urban farming

[sabelmouse]

i find this developement rather exciting

Bad Seed Farm in Kansas City Brings Urban Farming to the Next Level: Legislation


Urban farming is not new -- its been a way to feed cities for thousands of years. But in the US, it was purposely planned out of our cities, even as they grew bigger and, as a result, hungrier. Now many of our cities contain massive sprawl, which have created new opportunities in the form of abandoned lots, a consequence of the economic downturn. But we also have a mobilized movement of individuals interested in feeding people, especially those without access to healthy fruits and vegetables (many of whom reside in cities). But connecting these dots is sometimes more complicated than it seems.

As urban farming takes hold across the nation, reviving old school ways of supporting communities with homegrown food, it will inevitably bump into resistance in the form of outdated laws and legislative confusion around this up and coming issue, in addition to complaints by neighbors who don't see the value in having a farm nearby when there are still packed shelves at the supermarket. These neighbors worry about their views, are disturbed by farm animal noises and deposits, and fear property value declines, which have more to do with economics than kale.

These anticipated problems now have a face -- Bad Seed Farm is at the center of a neighborhood zoning debate in Kansas City, Missouri. The farm is run by two forward thinking young agriculturalists, Brooke Salvaggio and her husband Dan Heryer, both age 27, who pulled up a half acre of her grandfather's lawn (with his blessing) to plant their urban farm. The two provide local organic produce to city residents via their storefront farmer's market and run a popular CSA. But the farm is located in a more affluent section of the city, where it could be viewed as "rubbing up against the suburban ideal" of perfectly manicured lawns, said Katherine Kelly, Executive Director of the Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture. "As more people get into urban agriculture, it becomes more visible to the neighbors," said Kelly. "As [urban farming] becomes a business... people start having opinions about it."

Bad Seed is one of around fifty urban farms in greater Kansas City, where almost 22% of inhabitants were living below the poverty line in 2007, and unemployment jumped around 5 points (to 13.1% in Kansas City, KS, and 10.4% in Kansas City, MO) in the last year. This particular case has brought to the fore an issue which is bound to come up again and again as growing food changes the cityscape: how do we value urban land, and what are the existing laws on the books that keep urban agriculture from flourishing and feeding locals?

Kelly took part in a meeting with some of the legislators and the Bad Seed farmers this morning. Prior to the meeting, the urban farmers had been warned that they could be in violation of a zoning law that states that no business can be conducted in a residential zone. Technically, Salvaggio and Heryer should be exempt as they only sell produce through their storefront farm stand nearby. But the law is not nuanced enough and so is open for interpretation in the case of growing produce. The house on the property serves as the primary use of the land, a residence. Today, the legislators clarified that as long as Salvaggio and Heryer are the only two farming on their land, their urban farm will be considered an accessory use, instead of a competing primary use. Though restrictive (no volunteers, specific delivery hours to follow, etc) this is great news.

The Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture is working on re-writing the code with city council members to more clearly accommodate urban farming, in an era when more and more unemployed people, hunger advocates and beginning farmers are looking for just these kinds of opportunities to grow in urban settings.

"I think this is a sign of the maturing of the urban agriculture movement," Kelly said. "Urban farming is part of a a new emerging definition of the city... We are eager to work with planning and development officials to develop new codes addressing urban agriculture."

Follow Paula Crossfield on Twitter: www.twitter.com/civileater

[sabelmouse]

http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/urban-foraging/

Do you have a friend who's recently gone "Freegan" or seen a blog headline about dumpster diving and wondered what all the hype is about? Both of these terms describe a type of lifestyle where individuals rummage, scour and explore for food, clothing and other useful articles that other people have discarded as trash.

If the idea of ransacking dumpsters and trashcans isn't you're idea of a pleasant way to spend your Saturday afternoon, there are alternatives that still allow you to embark on your own adventure to find food in unconventional places.

Urban foraging is an emerging trend that teaches people how to find edibles in parks, yards and city squares.

In the spring and summer months the foliage is out and parks and lawns turn many shades of green. What many people don't realize, however, is that many leaves, weeds, flowers and other plants can be collected and eaten for free. In addition, some city parks and yards are home to fruit tree that bear unharvested edibles year after year.

