Mar
23
Second Annual Urban Pharm Urban Farm Contest
Written Under Urban Pharm News by Ryan VanderMeer
After a successful contest last year, and positive feedback throughout the fall and winter, we are pleased to announce the Second Annual Urban Pharm Urban Farm Contest. The contest starts now, and ends on midnight 7/31/10.
The Contest
Contestants must create and maintain a garden. It can be a vegetable or flower garden. If there’s some type of cool garden that we don’t even know about, that could be fine too. Just let us know. There is no need to officially “enter” the competition, but anybody who wishes to be considered for the contest must contact us before July 31st, 2010 to let us know that they have a garden ready to be viewed. We’re going to leave the rest of the contest open-ended.
Who Is Eligible?
Only tenants of Urban Pharm are eligible. The garden must be at a property owned or managed by Urban Pharm. Only tenants of single family houses or buildings with 5 or fewer units may compete. We’re sorry to have to exclude some of you, but it is currently not possible to offer garden plots to some of our larger apartment buildings. Only one garden may be entered per household.
The Rules
Not all properties have gardens already. If a new garden area needs to be established, tenants must get approval from Urban Pharm first. We just have to know where it will be and how big it will be. Approval is also needed for tenants wishing to expand existing gardens. Existing gardens that don’t need expansion are fair game, as long as they are not already maintained by Urban Pharm.
Contestants must create and maintain the garden themselves (no professional landscaping companies–just in case you were thinking about it). Tenants must pay for all materials for the garden and will not be reimbursed. Gardens must be maintained after the contest ends and for the duration of the tenancy. Tenants may retire their garden if they are not up to this task by returning it to its prior state (unless the prior state was a pile of garbage).
Due to the fact that Urban Pharm pays the water bill on most properties, tenants are encouraged to conserve water while keeping their gardens hydrated. Any unreasonable increases in water bills may result in tenants sharing the bill with us. We’re not saying starve the plants of water, just be cautious and try to conserve when possible.
If you are unsure about anything, just ask us.
Judging
When we receive notice that a garden is ready to be viewed, we will swing by to check it out within a few days. We will take some photos, notes, and ask you a bit about the garden and its components. Every aspect will be taken into consideration when choosing the winners. Some factors will include creativity, overall appearance, how well the garden compliments the property and neighborhood, and yield (if fruits/veggies).
Winners will be announced on or before August 20th. We will post the results and photos of some of the gardens here on our blog, and we’ll call or e-mail the winners (as we don’t expect you to check here every day). Prizes will be distributed shortly after.
The Prizes
To be announced later, but all participants will get something.
Extra Produce?
If you ever have extra produce that you can’t use, you can bring it to our office and we will donate it to a local food pantry.
Good luck! Now get started…
