Support this work before December 3

Garden Food for Food Shelves = Training for Urban Farmers

I ain't got no shame when it comes to the awesome work that Dina & I have been doing as Harvest Moon Backyard Farmers. We're pioneering innovative new services for Twin Citians, yo! The people want food growing in their yards & we are bringing it to them!

Not only that, we've been making sure that folks who can't always afford fresh, organic food or garden coaches can have these things too. (In fact, we've got a funding campaign going on now through December 2. More on that below....)

The Ali family helping me plan beans for them

By partnering with Habitat for Humanity, we've been given the awesome opportunity to work with their homeowners on learning garden skills and growing their own vegetables in their own yards. My favorite family this year was the Ali family. They are immigrants from Somalia overflowing with enthusiasm for their new garden projects. Mahdi (the dad) is so stoked on his gardens that he's got plans to turn the whole yard over to food production - veggies, fruit trees, the works. Warms the heart!

We've also been providing produce to various local food shelves and hot meal programs. This summer we teamed up with two urban farming students from the Permaculture Research Institute Cold Climate to grow about 200 lbs of healthy produce for the Division of Indian Labor's food shelf & The Aliveness Project's hot meal program, which serves folks diagnosed with HIV & AIDS.

Urban farmer grad, Anna, with her garden

And we want to do it all again! So help us out! Back us on Kickstarter. "What is Kickstarter?", you ask. Why it's an easy-to-use & fun website through which creative projects can get funded. When you back us on Kickstarter, you can sign up to receive one of our super cool rewards including garden coaching services, a veggie garden kit, pretty garden photo notecards & more.

So get on over to our Kickstarter page, make a pledge ($1? $100? $1000? More??!) & get a reward. Keep in mind that we only get funded if we reach (or exceed! :) our funding goal so be generous, pass it on & enjoy the updates. Thanks for helping Dina & I do the work that we love!

Making a long commute for the greater good...

Taking bicycle commuting to a whole other level, starting the beginning of September, Cindy Gilbert, my coordinator at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) Sustainable Design Program's, will ride 1000+ miles across the U.S. from her home in Montana to her office in Minnesota.

Normally a telecommuter for this online program, Cindy sees her journey as a stellar opportunity to raise awareness about current issues in sustainability, to create a platform to discuss the power of making personal commitments that lead to a sustainable life, and to raise money for need-based scholarships for students devoted to solving sustainability challenges that face humanity today.

For more information, or to follow Cindy's journey, visit: http://ridethetalk.org