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News Today for a More Sustainable Tommorrow
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December
27, 2008
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As many of you
know, earlier this year we changed our name from "Friends at Troy
Gardens" to "Community GroundWorks at Troy Gardens" to
better reflect our rapidly growing community-based food education
programs. We still do all we have done for years at Troy
Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin, but are now also actively taking our
programs into new neighborhoods near and far.
Thank you for your interest in our organization and our programs. Public
support from people like you provides over 30% of our annual operations.
We appreciate and value your financial backing of our critically
important programs championing urban agriculture and
assisting families with food security during these challenging
economic times. Please give generously. Our success depends
upon you.
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 Growing School
Gardens
Produced by the Madison Metropolitan School District, this
5-minute video outlines our 'Growing School Gardens' initiative to
help schools create and sustain gardens that serve as outdoor
classrooms providing children living in an urban landscape
with a direct connection to their food and the earth. [Watch video]
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 Chickens in the City
Urban dwellers in cities from Seattle to Albuquerque have
flocked to small-scale backyard chicken farming as a way of
taking part in home-grown agriculture. In 2008, alone, grass-roots
organizations in Missoula, MT; South Portland, ME; Ann Arbor, MI; and Ft.
Collins, CO, have successfully lobbied to overturn city ordinances
outlawing backyard poultry farming. [Read article]
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 Will Mini-Farms Revive Detroit?
With enough abandoned lots to fill the city of San
Francisco, Motown is 138 square miles divided between expanses of
decay, emptiness, and tracts of still-functioning communities and
commercial areas. Nearly 6x barren acres of an estimated 17,000 have
already been turned into 500 mini- farms demonstrating the lengths to
which planners will go to make land productive. [Read article]
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 Cuba & Sustainable Agriculture
Recent Cuban history-the overcoming of a food crisis
through self-reliance, small farms and agroecological technology-shows us
that the alternatives can indeed feed a nation, and thus provides a
crucial case study for the ongoing debate. [Read article]
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 Ice Melting Faster, NASA Says
Between 1.5 trillion and 2 trillion tons of ice in
Greenland, Antarctica and Alaska have melted at an accelerating rate
since 2003, according to NASA scientists, in the latest signs of what
they say is global warming amounting to enough water to fill the Chesapeake
Bay 21 times. [Read article]
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Help Us Grow
Your support is vital and provides essential food
education to over 700 children, support to low-income urban
gardeners at our 330-plot community gardens, continuing restoration of 5
acres of prairie and forest, further development of our organic farm, and
more.
[Donate Today]
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Upcoming Events
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Coming Soon
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Newsletter Information
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In addition to the return of this national interest
newsletter, we also will soon be bringing back our local newsletter, The Buzz. Look for
it soon.
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Our 2009 Programs
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For as little as $10 each, over 190 families can grow food
in a 400-square-foot plot at Troy Community Gardens. Over 115 households
receive food for 21 weeks through our Community-Supported Agriculture program
at Troy Community Farm - the City of Madison's first organic and urban
farm. Within our Troy Natural Areas, we regenerate and
maintain five acres of tall grass prairie and maple
woodlands. Our Kids' Gardening Program teaches kids how to grow
their own food. Our Farm & Field program for high school students and
our college internships provide valuable hands-on experience and help
build food-growing skills in our youth.
Additionally, in 2009, we are developing several new community-based
food-security and conservation programs including the Youth Grow Local
Initiative, our Growing School Gardens program, our Young Stewards
program, our Community Kitchen Gardens program, and a year-round
educational workshop series.
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Contact Information
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Community GroundWorks at Troy Gardens
Bob Gragson, Executive Director
director@troygardens.org
608-240-0409
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