Courtesy of the Friends of the Regional Park

A botanic garden is a terrific place to go for an easy refuge from nearby urban spaces, and a chance to visualize the diversity and importance of plants in a natural environment.

Spanning ten acres, the Tilden Park Botanical Garden was designed in the 1940’s as a preservation area, and showcase of California plants including rare and endangered grasses, shrubs, trees, and flowers. The area features a year-round creek that runs through the gently sloping site into a cool rainforest preserve with several grassy enclaves for picnicking or quiet meditation. And for those who want to learn about the wide array of plants, many species are labeled by name and region.

According the garden’s website, it includes “nearly all of California’s conifers and oaks as well as collections of California manzanitas wild lilacs, grasses, aquatic plants, and flowering bulbs that are among the most complete to be found anywhere.” A visit here is indeed a virtual tour of the Golden State.

But did you know that botanical gardens are found near or within urban centers all over the country?

Billy Discovers the Creek

Here is a website that lists the best botanical gardens across the United States.

What is your favorite Botanical Garden? What do you like to do there?

My six-year-old son Billy and I recently had the privilege to lend a hand to “raise” a garden at Kennedy High School in Richmond, California. We arrived mid-morning at a southern exposed site nestled near the school’s track. The work area swarmed with students, school staff, parents, and Urban Tilth, the organizing non-profit who produced the day as part of its project, 2 Farms in 2 Days.

Not too little to help

The intention behind this weekend event aims to produce real, productive farms that, according the organization’s website, “grow food that directly changes the food landscape of the families in the schools of Richmond,” where there are too few options for local residents to find fresh produce — a common challenge for many urban and underserved communities.

Doria Robinson, the Executive Director of Urban Tilth, and third-generation resident of Richmond, said that it was, “important that these farms be raised by those who represent the community,” and judging from the dozens of young brown faces present that day, her organization succeeded.

Our party wheel barrowed steaming compost, carefully laid railroad ties, edged raised beds of edible native plants with mulch, and planted several half-gallon pots of the venerable purple collard greens.

Adding to the mix of helpers was a goat trimming the nearby grass and some chickens adding value to the soil. For most of the morning and early afternoon it rained, but the entire group worked steadfast and in good humor, serenaded by the beats of the local hip-hop station. Most present knew this event was merely the beginning. These Kennedy High students will learn how to manage the farm and its produce, earning college credit along the way. And most importantly, lay a foundation for a healthier, sustainable community.

To learn more about Urban Tilth and how you can support their efforts to create sustainable foodways, check out their website!

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Welcome to the Inaugural Edition of the Outdoor Afro Blog Carnival!

Wooo hooo….confetti falls…

NOT a Ferris Wheel!

It’s about the youth…

Speaking of fans…DNLee is someone I have followed for the last several months, and I was thrilled to share her blog during my presentation at the Breaking the Color Barrier Conference in Atlanta last fall to a crowd who was wowed by her efforts to expose more people to the practical wonders of STEM. Today, she presents Urban Science Adventures! ©: Adventures from Summer Camp posted at Urban Science Adventures! ©, described as, “a recap (full of pictures of little OutdoorAfros) of my experiences as a day camp urban nature camp counselor. I think I had as much fun as the kiddies”

Photo: Olena Zhadko

She was so excited about this carnival, DNLee decided to share more of her wealth of knowledge from her blog:  Urban Science Adventures! ©: 100 + Things You Can Do Outside! saying, “Okay, this is really old, but the things I recommend for kids, families, and individuals to do outside never gets old. How many of these things have you done?” And she is right! See for yourself!

Brown and Green

Dianne Glave presents Mother, Lumberjack, and Turpentine!? posted at Rooted in the Earth: a companion blog to her forthcoming book Rooted in the Earth: Reclaiming the African American Environmental Heritage coming out in August 2010. She talks about the ambivalent relationship between African Americans and trees, and weaves in her own family history that notes some generational shifts relating to trees and the outdoors:

Trees as a means to earn a living

Getting Outside

axel presents Traveling And Personal Growth posted at axel g., a journal of travels all over Africa, that provides vivid detail of his personal experiences in each region.

Appalachian Trail

Scott Amundson gives us a turn-by-turn evocative tour of the Appalachian Trail with his post: AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM: THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL from the HIKING ADVENTURE blog. The Appalachian Trail is now definitely on my list of go-to places!

Jehan taking youth outdoors

Jehan became a fan of the Outdoor Afro Facebook page and I found her blog, and fell in love! Here is her post: A Walk in the Woods posted at “She pulled in her horizon like a great fishnet…” that chronicles the stirrings of love for the outdoors she experienced as a child; feelings that guide her to this day.

