You can grow food year-round in Michigan. Brines Farm has information and links about winter growing.
You can grow over 10 different types of herbs within a 6 foot space using an herb spiral. Click here for more information.
11/8/2009 37°F | Fog
Have you ever looked at a delicious meal and wondered where your food was grown? Do you have a desire to grow healthy food for your community through sustainable gardening practices? Cultivating Community offers a hands-on experience for students to work together on a closed-loop food system at the University of Michigan.
Today more than ever people are curious about the food they consume. Through Cultivating Community you can learn about the benefits of local food production and the kinds of resources that are needed to grow food.
Cultivating Community believes in the importance of understanding and strengthening people’s connection to food. We encourage students to take a leading role in healthy food choices and earth-friendly cultivating techniques. We offer a hands-on experience for students to explore vermicomposting, sustainable gardening, and food waste recycling.
How are all of these ideas connected? Cultivating Community uses pre-consumer fruit and vegetable food scraps from the University’s kitchens in our worm composting bins. The red worms we use are avid decomposers; they turn the scraps into nutrient-rich compost! This excellent compost is then used as fertilizer in our University gardens where we grow beautiful, nutritious vegetables and herbs for the University and for Food Gatherers, our local food bank. This is closed-loop gardening in its finest form.
Cultivating Community practices no-spray techniques and avoids chemically enhanced fertilizer and pesticides. Instead we employ organic means such as homemade remedies, companion planting, and the use of flowers and herbs to combat pests and to encourage beneficial insects.
Cultivating Community is a student program that is a part of the University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens.