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Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
Earthworks Urban Farm
Contact Us  |  Capuchin Soup Kitchen

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Weekly Update

Our weekly updates include volunteer opportunities, announcements, and musings about life at Earthworks. Please join our e-mail list.  Past weekly updates are archived below.

Water Consumption, Volunteer Opportunities, Weekly Recipe, Community Announcements and Updates

Brought to you by Earthworks Urban Farm,

a program of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen


Peace everyone,

Nearly 95 percent of our water consumption is hidden in the food we eat, energy we use and products and services we buy.  

In what ways can we conserve water with the food choices we make?


I. Volunteer Opportunities for the  week o f 8/8/2011:
Tuesday, 5-7pm: Youth Farm Stand. For information on volunteering with our YFS, please email Denis at drochac@cskdetroit.org.

Wednesday 9am-12:30pm Regular Volunteer Hours:  Please join us after working in the gardens for lunch in the soup kitchen.

Thursday 5-7pm: Growing Healthy Kids. For more information on volunteering with GHK, please email Denis at drochac@cskdetroit.org.

St. Clair Shores Green Fair
Veterans Memorial Park Masonic (13 and a 1/2 Mile Road) and Jefferson
Saturday, August 20th
11 AM to 6 PM

Earthworks will be there selling honey and talking about our programs.  If you are able to help table, please contact Gene Yuells at geney@wowway.com.

Notice of temporary schedule change: In the garden
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9am-12pm

All volunteers please meet at Capuchin Soup Kitchen at 1264 Meldrum, Detroit, MI unless noted differently. For individual volunteers, feel free to just come on by.  No need to RSVP.  For groups, please contact us in advance to schedule a day. Please come dressed appropriately for the weather and work.  During summer months, water bottles, hats with brims, sunscreen and work gloves are highly encouraged.  Long pants and closed toe shoes are required.  For questions, please email Shane at sbernardo@cskdetroit.org or call (313) 579-2100 x 204.


II. *New Section* Chef Alison's featured recipe of the week:
Chef Alison from the Capuchin Soup Kitchen highlights quick and easy recipes featuring produce grown in Earthworks gardens.  Recipes can be modified according to taste.

Here's a super easy pasta sauce that adds some non-traditional ingredients for some great new flavor profiles.  

Sauce with tomatoes, mint and cinnamon

½ c. olive oil or olive oil blend

2 peeled chopped or mashed garlic cloves

2 sticks of cinnamon

2 cups rinsed, chopped fresh mint

4 roma/plum tomatoes  peeled , seeded and chopped

Heat the oil, cloves & cinnamon sticks in a sauté pan until the garlic turns golden. Take the pan off the heat and add ½ the mint to the oil. Stir. Add the tomatoes. Put pan back on heat, cook until tomatoes are hot.  

Remove cinnamon stick, garlic from the pan. Add cooked pasta to pan with the remaining mint. Toss in the oil, add some of the pasta water if spaghetti appears dry.  

Recipe adapted from "On Top of Spaghetti..." by Johanne Killeen and George Germon


III. Community Announcements:
1. Volunteer this summer at the COLORS of Detroit Restaurant!
Sam's Loans 2100 Michigan Ave, Detroit, MI 48216.
August 8-12, 2011
10am-5pm or any Saturday between 1-4 pm.

COLORS of Detroit, a locally sourced restaurant and training center is opening in the fall of 2011. This summer we will be building out the restaurant space, and we need YOU!  No experience necessary!  Any and all ages and abilities are welcome.  Volunteers are needed

Volunteers will be working with wood to do sanding, staining, etc.  No special skills are needed!  Feel free to spread the word and bring friends!  
If you want to help out email me or jaimie.philip@gmail.com for more details.

2. Farm Bill Community Forum
Whittaker Branch Community Room
Ypsilanti District Library 5577 Whittaker Road, Ypsilanti, MI 48197
Wednesday, August 10th
6:00 - 8:30pm Presentations will start at 6:30pm

Food System Economic Partnership will host an event intended to inform community members about key issues surrounding the Farm Bill, discuss why the Farm Bill is important to us in southeast Michigan, and learn how we can all effectively advocate for a Farm Bill that represents our best interests. The event is free and snacks will be provided. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the Farm Bill and voice your opinion!
To RSVP, please click HERE .

3. Meldrum Fresh Market
Capuchin Soup Kitchen/Earthworks Urban Farm 1264 Meldrum Detroit, MI 48207
Thursday, August 11th
11-1pm

Bring Cash or your Bridge Card to purchase fresh organic produce harvested right from our gardens!  We will have swiss chard, green peppers, red peppers, hot peppers, green tomatoes, eggplant, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, squash, zucchinni, cucumbers, garlic, green beans, and cut flowers!  Come support us and tell your friends!

4. Good Food, Good Jobs Town Hall Meeting
St. Matthew's & St. Joseph's Episcopal Church, 8850 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI
August 11, 2011
5:30pm -7:00pm

The D4 (Doing Development Differently in Detroit) Food Justice work group needs you!
Find out how you can get involved in a City-wide effort to make sure businesses with liquor licenses sell safe foods to our communities and treat workers fairly.  Good food, good jobs - because Detroiter's deserve both!

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT AND APPRECIATE YOUR VALUED TIME!

For information, please contact:

Naome Debebe, ROC MI at (313) 962-5020 or
Venus Chapman, D4 Facilitator at (313) 695-2901, or

Email us at: D4Michigan2011@gmail.com.

5. PANEL/FILM SCREENING: "Who Killed Vincent Chin?"
RenCen4 Theatre, Renaissance Center, Detroit, MI
Thursday, August 11th, 2011
5:45 PM (RECEPTION)
6:30 PM (DISCUSSION/Q&A)
7:30 PM (FILM SCREENING)
RSVP REQUIRED

Co-sponsored by The Ford Foundation, WXYZ-TV & Scripps Howard Foundation, join the Asian American Journalists Association in community partnership with the Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education and the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice for an evening of seasoned dialogue and a rare screening of the 1987 Academy Award-nominated documentary, "Who Killed Vincent Chin?". The program will revisit what happened in 1982, explore some of the issues that spawned an Asian American civil rights movement, and how Chin's case has served as a lesson that transcends Asian American communities today. This panel/film screening is a community program offered by Asian American Journalist Association as part of the 2011 AAJA Annual National Conference and is free and open to the public.

6. Islandview Market
Genesis Hope Lutheran Church 7200 Mack Avenue, Detroit, MI 48214
August 12th, 2011 (Every 2nd and 4th Friday of the month)
11am-2pm

A farmer's market on the near east side of Detroit featuring produce from local gardens; Church the Messiah, Earthworks Urban Farm and Genesis Hope Lutheran Church.

This week offerings are: Swiss Chard, Green Peppers, Red Peppers, Hot Peppers, Green Tomatoes, Eggplant, Onions, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Squash, Zuccinni, Cucumbers, Garlic, Green Beans, and cut flowers!

7. 2011 Growing Power Weekend in Detroit
August 12-14, 2011
Please see below for times and locations

DBCFSN will again host Will Allen and the Growing Power staff for a power-packed weekend of events.  D-Town Farm is one of Growing Power's eight Regional Outreach Training Centers in the U.S., and provides periodic lectures, workshops and hands-on training experiences in urban agriculture and food security. Please join us for one, two or all three of the events below.  You can save as much as $20 by registering for all three events!

Lecture - Friday, August 12, 2011 from 7pm-9pm at Evans Solutions (formerly the Akwaaba Community Center)
8045 Second, corner of Seward, Detroit, MI 48202
Recession Buster Special Pricing! $15 general admission, $10 Seniors (60+) and Students with ID. Group rates available.

Workshop: Large Scale Composting - Saturday, August 13, 2011 9am-6pm at D-Town Farm (inside Rouge Park)
14027 W. Outer Drive, between Plymouth and W. Chicago, Detroit, MI 48219
Recession Buster Special Price! $45 (includes light breakfast and full lunch)

Workshop: Solar Energy Installation - Sunday, August 14, 2011 9am-6pm at D-Town Farm (inside Rouge Park)
14027 W. Outer Drive, Between Plymouth and W. Chicago, Detroit, MI 48219
Recession Buster Special Price! $45 (includes light breakfast and full lunch)

Again, you can register for all three events for only $85.

Scholarships are available. Please call 313 345-FOOD for more information.

www.detroitblackfoodsecurity.org

8. National Wildlife Refuge Survey - Midwest Region
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has allowed farming of genetically engineered soybeans and corn on several National Wildlife Refuges in the Midwest Region. The Service's Midwest Region is home to a rich diversity of natural resources spread across 8 states: Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The Center for Food Safety is concerned that, among other things, the Fish & Wildlife Service made the approval without considering the risks to the environment or wildlife posed by cultivating genetically engineered crops in these refuges. National Wildlife Refuges are important places for wildlife and serve as wintering and breeding habitat for migratory waterfowl, among other restorative purposes. Genetically engineered crops have no place in wildlife refuges, and we need your help to stop it.

We are looking for information from members who live near or visit National Wildlife Refuges in these states.NWRs are a great place for birding and other outdoor recreation. If you have visited, or reside near a National Wildlife Refuge in the Midwest Region, or if you are an organic farmer near a Refuge we could use your help. In your email, please tell us: 1) Where you live, 2) Which refuge(s) you visit or farm near, and 3) The last time visited for each refuge. Reply to atencer@icta.org or call 415-826-2770. Please contact us by August 12th, 2011.

9. Healthy Food Fair
Harding Market, 10501 E. Warren Ave, Detroit, MI
Saturday, August 13th
4-7pm

Event is FREE and open to the public!  Games for kids!  Healthy cooking demonstration!  Free food tastings! Convenient cooking and recipe tips and more!

