“HYPERLOCAL” Growing – Sustainable Cities
Dorchester Restaurant begins Its Fourth Growing Season on their 5,000 square foot rooftop farm, Others Expected to Follow
Ledge Kitchen and Drinks in Dorchester is set to begin its fourth growing season with Green City Growers. Ledge partnered with GCG and Recover Green Roofs of Somerville, MA to build a 5,000 square foot farm on the roof of their Dorchester restaurant, the largest installation of its kind in the city. It was completed in June 2010 and has been maintained by the farmers at Green City Growers ever since.
Ledge will enjoy the benefits of growing hard to find and otherwise expensive herbs and vegetables on their rooftop, providing the freshest cocktails in Boston. When asked about Ledge’s rooftop farm, General […]
Make Food Mean Something
Appreciating Your Food to the Fullest
What were you doing the last time you ate? Were you actually just eating? For many people, meals serve as a multi-purpose food-consuming/email-checking/news-reading/kid-taming session. But there is something to be gained from mindfully meditating on your food: where it comes from, who was involved in getting it to your table, and the energy that went into creating, transporting, and preparing it. As I found, clearing out mealtime distractions can help one reach multi-faceted satisfaction – mentally, physically, and spiritually.
Practicing such mindfulness every time one sits down to eat a meal contributes to what is known as mindful eating. Psychology Today describes it as “deliberately being fully aware of what is happening both inside and outside yourself, in your body, heart and mind and in your environment” […]
Home Is Where the Food Is
Discovering New Greens at Fresh Pond Apartments
Is there a meal that reminds you of home? Whether it’s your mom’s pad see ew or your Grandpa’s ratatouille, you can probably think of a dish or ingredient that reminds you of the place you are from. Replicating these meals can make home seem a little closer, but what do you if you can’t even find the ingredients in this country? I joined Farmer Tany at Fresh Pond Apartments’ vegetable gardens and discovered how one can grow a piece of home in one’s own backyard.
Fresh Pond Apartments has an ethnically diverse population. On the day of our maintenance visit, tenants speaking myriad languages joined us to harvest the last of summer’s crops. Several of the women, wearing vibrant scarves and jewel colored silks […]
‘Tis the Season for Soup!
Root Veggie Soup Recipe
Every time I step into my friend Chiara’s home, the aroma of some expertly, authentically cooked Italian meal graciously greets me at the door. I pester her mother to reveal her secrets, and the following recipe is the first successful response I received. And of course, I’m going to share it with the whole Internet. Proportions are vague, but it’s hard to go wrong using seasonal veggies.
INGREDIENTS
3 lbs of mixed root vegetables, in equal parts: turnips, parsnips, celery roots, rutabaga, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots (important for sweetness)
Olive oil – enough to coat vegetables
Herbs of your choice (rosemary, thyme, basil are good to start with)
6 cloves of garlic
1 big shallot
Salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable stock
[…]
Veggies for Mental Health
POOR DIET AND DEMENTIA
Ready for yet another reason to eat your vegetables? In addition to the innumerable health and economic downsides, a diet high in fatty, sugary foods can contribute to Alzheimer’s. This association is nothing new. Researches announced in 2005 findings that showed people suffering from type 2 diabetes are two to three times more likely to be struck by Alzheimer’s than the general population. Now the connection is all the more clear: the more junk foods one eats, the more likely one is to develop this mentally debilitating disease.
35 million people worldwide suffer from Alzheimer’s, and with an aging population that number is sure to grow. There is still research to be done, but there is enough evidence to make a strong case for eating your […]
Joining the GCG Team: An Introduction
Silly me, I neglected to introduce myself with my last post. My name is Annie Gilmore and I am one of the new interns for GCG this fall. My passion for locally, sustainably grown food aligns with GCG’s mission to bring farm fresh food to everyone’s backyard (or roof!) and I am thrilled to be a part of it.
My interest in the local food movement developed at Dickinson College where I took a class on ecofeminism, that is, finding connections between the oppression of women and the environment (more on that later). In this class we explored, among many things, our interconnectedness with the earth and at times focused on the power of soil. I came to the conclusion that working […]
Cold Frame Sale: Keep Veggies Growing All Year Long
Don’t you love September? The weather is warm, the sun is still up by the time you get home, and so many 
of the summer crops are ripe for the picking.
Though chilly temperatures are just around the corner, you don’t have to give up fresh food from your own backyard. If you want to extend your growing season and keep those veggies coming, consider getting a cold frame.
As a new intern for GCG, I’ve learned that anyone, most anywhere, can have his or her own garden. Cold frames take this a step further and allow you to have a garden most any time of the year.
Cold frames keep the air inside up to 40 degrees warmer than the outside temperature. Some […]
That Time Of The Year
Cold Frame Season is Here.
As summer comes to a close our gardens should be providing us with tons of great produce. With September just around the corner, though, it is the perfect time to start thinking about cold frames. Cold frames can be installed onto your raised bed to make your growing period two months longer. With cold frames, the temperature in your garden can be 40 degrees warmer than the air outside, enabling plants to flourish longer than usual. It is a great way to maximize harvests now that you have already made the initial investment of installing a garden. If you are interested in upgrading to cold frames, please feel free to give us a call for more information.
About The Author
Allison Houghton
With our Kickstarter fundraiser up and running for “The Urban Bounty: Growing Your Own Fresh Produce, Anywhere” I thought it would be important to sit down with the author and let everyone know a little more about her.
Q. What inspired you to work in the horticultural field?
A. I found that producing food and producing food well solved so many types of problems that it was an effective way of making a big difference in the world. I always loved plants and bugs growing up, so this has been a fun way to do some good in the world and work with things I love to do. Really rewarding “good tasty food” love to cook
Q. Most rewarding part of the job?
A. Working […]
Backyard Gardening
Growing your own food at home, but don’t know where to start?
Everyone wants to grow delicious vegetables right in their own backyard, but many people don’t know how to begin the process. Well lucky for you, Green City Growers is here to help. We build, install and maintain individual and family-sized produce farms for your backyard, deck, driveway or rooftop. We make it incredibly easy for you to get on your way to a beautiful green vegetable garden. Don’t have enough time to maintain a garden but still want one? Perfect! Green City Growers expert horticultural team will come weekly and maintain your garden completely, and harvest all of the tomatoes’, herbs, squash, or whatever vegetable you want! Take initiative, be green, and locally grow food in your own backyard.
