Video: Jon Woodward on urban gardening.

Forget lofts in Gastown. The hottest real estate in Vancouver is somewhere you might not have expected: your local community garden.

By: Darcy Wintonyk,
CTV BC
Apr. 5, 2011

Excerpt:

Neighbourhood plots are springing up around the city, but not fast enough to keep up with the demand from urbanites hoping to get a healthy injection of the city farming experience.

Wait lists continue to grow as the desire to be a part of plant parenthood blossoms, says Michael Levenston, executive director of Vancouver’s City Farmer, a non-profit agency dedicated to urban agriculture.

“The more multi-family homes in the city, the more people want to get out and get their hands in the ground. It’s getting back to nature and it’s hot in terms of demand,” Levenston told ctvbc.ca from his Kitsilano community garden headquarters.

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The Positive Kitchen Garden

This is a name that we have given to our core work – to encourage community groups to grow their own fruit and vegetables. Rich in the minerals and vitamins to boost the immune system of HIV Positive people, they help improve the whole community’s nutrition and health. The Positive Kitchen Garden can often utilise ‘unused land’, bringing even small areas into food production.

Real Impact agronomists train the group how to get all-year-round production using modern farming technology such as drip irrigation, hybrid seed, vermi-compost vermi-liquid fertiliser and integrated pest management (IPM) to reduce reliance on pesticides and inorganic fertilizers but improve yield and quality.

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Interview with Mikey Tomkins

By Luke Miller Callahan
The Socio Capitalist
04/19/2011

Excerpt:

About Mikey Tomkins

Specialising in international political economy, systems theory, sustainable development and urban agriculture, he has been a member of DPU staff for the past 10 years, having previously taught at School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Birkbeck College.

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Congress Garden in the Plaza De La Revolucion. Havana, Cuba. Photo by Christina Snowdon 2010.

Research report from ‘Brisbane to Bogata’ website

By Christina Snowdon
Murdoch University Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy
2010

Abstract:

Urban Agriculture and City Farms and their Influence on Community Engagement is a study of the community aspects of urban gardening. The aim of this research was s to explore the roles that urban gardening play in community development and how urban agriculture can contribute to building community. This was achieved through site visits of community gardens and city farms in the United States and Australia, and site visits of urban agriculture farms in Cuba, during May to August 2010.

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The salads at one Brooklyn restaurant bring a new meaning to locally grown.
See video here.

Edible: Park Slope Restaurant Brings New Meaning To Locally Grown

By: Rachel Wharton
Edible Manahttan
12/03/2010

Excerpt:

“[We grow] probably about two-dozen different types of greens. They all have a distinct flavor,” says Jacques Gautier of Palo Santo Restaurant. “You can see we have purslane. This is actually fennel, micro fennel, so we planted the fennel seeds and just let them grow about this big. Radish greens. Chrysanthemum greens. A few different types of mustard greens. This is red mustard green, green mustard greens. This is an interesting one – this is called oracle green.

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