Posts from — September 2012

“Most of the gardens documented in this book have been destroyed.”

By Ms. Margaret Morton and Ms. Diana Balmori
Yale University Press, 160 pages
February 22, 1995

Jimmy’s garden on the Lower East Side of Manhattan – an assortment of stones and garbage bags, five tires, a chair, a skid, a refrigerator shelf, some ailanthus trees and goldfish, a wooden fence, and a pond with water carried by hand from a nearby fire hydrant – was recently bulldozed by the city. Jimmy then disappeared. Anna’s garden is surrounded by a tall chainlink fence and filled with a menagerie of dolls and stuffed animals. The animals are whole, the dolls are maimed. Anna is a recluse who speaks to no one. The neighbors say she was in a concentration camp as a child.

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The Urban Gardener
A SpacesTV video
SPACES serves up home decorating ideas, and delivers inspiration and innovation from top designers, enthusiastic celebrities, and hands-on professionals.

Urban Gardener is a video series dedicated to exploring some of the most interesting city green spaces and meeting some of the most creative urban gardeners around the US, whether they’re just off a street or ontop of a skyscraper – we’ll find ‘em.

More SpacesTV videos here.

Video of the garden from last summer.

“The garden was planted as an act of civil disobedience in the name of food security”

By Renata D’Aliesio
The Globe and Mail
Sep. 28 2012

Excerpt:

The City of Toronto began dismantling a vegetable garden at Queen’s Park on Friday that was planted illegally nearly five months ago as part of the Occupy movement.

The small plot contained peas and cherry tomato plants and had been dubbed the People’s Peas Garden.

Jacob Moreland, a garden representative, said about 200 people had tended to the garden over the summer, planting, weeding and harvesting. Mr. Moreland contends the city should have advised the group before removing the plants.

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Jennifer Johns interviews Hank Herrera of Dig Deep Farms

Go Liv! TV
Sept. 27, 2012

Dig Deep Farms and Produce is a social enterprise and a project of the Alameda County Deputy Sheriffs Activities League. Our vision is to create a vibrant, sustainable local food economy that brings fresh, healthy affordable food to the residents of Ashland and Cherryland. We will create a successful business based on growing, packing, packaging, processing, distributing and selling fresh, healthy food.

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They drove herds of sheep through the city and decorated the city hall’s entrance with kale.

Notes on the Urban Farm prepared by Dirk Nowak
Sept 28, 2012

They have been preparing for this over 3 years, invested about 1 Million Euros. They did spectacular advertising, driving herds of sheep through the city and decorating the city hall’s entrance with kale. They have found over 200 co-investors, crowd-funding the final 65.000 Euros. Then it took only about 6 months to convert a former shunting yard into fields and greenhouses…

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Agriculture has been amongst the most favorite amusements of my life. – George Washington

The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
September 2012
168 pages (Must see. Mike)

This report introduces the concept of urban agriculture, presents its characteristics, and discusses its relationship to food system planning, sustainability, and public health. A sample of innovative community-based urban agriculture projects around the nation and in Prince George’s County serves to show the hands-on implementation of the concept. Planning and public policy for urban agriculture are discussed along with possible actions that planners and policy makers may take to support it.

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“Under the tutelage of dozens of lecturers from around the world, my illusions about world food systems were smashed to bits.”

By Rhona McAdam
Rocky Mountain Books
October 15, 2012
Rhona McAdam is a poet, blogger and food writer. She has a masters in food culture and communications from LUniversità degli Studi di Scienze Gastronomiche (Bra, Italy), writes a food and poetry blog (Iambic Cafe), and for several years taught an online course in urban agriculture and food security for St. Lawrence College. Rhona lives in Victoria, British Columbia.

At the last census in 2006, just over 80 percent of Canada’s population lived in urban centres. How we feed that population and protect its food sources is an enduring subject of debate in food security circles these days. As consumers and citizens, we all need to take a hard look at the deficiencies in Canadas ability to feed the urban poor; our dependence on imported foods and centralized food processing; our detachment from our food sources; the often problematic solutions to food security devised by governments, municipalities and non-profit groups; and where we are headed if we change nothing in these times when change is urgently needed.

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Document found in the archives: Victory Gardens and Shared Sacrifice.

“I ask people in cities, towns and villages to assist our farmers in every possible way to reach the food goals which have been set for this year.”

From: In Roosevelt History – Sharing the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum Collections and Programs
Found in the Archives
August 18, 2011

Excerpt:

Last week we were visited by a group of state nutritionists. As we were identifying some documents on the subject of food that might interest them, we found this item in the President’s Official File on Victory Gardens. It is a draft of a statement that was released by the White House on January 22, 1945, just two days after FDR’s fourth inauguration and the same day that the President left Washington for the Yalta Conference. It was drafted by the Office of Price Administration and the War Food Administration in preparation for 1945′s food information programs. This simple document recalls just how unified the American people were during the war, and how everyone shared in the sacrifices that would lead to victory just a few months later.

