Book published January 2012

By David Hanson (Author), Edwin Marty (Author), Mark Winne (Foreword), Michael Hanson (Photographer)
University of California Press
Jan. 2012

Brothers David and Michael Hanson and urban farmer Edwin Marty document twelve successful urban farm programs, from an alternative school for girls in Detroit, to a backyard food swap in New Orleans, to a restaurant supply garden on a rooftop in Brooklyn. Each beautifully illustrated essay offers practical advice for budding farmers, such as composting and keeping livestock in the city, decontaminating toxic soil, even changing zoning laws.

1. P-Patch Community Garden Program, Seattle, Washington • The Neighborhood Garden
HOW TO: Change Your City’s Urban Agriculture Zoning Codes

2. Homeless Garden Project, Santa Cruz, California • The Farm as Therapy
HOW TO: Grow Good, Safe Food

3. Fairview Gardens and the Center for Urban Agriculture, Santa Barbara, California • The Historic Farm
HOW TO: Plant Perennial Fruit Trees in the City

4. Denver Urban Gardens, Denver, Colorado • The Garden as Community
HOW TO: Turn Your Waste into Black Gold Compost

5. Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture, Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri • The Farm for Profit
HOW TO: Access Start-Up Capital for Urban Food Projects

6. Versailles Community, New Orleans, Louisiana • Backyards of Bounty
HOW TO: Develop a Congregational Urban Farm

7. Jones Valley Urban Farm, Birmingham, Alabama • The Education and Production Farm
HOW TO: Engage the Community with Education Programs

8. Greensgrow, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • The Nonprofit, For-Profit Farm
HOW TO: Rehabilitate Contaminated Soils

9. Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, Brooklyn, New York • The Rooftop Farm
HOW TO: Convert Rooftops to Residential Gardens and Urban Farms

10. Catherine Ferguson Academy, Detroit, Michigan • The Alternative Curriculum Farm
HOW TO: Raise Urban Livestock

11. Growing Home’s Wood Street Urban Farm, Chicago, Illinois • The Job Training Farm
HOW TO: Extend the Growing Season with Hoop Houses and Greenhouses

12. Sandhill Organics and Prairie Crossing, Grayslake, Illinois • The Peri-urban Farm
HOW TO: Start an Urban Farm

Conclusion by Edwin Marty

See book here.

2 Photos by Patrick Coswill

Taipei, Taiwan. Photo by Patrick Coswill.

Link here.

Securing Food in Chicagoland

By Emily Schiffer,
a Brooklyn-based photographer
Time LightBox
Dec 12, 2011

Excerpt:

Halfway through my first month of shooting, I met Orrin Williams, the founder and director of the Center for Urban Transformation. Born and raised in the South Side community of Englewood, he is familiar with Chicago’s problems and invested in finding holistic solutions. After 30 some years advocating urban agriculture and sustainable communities, Mr. Williams is convinced that building chain grocery stores won’t fix the problems. Instead, Mr. Williams has devised a holistic community redevelopment plan. Williams seeks to convert abandoned buildings into locally owned businesses that will enable the community to thrive.

Children work with farmers from WeFarm America to install a community vegetable garden for foster children and their families at SOS Children’s Village in Aburn Gresham. By Emily Schiffer — Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund.

These entities include: year round indoor gardens, health and exercise facilities, stress-reduction centers, healthy cooking schools, community centers, arts education centers, and, perhaps most innovative, a new model of small grocery stores that provide affordable healthy food and free onsite cooking instruction.

Willing to engage me in hours of thought-provoking conversation, introduce me to people and places who add depth and breath to my project and be seen with a white woman, Mr. Williams has been an essential partner in my work.

Read the complete article here.

By Siddartha
194 photos

“My guess is that for a terrace garden with about 200 sq ft of 1 foot deep, good quality composted raised bed with the best designs et al put together – you should with easy effort reap more than half a kg of edible matter every day. Definitely possible in winter, other seasons might be little less.”

Red bricks line the raised beds filled with compost, no soil.

Link to photos here.

MOO. Green Lake makes new use of word “Urban Farming”

By North Seattle Sarah
Sept 23, 2011

Excerpt:

Not a real cow – this one seemed to be made of a combination of paper mache, pvc pipe, and who knows what else. But it certainly did it’s job of bringing the neighborhood together, as I was just one of three groups of people who were out taking photos of her!

More here.

