September Newsletter!

Hello DFG friends,
September is a big month for us!

GRAND OPENING AT DFG!
Four years ago we agreed to collaborate with Southwest Solutions and the 555 Gallery and Studios on a revitalization project that included the former Third Police Precinct in Southwest Detroit. On April 2nd 2012 we opened our doors to the public and on Friday September 14th, we are celebrating this collaboration. The Third Precinct is located at 1759 21st St in Detroit, Michigan.

The day will celebrate the transformation of a once vacant structure into a community hub of art and horticulture. The celebration begins at 3:30pm and includes with a special ribbon cutting ceremony featuring Rashida Tlaib at 4:00pm. After the ceremony 555 will keep the party going with music by Monica Blair and Flat Land Star.

The celebration continues on Saturday from 12-4pm with a pop up market that “Supports the Local Landscape” DFG style! The Detroit Youth Food Brigade and other local vendors will be selling unique crafts and food. The festivities will conclude on Sunday with a DFG original Straw Bale Skillshare from 1-3pm. DFG’s Triana Kazaleh Sirdenis will be sharing her knowledge of medicinal herbalism. The class will be a good intro to herbs, ethical wildcrafting, and medicine making.

Thank you so much for continuing to support us in our journey. We look forward to seeing you this weekend!

ANNOUNCING DFG’s STRAW BALE SESSIONS
This Fall and Winter DFG is kicking off our Straw Bale Sessions, featuring live music events from October through March, held in the store on our Straw Bale stage. Our first show is taking place on Monday, October 15 with an act that has toured the world, Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs! http://www.hollygolightlyandthebrokeoffs.com/.
Please join us at 8pm - 12am as DFG sets the stage for an intimate two set performance from the artist. Ticketed entry includes great music, local brew and good company in our unique space! Please contact the store for more details or check out our facebook page.

Stay tuned for upcoming dates in our Straw Bale Sessions.

NEW PRODUCTS
-Animal Feeders: Double Walled Fount and Poultry Waterer - These durable fountains automatically maintain a constant water level without the need for frequent refills
-Pots and Planters from Lady Bug Studios- Handcrafted planters and pots from Southwest’s community pottery studio add color and interest to any plant
-Mary’s Leaf Molds - Imprinted from real leaves, these molds offer colorful, natural displays for pools of water, bird seed, or garden sprites
-Clay Chimney Flue Liners - These classic clay flue liners make for a cool, repurposed planter
-New T-shirts - DFG newest t-shirts are available now in Fire Engine Red with Hayfield Gold Lettering and Chocolate Brown with Garden Green Lettering

SEASONAL INFO
September is a good time of year for seeding and reseeding lawns. It’s often a good idea to accompany this with an application of compost. The compost will hold water and help the grass seed germinate, reducing the work the gardener has to do to keep it moist. DFG has both sun and sun and shade grass seed mixes as well as compost.
Other tasks for this time of year include cleaning up leaves and cutting back perennials as the weather turns. Check out this link for a quick rundown of fall cleanup tasks. You can also consider extending your season on lettuce and greens by using row-cover. This will keep the frost off the plants at the beginning of the season and provide a few extra weeks of growing for frost tolerant plants. You’ve already put the effort into growing them, you might as well get as much food out of them as you can!
Another potential fall project is putting down sheet mulch for spring plantings. This is a lasagna style form of composting on site, that can be planted into. It’s a good way kill grass and add organic matter to the soil before planting. A great synopsis of this technique can be found here.

UPCOMING CLASSES
Herbalism 101
Medicine is everywhere! Come learn how to use many of the "weeds" that grow around you. Local herbalist Triana Kazaleh Sirdenis will host a two hour introduction to medicinal herbalism for the next session in our FREE educational series. Join us for this overview of medicinal plants, ethical wildcrafting, and medicine making. This will be a hands on workshop, including a herb walk around our neighborhood. Please prepare to be outside!
Sunday, September 16th 1-3pm at Detroit Farm and Garden

The People’s Pickles
This fermentation class will teach you how to brine and kraut your way to delicious preserved vegetables. This class will be taught by Suddenly Sauer’s local pickler, Blair Nosan.
Sunday, October 21st 1:30-3:30pm at Detroit Farm and Garden

COMMUNITY EVENTS
5th Annual Earthworks Harvest Dinner
Gleaners Community Food Bank 2131 Beaufait St., Detroit, MI 48207
Saturday, September 15th, 2012
5pm-8pm

Help celebrate Earthworks 15th year anniversary at the fifth annual Earthworks Harvest Dinner! that will take place from 5pm-8pm on Saturday, September 15th at the Gleaners Community Food Bank in Detroit.

Earthworks is a program of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, whose mission is to help create a just and beautiful food system. Earthworks promotes sustainable agricultural practices, nutrition education, youth entrepreneurship, media justice and local youth and adult leadership development and ownership of Detroit’s food system.

The dinner will feature locally-grown produce and locally prepared food. The dinner is a celebration of the year’s work and bounty. It serves as a way to reflect on the essential life connections we have between each of ourselves and our food. Through the act of breaking bread, we fully recognize how interconnected and interdependent we are on each other and nature.

Community members can contact Earthworks at 313.579.2100 x 204 or earthworks@cskdetroit.org for more information. Donations to provide tickets for members of the community that wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend are also welcome.
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Next Urban Chef Detroit Finals Competition
Eastern Market
Saturday, September 15th 10am

Catch all the action in Shed 5! Chef Andy Hollyday, Will Branch, Dave Mancini, and Eric Giles will be facing off with their team of high school students to work their local creative muscle

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DBCFSN’s 6th Annual D-Town Harvest Festival
D-Town Farm, Rouge Park 14027 W. Outer Dr., Detroit, MI
Saturday & Sunday, September 22nd and 23rd, 2012
Noon till 6pm both days

This year, the festival will feature an authors tent with book signing by a number of health and food authors including Will Allen, author of The Good Food Revolution, Yvelette Stines, author of Vernon the Vegetable Man, Andrea King-Collier, author of Black Women’s Guide to Transition and Bryant Terry, author of Vegan Soul Kitchen (VSK): Freah, Healhty and Creative African-American Cuisine, and his latest book: The Inspired Vegan: Seasonal Ingredients, Creative Recipes, Mouthwatering Menus.

There will also be learnshops, cooking and raw food demos, children’s activities, a marketplace, live music stage, and more! For more info, please call (313) 345-3663 or visit www.detroitblackfoodsecurity.org. We can also be found on Facebook at Detroit Black Community Food Security Network
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Reclaim Detroit Harvest Festival 2526 Newport at Vernor
Saturday & Sunday, September 8th and 9th 2012
All day both days

This festival will include conversations on permaculture, community development and sustainability from 5-8pm on Saturday, followed by a campfire. On sunday there is a canning workshop at 11am, food during the day and a performance by Space Band at 7pm. Bring a plate, utensils and a cup for food and drink.