The Blog

Can Buffalo do it? More importantly, can Shredd and Ragan do it?

After witnessing all of the hype surrounding Dyngus Day, 103.3 The Edge's Shredd and Ragan began to hatch a plot. If a 'B-list' holiday such as Dyngus Day could suddenly catapult to infamy, then maybe they could use a similar formula to see if they could get another 'B-list' holiday off the ground. That's when they thumbed through the calendar and realized that Arbor Day was right around the corner. That's it... Arbor Day!

Storygarden designed for the American Cancer Society. EDR, PC. M B Stieglitz, UCHO 2007

Community gardening is an activity which brings many benefits to its participants.  Our local organizations, such as Grassroots Gardens, Massachusetts Avenue Project and others, organize and support the formation and maintenance of gardens as sources of nutritious foods and sustenance for our neighbors in need.  One of the many benefits resulting from community gardening is the ability to create an activity which brings people together for a common cause.  As a result, there is a great opportunity for an important, and often overlooked, requirement for human health and well-being.  That is connection.  Storygardens emphasize this need.

On Saturday, March 31, starting at 4 PM Buffalo will officially usher in spring with the 10^th annual Boom Days.  This eclectic celebration of our unique culture as Western New Yorkers raises a toast to the removal of the ice boom and the passing of winter.  This year, we're upping the ante on what historically has been an outrageous party.

"Boom Days" is the region's grass roots celebration of the advent of spring, commencing each year with the lifting of the Lake Erie-Niagara River ice boom.  "Boom Days" commemorates the Niagara region's bustling waterways of days gone by, glorifies our natural, artistic and cultural wealth, and thanks to our strong winter.

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

At Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo, 2011 will be remembered as a year of great transition, progress, challenges and countless successes.  We had the privilege of supporting community members as they worked to establish 14 new community gardens throughout Buffalo – bringing our total number of community gardens to 67 on 120 parcels!  As we all know, our work is not always easy, and in 2011 we were faced with significant challenges to land access for community gardens.  However, our gardeners came together with one voice to explain to city officials why the work they do is so beneficial to their communities.  Addressing the Buffalo Common Council in June, the gardeners’ testimonies resulted in an outpouring of support from the City of Buffalo and beyond.  Our gardeners were so successful in expressing how community gardens are transforming neighborhood eyesores that the City approved 34 new parcels to our master lease for use as community gardens.  Our community gardeners proved that we are organized and formidable when it comes to fighting for our neighborhoods!