FAO Volunteer Rafael Merchan was
in Nicargaua where the Growing Connection has begun operations. He
took a whole bunch of photos which
he has posted on Flickr and
also has a really great blog here.
THE GROWING CONNECTION
NURTURES AT-RISK YOUTH
This summer,
at-risk youth in Binghamton, NY, will gain job skills by growing,
harvesting, and marketing fresh vegetables, herbs, and flowers,
courtesy of The Growing Connection.
Gearing up for its third summer,
this innovative entrepreneurial program aims at providing job training
skills such as customer service, advertising, and marketing. It
is sponsored primarily by the Binghamton's Center City Weed and
Seed Strategy and Binghamton University's Center City Coordination
Program, and implemented by Broome County Gang Prevention (BCGP). (Click
here to read the entire story)
THE GROWING CONNECTION
GROWS IN CHICAGO
Two
award-winning restaurants in Chicago, Illinios recently unveiled
their new TGC gardens! Chef Mike Altenberg’s Crust and
Chef Rick Bayless’s Frontera
Grill
are the proud new hosts of beautiful TGC gardens. Fresh organic
produce harvested right on the premises can now be used for fresh
menu additions, food bank donations, and delicious gifts. Both
of these restaraunts are not-to-be-missed in the Chicago restaurant
community, so check out their new gardens as you sit down for dinner!
UPDATE - NEW YORK
CITY'S INTERNATIONAL EarthBox PLANTING DAY
New York City’s International EarthBox Day was a huge success! Thank
you to all the people who helped make this event possible – the
city will be green with TGC gardens this summer!
THE GROWING CONNECTION GARDEN
AT GOOGLE HQ
We are proud to announce The Growing Connection Garden at Google.
The Garden consists of 100 EarthBoxes all planted with vegetables
and herbs from different regions of the world. The Garden was planned
in cooperation with the Chefs at Google, and made possible with
support from Google and the Master
Gardeners of Santa Clara County and volunteers from Google, University
of California - Cooperative Extension, EarthBox,
and TGC.
TGC Advisory Co-Chair and Google Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist
Vint Cerf, Google Food Service Manager John Dickman and Dr. Maria
de la Fuente from the UC-Davis Cooperative Extension spoke at a
brief ceremony on Monday, May 1. We
have posted a short video of Vint Cerf's comments below, and have
also invited Vint to stop by and guest blog on the site here.
THE GROWING CONNECTION
AT WHOLE FOODS MARKETS IN NEW YORK CITY
Thank you to the Whole Foods Markets in Manhattan and to all the
friends of The Growing Connection who showed up to support the
project. The generous donation of 5% of sales on March 7th
by Whole Foods Markets in Manhattan will be used to support local
school gardens in the greater New York region and project expansions
overseas.
THE GROWING CONNECTION - AT WIRED NEXTFEST 2006 - NEW YORK,
NY
Thanks to everyone for stopping by our
exhibit at WIRED
NextFest 2006,
at the Jacob Javits Center in
New York City, and a special thank you to Philson Warner's students
from New York City for growing all of
the corn and most of the herbs and veggies we showcased at NextFest.
Also, thank you to Kastura's Kids from Newport, Rhode Island for
their contribution to the booth.
“DIRT IN A BOX MIGHT SAVE THE
WORLD” - THE CHICAGO READER
The Growing Connection was featured on the front
page of the January 19th issue of The
Chicago Reader. Click here to
download a PDF of the entire story. You will need software capable of reading
a PDF document such as Adobe Acrobat which is available for free here.
CHECK OUT THE AHS RIVER FARM BLOG
The Research and Demonstration garden
at River Farm, the headquarters of the American Horticultural Society
in Alexandria, VA, is in full bloom. Check out their blog by clicking here.
TGC RECEIVES BRONZE MEDAL AT CHICAGO FLOWER & GARDEN
SHOW
The Growing Connection's display at
the Chicago Flower & Garden
Show was awarded the Bronze Medal Award
for the Horticulture Division.
The Growing Connection links
people and cultures in a revolutionary campaign that introduces low-cost
water efficient and sustainable food growing innovations hand in hand
with access to technology and information via existing and emerging technologies. It
provides a sound educational foundation, and offers hundreds of families,
both in America and abroad, a concrete opportunity to earn income and
climb out of desperation. Perhaps
most important, The Growing Connection engages people – a
network of committed individuals - in an elegant solution to
one of man’s fundamental
challenges.
How does it work? School
gardening programs and community gardens around the world
grow vegetables in an EarthBox system.
that becomes a common growing platform for all participants. Students
grow food, conduct horticultural experiments and share their lessons
and experiences with each other using IT connectivity. Through
modern IT installations, The
Growing Connection participants in a number of countries are
directly linked. And
importantly, they are also connected to sources of vital information
and advice on growing food. Those once the most isolated can now grow,
learn, and chose their own opportunities and destinies.
MORE INFORMATION
Download our new brochure here and
a printable version of it here.
Download
our EarthBox Fact Sheet here,
and a printable version of it here.
Click here to
watch a short film about the project.
