What issues to you want to see addressed in our community?

Hello out there!

I am in the very beginning phase of coming up with ideas for my doctoral dissertation for my PhD in Environmental Studies. The topic will be related to community food security and sustainability. I want my dissertation to focus on a real and current issue that we face in the Frederick community. Who better to help me brainstorm than a group of people who are interested in community gardening!

I'm looking for input from whomever wants to share an idea or who has a question that could possibly be answered by a research project in our town. Think big! Feel free to post comments on this page or email me at frederickgardeners@gmail.com

Cheers!
Karen

FCGA plot available

The FCGA still has one plot left for the season. It's not too late! If you or someone you know are interested in gardening this summer/fall, please check out the "forms" section on the blog.

Thanks!

The Everything Guide to Urban Honey -- New York Magazine

The Everything Guide to Urban Honey -- New York Magazine

Urban Chickens on NPR!

Kojo must have read our blog (ha!) because the topic on the show today was none other than urban chickens! Click below to listen

Urban Chickens

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Gardeners Sharing Their Harvest With Food Pantries using AmpleHarvest.org

It's hard to picture it now, but pretty soon we gardeners are going to have squash coming out the ears! Instead of letting it go to waste, or trying to pawn it of on reluctant friends, please consider donating surplus produce through Ample Harvest. Ample Harvests helps connect home gardeners and community gardens with nearby food pantries. Good Stuff!

Chickens Downtown?

An FCGA member recently contacted me asking if I knew about about anyone working to change the law banning farm animals (particularly chickens) downtown. I decided to do some research and found this blog:

http://urbanchickenunderground.blogspot.com


It was started by former Frederick resident Sarah Hempel Irani, who was also manager of the site eatlocalfrederick.com, which was sadly shut down this year when she moved away.


Anyway, I'm just wondering if anyone has more insight they want to share on this topic. I know Baltimore City allows residents to raise up to 4 hens (no roosters though)for eggs.

It seems that with Frederick's agricultural roots, they would be more open to the idea. I guess there is a bit of a stigma with chickens being noisy and smelly, but hey if it's working in Baltimore, why not give it a try?

Anyway, heres a few more links in case you're interested reading more about chickens as part of the Urban Agriculture movement.

http://www.urbanchickens.net/
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5900
http://urbanchickens.org/
http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/index.html