Posts from — November 2012

Councillor Adriane Carr puts forth motion. 27 speakers speak in support.

Motion calling for City staff to look into options for long term security for community gardens

By Rose-Marie Larsson
Strathcona Gardens Blog
November 29, 2012

Dear Friends,

Councillors voted unanimously for Councillor Adriane Carr’s motion calling for City staff to look into options for long term security for community gardens, especially for older, established gardens like Cottonwood and Strathcona.

We had long line-up (27) of wonderful, eloquent speakers – gardeners of all ages from Cottonwood, Strathcona, Purple Thistle and the Environmental Youth Alliance, former Councillor Ellen Woodsworth (COPE), Celia Brauer from The False Creek Watershed Society and UBC Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Land and Food Systems Art Bomke among them. Peter Driftmier read a letter signed by 16 of Vancouver’s Neighbourhood Food Networks and Neighbourhood Food Network Coordinators.

This is a step forward for all of Vancouver’s community gardens – and for Cottonwood and Strathcona, which were recognized for their particular value to the Green City. More on what this means and what we need to do next to make the most of this opening soon!

[Read more →]

Mohamed Isaac prepares his area for planting this month. Photo by Joshua Lott for The New York Times.

A plan to revitalize a vacant lot in Phoenix has offered refugees a place to grow produce.

By Fernanda Santos
New York Times
November 26, 2012

Excerpt:

PHOENIX — Hussein Al Hamka is going to farm his famous cucumbers on a 15-acre vacant lot in the heart of this city, where nearly half of all lots sit empty and unused.

If his piece of fertilized dirt had a price tag, it would cost much more than he could ever dream of affording; the lot is valued at $25 million, or at least it was before the housing market collapsed and it was left undeveloped. To survive, Mr. Hamka, 50, an Iraqi refugee three years into his life in the United States, grows and sells cucumbers just like the ones he ate in his home country.

On Friday, Fidele Komezusenge, 25, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, picked rocks from the loose soil in the raised beds next to Mr. Hamka’s. Mr. Komezusenge was planning to plant carrot and cabbage seeds, his first farming foray since arriving in the United States in June. Nearby, Safala Chhetri, 50, a refugee from Bhutan who arrived in 2009, wavered between planting spinach or kale, but then decided to give onions a second chance.

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Yemi Amu, one of the founders of Oko Farms, swears by aquaponic farms and gardens because they use less water and provide both fish and vegetables. Photo by Stefano Giovannini.

Amu and Boe plan to build a greenhouse to contain the fish farm, which they say can thrive even during a chilly Brooklyn winter.

By Danielle Furfaro
The Brooklyn Paper
Nov 21, 2012

Excerpt:

Yemi Amu believes that fish poop can change the world — or at the very least change an abandoned Bushwick lot into a thriving farm.

She and her partner Jonathan Boe have spent the past year setting up small aquaponic gardens — closed systems that use fish feces and water to feed plants — and now they’re planning their masterwork: a fish poop-powered urban farm at the Moore Street Market in Bushwick.

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Rooftop Farm idea one of five finalists

The Tomato Upstairs
Excerpt from Know Jax
Nov 19, 2012

Daniel Burstein, a local Jacksonville entrepreneur, is in the running to win a $100,000 investment from GQ and Ketel One to jumpstart his business. Daniel’s business plan was chosen from thousands of entries and now he is one of the five finalists for the GQ and Ketel One “A Gentleman’s Call” competition.

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A Rooftop farm being built from up-cycled materials in Dublin city centre

From their website:

On September 1st 2012 Urban Farm secured Workshops and Rooftop space and The Chocolate Factory, a new creative community developing in an old confectionery factory in the heart of Dublin city centre, where we are researching and demonstrating intensive urban growing techniques, but we will not just be growing food and keeping fowl and bees.

We have begun building facilities to host events & community groups and provide hands-on workshops that teach responsible food production, carpentry, energy-saving systems, ecological cycles, and community self-sufficiency observing organic and& pesticide free practices. We go beyond the normal timber yards and builders suppliers, all materials used are salvaged from waste, meaning most supplies used in the production of the farm have been diverted from landfill, de-constructed and up-cycled on site.

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Urbanization is one of the key drivers of change in the world today as the world’s urban population will almost double from the current 3.5 billion to more than 6 billion by 2050.

By Yves Cabannes
Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations
Rome, 2012
for the Development Law Service FAO Legal Office

Excerpt: Introduction

The objective of this legislative study is to provide an analysis of the texts and the issues that need to be considered to primarily understand the legal and institutional frameworks that facilitate the agricultural practices of poor urban farmers. Special emphasis is also given to the instruments and frameworks that increase access to food for those living in urban poverty and who do not have access to nutritious food.

The study is divided into four sections. Section 1 of this report provides technical definitions of what is urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) and the extent to which UPA can address the global food insecurity prevailing in
cities today.