40 photos of six roofs by Celeste Sloman

By Celeste Sloman
Village Voice
August 17, 2011

Excerpt:

Throughout the five boroughs, the phenomenon of urban agriculture has greatly developed and spread on the city’s roofs. Rooftop gardening and farming benefits the city not only aesthetically, but environmentally and socially as well. Rooftop gardening provides food, temperature control, recreation, habitats for wildlife, educational opportunities, and hydrological benefits.

In New York City the rooftop garden takes on many different shapes. From the private garden, to the 40,000 square foot commercial rooftop farm, New York City has a delightfully diverse variety of rooftop greenery. Six unique roofs show off the range of diversity in terms of size, location, and type of garden that can be found in New York City!

Read the complete article and photos here.

Environmental Media Association’s Young Hollywood Board and their School Gardens Program

The Impact of the Young Hollywood Board

Young actors and actresses serve as role models to millions of people, especially youth. Through their actions, celebrities can inspire youth in their formative years, and EMA has recruited celebrities to the program to mentor and actively engage the students in the garden programs.

Beau Garrett and Amy Smart attend the Environmental Media Association’s (EMA) Second Annual School Gardens Luncheon. Photo credit: Maury Phillips from Wireimage.

From planting and tending the gardens to speaking to students about healthy eating choices, board members such as Amy Smart, Olivia Wilde, Rosario Dawson, and Lance Bass will interact with and share in the joy children derive from the gardens.

EMA hopes to utilize the Young Hollywood Board to also generate press for the programs around the country and help generate local community and financial support.

More photos here.

EMA’s website here.

Photography by Lori Eanes | Captions by Della Watson

Sierra
July/Aug 2011

Excerpt:

Nope, this herd’s not lost. Urban farmer Kitty Sharkey often takes her four Nigerian dwarf goats for walks through her Oakland, California, neighborhood. The milk-producing goats’ small size makes them well suited for life on a bustling 4,000-square-foot homestead (which includes Sharkey’s 1,500-square-foot house). The breed is known for its gentle, affectionate demeanor; the goats even protect Sharkey’s chickens from predators.

Sharkey is part of a burgeoning movement of city dwellers who carve out a small-scale pastoral existence amid the bustle of urbanity, reaping the health and environmental benefits of hyperlocal food. Bay Area photographer (and frequent Sierra contributor) Lori Eanes documents the lives of some of these unconventional agriculturalists in her Urban Farm project.

Read the complete article here.

Photo essay: Each of the five farms has something unique to offer

By Krista Leahy
Inhabit New York
06/20/11

Excerpt:

With the spring harvest in full swing, New York City’s local farms are bursting with fresh produce. Urban agriculture has taken off in a big way over the last couple of years, and this year seems to be the best yet, with first harvests from newcomers at the Battery Conservancy’s turkey-shaped farm and Gotham Greens’ hydroponic greenhouse. With continued stellar production from Brooklyn Grange, Added Value, and Tenth Acre Farms, New Yorkers are definitely in for a treat this summer. Each of the five farms has something unique to offer but they are all committed to the same thing: making healthy, local food readily available for all New Yorkers.

Newcomer, The Battery Conservancy’s turkey-shaped urban farm (above) had its very first harvest in mid-May, starting the season off right with some delicious radishes, grown by local students. Inspired by the park’s resident turkey, Zelda who appeared at Battery Park back in 2003 from an unknown location, the farm is protected by 5,000 repurposed bamboo poles in the shape of the fowl’s silhouette

Read the complete article here.

Photo Essay by Adam Blasberg

By Adam Blasberg
BCBusiness
June 6, 2011

Excerpt:

Inner City Farms is an agriculture collective that aims to turn the backyards of Vancouver into productive farmland. It’s a social enterprise whose goal is not only to put food on tables, but to put people in touch with the food they eat. As manicured lawns give way to rows of turnips, lettuce and radishes, and as urban farmhands spread out across the city, we’re reminded that tomatoes aren’t born in plastic six-packs. The next time you sit down to tuck into a meal, ask yourself, Where was this grown? How did it get here?

The answer could be right around the corner.

Fresh, organically grown (though non-certified) Vancouver vegetables are distributed via the community-supported agriculture (CSA) model, providing a local sustainable food option to the community. The CSA model consists of an agreement between food producers and consumers to share the risks and rewards of food production. This model protects and values the farmer while connecting the consumer with the very people who grow their food.

Read the complete article here.

See Inner City Farms here.

