Upcoming Events:


February 2012

OneLove Nutrifest

OneLove Nutrifest is a grassroots network on a musical platform designed to push our "green" identity on all levels with our focus on environmental sustainability.  A funfilled day of social consciousness, community and environmental awareness, with an urgent humanitarian effort to fight poverty and feed the hungry whilst providing ecologically engineered economic transformation on a global level.

OneLove Nutrifest is the rescheduled event for Bayside Rocks 2011

 

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Downtown Miami

www.onelovefest.com

 

FEF will be participating in this events and needs volunteers.  Please contact Judy, judy@fertileerth.org if you are interested in volunteering.  Volunteers will receive free admission.

 


January 2012

FEF Monthly Meeting

Our 1st meeting of the year.  This will be and informative meeting and ideal for those of you who are interested in volunteering or just want to know what FEF is all about.

 

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

7:00pm - 8:00pm

Location Pending Confirmation

 

 

Redland Heritage Festival @ Fruit & Spice Park

Beauty in its Natural Element

 

A tradition at the park since 1976, this annual festival features arts and crafts, historic exhibits, a large selection of tropical plants and great food.  Children's activities include a petting zoo, pony rides, an interactive puppet and magic show, and a wild and wonderful Everglades reptile show.

 

January 21 & 22, 2012

10:00 am - 5:00 pm

 

Volunteers needed for this event, to help man the booth.  Please contact Judy, judy@fertileearth.org to sign up.  Volunteers will receive free admission.

Shifts are 9:30 - 1:30 and 1:30 - 5:30, Saturday & Sunday

 

Special Recycling Events:

 

Recycling should be a standard part of any special event, and although it takes a lot of work it is well worth the effort.  That is why FEF has made it one of its main objectives.  Events that FEF has recycled for.

 

Wine & Food Festival 2011 - Food Compost

 

Art Basel - Casa Wynwood - Miami International Thinkers

 

Swedish House Mafia - Holloween Masquerade Ball

 

 

 

Past Events:

December 2011

"Weekend at the Farm"

December 10th - 11th, 2011

Paso Fino Horse Farm, Homestead

We are teaming up with the leaders of the sustainability movement in Miami to bring you a weekend of learning and entertainment.

Get out of the city and camp with us at the farm or just join us for an event or two.  The line up includes:


Saturday, December 10th:

  • Make your Own Tofu & Kombucha Workshop (10:30 am - 12 pm)

  • Lunch

  • Introduction to Permaculture Workshop - the Major Difference is "Design" (1 - 3 pm)

  • Building a Sweat Lodge Workshop (3 - 5 pm)

  • Building a Sweat Lodge FULL Workshop (10:30 am - 5 pm)

  • Dinner

  • Sweat Lodge Ceremony (7 pm - 9 pm)

 

Sunday, December 11th:

  • Yoga (7:45 am - 8:45 am)

  • Breakfast (9 am - 10 am)

  • Food Forest Lecture (10 am - 12 pm)

  • Lunch

  • Pros and Cons of Biochar Workshop (1 -3 pm)

  • Horseback Riding (3 - 5 pm)

Sign up at http://fertileearth.myshopify.com/collections/miscellaneous

 

MAY 2011

"A Day at the Worm Farm" - We need volunteers to help us in the clearing out of debris at the worm farm. You are welcome to come all day or half a day.

Please rsvp: judy@fertileearth.org

Sunday, May 22

From 9 am - 6pm

 

 

"Volunteer Appreciation Day" - FEF only exists because of volunteers like you!  We can't thank you enough for all that you do but we can certainly try!  Join us for a Satuday lazy afternoon picnic at the beach.

Please rsvp: judy@fertileearth.org

 

Saturday, May 21, 2011 @ 2:30 - 6:30

5th Street on South Beach

 

 

"Feast on the Farm" Fundraising Dinner & Live Auction

 

May 7, 2011 @ Paradise Farms

6 p.m. until 10 p.m.

 

Guests attending the “Feast on the Farm” fundraising dinner will savor a four course organic, gourmet vegetarian meal prepared by local chefs that include Ken Blue and Renate Wallner of the world-renowned Hippocrates Health Institute; Dionette Kalkhofer chef/owner of Om Garden and Micah Edelstein, former Top Chef contestant and chef/owner of neMesis Green Urban Bistro. It will be the first and possibly only chance to taste dishes from the Om Garden since the restaurant closed its doors a year ago, and one of the few appearances of Chef Ken Blue outside Hippocrates. 

 

Presale Tickets: $100.00/pp

after April 25, 2011 @ $125.00/pp

Seats are limited and tickets will not be sold at the event

http://fertileearth.myshopify.com/products/feast-on-the-farm-dinner-fundraiser-2011

 

APRIL 2011

"The Food & Garden Festival" at Fairchild - Join us in the annual celebration of local foods and the gorgeous gardens they grow in.

 

Workshop by Lanette Sobel "Composting for Kids": use your food & paper waste to make the best soil posssible for your garden. -- Sunday, May 1st @ 1:00 p.m.

