Wednesday Webs: Urban Farming
May 16th, 2012
It’s easy for me to garden. I live on a rural farmstead and have lots of room to grow my own food—fresh, tasty delicacies that save me money and maintain my good health.
But what about city folks?
No problem. They can and they do!
Urban Agriculture
I grew up a Michigander girl. It’s hard for me to imagine Detroit as the center of an agricultural movement. Oh, but it is. Out of poverty and need has arisen innovation and sustainable food. Detroit is a great example for everyone.
Or what about this Kickstarter movie: Growing Cities: A film about Urban Farming in America. It documents two friends traveling across the country to meet urban farmers—people who are changing the way they eat “one vacant city lot, rooftop garden, and backyard chicken coop at a time.”
School Gardens
School gardens are outdoor classrooms. Teachers use them as instructional aids for any of their subjects, and students benefit from a therapeutic bonding with the earth. The Southern Door Schoolyard Garden in Door County, WI, is not only successful, it’s expanding.
Here’s an interesting resource for starting a garden at your school.
Community Gardens
Madison, WI, is an sustainable town. If you can’t be a farmer in your own backyard, you can rent space in one of more than 50 community gardens for a mere $10-65 annual fee. My kids previously tilled soil in Eagle Heights Community Garden, where horticulture practices vary as much as the ethnic gardeners speaking approximately 60 different languages.
Click here to find a community garden in your town. Or start one of your own!
Container Gardening
Thinking about growing your own food? What better inspiration than a Pinterest gallery of container gardens.
Fachwerk, or framework, is the German name for timber-frame architecture found throughout Europe, particularly in areas where timber was in short supply. Builders used hewn lumber for the skeletal framework and then filled in the remainder of the wall with burned or dried brick.
