Edible Landscaping Project
In conjunction with the Durand City Beautification project, The Durand Chamber of Commerce, Durand Downtown Development Authority, and the City of Durands Beautification Committee.
Ever since we have proposed to the City of Durand to integrate fruits and vegetables into their current landscaping we have had nothing but solid support. This project could be one of the first examples of edible landscaping promoted and funded by the city. Over time, we hope to build a beautiful mixture of bee-friendly flowers and citizen-friendly food as a permanent part of Durands downtown area. We will track the progress, the ups and downs of launching this pilot program. We hope that it will help bring food security to the residents and additional foot traffic in our downtown area.
The program is working hand in hand with the Durand Beautification Project and other local groups to ensure the success of the programs. These downtown initiatives will be completed in several phases. The phases are cleanup, design, planting, pruning and picking. Each of these days will be scheduled in advance and will be posted by the Durand Beautification project Facebook page along with the Durand Chamber of Commerce Facebook page.
Project Goals
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Increase community involvement in the development of Durand MI.
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Increase food security for residents and visitors.
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Increase foot traffic to the business district of the city of Durand. MI
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Give more residents a reason to walk more and drive less
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Give back to the community.
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Put kindness on display in the city of Durand MI.
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Connect different generations through community activity
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Promote healthy eating with increased access to fruits and vegetables.
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Inspire the farm to table concepts
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Encourage regional food access
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Offer Durands youth an additional no-cost activity.
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Make the city more sustainable for the long term.
learn more about these concepts with past episodes explaining the benefits of Editable Landscaping and Gardening
Listen to more: Here
Social Kindness Projects
Municipal Consulting available
Day 1: Durand City Clean Up [Phase 1] Date: April 10th, 2021
Photos by: Fooltography
Where is Durand Michigan?
The Media
Research
a partnership between the Pueblo Food Project and the local CSU Extension Office’s Master Gardener program, three Downtown landmarks now host edible landscapes. Published July 1, 2021
Robinson C, Cloutier S, Eakin H. Examining the Business Case and Models for Sustainable Multifunctional Edible Landscaping Enterprises in the Phoenix Metro Area. Sustainability. 2017; 9(12):2307. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9122307
The Importance of Edible Landscape in the Cities
Çelik, F. (2017). The importance of edible landscape in the cities. Turkish Journal of Agriculture-Food Science and Technology, 5(2), 118-124.
Hansen, K. (2020). Building transformative capacity through the use and production of edible landscapes: A case-study of urban agriculture projects in the context of sustainability transformations (Master's thesis).
REUSING POTENTIALLY CONTAMINATED LANDSCAPES:
Growing Gardens in Urban Soils
This fact sheet provides communities and individuals with general
urban gardening information about:
• Common contaminants that can be found in urban soil.
• Ways to identify contaminants and reduce exposure.
• Improving soils and growing plants in mildly contaminated soil.
• Additional resources and technical assistance.
THE DURAND BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE hosted a second cleanup on Saturday, April 24. Volunteers again worked at cleaning up garden beds and sprucing up the downtown area.
Tuso, P. J., Ismail, M. H., Ha, B. P., & Bartolotto, C. (2013). Nutritional update for physicians: plant-based diets. The Permanente journal, 17(2), 61–66. https://doi.org/10.7812/TPP/12-085
To Donate to the Edible Landscape Project please contact
Address: 109 N Saginaw St, Durand, MI 48429
Phone: (989) 288-3715
Email: office@durandchamber.com
Day 2: Durand City Clean Up [Phase 1] Date: April 24th, 2021
Photos by: Fooltography
May 4th, 2021 - The Durand Edible Landscape Project processes have received approval from the Shiawassee County Health Department and the Produce and Dairy Safety Department. Although we have been approved to move forward, we have decided to invite the Shiawassee County produce health inspectors to offer safety recommendations to improve the food safety of the program. We have committed to at minimum 3 inspections of the program in 2021.
Day 3: Durand City Clean Up [Phase 1] Date: May 8th, 2021
Photos by: Fooltography
Day 4: Durand City Edible Landscape Planting [Phase 2] Date: May 22nd, and 23rd 2021
May 22nd and 23rd, 2021 - Volunteers spent two days working in first the rain and then searing heat weeding planting areas, help mix soil in with the nutrient bare dirt, and also plant nearly 80 fruits and vegetable plants throughout the city along main street. These two days of planting represent 2/3 of the planting required for the program. There is no way this program gets completed without all of the amazing volunteers who are working tirelessly for the community's well-being. Thank you to each and every one of you!
DURAND, MI — An edible landscape is much more complex than a community garden.
Imagine you’re preparing to make one of your favorite salads with a recipe that calls for strawberries, but you don’t have any on hand.
A stroll through the edible landscape could provide you with strawberries, lettuce, and more. Volunteers with the Edible Landscape program, a division of the Durand Beautification Project, planted more than 80 fruits and vegetables this month in downtown Durand and on the south side of town.
Durand sits approximately 15 miles southeast of Flint, in Shiawassee County. Candyce Wolsfeld, executive director for the Durand Chamber of Commerce, said the project has been in the works for several months. “Our plan is to not only provide products for the people in our community but also the farm-to-table aspect and we’ve been working on that with the health department,” Wolsfeld said.
The above-ground planters have been planted with tomatoes, zucchini, strawberries, okra, beans, swiss chard, and peppers.
