Join us for a Southside Community Gardens Meeting tomorrow, March 1st, and for a Food Film Series Documentary Screening on March 3rd

A reminder about two upcoming events this week: first, there will be an organizational meeting for the Southside Community Gardens project tomorrow, Monday, March 1st, at 7 p.m. in room 101 of Maginnes Hall on the Lehigh University campus. We will be evaluating where we are in our outreach efforts, and what still must be done in order to ensure that this project comes to fruition in the spring.

Then, on Wednesday, the second film in our series of food-themed documentaries will be screened. This week, we’re honored to be joined by filmmaker Ana Sofia Joanes as she presents her film Fresh and leads an audience discussion afterwards. This film will be shown at 6:30 p.m. in Whitaker Laboratory, room 303, on the Lehigh campus. For a full listing of the film series, check out our flier.  Here are directions to Whitaker Laboratory.

Please check back here regularly for event announcements, for discussion of our community gardening project, and for links to articles, books, and other discussions of urban agriculture, sustainability, and the local foods movement – or join us on Facebook (search for us under “Southside Gardens” or click on the link to your right)!

We look forward to seeing you this week.

Food Film Series Documentary Screening and Discussion tonight, February 24th

Please join us at 6:30 p.m. tonight, Wednesday, February 24th, in Whitaker Laboratory, room 303, for a free screening of the documentary The End of the Line. This powerful film is the first major documentary feature to illustrate the devastating effect of overfishing on our oceans. The film will be followed by a discussion led by Professor John Gatewood.

We hope to see you there, and at the rest of the films in our Film Food documentary series this semester – see the full listing here.

Directions to Whitaker Laboratory may be viewed here.

Southside Community Gardens Upate and Next Meeting, March 1st

Hi All,

The Southside Community Gardens (SCG) project is entering the critical stage of reaching out to people, explaining the benefits of community gardening, and getting commitments to work part of one of our gardens this spring and summer. Founded by Lehigh University’s South Side Initiative, supported by the university and the City of Bethlehem, and with the help of SUN*LV along with a host of other groups and individuals, SCG is gaining momentum: we have a number of good sites picked out in different parts of the southside; there’s considerable knowledge and expertise, as well as other resources, at the ready for building the gardens and for beginning spring planting; and we’re part of what’s clearly a national and international movement of recalibrating agriculture and food systems towards local and sustainable and secure sources of fresh produce.  What we now need most are COMMUNITY GARDENERS.  And so I urge you to 1) consider taking on a plot, by yourself or with your family or a group; and 2) to help us speak with as many people as we can in the next month about the practical values (personal and global) of contributing to this local food movement.

A SCG organizational meeting will be held Monday, March 1st, at 7:00 p.m. on the first floor of Maginnes Hall, Lehigh University.  The main agenda item will be to take stock of where we are in this outreach stage, and to identify what has to be done in the weeks ahead to assure the development of each site this spring.

This week will be the showing of the first film of a five-documentary film series on food politics.  The public is invited on Wednesday, February 24th, at 6:30 p.m., in 303 Whitaker Hall, Lehigh University, to see End of the Line, a powerful film that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and that examines the nearly apocalyptic results of commercial fishing.

Professor John Gatewood of Lehigh’s Sociology and Anthropology Department will lead discussion after the showing. For a full listing of the film series, go to www.lehigh.edu/~jcm5/series.htm.

Also, I urge you to visit this website regularly for events announcements, for discussion of our community gardening project, and for links to articles, books, and other discussions of urban agriculture, sustainability, and the local foods movement.

Please let me know if you have questions or suggestions.  And I hope to see you next Monday night.

John Pettegrew

Imagining a Local Food Renaissance in the Lehigh Valley

The Lehigh Valley Independent, a relatively new blog focusing on policy and politics, has been covering local food issues recently in an effort to start a conversation regarding how to increase consumption of local food from area farms.  The blog’s contributors are hoping to plan a spring cook-off event that will also include a panel discussion examining what people in the Lehigh Valley can do to better integrate local food choices and improve access to fresh, clean produce in Allentown and on the southside of Bethlehem.  Please read this essay recently posted on the blog, written by a farm owner in Bangor, Pa., which presents several opportunities in the Lehigh Valley for building momentum for buying and eating “local.”

