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Posts Tagged ‘Urban Oasis Project’

Volunteer with Urban Oasis Project

Posted in market, people, tagged , , , on June 17, 2011| 6 Comments »

Got the following message from Antonio Guadamuz and thought I’d pass it along to all who want to put their money where their mouth is. Below is a checklist of many ways that you can help support Urban Oasis Project with their various efforts to get fresh, local and organic food to under-served neighborhoods. This organization is behind the emergence of two new grower supported markets (in Liberty City and Upper Eastside), and has created dozens of edible gardens for families in need. Now they’re growing in many new directions. Don’t have time to volunteer? UOP is a 501 (c) 3 charity and your donations are tax deductible.

It’s never been a better time to get involved!

Urban Oasis Project has been driven over the past two years mainly by the volunteer efforts of Melissa Contreras, Art Friedrich and Antonio Guadamuz — and they couldn’t even begin to count the number of hours they’ve planted gardens, organized events, networked with people, written grants, coordinated farmers markets, driven vegetables from farm to market, and so much more.

We’re moving into a new phase of the project! Melissa, Antonio and Art will have nearly full-time positions working in our partnership with Earth Learning to create a new sustainable farm and market in East Homestead at Verde Gardens — and it’s going to be impossible to keep up all the other aspects of UOP without a broader group of of members actively taking on responsibilities.

[Urban Oasis Project is no longer affiliated with Verde Gardens!]

Here’s a list of some things that we’re doing that you can help with:

Farmers Markets
Market Assistance —  Helping set-up the market, making the displays pretty, selling veggies, and breaking down. Thursdays and Saturdays.
Market Expansion — Making educational displays, cooking demos, recruiting new vendors, recruiting musicians, etc. Be creative!
Market Outreach —  Promoting the market through flyers, directly to passerby at markets as well as at neighborhood events, homes, stores etc.

Garden Building
GIVE Garden management — Contacting interested recipients, setting up dates to plant, organizing volunteers and materials, follow-up contacts and visits.  Creating handouts for distribution.

Potlucks and Workshops
Organize Workshops — Recruit folks who want to teach, promote the workshops. We’d love to be able to expand this program to reach more low-income people as well! Host a potluck and/ or workshop yourself.

Other Initiatives
Food Truck Project — If we have committed project leaders, we’d like to have our own Food Truck with a permanent garden in the bed, to travel around and give educational presentations.

Homestead-Verde Gardens Farm and Market — Looking for volunteers and workers for the new Verde Gardens project in Homestead! A 22 acre organic, permaculture designed farm we’re building from scratch! Daily work being done so you can come almost anytime!

[Please contact Art Friedrich at 786-548-3733 if you wish to volunteer for Urban Oasis Project activities and events.]

These are a few of the things we do. Do you see a way to tap in? Every little bit counts! The most important thing to us at this point is consistency. You must be able to do what you commit to, otherwise it doesn’t help anybody!

Please call us or email with any questions and to get started! We can do lots to help out, you will be supported!

Thanks,
Antonio Guadamuz
Vice Treasurer
Urban Oasis Project

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Upper East Side Farmers Market

Posted in food, market, photo, tagged , , , , on March 4, 2011| 1 Comment »

Upper East Side Farmers Market is located on the north west corner of Biscayne Boulevard and 79 St.

The newest grower-supported farmers market has opened at the Biscayne Plaza shopping center in northeast Miami. The Upper East Side Farmers Market is managed by Melissa Contreras and the Urban Oasis Project, a local non-profit which is also involved with the Liberty City Farmers Market.

Red leaf butterhead lettuce

The market is small (only four tents) but carries a wide assortment of seasonal fruits and vegetables. All the food is locally grown (within 150 miles of Miami) from several farms and market gardens, and most of it is organic. The selection changes from one week to the next, and some things sell out quickly — so come early for arugula and callaloo. (Those sold out early two weeks in a row.) Some of the produce available last Saturday was sweet starfruit, stubby forked carrots, beautiful red leaf butterhead lettuce that looked airbrushed, bunches of dill and parsley, massive purple-top turnips, kale, and black sapote, just to mention a few things.

In addition to fresh produce, the market offers a wide selection of prepared foods, which also vary from one week to the next. Art Friedrich, co-founder of Urban Oasis, brought quart jars of brine-cured sauerkraut, and zucchini bread to die for. Oval loaves of artisanal bread lay in a basket next to local wildflower honey and Hani’s Organics baba ghanoush. On the next Saturday, bagged worm castings and bottles of worm tea (natural fertilizer) were available from Fertile Earth Foundation. The most surprising discovery was one-pound bags of rice, both white and brown, organically grown in Florida (in rotation with sugar cane) south of Lake Okeechobee.