The Detroit FRESH Healthy Food Fair is sponsored by Wayne State University, Earthworks Urban Farm, Gleaners Community Food Bank, Eastern Market Corporation, Erb Family Foundation, and Harding Market.

For more information, please call Harry or Lou of Harding Market at 313 921-2112 or Charles Lisee of Detroit Fresh at 313-577-2398

For more information about Detroit FRESH, please click HERE.

10. Fair Farm Bill Activist Meetup
Majestic Cafe 4120 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI
Saturday, August 13th
5-7pm

Join Food and Water Watch for an educational event and discussion about the upcoming 2012 Farm Bill.  Whether you grow food in the City or not, please consider attending this important discussion to learn more on how the 2012 Farm Bill will affect you.

Contact:
Lynna Kaucheck
Michigan Organizer - Food and Water Watch
lkaucheck@fwwatch.org
313.486.1356

11. Full Moon Bike Ride
UU Church (First Unitarian Universalist Church of Detroit) corner of Cass & Forest
August 13th, 2011
10:00pm, ride at 10:30pm.

We'll ride around Detroit (rain or ‘moon' shine) under the radiant light of the full moon and skip the heat of the sun. This Fender Bender Detroit ride is open to everyone as we try to raise awareness and have fun riding bikes in the night.

Bring your bike and your friends!  Helmets are cool, protect your head!  If you don't have a helmet The Hub of Detroit or Wheelhouse Detroit have a variety of them at reasonable prices.

The moon will be bright (hopefully not cloudy) but it is still important that you have a front white light and a rear red reflector.  Flashing red light is a bonus for safety as well.
Bright and/or reflective clothing is rad too! Tape a flashlight to your handlebars, ziptie a reflector to the back of your bike, it doesn't have to be fancy, just make sure you can see and be seen!

If you never ride at night, this is a great opportunity to try it out in a comfortable setting. We can also match you up with someone that will to ride by your place so you don't have to ride alone to the UU, and have someone ride back to the same area with you following the ride. Send us a message, fenderbenderdetroit[at]gmail[dot]com and we can help set something up. RSVP on Facebook if you can.

We are currently working on a route for the ride so let us know where you would like to go! We can try to work it to go through your neighborhood, so please comment with any suggestions. We will end the ride at the UU between Midnight and Midnight-thirty.

12. Rosa Parks Youth Violin Program Plays for Social Justice, Father Solanus and for Blair


           Youth violinists from the Capuchin Soup Kitchen are learning the value of their music as a gift to build positive change in Detroit.  The young musicians debuted June 18th at the West Village Block Party with Detroit rapper Invincible.  The block party celebrated local businesses such as Avalon International Breads and Goodwell's Natural Foods.  On the same day, they appeared on stage as part of activist Yusef Shakur's "State of the Neighborhood Address", where he introduced concepts such as "Putting the Neighbor Back in the ‘Hood".  The youth also shared their music at a "Crowded House" at the Circa Saloon which was organized by the late David Blair, AKA "Blair Detroit", their music teacher from summer camp.  A line-up of 34 other performers ranging from harpists, poets, rappers and actors shared the spotlight that night.    
           Most recently, the youth performed August 31 for a few Father Solanus Casey masses at the Capuchin Monastery on Mount Elliot.  Father Solanus also played the violin and his kindness lead to the beginning of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen years ago.
           After the masses, youth traveled to the Unitarian Universalist church for a life celebration of David Blair, their Peace Camp music teacher June 27-July 15th.  The beloved poet, musician and activist passed July 23rd, about week after their last performance with him.  Rosa Parks Youth sang "The Saints Go Marching In" to kick off the 2nd Line Jazz march that wove through the Cass Corridor.  At the community potluck that followed, the violinists joined Invincible to perform one of her newest songs "Apple Orchard" for Blair.
            Some of the youth have been playing violin for 1 year and some just started during the 2nd annual Violin Exploration Camp at the soup kitchen.  Many partners are working to support these youth in receiving weekly group violin lessons every Saturday including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, who donated a free room for the lessons at the Max Fisher Orchestra Hall.  Shar Music and Suzuki Royal Oak Institute of Music (SRO) have donated instruments.  SRO solicited donations to pay for group lessons from December through May last year.
           This year, there is an effort to raise funds so that 20 youth can attend weekly group violin classes September through May.  The cost will be $610 per child. Violin teacher Clara Hardie, of the Rosa Parks Program, Suzuki Royal Oak and the Fr. Solanus Guild are seeking donations now for this ongoing effort.

Check Donations with "Youth Violin Program" in the memo written out to The Capuchin Soup Kitchen can be mailed to:

Capuchin Soup Kitchen
Youth Violin Program
1830 Mt. Elliot St
Detroit, MI 48207

Donations can also be made online using a credit card though Facebook by searching for the Cause: "Violin Lessons for Rosa Parks Youth".  Money goes into the account for the Province of St. Joseph of the Capuchin Order.

For more information contact:
Clara Hardie: clara.hardie@gmail.com or call 906 201 0915
Bro. Jerry Smith: jsmith@cskdetroit.org or call 313 579-2100 x220


IV. Update from Patrick

Another good busy week.  The weather felt a bit more comfortable this week and the rains well timed.  I'm taking a little time off, and then going to a training, so will not be around as much in the coming weeks, and am really feeling the need to push forward.

We put a huge amount of our focus on working on the Gleaners garden and getting it in shape.  Compost was sifted in great amounts, laid down on beds and prepped.  We now have most of the beds prepped for fall plantings and over winter plantings finished.  We still have a few more to go, and then we move on to the garlic beds.  Fall plantings of cabbage, broccoli, kale and collards do not look as good as I would like them.  I think the compost we put down was still a little raw and burned some of them, but I think we still have a good enough stand to get a decent crop.  The beans have been producing very well this last week, and the second planting should be coming on this week as well making for a bumper crop.  We harvested the last of the summer onions, and prepped that area as well as the area where we had potatoes and planted snow peas for the fall.  They have been well watered and covered with row cover to protect them from hungry pheasants.  Looking forward to a pea crop since we had no spring peas.  We also planted a couple of rows of fall potatoes, a little later than I would like, but I think we should be ok.  The winter squash has a good number of fruit on them, including some nice hubbard squash.  The eggplant are coming on well, I have started to see some ripe tomatoes forming, and the peppers have been picking well.  The cucumbers in the field and yellow crookneck squash are looking like they are going to start setting fruit any day now.  Over all the gardens are producing well.

This week we keep on sifting compost.  Even though we have sifted enough to give the fields a decent dose, I want to get more set aside and well aged for top dressing the fall crops as well as plenty stored away in the hoop house for winter production.  We also need to sow fall plantings of various root and leaf crops.  I can't remember what, that's why we have a crop plan.  

The hoop house is producing massive amounts of stuff theses days, the red bell pepper and Italian frying peppers are coming in full force, the cherry tomatoes and beef steak tomatoes and producing prodigious pounds of fruit, cucumbers keep on climbing, and contrary to my predictions, the zucchinis and squash have not succumb to powdery mildew and just keep on making pounds of fruit.  

If you have been thinking of coming for a visit to see the gardens, right now is a perfect time, it looks lush and beautiful.  I think that is enough for this week, until next week, onward.

V. Outreach Update from Shane

   I am very fortunate and privileged to have the experiences I do on a daily basis here at Earthworks.  Admittedly, I often find myself enjoying the company and care of others and our gardens.  I am especially fond of the other forms of creation that I share space with.
   Yesterday, a monarch butterfly even put a smile on my face.  Millions of monarchs fly thousands of miles to migrate to and from their breeding grounds in Mexico.  The migration route is so long, it takes 3-4 generations to complete the cycle.  When you consider how far monarch butterflies have to travel to survive, it really changes your perspective on life.  Seeing one in our gardens is a real treat and makes those bad days seem not so bad anymore.
   Over the last few months, my perspective on my position at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen has changed as well.  Although the Soup Kitchen is a place for folks to receive food, it is also a place where we are seen and treated as people that have something to offer as opposed to simply needy, poor or indigent.  I've found that I tend to receive more than what I give very often.
    Just today, I happen to meet a gentleman that came to us via Jefferson House, a program for men that are transitioning from substance abuse.  He kindly shared with me that he used to come to the Capuchin Soup Kitchen when he was young.  Now, being able to be in a position to give back and provide service for the community has really made him grateful for the soup kitchen and what it provides.
    In some ways, the Capuchin Soup Kitchen is to us and our guests the same way our gardens are to the monarch.  It's not just a place for physical sustenance but a place for transformation.

Weekly Update Archives

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
Earthworks Urban Farm
Contact Us  |  Capuchin Soup Kitchen

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Contact Us

Address:                      1264 Meldrum
                                    Detroit, MI  48207
Phone:                         313-579-2100 Ext. 204
E-mail:                         earthworks@cskdetroit.org

To VISIT:  You are welcome to visit us and take our self-guided tour at any time.  Click here for self-guided tour.   The best time to do take the self-guided tour is during one of our regular volunteer times.  To schedule a group tour, please contact us.

Staff Bios

Patrick Crouch Patrick Crouch
Program Manager
mcrouch@cskdetroit.org
313-579-2100 ext 176

Patrick has been with Earthworks since 2004 and is basically the go-to guy for everything. As Program Manager, Patrick oversees all programs, staff and interns. He directly oversees the farm, greenhouse and apiary and teaches our monthly working lessons. Patrick also keeps everyone informed with his weekly Earthworks updates e-mails. With a fey sense of humor and unbounded technical information, Patrick has heard all the questions and has most of the answers. After graduating with a fine arts degree, Patrick found his true calling in organic agriculture. Since moving from Maryland to Detroit, Patrick has enjoyed mapping Detroit’s wild fruit trees and swimming in the Detroit River.

