OBSESSIVES: Urban Farmer – on CHOW.com from CHOW.com on Vimeo.

13 minute video portrait of the author

Novella Carpenter started small, with some plants in an empty lot next to her house in Oakland. A couple of years later, she was tending to a full-blown farm, with goats, turkeys, ducks, pigs, and a robust garden. Her book, Farm City, details her experiences. As does this video, which tackles questions of neighborliness (which is more offensive: police sirens or roosters crowing?), environmental poisons (raised beds are key), and the all-important slaughter question. The answer: Yes, she does (and yes, there is some bloody footage).

George Pinch (sitting) gardens with friend Howard Hurt in one of Vancouver’s original Second World War victory gardens at East Boulevard and Maple streets. Photograph by Arlen Redekop, PNG, Vancouver Sun

Community gardens offer food security and a focal point where neighbours can connect

By Randy Shore
Vancouver Sun
April 22, 2010
Read more of Randy’s articles here.

Excerpt

George Pinch has been hoeing and weeding his plot in the East Boulevard community garden for 25 years, and you could say he learned his craft at the feet of the master.

Pinch took as his mentor University of B. C.-trained botanist Donald Flather, who founded the garden in 1942 to support the war effort. Flather was well-known during his lifetime as an artist and a high school teacher, receiving his doctorate in education and raising three sons who all became medical doctors.

Though victory gardens were common during the First World War, Flather was a bit of a visionary when conflict enveloped the world a second time.

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Photo by by Josh Sommers

Broken Spirit on Earth Day

By Serita “Green” Newell

During the summer of 2009, at the peak of harvesting, when tomatoes were ripe and ready to be picked, a female neighbor, along with three of her friends or relatives, stole vegetables out of my father’s garden. My father, Henry Green, caught them in the act and asked them to leave his property and when he turned his back, they were about to go back into the garden again. So again, he told them to leave off of his property. I was very upset about what they did and wanted to speak to them directly; however, my father asked me not to and out of respect I did nothing.

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Michael Levenston, an early advocate of urban agriculture, in Kitsilano’s City Farmer demonstration garden. Photo by Doug Shanks.

Vancouver’s urban agriculture

By Jackie Wong
Westender
04/21/2010

Excerpt:

While urban agriculture may appear to be a relatively new trend in Vancouver, everybody knows that people have been growing their own food for centuries. One crucial development, however, is that the City of Vancouver is now providing more municipal-level infrastructure for people to grow their own food, dispose of food waste, and learn about food-security issues. The City marks this year’s Earth Day (Apr. 22) by making it the launch date for a new curbside compost pick-up program, which is initially restricted to homeowners but will expand in the future to include apartments and businesses.

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Vicki Cook works on a new community garden at Luther Memorial Church. Photo by Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com

Year of Urban Agriculture in Seattle

By Lisa Stiffler
Seattle PI
April 21, 2010

Excerpt:

Seattle is so smitten with city farming that it even has its own online garden dating service.

“Seeking vegetable love,” says the post of an unrequited green thumb.

“Cinderella: Huge sloping corner lot longs to meet Prince Gardening,” pines another.

“Large, sunny backyard north of Green Lake NEEDS a garden to feel complete,” posts a third.

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