Friends hanging out at the market.

I visited the market on the first two Saturdays it was open, and each time it was busy with a steady stream of customers. Melissa Contreras, co-founder of Urban Oasis, guess-timated that they had at least 100 shoppers on the first Saturday. Prices at this new market are a bit lower than what you might expect to see at a farmers market, plus they accept food stamps and match EBT purchases up to $10.

“The point of this market is to bring the communities together,” said Kelliann McDonald, spokesperson for Terranova, the center’s developer. She pointed out that the location is right between an upscale neighborhood and a poorer one. She envisions the market becoming common ground for both groups.

For several hours on Saturday, people shopped, tasted fruit, hung out for a little bit and told stories at this brave new market. Whether it will become a community hub remains to be seen, but one can only hope the people in the area, both rich and poor, will embrace the farmers and their bounty.

Look for the Upper East Side Farmers Market in front of Payless at Biscayne Plaza Shopping Center, located on the northwest corner of Biscayne Blvd. and 79 St. in Miami. Open on Saturdays from 9 am to 2 pm until May 28, 2011.

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Edible plant contest

Posted in events, location, tagged , on February 8, 2011|

Enter your prettiest edible plant in the Urban Oasis Project contest, win up to $100 cash, and be featured at South Beach Food Food and Wine festival!

Urban Oasis Project will create an edible garden oasis at the South Beach Food and Wine Festival. They will be at “Fun and Fit as a Family” at Jungle Island the weekend of the festival, with Chef Aria Kagan as she teaches kids how to “eat their rainbow” of vegetables every day.

Urban Oasis Project is looking for farmers and gardeners who would like to exhibit a beautiful edible plant growing in a container, at peak, in full flower/fruit. Most plants entered in the contest will be featured in our edible oasis at SoBe Food and Wine Festival, some will be winners and receive cash prizes.

Please e-mail admin@urbanoasisproject.org with the type of plant you are entering, size of container, and complete contact info. Plants must dropped of on Monday or Tuesday, Feb. 21 or 22nd in Miami Shores, Kendall,  or Homestead. Details will be send after entries are received. Limited pickups at your location are available, please explain why you need a pickup.

Prizes will be given in cash: $100, $75, and $50 for Prettiest Overall Plant in first, second, and third place. $25 for Biggest Vegetable or Fruit growing on the plant, $25 for Most Interesting Plant, and 10 randomly drawn prizes of $25.

For more details, go to the Urban Oasis Project web site.

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Oasis in da hood

Posted in food, location, market, photo, tagged , , on January 25, 2011| 4 Comments »

Liberty City Farmers Market

Due to to City of Miami permitting issues, this Thursday, Feb. 2nd, the market will take place at:

Jessie Trice Center for
Community Health
5361 NW 22nd Ave
Miami, Florida 33142
305-637-6400

Map to Jesse Trice Community Health Center here.

Nestled in a park in North Miami-Dade County is a new grower-supported farmers market. You could say that it’s the best kept secret in town. On Thursday afternoons from noon to 6 pm, a steady trickle of neighbors and foodies have been finding their way to the Liberty City Farmers Market located at the Belafonte TACOLCY Center park on NW 62 St and 8th Ave. The shoppers come for the wide assortment of locally grown organic, sustainable (and some conventional) produce from five different farms and other local growers, set out under a big tent in the middle of the park.

Melissa Contreras, market manager

Fruits and vegetables are just as good and fresh as what you’d find at other grower supported markets in town. On a recent visit, I found Melissa Contreras, market manager and founder of Urban Oasis Project, under the big tent spraying fluffy heads of green leaf lettuce with water to keep them fresh. The lettuce, zucchini, pattypan squash, dill, spring onions, and collard greens (to name a few items) were trucked in from Worden Farm. Art Friedrich, Urban Oasis co-founder, was excited to be at market and proudly pointed out papayas he had grown in his yard. He said that backyard gardeners were welcome to come sell their extra crops at the market.

A handful of other local food vendors and artisans are also at the small market. Among them, you will find Lake Meadow Naturals fresh eggs and honey sold by Seriously Organic (the same vendor also at the South Miami Farmers Market on Saturdays and Pinecrest Gardens Green Market on Sundays). You can get Pan De Vida, a delicious whole wheat bread with raisins baked by Juliana, and Georgia collards from Thomas’ Produce, and Higher Heights natural body care products crafted by OmeJah. Fans of Nature Boyz juices will be glad to find Clive and his juicer making fresh squeezed drinks while you wait. The last time I was there, local chef Aria Kagan gave a cooking demo using ingredients from various vendors. After school teacher Erin Healy of Youth L.E.A.D. guided a group of kids around the big produce tent, showing them the different fruits and vegetables.