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May 1943. Diana Hopkins planting her Victory Garden of beans, carrots, tomatoes and cabbage almost in the shadow of President Roosevelt’s study. Her garden products will probably be served on the table at the Executive Mansion. Diana’s father, Harry Hopkins was the President’s advisor. Mrs. Hopkins wears her uniform as a volunteer nurse. (AP Wire)

FDR told soil scientists “Tell her the yard is full of rocks or something. The people own this place, and don’t want it busted up just so she can plant beans.”

‘Inside the White House’
By Frank I. Weller
The Tuscaloosa News
Aug 29, 1943

Excerpts:

Mrs. Roosevelt is a powerful presence in the presidential picture. But insiders say, FDR slaps down a lot of her ideas. This sometimes gives Eleanor quite a kick, she being a humor-loving person.

White House Skullduggery

In Depression days, Mrs. Roosevelt wanted to tip up the White House lawn for a farm garden.

FDR, they say, told soil scientists to declare White House ground too sorry even to raise an umbrella.

Mrs. R. gave up until she wanted a Victory Garden. The president is said to have called in the soil scientists again, saying something as follows:
“Tell her the yard is full of rocks or something. The people own this place, and don’t want it busted up just so she can plant beans.”

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In production now. Film about SPIN Farming (Small Plot Intensive Farming). In the city of Kelowna, British Columbia

By Marc Arellano
Professor of Communications at Okanagan College

Excerpt from filmmaker’s website

Take a look at your front lawn, or backyard for that matter. Is it like most North American residential properties, i.e. a carpet of immaculately kept grass punctuated by small islands of ornamental flower gardens?

In 2008, my family and I decided to abandon our front lawn in favour of growing our own food. At the same time, a local Kelowna resident, Curtis Stone, hatched a more ambitious plan: turn multiple, residential lawns into small-plot-intensive, urban farms (SPIN farms) and complete this process totally by bicycle.

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We believe a new era awaits where small farms thrive in every nook and cranny of a city, made more productive by a combination of ancient best practices and all the benefits of the information era.

By Jesse DuBois
Farmscape, the largest urban farming venture in California

From Kickstarter:

We think small-scale farming is the future. Agrisaurus will make it easier to learn how to garden and also easier to design, plan, and manage your plot throughout the seasons.

Growing food can be quite complicated, there are a lot of variables: temperature, sunlight, days to maturity, crop variety, irrigation, drainage, pests, disease, and on and on. We want to make the effort of gardening more fun, more comprehensible, and come harvest time, more rewarding.

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State’s Premier Urban Agriculture Ordinance Includes Regs for Farming on City and Private Land, Keeping of Chickens and Bees.

Press release:
Sep 24, 2012

SOMERVILLE – Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone announced today that, following approvals by the City’s Board of Aldermen (Aug. 16), Planning Board (Aug. 16) and Board of Health (Sept. 20), Somerville is now the first city in Massachusetts to pass an Urban Agriculture Ordinance that establishes formal guidelines for urban farming and gardening, the keeping of chickens and bees, and other policies governing the growth and sale of agricultural products in an urban setting.

“We are committed to making our city a great place to live, work, play and raise a family – and we believe that ought to include a commitment to promoting a healthy and sustainable community by increasing access to fresh, healthy local foods and reconnecting residents with their food sources,” said Mayor Curtatone. “Somerville worked hard to become a model of innovation in such areas as government transparency, data sharing, and performance-driven management.

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News story featuring the farm. More here.

Aqua Vita is the first indoor commercial size aquaponic farm in the Northeast. They produce 750 of produce per week at the farm, by using 8,000 fish.

Aqua Vita Farms
Course November 3rd and 4th, 2012

“Our most popular product is our Aquaponic Lettuce Mix, a blend of baby heirloom lettuce and salad greens. However, we also offer Dwarf Gray Pea Shoots, Red Streaked Mizuna, Blood Veined Sorrel, Baby Bright Lights Swiss Chard, and other highly sought after specialty greens.

“While Aqua Vita Farms primarily sells our Aquaponic produce directly to restaurants and other foodservice institutions, we do have a few local outlets where our products can be purchased in retail packaging. They are:

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The Learning Gardens’ planters are designed to fit in whatever space a school has, either a large field or small rooftop. Photo by Laurie Smith.

The slogan “Think Different” has become a mantra for a generation of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. So when high-tech-millionaire-turned-restaurateur Kimbal Musk envisioned a network of Learning Gardens for public schools, he didn’t settle for the usual framed, raised beds.

