GROWING POWER: A VOLUNTEERS JOURNAL Our goal is a simple one: to grow food, to grow minds, and to grow community. Growing Power began with a farmer, a plot of land, and a core group of dedicated young people. Today, our love of the land and our dedication to sharing knowledge is changing lives. About the Organization: Growing Power, located on Silver Spring and 53rd Street in Milwaukee, was established in 1993 by Will Allen. The idea of the organization was to supply teens with a place to work and learn how to grow food for their own community. Growing Power supplies people of all ages with many different learning opportunities. You can go on a tour, volunteer or even go to workshops where you learn to take Growing Power ideas and bring them home. The main agricultural systems used at Growing Power are aquaponic systems and vermacompost. An aquaponic system is a circular system that uses both plants and fish to work with one another. (To the right is a picture of a Growing Power aquaponic system) Fish on the lower level of the aquaponic system are used to create sediment which is then sucked up by a hose and pumped into the upper levels and as the water travels through the peat gravel, the sediment is trapped and the clean water is returned to the fish level. The sediment provides nutrients for the
Katie Rademacher growing plants. At Growing Power, they have three tilapia systems and six yellow perch systems. Once the fish reach a mature size, the fish are harvested and then sold to local vendors such as restaurants, market basket customers, and they are a favorite in ethnic markets. Vermacompost, otherwise known as worm compost, is another method for providing nutrients for plants. (Pictured to the right are worms)worms are proven to be a vital resource not just another creepy, crawly and slimey bug. Unlike the aquaponic system, there is only one species of worms they use. There are many benefits to vermacompost. They include improving soil's physical structure, improving water holding capacity, enriching soil in microorganisms, adding plant hormones, adding enzymes such as phosphatase and cellulase, attracting deep-burrowing earthworms already present in the soil, enhancing germination, plant growth, and crop yield, and improving root growth and structure. In addition to worms and fish, Growing Power also is a home for bees. Bees are used to produce honey and beeswax. Chickens and goats call Growing Power home as well. The waste from both animals are used as compost material. Also, the chickens produce fresh eggs daily. Along with being an urban garden and a place for youth to volunteer, Growing Power is also a valuable source of produce that they stock with fresh food daily. Also, you may purchase fish and worms from them for using your at-home food growing. How is Growing Power Connected: Growing Power is connected to the community because people of all ages participate in all of the Growing Power activities. Also, Growing Power sells its food to local restaurants and people of neighboring areas. Growing Power sells its food to as many as fifteen different store and restaurant locations. Some of the more notable places are Outpost Natural Foods, Roots and Beans & Barley. (Beans and Barley pictured to the right) The amount of yellow perch caught from Lake Michigan has begun to dwindle in the past few years, making the production of yellow perch at Growing Power a big deal for the local fish eaters. Growing Power is not only about selling its food locally to stay connected. But also to keep the community connect to
a sustainable way of farming. This sustainability will keep the tradition of Growing Power alive for generations to come and to hopefully keep the connection alive as well. Growing Power, Differences and Inequalities within the Urban Environment: Growing Power is openly fighting the inequality of urban America by not only providing food for the impoverished but by educating and providing volunteer work to the inter-city youth. The value of the education provided by Growing Power is invaluable because of their mission of dedication to quality and sustainable agriculture in an intercity environment which demonstrates a good use of small space and teaches good values. Is Acting Locally Enough? Todays world is facing economic problems, world poverty, war and climate change. All of these problems are serious issues on a global level that will be problems for all future generations. Growing Power is a small local battle ground to prevent these issues. Growing Power is fighting this battle at a local level, by educating the young and old sustainable ways of growing food and core values for life in general. All of these big problems are at both a global and national level, but they cannot be solved without action first taken at a local level. Growing Power is great example of something that started on a small plot of land with one man with a great ambition and idea to help out the area. Over the past 15 years it has blossomed into something that has spread to Chicago and has been recognized nationally. The ideas of Growing Power are to benefit and make the world a better and more long lasting place. I personally believe that the major world problems cannot be tackled by a country as whole, but must first be tackled by small groups who have their hearts in the fight to stop these devastating world problems. The uniting of local groups, eventually meet with other local groups and soon form national feelings towards certain things. Ultimately to see a change I believe the first steps need to be made in our own local communities and work their way up through the levels. Growing Power is the essence of this idea and proves to be working to fight against the current struggles of the world. My Personal Experience: When I went to my orientation at Growing Power I drove by and had to turn around. From the outside the organization looks so small, when I think of a farm I think of huge crop fields. But, that is not what Growing Power is, Growing Power is a good use of space. When you first walk through the doors you enter in a little store full of fresh produce that they have for sale. I was confused as to where to go from there, but I asked the lady at the counter and she showed me to go into the greenhouse where there was a long table of filled with all sorts of random and different chairs. A few more people arrived and then the orientation began. Katie was our leader and she mostly told us the history of the organization and all the good things they do for the local area. Also about how all sort of people come to volunteer both young and old and form all sorts
of different backgrounds. Which kind of reminded me of all the random chairs and how all sorts of people come together to work towards the same goal. After being filled in about all of the history we were asked to fill out some basic paper work. Then we were taken on a tour. Growing Power may be on a small plot of land but there is so much going on there, there are plants everywhere shelves and shelves of them, some are on pallets and there are also tons of them hanging in baskets. (hanging baskets pictured to the right) We walked through all of the green houses and showed all of the different plants that are being grown. We were also showed the washing stations and where all of the produce is processed and goes to be prepared to be sold. Our tour guide also explained the system of aquaponics and also how the worms are grown and how much they help the composting system. The aquaponics are one of the real reasons that Growing Power can function on its small plot of land as efficiently as it does. After going through all of the greenhouses we head outside. To see a gigantic mound of compost (pictured to the left is Will Allen standing on a mound of compost) that is being rotated by the Growing Power staff. We end the tour with looking at all of the goats and chickens that they have. I returned a few weeks later to do my actual service learning hours. I arrived around one o clock, found a pair of gloves and boots and was lead outside to start working. I was given another mini tour to refresh where everything was and then I was given a brief overview of what was going to be done that day. I was introduced to Jafe, an older man that is a frequent volunteer. Our project was to lay pallets down and then to transfer pots from the top row of two aquaponics system and transfer them outside onto the pallets.the pots were being moved because a type of mouth had been eating away at the plants and all of the plants were to be removed and reseeded to start again and hopefully avoid the hungry moths. I immediately got all muddy because the bottoms of the pots were all full of the fish sediment. I carried the pots by two and brought them outside to the pallets. I did this job for about two hours, by the time I was done I couldn t feel my arms. It was a lot of hard work, but it was a big project that had to be done to restart this aquaponic system and get it back into action.
(The picture to the right is the picture of the two aquaponics systems that had to have its plants removed.) I have really learned a lot about agriculture, but also a lot about myself. I have learned that action needs to be taken at a local level to begin to solve things at a national level. Growing Power s atmosphere was fun and friendly. I learned many things that I will take with me in my future gardening and life. Conservation and sustainable use of land is near to my heart and something that I am very interested in. It was exciting to see something that I believe in having such a big impact on a local area, but also effecting a whole city in a positive way.
Works Cited Allen, Will. "Growing Power." Growing Power. 10 Aug. 2008. 29 Apr. 2009 <http://www.growingpower.org/>