Posted on 10/24/2020 6:15:08 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
High above the Boston Medical Center grows a bountiful organic vegetable garden that feeds patients, staff and the poor.
More than a hundred volunteers tend the garden, which includes kale, collard greens, bok choy, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, peppers, eggplant, beans, squash and a wide variety of herbs.
The crops are grown in organic soil in recycled milk crates and are pollinated by two onsite beehives that provide honey as well. The 2500-square-foot farm also provides habitat for bees in an otherwise uninhabitable urban setting.
The eco-farm insulates the building reducing cooling and heating costs and absorbs rainwater that would otherwise contribute to sewage overflow in the city streets below.
But most of all, the rooftop garden provides nutritious food for those who need it most, between 5000 and 7000 pounds of it per year.
“Food is medicine. That’s why we’re doing what we’re doing,” says David Maffeo, the hospital’s senior director of support services.
“Most people associate hospitals with terrible food, which is really interesting because right when we’re at our most vulnerable, in hospitals, you’d think that would mean we need nourishing food,” adds Lindsay Allen, the farm’s manager.
Allen manages a composting system to keep the soil fertilized and intersperses a variety of crops to ward off pests and attract beneficial bugs.
“I try to think of this farm as an ecosystem as much as possible,” Allen says. “How do we keep all of the scraps that we aren’t actually using for food onsite, so that we can continue to create soil and compost up here?”
As a “safety net” hospital, BMC mostly serves low-income and elderly patients. It offers free gardening, cooking and nutrition classes, and free food to low-income families.
“We know that between 40% and 60% of individual health is determined by non-clinical factors. So it’s important that the healthcare industry thinks about issues that impact and drive health like food access and housing,” Kate Sommerfeld, president of social determinants of health at ProMedica, told Reuters.
“Most urban environments are food deserts. It’s hard to get locally grown food and I think it’s something we owe our patients and our community, Maffeo said.
Well, you can buy 3% H2O2 and use it. It still needs to be diluted.
https://therustedgarden.blogspot.com/2018/08/how-to-manage-fungal-diseases-on-your.html
“Let your food be medicine and your medicine be food!”
Hippocrates I think.
7000 Lbs is a good amount for a space that size in the middle of a city!
MwH,
A beautiful glowing yellow! Pawpaw are (as you probably know) are food (Nectar) for yellow swallowtails. (Not fluttering around at this time of year of course.)
When young my mother took me and my brothers and sisters out to collect wild asparagus the fence lines out in the country. I am in a suburb and do not have room for a large garden. A small 14 x 24 soup and salad garden is all.
Sigh. Need to go out plant garlic for next year and cover the leeks for this year.
I was thinking more the the bittersweet.
https://www.mortonarb.org/trees-plants/tree-plant-descriptions/american-bittersweet
or:
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/oriental_bittersweet_an_aggressive_invasive_plant
Very Nice!
getting back to the weather, hubby went out hunting this morning, with some snow on the ground, and the temp was 11degrees!
I guess I can pick some kale now, lol...should be good and sweeter....
Oh, Boston general I see....wonderful....
The type of vines I have are American bittersweet and not the very invasive and larger Oriental bittersweet. -Tom
If I ever have to go back to work (for pay!) I’d like to run a garden like that. :)
Great article——”food is medicine”....says it all.
Lemon Company Cheesecake Ing For Crust 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs 2 tablespoons sugar 3 tablespoons butter, melted Ing For Filling 19 ounces cream cheese 1 cup sugar 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel 1/4 teaspoon vanilla 3 eggs 1 cup Sour Cream, or Cherry Glaze Ing For Cherry Glaze 1 can pitted red tart cherries, syrup reserved 2 tablespoons cornstarch 1/2 cup sugar 4 drops red food coloring, optional
METHOD For Crust:Preheat oven to 350. Melt the butter. Mix graham cracker crumbs, 2 tablespoons sugar and melted butter. Press into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool completely.
METHOD For Filling: Preheat oven to 300. Beat cream cheese in a large mixer bowl. Add 1 cup sugar gradually, beating until fluffy. Add lemon peel and vanilla. Beat in eggs 1 at a time until just blended, do not over mix.. Pour mixture over cooled crumb crust. Bake until center is firm, about 1 hour. When center is firm, turn off oven and keep door closed. Allow cheesecake to cool completely in the closed oven. This will prevent the cheesecake from sinking and cracking. When completely cool, refrigerate at least 3 hours but no longer than 10 days. Loosen edge of cheesecake with a knife before removing side of pan. Top with sour cream or Cherry Glaze, or both.
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METHOD for Cherry Glaze: Add enough water to reserved cherry syrup to measure 1 cup. Mix sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan. Stir in syrup mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in cherries and food color. Cool completely.
Thanks for the tip. I did not know H202 helped in fighting disease, only that it helped growth. I used a Copper Fungicide to combat what I think was Fusarium wilt. You can get 3% peroxide cheap in the supermarket, but the shipping makes it too expensive by mail, thus the value of 35% H202. $65.00 plus likely that much for shipping for a gallon at the site mad_as_he$$ told me of.
Good deal Tom!
You don’t want the other! I’ve spent years trying to eradicate my oriental Honeysuckle infestation!
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