This past week, the Healthy Cooking and Simple & Delicious magazine teams toured an urban farm called “Growing Power.” Located in the heart of Milwaukee, this two-acre community food center has it all! Our tour included everything from their greenhouses to livestock. We sampled freshly harvested sunflower sprouts and arugula and even got to feed the fish in their ponds.

We also learned just how easy it is to start your own compost bin at home. Who knew? And we discovered how valuable all of those little worms in our gardens are—breaking down the foodstuffs into reusable fertilizer and soil. The farm is so well managed that nothing goes to waste; peelings, roots and woodchips are all put back into the earth to help the new crops grow. The farm has systems in place to recycle rainwater, and even to retain heat in the greenhouses in the cold of winter. We expanded our vocabularies with new words such as, “aquaponics” (growing beds above fish ponds for food production) and “anaerobic digester” (a machine designed to generate energy from the farm’s waste).

It was truly great to see these people so dedicated to getting the community involved in sustainable farming practices! If you would like more information, visit their Web site at http://www.growingpower.org/Index.htm.

Alicia Bozewicz
Associate Food Editor, Healthy Cooking