OCAF Hosts 350 Event

 

On Saturday, October 24, 2009, OCAF hosted a 350 event at the Niederkorn Library in Port Washington to draw attention to the issues of climate change.

 

OCAF Visits Growing Power

Recently a group of OCAF members and friends toured Milwaukee’s Growing Power community garden. Some had visited the facility numerous times, while others were treated to their first look at this amazing operation tucked away in a modest neighborhood on Milwaukee’s northwest side.

From Growing Power’s website, www.growingpower.org:

“Growing Power, Inc, is a non-profit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds and the environment in which they live by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food”.  Growing Power seeks to provide “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”

During our tour we moved from one greenhouse to the next where we witnessed an impressive collection of systems designed to raise food and fish by sustainable means. Throughout the six greenhouses we saw thousands of flats and pots of herbs, salad mix, and sprouts suspended above six aquaponic systems raising Tilapia.

Aquaponics is a method in which plants and fish are grown together in a re-circulating system.  The water from the fish tanks is pumped up into a gravel bed, filtered by gravity, dripped over the plants, and back into the tanks. In the multi-step process ammonia from the fish waste is removed, the plants are fertilized, and the treated water is returned to the tanks.

A second system that we encountered was the composting operation. Recycled food waste, farm waste, brewery waste, newspaper, and coffee grinds from local businesses are delivered to Growing Power for use in creating compost for the facility. Vermiculture (intensive composting in boxes with worms) creates an incredibly rich and sustainable product for use in the raised planting beds.

As the last farm operating within the Milwaukee city limits, Growing Power raises livestock as well. Outside we visited goats, rabbits, turkeys, laying hens, and ducks.

The facility was busy with volunteers tending to the plants and animals, working in various phases of composting, and selling goods in the small storefront. Growing Power offers workshops for  agencies, educational institutions, and community members throughout the county who wish to learn Community Food System methods and bring local food production to their own neighborhoods, schools, institutions, and businesses.

To set up or participate in a tour of Growing Power, contact them at 414.527.1546 or email karen@growingpower.org.

Click HERE to view photos of the Growing Power tour.