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Issue No. 7
July 2012
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In The News! 
 
Groundwork Somerville is featured on the City of Somerville's Urban Agriculture Blog this week. Take a look at our entry, and at other posts with tips on keeping your container gardens going in the hot summer months:
somervilleurbanag.tumblr.com   
Upcoming Events and Meetings

 Somerville Mobile Market, Saturdays
Various Sites
Urban Composting Workshop - July 10, 5:30
Somerville Community Growing Center, 22 Vinal Ave.
 Somerville Permaculture Tour - July 13, 10:30am
290 Washington St., Somerville, MA
 Union Square Farmers Market - July 14, 28, Aug 11, 25
1 Union Square, Somerville, MA
Water Chestnut Handpull - July 14, 9am
2151 Mystic Valley Pkwy, Medford, MA
FREE Kids Workshops - July 17, 24, 31, 11am
West Branch Library - 40 College Ave.

FREE Kids Workshops - July 17, 24, 31, 4pm
Central Branch Library - 79 Highland Ave.

 Urban Chicken Keeping - July 24, 6pm
21 Properzi Way, Suite O
Bolder, Brighter Broadway - July 28, 12pm 
165 Broadway, Somerville, MA

Free Library Workshops - August 2, 9, 16, 3:30pm
East Branch Library - 115 Broadway
Water Chestnut Handpull - August 4, 9am
2151 Mystic Valley Pkwy, Medford, MA
End of Summer Bash - August 28, 12-8pm
Flatbread, 45 Day St.  
 
Farmers Markets in Full Swing

Groundwork Somerville is coming to a Farmers Market near you! All summer long, our Green Team, staff and volunteers will be at the Union Square Farmers Market and the Somerville Fruit and Vegetable Bus with the "localest" produce in the city.

The Union Square Market (Saturdays, 9am-1pm) is a full-on outing for families of all ages with vendors, free samples, and live music. Groundwork is there on July 14, 28, August 11 and 25 selling fresh food from the South Street Farm and our Schoolyard Gardens; Somerville Maple Syrup from this past winter's harvest; and with composting demonstrations on demand. We find that kids particularly enjoy the chance to see and pet some of our red wiggler worms. Come see us at the west end of the square.

The Somerville Mobile Market is also on Saturday at 3 different sites throughout the day. This is the place to go to get produce, herbs, fruits and syrup from Enterprise Farms and Groundwork Somerville at very affordable prices. These are brand new sites, and we hope to get a lot people to take advantage of this new service provided by Shape Up Somerville. Crowds are low, so get in and get out with what you need in record time. Times and locations are:

 

10am - 12pm Mystic Housing Development by the playground
1pm - 3pm Glen Park, right in front of the Capuano School
4pm - 6pm Clarendon Hill Housing (NOT CLARENDON HILL TOWERS) right off Powderhouse Blvd behind the manager's building off of the main parking lot.

 

Come out and see us all summer and say hello, even if you are stocked up on everything! 


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Chickens, Worms and Other Urban Livestock    

 

Chicken workshop pic
Are you a city-dweller thinking about pets, but looking for something a little more exotic than your typical dog/cat/fish situation? Why not consider some "urban livestock" like chickens or red wiggler worms? Not only are they pleasant company and easy to care for, but unlike a typical "pet", they'll actually help you out around the house, and maybe even save you some money! Chickens will lay eggs for your breakfast table and baking experiments, as well as eat lots of kitchen scraps, while red wigglers will turn your organic waste into nutritious fertilizer for your porch, container or backyard garden. Groundwork Somerville is excited to offer a number of great workshops this summer in collaboration with several experts and organizations working in these fields. Terry Golson (pictured above) will be sharing her knowledge of backyard birds on July 24th as part of a Groundwork Somerville/Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) workshop. Our own Lee Dwyer will be training people how to keep and care for your own Red Wigglers on July 10th and other times throughout the summer (such as Somerville's ArtBeat and Union Square Farmers Markets). As always, you can come by the Groundwork Somerville offices anytime during the week to get a one-on-one tutorial and pick up your own Red Wiggler starter pack.

For more information about these, or any of our other summer events, drop us an email at [email protected], or call us at 617-628-9988. See you out there!


 

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Watering Heroes and Volunteers Needed

We have a number of opportunities/needs to help care for our school yard gardens and our new urban agriculture project, the South Street Farm.


East Somerville:
We could use watering assistance at the Edgerly School in East Somerville. This would need to be mid-day Monday-Friday as our water access is in the Edgerly building.  Any day of the week other than Tuesday or Wednesday would be ideal for this.
Argenziano School/Union Square:
We could use help watering at the Argenziano School Garden (outside of Union Square) one or two days a week, including the weekends.  Water access is easy by a hose outside the building. 
South Street Farm:
We also have a new garden project called the South Street Farm that we could use some assistance keeping hydrated this summer.  It is located at 100 South St (behind Twin City Plaza by the Taza Chocolate Factory.)  We could use watering assistance there on Mondays, Wednesday evenings, Fridays, and weekends.

If you are interested in any of these opportunities, please email Adam at
[email protected] with the location and days/times that you are interested in.

 


There are many ways to join the Groundwork Somerville team - attend ourevents,volunteer,donate, buy from our Farmer's Market booth,"like" us on Facebook, apply for a job or internship, or simply receive and read our newsletters.  Thanks for your support and participation.

21 Properzi Way, Suite O
Somerville, Massachusetts 02143