Instead of lamenting the high price of fresh local food, while edibles go to waste all over the city, urban foragers mobilze to eat off of the fat of the land.

Resources for learning how to be a successful urban forager are popping up all over the internet, like Urban Edibles, a community database of wild food sources in Portland, Oregon. Workshops that provide a hands-on urban foraging experience have sprung up as well, like those led by Leda Meredith, an urban homesteader who lives in New York City.

Of course, you can't go picking tomatoes and dandelions just anywhere you find them, and urban foragers must follow a considerate code of ethics any time they venture out.

Among Urban Edibles' ethical guidelines:

1. Don't take more than you need. "A tree full of ripe black cherries can be really exciting but how many will you use before they go bad?"

2. Ask permission before you pick. "We do not condone unsanctioned harvesting practices or trespassing."

3. Pick in a balanced and selective manner. "The last thing we want is to damage the sources from which we harvest!"

4. Watch out for pesticides and other contaminants. "Paint chips, pesticides, motor oil spills and even car wash runoff can affect the quality of the sources you pick from."

Read more: freegan, environment & wildlife, urban foraging, urban gardening

[Samithemonster]

-not an intelligent responce-

But when i think of urban farming, I just think of all the suburben kids sitting on facebook playing farmville.

[Somewhere In the shadows]

my family grows food on the porch. tomatoes, which tasted great and were adorable, and romaine lettuce, which is scheduled to be planted soon, as well as strawberries and greenpeppers, mint, and oregano. we have two fruit trees (apple and grapefruit), but they haven't done anything yet.

here is a picture of them, including the unicorn tomato.

[sabelmouse]

lovely. i hope the trees bear fruit soon.

[Chip Cook]

I love the concept pictures with the exception of the last one. It reminds me of other architects' pictures from the 1960s. I am not a fan of marxist architecture and see those as a bunch of concrete shoe boxes with trees in between.

Here is a question I have from my days living and gardening in old neighborhoods: What about lead or other stuff from old buildings. The reason I raise it is that when I went though some towns in Massachusetts, I saw guys scraping old paint off old structures. They were using tarps and had special suits on. It did not take much thought to figure that not only did they want to guard against absorbing anything through their skin, but they also were protecting the soil around the houses from the same risks, and, by extension, the folks who might plant food there and the ground water. I have never seen that done in my state, Kansas, or other places I have been. Is this a reasonable thing to be concerned about?

[sabelmouse]

probably. though a lot of insecticides and herbicides are used in agriculture so maybe it works out the same or better.

my idea of urban farming is not those photos of buildins by the way but things described in the links.

[Chip Cook]

I like those a lot. There is a fair amount of it in my little town, Lawrence. I have seen, in other places, vacant downtown lots used for herbs. Thinking back, I believe it was mostly Palestinian families who did that. Kinda like the guerrilla gardening or the movement in the links. Whoever owned the lots did not care about them, so these guys could go in and plant whatever.

The cool part about some herbs is that they are weeds, so they don't need tending. That appeals to me. There are some neat vines that work the same way. Pumpkins and watermelon. You have to move them around a little in order to keep paths to walk on, but they don't need watering after they are established.

Also, another question. How do they keep other people from vandalizing their crops? I think here they just post signs asking people to not vandalize their crops, and no one does.

[sabelmouse]

i think it would be great if everybody did this but sadly that might not work everywhere.
it's great you know people who do it.

of course with vacant lots you might get a situastion like in the movie trailer, which is utterly disgusting.

[sabelmouse]

http://www.grist.org/article/the-new-wave-of-urban-farming-how-to-g...

[William Jennes]

That is a really cool and eye-opening article. I'm going to look into that book.

[William Jennes]

Discussions like this always remind me of the sort of folly of urban life. If there's not a farmer's market near your apartment or whatever, then you're probably getting all your food from the other end of the country. I'm not the best gardener, but I'd like to think that I would have a pretty hard time killing most varieties of squash, at least, once I manage to get out of apartment living and actually have a patch of ground to work with.

[sabelmouse]

thats why i think it's so exciting that people grow food in vacant lots and those strips between the pavement and the road.