An article was posted on wgrz.com about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in Western New York. The basic premise of CSA is that community members buy shares of harvests from local farms. This helps with supporting the costs of food production to the farmer while supplying healthy, locally grown food to the consumer. The article claims that because of the declining economy, the interest in local CSAs has increased.
Full Article Here
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Grow Buffalo: Buffalo Common Council Annual Action Plan
The Buffalo Common Council Annual Action Plan for 2008-2009 has listed increasing the number of community gardens in the City of Buffalo as one of their planning initiatives. The excerpt is below:
Grow the Number of Community Gardens in Buffalo
Experience has shown that community gardens that are incorporated into neighborhood streetscapes can become lasting community assets. When properly maintained, gardens can bring great vale to the community at large and act as a catalyst for getting residents involved in their neighborhood.
The time, effort and collaboration that goes into creating and maintaining community gardens can foster an increased sense of pride and ownership in one's community. These green spaces can also provide a venue for education, recreation and relaxation for neighborhood residents, promote environmental awareness and potentially become a source of fresh produce.
The Common Council supports inclusion of Community Gardens in the City's Strategic Planning efforts and encourages the Administration to set aside adequate funding to assist with their planning, creation and maintenance. The Council additionally recommends that the Administration look for opportunities to collaborate with the business community, non-profit groups and Buffalo's many Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to identify opportunities for including amenities such as benches, children's play areas and artwork to these gardens to beautify them and add to their value to the community.
Our Project: Definitions of Community Gardens
"To me, a community garden is a shared space where neighbors can cultivate the land to meet their community's needs, whether it be to beautify with flowers and plants, to supplement nourishment for families with fruit and veggies or simply to provide a clean, common space to congregate and interact with one another." ~ QCG member Danielle R
"Any piece of land gardened by a group of people" ~ American Community Gardening Association
"'Community Garden' shall mean public or private lands upon which citizens of the state have the opportunity to garden on lands which they do not individually own." ~ New York State Agriculture and Markets Law, Article 2-C Section 31-g
Community Gardens "..are publicly functioning in terms of ownership, access and management, as well as typically owned in trust by local governments or nonprofits." ~Ferris, J., Norman, C. & Sempik, J.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Our Project: Fantastic Flapjacks!
Queen City Gardens would like to thank MAP for letting us set up a couple easels at their Flapjacks for the Farm pancake breakfast last Saturday. The event was great and the pancakes were delicious! Everyone had a wonderful time and we attained valuable information that will be posted soon!
~QCG
Welcome!
Hello!
First of all, thanks for visiting our blog! The Queen City Gardens crew decided to utilize this outlet as another method of community outreach. We want to keep the public aware of the task we are doing, as well as being a resource on community gardens.
Posts will be divided into three sections- "Our Project", "Growing Buffalo" and "Examples to Follow". Research that we have conducted as well as information on meetings and events that Queen City Gardens is involved in will be posted under "Our Project." "Growing Buffalo" will be posts with resources on the community gardens and other organizations that the City of Buffalo has. "Examples to Follow" will be posts on gardening projects that have been successes around the world.
If you have any questions, comments or helpful tips, please e-mail us at QueenCityGardens@gmail.com.
Thank you!
~Queen City Gardens
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