Posts from — September 2010

Clockwise from the top of the facing page: Seattle homeowner Eric Lucas raises hens, and grows pie cherries, fava beans and corn on his city lot. The Northwest is a leader in the urban farming movement. Photos by Nancy O.

They want to grow tomatoes and can them

By Eric Lucas
Horizon Air Magazine
August 2010
See pages 10 – 20

Excerpt:

That proud heritage is what spurred University of Idaho Extension Educator Ariel Agenbroad to choose “Victory Gardens” as the name of the six-week evening course she introduced last year in the Greater Boise area. Agenboard, who works for the Extension’s Canyon County office, based in the city of Caldwell, west of Boise, reports a huge swell of interest in urban farming.

“Our course demand is huge: Last year we filled the class at 50 participants,” she says. “This year we have 50 participants again, and a wait list of 50 again. And when we asked last year’s participants if they were operating their gardens this year, the response was 10p percent, ‘Yes.’ ”

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Goal 1: Increased Capacity to Produce Food Close to Home

Draft report released
September 2010

Excerpts:

Strategy 1.5 Encourage urban agriculture

In addition to rural agriculture, there are opportunities to increase food production on private and public lands in urbanized areas. Community gardens and urban farms are using public lands to cultivate food while some enterprising individuals are farming networks of private gardens. The yields of these projects are either sold or used personally. Some community groups are using urban gardens as a means to teach disadvantaged groups how to produce and eat healthy foods. Urban agriculture also provides community and ecological benefits; it contributes to the development of a sense of place, provides colour and softens the concrete landscape of urban neighborhoods and contributes to the ecological health of the region.

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Photo by Chris Fore

What are the truly compelling reasons as to why a large urban farm wouldn’t be a good idea for Detroit?

By Darrell Dawsey
Time – The Detroit Blog
September 9

Excerpt:

In addition to opposing land management strategies that would “displace” Detroit residents by clearing out abandoned homes, Jesse Jackson is also now coming out strong against the idea of large-scale farming in the city limits.

“Detroit needs investment in industry, housing and construction — not bean patches,” Jackson told host Paul W. Smith on WJR-AM 760. “If people want to farm, they’ll farm in zones.”

OK, I agree that Detroit is, or at least should be, a manufacturing power first and foremost. Building stuff that people want to buy will always be the key to economic relevance. Nothing wrong with planning for the day when we can churn out pallets of solar panels and windmill blades over at the old Budd plant or wherever.

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First issue free to download until the end of September

The inaugural issue of the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD) is now online. The first issue of this international, peer-reviewed journal of applied research and policy analysis is open and available free to the public until the end of September.

JAFSCD is an international, online, peer-reviewed journal that focuses on agriculture and food systems and bridges the interests of development professionals (including activist farmers and business people), educators, consultants, and the academic community.

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Charchil Jain with a small plant on terrace in Hiran Magri Scheme.

Farming In City! Farming Without A Field! Is This possible?

By Mr. Manish Jain
Udaipur Times
September 8, 2010
Mr. Manish Jain is an educationist and environmentalist. He is an active member of Swaraj University and runs Shikshantar, a community organization in Udaipur.

Excerpt:

It is not only possible, but it is a growing movement in Udaipur. Shikshantar, a community organization, has been working with interested individuals to produce fruits and vegetables at their homes. Healthy, holistic living is rare in the city, but now a clean, self-sustaining city is possible and growing our own food is a major step in this direction.

“We have built our homes over soil and greenery, so we should grow greenery on our terraces to replace what we have destroyed,” says Vishal Singh, a zero waste consultant, who has planted many plants on his terrace near Gantaghar.

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The student garden at Harvard University, along bustling Mount Auburn Street, often draws second glances from passersby. Photo by John Tlumacki/ Globe Staff

At Bay State colleges, student gardens provide food for mind, body

By Tracy Jan
Boston Globe
September 7, 2010

Excerpt:

CAMBRIDGE — Tomatoes, Swiss chard, jalapeños, and other vegetables are sprouting on college campuses across the state — ready for harvesting this fall as part of a new student movement to promote sustainable agriculture and healthy eating.

On the Harvard University campus, the grassy plot dotted with raised wooden planters draws second glances from passersby, who seem surprised to discover the bounty along bustling Mount Auburn Street. Beanstalks climb 6 feet high. Bees buzz around thick patches of mint and chive. A sweet scent lingers near the basil (Thai and Italian). Some pedestrians stop to offer gardening advice.