 

Visit our booth and take home some "Black Gold" aka Castings, which will be reduced to 50% off regular price during festival only.

When: April 30th & May 1st, 2011                     

Time: 9:30 am - 4:30 pm

 

 

"EARTH DAY" @ WHOLE FOODS MIAMI BEACH

Celebrate Earth Day in style with us and taste sustainable delicacies including organic, sustainable & fair trade treats storewide.  Bring the kids by Fertile Earth Foundation's booth and discover why worms are Nature's gift to our planet.

When: Friday, April 22, 2011                                       

Time: 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

 

 

"EARTH FEST 2011" @ Crandon Park

The single largest celebration of Earth & sustainability in South Florida.  Interactive educational exhibits, tram tours, nature walks, "green" vendors, vegetarian & vegan food, music and earth-friendly activities for kids.

When: Sunday, April 17, 2011                                     

Time: Noon - Sundown

 

 

November, 2010

"Celebrate America Recycles Day" - Informational booths, free giveaways, recycling collections, workshops and presentations.

 

Stop by the FEF booth and charge your iphone or blackberry, while riding a stationary bike. 

 

Take part in our Composting Workshop @ 12:30 pm

 

Sunday, November 21st from 10:00 am till 3:00 pm on Lincoln Road at the Euclid Circle

 

"Ramble Garden Festival" - Join us at South Florida's most loved garden party.  Stop by our booth and experience "black gold" worm's gift to our earth.

 

Friday, November 12th - Sunday, November 14th from 9:30 am till 4:30 pm at Fairchild Tropical Garden

 

 

October, 2010

"The Edible Garden Festival" - Participate in our workshop "Growing Great Soil with Compost and Amendments" at the gardening demonstrations, next to the butterfly garden at 12:30 pm on the 23rd. We will have worms, worm casting and worm tea available for purchase.

 

Saturday October 23rd & 24th @ Fairchild Tropical Garden

 

April, 2010

"Food & Garden Festival at Fairchild" - The kids will enjoy making compost bins with worms.  We will have worm, worm castings and worm tea available for purchase.

Saturday April 24th & 25th @ Fairchild Tropical Garden from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm

 

"Earthfest 2010" - Join us for the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day an annual festival promoting all things ecologically sustainable

Sunday, April 18th @ 6767 Crandon Park

Free event featuring live performances, vegan & vegeterian food, vendors with earth friendly products, workshops and more

 

March, 2010

"Feast on the Farm" Fundraising Dinner Party & Silent Auction at Paradise Farms, March 7, 2010 from 5pm til 8:30pm.

Menu co-created and prepared by:

Amarylis Guindin, Chef/Owner of Galerie Gourmet

Lynn Moulton, Area 31/Epic Hotel

Micah Edelstein, Grass Restaurant & Lounge

Dionette Kalkhofer, Om Garden Restaurant

 

February, 2010

City of Plantation Green Day

GREEN Day! Is a Free & Fun....

Saturday, February 27th, 9 am - 3 pm, Liberty Tree Park, 7421 NW 5th Street

 

Master the art of producing nutritious soil from food scraps, taught by Lanette Sobel

February 24th, 7:00 - 9:00 pm

Fairchild Tropic Botanical Gardens 

 

Beer Making Class - "Seed to Suds!"

When the apocalypse comes, you'll want to be prepared.  Taught by Zach Krochina.

February 21th, 1:00 - 5:00 pm

Fertile Earth NING

Greening the Hospitality Industry

Learn how to reduce expenses and boost revenues all by going green, taught by Lanette Sobel

February 6, 9  am - 1 pm

Green Urban Living Center, Miami Dade Community College North Campus

Fertile Earth booth & Educational Workshop

February 6, 9:00 am - 1:00 pm

Coral Gables Museum Green Market Day

Merrick Park in front of City Hall at LeJeune and Biltmore Way 

Greening Your Home Class

Learn ways to green your home that promote good health & save money, taught by Lanette Sobel

Feb 3rd, 10:30 am - 1:30 pm

Fairchild Tropic Botanical Gardens

January, 2010

Traditional Composting Class

Learn to compost in your own backyard, taught by Lanette Sobel

January 19, 6:00 - 9:00 pm

Fairchild Tropic Botanical Gardens

Greening the Hospitality Industry

Learn how to reduce expenses and boost revenues all by going green, taught by Lanette Sobel

January 15, 1 - 5 pm

Green Urban Living Center, Miami Dade Community College North Campus

 

September, 2009

Future Classic Festival is a revolutionary event experience combing music, art, dancing, actions sports, video gaming, and much, much more.

See Fertile Earth Foundation photos and learn how participants made this year’s event something to remember.

