Leaf Community

The Lakewood Earth and Food (LEAF) Community's Third Thursday Speaker Series for 2011 continues on July 21st at 7 p.m. with a visit to Lakewood's own Bay Branch Farm.

Bay Branch Farm is an urban market garden in Lakewood, Ohio whose mission is to grow high quality food in a sustainable manner, honoring the soil, the environment, and the people in our community.

Lakewood residents and owners Eric Stoffer and Annabel Khouri began gardening in their own backyard before expanding to a vacant lot in the Birdtown neighborhood in 2009. Now they are regular participants in the Saturday Lakewood Farmer's Market and LEAF Nights and have their own version of a CSA program called A La Farm Carte, where members make a down payment in advance, then choose what they like from the crops available throughout the season.

 

Every Tuesday evening, and all day each Wednesday in June, 56 West will be donating 15% of your bill to Lakewood Earth and Food Community (just say that you are a "friend of LEAF"). 56 West's menu features many local and sustainable ingredients. Enjoy a meal and support LEAF at the same time!

Lakewood Earth and Food (LEAF) Community is a 501c3 non-profit dedicated to the development of a more sustainable, healthful, and economically viable community through environmentally responsible actions producing broad access to fresh local foods, knowledge and culture. 

Want to make steps to "go green," but aren't sure where to begin? Join the Lakewood Earth & Food (LEAF) Community on Thursday, June 16th at 7:00 p.m. at the Beer Engine (15315 Madison Avenue) for a discussion with the Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District (CSWCD) about going green in your own backyard.

Have a small yard or limited garden space because of shade? Just starting out with gardening? Want a few extra vegetables to supplement your shopping? Container gardening may be for you.

The Lakewood Earth & Food (LEAF) Community's Third Thursday Speaker Series returns for its third year, starting with a Vegetable Container Gardening talk this May. This year's first event will take place on May 19th at 7 p.m. at bela dubby (13321 Madison Ave.), where Christine Harris, Master Gardener from the Ohio State University Extension, will share her knowledge of container vegetable gardening with us. A retired educator, Christine has been a Master Gardener since 2004 and has lectured extensively throughout the area. She has appeared on WCPN Ideastream, contributed to the Plain Dealer's "Inside Outside" page, and been named Cuyahoga County Master Gardener of the Year for 2011 (as well as being nominated for Ohio Master Gardener of the Year).

The first signs of spring are here: snow is melting, trees are budding, and the LEAF Open House is coming!

Lakewood Earth & Food (LEAF) Community will be holding its 2011 Open House on Sunday, March 20th, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room at the main branch of the Lakewood Public Library. This is an opportunity to meet LEAF members, find out what’s in store for 2011, get information, and ask questions about LEAF programs like the Third Thursday Speaker Series, bulk buying, community gardening and our community supported agriculture (CSA) programs.

LEAF Community facilitates community gardens at five locations in Lakewood: Cove Park, Kauffman Park, Madison Park, the Westerly, and Webb Park. A historical garden was also initiated at the Oldest Stone House at Lakewood Park and LEAF assisted the Lakewood Library in establishing the Learning Garden at the Madison Branch, both in 2010. Come find out more about each of these gardens and what space is available. Contact leafcommunity+gardening@gmail.com for questions about community gardening.

On the third Thursday of each month from May through September, LEAF Community holds an educational session covering topics related to local food and green living. Topics have included composting, rain barrels, canning, beekeeping, and many others. Sessions are held at local businesses around Lakewood. A representative from the education committee will share the Third Thursday Speaker Series calendar for 2011. Contact leafcommunity@gmail.com for questions about the speaker series.

 

Come celebrate the bounty of the harvest at Lakewood Earth & Food (LEAF) Community's 4th Annual Harvest Festival. The event will be held on Wednesday, October 20th, from 5:30-8:30 p.m. on the front porch of the Lakewood Public Library (15425 Detroit Avenue), extending out into Mars Avenue. Come join the celebration, and don't forget to bring your pre-carved jack-o-lantern for the Pumpkin Carving Contest, pies for the Pie Bake-off, and the whole family for the games, activities, music, vendors, and, of course, locally grown and made food and drink.