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Symposium international – Dakar, République du Sénégal, 5-9 décembre 2010

Afin d’aider les pays en développement à faire face aux défis de l’urbanisation massive et rapide, l’Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture (FAO) a lancé en 2001 une initiative pluridisciplinaire, ‘Des aliments pour les villes’, visant à assurer l’accès des populations des villes à des denrées alimentaires et à un environnement sain et sans danger. L’un des principaux éléments de l’initiative est l’intensification de la production horticole dans les zones urbaines et périurbaines.

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No one is under the illusion that growing beets can stop the bullets

by Jason Mark
change.org
September 07, 2010

Jason Mark is a columnist for Change.org’s Sustainable Food cause. He is a co-author of Building the Green Economy: Success Stories from the Grassroots and the editor of Earth Island Journal. When he’s not writing, he co-manages San Francisco’s Alemany Farm, a four-acre organic fruit and vegetable garden in the city.

Excerpts:

The fourth anniversary of her son Travis’ shooting had just passed, so it felt especially hard to Vivian Irving when Ray Twine was killed in front of her apartment two weeks ago. Irving, a resident of the Alemany Public Housing complex in San Francisco, was enjoying a quiet Friday night at home when someone approached Twine from behind as he was walking across the basketball court in the middle of the projects and put five bullets in the back of his head.

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Convert blight to gardens

By: Stephen Clark
ABC 7
Sept. 6, 2010

Excerpt:

DETROIT (WXYZ) – It looks like a farm somewhere in the Midwest; row after row of tomatoes, peppers, broccoli and corn. Butterflies flit among the flowers. Somewhere a cricket chirps. But this isn’t Kansas; it’s the heart of Detroit.

An urban farm is carved into a row of empty lots at Linwood and Gladstone . It’s an island of green, red and orange in a sea of abandoned and burned out buildings.

“They got all kinds of vegetables, lettuce and tomatoes.” Andre McCullough tells us, “I mean what more could you ask for? We have fresh vegetables right at your hands.”

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“We need industrialization, not farming.”

By Michael Winter
USA Today
Sept. 7, 2010

With Detroit Mayor Dave Bing considering turning acres of abandoned land into vegetable gardens, the Rev. Jesse Jackson today spurned the idea of urban farming, calling it “cute but foolish.”

“The governor, a Democrat, brags about Michigan getting a battery plant, built north of Grand Rapids, as opposed to Detroit, the engine that drives the state,” Jackson told the city council, the Detroit News reports. “We need industrialization, not farming. Detroit needs the battery plant. Let farmers farm. … We are not offering a farming plan for Baghdad.”

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Naps Williams gets to grips with a pony at Butts Farm during a work experience day with the Young City Farmer programme. Photograph by Sam Frost.

Farmers for a fortnight

By Louise Tickle
The Guardian
7 September 2010

Excerpt:

The Royal Agricultural College (RAC) in the leafy Cotswolds isn’t where you’d expect to find urban youngsters from areas of disadvantage around the UK, but these are here for the RAC’s Young City Farmer two-week summer school .

Agricultural settings are dangerous places, Thomasin-Foster, a lecturer in farm mechanisation, explains. So, if an accident happens in the countryside, how long does the group reckon it’ll take for an ambulance to arrive?

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The Wealth of Waste – The economics of wastewater use in agriculture

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Rome, 2010

Excerpt:

6 September 2010, Stockholm/Rome – Recycling urban wastewater and using it to grow food crops can help mitigate water scarcity problems and reduce water pollution, but the practice is not being as widely implemented as it should, according to a new FAO report.

Use of reclaimed wastewater in agriculture has been reported in around 50 countries on what amounts to 10 percent of the world’s irrigated land, according to “The Wealth of Waste: The Economics of Wastewater Use in Agriculture,” published today at the start of World Water Week (Stockholm, 5-11 September).

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August 2010 – Policy Brief from the FAO Economic and Social Development Department

Towns and cities are growing rapidly in developing countries. This process is often accompanied by high levels of poverty and hunger, leading many urban dwellers to engage in farming activities to help satisfy their food needs. Policy makers need to recognize this reality and actively seize the opportunities offered by urban agriculture.

Hunger – a growing concern in urban areas
The recent spike of world hunger disproportionately affected the urban poor. As a large share of their disposable income is spent on food, the 2007-08 food price crisis was particularly hard on them. The urban poor also suffered from the consequences of last year’s global economic downturn, which reduced their employment opportunities and income.