By Jane Black
Washington Post
September 18, 2012

Excerpt:

“For me, there’s no point unless we are reaching a critical mass of people,” says Musk. “It’s not that small projects aren’t doing good things. If you serve four schools, you can feel very good about yourself –The only way to solve the problem is to reach all of America’s 100,000 schools.”

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Grenville Community Allotment Garden, Islington, London

UK Photographer Diana J Hale documents community gardens in London

Diana J Hale
Her Blog
Sept 20, 2012

Excerpts:

“Odd as I am sure it will appear to some, I can think of no better form of personal involvement in the cure of the environment than that of gardening. A person who is growing a garden, if he is growing it organically, is improving a piece of the world. He is producing something to eat, which makes him somewhat independent of the grocery business, but he is also enlarging, for himself, the meaning of food and the pleasure of eating.”
- Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays

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A rendering of the urban agriculture facility proposed by FarmWorks.

St. Louis has unique resources that could allow it to become a leader in urban agriculture.

By Chappell Ellison
Good Ideas

Excerpt:

St. Louis, Missouri is surrounded by some of the country’s richest farmland. That’s why it’s all the more frustrating that local residents eat produce grown hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles away. In February, GOOD Ideas for Cities came to St. Louis, providing a platform for groups to address citywide problems. Comprised of local food enthusiasts, STL Provocateur took the stage to present a solution toward fixing the city’s local food problem. What was most extraordinary about STL Provocateur’s presentation was that the solution they proposed was not a physical one—the group’s participants focused on advocating a policy change that would allow and encourage urban agriculture in St. Louis. Within four months of presenting the idea, the policy, named Board Bill 79, passed in July.

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Gideon Liselo, an urban farmer in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, tends to arrowroot grown using polluted water. ALERTNET/Isaiah Esipisu.

In Uganda, the final draft of the National Land Policy commits the government to legitimising “the land use activities of the urban poor, especially in relation to agriculture”.

By Isaiah Esipisu
Freelance science writer based in Nairobi.
AlertNet
Sept 17, 2012

Excerpt:

Gurara Women’s Association is a good example to show that horticulture within an urban setting can be a reliable source of income and food,” says Getachew Tikubet, Bioeconomy Africa’s director of operations.

The organisation is currently implementing similar projects in urban areas in Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Côte d’Ivoire. It has set up model bio-farm centres and has so far trained some 30,000 subsistence farmers in its system.

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Film:Director Of Photography And Editor: Liam Mitchell.

Autumn issue of Montecristo featuring Vancouver’s urban farmers: Solefood Farms, Inner City Farms, Victory Gardens

By Joie Alvaro Kent; Photography by Alana Paterson
Solefood Farms: Sean Dory, Michael Ableman.
Inner City Farms: Andrew Fleming, Camil Dumont.
Victory Gardens: Lisa Giroday, Samantha Philips, Sandra Lopuch.

Excerpt:

All in all, it’s the largest working farm within Vancouver’s city limits, possibly even in North America, and Ableman acknowledges the unprecedented scope of SOLEfood’s social initiative. “It’s stupidly, unbelievably ambitious,” he remarks with a smile. “There’s nothing easy about this, not at this scale. It’s a huge grand experiment, and I often tell people that I’ve staked my reputation on it.” Quite a declaration as Ableman is an internationally renowned expert on organic farming, sustainable agriculture, and urban farming. A farmer for 40 years, author, photographer, and lecturer, he started the Center for Urban Agriculture in 1987 at Fairview Gardens in Southern California. He now makes his home on Salt Spring Island and alternates farming duties between SOLEfood and Foxglove Farm.

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We need to expand our infrastructure and increase production to provide produce, eggs, and honey for our new farm to table restaurant

Project by Abeni Ramsey
Oakland, CA

Excerpt:

Four years ago, I started City Girl Farms, an urban farm producing organic, heirloom vegetables, farm fresh eggs and honey in the San Francisco Bay Area with a desire to increase the availability of fresh local food to residents and restaurants and to further economic opportunity in my community.

I have been farming for seven years and have worked in the restaurant industry for 15 years and I am finally bringing these experiences together in a brand new farm to table restaurant called Township.

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This is the 7th short film in the ‘Meet Your Urban Farmer’ series

By Vita Mavronicolas, Digital Storyteller
Fire and Light Media Group
Sept 21, 2012

Victory Gardens is a team of urban farmers for hire who specialize in transforming all types of urban space for food production. As no two spaces are the same, neither are the gardens grown. Victory Garden’s goal is to enable people to grow food by providing all the necessary educational tools and infrastructure for successful harvests.

Take a look here and see how Victory Gardens can help you grow your own food – victorygardensvancouver.ca

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