Urban Farm nearly set for first crop; gardening classes begin Saturday By Judy Vik Pelican staff Oakland Park – Work continues to progress, and the city’s portion is nearly complete, on the Urban Farm at the north end of Jaco Pastorius Park. The city has installed a six-foot decorative fence around the farm area and completed a parking lot at the northern end of the park. In the parking lot, a plastic mesh has been placed on top of sod, so grass grows through the material and rain can permeate it. It drains into the ground, John Perez, project manager explained. Once the surface area is stabilized, the area can be used for special event parking without damaging the grass. Work on installing hydroponic towers should start over the next two weeks, according to Stephen Hill, president of the Urban Farmer. “We hope to get a crop in before summer,” he said. In the meantime, the Urban Farmer operates a patio market each Friday and Saturday at the north end of the park at 1101 NE 40 Ct. Hours are noon to 6 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. Locally grown food and gardening supplies for hydroponic or soil-based systems are available for purchase. “We are the go to place for locally grown food. We get the freshest food from our partner farms,” Hill said. They also have a booth at the Oakland Park Green Market from 3 to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays at Northeast 38 Street and Dixie Highway. “The weekly Farmer’s Market is going great with new vendors added and more and more people finding out about it,” Amy Flaherty, director of the city’s Parks and Leisure Services Department, noted. The market was scheduled to end in May, but discussions are under way about possibly doing a smaller market in the summer months, she said. The Urban Farm Institute is already conducting classes, including an upcoming program at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 15. on dirt and how important it is. Additional classes are: April 12: “Dirt: Part II”; April 19: “Get out of the Dirt,” aimed at condo residents or those without access to a garden patch; and May 10: “Bugs Be Gone from My Garden” with information on safely managing pests. More classes will be held this summer. The classes run from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Jaco Pastorius Park Community Center, 1098 NE 40 Court and are open to ages 8 and above Participants 16 and under must be enrolled with a parent or guardian. Cost is $15 for residents and $25 for non-residents. For information, call Parks and Leisure Services at 954-630-4500.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 16:04:45 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015