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PARK(ing) Day Twin Cities 2009. Photo by Photo Troy Gallas.

Parking Day – September 17

PARK(ing) Day is a annual open-source global event where citizens, artists and activists collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spaces into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public places. The project began in 2005 when Rebar, a San Francisco art and design studio, converted a single metered parking space into a temporary public park in downtown San Francisco. Since 2005, PARK(ing) Day has evolved into a global movement, with organizations and individuals (operating independently of Rebar but following an established set of guidelines) creating new forms of temporary public space in urban contexts around the world.

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J-garden, Kitchen Garden Installations, Susapta Garden at Bank Colony, Bangalore.

J-garden, Kitchen Garden Installations

By Vinita
Citizen Matters
06 Sept. 2010

Excerpt:

Having understood the basic principles of urban farming, he started his own research and experimented with various models which has now taken shape as J-garden, a social enterprise. J-Garden provides kitchen garden installations and related equipment.

Over the last six months, Chandra has done eight installations for families in individual homes and apartments and one for a group of social engineers in a bank colony.

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Rhonda Teitel-Payne is a Green Hero

By Rhonda Teitel-Payne
Manager of urban agriculture at Stop Community Food Centre
Green Heroes
Sept. 4, 2010

Excerpt:

Knowing that there is nowhere near enough greenhouse space in the city to meet the demand for seedling production, The Stop built a 3,000 square foot greenhouse known as the Green Barn at St. Clair and Christie. The greenhouse keeps us growing organic produce year-round, and also allows us to start long-season seedlings such as tomatoes and peppers to share with community gardens across the city.

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Brandy Humes now enjoys a lush garden full of tomatoes, watermelon, peppers and raspberries, but it took replacing all the soil on her property to make her feel comfortable about growing food. Photo by Richard Lautens, Toronto Star.

Lead poisoning in children can cause neurological damage

By Theresa Boyle
Toronto Star
September 3, 2010

Excerpt:

“My neighbourhood has a long history of contamination,” Armstrong says of the south Junction Triangle, once a highly industrialized area. “We have a 2½-year-old and a 6-year-old and we don’t want them eating anything that is questionable.”

It is for residents like Armstrong that the city is developing a soil-contaminant protocol. To be released next year, the protocol will help urban gardeners determine if their soil is contaminant-free. If it’s not, the protocol will explain how they can still grow edible fruits and vegetable on their property. This might involve doing raised-bed gardening or having their soil remediated.

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US First Lady Michelle Obama harvests vegetables from her garden June 4, 2010 at the White House. The First Lady recruited chefs from across to join her anti-obesity campaign and help schools serve healthier, tastier meals. Mrs. Obama is calling on the chefs to partner with individual schools and work with teachers and parents to help educate kids about food and nutrition. She said healthy meals at schools are more important than ever because many children get most of their calories at school. AFP Photo by Paul J. Richards.

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Urban Farm – Fall 2010 – Voume 2 – Number 3

Contents:

Sustainable Communities
Is cohousing a fancy name for a hippie commune? Not at all. Read about the cooperation and sustainability moves that make these modern communities work.
by Jenise Aminoff

Bee Flys Into a Bar
Top bar beekeeping is taking flight as a low-maintenance, small-space beekeeping method.
by Cherie Langlois

Mix It Up
Seasonal crop rotation will make your garden grow right round, baby, right round, no matter the size of your garden plot.
by Jessica Walliser

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Gene Fredericks of Big Green Boxes imagines fish ponds, waterfalls, and racks and racks of edible greens and herbs in defunct spaces like this one. Photo by Bart Nagel.

Grist interviews Gene Fredericks of Big Green Boxes

By Bonnie Azab Powell
Grist
Sept 1, 2010

Excerpt:

Q. OK, so walk me through a Big Green Box.

A. We’ll take a freestanding vacant retail space or warehouse space, around 30,000 square feet, climate-control it, and set up some ponds and tanks for the fish — pleasant ones you can see, not unlike the goldfish and Koi ponds in an office-building lobby or a park. There’ll also be small waterfalls, which in addition to looking nice help aerate the water. The water from the ponds and tanks will go into settling tanks as well as a few bio-filtering tanks that will make sure no elements that might harm the plants or the fish get through. The nutrient-rich water then flows into the growing areas. The plants and growing area then filter the water, which gets recycled back to the fish.

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