Somerville Urban Ag

95 years later, we want you to keep chickens, too. We want you to keep chickens so badly that we have passed the first Urban Agriculture Ordinance in the Northeast.  AND, as if that is not enough, we even made a video for you to watch when you come get your permit.

Have a look:
“C” is for Chicken: Chicken Keeping in Somerville, MA

You can find all the rules and helpful tips for all urban ag practices in the easy-to-understand document: The ABC’s of Urban Agriculture in Somerville

Thank you to SomervilleArchives for the fantastic photo!

Boston Through My Eyes - A Boston Music Blog: 2013 Somerville PorchFest This Saturday

slyke25:

If you’re unfamiliar with Somerville PorchFest, it’s a series of little concerts around the city of Somerville, where a traditional stage is replaced with a porch. It takes place this Saturday from 12-6pm. A full list of bands with a map of performances broken down by genre can be seen …

THE CITY OF SOMERVILLE WINS A BOSTON SOCIETY OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT’S AWARD FOR THE MAYOR’S URBAN AGRICULTURE INITIATIVE!

That’s right! The Mayor’s Urban Agriculture Initiative won a merit award from the BSLA, northern New England’s chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA.) The award was presented to the City for excellence in communicating the first municipal Urban Ag Ordinance in the region,  promoting urban agriculture through innovative use of social media (ahem, this blog), and educational events, videos and the City Hall demonstration garden. 

In fact, the award letter reads, “The jury…was impressed by what great public benefit it serves, and what was accomplished with such a limited budget. The jury was very pleased that Somerville took this on and feels that it is a great example of what cities should be doing.” WHOA!  Did you hear that? (“WHAT CITIES SHOULD BE DOING!!!”) Even more impressive is that we did all of this with no additional budget, just our in-house talented staff and a community of people that love urban ag.  Go Somerville!

(applause please)

City Hall has a new ambassador…an Urban Ag Ambassador!

Meet Abe Gore. He’s a Somerville resident who just recently completed the City’s first Somerville Urban Ag Ambassador Program.  As part of the community service component, he has become the steward of the City Hall garden.  You know…the garden on the steps of City Hall that we wrote about all last year?  With the cabbage worms?  And all the municipal employees eating healthy produce for lunch?

Abe, like all Somer’villens, is really into food, urban ag and food policy.  In fact, he just concentrated on all that in his graduate studies at the Heller School at Brandeis.  We are thrilled to have a smartypants urban farmer who is as enthusiastic about growing local food in Somerville as we are!  Welcome Abe! (now, don’t anyone tell him about those cabbage worms ;-)

IT’S SPRING GARDEN DAY
at the SOMERVILLE COMMUNITY GROWING CENTER!

Saturday, May 4th, 9am-12pm

 11am  Mixed Morris Dance Performances & participatory Maypole Dance

Free pots, seeds, and seedling & plant exchange. Bring something to share, if you can. The Growing Center is a wonderful resource with a variety of events and educational programs.  You can learn more about Somerville CGC HERE.

Relish: Center for Urban Agriculture opens in the heart of Union Square, Somerville late Spring 2013.  An educational center, Relish provides high quality, hands-on instruction on urban agriculture and related food production.    Relish is headquartered in a large (22’ x 22’)  indoor conference room (seating capacity of 25 people), attached industrial style-garage with retail space, and is adjacent to a small city park.  (Trying to visualize the place?  See our “before” pics here.)

Relish is a project of Mimi Graney (you likely know her from her work with Union Square Main Streets) and Mary Cat Chaikin (manager of the Union Square and Somerville Winter Farmers Markets.)

Call for Instructors for new Urban Agriculture project!
Relish is accepting proposals for workshops from qualified instructors for June through December 2013. See bottom of this page for links to applications.

CLASS TYPES

Adult workshops:

• Typically 3-hour workshops on Saturdays (9am-12pm and 1pm-4pm) or Wednesday evenings, 6pm-8pm.
• Workshops will start the week of June 1, 2013.
• Classes may be offered at multiple levels and participants take home product.
• Topics should be closely related to city farming or homesteading, including home gardening, beekeeping, mushrooming, pruning, chicken coops, and other topics .
• Examples Topics: How to Build a Raised Bed, Edible Window Boxes, Canning, Cultivating Mushrooms, Introduction to Backyard Chickens, Build a Chicken Coop, etc.

All ages/family workshops:

• Tentatively scheduled for Wednesday evenings, 6-8 pm. Topics follow same guidelines as above.

Kid’s classes:

• Relish Kids! runs June – August, with 9am-12pm morning session for younger kids (roughly 4-6 yrs. old) and 1pm-4pm afternoon session for older kids (7-11 yrs. old).
• 5 day sessions will take place Monday – Friday, and include breaks for snack and outdoor park play.
• Example Topics: Printmaking, Union Square Place-based Learning, Introduction to Urban Ag (Expert visits and site visits in the area for hands-on learning about chickens, bees, composting, gardening, etc), and other topics generally related to city farming or homesteading. Instructors should have experience working with groups of children, and multiple references.

DEADLINES: Deadline for submissions for Relish Kids! summer classes and June workshops is ASAP. After April 30, instructor applications for adult and all-ages workshops will be accepted on a rolling basis.

COMPENSATION: Ranges from $75-125 for 3 hour workshops, and $350-$450 for week-long workshops, depending on class topic and instructor experience and qualifications. All classes must meet minimum enrollment requirements to take place as scheduled.

Application for adult workshops

http://relishurbanag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/WorkshopInstructorApp.pdf

Application for workshops for Relish Kids

http://relishurbanag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/RelishKidsInstructorApp.pdf

SOMERVILLE IN BLOOM

Thank you to the Somerville volunteers who planted over 1,000 daffodils and tulips all over the city in a “flash mob planting” last fall,  known as the second annual SOMERVILLE BULB BLITZ!  Let’s just say it is paying off BIG in beauty all over.  Here is a map of the Bulb Blitz locations.  Get outside and enjoy the flowers.

IT’S SPRING CLEANING TIME!

Join your neighbors this Saturday (rain date April 28) for the annual Spring Cleanup. Crews will take on projects in each ward from 10am to noon and then participants are invited to a bbq and SomerGreen Festival at Blessing of the Bay Boathouse from noon to 2pm. To find out where groups are meeting in your neighborhood: http://ow.ly/knB7L And thank you to Thomas M. Barton for designing our great new logo.

passionforplastics:

RIP Sean Collier, you will be missed my friend. #somerville #Police #bostonstrong #actionfigures #toys #muppets

Thank you to all the heroes in blue, and especially to our fallen brother, Sean collier.

Mayor Joe Curtatone invites you to join the community at a candlelight vigil in honor of the victims of Monday’s attack at the Boston Marathon. As many members of the Somerville community are personally affected by the tragedy, the vigil will include a “healing ceremony,” and attendees will have the opportunity to speak and offer words of hope, love, and support. The vigil will be held Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 7:45pm at Somerville City Hall / Somerville High School Concourse, 81 Highland Avenue. Please share this information with friends and neighbors. photo by: brentdanley