Dirt on your suit never looked so good – The Urban Farming Movement

Public Forum on Urban Farming at The Commonwealth Club of California

Sarah Rich, a former editor at Dwell and the co-founder of the Foodprint Project, will be leading a discussion about urban farming at the Commonwealth Club on May 12, 2010. The event will feature panelists Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City, Jason Mark, the co-manager of Alemany Farm, Christopher Burley, founder of the Hayes Valley Farm and David Gavrich, founder of City Grazing. The event begins at 6 p.m. and tickets are $20 ($7 for students).

The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation’s oldest and largest public affairs forum, bringing together its more than 18,000 members for over 400 annual events on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy.

Founded in 1903, The Commonwealth Club has played host to a diverse and distinctive array of speakers, from Teddy Roosevelt in 1911 to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor Alec Baldwin and author Christopher Hitchens in recent years. Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Bill Gates have all given landmark speeches at The Club.

Public Forum

On May 12, 2010
At the San Francisco office

Jason Mark, Co-manager, Alemany Farm; Editor-in-Chief, Earth Island Journal
Novella Carpenter, Author, Farm City
Christopher Burley, Founder, Hayes Valley Farm
David Gavrich (aka The Goat Whisperer), Founder, City Grazing
Sarah Rich, Writer; Editor; Co-founder, The Foodprint Project; Co-author, Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century – Moderator

Enterprising city dwellers are bursting from their pre-packaged lives and taking back their choices for consumption. Urban farms foster community and healthy eating beneath towering city blocks, where fast and easy often supersede fresh and home-grown. Like SF’s own Alemany Farm and Hayes Valley Farm, these urban crop spaces allow neighbors to trade their Swingline staplers for pitchforks and break new ground. Fresh, organic veggies are grown and sold, and the locavore food economy is epitomized. What’s the appeal of throwing away the chain grocery store for the neighborhood till? Come hear from local leaders of the movement like Novella Carpenter, founder of Oakland’s Ghost Town Farm, and trailblazing San Franciscans Jason Mark, of Alemany Farm, Christopher Burley, founder of Hayes Valley Farm, and David Gavrich, “goat whisperer” and founder of City Grazing. They’ll discuss the urban farming movement’s place in the world of organic, local-grown culture, and how they’re bringing the farm to the city – goats included!

We’ll toast these locavore legends with food from Mission Pie, Bella Viva Orchards, Back to Earth Catering and wine from Russian River Vineyards. Thank you to each of them for being our generous food sponsors for this event.

Visit the website here.

Update May 22, 2010 – Listen to the conference here.