Shane Bernardo Shane Bernardo
Outreach Coordinator
sbernardo@cskdetroit.org
313-579-2100 ext 204

Shane is a native Detroiter that grew up on the east side of Detroit on Meldrum and Benson just a few blocks down from Earthworks. Shane’s love for food, culture and community was nurtured at a very early age. His family owned a small, ethnic grocery store that served Asian, African and Afro-Caribbean cultures on the west side of Detroit for over 13 years. As a result, Shane learned first-hand how food can shape relationships, community and his stomach.

As Outreach Coordinator, Shane helps build relationships with our guests, staff and neighbors of the soup kitchen. Shane also coordinates volunteer days, the weekly newsletter and Earthworks events including the Annual Harvest Dinner and Garden Blessings.

In addition to serving as Outreach Coordinator, Shane also uses his skills, talents and abilities to address issues of social, economic and racial inequality as a visual artist, community organizer and mentor.

Denis RochacDenis Rochac

Education Coordinator
drochac@cskdetroit.org
313-579-2100 ext 200

Denis Rochac coordinates educational opportunities for adults and local youth and their families related to gardening, nutrition, food justice and bees. He can be found practicing Icebreakers with guests here at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen. He loves to cause spontaneous edu-chaos that leads to teachable moments and critical reflections. Graduated from Eastern Oregon University with Bachelors in English Writing, lived in Portland Oregon for a spell then moved to Detroit to find a stronger sense of community which he found here at Earthworks. He's happy he’s here and working for a just, beautiful food system for all.

Robbie Moore

CapCorps Volunteer
rmoore@cskdetroit.org
313-579-2100 ext 204

Robbie is the new Capuchin Franciscan Volunteer at Earthworks. He comes to Earthworks from farming in Ann Arbor and Alaska, theater workshops in Detroit, and a deep appreciation for the interdependence and interconnectedness of things. 

Keeping with the tradition of the former Cap Corps Volunteers, Robbie helps Earthworks with whatever he can. Drawing from his previous farming experiences he assists with most farm needs including cultivating, harvesting, and processing. He also continues the great composting legacies of Gwen and Rachel, turning 1000s of pounds of spent grain from Atwater into compost piles behind Gleaner's. When he's not composting, Robbie can be found playing theater games he picked up from the Prison Creative Arts Project with Growing Healthy Kids. 

Born and raised in Southeast Michigan, Robbie is happy to continue to develop relationships with the people and land in Southeast Detroit and to be participating in the Great Work that grows our souls.

To learn more about the Cap Corps program, visit www.capcorps.org.

 

 


 

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
Earthworks Urban Farm
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Welcome

As a society, we have become dangerously disconnected from the land and the sources of food that sustain life. We have detached ourselves from the real source of wealth - a respectful and reverent relationship with each other and the land.

In 1997, Brother Rick Samyn felt a calling to start a garden at his workplace, the Capuchin Soup Kitchen. The response was overwhelming and positive. That small plot of land grew into what is our urban farm project today.

Earthworks Urban Farm seeks to build a just, beautiful food system through education, inspiration, and community development.  We seek to restore our connection to the environment and community.  It is a working study in social justice and in knowing the origin of the food we eat.

This project relies on the gracious donations of many. Neighbors and friends of all ages, incomes and faiths join us in our work. We hope that you will visit us and see what a special project Earthworks Urban Farm has become.  We encourage you to take our self guided tour when you visit (more information coming soon!)

You are welcome to visit our farm at any time and take our self-guided tour.  Please click here.

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
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Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
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Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
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Support Local Food Systems

By buying locally grown food, you are creating a more just, healthy food system for all. Here are some locations where you can buy locally grown food.

Eastern Market: Every Saturday 6:30AM - 3:30PM from May 31st through October 25th (except July 5th). Look for "GROWN IN DETROIT" in SHED 2.

Corktown Market: Michigan Ave & 14th Street in front of the old train station. Every 2nd Saturday, June thru September, 10-2PM. Bring your recycling...take home fresh, locally grown produce!

Look for "GROWN IN DETROIT" on June 14th, July 12th, August 9th, September 13th

Highland Park Farmers' Market: Location TBA. Three Saturdays per month July thru September

10-2PM. Look for "GROWN IN DETROIT" on July 26th, August 23rd, August
30th.

Northwest Detroit Market: Bushnell Church, on the Southfield Freeway
Service Dr. Just south of Grand River Ave. Thursday evenings July 10th
thru October 16th 4-8PM. Look for "GROWN IN DETROIT" on July 17th,
August 7th, September 4th, October 2nd.

Hamtramck Farmers Market- 2008 market info to come

Grown in Detroit Farm Stands – http://www.detroitagriculture.com for more info

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
Earthworks Urban Farm
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Cap Corps

Earthworks hosts yearlong positions for Capuchin Franciscan Volunteer Corps members. To learn more about the CapCorps program, please visit www.capcorps.org. An ideal CapCorps volunteer is a compassionate and caring person who desires to grow in faith and commitment to gospel values; is in good physical and mental health; is adaptable to diverse cultures and situations; has a sense of humor; is 21 years of age or older; is single or married with no dependents; a U.S. citizen; and lastly, has a willingness to explore spirituality, social justice and sustainable living. CapCorps volunteers are welcome to help out in all aspects of Earthworks and choose their own focus based on their personal interests.

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
Earthworks Urban Farm
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Value Added Products

When seasonally avilable, Earthworks has honey jam, and handbalm available for sale. Through these products, we hope people become more familiar with the work Earthworks is doing and the importance of local products and food preservation.

HONEY- Our bees collect pollen and nectar from Detroit flowers, our vegetable plants and beautiful flowers at the Capuchin's Retreat Center in Washington, Michigan, and turn them into sweet honey. We bottle the honey in 9-fluid-ounce jars. Through beekeeping, we learn about and share the importance of bees in the daily lives of each of us.

JAM- Each year, our volunteers pick hundreds of pounds of berries from our gardens. The grapes, gooseberries, black and red raspberries, elderberries, and currants harvested with love are turned into jam during fall jam making sessions. In this process, we develop a greater understanding of how buying locally produced products will create a more just world for all.

HANDBALM- We use beeswax and propolis from our bees' hives, and chickweed from our gardens in making our handbalm. The handbalm is sold in 1-ounce tins. In Spring 2008, for every tin of handbalm purchased, we will distribute one tin to someone in Detroit whose hands could use some soothing handbalm but who is unable to purchase it themselves.

Where you can support us through purchasing our products:

The Gift Shop of the Solanus Casey Center, 1820 Mt. Elliott, Detroit, MI 48207 sells our honey and handbalm.

Avalon Bakery, 422 W. Willis, Detroit, MI 48201 sells our handbalm.

Jam, honey, and handbalm are available at our garage at 1264 Meldrum.

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
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Wish List

  • Partner to provide Michigan-grown fruits to some of our markets.
  • Adult-sized scissors
  • Healthy snacks for our youth programs (juice mixes, almond/soy
    nut butter, etc.)
  • Truck or large vehicle in good shape for the Soup Kitchen's
    Field of Our Dreams (FOOD) group's mobile market.
Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
Earthworks Urban Farm
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THE FARM

What sorts of crops are grown in the gardens?

We grow most every kind of commonly grown vegetable found in Michigan, as well as plenty not commonly found.  Because we strive for a year round harvest we find ourselves needing to expand our types of crops to suit colder seasons.  We also grow a number of small fruits, tree fruits, culinary and medical herbs, and cut flowers.  We are a small but very diverse growing operation.

Where does the produce go?

We provide produce to a number of different outlets.  Some produce is sold though the Grown In Detroit co-op, some is provided to the Capuchin Soup Kitchen which we are a part of, some goes to markets at health clinics, and some is marketed at a small farmers market we run out of our workspace at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen.  We also use most of our berries harvested for making jams we sell as a fundraiser.

Do you grow Organically?

Yes, we are first and oldest Certified Organic farm in Detroit.  While certification can be helpful to identifying foods which are free of dangerous chemicals, we don’t feel that it is the only way.  Many of our friends choose not to be certified and grow very safe, high quality food.  The best way to certify is to have a good trusting relationship with your grower.  

How can you possibly grow in the winter?

We use and have used a wide variety of season extension methods.  We pick crops that do well in cold weather, some very common such as spinach, others much less so like mizuna.  We also make use of simple cold frames; little more than windows over wooden boxes, simple tunnels built out of plastic, and larger unheated greenhouse structures.  Growing throughout the winter is really pretty simple; it just takes plenty of planning. 

If you are growing Organically then that means you don’t use any synthetic fertilizers, what do you do to keep you crops growing well?

We largely rely on the power of compost.  Being in a city means we have access to literally tons of resources for making compost.  We are able to utilize these materials to make high quality compost to feed the soil.  Using these resources also means that we are able to keep these valuable nutrients out of the landfill.  We also make use of cover crops – those crops grown for improving soil composition not for profit. They are able to fix nitrogen, open soils up, and scavenge for nutrients that are difficult for cash crops to get. 

If you are growing organically doesn’t that mean that you have lots of pest problems?

Everyone has pest problems, we just deal with them differently.  Most of our measures are proactive, they include: planting species or varieties that do well in our area or have few pest problems, utilizing a crop rotation so that pests are not able to build up in a particular location, using floating row cover to keep pests out, and planting plants which will attract beneficial insects that help to keep pests in check.  When we do have problems we try and use the simplest solutions first, spraying aphids with water or handpicking of cabbage worms as examples.  Occasionally we have to use organically approved pesticides, but we use that as a last resort.

