Jordan presenting his word costume to his class. His word was Entomology - the study of insects.

Window Farm Arrived in Mail!!!

After much anticipation my Window Farm arrived in the mail on Friday! Two boxes came with all the materials needed to set it up. Below is a picture of the contents in the box. It came with pots, a pump with a timer for the pump and a PH testing kit.

They sent a variety of organic salad seeds:

• Romaine Lettuce
• Buttercrunch Lettuce
• Genovese Basil
• Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce
• Swiss Chard (my favorite)
• Rosemary

I can't wait to have wonderful salads and make some fresh herb dressings to go with them. Hmmm and then be able to saute my favorite Swiss Chard, yummy yummy!

Below is a picture of the bottles where the growing cups go into. I ended up buying these from Window Farms because they go ahead and make all the necessary cuts and holes.















Next steps for Urban Queen... Buy some duct or electrical tape to cover over the spots where the paint came off the bottles. Set up the bottles and test out the drip system. I also need to study the Window Farm website for how to start the seedlings, how to and how much to feed the plants. I'm so excited!!!

Urban Queen Window Farming...

I have always had a desire to garden, but since I live in an apartment with no balcony, I've felt limited. When I was growing up my grandmother had a garden in her back yard where she grew all kinds of vegetables and melons. We enjoyed fresh tomatoes, squash, collards, strawberries, watermelons and corn made for dinners and snacks.

Recently, I decided not to let the fact that I live in an apartment limit my ability to provide my family with fresh fruits and veggies. A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon Window Farms, a group that is developing a way to grow food hydroponically indoors in urban environments. Today I invested in a Window Farm and I can't wait for it to get here and share with everyone my adventure of growing fresh veggies indoors. I should receive it in the mail around December 15th and will hopefully have it assembled up and running shortly thereafter.

Take a look at The Window Farms YouTube video:

My Trip To Urban Go Green Tour & Expo - Harlem, NY

If you know me then you know that I'm not too spontaneous. Therefore, when I decided to up and fly to New York to attend the Urban Go Green Tour and Expo in Harlem, my friends were caught off guard. I felt it was a good decision in growing my "green" awareness outside of my Atlanta perspective/experience. I had a wonderful time and met some informative entrepreneurial people.

(See the small red letters to left, that's me peeping from behind the guy's shoulder)

Self-described social entrepreneur, networker and championship mentality speaker and coach, Osiris James founded the Urban Go Green Expo & Tour. I didn't have an opportunity to personally meet him at the Expo, but I did speak with him by phone before going to New York. Osiris has an extraordinary vision for the Expo and getting the word out to the urban community about saving the earth as well as taking advantage of new market opportunities. He is looking to take the Urban Go Green Expo around the country spreading the green word. Atlanta please look out for the Expo in the coming year!

The overall goals of the Urban Go Green Expo were to:

• Acquire stimulus funding for upgrading their home or business to renewable energy and energy efficient products;
• Access career and entrepreneurial opportunities in the emerging green economy;
• Get a clear understanding of the health and environmental impacts of climate change on their communities;
• Discover the trends and opportunities in the emerging green economy.

During my time at the Expo, I primarily focused on the health and environmental impacts. I visited the African Holistic Health Chapter of New York's table where they had reflexologist providing consultations. Here I let the reflexologist read my feet - very informative. There are parts of the feet that give clues to the health of certain organs in the body. Basically, I need to drink more water and reduce my stress level. Next, we talked about incorporating more natural and live/raw foods into my diet and getting dead/processed foods out. I really wish I could go vegan, but it's something about BBQ pork ribs that keeps calling me back... Anyway, that's another issue for another day. However, for the day I was vegan, the Expo had Black Israelite vendors who prepare vegan and raw dishes. I had rice, black-eyed pea patties, plantains, bean curd and some other delicious dishes. For dessert, I had a raw cheesecake - so creamy. I think they used cashews with a mango puree and fresh fruit topping - Oh so good! One thing I noticed about New York City compared to Atlanta, there are many vegetarian, vegan and raw restaurants from corner to corner. Atlanta has a handful, but dispersed and none really downtown, except Soul Vegetarian in the West End and Virginia Highlands - they are run by Black Israelites.
Enough about the food I ate...

I met an entrepreneur who developed Cell-nique a healthy juice with fruits and vegetables to give his family. The kids and their friends took to the juice so well he started producing it to sell. The drink has super food ingredients that help balance the body's pH and provide a good supply of healthy fruit and veggies for the drinker. My personal favorite was the Orange while my friend loved the Pomegranate. Overall, I think it's an excellent idea as most American diets center on consuming meat excluding the consumption of important fruits and vegetables. Cell-nique provides health in a vehicle that most Americans want - fast and on the go...

In between visiting booths, I got an opportunity to take in local "green" artists' work. There was one huge piece in the middle of the floor - very interesting piece... Local "green" artist came together to decorate this work shed made from recycled materials. This goes to show you that some one's trash is another's art :)

I had to leave the Expo shortly after talking to the artists, but I must say the Urban Go Green Expo showed me how much I have to learn about this green movement. Special shout out to K. Heslop for getting me around the city on short notice in the rain. Another special thanks to N. Abdur-Rauf for giving me shelter for the night. Only in New York, New York!!!

Thanks for reading :)

My Inspiration and Reason for Green

After watching Mario Van Peebles' "Green House"on TV One and listening to Van Jones, founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, I started thinking differently about "Going Green".



Activerain.com defines "Going Green" as, Adopting practices that reduce your overall impact on the environment. These may include reducing your energy usage, recycling, using public transportation, buying local products, and/or designing, remodeling, or buying a home that is more energy efficient.

I had pondered the idea before, but always thought it was too expensive or just another passing fad. Then I thought about the unprecedented flooding in Atlanta.

Just recently Atlanta experienced historic flooding in the metro area. Just last year the city was in a severe drought. The shift from one extreme to the other within a year was dumbfounding. Now I know people will say, "the ground was dry that's why it flooded." Ok that's a point, but I believe what we experienced was due to climate change. Whether people want to believe it or not things are changing with our earth and our economy. To be honest we need an earth to live on to even have an economy to function.




It's time for me to take an active role in this "Go Green" movement and start adopting habits that will have a positive impact within my urban environment.

Thanks for reading!