Erin Healy gives the lowdown on roselle.

It’s been a long road and a lot of work and hope to make this little gem of a market become a reality. Last year, Roger Horne and James Jiler of Urban GreenWorks made a community needs survey, where they mapped out every food store in the area complete with GPS coordinates. They discovered that most stores had very limited fresh produce on their shelves, mostly apples and bananas. Chantal Herron got a small grant from Dade Community Foundation for several green festivals held at the Jesse Trice Community Health Center last year. But that wasn’t enough to conquer the food desert. A farmers market was desperately needed to bring fresh fruits and vegetables to the community. “This market is a very important addition to the neighborhood,” said Chantal. “It can have an impact on the health of the community by changing the way they eat. Most markets in the area don’t have healthy food.”

Urban Oasis Project: Melissa Contreras, Art Friedrich, Nick Reese and Antonio Guadamuz

So a number of non-profits big and small banded together to support the new Liberty City Farmers Market with the “Breaking Ground” initiative.* The organizers were inspired by last season’s successful Roots in the City Farmers Market five miles to the south. To make this particular market actually happen, Urban Oasis Project was tapped for their leadership and collective food raising skills. Melissa Contreras was hired as market manager, based on her market experience while working for Redland Organics last season. She takes local food very seriously. Almost half the food for sale was fresh picked that morning from several backyard microfarms tended by members.

Three weeks after the market opened, Melissa took the “leap of faith” and quit her full time job in Special Events at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. (She was principal organizer of Edible Garden Festival and Food & Garden Festival, as well as childrens’ educational activities.) She had been torn with one foot in each world and had to make a decision. She chose the market, and wants to concentrate her energy on making it a success. Melissa told me, “Failure is not an option. We’ve got to make this happen. People believe in us.”

Linda McGlathery found out about this market through the Food Policy Council.

Part of that belief comes as support from the Health Foundation of South Florida, which contributed $1500 to match funds for SNAP/EBT purchases. (If you buy $10 worth of food with SNAP, you get an additional $10 credit good for purchases at the market.) Private donations to maintain the matching funds program are very welcome. Gifts of $500 and over are channeled through the Health Foundation, a 501(c)3 fiscal sponsor. It passes 100 per cent of the gift to the market, and allows donors to get a tax donation. If your donation is less than $500, you may give directly to Urban Oasis, which has its own 501(c)3 application in the works.

So far, about 60 shoppers come to the market every Thursday afternoon, including a growing number of regulars. Chef Michy Bernstein has come to shop, and so has Ali, the forager from Michael’s Genuine. Some people were getting Market in a Box, an assortment of produce available that day. Limited delivery is also available. Melissa is hoping the number of shoppers will grow, and is getting the word out to nearby Midtown, Miami Shores and Upper East Side. “It’s safe here,” Melissa said, when I suggested that some shoppers might be afraid of venturing into da hood. “We’re in a fenced park next to a butterfly garden and a day care.” The market is located two blocks west of the 62 St. exit off I-95, and there’s plenty of free parking inside the park and on the street.

Liberty City Farmers Market
at the Belafonte TACOLCY Center
6161 NW 9th Ave., Miami FL

* Non-profits in the “Breaking Ground” initiative: Urban GreenWorks, Youth L.E.A.D., Belafonte TACOLCY Center, Urban Oasis Project, Jessie Trice Community Health Center, The Miami Foundation, Health Foundation of South Florida, Urban Paradise Guild, Curley’s House Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity Miami, Hands on Miami, and the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center.

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Dinner in Paradise opens Sunday

Posted in agritourism, chef, events, locavore, tagged , , on December 6, 2010|

The new season of the legendary Dinner in Paradise series opens Sunday, Dec 12th.  Each dinner features hors d’oeuvres, a sunset tour of Paradise Farm, and a five-course menu prepared by an all-star line up of some of the best chefs in town.

The first dinner features the talents of four chefs — Chef Timon Balloo from Sugarcane, Chef David Bracha from The River Seafood and Oyster Bar, Chef Jason Prevatt from the Loews Hotel, and Chef Frederic Delaire from several Michelin rated French restaurants. World class wines will be paired by Sommelier Shari Gherman.

A portion of the proceeds this season will be donated to the non-profit organization Urban Oasis Project. Members and volunteers plant food gardens in underprivileged neighborhoods, and operate the brand new Liberty City Farmers Market.

To purchase Dinner tickets online, go to the Paradise Farms site.

To make donations to the Urban Oasis Project, click here.

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