What do you do in the winter?

Perhaps the most common question.  Seems that most folks think that we don’t have anything to do during the winter.  The fact is there is plenty to do: from crop plans, to seed orders, to servicing tillers and fixing tools.  Things slow down but they certainly do not stop.  The greenhouse gets cranking up by the end of February making us plenty busy and we don’t slow down again till after Thanksgiving. 

How do you prepare the land for planting?

We use a variety of methods, the most common one is to use a rototiller. Because the use of rototillers can be detrimental to soils, we try to limit its use, but it can be very helpful.  Often we use a combination of a broad fork to loosen soil, a claw tool to break up soil clods, and finally a rake to make it nice and smooth for direct seeding.  We also make extensive use of leaf and straw mulches to reduce the need to prep soils. Some of our tools are a bit unusual such as the broad fork and can be obtained though places like Johnny’s Selected Seeds.

Isn’t the soil in Detroit contaminated?

Yes and no.  Issues of contamination are very real in Detroit, but we test all the soil that we grow on, and only grow on those which have low lead levels.  We strongly encourage those that want to start a garden to test their soils as well.  We have found the most affordable source for quality lead testing is at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.  You can find more info about their soil lab at this website. 

Do you ever take apprentices/interns/volunteers?

We have regular volunteer hours every Wednesday from 9am-12pm with lunch following in the soup kitchen.  We also have volunteer hours on Saturdays, April though the end of October, also from 9am-12pm.  For those seeking a more in depth experience, we do offer a 9 month training program (Earthworks Training Program or EAT), geared to work with those from the city of Detroit to get the skills needed to create there own urban agriculture business and to obtain jobs in the burgeoning urban field. 

Those that are just interested in spending more time doing in-depth unpaid work should feel free to send us a letter of interest, and specify what skills they have that they can contribute. 

How many gardens do you maintain in the city of Detroit ?

 Earthwork's gardens consist of approximately 7 gardens spread over 20 city lots spread within a 2 block radius of our headquarters. We don't garden outside of that space. We do however provide technical support for gardens all throughout the city. Though are involvement with the Garden Resource Programs we are able to provide support for gardens all throughout the city of Detroit. 

What are economic opportunities for urban agriculture?  

We see the economic opportunities for urban agriculture as very fruitful, particularly in Detroit. While we know that many see Detroit as a perfect opportunity for large scale agriculture to take place we prefer to think it the perfect place to develop and agriculture-based city. Contrary to popular belief, we do not want to see the whole city turn into farmland. It's actually our hope that small scale community based farms can seamlessly fit into the urban landscape, creating jobs in the community and improving access to food for all residents. Currently we know of no farming projects in the city that are fully economically viable, but it is our hope that in the next few years to create just that on our own lands, serving as a model for others. 

What is relationship with MSU?

MSU extension and Earthworks have a long standing relationship, being a site for Master Gardener participants to volunteers, as well as a partner agency in the Garden Resource Program. We also have a long relationship with the MSU Student Organic Farm, having hosted interns from their organic farming certificate program, and gained much technical advice over the years. 

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
Earthworks Urban Farm
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Volunteer

We all eat, so it will take all of us to create a just food system and a just world for all. We see any and all who are working towards this as working with us at Earthworks, even if you don’t ever directly come and volunteer at Earthworks. We want all those engaged with Earthworks to understand that this transformation isn’t going to take place by simply coming and planting some seeds in our gardens.

This transformation will only occur if each of us takes the message into our hearts and into our daily lives. We hope that all of our volunteers grow into advocates for a just food system and world. One great way to learn how to do just that is to come and work with us. All are highly encouraged to visit the Food Justice part of our website.  Feel free to contact us for more ideas as to how we can all work together to address and eliminate the root causes of hunger and poverty in our community.

Some ways to get involved with us directly include:

  • Help plant, weed, and harvest in the gardens.
  • Share with local youth the importance of healthy living and knowing where our food comes from at Growing Healthy Kids sessions.
  • Mentor young adults learning personal responsibility through running a farmstand by volunteering at Youth Farm Stand sessions.
  • Share about Earthworks and the importance of locally grown food with your community group, church group, family and more.
  • Help us extract and bottle honey, make jam and pour handbalm.
  • Be an Earthworks spokesperson at tabling events around Metro Detroit.
    Participate in beekeeping.

WHO: You! Individuals are welcome at our regular volunteer times. There is no need to RSVP or call ahead. Just come on by during a scheduled volunteer time. If you have a group that you would like to schedule to volunteer at Earthworks, please e-mail or call us in advance to schedule a time and day.

WHERE: All volunteers meet at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen at 1264 Meldrum, Detroit, MI 48207 unless otherwise noted. The Earthworks garage and door are located closest to Meldrum.

WHEN: During the growing season, we welcome volunteers in the gardens on Wednesdays from 9am - 12 noon and Saturdays from 9am - 12 noon (except for holiday weekends). Growing Healthy Kids welcomes adult mentors and volunteers on most Thursday evenings from 4:45pm - 7:30pm Volunteers and mentors assisting with the Youth Farm Stand program meet most Tuesday evenings from 4:45pm - 7:30pm. We make jam in October and November.  Please call to confirm schedule or visit our calendar.

All are highly encouraged to join our email list to receive weekly email updates that include volunteer opportunities by clicking here.  Or call us at (313)-579-2100, ext 204 for more information.

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
Earthworks Urban Farm
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FOOD JUSTICE

Before attempting to define food justice, let's review the definition of community food security.

"Community food security is a condition in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice."
--Mike Hamm and Anne Bellows
From Community Food Security Coalition's website

Food justice work goes deeper than this definition implies. Food justice work requires us to question why food insecurity currently exists. We must examine the historical social and economic inequalities that cause wide spread food insecurity, locally and globally.

"Food security is more about analyzing problems, ameliorating issues and providing answers...Food Justice...involves local people from seed to sale. It educates, organizes and mobilizes new social relations around food. It touches hands, hearts and pockets."
--Ian Marvy co-director of Added Value in Brooklyn, NY

Check out Brahm's Blog from the People's Grocery in California on why they call their work "food justice."

What you can do to be a food justice advocate

  • Question why there is enough food in the world to feed all people yet many experience hunger. What systems are in place that create this dynamic?
  • Question how racism has played a role in determining who has access to healthy food and who does not.
  • Question how it is possible to have "racism" in our society without having "racists".
  • Ask where your food comes from and how the people, the land, and all the creatures were treated in its production. Buy food that respects and values all people, creatures, and features of the world. Farm work is some of the most dangerous work due to exposure to pesticides and demanding schedules. Buying local and sustainable whenever possible can help to ensure that your food and food workers were treated carefully.
  • Get involved with your community. Investigate if there is a community garden in your area. If not, organize one.
  • If you identify yourself as "white" examine the extent of your "white privilege." Host a discussion about the classic piece, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" by Peggy McIntosh.
  • Host a discussion about structural racism and our food system. See the Center for Social Inclusion's presentation for more information.
  • Talk with people you normally wouldn't talk with. You might be surprised what you have in common and how you can support one another.
  • Buy local food and products from locally owned businesses or ask your favorite businesses or restaurants (even your school's cafeteria!) to source more produce and products locally.
  • Shop at your local farmer's market and ask your farmers questions about their food and growing practices.
  • Come to Earthworks' monthly Food Justice Community Gatherings or host your own.
  • Talk with your friends, family and coworkers about issues of agriculture, race, and equality. We can not move forward without having these conversations.
  • Learn about the food system through newsletters, books, and blogs. Inform yourself using by reading about the work and thoughts of others!

Earthworks’ journey towards food justice…

Over the past year, Earthworks has begun to transform our work and programming in critical ways. We still operate the farm as always, but we have begun to rethink our motives and methods to reflect our deepening concern regarding how our work relates to our community. Our primary guiding principle is to create a just, beautiful food system for all. Daily, we are reminded that this principle will require hard work and careful determination as we meet and interact with the people from our community who are in need of meals at our soup kitchen.  We recognize that we can not be successful in transforming our world into a just and beautiful place without analyzing historical social and economic inequalities. 

We realized that although we always had plenty of volunteers from the surrounding community and suburbs, and although we were passionate about growing healthy food for the people, our farm was not as welcoming a space for most of the folks who come to the soup kitchen for meals as it should be.  So, starting with very simple steps, we have begun to shift our approach:

  • First, the bulk of our produce was redirected away from markets and instead to the soup kitchen meals.
  • We installed a chalkboard in the soup kitchen dining room and posted daily about what in the meal was grown in the garden, noting the health benefits and hoping that knowing the food was grown in the soup kitchen’s gardens would entice more people to try it.
  • We made garden plots available for soup kitchen guests, staff and community members who wanted to be involved but didn’t have the ability to garden at their homes. (Contact us if you’re interested in having a plot or garden space!)
  • We made space and time for a weekly meeting (called the F.O.O.D. - Field Of Our Dreams - group) to develop ideas issued by the guests related to food access in our neighborhood and healthy communities overall. Ideas about creating adaptive gardens for nearby senior centers or setting up a mobile market for our neighborhood came from those meetings and will be a focus of the upcoming season.
  • We established a series of potlucks and discussions related to food justice (Food Justice Community Gatherings) and invite soup kitchen guests, neighbors, our volunteers, partners, and Detroit residents to enter into conversations about important topics.
  • We are making a concerted effort to reach out to our neighborhood, talking with people we’re meeting for the first time and asking for more commitment and involvement from those we have been talking to for years. 

