Pioneering an urban garden, or contemplating it?  If you happen to be in Louisville, KY this Saturday, August 14, you might want to attend Breaking New Ground’s “2010 Soil Summit: Get the Dirt on Your Soil” at the NIA Center (2900 Broadway), from 8:30 AM to 1:00 pm.  You can register here.

Appearing via video link will be Will Allen, founder of Milwaukee’s Growing Power, Inc., a community farming project (and so much more), and a 2008 recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “genius award.”  Louisville’s own Gary Heine of Heine Brothers Coffee and 15,000 Farmers will also be on hand.

Why devote a day to dirt?  Well, if you’re an urban gardener, you might want to know more about what’s in your soil and how to test it for pollutants.  But everyone could benefit from learning how to increase the yield of one’s garden with more sustainable methods -  less fertilizer, for instance.  Agricultural run-off, including fertilizer, is one of the leading causes of pollution in our nation’s water ways.

- by Kristin Espeland Gourlay