Starting Your Urban Farm/Garden (AGR-311)

ECO City Farms offers a variety of hands-on training opportunities to learn about urban agriculture throughout the year in partnership with Prince George's Community College.

This course is designed for the home gardener or community garden member, and to a smaller extent, the container gardener. We apply principles of efficiency from our "market gardening" courses to the personal scale to help you produce a healthy and consistent abundance of vegetables in you plot. 

We will walk and work through the Edmonston Urban Farm (no PowerPoint!), combining lecture and discussion with hands-on experience. This course is a great complement to AGR-320, Composting for Urban Agriculture, as we discuss additional strategies for fertile soil building, crop rotation and cover crops, pests and disease management, and other related maintenance topics.

Cost: $165

Visit our Upcoming Classes page to learn more about our courses and how to register.

Community Forklift Events

Once again, we are teaming up with our partners at Community Forklift to offer cool events! We have one last event this month.

Coldframe & Germination Chamber Building Workshop

Date: Saturday, May 30 @ 1pm

Location: Community Forklift 4671 Tanglewood Drive, Edmonston, MD 20781

Join Farmer Colin to learn how to build cold frames, germination chambers, and other season extension structures you can replicate at your own home.

Register on Eventbrite 

Intern Wanted for Summer Youth Program

For the past three years ECO has conducted a summer youth program. Over the summer, young people will acquire skills and knowledge about a sustainable food system through urban farming, composting, nutrition education, and healthy living. They will help build the youth garden at the Bladensburg Farm, cook (and eat) delicious food, and find their own voices through photography, poetry and art. Through field trips, they will explore food and health in Prince George's County.

The program will meet weekdays (M-F) from 8:30am to 2:30pm starting June 29 and ending August 7.

There are currently two possible positions: (1) Interning with the Program Coordinator and (2) Interning with the Farm Educator.

CLICK HERE to learn more about this internship and how to apply.

Hands-on Composting Experience at ECO

Composting is a science and an art. Come out to ECO City Farms at Edmonston to learn first-hand how ECO does on-site hot composting! Work alongside our Senior Technical Advisor and Master Composter, Benny Erez, and Bobby Bell, Coordinator and Co-host of the Neighborhood Soil Reboulders. We are seeking eager and hard working volunteers to be involved with the process, no composting experience necessary. 

Date: Every Monday

Time: 10am to 3pm

Location: 4913 Crittenden Street Edmonston, MD 20781

Contact Benny Erez, benny@ecocityfarms.org, or Bobby Bell, bbell@islr.org, if you're interested in being involved. 

Sade's Green Smoothie Recipe

Number of servings: 2 full

Preparation time: 5-15 mins.

Ingredients

• 1 cup coconut water (or other liquid of your choice: non-dairy milk, unsweetened natural juice, etc.)
• 1-2 bunch(es) of leafy greens (of your choice)
• ?-1 cup of fresh or frozen fruit (your choice: ? a banana, berries, mango, pineapple, etc.)
• 1 tbsp of protein (of your choice: hemp seeds, chia seeds, nuts, etc.)
• (Optional) 1 tbsp Minerals of your choice: spirulina, chlorophyll, moringa, etc.
• (Optional) 1 tbsp Spices of your choice: vanilla bean or extract, cinnamon, cardamom, etc.

Instructions

1. Wash and hand rip your greens. Set aside.
2. Wash and peel fruit as needed. Set aside.
3. Decide and gather your added flavors and proteins.
4. To assemble smoothie- Always pour your liquid in the blend first to help blend your smoothie more easily.
5. Next add your greens.
6. Then add your fruit on top of the greens.
7. Pour on your spices and protein.
8. Blend until smooth (or a consistency you like)
9. Pour, enjoy and be well! 

Did you know?

   Leafy greens should be considered the 6th "food group" because we need to incorporate more of them into our daily intake. Leafy greens, particularly eaten raw, give us lots of vitamins and nutrients such as Vitamin A,C,E and K. There are so many ways to get more leafy greens into your diet such as adding them to soups, sandwiches, stews, salads, and of course smoothies. Put them in any and everything you can think of! 

    Dark leafy greens are best; those include kale, bok choy, collard greens, mustard greens, spinach and Swiss chard. According to the Brain Balance Center, "Green foods are crucial to our health for a plethora of reasons including their role in strengthening the immune system, cancer prevention, improved blood circulation, blood purification, lowering cholesterol, promotion of healthy intestinal flora, increased energy, detoxification through improved liver, gall bladder functions, kidney function, and even clearing congestion." 

Do your best to eat leafy greens in some form everyday!     Source

Open Volunteer Hours

Come one, come all and get your hands dirty and help us run our farms! Perfect way to take advantage of the arrival of spring and warmer temps.

Read more info on volunteering and what to expect.  Contact Kayla, our volunteer coordinator, for more information: kayla@ecocityfarms.org. Find out how to get to our farms: maps and directions 

> Bladensburg Farm: Volunteer hours are on 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month. 

***Volunteer day Saturday, May 16 has been moved to the Bladensburg Farm*** 

***Volunteer day Saturday, May 23 at the Bladensburg Farm is cancelled for Memorial Day weekend. It is rescheduled for Saturday, May 30.*** 

Farmers Market

The Riverdale Park Farmers Market has come alive with the warmer weather. Enjoy the live music and conversation. Come visit our stand and chat with farmer Deborah about what's in season and share your yummy recipes with Amanda.