As we think about and plan our work, we are always evaluating the effectiveness of it for our community by considering the following:

  • Are we thinking about how we can let control of projects be truly in the hands of the community?
  • Are we working with, rather than for, our community?
  • Are our staff representative of the community we serve?
  • What questions do we ask when we are making decisions? 
  • What questions don’t we ask?
  • Who do we involve in the decision making process and who is excluded?

We have a long way to go.  We appreciate your ideas, comments, critiques, suggestions.

Important resources related to food justice

Food Justice Manifesto
More information available at http://foodjustice.wikispaces.com.

Growing Food and Justice
An initiative aimed at dismantling racism and empowering low-income and communities of color through sustainable and local agriculture. It views dismantling racism as a core principal which brings together social change agents from diverse sectors working to bring about new, healthy and sustainable food systems and supporting and building multicultural leadership in impoverished communities throughout the world. Check out this website’s resources page. This year’s gathering will be in Milwaukee from October 30 through November 1, 2009.

Food Justice Community Gathering series.
Monthly opportunities for folks from various walks of life to sit and share at the same table, talking of food justice issues.

F.O.O.D. meetings
Weekly meetings with Capuchin Soup Kitchen guests who have been motivated to take action in their community to provide access to high quality fresh foods, among other initiatives they are currently working on.

People’s Grocery
People's Grocery is a community-based organization in West Oakland, CA that develops creative solutions to the health problems in their community that stem from a lack of access to and knowledge about healthy, fresh foods.

Village Gardens
Village Gardens is a 60,000 square foot urban agriculture program that uses sustainable organic gardening and farming to increase access to healthy food, improve economic opportunities and build unity with low-income residents of North Portland, OR.

Growing Power
Growing Power is a national nonprofit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds, and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities. Growing Power implements this mission by providing hands-on training, on-the-ground demonstration, outreach and technical assistance through the development of Community Food Systems that help people grow, process, market and distribute food in a sustainable manner.

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
Earthworks Urban Farm
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What does Earthworks do?
Earthworks’ primary activities include running a 1.5 acre farm and apiary, hosting classes for Detroit gardeners, hosting two youth programs for area kids, attending markets with youth during the growing season, and providing support for guests of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen who are interested in gardening and food justice. We are a full program of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen and have our offices and gardens on their grounds.

Where is Earthworks headed?
Towards food justice for all! Every day we are striving to be more responsive to our soup kitchen community and neighborhood. Currently, the majority of our produce is incorporated in the meals at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen and we are planning to install a commercial hoop house (similar to a greenhouse but uses only heat from the sun) to provide greens for the soup kitchen and for marketing to the public. We are also increasing opportunities for youth and adult community residents to be leaders in creating a just food system by offering a summer program for local teens and working with soup kitchen guests to reach their goals related to food access in our neighborhood (such as establishing community gardens and a mobile market).

Is Earthworks certified organic?
Yes.
We have always used farm practices we consider to be beyond organic standards and, in the past, had seen no reason to pay the fees associated with certification. We also believe we as people should get to know the faces and stories behind our food and not simply trust in some sticker on our food to tell us it’s safe or it’s organic.

We use no synthetic pesticides or fertilizers in our gardens. We rely mainly on compost and green manure (cover crops grown to add nutrients and organic matter to the soil) for fertilizers. We focus on strong healthy soils for prevention of pest problems. We let 20% of our beds rest at any given time to restore soil health. We plant in harmony with the seasons and use mulch to conserve resources such as water.

All that said, we took advantage of funding from the recent Farm Bill to cover most of the certification costs for small farms. We decided to do this so we can lead other small urban farms though the process. We know that being certified organic will open up more marketing opportunities for small farmers.

How does Earthworks fit into the greater urban agriculture work in Detroit?
Earthworks is one of the many examples of urban agriculture and food justice organizations in Detroit. We are independent of other agriculture organizations in the city, but mutually supportive and connected to many of them through professional and personal partnerships and friendships. We partner with The Greening of Detroit, the Detroit Agriculture Network, and Michigan State University Extension to form the Garden Resource Program Collaborative, through which we provide resources to area gardeners (www.detroitagriculture.org). We partner with Gleaners Community Food Bank (www.gcfb.org) in operating our largest garden site behind their warehouse on Beaufait and various outreach programs.

Who are the partners of Earthworks?
Earthworks has a variety of partners in our work to increase food security in Detroit, including: Gleaners Community Food Bank, The Greening of Detroit, Detroit Agriculture Network, Michigan State University Extension, WIC/Project Fresh, Wayne State University through SEED Wayne. We are a member of the Michigan Farmer’s Market Association. Other organizations that we are fond of, although not necessarily formally partnered with, are listed on our links page.

What do people want and need from Capuchin Soup Kitchen and Earthworks?
The answers to this vary significantly from a shower and hot meal to spiritual guidance and a sense of community. We are working on asking this question more and opening our ears more to listen.

Are we as Earthworks doing what is really needed?
We are doing our best to ask ourselves this. The need in Detroit for strong, just communities with widespread access to healthy food is great. We know that we ourselves can never meet this need alone but through education and inspiration we are taking steps towards a just, beautiful world. We welcome your ideas and input as to how we can be more effective in our work.

What about the lack of racial diversity in Earthworks?
We are fully aware of the differences in the racial makeup of our staff and the majority of our volunteers from the racial makeup of our neighborhood and Detroit. We feel that is important for decision-makers and leaders in Earthworks to be more representative of the community we work with. We are consistently and deliberately attempting to increase the participation of all members of our community in our work and hope to provide more and more opportunities for people of all backgrounds to meet and work together. We also see much of our work as building up the community (especially the youth) to eventually take over our mission and do the work for themselves, making us obsolete. In the meantime, we are conscious of and sensitive to how we do our work and recognize that race and racism play a large role in our work towards a just food system.

Who is the “customer” of Earthworks?
Earthworks serves a lot of various needs, including one of humanity’s primary needs: to be connected to the earth. Throughout our programming, our primary goals are for the involvement of our local community, including guests of the soup kitchen, and our neighbors, especially the youth. We value the involvement of volunteers and activists from all over the Metro-Detroit region, but are working primarily to change our local environment.

How does Earthworks fit into Capuchin Soup Kitchen?
Earthworks is a full program of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, established in 1998 by a Capuchin friar employed by the kitchen. Our offices are located on site of the Meldrum Street Kitchen and the majority of our produce goes in to meals at the kitchen. We see the soup kitchen as being one of our primary communities and we are continually striving to meet the needs of and engage soup kitchen guests in our work for a just food system. The soup kitchen hosts a variety of other programs, including a drug treatment center, a children’s art therapy program, grandparent’s clubs and much more. Please ask us or visit the Capuchin Soup Kitchen’s homepage at www.cskdetroit.org for more information on the activities of the soup kitchen.

Do you ever pray in the gardens?
The Capuchin Soup Kitchen, as a program sponsored by a Catholic organization, hosts weekly prayer sessions on Wednesday mornings. Twice a year, we host a garden blessing, which incorporates these prayer sessions in a garden setting. We often feel that the close unity to nature (and a higher power, for some) achieved through gardening is satisfactory for many of our volunteers. One Earthworks volunteer once said “everything we do here is a prayer.”

Where can I buy produce from Earthworks?
Earthworks produce is for sale on a limited basis through our Youth Farm Stand markets around the city. Please check our calendar for updated information about where you'll find us this week. Otherwise, our produce is directed to meals at the soup kitchen - feel free to join us for lunch anytime! Lunch is served Monday through Friday, 11-1pm. All are welcome. If you like, feel free to leave a donation in the jar. There’s also breakfast, Monday through Friday from 830-930am, but rarely do vegetables from the garden end up in breakfast! Other Earthworks products, such as handbalm, jam, and honey, are available for purchase throughout the year from our garage office.

How can I get involved?
One of the best ways for you to be involved in creating a food secure society is to begin closest to home by starting or joining a community garden in your own community and buying local! We welcome your involvement on our farm in many different ways. We always host volunteers at our weekly volunteer days or youth program nights and often have special projects or events that we ask for additional help with. If you are interested in those opportunities, please sign up for our weekly e-mail update.

Other ideas to get involved include hosting a local foods dinner at your home to raise awareness and funds for our work, supporting local farmer’s markets, talking to your friends about food justice, and more.

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
Earthworks Urban Farm
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Classes

As a partner in the Garden Resource Program Collaborative, Earthworks hosts a number of educational workshops and working lessons related to agriculture. Working lessons are held on the first Tuesday of the month. Please see our calendar for Earthworks classes.
Additionally, we invite you to attend the Detroit Urban Gardening Education Series, put on by the Garden Resource Program and designed to share new ideas as well as practical skills and techniques with our gardeners through a series of interesting and interactive workshops. All classes are generally every second Saturday and fourth Thursday of the month beginning in January. Classes are $3 for Garden Resource Program members, non-members $5/class. Locations vary. Please see their website for a full listing and locations.

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
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Application Forms: Growing Healthy Kids  |   Youth Farm Stand

Youth Programs

Earthworks hosts two weekly youth programs, Growing Healthy Kids and Youth Farm Stand from February through November, with additional summer camps for each program. Youth living within two miles of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen are invited to register for our youth programs. If you live outside of our neighborhood we'd love to talk with you about sponsoring a youth gardening program in your community.

Growing Healthy Kids –a program for 5- to 11-year-olds learn the basics of gardening, nutrition, cultural awareness, environmental stewardship and healthy living in our weekly classes. Held on-site at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen on Meldrum, we start each day with a healthy snack, outdoor play time, or coloring. Our main activities include planning our flower and vegetable garden, painting garden signs, cooking pancakes, extracting honey and starting seed transplants in our greenhouse. International Food Night is a favorite as kids stamp their passports and "visit" countries from around the world by tasting ethnic cuisines. The season culminates in an End of the Year Celebration with kids and families. The program is free to all families, although if you are able to contribute, we suggest a donation of $5 per season, or $15 for the year, per family.

