Business & Lifestyle Expo

Hi everyone!

Last night we attended the Black Tie Gala for the opening night of the Business and Lifestyle Expo. We were happy to be a sponsor and to be involved with some of the vignettes and décor for the event.

We had a “Farm to Fork” display set up.

The main theme in the foyer was to show that Urban Farming is a viable business. DTL Herbs is classified with the State of Michigan as an Urban Farming business. So, naturally we were thrilled to be part of this.

Urban agriculture is the practice of cultivating, processing, and distributing food in or around a village, town, or city. Urban agriculture can also involve animal husbandry, aquaculture, agroforestry, and horticulture. These activities also occur in peri-urban areas as well.

Urban farming is generally practiced for income-earning or food-producing activities, though in some communities the main impetus is recreation and relaxation. Urban agriculture contributes to food security and food safety in two ways: first, it increases the amount of food available to people living in cities, and second, it allows fresh vegetables, fruits, and meat products to be made available to urban consumers. It decreases food deserts. A common and efficient form of urban agriculture is the biointensive method. Because urban agriculture promotes energy-saving local food production, urban and peri-urban agriculture are generally seen as sustainable agriculture. 

Source: Wikipedia

Anyone can create a full garden in a small place.

This produce bed was created from scratch on site. It is very easy to take a small part of your yard and grow a decent amount of fresh produce.

Another area create was a Aquaponic lettuce garden.

Aquaponics  or pisciponics, is a sustainable food production system that combines a traditional aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as snails, fish, crayfish or prawns in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. In aquaculture, effluents accumulate in the water, increasing toxicity for the fish. This water is led to a hydroponic system where the by-products from the aquaculture are broken down by nitrogen fixing bacteria, then filtered out by the plants as nutrients, after which the cleansed water is recirculated back to the animals.

As existing hydroponic and aquaculture farming techniques form the basis for all aquaponics systems, the size, complexity, and types of foods grown in an aquaponics system can vary as much as any system found in either distinct farming discipline.

^{Source: Wikipedia}

And of course a fresh flower bed.

Here are some pictures of other vignettes using live plants. These are displays created by the students of the Roosevelt High School Agriculture program. Items were donated or loaned.

We had a fun evening and heard lots of wonderful feedback on the foyer displays. Everyone involved did a fantastic job!

Project: Preschool Indoor Herb Garden

Hi everyone!

Does it surprise you in the least that one of the first volunteer projects we did with the Princess's preschool class was to start them an herb garden? Of course not, I didn’t think so.

Kids are like little sponges. If you make something fun and interesting, they just absorb the information up. And when you let them be part of something, they get a wonderful sense of ownership.

 

The above picture is Cuban Oregano (it is in the pot with the Aloe Vera). This plant started out as a small piece of broken Cuban Oregano from our home. We started it in a glass of water so the kids could see how it grew roots. Once it was big enough, they were part of planting it and now watching how big it is growing.

The Aloe Vera plant was a rescue. At the high school there is a compost pile and a place where people can drop off unwanted containers/pots for the students to use. Well, someone dumped their Aloe Vera plant in the compost pile. It was pretty beaten up but, it gave the kids a fun chance to see a plant being rescued and brought back to life.

Since we volunteer with the high school students as well and have access to their wonderful greenhouse, we have a lot of herbs growing right now. So, starting a small window ledge herb garden for the children at the preschool was just a natural thing to do.

We wanted to have a variety of different types of herbs.

When it comes to watering and taking care of the herbs, the students wait for one of us, then a few kids at a time can take turn watering.

This has become their garden. We are hoping to do an actual outside garden with them in the Spring.

We occasionally will bring in a new herb. They are always so excited when they can pinch a leaf and smell it. They know that this one is a “Pizza Herb” (oregano) or that one is a “Candy Herb” (peppermint). It is so fun to see their faces when the recognition of the scent hits them!

The sense of smell is such a powerful sense. It was interesting to observe one of the children smell the citronella when we first brought it into the class room. When a new herb comes in, they each get to smell it and this child instantly said, “That smells like camping!” This is a 3 year old! How cool.

**The Lincoln Park Indoor Farmer’s Market will be open again this coming Sunday. We will be there and hope you are too!**

 

I’m joining:

Fertilizer Friday