Another photo from the Food Forest...

We smothered the weeds (knotweed is particularly invasive) with compost and cardboard. The cardboard will break down and eventually be part of the soil. On top of this, we added soil -- we will soon be ready to plant!

Urban Gardens

Urban gardens are improtant becuase they are a nice thing to have around. They also help around the commuity gardens is a place kids can be instead of playing out in the streets. It would be a great place for kids to learn new things and helping around their commuity. Gardens also make a nice place because they can take over where there are empty lots at. Another reason why i think gardens are improtant becuase it puts food in the world too. Without gardens where else would peolpe get food from gardens is a good help around the world.

Tuesday Night's Poem By Elonda:

When it rains it pours,

the flowers cry out for more,

its really amazing how the rain sounds,

knowing that the grass quenches it thirst when it hits the ground,

so it finally stops raining and the sun comes out,

the first sunflower begins to sprout,

the first sight of sprouting make me breathless,

it makes me think that growing them is bonus,

over the course of days it grows,

it makes my neighborhood look more than ghetto,

the words im searching for beauty, peaceful, colorful, nope i think serenity,

it makes me think that im mostly in my own dream world...

There are alot of benefits Green Urban Spaces can provied. You can save money by growing food in your own backyard. For example strawberries are being grown in our garden. When im in need of delicious strawberries instead of going to giant eagles and spending a fortune on a pack of fresh strawberries i can go to the graden to pick my own grown strawberries. Another way this garden is benefical is that it beutifies the neighborhood. It really makes a difference. Maybe one day someone will stop pass in want to take a picture there, they probaly woundn't if it was just another abandon lot. This garden also benifits local residents in a recreational way. In the garden you can exersise, preform thereapy and even educate others.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

So we are going to prepare chocolate covered strawberries from our urban garden called Lombard but there not rippend yet.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Ready In: 15 minutes

Ingredients
16 ounces chocolate chips
2 tablespoons shortening
1 pound fresh strawberries with leaves

Directions
1. Insert toothpicks in top of strawberries.
2. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate and shortening , stirring occasionally until smooth. Holding them by toothpicks, dip the strawberries into the chocolate mixture.
3. Turn the strawberries upside down and insert the the toothpick into stryofoam for the chocolate to cool.

Stepping Stones!

This is wakka from SCA im writing about the stepping stones. This was a very fun project we did. There was several steps to making the stepping stones. And there was different reasons why we did it too. There were four steps in this progress.

• Making the cement.



• Picking out what we wanted in them.



• Placing them in the cement.



• Finally letting it set.
  

There were different resons why we made stepping stones. The main reason we made it was to make a stepping stone walkway in the garden. That will make our garden beautiful. It was very creative. So there will be a piece of all of us in the garden.

working hard is the way

There i go working hard. Working as hard as i can. I say this is the way peolpe just dont understand. green everwhere you stand. look around listen to the sound. Take a stand around your town. Nature is a place nature is a thing nature is a love for peolpe who really understand. Green this way green my way one line that i really love to say. I can help i can see nature is liveing can you see. Time flys wind rides by still a way that natures around. look in the sky tell me whats high as you look tell me what shines. As you look look at the sky time slows down as the sun rise.

Our Beautiful Thoughts and Creations

Hi, this is Frenchie from the SCA and im here to tell you about our community action project or CAP.

We work at two sites one being in the hill distict and the other being in Hazelwood. The one in the hill disrict goes by the name of Lombard Garden. We hooked up with City High School and is giving a helping hand. We helped plant many varieties of plants for example, in the month of April we planted sunflower seeds and they are now about 6 to 7 inches tall. We also turned they soil over to make it light for planting all sorts of flower like tulips, roses, dandilions, we also planted an apple tree.

the Garden in Hazelwood goes by the name The Food Forest. We helped sufficate the weeds by putting down flat cardboard and packing on soil and mulch on top. Next we went back to the drawing board and started a path from the back entrance to the main entrance. Next we marked off in growing trees by surrounding them with bricks and weeding around them.

Why urban gardens are important to me!!

