Foreman Urban Agriculture, Inc.

07/25/2022

At our Congress Street project, we pay close attention to our local native pollinators. Our education program brings participants up close and personal to humans symbiotic relationships with these key members of our food chain who play a vital role in our survival.

https://youtu.be/oKn3mzgU92Y

Brown-belted Bumblebee It is native to much of the United States except for the Southwest, and to the southernmost regions of several of the provinces of Can...

07/22/2022

Either the little Barred Rock was oblivious to me looming over the coop, or was taking advantage of the uncrowded feeder.

07/22/2022

This weeks Urban Farm project update:

1. New chickens! A mixed flock of Mystic Marans and Barred Rocks.

2. Sweet 100 tomatoes (ate those… sorry)

3. Caspsicum annuum F1 hybrid. A new hot pepper called “Dragons Toes”. Estimated 75,000 Scoville units, about the same as a Thai Chili.

4. Genovese Basil, ready for harvest.

5. Coneflowers.

6. Watercolor Petunias. (Currently exclusive to us)

7. Hibiscus syriacus.

07/14/2022

What’s happened today? Late season crops are in. New arugula, radish microgreens, Santo cilantro and organic Bellevue MTO Lettuce. Potato bags are coming along strong, and the hoop house is being used by a local Karen family to dry sausage (Yes!!! The REAL DEAL) until our November harvest tomatoes take up residence next week.

06/15/2022

The difference between how we maintain this lot and other NFPs maintain theirs is that we understand that the concepts of both Sustainability and Permaculture are paramount.

This is clearly demonstrated by how we are selectively mowing this week, and leaving the large clusters of red and white clover untouched until they die back. Doing otherwise robs honeybees and other beneficial pollinators of an important food source.

Everyone else just mows everything down.

Not just a middle finger to beneficial pollinators, but also to the ecosystem YOU happen to be a part of as well.

We lead by example, not with just words.

The Foreman Group is a full service Sustainable Urban Community Developer. Parent company of Foreman Naturals.

07/02/2021

Pic 1: On the right, a tiny, blue potato that popped out of the soil in one of our upcycled bins. On the left, a cherry for perspective.

Pic 2: Not tomatoes. The actual fruit of a potato vine, that contains its seeds. We will be collecting these and experimenting with them over the winter.

Pic 3: The Cilantro bed in our Community Project seems to be quite happy.

Pic 4: A delicate, and quite possibly poisonous mushroom that appeared in one of our ornamental beds this morning.

All of the above are being grown in containers and raised beds utilizing 100% organic composted soil we produce onsite.

06/25/2021

Introducing the City Camel 1.0. Created to provide Urban Farmers with a zero turn radius means to get water and fertilizer to sites where vehicle access is impractical or impossible. Gas, electric, or manual pump options are possible.

05/25/2019

Spinach, in. Onions (two types), in. Snow peas, in. Potatoes (three types), in.

05/24/2019

In other news, it looks like we are going to have a food stall at this year's Taste of Diversity Festival.

05/24/2019

Microgreens? Yeah... we're growing those too. Bulls Blood Beets, Rocket Arugula, Pak Choy, Red Arrow Radish, and Garlic Chives will be available soon.

05/22/2019

Late start notwithstanding, Spring is shaping up nicely...

05/16/2019

Springtime comes to Congress, finally.

05/14/2019

About 1000 Sunflower sprouts, and 2500 Four O'Clocks ready to go in, yet the weather continues to be uncooperative.

11/12/2018

Enroute to Tractor Supply Company.

11/11/2018

SUCCESS! A moruga pepper strain that ripens in cold temperatures. These were harvested this morning.







www.theforemangroup.org

10/31/2018

Two hundred likes! You guys ROCK!

Foreman Urban Agriculture, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that seeks to engage members of the community in sustainable, organic agriculture.

09/07/2018

CSA members who took the "Heat It Up!!!" option p̶r̶e̶p̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶m̶e̶e̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶d̶o̶o̶m̶ Your first Grower's Exclusive is ready for harvest, and will be in your next share.

08/05/2018

The eggs are as good as they are because we spoil our hens.

