People have always grown food in urban spaces on windowsills and sidewalks, and in backyards and neighborhood parks but today, urban farmers are leading an environmental and social movement that transforms our national food system. To explore this agricultural renaissance, brothers David and Michael Hanson and urban farmer Edwin Marty document twelve successful urban farm programs, from an alternative school for girls in Detroit, to a backyard food swap in New Orleans, to a restaurant supply garden on a rooftop in Brooklyn. Each beautifully illustrated essay offers practical advice for budding farmers, such as composting and keeping livestock in the city, decontaminating toxic soil, even changing zoning laws.
Foreword by Mark Winne Preface by David Hanson Introduction by Edwin
Marty
1. P-Patch Community Garden Program, Seattle, Washington * The
Neighborhood Garden HOW TO: Change Your City's Urban Agriculture Zoning Codes
2. Homeless Garden Project, Santa Cruz, California * The Farm as Therapy HOW
TO: Grow Good, Safe Food
3. Fairview Gardens and the Center for Urban
Agriculture, Santa Barbara, California * The Historic Farm HOW TO: Plant
Perennial Fruit Trees in the City
4. Denver Urban Gardens, Denver, Colorado
* The Garden as Community HOW TO: Turn Your Waste into Black Gold Compost
5.
Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture, Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri *
The Farm for Profit HOW TO: Access Start-Up Capital for Urban Food Projects
6. Versailles Community, New Orleans, Louisiana * Backyards of Bounty HOW TO:
Develop a Congregational Urban Farm
7. Jones Valley Urban Farm, Birmingham,
Alabama * The Education and Production Farm HOW TO: Engage the Community with
Education Programs
8. Greensgrow, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania * The
Nonprofit, For-Profit Farm HOW TO: Rehabilitate Contaminated Soils
9. Eagle
Street Rooftop Farm, Brooklyn, New York * The Rooftop Farm HOW TO: Convert
Rooftops to Residential Gardens and Urban Farms
10. Catherine Ferguson
Academy, Detroit, Michigan * The Alternative Curriculum Farm HOW TO: Raise
Urban Livestock
11. Growing Home's Wood Street Urban Farm, Chicago, Illinois
* The Job Training Farm HOW TO: Extend the Growing Season with Hoop Houses
and Greenhouses
12. Sandhill Organics and Prairie Crossing, Grayslake,
Illinois * The Peri-urban Farm HOW TO: Start an Urban Farm Conclusion by
Edwin Marty Acknowledgments Bibliography
David Hanson is a freelance writer and photographer. Edwin Marty is founder of Jones Valley Urban Farm in Birmingham, Alabama. Michael Hanson is an award-winning travel photographer. Mark Winne is the author of Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners and Smart-Cookin' Mamas: Fighting Back in an Age of Industrial Agriculture.
