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Gardening, Gleaning, and Farming for Food Banks in the U.S.

By Domenic Vitiello, Jeane Ann Grisso, Rebecca Fischman, and Leah Whiteside
A report on research funded by the Penn Center for Public Health Initiatives
2013

Excerpt:

Food banks have recently enlarged their distribution and promotion of fresh vegetables and fruit. Many food banks are accomplishing this through involvement in and connections to local agriculture, in a diverse range of gardening, farming, and eld gleaning programs. Many food banks are also playing expanded roles in building community food security, especially through programs that support gardeners and farmers. As more Americans need food assistance while, at the same time, state and federal funding for food relief is shrinking, scaling up and replicating programs that distribute and support production and consumption of fresh produce oers a vital opportunity to transform food relief systems.

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New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter.

Win or lose, both City’s mayors will proclaim June 11 — the day the hydroponic gardens are revealed to the public for the first time — “Urban Farm Education Day” in Philadelphia and New York City.

Fresh Direct
Marketwired
May 2, 2013

Excerpt:

LONG ISLAND CITY, NY: Online grocer FreshDirect, announced today the inaugural launch of its Green Angel Fund Challenge, an urban agriculture focused competition between the Sustainability Workshop School in Philadelphia run by Simon Hauger, and the John V. Lindsay Wildcat Charter School in the Bronx run by Marc Donald with support provided by Stephen Ritz of the Green Bronx Machine.

The schools will each be guided by farmer mentors and compete to develop the nation’s most innovative hydroponic garden (based on yield and eco-friendly design), as part of a broader mission to solve inner-city food and farming issues — with the chance to win $10,000 along the way. The competition is being hosted and funded by FreshDirect, an online grocery retailer dedicated to changing the relationship people have with food, freshness and farmers. The Green Angel Fund was inspired by FreshDirect’s mission to continually drive environmental sustainability innovation. It is one of the first seed funds specifically focused on launching student-developed green ventures.

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Design A Stylish Outdoor Space Using Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs

By Leslie Bennett, Stefani Bittner
Ten Speed Press
Feb, 2013

Leslie Bennett And Stefani Bittner are co-founders of Star Apple Edible + Fine Gardening, a San Francisco Bay Area landscape design firm focusing on aesthetic edible gardening. At Star Apple, they bring together ecologically sound landscape design principles and small-scale urban agriculture, working with both ornamental and edible plants to create integrated landscapes.

From the Introduction:

This is a book about edible garden design. It is also a heartfelt invitation to join us in the practice of gardening. For us, gardening is a way to connect with the land, our community, and, perhaps most importantly, ourselves. It is also an opportunity to create and to be inspired. When you pursue food production and beauty together, you form meaningful spaces that have the power to both ground and uplift.

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‘iQ by Intel’ is brought to you by the employees of Intel

By Luke Kintigh,
iQ Managing Edito
Aug 16, 2012

Excerpt:

Referring to BrightFarms hydroponic greenhouses.

Sensors throughout the greenhouse will feed information back to a central computer system, which is programmed to make intelligent decisions about growing factors such as temperature, humidity, and wind speed. If the greenhouse becomes too hot, roof vents will automatically open. If it remains overheated, fans switch on; and if that’s still not enough, a shade will draw down. The computer even knows what conditions are like outside, so it won’t open the roof if it’s raining.

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See larger image here. “What is remarkable, in the intensely urban setting of Sana‘a — a walled metropolis crowded with towers today, and the place where the Sabaeans built the 10-story Palace of Ghumdan some two millennia ago — is that not only the words survive: So, too, do the gardens.”

Miqshamah (plural: maqaashim), the garden where they grow their produce, all have an origin just as old but better preserved: qshmt, the Sabaic word for a vegetable plot.

By Tim Mackintosh-Smith
Saudi Aramco World
Jan/Feb 2006
Tim Mackintosh-Smith lives in an ancient tower house off the “Market of the Cows” in the old city of San’a, Yemen. He is the author of the Yemen: Travels in Dictionaryland (1997) and Yemen: The Unknown Arabia (2000). He is one of the foremost scholars of the Moroccan traveller Ibn Battutah. Mackintosh-Smith has published a trilogy recounting his journeys in “the footnotes” of Ibn Battutah; Travels with A Tangerine (2001), The Hall of a Thousand Columns (2005) and Landfalls (2010).