07/18/2018

Beta version of our website should go live today. Link will be posted here.

07/13/2018

The Helen Street field is shaping up. Most of our grow season extension research will be conducted here.

07/13/2018

SPIN Farming. It's what we do.

06/11/2018

No need for a rototiller, or BCS on smaller plots if one has access to a few chickens. In this case, I used a broadfork to turn the compacted soil a bit, then tossed a couple of handfuls of scratch grain into this 700 sq ft plot and let the girls in.

They will till every square inch of this plot, leaving me with a top layer of finely tilled topsoil 2 1/2 inches deep, covering 24 inches of broken up compacted soil.

There is also the added benefit of them eating any unwanted insects they encounter.

In about two hours, I will return to this plot, remove the chickens and put in a Concord grapevine, along with 45 linear feet of organic Kaleidoscope Blend carrots alternating with 45 linear feet of organic lettuce, and 22.5 linear feet each of Mesclun, and Spinach.

05/23/2018

Just a reminder, the buy now buttons are not live. Any e-commerce will be handled through our website.

There will be a limited number of late-season CSA shares available. The exact number is TBD, that information will be on the website as well.

10/27/2017

New generator first run. We'll stay in operation regardless of the status of the grid.

10/20/2017

Grow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWHMYSsFuk4

Made with http://biteable.com

10/20/2017

These are a commercially-produced yellow tomato strain (Lemon Boy) that was grown from seed, in our proprietary organic composted topsoil. It was watered only with rainwater, that fell on, or was collected onsite. No treated, chlorinated (bleach) municipal water was used.

Buy these from a supermarket that acquired them from a factory farm, they're yellow, and a thin, almost tart taste.

Grow them our way, they're orange, and sweet.

We have the power to change the way we eat.

10/20/2017

These are two examples of what tomatoes are supposed to look like. If you have never eaten tomatoes that look like these, then you are also unaware of what tomatoes are supposed to taste like.

Nature gives us visual cues as to what we should eat, and how flavorful it is. Modern factory farming techniques favor volume, and the ability to survive being shipped great distances, ALWAYS at the cost of flavor and nutrition. As a result, many fresh vegetables you see are literally pale comparisons of what they once were.

Those "tomatoes" you buy at the supermarket are bland and tasteless. They LOOK bland and tasteless. Our tomatoes are the ancient strains those supermarket tomatoes were derived from, after a healthy dose of scientific interference that favored durability over taste and nutrition..

Ours are packed with nutrition and flavor, and they scream that to you from a distance: "Look over HERE!!! Eat US!!! We're f*****g BEAUTIFUL... You KNOW you want it..."

Next time you're at the supermarket, pull out your phone, and compare what you see in the Produce section to these... and ask yourself what you'd rather put in front of your guests... those mealy red things, or a dark blush, or yellow with hints of red, and orange, along with iridescent green and gold tiger stripes?

Large-scale farmers, take notice. We can produce these year-round, in this microclimate, IN SOIL, in quantities that allow us to compete with your pricing.

We're a little guy, and we're coming for ya...

10/17/2017

In poultry news, we've learned that a molting Golden Wyandotte Hen is NOT a pretty sight. Her new feathers are coming in quite nicely, but she's lookin' a little rough these past three days.

Poor Hattie Mae...

10/17/2017

THIS is what tomatoes are supposed to look like.

Your Grandmother wouldn't recognize these tomatoes. Neither would your Great-Grandmother.

Your Great-Great-Grandmother would, but she also wouldn't understand WHY you purchase and eat those mealy, oddly monochromatic tomatoes in the plastic clamshell at Tops or Wegmans...

10/13/2017

One for the WIN column on the research side. Successful start to finish cultivation of these LATE harvest (October finish) sweet green and sweet black heirloom varieties. These particular strains have not been grown in this area for over 120 years. The anthocyanin levels in the three black varieties are Off. The. Charts. Mic-dropping levels of antioxidants, along with being the most flavorful tomatoes we have ever grown.

They will be available commercially starting Summer 2018, under our Ancient Vines label. We're hoarding these for ourselves.