NEEM

Read about NEEM in the press:

MAY 4th, 2012 - Organoponico NEEM Farm Christening

Time: 4:00 – 5:00 at South East Durham farm #2995

Directions: Alston to Lawson left to Ridgeway, right at light to dead end of Ridgeway 27701

On behalf of NEEM for the community we are pleased to submit this invitation to a christening of the 11.2 acre Organoponico NEEM, the first Farm Services Agency (FSA) registered urban farm in North Carolina located 14 blocks from downtown Durham.

This first phase of the farm began last May with Burt’s Bees and the “Culture Day” project with NEEM.

Hugh Bennett Field, Funes-Kodak AgroEco Trail and the Agroecological Research Station and Conference Center were announced at that time.

Organoponico NEEM is excited to expand service to three communities as the farm evolves in this second phase. We are proud to bring to McDougald Terrace and SED sustainably produced vegetables at below conventional price points. In doing so we address food security, nutrition, early onset diabetes, obesity, fresh healthy organic food in a food desert and the economic development piece that comes with the project. We are equally proud to bring an environmental, ecological and sustainable educational component to North Carolina Central University and Durham Public Schools; whose students will have access to the facility as a living laboratory. Phase three is the Agroecological Research Station and Conference Center with classrooms and labs. Field #2 (1 acre of the 11.2) is located at Hazel Street is in NECD and the Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood.

 “We have served these communities for years. We are grateful for the philanthropic vision and supporters who made this possible. The farm is evolutionary and a fulcrum for a sustainable community.”

Please RSVP neem at mindspring.com

APRIL 13th, 2012 - Community Planting Day - 150 Burt’s Bees employees travel by bio diesal bus and plant Bennett field.

JANUARY 2nd, 2012: NEEM announces work to begin on Bennett Field in honor of Dr. Hugh Bennett for his work in Soil Conservation Services department he formed during the dust bowl and;Funes AgroEco trail in honor of Dr. Fernando Funes for his work in Cuba in Agroecological approaches to the sustainable farm. The trail was supported by our partners at Conservation Fund, Kodak & National Geographic Society.

JANUARY 15, 2012 – NEEM awarded grant (unspecified) from Philanthropy for well at Organoponico NEEM at Wabash and McDougald Terrace. – off the grid some more

NOVEMBER 2011: NEEM Awarded KODAK NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CONSERVATION FUND national award for the Funes AgroEco trail (Kodak American Greenway) - 1 of 21 nationally and presented at Geographic Headquarters in Washington.

OCTOBER 2011: DDNP – Duke Award – 110 year old, deconstructed, NC Tobacco barn award from DDNP.

OCTOBER 2011 - Burt’s Bee’s/NEEM win Triangle Business Journal Green Project of the Year award for three “organoponicos” (inner city farms) created in Durham.

MAY 17th, 2011: Burt’s Bees “Culture day”: 450 BBI/Clorox employees build three Organoponicos at three locations in Durham. The combined vision of NEEM, BBI & Dr. Chambers created a first in North Carolina. Those beginnings of an Urban agricultural food security project to meet the needs of the low income communities in Durham have become a reality.

FEBRUARY/MARCH: FSA registration (first Urban Farm registration in NC) complete for the farm and NEEM in the QUIP program – NEEM meets with NRCS at farm.

JANRUARY 15th, 2011: NEEM returns from leading North Carolina Research Delegation to Cuba on Sustainable Agriculture.

JANUARY 8, 2011: NEEM to Manage 16.25 Acres of Urban Land in Durham with 11.2 Farm Services Agency registered acres as FSA farm #2995 as Organoponico NEEM.

A generous benefactor has offered, and NEEM has accepted, a gift of real property in Durham.  Two tracts (one 10.2 and one .997+ acre’s) tracts qualifies as a farm, FSA registered and wooded, perfect for an urban agroecological agroforestry & specialty crops project, nursery, French intensive field and research station.   We are humbled by this gift. We are forever grateful to Dr. Bill Chambers for his support and belief in NEEM, its vision and a greener Durham. It doesn’t get any more local than grown in town.

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OCTOBER 15th, 2010: Triangle East Chapter of 100 Black Men,in collaboration with NEEM establish Canal Street Community Garden in the Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood of NE Durham.

NEEM NC Delegation Trip to Havana, Cuba [March 2011]
NC State University Office of International Affairs — A trip was organized for the North Carolina Sustainable Agriculture Delegation in Havana, Cuba … <more>

Middle School ‘digs’ its new community garden [Sept. 2010]
DURHAM — A planting party for a sustainable urban garden classroom took place Friday at W.G. Pearson Magnet Middle School… <more>

NEEM Has Lots of Veggies in the Air [May 2010]
DURHAM — Any professional chef must be able to keep a lot of dishes cooking at once… <more>

NEEM seeks Urban Garden Summer Interns [March 2010]
Natural Environmental and Ecological Management (NEEM), a sustainable urban agriculture organization in Durham, NC, seeks summer intern(s) to… <more>

Training Tomatoes in Durham [April 2010]
The best way to keep tomatoes trim and healthy is to train them onto supports and prune tall-growing kinds during the growing season… <more>

NEEM Hoists Challenge Flag on Ubiquitous DPS School Gardens [April 2010]
The Herald-Sun did a nice job with its two-parter on local non-profit NEEM and its founder Jeff Ensminger, the players behind the successful re-imagining of Lakewood’s Roll’s Florist shop… <more>

2009 Sustainable North Carolina Award Nomination [2009]
NEEM (Natural Environmental and Ecological Management) is a Durham organization addressing food security in an environmentally/socially sustainable context… <more>

Durham Cook Starts Urban Gardening Program [March 2009]
A cook is hoping to transform a corner in southwest central Durham into something that plants a seed in this old community… <more>

Local Chef Has Dream of Urban Garden Renewal in Raleigh-Durham [March 2009]
A local chef, with past restaurant and catering business experience, a dilapidated greenhouse and a dream of urban gardens… <more>

Local Chef Leads Urban Garden Initiative in Lakewood Neighborhood [March 2009]
A nondescript house stands, lonely, across Chapel Hill Rd. from the Lakewood Shopping Center — with, curiously to many, an aging greenhouse in its rear, an oddity in what’s today a dense urban neighborhood… <more>

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FEBRUARY 25th, 2012 - March 9th: NEEM Agroecological & Sustainable Agriculture Delegation to Cuba with Dr. Fernando Funes returns.