Parla Food is written by Katie Parla, a travel writer, food historian, and sommelier, based in and around Italy.
Nov. 11, 2010

Excerpt:

For a city that is so blessed with fertile soil, so rife with green spaces, and so proud of its local produce, there are relatively few plots of land dedicated to plant cultivation in town. And, while there are a handful of produce gardens in the city, there isn’t a strong, consolidated movement towards establishing urban gardens for public use. Instead, there are several organizations that have been successful in launching small-scale projects, most of which are aimed at youth education.

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Prop 84 Funding for City Slicker Farms Brings Land Security to West Oakland’s Urban Agriculture Movement

Press Release
November 10, 2010

Oakland, CA (November 10, 2010)—On Monday, November 8, 2010 City Slicker Farms was awarded $4,000,000 for a “West Oakland Park and Urban Farm” project. The funds come from Proposition 84, a California bond initiative approved in 2006, which reserves 5.4 billion dollars in bonds for projects involving water quality and access, park improvements, and natural resources and park preservation. The funds will be used to purchase a vacant lot in West Oakland at 28th and Peralta Streets and construct a farm and park there. At 1.4 acres, this will be City Slicker Farms’ largest farm site; greatly increasing their ability to grow and distribute food for the West Oakland community.

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Roma: primo Parco a Orti Urbani

È stato inaugurato a Roma il primo Parco a Orti Urbani, realizzato dal Dipartimento Tutela Ambientale e del Verde Urbano di concerto con il XVI Municipio, su parte di un’area di proprietà comunale che si affaccia su via della Consolata.

di Lisa Zillio
alternativasostenibile
22 Luglio 2010

Use Google Translation here.

Excerpt:

L’area, delle dimensioni di circa 18.000 mq, presenta al proprio interno 21 particelle destinate a orti urbani, di circa 200 mq ciascuna, 10 casette in legno per il ricovero attrezzi, una costruzione che alloggia tre locali, bagni e due locali tecnici, un’area parcheggio, viali interni, due fontanelle pubbliche, panchine e cestini per i rifiuti.

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The gift of urban agriculture is the work

By Many Howard
The Atlantic
Nov 11, 2010
Manny Howard is the author of My Empire of Dirt: How One Man Turned His Big-City Backyard into a Farm.

Excerpt:

Located behind our home in Flatbush, Brooklyn, The Farm was equal parts fever dream and forced march. During the course of my unintentionally ambitious experiment I turned a neglected 800-square-foot patch of barren clay into a verdant wonderland of vegetables, fruit, and livestock. Live on what you produced, and that alone (with the exception of salt, pepper, and coffee beans) for as long as possible, that’s all I hoped to achieve.

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Leslie Halleck’s North Haven Farms is one of fifty companies interviewed for the Wall Street Journal best-seller: Spend Shift: How the Post-Crisis Values Revolution is Changing the Way We Buy, Sell and Live. Photo from book.

East Dallas makeover in new book

Spend Shift: How the Post-Crisis Values Revolution Is Changing the Way We Buy, Sell, and Live
Hardcover published October 2010
By John Gerzema, Michael D’Antonio

Excerpt:

If you want to see how the Great Recession has reshaped consumerism you can start with the both the chicken and the egg. You find them in hundreds if not thousands of backyards, where do-it-yourselfers have built coops, installed hens, and begun harvesting their own eggs. At most of these homes you’ll also see the modern version of the old Victory Gardens: small plots that produce crops all year long. This shift from consumption to production in households across America is part of a more self-reliant lifestyle.

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