Who Grows Your Food? from Anthony-Masterson on Vimeo.

Truly Living Well Natural Urban Farms

By Thomas Wheatley
Fresh Loaf. Atlanta news, politics, media and mischief
March 25, 2010

Excerpts:

Boston-born and Harvard-educated K. Rashid Nuri’s love of agriculture has taken him around the world. The 62-year-old urban farmer — and former Clinton appointee to the U.S. Agriculture Department — operates Truly Living Well Natural Urban Farms, a network of organic metro Atlanta farms that offers fresh food and teaches how crops can enrich lives and build communities.

What made you dedicate your life to farming?

I’m a child of the 1960s. Back then, we were talking about nation building. In order to build a nation, you’ve got to be able to feed, clothe, and shelter your people. So I decided that I wanted to learn everything about food, from the seed to the table.

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Photo by Gloria

The Farm in the City

By Gloria
Turning Toward the Sun blog
April 1, 2010

Excerpt:

The Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency, which oversees Nashville’s public housing for low-income families, is developing a community garden near the new John Henry Hale Apartments on Jo Johnston Ave. near downtown Nashville, about a ten-minute drive from my house. MDHA has commandeered an unused plot of public land just north of I-40 and is turning it into a gardening oasis for nearby residents, or for anyone who wants to buy in for $5. This afternoon there was a meeting at the neighborhood’s community center for organizers and potential gardeners, where they showed the plan and explained the rules. I bought in.

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Samurai Urban Farm. Though each family decides how much of its garden to devote to farming and how much to ornament, most try to grow enough vegetables to meet their own needs.

Samurai farmers of Edo (present-day Tokyo)

Edo. Cultural period of Japanese history corresponding to the Tokugawa period of governance (1603–1867)

Just Enough: Lessons in Living Green from Traditional Japan
By Azby Brown
Kodansha International. February 1, 2010
Hardcover: 232 pages

Excerpts:

Urban Farming in Edo did not start in a planned fashion. Rather, it was a spontaneous response to acute economic and agricultural conditions. Records show that, during the late Edo period, nearly every urban samurai family maintained a vegetable garden, and that over the years these gradually replaced large sections of their ornamental gardens. Consequently, to say that Edo was a vast urban farming area is no exaggeration.

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“Marcy” Kaptur (born June 17, 1946) is a Democratic Member of Congress from Ohio’s Ninth Congressional District. She is currently the longest-serving woman in the House; in the Congress. Serving her fourteenth term, she ranks 30th out of 435 members in seniority and serves on the powerful Appropriations Committee.

Creating the Office of Urban Agriculture responsible for coordinating USDA activities across the $120 billion annual budget to ensure that these authorities are unleashed for communities that do not traditionally participate in USDA programs

(Vancouver’s City Farmer has been Canada’s Office of Urban Agriculture since 1978!  Mike  :=) — Canadian federal government next?

H.R. 4971 – March 25, 2010
To increase the emphasis on urban agricultural issues in the Department of Agriculture through the establishment of a new office to ensure that Department authorities are used to effectively encourage local agricultural production and increase the availability of fresh food in urban areas, particularly underserved communities experiencing hunger, poor nutrition, obesity, and food insecurity, and for other purposes.

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Image from Chicken and Cat Clean Up by Sara Varon.

Now that some homeowners are allowed to keep the birds, officials expect some to be abandoned when reality sets in

BY Tiffany Crawford
Vancouver Sun
APRIL 2, 2010

Excerpt:

Anticipating a wave of buyers’ remorse, city staff are recommending the city build a special shelter for hens they expect will be abandoned by owners having second thoughts.

The 36-page report to city council details every change the city will have to make before backyard egg farmers will be allowed to set up shop. In March 2009, council lifted a 30-year prohibition on keeping urban hens and directed staff to develop the guidelines.

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