Hoop House

This is a hoop house.

We will be building one on October 18th.

If you would like to help let me know and come on down at around 9am.

I will provide lots of free food in exchange for your willingness to help.

Let me know if you'll be coming so I can plan accordingly.

We Won!

We won the p.h.s. community greening award along with many other folks in the area. Here's why: This lot was abandoned, some kids and a few community organizations cleaned it up, and Courtney orchestrated the work needed to turn it into a community garden.

Charles Street Garden

One of our gardens at The Pittsburgh Project was mysteriously chosen to be judged by a state gardening program. If we win, we get a prestigious award. If we don't, we get these cool pictures that were taken by the judge. Either way we win.

This is a picture of our Charles street garden. The section shown is our "Native American" garden. The students in our "GREEN" class picked themes for our raised beds on Charles Street. We are excited to begin our third year of ecology class and this year we have 5 acres of woods, 1.5 acres of farm, 6 city lots of raised beds, 1 terraced courtyard, and our own classroom to teach in.

This is the entrance to one side of our Charles Street gardens. The gate is made out of old pallets, and the trellis is made of scrap wood. Not bad for garbage.

As seen on T.V.

Here's a picture of the mayor planting collard greens. Unfortunately the ground hog has eaten all but one leaf off of his plant.

If you're interested you can click here to see the farm on T.V.
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/video/16610193/index.html

The Four Gospels Farm on the North Side

From right to left: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (Matt Rosemeyer, Mark Williams, Luke Ravenstahl, and John Lozecki)

With the help of 25+ volunteers including the mayor and a few of his well dressed associates, Lots of hope has officially broken ground on an abandoned ball field. Despite rain and a lack of T.V. cameras the Mayor stayed and worked for the good part of an hour! I hope to be posting more pictures and a video if possible. But don't hold your breath I couldn't even program my cell phone let a lone this new-fangled computerized contraption.

Peace to you all.

Question

Question: What's wrong with Pittsburgh?

Answer: Most people with means, most people with hope, most people with sense leave.

What then shall we do? In my own life, I am currently wrestling with issues of purpose, faith, and community. I am attempting to answer this question by living intentionally where I work, worshiping within walking distance of my house, and working on improving the living conditions of my neighborhood.

I read an iteresting article that was describing the decline of "mill-towns" like Pittsburgh. The bottom line: As long as the factory owners lived in the town where their mills operated, the living conditions in the town were wonderful--parks, good schools, clean streets, and the factories were clean. But when the factory owners moved out of town, the living conditions in the communtiy deteriorated; the factories as a result, or perhaps this is what caused the owners to move, were producing thick clouds of black smoke.

So what am I supposed to conclude? Live where you work. I don't know, is this too much to ask?