urban farming

Jules Dervaes and his three adult children all live and work together on their family farm in Pasadena, CA. They call themselves, “eco-pioneers.” They say it’s a homegrown revolution that’s taking place, a way for them to get back to a more natural, organic and better way of life. Their mission? To change the world one urban backyard at a time.

With rising grocery prices and a desire to be self-reliant, eating locally produced fresh food is the latest trend in sustainability. This urban agriculture movement has grown vigorously. Hundreds of farmers are at work in Detroit, Milwaukee, Oakland and other areas that, like East New York. Local officials and nonprofit groups have been providing land, training and financial encouragement.

One of the obvious obstacles to conventional urban gardening (and therefore urban sustainability post-peak oil) is the lack of farmable land. But, as the Times article points out, there's still plenty of sun, water, and labor. Why not build gardens...up?

PASADENA, CA. - July 7, 2008 - Think of it as Facebook meets the Farmer's Almanac: A social networking site for backyard pioneers who want to fight soaring food prices and global warming by growing their own food. At FreedomGardens.org, novice and expert growers from all over the world can gather to post success stories, ask questions, and challenge one another to ever-increasing levels of self-sustained living.

For many in the city, having a garden or farm is what they think an impossibility. In San Francisco, My Farm will create and cultivate anywhere from 4' by 4' to a whole yard, for you, and harvest a box a week, plus share what extra is grown via a CSA scheme.

CNN's Thelma Gutierrez reports on a family living the ultimate green lifestyle on an urban farm in Pasadena, California.

Since the mid 1980's the Dervaes family has transformed their home into an urban homestead.  Eco pioneers, Jules Dervaes and his family,  have taken upon themselves to be the change they wish to see by living the solution.  Their sustainable urban homestead has demonstrated to others how to live a low impact lifestyle by  reducing one’s carbon footprint.

Is it neat, or is it slightly odd that in this Los Angeles community -- it's called Pasadena -- a suburban mix of nice restaurants and well-tended front lawns, there is a home wedged in with the other houses where the entire front yard is edible?

Melting ice caps, unchecked global oil consumption, mind-boggling volumes of trash accumulating in landfills — the problems facing our planet are so overwhelming, it’s tempting to tune them out. They’re just so big.

URBAN FARMING: Jules Dervaes and three of his adult children live on one-fifth of an acre in Pasadena, Calif., a block away from a multilane highway. On this tiny sliver of land, they manage to be mostly self-sufficient. “This is our form of protest,” says Dervaes, who is 60, “and this is our form of survival.”

A newspaper article on a popular urban agricultural project that took place for the first time last year in the poor town of Middlesbrough, North East England as part of a design initiative called Dott07. The project now in its second year goes from strength to strength with 2000 informal 'urban farmers' due to plant this year and reap the harvest at a large-scale town meal. More on the strategic spatial and land-use planning issues at http://tinyurl.com/2843d9.

I came across this greenhouse built in the back of a pick-up truck today in  Brooklyn, Ny.  A couple other passerbys stopped to take photos and speculate about the story behind this super-cool mobile greenhouse.  Tucked under the rear door was a note somebody had left for the owner of the truck.  It read "This is the sweetest little greenhouse on wheels.  Everytime I see it i feel happy.  Thanks."