Here's an announcement from the Detroit Agriculture Network regarding their annual Detroit urban garden and farm tour. This is a wonderful event and we encourage you to register early if you are interested in participating. This tour fills up early each year!
Motown to Growtown: Detroit’s New Food System Grows
While foreclosures, unemployment, and rising food and energy prices affect the lives of many Americans, thousands of Detroiters are taking control of their health and the health of their city by building a new food system from the ground up. This new food economy provides more equitable access to fresh, chemical-free food, uses less land, and is more accessible for consumers than conventional models. On Wednesday, August 5th, we invite you to view this new urban food landscape at the 12th Annual Detroit Agriculture Network Tour of Urban Gardens and Farms.
This year’s tour will highlight a selection of prosperous, innovative, and visually stunning gardens and farms that are contributing to the new food system through bio-intensive urban agriculture and commerce between local restaurants and farmer’s markets. The Garden Resource Program Collaborative works to support the emergence of a new, sustainable food system in Detroit through a network of more than 517 backyard gardens, 244 community gardens, and 46 school gardens. The GRPC facilitates resources, education, and training of urban gardeners, farmers, and community leaders through a variety of programming. Last year’s sell-out tour was attended by over 500 people from across the region. In order to accommodate the growing number of participants, this year’s tour will feature four simultaneous routes. The bus tours will visit east-side, west-side, and central city gardens, while the bicycle tour will weave through gardens located in the Cass Corridor, Woodbridge, and Greater Corktown.
All tours will leave from Catherine Ferguson Academy located at 2750 Selden in Detroit. Sign-in begins at 5:00pm and tours will leave at 6:00pm sharp. After the tour, locally-grown food and refreshments prepared by local chefs will provide you with a taste of Detroit’s new food system. Registration is now open and early registration is strongly recommended. You can register by contacting Ashley Atkinson at 313-237-8736 or via email at aatkinso@umich.edu. When registering, please give the name of every person attending the tour. The fee for the tours is a sliding scale of $1 - $20 to offset costs and help grow Detroit’s agricultural movement.
Detroit Agriculture Network’s mission is to promote and foster urban agriculture and the sustainable use and appreciation of urban natural resources. The Detroit Agriculture Network, Earthworks Urban Farm/Capuchin Soup Kitchen, The Greening of Detroit, and Michigan State University Extension work collaboratively to support community, school, and family gardens in Detroit, Highland Park, and Hamtramck.
To participate in the Garden Resource Program, learn more about urban gardening programs in the city, or to make a tax-deductible contribution, visit www.detroitagriculture.org or contact the Garden Resource Program Collaborative at 313-237-8736.
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