So urban gardens are important to me because its an hands on experince. Its not like everyday you get to plant gardens in different neighborhoods without it being a problem. It promotes healthy communities and brings a reassurance for low income families. For example in Hazlewood there were alot of vacant lots and buildings but although we were next t0 a vacant lot, many community members come out on a certain day to build it back up. So not only do it bring healthy food it brings the community together, and it reduces the crime and vandalism. Community gardens involve a change in food systems in order to change food production. Urban gardening is the new green idea to me because its increasingly important as our world becomes more urbanized and how me and my fellow co workers can transform agriculturally fertile lands and open spaces into urban gardens. Another reason why urban gardens are important to me is because I can pick my own vegetables.

Steps of Nature

Here are the steps we followed to create the stepping stones
1.We poured water and concrete in a medium size tub 2 make cement. 2.While waiting for it to dry we sorted rocks, marbles, and colorful stones to put in the cement. 3. We then cut out magazine pictures to paste behind the stones such as birds, flowers and inspirational words. 4. Finally we placed them in the cement. They all turned out to be very beautiful so we put them in the Lumbard site. These stepping stones are one example how the garden beautifies the neighborhoods. It shows the creativity of the fellow SCA LEAP workers. The stepping stones also effects the garden in a positive way. :

Food Forest

http://pittsburghpermaculture.org/pghfoodforests/hazelwood-food-forest

Hazelwood Food Forest

We had an amazing time at the food forest last Tuesday. One can imagine the berry and fruit trees that will gradually be a mainstay of this lot. Juliette and Michelle have done an incredible job here in one season. More about their project on the link above.

In SCA we work hard and we make sure that the job gets done. Everybody takes pride in their work and loves working with SCA. Every Saturday trip I have been on has been fun and very interesting. I always leave the trip with some new information that I didn't have before. I'm so glad that i found out about this program, because i really like working here and its a good environment to be in. The Crew Leaders are very nice and easy to get along with

This is what the wall looked like before and after city high students adopted the lot.

The lot was very empty and it need more life and flowers, tomato’s, and more fruit.

It could be better for the community and a bench for people in the city to enjoy the view and the community.

And I like that it is the best for the community and the people who care for the city and how it looks like it should look very pretty and comfortable for others and the life of the animals and plants to make be the best and look the best for the rest of the people who care and make the community be the best for me and my friends, family and other that I care about

Its about the community think green!!!

GREEN URBAN SPACES

HEY SCA!!!!! THIS NEW CAP THING THAT WERE DOING SEEMS LIKE ITS GOING TO LOTS OF FUN FOR US.IT MAY SEEM LIKE ITS GOING TO BE ALOT. WE HAVE TO JUST GET THROUGH IT THE BEST WAY WE CAN. MANY PEOPLE WILL APPRECIATE HAT WE DO FOR THERE COMMUNITY IN THE LONG RUN IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT. FOR THIS COMMUNITY GARDEN WE AS A TEAM SHOULD HAVE FUN WHILE WE DO THIS PROJECT TOGETHER AND ENJOY WHAT WE DO AT THE END OF THE DAY.

The Stepping Stones Project (THE FUN STUFF..LOL)

The stepping stone project was very fun i loved working with the staff and my co-workers. The main reason we made the stepping stone project was to put them in a garden to make a stepping stone walk way or whatever use you could make with the stones. The steping stines would make the garden look better and help the community bye making it look pretty and more beautiful. It also would help the community by it stimulating social interaction. Some people might look around and see a stone they like but theres another lady who was allready looking at it so they just start a conversation bye saying something about the stone and that would be a help of social interaction. It would also create an opportunity for recreation and theropy. People will see the stepping stones and think to themselves like hmm that looks like it was a fun activity i would like to do something like that and they might go home and just get the tools and make their own and add it to the garden. Also some people belive that stones help ease your mind so some people might go to the garden to sit by the stones to let a little stress loose. Thats how i belive that our stepping stone project helped the community.

Concrete Stones!

We thought that some stone beauty would be in order at some of the sites we are visiting. This shows the middle of the project.
The work was dusty, so safety first. Also, it took awhile for the cement to set, but afterwards we were able to add stones. More pictures to post soon...