Category — Events

Ladonna Redmond urged urban farmers to be politically active. “You can’t just sit on your duff in your garden,” she said.

The city of Richmond has produced a working draft assessment of local urban agriculture progress and opportunities for improvement.

By Robert Rogers
Richmond Confidential
June 6, 2011

Excerpt:

Addressing a crowd of government and business leaders, urban agriculture aficionados, commercial growers and others with interests in the growing niche of locally-grown foods, LaDonna Redmond told listeners that she took a different route to urban agriculture.

“I didn’t get into urban agriculture because I love trees,” Redmond said, adding that 20 years ago she didn’t know or care much about global warming or recycling either. “I came to urban agriculture because I had to feed my son.”

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“If you have a piece of land or even a large flower pot, you can grow a tomato or a row of lettuce. Just get your hands in the soil. Why wouldn’t you?” says Ethne Clarke, the editor in chief of Organic Gardening Magazine. Photo by Tammy Ljungblad, The Kansas City Star.

“One of the most exciting things to me is seeing good, healthy food being grown in neighborhoods that have no grocery stores.”

By Marty Ross
Kansas City Star
Jun 4, 2011

Excerpt:

It’s hard to miss the signs of urban farming these days. School-yard gardens and community gardens across the city promote the pleasure of growing your own peppers, beans, greens and other edibles. Farmers’ markets emphasize local crops and the gardeners who tend them.

“We’re riding a wave — there’s a food revolution going on,” says Janet Moss, coordinator for Cultivate Kansas City’s fourth biennial urban farm tour later this month. “People are talking about food gardening like I’ve never heard it before.”

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Jennifer Cook selecting seeds with the help of certified organic seed grower Greta Kryger of Greta’s Organic Seeds in Ottawa. 

Community Art Garden is underway!

May 20, 2011 — Ottawa
Over the next few weeks, the Arts Court lawn at Daly and Nicolas Streets will transform into a lush, colourful, edible, community collaboration.

Jennifer Cook is one of two artists selected by a jury in February after a call went out for artists to propose how they would involve the community in growing food at the gallery. She has drawn up designs for a series of vegetable gardens, referencing culinary themes, colour combinations and the patterns of traditional quilts.

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Instructor Rachel Black.

Urban Agriculture: A Liberal Arts Approach

Instructor Rachel Black: “The Gastronomy Program just did not seem complete without a hands-on course that deals with the growing of food. I have tried to put together a curriculum for this course that deals with practical gardening skills while still maintaining a Liberal Arts approach to farming. It is exciting to bring together some of my passions–growing, thinking and eating food.”

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The green-fingered husband and wife, Ian and Barbara Pollard, work at the Abbey House Gardens in Wiltshire, England and tend to their plants completely starkers!

Ready the soil, plant seeds and take off your clothes

By Julie Washington,
The Plain Dealer
May 11, 2011,

Excerpt:

It was a perfect morning in Pat Brown’s back yard — temperature in the low 70s, no rain, sunny. She was itching to take off her clothes and start gardening.

You heard right.

“I do garden in the nude, and I enjoy it,” admitted Brown, 69, a master gardener living near Eugene, Ore.

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Jim Hanson, Katherine Alaimo, and Kristen McIvor outside the Capitol. Photo by Caron E. Gala Bijl.

May 9, 2011 Event

By Caron E. Gala Bijl
Senior Science Policy Associate
American Society of Agronomy
Crop Science Society of America
Soil Science Society of America

The American Society for Nutrition (ASN), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), and the Council on Food, Agricultural & Resource Economics (C-FARE) sponsored Bringing Urban Agriculture to Life, on Monday, May 9.

The briefing highlighted the role of urban agriculture and community gardening in addressing urban food security and human health issues. The panel of experts included:

Dr. Katherine Alaimo: Associate Professor, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI

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Britain’s Prince Charles accepts flowers from Nicole Pendergast, 7, of Washington, during a visit to Common Good City Farm in Washington, on Tuesday, May 3, 2011. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin / AP

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray described the prince as a “visionary” on environmental issues

By Ben Nuckols
Associated Press
May 3, 2011

Excerpts:

The Prince of Wales spent about 35 minutes touring Common Good City Farm on Capitol Hill. Wearing a gray, double-breasted suit on a muggy, windy day, he shook hands and made small talk with farm staffers, volunteers and dozens of onlookers who crammed against a picket fence.

