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Urban Farms - The Time is NOW
baltimore eats - August, 2008
by John Shields
Farms in Hampden, or Harwood, or Highlandtown? You bet.
There is a movement afoot to turn Baltimore's under utilized vacant land and backyards into urban farms. That's right -urban farming, right here in Baltimore City.
And why you on earth, you might ask, would someone want to farm in the City? Well the health of the earth, of the soil-our very sustenance, is one answer. The rebuilding of our local food economy is another.
There are a number of programs underway that focus on urban community gardens. We have the extraordinary Master Gardeners group that teaches citizens and communities techniques to turn empty lots into high volume, nutritious gardens. Another is the University of Maryland's Cooperative Extension's Urban Community Garden Program. Numerous other groups and non-profits work with folks to create new gardens both in the City and County.
However, what we are talking about here is urban farming and URBAN is the operative word.
I recently attended a meeting held in Fells Point at the offices of the Chesapeake Sustainable Business Alliance. There were not high expectations for turnout, but much to the organizers' surprise- the room was packed. And it was an amazingly diverse group of attendees. There were scientists, community activists, Master Gardeners, urban planners and local "Guerrilla Gardeners."
Most importantly, a number of folks from the newly established Baltimore City Office of Sustainability were in attendance. The head of that commission, Beth Strommen, informed the group of the City's and the Mayor's commitment to the concept of urban farming and "out of the box" land use. All these people had the vision to see that urban farming is not just another gardening project, but a vital step in securing food security and economic development for the City.
Community activist and Master Gardener, Larry Kloze, suggested that we consider the concept of animating Urban Agriculture Parks where a group of farmers can co-op the tools and facilities necessary for growing and distribution. These parks could make fresh fruits and vegetables available to the whole city. We have vast numbers of unemployed and under-employed people living in Baltimore, and this could provide new jobs and be an incubator for farm tracts in the surrounding neighborhoods.
Are these just pipe dreams? NO!
There are numerous successful models in Detroit, Milwaukee, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Vancouver-check out www.CityFarmer.org.
Last February, Bonnie North and I attended Pollinating Our Future. Organized by the Slow Food Chapter in Milwaukee, this was the first Urban Agriculture Conference ever to be held on this continent. Folks from all over the world attended. Again, there were scientists, city planners, non-profit groups, and lots and lots of farmers who are seeing the wisdom-and the profitability-of establishing farms close to the folks they are trying to feed.
Urban farms can be small plots of land that grow high value crops (The ones you and I like to eat.) that can easily be transported to local farmers' markets and grocery stores. This reduces the need for expensive equipment and reduces the need for fuel, both in the growing and the transport of the harvest to consumers.
At the conference we attended a workshop on SPIN (Small Plot INtensive) Farming. This is an approach to growing developed by Wally Satzewich and Gail Vandersteen, an amazing couple from the plains in South Saskatchewan, Canada. They demonstrated how one can farm on rented front and backyards in urban and suburban neighborhoods. By working several of these sub-acre plots Wally and Gail earn over $50,000 a year on their "farms." (See www.SpinFarming.com)
Also at the conference were tours of local agriculture initiatives already underway, and training on the development of Food Policy Councils.
Ending the conference was the gala event, held at the Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory. This Milwaukee landmark shelters three distinct plant biomes under enormous glass domes. Exhibiting plants of the tropics, the desert, and more temperate parts of the world, the Domes are a unique opportunity to understand the diversity of plant life and specialized adaptations to a wide range of environmental conditions.
It was fitting that in such a wondrous setting, the Mayor made a proclamation dedicating twenty percent of all the unused land in the City of Milwaukee to urban agriculture for perpetuity. Now that's a visionary commitment!
Urban farming initiatives ignite the hope that we can create a more vibrant and self contained food production system-a system that ultimately enriches our community, our people, our economy, and the very soil by which we are nourished. Many of us are just one or two generations removed from real farming families. May the spirit of our ancestors, the growing methods and knowledge they possessed, their reverence for the land and the Earth, be once again part of our lives and our way of life.
Let's grow!
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