Swine & Wine Twilight Supper A Success!

Thanks to everyone who came out to support the DCGP at the Swine & Wine Twilight Supper in Birmingham last weekend! It was a great success and we managed to raise a lot of money to support our educational outreach initiative at University Place Elementary School! By our estimates, the event drew crowds of more than 300, all eager to partake of the delectable feast prepared by some of the Southeast's finest chefs - roasted pig, pork belly buns, porchetta, wood-fired pizza, deviled eggs with Tasso, spicy coleslaw, asparagus, dirty rice, and more!  

We are honored to have been a part of such a wonderful event and look forward to dining with Y'all again next year! Thanks so much to Clif and Maureen Holt of Little Savannah!

Emily mans the DCGP information booth.

Swine & Wine Fundraiser - Sunday, March 25th!

The Druid City Garden Project is delighted to be the beneficiary of this year's Swine & Wine Twilight Supper held at Birmingham's Old Car Heaven on Sunday, March 25th from 5-8pm. Now in its fourth year, this outstanding event draws chefs from some of Birmingham's finest restaurants and a few guest chefs from out of town. The idea is simple: the chefs get together to roast some pigs overnight, make some delicious side dishes, and serve a big family style meal. Oh yeah, and there's wine and beer... This year Birmingham's Avondale Brewery will be providing the beer and Bouchaine Vineyards from Napa Valley will be providing the wine. 

It's a wonderful event helmed by the Clif and Maureen Holt at Little Savannah. The local chefs featured are 

• Clif Holt of Little Savannah 
• Jeffrey Hansel of Veranda on Highland
• Haller MaGee of Satterfield’s
• Chris Newsome of Ollie Irene
• Jonathan ‘Rusty’ Tucker of Rusty’s Barbeque
• Daniel Briggs of Daniel George
• Rob McDaniel of Spring House
• Chad Schofield and Mac Russell of Shindigs Catering and Food Truck
• Chris and Leah Harrigan of Stone’s Throw
• Ryan Haggeman of Whole Foods
• Steve LeMay and Bill St. John

Joining us from out of town, are these outstanding chefs: 

• Stephen Stryjewski, Winner of the 2011 James Beard Foundation BEST CHEF SOUTH, of Cochon in New Orleans, Louisiana 
• Jay Caputo of Espuma and Porcini House Restaurant in Rehobeth Beach, Delaware
• Rick Gresh of David Burke’s Primehouse in Chicago

There'll be music from the bluegrass band Lou Wamp & Swing Shift and a kids area with lots to do! This is a big family friendly event, and we hope you'll all come out to share a delicious meal together and help support the ongoing educational mission of DCGP!

You can read more about the event here. Get your tickets here to save money and time at the door - there'll be no physical ticket, but we'll check your party in at the door. We have three ticket options: $45 ($50 at the door) for regular admission, including food and beer and wine tastings, $70 ($75 at the door) includes food, beer and wine, with full service in a private seating area with access to the chefs and a private bar, and $20 ($25 at the door) for those between the ages of 13-20. Kids 12 and under are free! Every single ticket will go toward furthering the educational mission of the Druid City Garden Project. Thanks again for your support! If you have any questions about this event or our mission, please email info (at) druidcitygardenproject.org. 

Photo Update

We've had a great season of growing food, growing kids, and growing community at the University Place Elementary school garden! This fall, 13 classes at UP joined us for bi-weekly educational activities in the garden. Pre-K through 5th graders helped plant and tend the raised garden beds at their new school, while learning about the garden ecosystem around them. The garden was a beautiful addition to the school, and produced quite a lot of food for such a small space! The UP Farm Stand started up on October 27th and continued every week until Dec. 15th. Produce was harvested from both the original UP garden site in Forest Lake and the raised beds. Parents, school staff, and the surrounding community came out to purchase a bounty of fresh vegetables - collard greens, mustard greens, swiss chard, head lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, cilantro, dill, spinach, salad mix, and bok choy.

We'll take a short break for the holiday season and return for another year of garden education in 2012! Stay tune for more updates!

EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH

Students go on a "card hike" in the garden, making and recording observations and tasting when asked!

5th graders visit the collards patch and make observations about the insects eating the leaves.

3rd graders from Ms. Keene's class check out the bok choy.

PreK kids go on an ABC hunt in the garden.  H is for hose!

4th graders from Ms. Whitsey's class work together to prepare bok choy slaw from ingredients from the garden!

3rd graders from Ms. Burnette's class grind sesame seeds, grate carrots, and make a dressing for the bok choy slaw.

3rd graders from Ms. Burnette's class use the box grater to tackle the carrots!

4th graders from Ms. Whitsey's class eating the final product!

For their final garden lesson, students engaged in a heated game of garden jeopardy. 

UA students from the Honors College Food and Community class play Jeopardy with the 3rd graders.

SALAD DAYS

Our supplementary program "Salad Days" was a great success! We visited 9 classrooms and served students a fresh salad made with garden produce, while demonstrating food preparation techniques and talking about healthy eating.  Here, Kindergarten students enjoy their garden snack!

"Salad Days" with the 2nd graders from Ms. Peoples' class.

UP FARM STAND

This season, 3rd graders from Ms. Burnette's class were our farm stand leaders. They helped record transactions, make change, bag produce, and recruit customers to the stand. 

3rd graders help bag produce for a waiting customer.

Lettuce, bok choy, swiss chard, oh my!

Root crops abound!

Fresh broccoli heads for sale!

Lettuce, broccoli, mustards, radishes, chard, and the season's first cabbage!

Farm stand in action! UA student looks on.

Enterprising 3rd graders recruiting customers!

UP garden program wins Vlasic Farmer's Garden Grant!

We are excited to report that our garden program at University Place Elementary was awarded the "Vlasic Farmer's Garden Grant" by the National Gardening Association! This is the second honor that we have received from the NGA. Last year, our program was awarded the "Youth Garden Grant".  As part of the Vlasic grant, we were given a host of gardening materials and tools, including a raised bed kit, a Grow Lab, and a composter.  We are thrilled to have our program recognized once again! Thank you NGA!

Original UP garden is growing more food!

Honors College students help plant the fall garden at the original University Place garden.  Here, students are interplanting cabbage and cilantro. 

The garden at our original site is officially planted for fall! Thanks to the help of the Honors College Food and Community course, the "Wednesday Weeders" group, and other community volunteers, the garden has been replanted with lots and lots of food!  We were happy to make the transition from summer to fall crops, and are excited about including the produce grown at the original site in the upcoming Farm Stands at Stillman Heights. The site continues to be a bright spot for our tornado-affected Forest Lake neighborhood.

Planting collard greens in the main plot.

More collard greens...

Planting the rainbow bed with lettuce, spinach, salad mix, and mustard greens.

Thanks to the help of our dedicated volunteers, we finally erected a storage shed for all of our implements! It took two days to build and lots of hands to keep the pieces from flapping in the wind.

Putting on the final touches...