He did not speak to reporters or address the crowd, but he chatted up children about composting and the members of a jazz band about their equipment. A longtime advocate of sustainable agriculture, Charles picked up a piece of spinach grown at the farm and popped it into his mouth.

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IFOAM Congress 26th September to 5th October, 2011 in the Republic
Korea.

Goals of the conference – Organic urban agriculture:

To discuss how to solve the issue of reduced farm land caused by urbanization in the world; to pursue agriculture accessible to urbanites in the urbanized area; and to discuss the conditions necessary for urban agriculture to perform positively. The main objective of this urban agriculture conference is to improve the natural environment of urban areas and to preserve healthy ecological systems.

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The site for the project is located adjacent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Award of $2500

By SuckerPunch
Registration begins 4.11.11
Submissions due 8.22.11

Center for Urban Farming
As the interest and demand rises in New York City for locally grown food and the appreciation for a wealth of vegetables and plants deepens, there exists an opportunity to develop an urban agriculture for the city. Urban farming has the potential to raise city dwellers’ awareness of their food sources and increase their appreciation for agriculture and sustainable practices. In addition to providing fresh nutrient rich food, the farms will provide a wealth of new employment opportunities in the city as well as potential revenue from urban farm markets. Waste incurred by shipping food into the city will also be reduced and will allow for even fresher farm to table opportunities at the markets and restaurants.

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Kitchen Gardeners International asks new group of high-profile people for donations

“Two years ago, gardeners helped inspire the First Family to plant a garden at the White House. This year, we’re asking to a new group of high-profile people to support the garden cause.”

Q: What is this all about?

The Fork It Over Campaign seeks to strengthen the global homegrown movement by 1) raising awareness about food gardens and their many social and environmental benefits and 2) raising funds that will allow us to help more people around the world to grow their own healthy food.

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The Prince has turned his Château de la Bourdaisière in Touraine into a high-end destination with its National Conservatory of Tomatoes (650 varieties) and historical vegetable and medicinal gardens.

The Prince Gardener Louis Albert de Broglie
Monday, May 2 at 7pm, 2011
Part of a series “Art de Vivre: Gardens for Gourmets”
by the French Institute Alliance Francaise (FIAF)

Founder of the luxury garden brand Le Prince Jardinier and owner of the renowned natural science institution Deyrolle, de Broglie will discuss the rise of garden tourism and biodiversity in 21st-century gardens. He will appear in conversation with Roger Doiron, head of Kitchen Gardeners International and a lead activist behind Michelle Obama’s kitchen garden at the White House. FIAF Members, $20, Non-Members $25.

Excerpt about the Prince:

The recent story of Louis Albert de Broglie is very much linked with his interaction with the Château de la Bourdaisière that he bought with his brother in 1991.

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“You’ve been awarded a Best of Green Award in our Food & Health category!”

See the award page here.

Early issues of Organic Gardening Magazine.

OG Magazine wins TreeHugger “Reader’s Choice” Award 1st place. City Farmer 2nd.

Started in 1942, Organic Gardening’s hard-copy magazine has a circulation today of over a quarter of a million. Founded by J.I Rodale, Rodale’s magazines reach more than 45 million readers in more than 50 countries around the world. The publisher of Men’s Health, Prevention, Women’s Health, Runner’s World, Running Times, Bicycling, Mountain Bike, and Organic Gardening, Rodale is the leader in providing actionable, authoritative, and engaging health and wellness content.

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April 7, 8, 2011, Seixal County, 20km from Lisbon

The congress will take place at Municipal Auditorium of Seixal County, on 7 and 8 April. Seixal is a county on the south bank of the Tagus River, about 20km from Lisbon

April 7 (Thursday)

8:30 – Reception
9:00 – Opening Session
Presidente da Câmara Municipal do Seixal, Alfredo Monteiro / Vereador do Pelouro do Ambiente e Serviços Urbanos, Joaquim Tavares/ Ministério da Agricultura, do Desenvolvimento Rural e das Pescas / Quercus – Associação Nacional de Conservação da Natureza

Panel 1 – Public Policies and Planning
Moderador: Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles (Arquitecto Paisagista)
Relator: Giovanni Allegretti (Arquitecto, Centro de Estudos Sociais da Universidade de Coimbra)

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Du 15 au 19 août 2011 à Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal (Canada)

Pour une troisième année consécutive le Collectif de recherche sur l’aménagement paysager et l’agriculture urbaine durable (CRAPAUD), en association avec l’Institut des sciences de l’environnement, vous convie à cinq jours de formation sur l’agriculture urbaine (AU) et ses différentes facettes. Cette école se veut un creuset multidisciplinaire à l’émergence de l’agriculture urbaine. Il se veut un lieu et moment de rencontre entre les différents acteurs de l’agriculture urbaine au Québec, mais aussi d’ailleurs.

