Tag Archives: farming

Getting dirty at Gaia Gardens

21 Mar

Getting dirty at Gaia Gardens

We’ve been mighty busy in the past month or so, but now it’s finally time for our next full-scale, in-town mob! Join us at Gaia Gardens on the 27th for some mobbin’ fun while the weather is gorgeous. It’s right in Decatur, so it can’t get much more convenient than that!

Plus, with the Georgia Organics conference behind us, the beginnings of another group in the making and a SpeakEasy under our belts by then, we’ll have a lot to discuss! We’re working on arranging something fun on the food front…but you’re bound to be fed well no matter what.

Spring’s the perfect time for mobbing, so bring a friend! And remember we’ll be posting to the new Crop Mob Georgia site (thanks Rationally Creative!) so check there for all our increasingly frequent updates! Crop Mob is growing faster than kudzu, and we love having y’all’s input as we develop. See you at Gaia Gardens!

Click Here to Register

Image credit: bensonkua

Goodness at GreenLeaf. Excited for Avondale.

9 Mar

Goodness at GreenLeaf. Excited for Avondale.

Well, mobbers, it sure seems like we’re picking up speed. I guess that’s what folks like us are supposed to do coming on springtime, huh? We had a wonderful micromob at Greg’s this past weekend and discovered how wonderfully warm a greenhouse can keep you on a blustery day. It was a great day of weeding and transplanting little sprouts to their own homes. I must say, if you’ve never signed up for a micromob or minimob, be sure to give it a try sometime; you get to know your fellow mobbers much better, and it’s an awfully cozy feeling – esp. eating roast chicken in a lovely farmhouse together and touring around a very historic farm. Plus, you never know what “treasures” are found on old farm property – and some things you just have to see to believe (wink wink nudge nudge to the folks who made it out).

We’ll be organizing lots of micromobs out to GreenLeaf in the next several months, so be sure to take advantage of one. Greg’s headed to the hospital tomorrow for his procedure, so please keep him and Maeda in your thoughts.

Guess what this weekend is! The Georgia Organics conference and the kickoff of Crop Mob Savannah! We can’t wait to see what our friends down south have in store for us; we have no doubt they’ll help spread the mob love across the state with us. And if you’re going, don’t forget about the time change! Anyone an hour late will be forced to complete their choice of the funky chicken, the electric slide, or the boot-scootin’ boogie in front of all other mobbers before beginning work. I kid…though it does seem an appealing option. I look forward to filling everyone in with a complete recap when we get back.

Things to keep on your radar:

  • Later this month we’ll be having the first Crop Mob Speakeasy. You won’t have to know a secret password, and there won’t be any moonshine (though drinks will be available for purchase). Basically, it’s a time for us all to gather together and discuss an issue or two pertinent to Georgia’s sustainable ag movement. Topic and location to be announced shortly, but I have it on good authority that both are pretty awesome. It will most likely be around 7:00 on a weeknight…that work for you folks?
  • We will be having a full scale mob in the city on the 27th, so mark your calendar. We’ll fill you in on the details on that one soon, too. You can’t expect us to give away ALL the good secrets at once, can you??
This whole Crop Mob thing is flyin’ like greased lightening thanks to the dedication of our mobbers. And we’re not even a year old yet!

More to come!

Hey good lookin’. What are YOU doing this Sunday?

3 Mar

Hey good lookin’. What are YOU doing this Sunday?

Yeeeaaaahhh, it’s a little late notice, but we’re going to have a micro-mob this Sunday at Greg’s GreenLeaf Farms in Barnesville. Y’all all know how hard we’ve worked to help Greg get through this tough stretch, and we’re not quitting now! He’s going into the hospital for a procedure next week, so we want to help him get as much squared away on the farm as possible beforehand. Since it’s all last minute and stuff, you may want to just pack a lunch, or we can do the ol’ potluck plan and bring enough of whatever we’ve got to share.

We only need a handful of folks, but don’t worry – we’ll be having lots of these little impromptu gatherings at Greg’s to help him keep the farm going strong even when he’s on the mend.

It’s about an hour outside the city, so let’s try to carpool and plan on getting there around 9:30-10. See you there!

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Helping the people making a difference in the West End

3 Mar

Helping the people making a difference in the West End

This past weekend we had the absolute joy (not to mention tremendous weather!) of helping out Patchwork City Farms and Good Shepherd Community Garden. Patchwork City Farms is located on the Brown Middle School campus and is really a sight to see! The beautiful and amazing Cecilia, Jamila and Jossakeed are working super hard to see it thrive and provide the community and school kids with delicious sustainably-grown food and an education in growing without chemicals in an urban landscape. Half our crew spent the morning there, creating beds & trellises, seeding and generally preparing the area for the upcoming season.

The other half of us took a stroll (or drive…laaazy bones!) through beautiful West End over to Good Shepherd Community Church (historical nerd tangent: did you know that West End was Atlanta’s first suburb? Neither did I until last saturday! Yup, the intersection of Ralph David Abernathy Blvd. and Lee St. is considered the oldest intersection still in use in Atlanta dating back to 1835! Plus the cottage homes over there are just gorgeous…keep an eye out for all the cool original stained glass details! End tangent.) At Good Shepherd, we met the charming Reverend Bright, sweet as pie Mrs. Bright and were kept on task by the unparalleled Ms. Turner – she grew up on a farm in Lovejoy, GA and knows how to get work DONE. We harvested a lot of winter greens and continued the task of keeping the kudzu that once enveloped the entire growing space at bay with sling blades and a lot of back and shoulder strength.

