Splendid Harvests

Greetings Everyone!

First off, don’t forget next week is the 2nd Annual Rootz at Sundown Reggae and Urban Farming Festival. This is our annual farm festival to introduce you to the sights and sounds of urban farming!!

At the festival you will be able to purchase fresh produce, natural body care products and herbal teas, beautiful jewelry and a few more wonderful items.

IN addition, with the cost of your donation, you will be honored with a delicious vegan-caribbean buffet that includes a fresh avocado salad, an amazing vegetable curry, coconut rice & peas, dumpling stew and a one-of-a-kind apple-currant salad!!

Your belly will be full, your neck beautifully adorned and your ears and soul soothed with the pure sounds of rootz reggae music.

So enough about Rootz at Sundown, as I know you all plan to be there!!

We have been having wonderful harvest so far this year! Now that we are in full bloom, we will be selling our produce next week on Wednesday at the Whole Foods Outdoor Local Market. This market begins at 4pm so come support Healcrest and other local vendors. In addition we are forging a partnership with Garfield Community Farms and the Garfield Hill Market and will have a farm stand on Thursdays out front on the corner of N.Aiken and Hillcrest Street!! For all you Garfield residents – please support your locally grown, organic produce!! This market will begin as well at 4pm!

Finally friends! Here are some great pics of our newest arrivals!

Okra

Basil

Cucumbers, getting ready for picking

Echinacea

Echinacea is in bloom. For those of you who don’t know this plant – it a healing wonder and gained a lot of popularity over the last decade. Echinacea Purpurea or Purple Coneflower is a popular ornamental – like Black-Eyed Susans….but its root is highly medicinal.

Echinacea is popularly believed to be an immunostimulator, stimulating the body’s non-specific immune system and warding off infections. A study commonly used to support that belief is a 2007 meta-analysis in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.^[9] The studies pooled in the meta-analysis used different types of echinacea, different parts of the plant, and various dosages. This review cannot inform recommendations on the efficacy of any particular type of echinacea, dosage, or treatment regimen. The safety of echinacea under long-term use is also unknown.^[16]

Check out this amazing article at an amazing site – planetary herbs and the East West School of Herbal Medicine, a favorite herbalist of mine – Michael Tierra- discusses the use of echinacea in treating staph infections.

http://www.planetherbs.com/therapies/treating-staph-infections-including-mrsa-with-echinacea.html

Peace and Joy to you all on this day.

Vendor Application Now Available

We are accepting vendors of non-food handmade items. Table is only $25.00. We had over 150 people at the 1st annual and are expecting over 200 this year. You will see our advertisements in the City Paper the week of the festival, the Soul Pitt and hotcards and handbills everywhere around town. So join us to show-off and sell your wares while enjoying the green gardens and the sounds of reggae music.

Applications are accepted online here. You must have or be able to start a paypal account to purchase a vendor table online.

http://www.healcrest.com/info.html

Mark on your Calenders  – Rootz at Sundown, Reggae and Urban Farming Festival!! – July 17th, 4-10pm.