Is there an urban, suburban, or peri-urban garden in your community, where you can sustainably produce or buy fresh local produce? Well, I think there should be, and I'm not alone.
As part of my interest in "eating local," I have embarked on a mission to try to increase the amount of sustainable agriculture in my own neighborhood. Since I live on an island (admittedly a rather large one called Long Island), I would include the whole thing as my neighborhood, but the west end has already got a big head-start and the east end hasn't yet become as "well developed," so I'm going to concentrate a little narrower and stick to my home county, Nassau.
Geographically, Brooklyn and Queens are part of Long Island, even though politically they're part of New York City, but one of the motivations to push Nassau toward increasing its agricultural footprint was my startling revelation that New York City has about three dozen community urban agricultural projects, as identified by Just Food's City Farms. Nassau County not only has none, but what little commercial farming there is left is on the verge of extinction.
My family moved to Nassau County when I was four weeks old, and I can actually say that I have lived virtually my entire life on Long Island. I lived in Suffolk County at Stony Brook University and its environs during and just after college, before moving to Queens not long after I was married, and then moving back to Nassau to raise my children. The home that my parents purchased was on a "new development," as it was called, which had previously been part of a farm that still existed across the street. I'm talking about western Nassau, close to the New York City border. If you know what Nassau looks like now, you will have already figured out that before I was a teenager, the rest of that farm's land, like so many others in Nassau, was converted to single-family dwellings, while other farms a few miles away became vast shopping centers. Everyone called it progress. I had no idea that I was living one part of the industrialization of food in America.
To the east, Suffolk County is, by some measures, the largest agricultural producer in New York State. Indeed, there are a few farmers markets where some of Suffolk's produce trickles into Nassau via early morning multi-hour truck run, and much of that agriculture is flowers and plants for suburban nurseries (which is great, don't get me wrong). But we're raising our children to think that pushing farms further away from us is fine. I feel that this eventually leads to thinking that food comes in a box, by truck or plane or a drive-thru fast food chain, all of which according to current wisdom leads to increased obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.
Now, I have returned to working my own little garden in my suburban plot of land, but that's not for everybody. There still needs to be enough food grown locally that people don't forget how genuinely healthy food gets to your table. And there's evidence that, in spite of the shrinking of existing local farms in my area, this is a viable business. We must decide what we value. If we value healthy, fresh, local produce, we can have it at a reasonable price.
I can go on, and I may in future postings, but at this point I'd like to find out from the readers of this blog how it's going in other parts of the country. If you answer a few survey questions, we might get a quick snapshot of the state of resurgence of local agriculture in America.
While we're at it, I'll refer you to an interesting article at the Earth Policy Institutes's site, called "Farming in the City," by Lester R. Brown. And in case you don't know about it already, check out Local Harvest, a web resource to find local food sources.
Do you live:
a) In a city
b) Near a city
c) In a rural area
In your area, is community farming:
a) Increasing
b) decreasing
c) no change
d) don't know
Are you and your neighbors seeking more locally produced food?
a) yes
b) no
c) don't know
How hard is it to get?
a) easy
b) takes a bit of effort
c) hard
d) impossible
Are you:
a) encouraged
b) discouraged
Comments
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GreenEngineer Posted 7:16 am
16 Mar 2007
But I live in Berkeley (essentially).
There's an outfit in Oakland (nearby) called Spiral Gardens that is particularly cool. They run both and urban farm and a nursery. The nursery sells plants at market rate to support the farm, while the farm sells produce at cost to the local community (which is lower-income). Some of the local kids help out at the farm. When I was there buying plants for the first time, a little girl, maybe 6 or 7, ran up to the proprietress to get the key to the chicken coop so that she could collect eggs. She was so excited to work with the chickens. It was really cool.
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Ron Steenblik Posted 11:53 pm
16 Mar 2007
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SMLowry Posted 9:46 am
17 Mar 2007
I tend a rather eclectic organic veggie, herb (for cooking and healing), and flower garden. So in the summer and early fall I buy few vegetables, and I'm able to store some (potatoes, garlic, carrots, onions, leeks) and preserve others for rest of the year.
In my area (western Maine near NH border), I've noticed the larger dairy farms going out of business (land mostly converted to housing developments many of them second homes), but there is one small dairy farm and another non-dairy farm that grow berries and veggies, and they have a year-round market where they sell things like soup, baked goods, local cheeses, eggs, as well as meat from the farm, christmas trees, maple syrup, apples, etc. And there seem to be more small vegetable/herb growers as people try to buy more local food and some restaurants try to source local as well. There are farms not far away that raise buffalo, poultry, beef, and a decent number of beekeepers. We also have a CSA nearby for those without gardens. I work in a natural foods grocery (small, non-chain) part time and people seem more aware of the importance of buying more locally, and organic. But I'm aware this is a "rarified" environment. People who farm have a hard time making a living at it, most also have to work elsewhere. The exception is the dairy farm I mentioned earlier, that is so diversified. Oh, they also grow flowers that you can pick yourself.
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Thistle Posted 9:49 am
18 Mar 2007
a, b, a, c, b
How I wish we had the mindset and support structure found up in central and northern California!
Farmers markets in the San Diego area do offer local produce, although not all of it is either local or sustainably farmed, so you have to ask first. I found one and only one CSA farm that made deliveries to the city, from 80 miles north. Subscribed to them for a year until we bought a house with a small yard and I was able to start gardening. Now I grow all my own organic vegetables in containers in the backyard, and have a mini orchard of low-chill semi-dwarf fruit trees (apple, plums, nectarines, pear) in the front, where the sun is the best.
A few years back there was a local farmer who raised pastured poultry for sale in the local quasi-health food market, but he's gone out of business. Now that market sells an "organic" chicken shipped in from Nebraska. I'm still searching for a local source of grass-fed meats and eggs.
I always ask "where does this come from?" at the supermarkets, and nearly always receive a blank stare in return. There doesn't appear to be a "buy local" movement here at all.
This issue is close to my heart, however, as I feel very strongly that cities can and should be growing their own fresh food in available space within city limits. What's missing is organization and entrepreneur support. Check out spinfarming.com - they have the right idea!
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VidaDC Posted 1:22 pm
19 Mar 2007
Unfortunately, unlike NY and Phili, D.C. has very few local food projects. The several community food projects that have existed over the years are closed- for various reasons. There are community garden sites that have not had condos built on top of them (yet), and the wait list to get a plot is over 2 years long! So there is a WANT. But there isn't much support from the people who make all the decisions. Farmer's markets are popular and are sprouting all over the city! Still, this food isn't always affordable to most of the cities population. (local and affordable fresh produce is really what we should strive for). But I am "encouraged", as I say in question 5. There is energy in the city that supports the local food movement and it's coming out strong in support of a NEW COMMUNITY FOOD PROJECT called the 7th Street Garden. www.the7thstreetgarden.squarespace.com. It's a garden and learning center where people can learn how to grow food, and then grow it at this garden and low-income people can take home shares of food. Everybody gardens together on the same plots and shares the harvest! The support from city residents all over the city has been tremendous and it is functioning solely from donations at this point...
The hard part is that these projects start and don't get money to sustain. The 7th Street Garden will certainly need support from District government and grants/donations to sustain its programs and staff for the long term.
I do believe in the power of collaboration and people who support local food issues can support each other and spread the word on projects when you hear about them...
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