Just as our stomachs clued in to it being after noon, we were treated to the most fantastic spread by Ms. Suzi Sheffield, caterer, chef and all-around awesome human. We were treated to – try not to salivate – gumbo, tofu curry, pimento cheese slices, seasoned sweet potatoes, cole slaw that absolutely everyone demanded a recipe for, cookies, brownies, and sweet little clementines. So. Good.

It was a really great day, but sadly we had to leave a lot of tasks still undone. Which means we may certainly be heading out to these two great spots again sometime in the not too distant future. It also means if you live in that area and would like to volunteer some of your time, we’ve got some folks who would appreciate it more than you know. Plus they’ll keep you cracking up the whole time; it hardly counts as work!

Don’t miss our next trip out there; and please let us know if you’re interested in helping out these gardens when you’ve got some spare time. Good stuff.

Spreading our Crop Mob Branches

25 Feb

Spreading our Crop Mob Branches

We’ve got some pretty exciting news. As lots of you know, the Georgia Organics Conference will be taking place in Savannah March 11th & 12th. Not only will Crop Mob have a table in the expo, but we’ll also be having a mob at Downtown Savannah’s Avondale Farm. Sound familiar? Avondale Farm is Chef Matt Roher’s farm, and Chef Matt is none other than the executive chef at Savannah’s well-loved farm-to-table restaurant Cha-Bella. In fact, Chef Matt will be leading the charge to feed over 1,000 excited conference-goers at the legendary Farmer’s Feast.

You might be thinking, “Wow, I’ve traveled for a mob before, but Savannah’s really pushing it!” Well, that brings us to our most exciting news yet. We’re hoping to get as many Savannah locals involved in this mob as possible in the hopes of starting a Savannah-based branch of Crop Mob. As evidenced by the farm tours being offered for the conference, Savannah has a growing sustainable farming community, and every thriving farm community could do with some eager volunteers!

We’d love to eventually see clusters of Crop Mob all over Georgia so that people can help without having to travel too far — and so that Georgia can reclaim its agricultural roots in a sustainable way. So if you’ve got friends in Savannah, please encourage them to get involved and pass this news on to them. And if you’re planning to attend the conference, we’d love to see you at Avondale Farm on Sunday the 13th after the conference. Please keep in mind, though, that our goal is provide Savannah folks with a Crop Mob experience, so registration for Atlantans will begin on March 3rd.

Do you think we can grow Crop Mob Atlanta into Crop Mob Georgia? With our mobbers’ help, I have no doubt we can. And don’t worry, there will be another in-town Atlanta mob at the end of March — we’d never leave you high and dry!

See some of you this Saturday at Patchwork City Farms and we’ll post back with a full report on the reception of Crop Mob in Savannah soon!

Click Here to Register

Image source: savannahnow.com

A full-fledged February mob! Come one, come all!

18 Feb

A full-fledged February mob! Come one, come all!

We know, we know. We said Crop Mob wouldn’t start until March. And then we had a little something in January and a little something this weekend. Well we’ve decided to go ahead and take the plunge and get 2011 rollin’! It’s a little late notice, but we’ll be having an awesome in-town mob February 26th. Yes, it’s a Saturday – which is a little different – but we hope it still works with people’s schedules. We’ll be heading to the West End area of the city to help Patchwork City Farms and Good Shepherd Community Garden get cleaned up and ready for a fertile growing season.

A little more about these great folks:

Patchwork City Farms (PCF) is a small multi-family owned urban farm located in the South West of Atlanta in the West End historic district. PCF owners are new urban farmers, educators and social activist who work diligently to uplift our community. They promote a healthy and safe environment by demonstrating and teaching others how to grow safe foods. They encourage the youth in the community to come learn, plant and harvest with them. Patchwork City Farms (PCF) mission is to work with local landholders, public and private, to create a sustainable, naturally grown local food system. The farm plots are Certified Naturally Grown and they are committed to growing produce that is safe and nutritious.

We are also helping Reverend Bright at The Good Shepherd Community Garden get started this year. This church is a keystone food producer for low income families and individuals in the community. They have about 3 acres with approximately 1 acre in production. The church is located less than a half a mile from Brown Middle School farm. GSCG is operated by three older folks who can not do it on their own.

We’ll be doing a whole bunch of stuff including edging out a bunch of beds, building a compost and vermiculture system, pulling old plants and preparing the soil, installing rain barrels and more. Plus, our good friend Suzi from Suzi Taco Catering will be providing us with a killer lunch – you might remember her crazy-delicious sides from the Tewksbury Farm  mob.

No long drive and there’s plenty of parking, but we still encourage carpooling (the best system we’ve found so far is checking in on facebook to see which Whole Foods locations folks are gathering). Well be gathering at Brown Middle School where PCF is located and split up from there to tackle both properties. We’ve been asked to cap this one at 50, so sign up and come see your Crop Mob buddies and wish them a happy 2011!

We’ve missed you!

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Photo credit: Sarah Oh

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