Lakewood Earth and Food Community (LEAF) will begin our 20 week celebration of local food and culture on June 9th.  Every Wednesday night from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m., farmers will be driving to the front porch of the Lakewood Public Library to deliver and vend their fresh picked produce. Two Community Supported Agriculture programs, multiple additional local vendors with fresh, local, naturally grown or created goodies, and music will be included at each LEAF Night this summer. In addition to the Wednesday LEAF Nights, a third CSA program will be delivered to the Root Cafe on Thursday evenings.

2010 will be the fifth year Lakewood residents have been participating in Community Supported Agriculture. Starting back in 2006, the first 15 shareholders started the Community Supported Agriculture interest with the Covered Bridge Gardens CSA program. Last year, LEAF assisted over 400 families participate in one of three CSA programs. Community Supported Agriculture or CSA is becoming more and more popular, but many still don't really know what it means. CSA is a model of food distribution where consumers develop a direct relationship with the farmer. People become "share holders", in which they pay the farmer up front and then receive delivery of "shares" (packages of fresh picked food) throughout the season when the farmers harvest them. The CSA model has many benefits for the farmer, the consumer, the environment and the local economy.

When it rains, it pours. And when it pours, stormwater flows into storm drains, causing erosion, water pollution, flooding, and diminished groundwater. The chemicals and particles picked up by rain as it finds its way over pavement and through our sewer system causes a great deal of the pollution of our lakes, streams, and rivers. And, as it turns out, creates an undue burden on that sewer system.

Lakewood Earth & Food Community (LEAF) will be holding its 2010 Open House on Sunday, March 14th from 2:00 to 5:00 at the main branch of the Lakewood Public Library in the Multipurpose Room. This is your opportunity to get information and ask questions about LEAF programs. There will be representatives from our educational series, bulk buying, community gardening and our Community Supported Agriculture programs (CSA).

 
This summer I fell in love.  It has blossomed into a colorful relationship filled with reds, greens, yellows, and blues. This partnership even has an official name, but one that I cannot adopt, because many other ladies and gentlemen are already part of its system.

It’s called my summer CSA program (community supported agriculture). While it might be a summer fling, I’m in it for the long haul.

For $260, and 16-summer weeks, I receive vegetables weekly. Fresh, crispy, mildly organic, Ohio only grown, goodness.  It feels like Christmas comes early when I pick up my fresh blueberries, strawberries, corn, basil, Napa cabbage, and tomatoes. Each week, the mix is different, gorgeous, and delicious.

I pick up a canvas bag mix every Wednesday at the Madison Library, which is the main distribution point. This ever so popular pick-up joint has been orchestrated by the LEAF Community (Lakewood Earth and Food), which is essentially a volunteer based organization of over 600 members. The LEAF Community partners with City Fresh to distribute the shares with the local farmers and other guest vendors.

I recommend these programs to anyone and any family, and most importantly, I save big time. Historically, I’d overspend by $75-$100 at my local Giant Eagle for China-based apples, Chilean grapes, New Zealand kiwis, Idaho potatoes, and who knows what else on other fruits and vegetables.  Join now and experience the summer love for local farmers.

Do you like locally produced, fresh food?  In addition to the great opportunities to buy local food in Lakewood, your chance to buy food grown even closer to home has arrived. A new urban farm has started in Lakewood, Basil and Beyond, LLC, which grows all natural culinary herbs including several types of basil, oregano, chives, sage, rosemary, cilantro and many others.  Basil and Beyond is operated as a small environmentally sustainable business that uses no synthetic pesticides, fertilizers or herbicides. 

After receiving enthusiastic support from Mayor FitzGerald, the Lakewood Earth & Food (LEAF) Community has officially broken ground at plots in Cove, Kauffman, Madison, and Webb Parks, as well as the Plover Garden in Bird Town, for its community gardening initiative in 2008.

Beginning last year with six plots in the Plover Garden, LEAF has expanded its efforts in community gardening to more than 130 plots across Lakewood, including about 20 at Cove and Kauffman Parks, 30 at Madison Park, and more than 50 at Webb Park. Plots are now available to the Lakewood community for a small fee...

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a term given to a model of food production and distribution where a group of people (us) develops a direct relationship with nearby food producers (farmers). Customers enroll in the program to support a grower, who they trust to take good care of their land, crops, and animals. A typical CSA program includes an early spring membership payment, with weekly distribution of produce and other items when they are freshly harvested...