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Ecocity 2011 – Montréal (Québec, Canada), August 2011

Call for papers for the theme : Urban Agriculture
The deadline for proposal submission is January 31, 2011

Biodiversity, green spaces and urban agriculture are inter-related concepts which contribute (directly and indirectly) to our general well-being: to health, the environment, and the quality of our lives and that of the landscape around us. Over the past few years, science has made possible many advances in indentifying the social, economic and ecological importance of biodiversity and urban agriculture. Among these are solar shading and the reduction of urban heat islands, increasing urban surface permeability and rainwater capture, removing atmospheric pollutants, and food production.

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Event: Urban Agriculture: Growing Healthy, Sustainable Places (S461)

Paper: The role of urban agriculture in building resilient cities in developing countries

Event: American Planning Assoc. National Planning Conference
in Boston, MA from April 9-April 12, 2011

Urban Agriculture: Growing Healthy, Sustainable Places (S461)

Description:
Urban agriculture is a key component of the emerging practice area of community and regional food systems planning. Explore the forms, types, dimensions and prerequisites for urban agriculture and consider the policies and public planning mechanisms used to support it.

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The Garden of Eden, December 30, 1978. Photo by Harvey Wang

Adam Purple and the Garden of Eden – Photographs by Harvey Wang

Harvey Wang, Photographer
January 4, 2011

NEW YORK: January 8, 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of the destruction of The Garden of Eden, an earthwork created by Adam Purple that once spanned five city lots on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. This selection of Harvey Wang’s photographs, for the most part unpublished and on display for the first time, documents the expansion of the Garden from 1978 to 1985. Rare prints of a few of Adam’s 1975-76 negatives will also be shown.

In 1975, Adam Purple set out to plant a garden behind his tenement building at a time when the Lower East Side was a crime-ridden wasteland. It was a massive undertaking – the site had been buried in rubble from the demolition of two other tenements. While clearing nearly 5,000 cubic feet of debris using only simple tools and raw muscle power, Adam began to create his own topsoil from materials he found at the site and around the city.

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Peri-urban vegetable farm in Burkina Faso. Photo by Timothy J. Krupnik.

City-planners must make urban horticulture an integral part of their development and planning strategies to meet the challenges of improving nutrition and feeding a growing population in the face of rapid urbanization, FAO Assistant Director-General Modibo Traoré told a symposium on urban and peri-urban horticulture in Dakar, Senegal.

Written by Adeleke Mainasara
Africa Science News
07 December 2010

Excerpt:

“It is time to act to ensure urban and peri-urban horticulture finds its rightful place in greener cities development policies and that it will be synonymous with opportunities and hope for the inhabitants,” he said.

More than half the world’s population, 3.3 billion people, now lives in urban areas, one billion of them residing in slums, mainly in Africa, Asia and Latin America. As the global population increases three billion more city dwellers are expected by 2050.

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This issue profiles innovative urban agriculture policies and projects

Fall 2010
Vol. 12. No. 4

CitiesAlive will be in Vancouver from November 30th to December 3rd – the 8th Annual Green Roof and Wall Conference. See website here. A new course on Rooftop Urban Agriculture will be launched at CitiesAlive.

In this issue:

Urban Agriculture – Designing the edible building envelope

Seattle City Council, sponsor of the City’s new urban agriculture policy.

Farming for the City. From barren, unproductive rooftop to fertile agricultural oasis teeming with people, chickens and bees, Brooklyn’s Eagle Street Rooftop Farm is a catalyst for community and food security.

Diary of an Urban Apiarist. When bees go to collect nectar, they don’t use shopping carts. These and other lessons learned from the front-lines of rooftop pollinator pampering in New York City.

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