Currant harvest - get ready for jam!
photo courtesy Earthworks Urban Farm
Back in August, Detroit Make It Here - a site produced by Crain's Detroit Business that is targeted at young professionals - had an interesting article titled The urban prairie: Detroit farms connect people, food that explores the rise of urban farming in Detroit.
They quote Bill Knudson, Michigan State University agriculture economist, saying that Detroit is among the cities showing leadership with urban farming and that 100 years ago, the land beneath the city was fertile farmland. He adds that "Traditional supermarkets have moved out of the inner cities and created a food desert. These farm communities increase access to healthier food and fresh produce to inner-city people … land around Detroit has an opportunity to be productive."
27% of this land is vacant, says Ashley Atkinson of the Greening of Detroit, a collaborative that includes 320 family and 170 community gardens for a total of 80 acres.
The collaborative, formed in 2003, grows 41 different fruits and vegetables, and has extended its season into the fall so there are multiple harvests. The yield, which last year totaled 120 tons, is sold at farmers’ markets and to restaurants and food banks, but the majority ends up on family tables, she said. Many of the volunteers live near the farms they work on.
"We have the first opportunity for our city to be food-sufficient. We’re getting there, and it’s exciting to be part of that. The rest of the country is coming awake to the fact that food of the future needs to be local and grown in urban areas, where most of the people are," Atkinson said.
One of the organizations they highlight is the Garden Resource Program, an effort to provide hundreds of home, school and community gardens access to resources and information to grow, harvest, prepare, and preserve food for their families in their backyards and neighborhoods. They have a copious links page that highlights some other organizations at the forefront of this new urban farming wave.
One organization that is leading the way is the Earthwork Urban Farm, a program of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen. The Capuchin's are inspired by the spirit of St. Francis and through Earthworks, they work to restore the connection to the environment and community. Check out their site for many more photos and lots more information.
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Here is an interesting article and audio from NPR - Farms Take Root in Detroit's Foreclosures
Detroit City - Capitalism's monument to America! All that is left once the tools of production are sold as scrap metal, today's Detroit City. Is Corporatism and Capitalism good for America? You be the judge! Pollution levels just from the 1930's lead paint will complicate restoration of this land, and as for the burning of city blocks of homes, Victorian or otherwise: The Canadian forests that provided all the wood have yet to grow back - so don't go looking for replacements soon! You should have taken better care of what you had, Yankee Doodle! Now, in your tent villages, do you regret lighting the match? Asshole wastrel pigs - all of you! You will get what you deserve when your American Medical Cartel and its insurance actuaries cut you off from humane medical care and you die shivering in unheated slums of curable diseases! Legal mass genetic selection! you are part of this game! Did the Unions do this to you? Did management, corrupt to the core, do this to you? Did the pork-barreling politicians play a role? Does Capitalism work for you now, repuglican asshole, totally propagandized lame-brain? May your fattened ass freeze down solid to your park bench you wastrel -who voted for such follies - you get what you deserve! a whole country on the rocks and in service of the Uber-rich - a private club, you voted for! Obama's medical give-away, your last hope of survival and you let it slip away! Die in the dark without even morphine for your tumors assholes You asked for it!
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[...] an estimated 40% unemployment rate are growing food and money while addressing urban food poverty. Detroit is reclaiming its unused urban spaces to feed area residents while Chicago has had bee hives atop [...]
[...] of talk about Detroit’s future as an agricultural mecca. There have been articles such as these 1 2 3 4 5 that describe the potential for this new green landscape over the industrial city. But, [...]
[...] Oh. They quote Bill Knudson, Michigan State University agriculture economist, saying that Detroit is among the cities showing leadership with urban farming and that 100 years ago, the land beneath the city was fertile farmland. He adds that "Traditional supermarkets have moved out of the inner cities and created a food desert. These farm communities increase access to healthier food and fresh produce to inner-city people … land around Detroit has an opportunity to be productive." [...]
[...] okay. There are actually several supporters of the idea as I look around the Internet. And on the surface, the idea seems [...]
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