5 Urban Farming Lessons

You may think an urban farm or garden starts with soil or seeds, but, really, it starts with connections among people who have a desire to do something good.

July 1, 2011 | Source: Urban Farm | by Pattie Baker

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You may think an urban farm or garden starts with soil or seeds, but, really, it starts with connections among people who have a desire to do something good. It is built on the bedrock of relationships that persevere through, shall we say, sunshine as well as stormy weather. For those urban farmers gardening in a postage-stamp-sized lot, the ingenuity put forth by city urban farmers with a whole acre in the city can be awe inspiring. Their large-scale efforts can teach a lot about how to improve any urban-farming situation on a small scale. Lesson No. 1: Establish an atmosphere of trust and accessibility.

To lock or not to lock? That was the question at our new community garden in Dunwoody, Ga.: whether ’twas nobler in the mind to suffer the stealing of an outrageous fortune in tomatoes or to take arms against a sea of vandalizing teenagers, and by opposing, end it. These were the butchered words of Shakespeare’s Hamlet that were rolling around in my head as I left my own suburban hamlet to visit an urban farm in Atlanta. I exited the highway and made a couple left turns to arrive at the Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Agriculture’s East Point location.

No lock here. Rashid Nuri, an urban organic farmer and agricultural educator who has lived and worked in 30 countries, not only has no lock on his 1/2-acre urban farm; he has no fence. He simply has rows of gorgeous crops-kale, garlic, lettuce, Swiss chard, tomatoes, peppers, basil and more-that he sells to the city’s best farm-to-table restaurants and distributes to CSA members every Wednesday afternoon year-round.

“What do you do about theft?” I asked. He said, “If people are hungry, I let them eat.”

Thus, I learned the first lesson.

Back at my community garden, when a “random act of healthy eating” occurred and some members called for a lock to be added to the gate, I shared Nuri’s advice, and instead, we came up with other ways to deter theft. We built a special bed in which we planted highly desirable crops and added a tongue-in-cheek sign that read, “Thieves: Please steal here.” We reminded our members that they increase the chance for theft when they allow their crops to rot on the vine, sending the message that they don’t value them, and we invited anyone to donate excess crops to the food pantry for which we harvest each week from designated beds. More importantly, Nuri’s words caused me to think about not just small potatoes (reducing theft) but the big picture (addressing hunger) and reminded me, once again, that we are not just growing food but also knowledge, community and compassion.