A New Look for FarmCity.US Website

 General  1 Response »
Mar 142011
 

After using a very stripped down site appearance for the last 9 months — essentially announcing events — we felt the need to bring some order and organization to the many diverse projects now being organized under the FarmCity.US banner.

For instance, we now have a special home for Chautauqua, our new event series sparking populist education that aims to create community through food and vice versa — hosted by 61 Local Public House.

We wanted to make sure that members of the Reading Circle could find out next month’s book title without too much trouble.

The Urban Farm Business Initiative now has a place to call its own and it will be built out even more over the next few weeks.

And, we are linked more prominently to our partner-project sites at Slow Money NYC Meetup, Brooklyn Food Coalition and TheGreenest.Net blog.

In short, the “Farm City Forum” is going to really help organize all the discussions, events and information related to FarmCity.US.

Stay tuned for even more functionality as we install interactive calendars and member message boards to track peer-to-peer communications for projects such FC Reading Circle, Urban Farm Business Initiative and more.

Please feel free to leave a comment to let me know how the new look, feel and organization is working for you.  We are always open to making improvements.  Thanks

Derek and FarmCity.US Team

 Posted by at 2:54 pm

Reading Circle Meets with Author Michele Owens

 Chautauqua  Comments Off
Mar 102011
 

About Farm City Reading Circle

On February 22, 2011, Farm City Reading Circle kicked off the Chautauqua Assemblies at 61 Local with a discussion with author Michele Owens about her new book: Grow the Good Life: Why a Vegetable Garden Will Make You Happy, Healthy, Wealthy and Wise (Rodale 2011).

Kerry Trueman met Michele at the NOFA-NY conference and found out that her book was coming out on February 15, 2011. Timely! Thanks for Kerry’s inquiries and the generosity of Rodale Press, the club was able to get advance copies. And then, we contacted Michele Owens and she agreed to join our discussion.  That was a pretty exciting way to start the Reading Circle.  All told, we had about fifteen people huddled around one of the long tables in the bar.

The discussion was lively and thoughtful. We highly recommend Owen’s book. We agree with Rodale’s assessment: A lively, passionate argument for the backyard vegetable garden, drawing on science, history, and stories from the author’s garden.

Fun fact: Owens used to be a politcal speechwriter.
To get your inquisitive juices flowing, please check out this interview of the author by her Publisher Maria Rodale: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-rodale/a-visit-to-my-kitchen-mic_b_824553.html

 Posted by at 6:46 pm

Welcome to Farm City Forum

 General  Comments Off
Dec 102010
 

Farm City seeks to promote the growth of urban agriculture through social, cultural and financial investment.

Farm City represents a new paradigm of restorative economics and nurture capital inspired by Slow Money and a desire for creative positive environmental activism.

 Posted by at 8:52 pm

World’s Fair at FEAST Brooklyn

 New Projects  Comments Off
Nov 132010
 

Out of a slew proposals, FarmCity.US was selected to be presented at FEAST.

FEAST Brooklyn
Saturday November 13, 2010
5:00-8:00 pm

Location:
Church of the Messiah
129 Russell street
 Brooklyn NY

FarmCity.US invites you to attend FEAST to help us snag a possible $1,000 towards our new concept, Urban Agriculture Exposition and World’s Fair, a proposed exhibition of hands-on demonstrations by artists and agrarians in special “miniature pavillions”– intimate spaces in which ideas, intentions and skills can be shared — from pickling to planting techniques.

Your FEAST ticket buys you a curator ballot, a delicious meal, and beer lovingly donated by Brooklyn Brewery.  Our resident in-house cooks, Molly & David, will be serving up some delicious bites. August 2010 FEAST grantee viBeSongMakers will be upstairs in the church sanctuary. Come see your funding dollars at work! Additionally, Brooklyn’s Yoni Gordon will be performing!

FEAST (Funding Emerging Art and Sustainable Tactics) is a recurring public dinner designed to use community-driven financial support to democratically fund new and emerging art makers. At each FEAST, participants pay a sliding-scale entrance fee for which they receive a supper and a ballot.

Diners vote on a variety of artist projects and at the end of the night, the project with the most votes is awarded funds to produce the project. The work is then presented at the following FEAST. Since 2009, FEAST Brooklyn has produced 8 dinners, funded 20 projects and raised $12,756. Meanwhile, similar models have emerged all over the country, building a network of organizations committed to rethinking how art is financed and experienced communally.

Our “Urban Agriculture Expo” would be a modeled on World’s Fair’s of yore — featuring farmy innovations, technologic spectacles, delectable foodstuffs and inspiring performances.  At the most basic level, participants would wander among pavilions linked by a unifying design. Presentations would include pragmatic offerings on such city farming techniques as beekeeping or mushroom innoculation alongside speculative projects such as or artistic interpretations, like S.O.S. Mobile Classroom by Tattfoo Tan.  By juxtaposing the mundane with the sublime, we hope to inspire participants to see creativity and activism as essential elements in the sustainable growth of urban agriculture.  FarmCity.US is an action-research project seeking to promote new visions for growing urban agriculture.

Alert your friends! Tickets are currently on sale at Brooklyn Kitchen and Marlow & Sons. Pending all those tickets aren’t sold (they won’t)— there will be tickets available at the door.

Please come and support FarmCity.US!  Thanks

twitter http://twitter.com/FEAST_Brooklyn

Invite friends via Facebook: http://on.fb.me/cWC2B5

Details on location, etc are at http://feastinbklyn.org

 Posted by at 1:13 pm
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