The Fresh Press: May 2021

From left to right: Shantasia, Aiymere, Justin, Darion, Carla, Makai, Shimya, Ramona, Anaya, Meriem

We hope everyone had an amazing April! We had a full Earth Month filled with workshops, farm tours, dialogues, and more! It was definitely a celebration of the Earth and the work we're doing every day to better the community we live in.

We were able to attend the Green & Equitable Recovery Forum co-hosted by Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried and Mayor Kriseman. It was a great discussion from Mayors across the state and country. We even received an Earth Day Proclamation as well from the Commissioner (pictured above)!

We held our A Planet for the Future dialogue on Earth Day with the FL Food Policy Council Chair, Erica Hall, and Youth Farm Collaboration Manager, Carla Bristol discussing the environmental impact on communities and what we can do moving forward. Find the video here.

Our Earth Celebration was an amazing day thanks to our partnerships with Chart 411, 360 Eats, Suncoast Sierra Club, Forward Pinellas, St. Pete Bike Co-Op, Gadgets for Good, NOMAD Art Bus, and our drummers Malik & Ed Burrows.

Thank you to everyone who showed up. Alan Brock (Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services), Ken Welch, Pastor Pulley, Council Member Brandi Gabbard, Erica Hall (Florida Food Policy Council), Rob Greenfield, Pinellas Education Foundation, and Harold Bryant Jr (Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg). We appreciate your support!

We picked our first harvest that day and had it available for attendees to take home on a donation-based model. We still have more veggies we are harvesting weekly! We have peppers, okra, eggplants, tomatoes, and more available. Come out to the farm Mondays to Friday from 4pm - 6pm to pick up.

Pinellas Education Foundation team came to volunteer!

Gibbs Gladiators Growing for Good!

We also continue to hold farm tours, one such tour was with the Gladiators Growing for Good from Gibbs High School. Thanks to Anna Scott, we were able to have a great time planting seeds, playing music, and water plants together.

This week is International Compost Awareness Week! We started our compost journey here on the farm early this year and have so far diverted and composted 1600+ pounds of food. We are looking forward to when our compost breaks down to what we call black gold. We also have a vermicompost setup, where we use worms to compost food scraps. Thanks to the donation of a cast iron tub and 4lbs of worms from our volunteer Ash, we are on the way to having rich worm castings.

Check out opportunities to grow with us below or come out to the farm and learn more!

Farm Updates!

Planted watermelon and cantaloupe seeds in remaining beds
Donation of a bike rack for people to park and lock their bikes
Planted a Starfruit tree that was donated to us by Noble Nectar Apiaries
Planted an Avocado tree (Beauty) donated by CM Brandi Gabbard
Expanded our compost bins with 8 additional pallet bins built
Three group farm tours
40+ participants in our Spring Workshops at the Farm
400+ pounds of food rescued and composted in April
Started our vermicompost with 4lbs of worms in our cast iron tub

Applications Open for Summer 2021!

We're opening enrollment for Summer Interns to apply!

This is an 8-week internship starting June 14th and will be weekday mornings and every other Saturday. Find more information on our website.

Application here!

Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival

We'll be at the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival for our 2nd year!

Join us on May 15th from 10am to 2pm. The Festival will be located on the intersection of 9th Ave S. and 22nd Street.

We had so much fun last year, and can't wait to interact with all of you who come out and support such a great festival. It's an experience the entire family will enjoy!

Website

Youth Articles in The Weekly Challenger

Check out our Youth Ambassadors' articles in The Weekly Challenger! Previous articles can be read on our website or on The Weekly Challenger's "Voices of our Youth" section.