excited, and look
forward to a long and fruitful collaboration.
6.
Today, August 17,
2012, Marty Moss-Coane, on her morning show on WHYY
had a conversation on the universe with an astronomer named Chris Impey. Listen
to the podcast. This is the kind of conversation that we need to have,
and which Mary Evelyn Tucker will invite us into a the Thomas Berry lecture on
October 7th.
7.
Is the banning of
plastic bags really necessary? Click here
to read what David Suzuki has to say
about this question. It is worth the click!
8.
Remember us in your
prayers. The generosity of your financial support is vital to our
continued work. Thank you for partnering with us.