urban agriculture

Leaving biodiesel Shangri-La for a farm amidst suburbia

January 2011 update: Many of the photos have been removed from this series so they can be published in a Breaking Through Concrete book, forthcoming this year from UC Press. By David Hanson A grease bus breaking down in Berkeley is like having a Mac glitch at Steve Jobs’ house during the Apple Chirstmas party. […]

Breaking Through Concrete team Food

Homeless learn to farm in Santa Cruz

January 2011 update: Many of the photos have been removed from this series so they can be published in a Breaking Through Concrete book, forthcoming this year from UC Press. The day began in the parking lot of a real estate office off Hwy 17 south of San Jose. We parked Lewis Lewis there after […]

Breaking Through Concrete team Food

Breaking Through Concrete: Day 1 — Seattle to Talent, Ore.

The Breaking Through Concrete bus on the way to Oregon.(Michael Hanson photos) Breaking Through Concrete team(Michael Hanson)The Breaking Through Concrete team — David Hanson, Michael Hanson, Charles Hoxie, and Edwin Marty — is taking a 21st century road trip to document the American urban farm movement. Driving across the country and back in a […]

Breaking Through Concrete team Culture

Boost your support for urban agriculture with a rice-growing bra

AFPEager to show your full support for urban farming, ladies? Then try this over-the-shoulder rice-paddy holder: a bra that double-A’s a pot to grow rice, complete with irrigation system (the watering hose is a belt that holds seedlings). The concept was inspired by the recent boom of interest in boob food security. It’s not Victoria’s […]

Ashley Braun Technology

Cuba’s urban-ag revival offers limited lessons

Cuba’s flourishing urban agriculture comes with a strong dose of government control. This post originally appeared on Civil Eats. Many of us in the U.S. sustainable-food movement idolize Cuba’s experience in building a vibrant urban-farming sector. This idealization is due to the lack of information available on the Cuban system, as caused by the travel […]

Andy Fisher Food

Valerie Martinez

Art: Nat Damm Valerie Martinez Executive Director, Indigenous People’s Green Jobs Coalition Minneapolis, Minn. Valerie Martinez, a 31-year-old Mexican/Cree/Apache/Ojibwe woman, spreads the benefits of the green economy to American-Indian communities in Minnesota through the Indigenous People’s Green Jobs Coalition. She’s also working with urban-ag pioneer Will Allen to bring small-scale sustainable food production to Little […]

Grist staff Culture

LaDonna Redmond

Art: Nat Damm LaDonna Redmond President, Institute for Community Resource Development; Founder, Graffiti and Grub Chicago, Ill. A decade ago, LaDonna Redmond found that her infant son had an array of food allergies. After doing research, she concluded the best diet for her family was organic whole foods. Trouble was, in her west Chicago neighborhood, […]

Grist staff Food

Patti Moreno

Art: Nat Damm Patti Moreno Founder, Garden Girl TV and Urban Sustainable Living Roxbury, Mass. Patti Moreno, 38, aka “The Garden Girl,” wants to sow the seeds of inspiration and get everyone growing organic veggies and living a more self-sustaining life. In her how-to videos and on her websites, Garden Girl TV and Urban Sustainable […]