Vancouver Washington’s Urban Abundance aims to build a citywide farming network for fresh food

4000 seed balls were rolled in two hours along this production line at Urban Abundance.

Urban Abundance

By Dean Baker
The Oregonian
November 05, 2010

Excerpt:

They kick-started their program this fall by creating a computerized database of fruit and nut trees in the city.

From trees at the 20 sites that registered on their website, Urban Abundance volunteers harvested 1,500 pounds of prunes and apples that might otherwise have been wasted, and donated them to One Life Food Pantry in Vancouver.

But, Neth said, that was just a start for the program.

“It is more than just growing more food, or bringing food into the emergency food system,” Neth said.

“There is the component of trying to retell the story of food, to re-create a relationship with food,” he said. “You can’t just give people food boxes and have that sense of abundance really.”

They want a neighbor-to-neighbor network, but also a system that allows backyard growers to make a small profit on excess food they grow. And they want people to embrace the heritage of agriculture in the city.

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