Growing Healthy Kids is held on Thursdays 5-7 p.m., February through November. Applications can be returned to the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Attention: Earthworks, 1264 Meldrum, Detroit, MI 48207.

Are you interested in bringing youth into your garden or adding a garden to your youth program? We support gardeners in Detroit, Highland Park, and Hamtramck with workshops, program supplies and curriculum. For more information about how to get involved or to request copies of specific lessons, please contact us at earthworks@cskdetroit.org. The workshop series generally begins in February of each year and continues through Fall with four seasonal workshops and some additional gatherings for adults and/or youth. Our Growing Healthy Kids curriculum has been developed and tested over the past five years and we’re happy to share it with you. Click below for samples of our curriculum, including some delicious, healthy snacks:

Youth Farm Stand - 12- to 17-year-olds are engaged in farming, marketing, personal development and learning about our community food system. Participants help in our greenhouse, learn about plant lifecycles, help with our value added products, help harvest and prepare vegetables from our field for market and attend market days with our staff (please see the calendar for a list of market days. We developed the Youth Farm Stand program when we realized that many Growing Healthy Kids participants were in need of more advanced programming and simply needed to have their own older kids group. 2005 was our pilot year, during which we distributed food from our garden and local farmers to more than 780 food stamp eligible adults. Since then we have grown and adapted our program and 2009 will be the first season of our new Youth Farm Stand garden space, entirely planned and managed by the teens. In 2008, we partnered with The Greening of Detroit to establish Youth Growing Detroit, a collection of youth farm stand sites around Detroit, and hosted two Youth Growing Detroit summits for all teens participating in the city in addition to sharing market tables among all the sites during the summer. Youth participants receive stipends for their market work. The program is free to all families, although if you are able to contribute, we suggest a donation of $5 per season, or $15 for the year, per family. Youth Farm Stand is held on Tuesdays 5-7 pm, February through November. Applications can be returned to the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Attention: Earthworks, 1264 Meldrum, Detroit, MI 48207.

Youth Farm Stand is held on Tuesdays 5-7 pm, February through November.  Applications can be returned to the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Attention: Earthworks, 1264 Meldrum, Detroit, MI 48207.

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
Earthworks Urban Farm
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Markets

Earthworks is learning program that is continually growing and changing. Our approach to distributing and marketing our produce is also always changing and growing. We are working to develop effective strategies to build a just food system. We believe all people deserve access to good, healthy, safe food in a way that maximizes community self-determination…but how do we get there?

This year we are trying something new. In partnership with Gleaners Community Food Bank, we launched a training program called Earthworks Agricultural Training (E.A.T.) [ make this a hyper link to the EAT page]. Marketing is one aspect of the training so the interns will be marketing a significant amount of the produce from the Earthworks gardens through the Meldrum Fresh Market (more info below), the Grown in Detroit cooperative (more info below), local farmer’s markets, and possibly some area restaurants. Some of the produce from our gardens will still go into meals at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen as it has for years. Our Youth Farm Stand program will also be at various markets during the growing season.

Meldrum Fresh Market
The Meldrum Fresh Market (MFM) features Earthworks certified organic produce and products, such as our honey and jams. The MFM also regularly features a wide variety of conventionally grown fruits and vegetables from Michigan and beyond provided by the Field of Our Dreams mobile market project. By partnering to offer conventionally raised fruits and vegetables, we are able to offer many of the products people at the soup kitchen are familiar with and have low access to. By having our sustainably raised produce at the same market, we are able to begin conversations about eating in season, and the transformative power for ourselves and our communities that lies in growing, knowing, and controlling our own food supply.

Meldrum Fresh Market takes place every Thursday during the soup kitchen’s lunch hours of 11am to 1pm and runs from June 3 through end of October. The market location is at the Earthworks garage at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen at 1264 Meldrum, Detroit 48207. All are welcome. Consider coming for lunch at the soup kitchen and doing some shopping! Bridge Cards, Project Fresh coupons, and cash are welcomed forms of payment.

Please note the pricing structure used at this market is intended to make the produce accessible to our immediate neighbors and guests of the soup kitchen. The pricing structure is not designed to cover our costs. If you are able, we thank you for making a donation to support our being able to provide this service.

Youth Farm Stand Markets

"Grown in Detroit"
We support "Grown in Detroit" markets, a program of the Garden Resource Program Collaborative, at farmers markets throughout Detroit. "Grown in Detroit" is produce that has been grown in family gardens, community gardens and urban farms in Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck. Please see the Garden Resource Program Collaborative calendar to learn where and when you can purchase or eat Grown in Detroit produce!

WIC (Women, Infant, and Children) Project Fresh Market at CHASS

2010 will be our seventh year of working to provide Michigan-grown produce to WIC clients through the Project Fresh. While we no longer sell our Earthworks produce at the WIC health clinics, we continue to coordinate with other vendors and farmers to ensure the availability of Michigan grown produce for Project Fresh clients. Project Fresh (Michigan's Farmer's Market Nutrition Program) coupons are distributed at this clinic to eligible women with children. These coupons can only be used for Michigan grown produce. Access to locally grown fruits and vegetables in Detroit is very limited (but improving), which makes it difficult for clients to use these coupons. We work to make it easier clients to use their coupons by bringing the produce to the clinic where the coupons are distributed.

Visit the Project Fresh Web Site to learn more.

"Grown in Detroit"
We support "Grown in Detroit" markets, a program of the Garden Resource Program Collaborative, at farmers markets throughout Detroit. "Grown in Detroit" is produce that has been grown in family gardens, community gardens and urban farms in Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck. Please see the Garden Resource Program Collaborative calendar for when and where you can support Grown in Detroit.

Solanus Center
Located in the same Detroit block as the Earthworks gardens and the Meldrum Capuchin Soup Kitchen is another Capuchin ministry, the Solanus Casey Center . During specific Wednesday healing services, Earthworks' will be stationed at the Mt. Elliott entrance to the Solanus Center. Contact us for 2010 dates.

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
Earthworks Urban Farm
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Outreach

How urban agriculture relates to a soup kitchen.

Urban agriculture programs hold immense potential to be a vital part of a growing movement to bring fresh, nutritious, local food to urban residents. With our farm project, we hope to expand on the work of our parent organization, the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in its mission of feeding the hungry. The Capuchin Soup Kitchen has been serving the hungry since 1928 and provides thousands of meals and food baskets daily to Detroiters in need. Because so many Detroit families have been burdened with chronic poverty, many of the people served at the Soup Kitchen's facilities are families who have been in need for several decades. Addressing the roots of food system injustice is a crucial part of empowering our guests and neighbors to take action against poverty and hunger. We believe that a working farm is an ideal setting for modeling a socially just response to hunger.

Social justice in the food system.
Our "social justice" approach to food is rooted in a theory of community food security. Community food security is the ability of all community residents to obtain safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice. We partner with many other organizations around Detroit to participate in a comprehensive approach to many of the harms affecting our society and environment due to an unsustainable and unjust food system. (More information about community food security can be found at www.foodsecurity.org) As such, it is encouraging to see the growing numbers of citizens choosing to explore and support alternative models of food production. More information about food justice is available on our food justice page.

Our outreach actions.
Our outreach efforts support those who are looking for more information about the alternatives.

  • We host monthly Food Justice Potlucks at the soup kitchen to share a meal and dialogue about issues in our food system.
  • We work with guests of the Soup Kitchen to record their feedback about food-related policy changes and realize their ideas for making our neighborhood more food secure.
  • We table at fairs and festivals to share with the community about Earthworks' mission and actions.
  • We co-teach classes on urban community gardening and beekeeping.
  • We welcome visitors during the annual Detroit Garden Tour and youth groups during the school year and summer time.
  • We encourage our co-workers to participate in gardens and buy local foods.
  • We present at various group meetings about the importance of beekeeping and environmentally sustainable agriculture.
  • We involve local kids, and by extension, their families, in our youth programs about nutrition, gardening, and healthy living.

Supporting food security in our own backyard.
Earthworks volunteers and participants come from all over the Metro Detroit area to contribute work to the farm or learn skills related to community gardening. Community food security, however, requires that we reach beyond these typical audiences, who already value local food, to include others who may not yet know how their food choices could promote accessibility of high quality produce in their neighborhood. To do so, of course, requires effort. We have gone door to door to talk with our neighbors about opportunities to become involved in gardening and/or Earthworks programming because we know that some need a more direct invitation to visit the garden. We hope our neighborhood open house events will be welcoming occasions where we introduce people to the pleasures and benefits of gardening in Detroit. We are positively hopeful that fostering these type of information sharing and relationship building activities will inspire our community to make changes toward building a more just food system.

Additionally, we take cues from our Soup Kitchen guests (many of whom exist within the ranks of Detroit's hungry and under-fed) as we strive to demonstrate the Capuchin values for social engagement with people in need, by sharing meals and conversations with those we feed. Thus, we are in a unique position to respond to their concerns, ideas, and aspirations and develop our programming goals around their needs. In Summer 2008, Soup Kitchen guests and the Earthworks staff began to work regularly together in our gardens and greenhouses and formed ideas about how to positively impact our neighborhood to be more food secure. We will continue to work with them to implement their ideas which include operating a mobile market to distribute fresh foods to the elderly in the neighborhood and building enabling gardens at senior care facilities. We envision this as an opportunity to nurture caring relationships, share gardening skills, promote food system literacy, and share thoughts and vision for what Earthworks can be with them.