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Less Field, More Yield | William Mann from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

“Focus Forward is an unprecedented new series of 30 three-minute stories about innovative people who are reshaping the world through act or invention.”

Less Field, More Yield by William Mann

At a time when it is necessary to think differently about crop production, due to climate change, depleted natural resources, population growth and availability of land, the VertiCrop has been developed as a sustainable alternative to traditional agriculture, utilizing advanced hydroponic technologies in controlled environments.

[Read more →]

Food Market, Dakar, Senegal. Photo by By Easy Traveler.

Urban agriculture in the Dakar region alone generated 450 million dollars in 2011, supplying 45 percent of the city’s food supply.

By Koffigan E. Adigbli
All Africa
26 Nov. 2012

Excerpt:

Dakar — Watering cans in hand, men and women move back and forth between the wells and water storage tanks and the crops they’re watering: carrots, onions, tomatoes, cabbage, and potatoes, as well as fruit trees like palm, coconut, papaya and banana trees.

Growers like Ahmadou Sene are working tirelessly to produce vegetables in and around the Senegalese capital. Sene, in his forties, has a one-hectare plot. For three months of the year, he has a dozen young people to hoe and weed the garden, and for four months a group of 20 women work to harvest and sell his produce.

“Vegetables make up more than 80 percent of my crops,” he said, gesturing towards his garden. He cultivates his field year round, and harvests nearly 12 tonnes of vegetables each quarter.

[Read more →]

8-month, season-long training for aspiring urban farmers

Early-bird application deadline is December 15, 2012
Final Application and Scholarship Deadline: January 13, 2013

Multnomah County, in partnership with Oregon State University (OSU) Extension Service, is excited to announce the third year of the Beginning Urban Farmer Apprenticeship (BUFA) program. The program is an 8-month, season-long training for aspiring urban farmers and community land stewards. It is designed to give a new generation of beginning farmers the knowledge and skills they need to break into the field of sustainable small-scale, urban farming.

[Read more →]

Stepney City Farm, London.

“Working in the media, there is an unappealing tendency to get sucked in by the notion that WE are the insiders, and WE know all the secrets of the universe.”

By Libby Brooks
She is the Guardian’s acting comment editor, joining the paper in 1998.
From Stepney City Farm website
Nov. 26, 2012

Excerpt:

As my month at Stepney City Farm draws to an end, I am left reflecting on all the weird and wonderful things that I’ve done over the past four weeks. I chose to spend this sabbatical from my day job as a comment editor and columnist at the Guardian because, having spent the past few years commissioning and writing articles about how this country is – for reasons various, economic and political – going to hell in a handcart, I wanted to spend some time with people who are walking the talk.

Clipping the ferrets’ toenails or filling up the leaf mulcher may not appear to have anything to do with the global recession or benefits cuts, but the ethos at Stepney City Farm – self-sufficiency, education, community outreach – is exactly what a lot of folk are groping for at present, be that through the Occupy movement or even David Cameron’s much-derided Big Society.

[Read more →]

A program that unites agriculture with community development, nutrition, and local economic development.

Kickstarter
Nov 9, 2012

Excerpt:

The city of Bryan has graciously granted access to vacant properties in, and around historic downtown for the testing of the distributed farm concept. These once unused plots will become beautiful attractions and valuable assets to city and community members alike.

Good Food – Nutrition Education

Once established, these gardens will be available to schools and organizations for hands-on nutrition education. We believe that much of our nation’s struggle with obesity comes from the severed relationship we have with our food system.

[Read more →]

Like many who’ve joined the growing ranks of backyard chicken farmers, the Papays are accused of running foul of city zoning laws. Photo by Michael Schennum/The Arizona Republic.

Hundreds of Phoenix-area farmers have faced nuisance and zoning violations after neighbors have complained about smelly coops or clucking hens.

By Dustin Gardiner
The Republic
Nov 24, 2012

Excerpt:

The couple talks about the legal troubles they’re facing as a result of the chickens, an experiment that began last December with four hens. They wanted to be more eco-friendly and reap the nutritious benefits of farm-fresh eggs.

Joe Papay, who’s looking to see if any neighbors are watching over the wall, said they had no idea it’s illegal to keep backyard chickens in much of Chandler. They’re appealing a criminal charge and fighting to keep the birds they call pets.

[Read more →]

Tim Murphy and Noemie Desbiens-Riendeau run the urban agriculture program at Santropol roulant. See the CTV video here.

For 17 years, Montreal’s Santropol Roulant has been delivering hot meals to those in need

By Kevin Gallagher
CTV Montreal
Nov. 25, 2012

Excerpt:

On the rooftop of a building at the corner of Coloniale Ave. and Roy St. in Plateau Mont-Royal, Tim Murphy points to an expansive garden.

“This is part of that original vision we had, which was having a garden right up on our own roof,” said Murphy.

Murphy, the director of urban agriculture, and community coordinator Noemie Desbiens-Riendeau run the urban agriculture program at Santropol roulant.