Excerpt:

The Italian writer Alberto Moravia once described Sana‘a as a “Venice of dust.” Since his visit, the streets have been paved with stone, and the dust is less in evidence. But the first impression is still one of sun-dried palazzos, of deep-cut streets flowing with people but devoid of moisture and vegetation. Amid this, it’s easy to overlook the quiet spaces in between. And that is the only way most of the city’s gardens can be seen at all: by overlooking them. Climb to the fifth floor of my house, and two gardens reveal themselves. To the east is Maryam’s, the miqshamah of Khudayr Mosque, a rectangle of green—mostly chives (bay’ah), the dominant garden crop—subdivided by little banks of raised earth. To the west, there is Bustan Na’man.

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See complete image here.

Design Trust put together a metrics framework that measured the associated activities of urban agriculture with the known benefits derived from various studies.

By Kyle Rogler
Sustainable Cities Collective
March 27, 2013

Excerpt:

Transforming underutilized land into productive urban farms was one of the many topics which were presented at the recent Kansas City Design Week. Jerome Chou, past Director of Programs at the Design Trust for Public Space, presented his unique experience with the implementation of the Five Boroughs Farm in New York City and the impact that urban agriculture can have on low-income areas of a city.

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The link between sustainable farming and sustainable communities

By Kaid Benfield
Switchboard
Feb 20, 2013

Excerpt:

Although an excellent recent article refers to Peaceful Belly as an “urban farm,” it’s actually something better: an urban-serving farm, located just outside the Boise region’s development footprint. I clearly support gardens and small-scale “farms” inside cities when they support city density, function and walkability and don’t interfere with them. But 60-acre operations belong outside the city, ideally amidst other farming so that rural land is contiguous, urban land is compact, and collectively the farms reach a scale that supports elements of a farm economy, such as feed and equipment stores.

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Gov. Neil Abercrombie has plans for a new rooftop garden on the fifth floor of the state Capitol.

The project would promote local food security, according to the bill before a legislative panel

By Andrew Gomes
Star advertiser
Feb 10, 2013

Fruits and vegetables could join bills and laws as products coming out of Hawaii’s state Capitol.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie wants to develop rooftop gardens on the fifth-floor roof deck ringing his office and the office of Lt. Gov. Shan Tsu­tsui.

The plan is put forth in House Bill 1365 at the Legislature, and if developed would join a small but growing number of buildings in Hono­lulu topped with tiny urban farms.

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Author of ‘The Zero Mile Diet’- A Year Round Guide to Growing Organic Food

Published on Dec 18, 2012

Carolyn Herriot is a food security consultant and regular columnist for the BC Home & Garden and CommonGround magazines, as well as the best-selling author of A Year on the Garden Path: A 52-Week Organic Gardening Guide, The Zero Mile Diet, and The Zero-Mile Diet Cookbook. Herriot grows certified organic seeds for “Seeds of Victoria” at The Garden Path Centre in Victoria.

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Video news – ‘Meeting Tomorrow’s Food Needs’

Earth Focus
December 11, 2012

Earth Focus looks at the growing urban agriculture movement. First, entrepreneur and filmmaker Ian Cheney on why truck farms are catching on in New York. Then in Sweden, Plantagon, a leader in vertical urban agriculture, plans to feed tomorrow’s mega cities with skyscraper farms. And with more droughts and water shortages likely, scientists at Penn State University are finding new ways to help plants adapt to tough conditions.

See the complete film above. Co-directed and produced by Troy Hale and Geri Alumit Zeldes. Department for Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media at Michigan State University. 2012.

Land lease with option to purchase, 4000 vacant lots, 500 acres inside Flint with potential for agriculture

By Kristin Longley
mlive.com
November 21, 2012
(Must see. Mike)

Excerpt:

FLINT, MI — A Michigan State University documentary about the city of Flint’s largest urban farm premieres to an online audience today, according to an article on Great Lakes Echo.

The documentary tells the story of the Flint River Farm and its creators, Joanna Lehrman and Roxanne Adair, who are forced to navigate the bureaucracy of zoning ordinances, insurance requirements and building codes to pioneer an urban agriculture program in Flint.