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
Earthworks Urban Farm
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Apiary

As pollinators, bees are responsible for the majority of the food crops we eat and are therefore an integral part of the Earthworks community. Our 30-hive apiary is housed at locations in our Detroit gardens and at the Capuchin Retreat Center in Washington, Michigan. Our apiary promotes biodiversity in our gardens, increased pollination rates, attracts beneficial insects, and also provides an important venue for educating our volunteers and friends about the importance of honeybees in our society. Children in our youth program also participate in hive maintenance and honey extraction.

Our hives are robust and healthy, bursting with bees and honeycombs. In 2007, we harvested more than 1,400 pounds of honey with the assistance of more than 70 volunteers, who helped us extract, filter and bottle the honey. In 2008, we lost a number of hives over the winter and early spring months and are focusing on keeping our remaining hives strong. We harvested around 900 pounds over three days.

Our honey is considered raw and never expires. It will crystallize if left in a cold area. You can easily de-crystallize your honey by warming it in a hot-water bath or heating it in the microwave (without the metal top).

Honey is for sale year-round from the Gift Shop at the Solanus Casey Center (1820 Mt. Elliott) and from Earthworks’ garage (1264 Meldrum). Honey byproducts, such as beeswax and propolis, are used in our handbalm, which is also available for purchase.

Earthworks is a member of the Southeast Michigan Beekeepers Association and the Michigan Beekeepers Association.

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
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In The News

Breath of Hope
James R. Gaines. Video by Chris Bravo.

Greens and Greenbacks
Larry Gabriel. Gardening was probably the last thing on the minds of most folks around here last Saturday when heavy snow cut fantasies of an early spring as short as the little heat wave that cruised through town a couple of weeks ago.

America’s Top Ten Urban Farms
Natural Home Magazine. Letitia L. Star. March/April 2009. Sustainable urban farms provide fresh, local produce to city dwellers and restaurants. Here are some of our favorites.

The urban prairie: Detroit farms connect people, food.
Marti Benedetti. Crain News Service. August 11, 2008. More than 300 years after it’s founding, a portion of Detroit is returning to its agricultural roots.

Growing Green in Detroit.
Olga Bonfiglio. Christian Science Monitor. August 21, 2008. A Rust Belt city discovers the benefits of urban gardening.

The Emerald City. Michele Owens. O Magazine. April 2008.

Detroit Arcadia. Rebecca Solnitz. Harper's Magazine. July 2007.

Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century
Earthworks is featured in the Stuff: Food and Farming section.

Green Cities. Organic Gardening Magazine. February/March 2008.
...Forbes magazine rated Detroit one of America's dirtiest cities. The flight of industry and residents has left 40,000 vacant lots behind. By joining the forces of the Detroit Agriculture Network, the Greening of Detroit group, and the Earthworks Garden, the Urban Gardening Resource Program is converting once-fallow land into vibrant urban farms to feed and educate residents

Detroit's Urban Garden. Brandon Q. White. The Michigan Messenger. November 2008.
. . . much of Detroit could be said to be in a food desert. An urban agricultural movement is emerging as a solution to the problem. Earth Works, a nonprofit based in Detroit, picks up where grocery stores leave off by empowering residents to grow their own produce.

Urban Gardens Are Detroit's Hope. Elizabeth Wahl.
Article about the 2007 Detroit Urban Garden Tour.

Betsy's Herb Garden Blog. Video of 2007 Detroit Urban Garden Tour. August 2, 2007.

Earth Works Garden. Christopher Thompson. City Life. March 29, 2007.
How often do we stop to think about how much time and work went in to getting the fresh produce on grocery store shelves? To most of us it's as if it appears by magic, but those who grow produce know how just much work goes into farming…

Green Idea in Wayne County. Detroit Free Press. February 28, 2006.
Community gardening grows: Program teaches leadership, how to revitalize lots…

The Secret Life of Urban Bees. Shannon Gittleman. Detroit Free Press. February 2006.
Suburban vistas may tempt some of their human counterparts. But for honeybees, life south of 8 Mile is infinitely sweeter…

Detroit monk toils in soil to feed needy. David Josar. Detroit News. Sept 11, 2005.
Brother Rick Samyn, 49, with his baseball cap and tattooed arms, has turned his love of the environment into a cottage industry in Detroit that provides food for the poor, reuses vacant lots and teaches young and old about gardening and agriculture…

Detroit Urban Agriculture. Laurel Bower Burgmaier. Iowa Public Television July 9, 2004.
Rather than sitting by and doing nothing, many Detroiters have taken up small-scale farming on the now-green spaces…

City Kids and Country Pies. Diane Conners. Great Lake News Service. March 4, 2005.
Up North farmer, downstate friar team up on fresh food…

Co-Lab Studio's Earthworks Greenhouse Project.

Gardens Nurture Neighborhood Pride. Detroit News. September 17, 2002.
Brother Rick Samyn harvests eggplant at Earthworks Garden...

Urban farms take root. Detroit News. March 17, 2007.
Across town, near Mount Elliott Cemetery, the Earth Works Garden has ... The Earth Works Garden on the city's east side is always looking for volunteers. ...

Urban organic garden grows healthy foods, kids. Detroit News. July 18, 2004.
While drug dealers conduct business on nearby corners and a homeless man naps against a building, children in an organic garden yards away pluck blackberries from a bush, plopping the juicy fruit into tin buckets..

Urban Harvest. Jonathan Cunningham, Stacey Malasky. Michigan Citizen. September 6, 2003.
On Aug. 13, over 150 community gardening enthusiasts filled three buses and several cars to caravan through the streets of Detroit, visiting ten urban garden sights for this year's annual Detroit Agriculture Network Garden Tour…

Detroit volunteer dedicated to less fortunate. Detroit News. October 5, 2006.
Marcia Lee, 23, knew early on that she wanted to spend her life helping others. She began volunteering in high school, and while in college facilitated a course on homelessness…

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
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Press Releases


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Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
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Our Mission

Earthworks is a program of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, a human service organization of caring people inspired by the spirit of St. Francis and sponsored by the Capuchins of the Province of St. Joseph and concerned benefactors. Earthworks seeks to promote sustainable agricultural practices, nutrition and care for the Earth. We strive for peace, respect and harmony between Neighbor and Nature.

Earthworks works to restore our connection to the environment and community in keeping with the tradition of our spiritual patron, St. Francis. It is a working study in social justice, as well as in being more connected to the food we eat. This project relies on the gracious donations from supports of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen and of time from volunteers and materials from sponsors. Neighbors and friends of all ages, incomes and faiths join us in our work.

"Earthworks" has two meanings: First, "Earthwork" from a military perspective is an earthen barricade to protect from an advancing attack. The concept of our Earthworks is that it protects the environment and us by showing people how to live in harmony with nature assisting in building relationships of mutual benefit. Second, "Earthworks" reflects the work that the Earth does. In this sense, we value the Earth's work and recognize ourselves as shareholders in the natural economy of energy exchange (goods and services) in this living system.

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
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History of the Earthworks Urban Farm

In 1997, Brother Rick Samyn felt a calling to start a garden at his workplace, the Capuchin Soup Kitchen. The hallmark of the Capuchin Franciscan Family is that of being in relationship with all of Creation. The Capuchin Soup Kitchen's mission to feed the hungry and care for the poor is well known. Together, these two visions formed a need to address the systemic causes of poverty, broken relationships and a wounded Earth. Earthworks was born. The response was overwhelming and positive. Brother Rick began Earthworks on a very small plot of land on the corner of Meldrum and St. Paul. In 1999, the garden expanded onto lots at the new site for the Capuchin Soup Kitchen. The success of the Earthworks expansion was the Soup Kitchen's collaboration with Gleaners Community Food Bank, which had initiated a farming project behind its store front of Beaufait Street and provided the original core group of Earthworks volunteers. The Soup Kitchen and Gleaners worked tirelessly to renovate the land, removing debris and depositing loads and loads of compost. In 2001, after a season of restoration it was time to plant.

In 2001, Earthworks began conversations with the Wayne County Department of Health as to how promote the consumption of fresh vegetables among low income families with children. Project FRESH (for Women Infant and Children (WIC)) is one program the county offers to its WIC clients. Participants receive coupons for fresh, locally grown Michigan produce purchased directly from the farmer. However, poor families often find it difficult to get to famers because of transportation limitations. Earthworks suggested that instead of having families come to the market, have the market come to the families! We began to host weekly markets at local health clinics for cash and Project FRESH sales.

Along with Project FRESH markets, Earthworks expanded its programming by including "value added" products such as canning tomatoes, pickled beets and jams to be sold as promotional items to spread the news about Earthworks. Later that season Earthworks had yet another amazing addition to its programming – honey bees! The bee project grew from humble beginnings with one bee hive donated to the Earthworks project to help in pollination, and the hope of just one sweet crop of honey to its eventual expansion to the Capuchin Retreat Center in Washington, MI and the roof top of Gleaners Community Food Bank, where the apiary grew to over 40 hives! More products were added to the list including honey and Earthworks own beeswax hand balm!

In 2003, Earthworks formed another partnership. This time, we partnered with the Iroquois Avenue Christ Lutheran Church’s WISE Coalition (Working in Support of Enrichment) to establish a youth program, Growing Healthy Kids, focused on nutrition and wholesome activities, including growing, cooking and eating homegrown food. The program has been a huge success in the way it positively impacted the lives of the children and their families. It has opened them up to a new way of being with each other and given them opportunities to explore our relationships with the land that sustains us.

