Michelle Knapik, Environment Program Director
Choosing a starting place for the story of the opening of Nat Turner Park, the largest City-owned park in Newark, is challenging. This is a rich, multi-layered story, filled with numerous champions, diverse entry points and, finally (after nearly 30 years), the realization of many hopes and dreams. (more…)
Michelle Knapik, Environment Program Director
In mid-July I took my grandmother out for a ride through the rolling hills and farmlands of central Pennsylvania. She was anxious to see if the corn was knee high (by the 4th of July – just to finish the old adage) and concerned that the record June rains might have delayed the growing season. As we drove, her field assessments were mostly positive and she felt quite content knowing that she would soon being buying corn from a nearby farm stand. This has been the pattern of her life – connecting farmers, weather, and growing seasons to available fresh (delicious) food.
Today, thanks to organizations like Isles, residents of our urban centers are starting to identify with “knee high by 4th of July,” as well as other notions of gardening and farming as vehicles of neighborhood transformation and community and personal health and wealth. (more…)