[Read more →]

“There’s a lot of objection to chickens, but fish are not known for making a lot of noise.”

By Larry Barszewski
Sun Sentinel
November 24, 2012

Excerpt:

A green trifecta of urban farming projects could help the city’s emerging culinary arts district grow some of its own food.

An urban farm, community garden and green market in the district, which runs along the Dixie Highway corridor from Oakland Park Boulevard north to Jaco Pastorius Park, could be in place within a year if approved by commissioners.

“I grew up on a farm. I think this is a great idea,” Commissioner Suzanne Boisvenue said. “It’s a no-brainer. We need to do this.”

[Read more →]

Policy Narrative on urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) in Liberia

Analysis of UPA in Greater Monrovia, Tubmanburg
and Gbarnga, facilitated by Welthungerhilfe, CARE
Liberia and RUAF, under their UPA programmes (EU
funded).
April 2012

Excerpt: Introduction

The total population of Liberia is estimated at 3.9 million with an annual average growth rate of 2.1 (GoL, 2011a). Almost 50 percent is living in urban areas, and Liberia is rapidly urbanizing with an annual urban population growth of 4.5 percent (ACF, 2010; GoL, 2010). The majority of this urban population, estimated at around 1.2 million, lives in Greater Monrovia, but due to rural-to-urban migration and continued unrest in the region, smaller urban settlements, such as Gbarnga (approximately 35,000 inhabitants) and Tubmanburg (approximately 20,000) are also growing rapidly. Attention to sustainable development of these smaller cities is increasingly seen as important (UN Habitat, 2006, GoL, 2011b). Greater Monrovia stretches over 20,000 ha, including the city of Monrovia, several townships and the city of Paynesville. The organisation under the Greater Monrovia City is being discussed.

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Children at the 2,400-square-foot Fifth Street Farm, a garden atop three East Village schools. Photo by Ángel Franco/The New York Times.

In the Book Bag, More Garden Tools

By Lisa W. Foderaro
New York Times
November 23, 2012

Excerpt:

Across New York City, gardens and miniature farms — whether on rooftops or at ground level — are joining smart boards and digital darkrooms as must-have teaching tools. They are being used in subjects as varied as science, art, mathematics and social studies. In the past two years, the number of school-based gardens registered with the city jumped to 232, from 40, according to GreenThumb, a division of the parks department that provides schools with technical support.

[Read more →]

In the shadow of BC Place in Vancouver and in the dark reaches of the Downtown Eastside, exists a business with heart: SOLEfood Farm.

It is a business like no other, whose primary goal is social, with a secondary aim to become a model for urban agriculture.

By Beverley Smith
The Globe and Mail
Nov. 20 2012

Excerpt:

In 2009, the project’s first year, the farm grew 10,000 pounds of produce on its first half-acre lot, an incongruous site against the walls of the Astoria Hotel in the Downtown Eastside, a neighbourhood that is home to many of the city’s most disadvantaged.

To grow rainbow-coloured chard, pink radishes and giant onions that sprout from rich soil in moveable planting boxes, SOLEfood farm employs 25 disadvantaged people who can’t find traditional work because of drug addiction, poverty or mental illness.

[Read more →]

City Farmer’s iPhone cash register. Photo by Michael Levenston.

Use an easy-swipe credit card reader on your iPhone to put money directly into your bank account

If you have produce to sell from your back garden, from your small urban farm or from your table at a farmer’s market, there’s a new way to make the transaction effortless and it takes the headaches out of cash or cheque sales.

No more – “I don’t have enough money on me – where is the nearest bank machine?” or “that damned cheque bounced.” The Square app will take Visa or Mastercard and deposit money into your bank account in a few business days. You lose 2.75% on the transaction but you win with convenience.

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The golden-eyed lacewing (Chrysopa oculata), the paper wasp (Polistes fuscatus) and margined leatherwing (Chauliognathus marginatus).

The bugs are back — it’s a philatelic infestation! This fall, Canada Post has issued a special souvenir sheet with selected Beneficial Insects low value definitives.

Oct. 16, 2012

Issued in honour of the 125th anniversary of the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada, the souvenir sheet is aimed at young, beginning collectors. “The Society has always been committed to passing on knowledge about stamp collecting to subsequent generations, which is no doubt a factor in its longevity,” says Canada Post’s Director of Stamp Services Jim Phillips. “You could say we’re helping the Society pass on the collecting bug.”

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Angela Moran, Urban Farmer, Flamenco Dancer.

There is a beautiful synergistic relationship between fish and plants and the urban environment that allows us to really close some loops and ease the labour required to grow food.

The Mason Street City Farm is a quarter acre market farm nestled into the heart of North Park neighbourhood in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia. Located just three blocks from City Hall, a stone’s throw from the local fast food joint and tucked in between condos, grocery stores, and the local elementary school is a highly productive and accessible urban farm. It is a green space in the city where a diversity of people with a diversity of skills come together in the ancient and cardinal act of growing food.

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