Gloria Ware’s Blog is another blog-crush of mine. She adds to the mix: Leading The Way Into The Wilderness: Re-Engaging Black Folks With Nature posted at Black and Into Green, saying, “Let’s get out there!”

Gloria

Her other wonderful posts related to gardening, spirituality, and healthy food will keep you (like me!) coming back for more.

~*~*~*~*

Look for future editions of the Outdoor Blog Carnival that push the envelope regarding what it means to get outdoors.

You can submit a blog article to the next edition of Outdoor Afro Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Technorati tags: outdoor afro carnival, blog carnival.

Take a look at how Detroit teen moms are reclaiming abandoned neighborhoods and creating farms to feed their children in the film, “Grown in Detroit”, by independent Dutch filmmakers Mascha & Manfred Poppenk.

To learn more, visit the film website: http://grownindetroit.tv

flickr.com/prettywarstl: a nice plate!

Thanksgiving in my family is more than the delicious turkey, pies, and cobblers my sister Delane makes; it is also a celebration of food that preserves the memories and experiences of those who have passed on, symbolized through the remaking of family recipes…Cherrie’s dressing, Ella mae’s Pea Salad…the matriarchs of my family pulled greens from their garden for dinner, they plucked the feathers of fresh foul, and cleaned the fish they caught in local lakes for Friday fish fries.

Our family also has gratitude for the new generation and experiences that nod toward the future by introducing new culinary creations, such as the anticipated “newlywed dish” from Christine and Antoine this year, my next-generation cornbread dressing that has become a family favorite, and Uncle Jerry’s deep fried turkey that produces the juiciest, tastiest bird in record time.

With everyone at the table, sometimes for the first time in months, it’s a perfect time to discuss goals for your family in the coming year and also celebrate the accomplishments.

This year at the table, I hope you will join me in having a discussion with your loved ones about ways to get back in touch with the outdoors. I’ll bet someone at the table, especially an elder, can recall circumstances that mirror Cherrie and Ella mae’s, and remind us at a personal level the intimate and sustainable interaction possible with the outdoors. These shared experiences can connect people more than we imagine, so don’t let your eyes glaze over when the elders are speaking…you’ll miss something important, I assure you.

Flickr.com/Circulating: The Harvest

The point is not to create a complicated or overly-ambitious plan for the outdoors, but to figure out what activities feel comfortable for everyone and commit to do something. Perhaps it’s a short family hike over this holiday weekend; planning more picnics, starting a family garden, taking up bird-watching, or perhaps  polling to see which child (or adult) still needs to learn to swim, and make it a family goal for everyone to learn how before summer.

If you are an outdoorsy family already, then break out the recent trip photos and recall stories to celebrate your activities, keep the excitement around them alive, and inspire new adventure ideas.

I am profoundly thankful Outdoor Afro is here (and growing) to share the diverse experiences of folks of color doing outdoor activities, while inspiring more people to reconnect with outdoor activities that are not as otherworldly as they sometimes appear.

From my family to yours – Have a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving!

My very best,
Rue

It might have been a small patch of dirt, a few pots on the porch, or an expanse of acreage. No matter the size, the family garden plot is a seminal part of the African American experience from slavery to land ownership. But after a century of mass black migration north to urban centers, the produce section of the supermarket has supplanted the backyard vegetable garden, which was the source of the freshest collard greens; sweet corn, tomatoes, carrots and more — and folks who ate those foods straight from the garden were healthier for it.

For urban dwellers, space limitations are a challenge, which is why Mario and Kellen Gillespie of Roots and Shoots, LLC share innovative solutions to get Chicago city dwellers back in touch with gardening within any budget or space.

“We help people understand how much money they save just by growing herbs instead of buying them in the store,” says Mario in a recent interview with Outdoor Afro.

Meanwhile in Oakland, California, People’s Grocery increases awareness of eating for health and economic sustainability through events, education, and an urban gardening program. In the West side of this town, there is no grocery store from which people can obtain fresh produce. This critical reality is what helped mobilize the organization into action to change the way food distribution systems work. People’s Grocery believes “everyone should have access to healthy food, regardless of income” — and certainly getting people outside gardening is one important step in that direction.

I currently live in an apartment that provides just a balcony for personal outdoor space. So last summer, after years off as a gardener, I decided to start a little victory garden of herbs and tomatoes in an old wine barrel. I picked up seedlings and soil from the local nursery, and I was on my way! Here is one of the delicious beauties I harvested:

Please support these organizations and others like them to help bring back the practice and benefits of gardening:

People Grocery

Roots and Shoots, LLC

Also, check out the book, “To Love the Wind and the Rain” edited by Dianne Glave and Mark Stoll. The book is a wonderful analysis of the relationship between African Americans and the environment in U.S. history, and specifically discusses the evolution of gardening.

Leave a comment and share your garden memories or aspirations!