Michael Craig
12534 Pinecrest Drive
Plymouth, MI 48170
cell phone:  (248) 766-5401
email:  mjcraig123@hotmail.com or michael.craig@detroitK12.org
preferred contact: cell or email
Honorarium: none [reimbursement for fuel and mileage]
Travel:  Willing to travel up to an hour

I run the Horticulture Program at the Charles Drew Transition Center, part of the Detroit Public Schools Community District, and work with special needs students in a horticulture setting to provide employment opportunities and fresh, locally-grown produce to students through the school lunch program and to the community with food pantry donations, sales at Eastern Market, The Detroit Salsa Company, and Chartreuse, our restaurant client. We are considered to be the largest Farm to School/Table/Restaurant program in the country.

So, as an Advanced Master Gardener specializing in the growth of vegetable crops, we grow in raised beds, in ground, in containers, and we have a very large hydroponic program that produces approximately 4000-5000 heads of lettuce and other leafy greens monthly.

Lastly, in times of pandemic, our program has been thriving, being named winners of a 2021 Education Excellence Award from the Michigan Association of School Boards and SetSeg Foundation as well as the Grand Prize Magna Award through the National School Boards Association.

Topics:    School Gardening, Vegetable Crops, Management and Production, Raised Bed / Cold Frame, Strawbale Gardening, Gardening on a Budget

Education:      Macomb Master Gardener 2013

Experience: Very active in urban farming network, building corporate partnerships, extension knowledge of vegetable gardening.