Read the rest: Here
Day 5: Durand City Edible Landscape Planting [Phase 2] Date: June 5th, 2021
The owner of the Union Station Smokehouse in Durand has offered their front lawn to the Edible Landscape Team. Since then, 12 tomato plants (of multiple varieties), 4 Zucchini, 8 pepper, green beans, and several cucumber plants have been added to the property. Thank you to the Union Station team and leadership!
Check out their menu
Day 6: Durand City Edible Landscape Maintenance [Phase 3] Date: July 10th, 2021
Day 7: Durand City Edible Landscape Maintenance [Phase 3] Date: 7/31/2021
Because of Michigan's unseasonably high rainfall, both the plants and the weeds were growing out of control. We were not planning to do a clean-up day but it seemed as though the plants needed it. We had an amazing group show up Saturday morning with little to no warning and really did a terrific job cleaning up one of our biggest messes. We were also informed that the plants are already producing a decent amount of produce and that residents are already coming out and picking it. With this much citizen interaction, we may not need to hold a city-wide pick event, it's already working.
Day 8: Durand City Edible Landscape Maintenance [Phase 3] Date: 8/7/2021
Help us welcome our new additions to the Durand Edible Landscape Project!
Yes, we were out clipping plants and cleaning the city but I thought you'd like this a bit better.
The Durand Parks and Recreational committee donated 8 (7 fruit-bearing and 1 non) trees to the Durand Beautification Committee and the Durand Edible Landscape Project. We now have 3 apple trees (one of them carries 4 different species of apples), 2 peaches, and 3 pear trees in our community spaces downtown).
Each tree is placed far enough away from walking paths to reduce disruption to our citizens using them and placed in currently unused park space.
Within 3 years, residents will have fresh free fruit to add to their free fruits and veggies downtown. We hope to continue to add more and more perennials as the years go on. Thank you to the Durand parks and Recs for their generous donation!
Day 9: Durand City Edible Landscape Maintenance [Phase 3] Date: 8/14/2021
Citizens decide to hold an additional clean-up event with the summer car show right around the corner.
After cleaning uptown with the Durand Beautification Project. I did a walk-through of the edible landscape project.
I was stopped by residents and was told that they see people picking food every day or at least checking. I was also told kids come through and snack on the free veggies.
At this point, all of the negative comments and doom and gloom scenarios people tossed at up before we started the project can be dismissed.
This program is a success.
Thank you ACE Hardware in Durand MI for your continued generosity.
After Counting active plants in the city and researching the average yield per plant. Durand Michigan is on pace currently to offer more than 300 lbs of fresh fruits and vegetables to anyone who wants them this year. In its first year, the Edible Landscape has planted 198 plants and 7 fruiting trees. The goal is to constantly offer more than 500lbs a year of FREE, fresh food to all at a minimum.
Address: 109 N Saginaw St, Durand, MI 48429
Phone: (989) 288-3715
Email: office@durandchamber.com
To Donate to the Edible Landscape Project please contact
Day 10: Durand City Edible Landscape Maintenance [Phase 3] Date: 9/10/2021
Now that the community is more involved with picking pruning and cleaning, the Durand Beautification Project team was able to cancel yet another cleaning event. Our spaces are clean, citizens are taking ownership and helping with the maintains when no one is looking :)
Day 10: Durand City Edible Landscape Continued Date: 10/4/2021
Today the Durand Beautification Committee members updated the City of Durand on the progress the project has had over the past few months. During the update, it was requested that Durand as a city permanently fun and adopt our initiative into the cities budget. With a vote of 6 Yea, 0 Nay, and 1 Abstain (one council member is also on the beautification committee). So with a financial raise, the edible landscape project is now a yearly funded initiative by the City of Durand!
See more reports below
See the AP article HERE
A Durand residents response posted in the Argus Press
Day 11: Durand City Edible Landscape Clean-up [Phase 4]
Clean-up Update
The team spent two very short (2 hours) clean-up sessions over the fall. We cleaned up, removed, or woodchipped the plants back onto the soil. What we found was residents had already started the clean-up process and the team only needed these four hours over two weeks to really ensure a good clean-up.
The Durand team was interviewed by MDA about the edible landscape project.
Day 12: Durand City Edible Landscape Lesson Learned [Phase 5]
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Volunteer support can taper off throughout the year.
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Schedule the year's worth of dates before starting the program so most can schedule their summer around them.
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Communicate areas of concern on the Facebook page and website so residents know where they can help on their own time if they cannot make a scheduled event.
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Late planting leads to underdeveloped plants and waste.
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Plan out whole garden sites and stick to the planned locations.
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Offer extra plants to residents/volunteers if after the planting event so they can still be grown.
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TBD
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TBD
07
TBD
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TBD
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Pumpkins and watermelons are very large and take over the planting space. Also, residents pick them too early.
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No longer plant in city planters.
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Create patches in unused spaces in town for pumpkins and watermelons.
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Use a red light green light system to residents know when it is time to pick.
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Approximately 15% of plants died within the first month.
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Hold back a number of plants growing in planters that can be transplanted to replace lost plants.
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Better location selection. example - Sweet Peas need shade to grow, all of ours were burnt by the sun. Schedule placement based on the plant's needs and not using visual appeal as the only restriction.
06
TBD
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TBD
08
TBD
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TBD