Lehigh Valley Voices: Imagining a Local Food Renaissance

Check Out Green Drinks, a Community Gardening Happy Hour in Allentown, on February 17th

Green Drinks, an informal monthly mixer normally held the second Wednesday of every month, is a regularly occurring event likely to be of interest to the Southside Community Gardens group, as well as others interested in sustainability, green living, the benefits of locally grown and environmentally friendly food, and much more.  The next Green Drinks will be held from 5-7 p.m. this coming Wednesday, February 17th, in the Silk Lounge, the lower level of the Allentown Brew Works on Hamilton Street.  Jim Emerick, one of the founders of the Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley (SUN*LV), will give this month’s presentation.  Jim will discuss the benefits of community gardening for our region’s cities, and provide information about projects that are already underway in Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton for this spring’s planting.  This event should be a great opportunity for members of the Southside Community Gardens project, and anybody interested in community gardens, to meet and exchange information – and to discuss our upcoming work on Bethlehem’s southside – with people who are organizing to help provide city neighborhoods with fresh food, green space and a community-building outdoor activity.  Here is a link with more details: www.thebrewworks.com/events/lehigh-valley-green-drinks/.  PLEASE NOTE the site may still include the original February 10th date, which was snowed out.  The date listed above, Wednesday, February 17th, is the correct date for the rescheduled event.  If you have any questions or need more information, email greendrinks@thebrewworks.com.  We hope to see you there!

February 10th Screening of “The End of the Line” Rescheduled due to Inclement Weather

The screening of “The End of the Line,” the first major documentary feature to explore the impact of overfishing on our oceans, scheduled for February 10th, has been postponed due to the weather forecast.  The screening, the first in the “Film Food Series,” has been rescheduled for Wednesday, February 24th, at 6:30 p.m. in Whitaker Laboratory (room 303).  We apologize for any inconvenience, and hope that you will join us on the 24th!  For more details about the exciting “Food Film Series,” which is presented in part by the South Side Initiative, please read the post from February5th or follow the link under “Events” in the blogroll on the right margin.

Join us tonight, February 9th, at 7:00 for a Southside Community Gardens Meeting

A reminder that there will be a general organization meeting for the Southside Community Gardens project tonight (Tuesday, Feb. 9th), at 7:00 in room 112 of Maginnes Hall on Lehigh’s lower campus. Metered parking is available directly across from the building; directions to Maginnes Hall may be found here: www3.lehigh.edu/about/maps/maginneshall.asp.

We hope to see you there!

Upcoming Screenings for Spring Semester’s “Food Film Series”

The South Side Initiative, in conjunction with ArtsLehigh, SustainabLehigh, Lehigh’s Library and Technology Services and Lehigh Dining, is presenting a series of documentary films that is likely to be of interest to members of the Southside Community Gardens project.  The “Food Film Series” will feature free screenings of five exciting films, providing an opportunity for the Gardens group to meet and engage in discussions with other members of the Lehigh community who share our concerns for sustainability, green technology, the diverse benefits of community gardens and locally grown food, and much more.  The films and dates are as follows: The End of the Line (February 10); Fresh (March 3); The Garden (March 24); Buffet: All You Can Eat Las Vegas (April 7); and Food Inc. (April 21).  Click on the flier above to learn more about the films.  All screenings will take place at 6:30 p.m. in Lehigh University’s Whitaker Laboratory (corner of Webster St. and Packer Ave), and will include post-screening discussion led by either the filmmaker or a Lehigh professor.  We hope to see you there!  Also, don’t forget our meeting this Tuesday, Feb. 9th, at 7 p.m. on the first floor of Maginnes Hall.

Southside Community Gardens Meeting February 9th

Hi All,

There will be a general organization meeting for the Southside Community Gardens project next Tuesday evening, Feb. 9th, at 7:00 on the first floor of Maginnes Hall on Lehigh’s lower campus.

Please look for a lengthy post by the end of this week, detailing where the project stands now and what needs to happen in this crucial stage of winter 2010 and beyond.

Best,

John