Category — Entrepreneurs

“City Harvest is a business which uses urban space in Victoria, BC — yards or vacant land — to produce hand-tended, sustainably produced vegetables to market.”

“City Harvest is also responsible for a pending bylaw amendment in its home municipality of Oak Bay where agriculture – defined as the production and subsequent sale of produce – has been illegal. The municipality’s council has ratified the amendment which now welcomes urban agriculture, and the bylaw will be changed upon a public hearing on the issue in the near future.”

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See the rest of these photos in New York Times slideshow here.

By TRACIE McMILLAN
New York Times May 7, 2008

“For years, New Yorkers have grown basil, tomatoes and greens in window boxes, backyard plots and community gardens. But more and more New Yorkers like the Wilkses are raising fruits and vegetables, and not just to feed their families but to sell to people on their block.

“The Wilkses now cultivate plots at four sites in East New York, paying as little as $2 a bed (usually 4 feet by 8 feet) in addition to modest membership fees. Last year the couple sold $3,116 in produce at a market run by the community group East New York Farms, more than any of their neighbors.

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Canadians Wally Satzewich and wife Gail Vandersteen teach city farmers how to earn money from gardening small lots.

For aspiring and practicing urban, home-based, backyard and front lawn farmers.

“Had I known about the feasibility of sub-acre farming when I started my farming career 20 years ago, I would never have bought large acreage in the country, and would have instead fulfilled my farming aspirations more easily and with less expense in the city.” - Wally Satzewich

“SPIN is the first commercial organic-based farming system for land bases under an acre in size, and it takes the challenges posed by urbanization and turns them to a farmer’s advantage by capitalizing on limited space and resources.”

Workshop Program, May 19, 20, 2008 Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

SPIN Farming web site.

May 10th, 2008 “SPIN-Gardening” Workshop in Portland, Oregon information here.

“Bringing the countryside to the city. Adapting the classic vegetable garden, a space dedicated to growing edible plants in an urban environment. With these basic ideas, expressed in his end of degree project thesis at the industrial design school ESDI, Marc Gispert Vidal developed a project called ‘City Vegetable Garden’.

“Leopoldos’ Garden is made from a tubular structure of anodised aluminium and growing trays of waterproof artificial raffia, flexible and very resistant, in black. Technological plastic knots and conical nuts enable the structure to be set up with an Allen key. It comes with wheels included and is suitable for both indoor and outdoor growing. It has a drainage system incorporated which prevents the harm that excess watering can do to plants.”

More about the product here.

You can go to Kiva’s website and lend to someone in the developing world who needs a loan for their business - like raising goats, selling vegetables at market or making bricks. Each loan has a picture of the entrepreneur, a description of their business and how they plan to use the loan so you know exactly how your money is being spent.

I just made a loan to an entrepreneur named Hanifa Namutebi in Uganda. Hanifa is married, and has four children. Her current business is poultry farming. She has applied for a loan to purchase more birds and increase her business.

Entrepreneurial Urban Agriculturists should take advantage of this program.

Go to Kiva’s website to find out about making a loan.