Composting With Worms Class

 

Projects

  

"Recycling for Charity"

 

Recyclables are a resouce; a resouce some companies are willing to pay for. To assist hotels and restaurants in their recycling efforts, Fertile Earth has decided to do most of the work for them. We provide cardboard recycling containers and pick up at no cost.  Participants must provide a 2' x 2' covered area for portable recycling bin and inform staff to place aluminum cans and plastic bottles in the bin.  In exchange, Fertile Earth will sell the recyclables to fundraise for our projects.

If desired, Fertile Earth will provide a short 20 minute educational training on the benefits of recycling and why it is important for all of us to do so.  We have seen that it is very difficult to change behaviors if there is no understanding as to why a behavior needs to change.  With education, we have seen the recycling rates dramatically improve.

Interested in participating, contact Lanette Sobel at lanette@fertileearth.org or call 786.253.2222

 

"Fertile Roots Miami" - "Closing the Food Loop"

 

History

The rising concern over food safety, combined with an increase in food prices during a gloomy recession has sparked a "local food" movement across the nation, with even First Lady Michelle Obama carving up the White House lawn just weeks after moving in to create an organic garden.

 

In addition, local hotels and businesses are currently discarding their food waste into landfills, when the valuable nutrients could be recycled into compost that could help provide valuable soil for a growing number of community vegetable gardens. Creation of gardens has been stifled due to lack of financial resources, mainly needed to

 

Use of natural compost also decreases the need, and therefore the expense, of chemical pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers, thereby further reducing our carbon footprint and the degradation of surrounding wetlands, lakes and oceans.

 

Opportunity

Restaurants generate massive quantities of food that is thrown away, resulting not only in an unproductive use of a great resource, but also a large disposal cost. As part of the "Fertile Roots Miami" project, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Epic Hotel and Perricone's purchase good soil, for without good soil; one cannot have a good garden. Organic residuals in landfills are also largely responsible for two nasty events: the creation of leachate (a highly toxic liquid), and methane gas, a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than CO2.

Restaurant will send organic residuals to the City of Miami composting facility in Virginia Key, where what was once waste will be turned into a rich soil amendment with the help of in-vessel composting machinery provided by an EPA Grant through the South Dade Soil & Water Conservation District. Roots in the City, a local urban garden in underserved Overtown, will provide transportation, and return the soil amendment to the garden for its own personal use as well for use by other local urban gardening projects. The gardens will in turn grow fruits, vegetables and herbs in demand by participating restaurants to feed the local population and sell to restaurants, thus closing the local food and waste production loop.

 

With the increased media attention on global warming and sustainability initiatives, this project is well poised to receive nationwide media attention. The Metro Zoo's composting efforts landed on the front page of the Miami Herald in July 2009, and the "Zero Waste Zone" in Atlanta, which launched in February 2009, has received 60 million media impressions within five months.

 

If ever there was a time to promote urban gardening, with the added benefit of recycling food waste – the time is now, when Americans are looking to their communities and backyards as a source of food.

 

Goal

It is our goal to reduce our carbon footprint, facilitate the production of locally produced, healthy food for our community, reduce waste, promote environmentally responsible companies and create a more sustainable future which is environmentally, socially and financially viable.

 

 

How You Can Help?

Donate!

Fertile Earth has committed to raising $10,000 to cover the funding gap so we can get this project off the ground. Any and all donations, large or small, can help us get there and realize our goals of sustainability. To donate, please click here. Your tax deductible donation is greatly appreciated!!

 

Become a Sponsor!

Sponsors can benefit by showing their commitment to sustainability and our local community. Tap into some great PR by working with us to make history! Contact Lanette Sobel, at lanette@fertileearth.org or 786.253.2222 for more information.

  

Media:

PDF: Organic Compost Announcement

Check us out on WLRN: http://media.miamiherald.com

 

For more information about this project, please contact:

 Lanette Sobel, lanette@fertileearth.org, project manager

POSTPONED DUE TO LACK OF FUNDING

 

 

Got an idea for an environmentally-focused project?  We'll listen!

 

 

Workshops/Lectures

2012

 

 

COMPOSTING WITH WORMS

MASTERING THE ART OF PRODUCING NUTRITIOUS SOIL FROM FOOD SCRAPS

Lanette Sobel


Want a healthy garden?  Then you must have good soil!  Learn from an environmentalist how you can use red wiggler worms to happily transform your organic waste into nutritious, black compost.  If you have a backyard, balcony, or just a space underneath your sink, you will have the space to provide a home for your wiggly composters.  Ms. Sobel will tell you of the amazing benefits of composting and its impact on climate change, cleaner water and air.  Students will go home with the knowledge and guidelines of how to create and maintain their own worm bins.

 

Date:      Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 (One Session)

Time:      7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Fee:        Members $25.00, Non-Members $35.00

Place:     Fairchild Tropical Gardens

   10901 Old Cutler Road Coral Gables, FL 33156

   305.667.1651

 

Registration deadline: Friday, February 3, 2012

 ____________________________________________

2011

Beer Making Class!  "From Seeds to Suds"

When the apocalypse comes, you'll want to know how to brew your own beer!

Soon to be anounced.