In 2004, Earthworks expanded its work even further by adding a 1,300 square foot greenhouse for the production of vegetable seedlings. Today, Earthworks grows over one hundred thousand seedlings each season, both for our own gardens and for the hundreds of local family, community and school gardens participating in the Garden Resource Program Collaborative.

In 2008, Earthworks shifted most of its food distribution away from markets and into meals at the soup kitchen. Every week during the growing season the soup kitchen serves fresh veggies from the gardens on the block! We still do bring some produce to markets, mostly with our Youth Farm Stand teens. In addition, we initiated a series of monthly evening community potlucks for our neighbors and supporters to discuss topics related to food justice and began a group that meets with guests of the soup kitchen to discuss policy changes related to food and develop programs within our community to increase access to healthy, nutritious food.

Earthworks has always been a labor of love, founded on the Franciscan vision of universal sister and brotherhood of all creation. We hope that this humble effort of love and desire to reconnect ourselves with the natural world we inhabit will remain part of the beacon of hope for all peoples and for all times.

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
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CAPUCHIN

Earthworks is a program of Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit, Michigan. Together, we not only feed Detroit residents, but also strive to improve the food security (or, the ability of all community residents to obtain safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice) for Detroiters. The Capuchin Soup Kitchen is a human service organization of caring and loving people inspired by the spirit of St. Francis and sponsored by the Capuchins of the Province of St. Joseph and concerned benefactors.

The Capuchin Soup Kitchen serves the poor who suffer from the lack of basic human needs: material needs, such as food, clothing, and household necessities; psychological needs, such as motivation, self-esteem, and rehabilitation; and social needs, such as support systems and meaningful relationships.

In order to serve as a positive healing force in the spirits and lives of needy individuals, the Capuchin Soup Kitchen strives to provide encouragement, direction and material assistance to promote growth and wholesome independence with respect and dignity.

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
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Links

Earthworks is not responsible for the content or reliability of any websites linked to from our page nor do we specifically endorse the quality of other program's websites or services. However, some of these programs are sincerely awesome.

Food Security Resources

DETROIT

Capuchin Soup Kitchen
The Capuchin Soup Kitchen has two locations in Detroit and serves 2,000 meals per day between the two kitchens. The Meldrum site hosts Earthworks Urban Farm.

Gleaners Community Food Bank
Gleaners is one of the largest food banks in Southeast Michigan. Gleaners collects, warehouses, repacks and distributes many millions of pounds of food for more 400 local partners. Earthworks farms on Gleaners' land, adjacent to their food warehouse.

SEED Wayne
SEED Wayne is dedicated to building sustainable food systems on the campus of Wayne State University and in Detroit communities.

Detroit Black Community Food Security Network
DBCSFN works to build food security primarily for Detroit’s black community through working to influence public policy, promoting urban agriculture and cooperative buying, and encouraging young people to engage in the food system.

MICHIGAN

The Fair Food Foundation
A Southeast Michigan-based foundation whose mission is to help create equity in access to healthy, fresh, and sustainably-grown food in our most vulnerable urban communities.

NATIONAL

Community Food Security Coalition
The Community Food Security Coalition is a North American organization of social and economic justice, environmental, nutrition, sustainable agriculture, community development, labor, anti-poverty, anti-hunger and other groups

Food First: Institute for Food and Development Policy
Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy was founded in 1975 by Frances Moore Lappe and Joseph Collins. They do research on the root causes of hunger, and publish a wide range of materials used by activists, professors, the media and our members.

Just Food
Detroiters aren't the only ones looking for a just food system. Check out this New York organization.

Detroit Resources

Avalon International Breads
Avalon has been a long time community advocate for local foods and sustainable economies.  Earthworks has picked up Avalon’s compostables for years.  Visit Avalon’s bakery near Wayne State University, now open 7 days a week.

Back Alley Bikes
A community bike shop. Free/low-cost classes and bike repair daily in the Cass Corridor.

Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership
Detroit activist Grace Lee Boggs inspires us all to re-envision ourselves as active citizens and learners.

Detroit Evolution Lab
A unique space in Detroit's Eastern Market dedicated to vegan and raw food, yoga, and bodywork.

Eastern Market
The largest historic public market district in the United States. A huge market with produce from Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Canada, and beyond. Food stores and restaurants surround the vendor sheds.

Great Lakes Bioneers Conference
The internationally acclaimed conference combining the visionary and the practical comes to Detroit.

Model D
Your source for Detroit-area development news. You won't regret signing up for their weekly news digest.

Recyclean
Drop off your recycling here.

Sustainable Detroit
Sustainable Detroit is a loosely assembled group of people and organizations from the city and the 'burbs committed to promoting a sustainable Detroit region.

Agriculture and Food Resources

DETROIT

American Indian Health and Family Services
American Indian Health and Family Services promotes the survival of Native American families and individuals by providing quality health care, supporting the healing process, and encouraging, educating, and empowering their clients to seek and maintain wellness and enhance their quality of life. The host a garden at their center.

Black Farmers' Association
The NBFA has been involved in advocacy, land retention, and rural development for black and other small farmers throughout the country since 1995. The organizations mission is to eliminate and reverse the causes of land loss by limited resources and socially/economically disadvantaged farmers while creating opportunities for small farmers to participate in the mainstream economy.

Catherine Ferguson Academy
Catherine Ferguson Academy is a public high school in Detroit that serves teens that are pregnant or have children. It also has a comprehensive science program that includes an urban farm with a barn, goats, and vegetables.

Detroit Agriculture Network
The Detroit Agriculture Network promotes urban food security, good nutrition, healthy land and communities.

4-H
The Michigan 4-H Foundation supports Michigan 4-H Youth Development to prepare youth from all segments of society for meaningful and productive lives. The Detroit chapter hosts a youth garden.

Garden Resource Program
The Garden Resource Program is a collaborative effort brought to you by the Detroit Agriculture Network, The Greening of Detroit, Capuchin Soup Kitchen's Earthworks Garden and Michigan State University Extension. They host the nine-week Urban Roots community gardening course designed to foster community gardening leaders through horticulture and community organizing training.

The Greening of Detroit
The Greening of Detroit aims to improve the quality of life in Detroit by guiding and inspiring the reforestation of Detroit's neighborhoods, boulevards and parks through tree planting projects and educational programs.

Grown in Detroit
Grown in Detroit fruits and vegetables are grown by families and youth in community gardens and urban farms throughout Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck. Find them at your neighborhood farmers market and Eastern Market.

MICHIGAN

Food Systems Economic Partnership
Looking to buy directly from a farmer in Southeast Michigan? Visit the FSEP page to view their map of local food resources. FSEP provides research, education and outreach, with urban and rural partnerships, resulting in agricultural development opportunities, sustainable communities and healthy local economies.

Michigan Farmers' Market Association
A resource for consumers, growers and market managers in Michigan.

Michigan Organic Food and Farm Alliance
MOFFA teaches eaters to value and choose organically grown food produced in their own locales.

Michigan State University Extension
Contact an Extension representative with questions about Michigan agriculture, environment and your home garden.

Michigan State University Student Organic Farm
The Michigan State University's Student Organic Farm offers an organic farming certification program.

Midwest Permaculture
What to learn more about permaculture and live in the Midwest? Look no further.

NATIONAL

Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural America
Boring name for one of the best sites for organic and sustainable agriculture; has the best nationwide list of internships in organic farming.

Capuchin Justice, Peace & Ecology
Since Francis' day his followers have always sought to serve the marginalized and outcasts of their times. Social justice ministry is one way of continuing this Franciscan tradition.

City Farmer
Your one-stop source for urban agriculture information. Plenty of content.

Food Routes
Food Routes is a national nonprofit organization that provides communications tools, technical support, networking and information resources to organizations nationwide that are working to rebuild local, community-based food systems.

Life Cycles Food Calculator
The Life Cycles Food Calculator determines the distance and amount of green house gases saved if a certain food product is bought locally as opposed to imported.

Master Gardeners
Training and volunteering program for green thumbs, or those who want to develop a green thumb.

The New Farm
From our friends at the Rodale Institute, updates on all sorts of organic issues.

Plants For A Future
Most of us only eat plants from 30 species. Maybe it's about time we expand it a little.

Sustainable Table
The Sustainable Table celebrates the sustainable food movement, educates consumers on food-related issues, and works to build community through food.

Urban Agriculture Programs

Gateway Greening
Gateway Greening has been working in St. Louis, MO since 1984, focusing on community development through community gardening.

Growing Home
Growing Home's mission is to provide job training and create employment opportunities for homeless and low-income people in Chicago, IL within the context of a non-profit organic agriculture business.

Growing Power
Growing Power is a Milwaukee, WI and Chicago, IL based farm project, inspiring communities to build sustainable food systems that are equitable and ecologically sound, creating a just world, one food-secure community at a time.

Homeless Garden Project
This garden provides homeless men and women job training and transitional employment by teaching traditional organic growing methods in Santa Cruz, CA.

Nuestras Raices
Nuestras Raíces is a grass-roots organization that promotes economic, human and community development in Holyoke, Massachusetts through projects relating to food, agriculture and the environment.

The Food Project
The Food Project's goal is a sustainable, local food systems that bridge race, class, age, and more to ensure food security for all. They are located in the Boston, MA area and have a well developed youth farming program.

People's Grocery
People's Grocery, of Oakland, CA, promotes healthy eating through education, peer mentoring, cooking classes, and community potlucks.

Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
Earthworks Urban Farm
Contact Us  |  Capuchin Soup Kitchen

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Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
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Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
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Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
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Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com
Earthworks Urban Farm
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Spring Summer Fall Winter Youth
copyright ©Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit., 2008, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Molly McCullagh    website by jeffdunn.com