- Author: Kathy Low
For a look at the many forms of urban farming across the nation, check out the film Growing Cities which can be borrowed through your local Solano County library branch. The fascinating film introduces viewers to urban farms and farming activities in over a dozen cities from coast to coast. The film also looks at the many benefits of urban farming both to the individuals involved, and the greater community.
Several farms along the Pacific Coast are visited. Some of the many farms visited include the Free Farm in San Francisco's Mission District where everything on the farm is grown by volunteers. All the food grown is given away to the community for free at their farm stand. You'll meet the Backwards Beekeepers in Los Angeles who relocate unwanted bees from homes and buildings to gardens and other places where they are needed. And you'll meet the guys behind the Urban Mushroom Farm in Oakland who package mushroom growing kits using discarded coffee grounds collected from area coffee shops. Plus you'll be introduced to two women in Portland who run Victory Garden Farms. The women install, plant, maintain and even harvest food gardens in front, side and back yards of homes in the city. The women describe themselves as personal farmers to their clients.
In Chicago you'll hear from Ken Dunn of City Farm which operates urban farms on vacant city lots waiting to be developed. They make agreements with the property owners to improve and protect the property at no cost. The farms are designed to be mobile and can be packed up and moved in a single day if needed.
On the East Coast, in Washington D.C. there's the Compost Cab which provides buckets to families to put their food waste in. The cab collects the buckets once a week. The waste is composted and provided to urban farms. And in New York City you'll learn about Window Farms that provides hydroponic food garden systems for windows in New York City high rise buildings.
The film makers visit several dozen urban farms in all parts of the country. But the most inspiring aspect of the film stems from the stories of how the urban farms are impacting the lives of those who work them and the community in which they are located. For example you'll learn about how Growing Home farms in Chicago provides jobs and job training to homeless, former incarcerated felons and others who need the training to enter the mainstream job market. You'll hear how the farm has changed not only the lives, but the outlook of those people it helps. In Detroit you'll hear how the Black Community Food Network seeks to promote food justice through its urban farms. In the lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans you'll learn how Our School at Blair Grocery, a part after school and part GED program for at risk kids provides jobs, education and life skills through the use of hands on urban farming. And after learning about and hearing the stories of the people involved in or affected by the urban farms highlighted in the film, you'll be inspired and motivated to get out your gardening supplies and participate in the urban farming movement.