Cardiff photographer Tom Ashmore visits the Riverside community allotment garden

Excerpt:

I was met by a lovely lady of the earth called Jenny Howell, who let me through the gate with a warm-hearted welcome. She gave me a tour of the site and we had a chat about what they’re up to. I was instantly drawn to Jenny. You know the type of people – she had a chirpy voice and was full of life and humour. Being a total garden novice I relied on her expert knowledge to give me an understanding of what they do, why it’s different, and how people benefit from volunteering.

“RMCA started up about 10 years ago, and about six years ago they felt there were certain groups of people that did not have access to fresh produce, so the idea came about to create a community garden. The idea was that people could come along, not needing to know anything about growing, and could take a share of the produce they grew.”

Read the complete article here.

See photo essay here.

17 chickens entered in the race were there to battle it out for charity

Marvin Shaouni Photography Blog
Aug 3, 2010

Excerpt:

Along the Cass Corridor, on a graveled vacant lot shadowed by the Masonic Temple, between the Temple Bar and an old renovated fire station, the first ever Detroit Chicken Race was held. The event would see a flux of about 150 people over the course of an early Sunday evening, rolling into dusk.

The majority of the attendees were city dwellers, venturing from the surrounding neighborhoods of Midtown, Woodbridge, Corktown & Lafayette Park. Some were students, others Anarchists; urban farmers, artists and musicians; all there to take part in what I hope will become an annual tradition.

See photos/video of the event here.

2011 Photo Urbanism Fellowship: Call for Submissions

The Design Trust for Public Space is now accepting submissions from New York-based photographers for the 2011 Photo Urbanism Fellowship. The 2011 fellowship will focus on the topic of “urban agriculture in New York City.” The resulting photographs will inform the current Design Trust project, Five Borough Farm, but the fellow will have full artistic vision over how they approach and interpret the topic.

The Photo Urbanism fellowship includes a $5,000 stipend, a public presentation, and a Design Trust publication dedicated to the fellow’s work at the conclusion of the fellowship. The fellow must be based in New York City in order to concentrate on the specific local content of the program, and is expected to complete their project within one year.

The Design Trust acts as a resource and sounding board throughout the project, and will provide access to urban agriculture practitioners and locations citywide. The photographer is expected to maintain a self-directed work schedule and will meet with the Design Trust on a regular basis throughout the course of their fellowship.

Applications must be received by April 25, 2011. Full submission guidelines, eligibility rules, and timeline can all be found in the Call for Submissions (PDF).

More here.

Link to 23 photos of gardeners and stories about the gardens.

My year-long photo documentary of Greenpoint, Brooklyn’s Rooftop Farm

By Scott Nyerges
2010

In a far-flung city, in a dispersed digital age, locally based agriculture and neighborhood gardens provide a tangible sense of community and a connection to the land. This project documents the passing seasons at one such community: Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Scott’s photo slideshows document the roof garden from August, 2009 to December 15, 2010

See them here.

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.

In addition to traditional composting, Adam made the seven-mile round trip to Central Park on his bicycle almost every day to bring carriage-horse manure back to the Garden, carrying about 60 pounds on each trip.

His circular design had mathematical and metaphysical meaning: The Garden of Eden grew exponentially with the addition of each new ring of plant beds, and at its center was a double Yin-Yang symbol. By 1986, his world famous eARThWORK had grown to 15,000 square feet. Among the many crops and flowers were 100 rose bushes and 45 fruit and nut trees.

Adam “zenvisioned” the Garden expanding until it replaced the skyscrapers of New York. For Adam Purple—social activist, philosopher, and urban gardener/revolutionary—the Garden was the medium of his political and artistic expression. When the Garden was slated for demolition to make way for a federally funded housing project, many prominent New Yorkers wrote letters and delivered statements of support for Adam and the Garden. Alternative designs that would have spared the Garden or incorporated it into the new structure were displayed in the 1984 exhibition “Adam’s House in Paradise” at the Storefront for Art and Architecture in SoHo. Nevertheless, The Garden of Eden was razed on January 8, 1986, and the new housing project did not include an apartment for Adam or space for a new garden.

In terms of his revolutionary ideas about sustainability and living as humble members of the natural world, Adam was ahead of his time. He has not yet been properly recognized as an important environmental artist. It has been 25 years since The Garden of Eden was destroyed, and this exhibition aims to ensure that Adam Purple and his unique, site-specific artwork are not forgotten.