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See the complete 72 page Feasibility Study here.

The City is currently undertaking the planning of a new City Farm which will be a destination for food production and sustainable living in the heart of Sydney.

Excerpts from the City of Sydney website:

The two proposed sites for the City Farm are the disused Powerhouse Museum car park, Ultimo and Sydney Park, St Peters.

Hundreds of community members turned out to a City Farm Community Day at Sydney Park in St Peters on Saturday 28 July 2012 to get a taste of the proposed City Farm, including gardening activities and a small animal farm. Visitors also gave the City their ideas on their aspirations and programs for the City Farm.

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Destroyed community garden on Coney Island.

“Hurricane Sandy has hit some of our vulnerable farming friends within the City limits.”

By Derek Denckla
Co-Chair, Slow Money NYC
Nov 1, 2012

1. Added Value’s Red Hook Community Farm Needs Help! Hurricane Sandy submerged the community farm in several feet of sea water when it came ashore on October 29th, 2012. Harvest ruined. Possible soil contamination. Topsoil an beehives lost. Office flooded.

Added Value’s Red Hook Farm grows more than just food. It catalyzes a Food Justice ecosystem in our community through youth empowerment programs. And now, Added Value needs your help now more than ever. Here’s how you can help:
–Donate. A gift of any amount is welcome, via PayPal or Credit Card.
–Volunteer. Follow updates on AV’s Facebook and contact Added Value for more ways to help.

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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.

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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Life Magazine
May, 1943

“In Portland, Oregon, pretty bare-legged girl students at the Jane Addams High School work over their 200 x 40 foot victory garden. The student body, which is being instructed in house-wifely virtues, paid for the ploughing and harrowing this plot, formerly a smooth, green lawn. Produce from the vegetable garden will be used in school cafeteria, nursery school and practice house.”

See link to Dutch news video here.

Video news report in Dutch

Een krop sla van het dak van je kantoor. Boontjes die groeien op oude bedrijventerreinen. Urban farming ofwel groenten verbouwen in de stad wordt steeds serieuzer dankzij de crisis in het vastgoed. Ook ondernemers ontdekken urban farming, dat begon als een hobby van buurtbewoners.

Translated:

A head of lettuce from the roof of your office. Beans that grow on old industrial sites. Urban farming or food growing in the city is becoming more serious because of the crisis in the real estate. Entrepreneurs discover urban farming, which began as a hobby of residents.

Link to video here In Dutch.

Photo credit: Stone’s Throw Urban Farm.

Urban farms turn to crowdfunding websites to bring their projects to life.

By Rachel Quist
Ethical Foods
August 2012

Excerpt:

One of the problems with urban farming is financing; this is especially problematic for community-oriented groups that must often rely on volunteer labor and donations of supplies. Many urban farms have been able to overcome this hurdle through cooperative pooling of funds and resources, generally through the internet. This method, known as crowdfunding, has been used not only to support urban farms but disaster relief, small business startups, artistic endeavors, political campaigns, and community projects.

Many urban farmers have been successful raising money through crowdfunding sites such as kickstarter.com. Kickstarter is not about raising money for charity; rather, it focuses on helping fund creative projects such as art, music, games, food, design, and technology.

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Historian Michael Kluckner (centre) presents author David Tracey (left) and Joanne Hochu (right), both from the Strathcona Community Gardeners Society, with a Vancouver Heritage Foundation plaque.

City Farmer initiated the Strathcona Community Garden project 28 years ago

The wording on the Vancouver Heritage Foundation plaque reads:

Dedicated Strathcona residents, gardeners and artists have transformed three acres of the former False Creek mud flats and city garbage dump into a flourishing community garden that has served as the model for a city-wide community garden program. Its apple orchard, herb garden and wetlands provide a much needed respite from city life.

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“If we grew 1 percent that would be fantastic”

By Rebecca Gerendasy
Food Farmer Earth
Aug 2, 2012

Tim Donovan, farm manager at Project Grow, an urban farm that grows food for local neighborhood CSA members with help from adults with disabilities, shares his views on growing food in a city the size of Portland, Oregon. While it may be an attractive idea for a city to grow all its own food, as Donovan explains, the reality requires far more modest a goal for achieving success.