A Community Feast in the Garden!

A Community Feast in the Garden!
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Friday, Dec 14th at Apopka’s Billie Dean Community Garden, the Farmworker Association of Florida, the East Central Florida Regional Policy Council, and the Big Potato Foundation hosted the Apopka Fall Harvest Luncheon.  The purpose of the gathering was to bring together community members and other diverse stakeholders to get a firsthand look at local food initiatives in Apopka.  Surrounded by the beautiful and lush crops in the garden beds, nearly 40 participants enjoyed a salad of fresh vegetables harvested from the garden, fruit salad, tacos, ginger tea, and fresh lemonade.  The participants included low-income community members, garden members, and representatives from local government, health care facilities, faith-based groups, community groups, and an ethnic food retailer.  Also joining the event was a local hydroponic lettuce grower who explained how their operation works to grow and supply lettuce to local restaurants in Orlando.

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A Great Day in the Garden!

 

Getting our hands dirty for La Causa!

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On Saturday, Dec 8th at Apopka’s Billie Dean Community Garden, a group of volunteers spent the morning cleaning up the garden and the area around it. 
The Farmworker Association of Florida has been recruiting community members in the South Apopka area to get involved in producing their own fresh, healthy, organic food for themselves and their families.  With our partner group, East Central Florida Regional Planning Council, along with a diverse group of stakeholders in Apopka, FWAF has been working over the last two years to implement the Apopka Community Food Assessment Project.  The assessment’s objective is to identify the barriers that low-income families, including farmworkers that live in the area, face in accessing fresh produce and to develop a plan to increase their fresh food intake, as well as to provide the opportunities to improve low-income families' access to healthy, fresh, and locally-grown produce.   Farmworker families deserve to have healthy food to raise healthy families.

The ambitious volunteers on Saturday included Sabrina Collins of FAMU Law School and her family; Claudine Martinez of Rollins Grad School and her family; and National Farm Worker Ministry Youth and Young Adult (YAYA) Network members: Megan Murphy, Brian Luft, Emily Helm, Nicole Godreau, Nico Gumbs, and Heather Graves and her mom, Valerie.  They were joined by FWAF staff members and organizers for the day, Holly Baker and Ana Trevino; garden member, Blanca Moreno; and several other garden members.

On Friday, December 14th, the partner groups will host an Apopka Fall Harvest luncheon to continue their work on improving Apopka's food system.  For more information on this project, please contact Holly Baker at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or (321)474-8413.
Where you Grow Your own Vegetables, organically!
The garden is located at 100 E. 9th Street in Apopka, with room for 80 raised beds which can be individually rented for $20 per year, which includes compost, water and professional advice and education.  And, no chemical pesticides or fertilizers are allowed! The Integrated Pest Management program is used throughout the garden.   

A good time was had by all!

On INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

Stand Up for Human Rights for Farmworkers!


On this day - International Human Rights Day – we are calling on all our friends, colleagues, supporters and all those who love and believe in justice and respect human dignity to take a stand for the human rights of farmworkers – in this country and across the globe.  We take this stand in solidarity with not just farmworkers, but with human communities around the world whose lives and livelihoods have been impacted by exposure to harmful pesticides.  Men, women and children must have the human right to health, to a safe environment, to their livelihood, and to life itself – as basic and inherent human rights.  In affirmation of this, one year ago in December 2011, on the anniversary of the Bhopal incident in India, the Permanent Peoples Tribunal issued a verdict against the six largest chemical companies for violating these human rights through their practices of the manufacture, distribution, and promotion of toxic chemical pesticides that are harmful to people and to the very environment that they live in.

Today, a coalition of groups is sending a letter to the Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor – Michael Posner – and presenting him with the verdict of the PPT against the Big Six pesticide companies – BASF, Bayer, Dow, Dupont, Monsanto and Syngenta.  The letter says,

“We look now to your office as the bearer of an immense responsibility - protecting and promoting democracy, human rights, and the rights of labor - and urge you to take decisive action based on your mandate and the global human rights crises that are clearly being perpetrated daily by the pesticide industry, to signal that the US will play a leadership role in addressing these egregious violations.”

Join us in taking this call to Mr. Posner.  You can help right now by joining with others in sending a message that there must be action to protect human and natural communities from illness, disease, and even death from pesticide exposure.  Across the country, allies will be sending tweets to Mr. Posner.  Join us today and take a stand for International Human Rights.

Tweet your support for human rights!  Sample Tweets:  

  • Worldwide 355,000 people die from #pesticide exposure every year. Almost 1,000 a day! #humanrights @UNrightswire @State_DRL bit.ly/TwkkBX
  • Farmworkers risk their health every day in order to feed us.  We must protect their human right to health.#humanrights @UNrightswire @State_DRL bit.ly/TwkkBX
  • #Big6pesticide #chemical corporations violate #humanrights - It’s time to hold them accountable @UNrightswire @State_DRL bit.ly/TwkkBX
  • @State_DRL Please show a leadership role addressing #Big6pesticide #chemical corporations #humanrights violations bit.ly/TwkkBX
  • @UNrightswire #humanrights violated by #Big6pesticide #chemical corps worldwide from Arctic Yupik to Florida Farmworkers bit.ly/TwkkBX
  • Protect #humanrights and #health from #chemical #Big6pesticide drift @UNrightswire @State_DRL bit.ly/TwkkBX
  • Yupik witness statement on #Big6pesticide #chemical corps violation of #humanrights @UNrightswire @State_DRL – video bit.ly/YT76HF

County’s first Certified Organic farm

By Carrie A. Mizell at gilchristcountyjournal

The Family Garden, a certified organic farm owned by Jordan Brown of Bell is now marketing sweet potato, bell pepper, eggplant, greens, lettuce, Chinese cabbage, radish, hot peppers, sweet peppers, kale and collards.
Brown uses no synthetic fertilizers on the 25 acres of land he plants each year. Instead, the South Florida native builds the soil with manure, cover crops and fertilizer from animal waste.

Pests and diseases are managed with crop rotation and diversity, timing plantings correctly and microbial applications formulated to fight targets pests and promote health.
Every fruit and vegetable that is grown at The Family Garden is Certified Organic and something that Jordan and Diwa Brown feel good about feeding their four children.

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