FusionArts Museum (Gallery B)
February 2-20, 2011
Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday: 12-6 pm
Friday and Saturday: By appointment only
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 3 from 6-9 pm
57 Stanton Street, New York, NY 10002

For more information:
To hear an interview with Adam conducted by Amy Brost for the StoryCorps Oral History Project, visit http://www.harveywang.com/podcast.html or download the podcast from iTunes. For the interview transcript, contact Harvey Wang at (212) 777-5918 or hw@harveywang.com.

31st October, 2010

An employee harvests vegetables grown under Hybrid Electrode Fluroescent Lamps (HEFL) inside an office of Pasona Group, an employment and staffing company in Tokyo. Vegetables, fruits and rice are grown and harvested by the employees at the company’s “urban farm,” aimed at creating a working environment coexisting with nature, according to the company. 

Link here.

What an Urban Farmer Looks Like – A field guide to the city’s new breed of growers.

By Joshua David Stein
New York Magazine
Sept. 19, 2010

Excerpt:

Until the mid-nineteenth century, most of New York City was farmland. Now, thanks to the constant drumbeat of locavorism, some of it is going back to seed. Urban horticulture has long been practiced at hundreds of community gardens around the city. But a new class of growers is more concerned with bolstering a sustainable food system and, if possible, turning a profit than with cultivating a peaceful vegetable plot.

In studiously trendy neighborhoods like Red Hook, Greenpoint, and Long Island City, the farming is done on rooftops and old basketball courts, mostly by the young, idealistic, and educated. Some still follow the old church-pantry model, but others are more entrepreneurial, relying on restaurant sales and CSA (community-supported agriculture) subscriptions to turn farming into a viable business. Here, a portfolio of the city’s most prolific food producers, and a map of where to find them.

Mapping the city’s most notable farms.

1. Added Value
370 Van Brunt St., at Wolcott St., Red Hook; added-value.org
Harvests enough food to support a CSA, a farmers’ market, and sales to restaurants like the Good Fork and Fort Defiance.

2. Bed-Stuy Farm
255 Bainbridge St., nr. Patchen Ave., Bedford-Stuyvesant; brooklynrescuemission.org
All produce goes to the Brooklyn Rescue Mission’s pantry and a weekly farmers’ market.

3. BK Farmyards
Multiple locations; bkfarmyards.com
A growing network of small plots farmed mostly by students and community members.

4. Brooklyn Grange
37-18 Northern Blvd., nr. 37th St., Long Island City; brooklyn grangefarm.com
A for-profit rooftop farm founded in part by the owners of Roberta’s.

See all the photos, stories, and list of farms here.

US First Lady Michelle Obama harvests vegetables from her garden June 4, 2010 at the White House. The First Lady recruited chefs from across to join her anti-obesity campaign and help schools serve healthier, tastier meals. Mrs. Obama is calling on the chefs to partner with individual schools and work with teachers and parents to help educate kids about food and nutrition. She said healthy meals at schools are more important than ever because many children get most of their calories at school. AFP Photo by Paul J. Richards.

US First Lady Michelle Obama works in her White House vegetable garden in the 90-degree temperatures June 4, 2010, in Washington, DC, with students from Hollin Meadows Elementary School of Alexandria, VA. AFP Photo by Paul J. Richards

Must-see new website – Breaking Through Concrete – stories from the American Urban Farm

Excellent writing, photography, video, all brought together by great web design make this site a pleasure to visit! Beautiful! Mike

Excerpt from visit to Kansas:

Seven women in ankle-length floral dresses bend at the waist in rows of kale or arugula or kohlrabi. Their dark-chocolate hands effortlessly scoop and pick and cut the stems and pull the weeds. The low sun is already hot coming through the hazy white sky that makes the Kansas City downtown in the distance look like a mirage.

With the low-slung brick buildings of the Juniper Gardens public housing on one side of this seven-acre farm, it’s hard to know which is more out of place, more of a mirage: the city, the farm, the dried-out yards of the apartments, or the farmer women from Burundi, Somalia, Burma, Bhutan, or Sudan.

The Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas City started the Farm Business Development Program in 2006. The area sees many refugees from Africa and Asia and some of the women receive classes and support at the Catholic Charities center.

Rachel Bonar was director of women’s programs there in 2005. She heard the women asking for a garden since most of them farmed or at least gardened in their native homes. So they started a community garden at the office.

“Almost immediately, we realized that these women are really good at growing food,” says Rachel. “So the next year we partnered with Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture and began this farm.”

See the Kansas story here.

Bookmark their website here.