‘Environment’ Archives
Eat Your Leafy Greens!
By MARY ELLEN KALUZA Summer is in full swing, and our local farmers markets are bursting with the first produce of the season. For several weeks now, enterprising farmers with hoop houses have been supplying us with breathtaking spinach, stunning kale, lovely arugula, and delicious Hakurei turnips, with their yummy greens (a great twofer vegetable!). Fresh vegetables at the local farmers markets are almost always less expensive than in grocery stores, not to mention far more nutritious, as they haven”™t languished in a far-off warehouse for weeks before reaching our refrigerators. Most vegetables start to lose nutrients the minute they are picked, and can lose 50 percent or more in less than a week. So, buying directly from the farmer who was up pre-dawn picking those leafy greens gets you the maximum goodness for your dollar. WHY EAT GREENS? Greens are probably the most nutrient packed food group. They are a great source of important minerals (iron, [...]
Random alley news
By LINDSEY FENNER City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County make Juneteenth an official holiday: They join a growing number of municipalities making June 19, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, an officially observed holiday. Because Juneteenth falls on a Saturday this year, City and County offices will be closed on Friday, June 18 in observation of the holiday. Check hclib.org and www.minneapolisparks.org for Juneteenth celebrations and events. Free membership is coming to Quatrefoil Library: Quatrefoil Library, the community center and resource for LGBTQ+ materials at 1220 East Lake Street, is offering free membership starting June 1. Quatrefoil Library has over 30,000 books, thousands of DVDs and movies, podcasts, and countless other pieces of media. The library has been open for curbside service only during the pandemic, but will start offering in-person hours this summer. Visit their website to learn more: www.qlibrary.org. Emergency [...]
A Closer Look at the Deep Winter Greenhouse going up on 15th Ave.
By ELIZA SCHOLL, HECUA INTERN WITH TAMALES Y BICICLETAS A mild late fall/early winter allowed Jacqueline Zepeda (Pine and Poplar LLC, https://pineandpoplar.org/ @femmeempowermentproject) and Scheidel (Fireweed Community Woodshop https://www.fireweedwoodshop.org/) to continue work on the ridgebeam. Photo: Jose Luis Villaseñor April: Villaseñor and volunteers Bozena Scheidel and Mattie Wong affix polycarbonate to the south face of the greenhouse. Volunteers have been essential to the building of the greenhouse, exchanging their time for new skills and community. Photo by volunteer Jessie Merriam On South 15th Avenue, half a block south of E. 28th St., Tamales y Bicicletas is building a winter greenhouse on its urban garden space. For ten years, the nonprofit has used bikes and urban farming to reduce the environmental impacts of the heavy concentration of industry on the East Phillips community. "How do we decolonize our food systems that then leads to [...]
