Pickin' cukes at the DBAP

The harvest has begun! That's Bulls Assistant GM Chip Allen pickin' cucumbers in our streetside garden yesterday. It's yet another addition to his job responsibilities as our Victory Garden bears produce. 

Here's the story on our urban garden, a joint project with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NC. 

In the seven surrounding counties over 250,000 people are considered “food insecure.” The Inter-faith Food Shuttle website has more metrics on hunger in NC. The stats are troubling, and this garden is our modest effort at community nourishment. The veggies will be donated to local non-profits, school kids will visit to learn about nutrition and gardening, and thousands of Bulls fans will see this live exhibit about urban agriculture.

...more photos of our edible landscaping. It began on a cold, wet February day as the Bulls and Bland Landscaping met to finalize plans for the garden build-out:



March...



April...



Last week...

Gardening at the DBAP

The Durham Bulls are known for our urban oasis of luxuriant turf. Up next: squash and tomatoes and blueberries!

We are creating an edible landscape along Jackie Robinson Drive - an urban garden. It’s a riff on the Victory Gardens of wartime and the symbolic battle with food insecurity and unhealthy diets. [Bulls media release]

Inter-faith Food Shuttle came to us with this project. Mark Stanford at the American Tobacco Campus is on their board. IFS is promoting urban gardening in what are called food deserts - low income neighborhoods with limited access to fresh fruits and veggies. And it helps to alleviate food insecurity. 23% of NC’s kids live in households classified as food insecure according to the just-released 2018 NC Child Health Report Card. 

Another IFS board member Kurt Bland has been a key player. He’s in the landscaping business, and his firm figured out how to tuck a 1600 sq’ garden between the ballpark and Jackie Robinson Dr. The street-side location will allow IFS to bring in school groups. Their bus or van can pull right up to the garden. 

The Bulls are proficient at growing grass, but I couldn’t vouch for our ability to raise beans and ‘maters. That’s where Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NC stepped up with the funding to maintain the garden. The project is aligned with their interest in promoting healthier diets. BCBSNC is particularly concerned with food insecurity, access to fresh/healthy food and childhood obesity. 

How does your garden grow? Check on our progress this summer. I’m hoping the DBAP is the perfect spot for a downtown garden that will bring attention to these issues of hunger, nutrition and better health. Maybe you can grab a handful of fresh blueberries before a game.

PS - check out Thrive NC. It’s another way Blue Cross is bringing attention to food system and health issues...with a food festival! 

Rubber duckies = $30K

We're on sports overload this time of year: football, MLB play-offs, the NASCAR chase, Hurricanes opener and...

The Great American Tobacco Duck Race!

The duck race is an annual feature of the Fox 50 Family Fest on the American Tobacco campus.

Duck sponsorships totaled $30,000 for three of our favorite non-profits: Durham Literacy Center, Durham Bulls Explorer Post 50 and the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. The event was October 1st.

The Bulls' Explorer Post 50 raised $7500 for its scholarship fund at the Triangle Community Foundation.

Post 50 advisors: Ken Bland of SAS and post alumnae Charlotte Claypoole are loyal volunteers. Charlotte is a video tech for the Durham Public Schools. We appreciate your commitment to Post 50...and schlepping all those ducks!