My final farm stop is at Zenger Farm, located in the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighbourhood of Portland. It's another farm located in an area undergoing great change. Portland as a whole faces great increases in house prices and I'm told this is driven by folks moving in from California in search of cheaper living (folks pushed out …
An afternoon on the UC Gill Tract
Whilst in the bay area I met up with Antonio Roman-Alcalá (academic, activist, gardener who has written a blog called Antidogmatist which is home to his writings on food systems and how to change them). Antonio points me in the direction of the UC Gill Tract as an interesting and exciting example of urban ag …
The pacific, California and Planting Justice
I arrived in the Bay area off the back of my 3,924km journey from Chicago. I'm greeted by the vastness of the pacific and a wonder at what's in store on the west coast. A huge amount of the U.S.'s agricultural production can be found in California (in 2017 California produced 13% of U.S. food …
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Wandering wonderings
Trains are the perfect time to reflect. Headphones on, scenery rushing by. This week I have crossed vast amounts of this huge country. Starting in Detroit, I've Amtrak-ed myself west (Amtrak is the U.S. passenger rail system), with a little detour in to Wyoming to see an old friend. The train system is fairly scarce …
Oakland Avenue Urban Farm – Lessons from The North End, Detroit
My fourth week and fourth project in the U.S. sees me journeying to Detroit, Michigan, a city which has become well known as a hot bed for urban agriculture. Over the last 40 years, Detroit has moved from being one of the most prosperous US cities to one of the most downcast. It's a city …
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A week with Rock Steady Farm and Flowers, NY
Rock Steady Farm and Flowers is an 12 acre farm operating in Millerton, a 2hr drive north of Manhattan, in upstate New York, nestled in by the borders with Connecticut and Massachusetts. Set up in 2016 and just coming to the end of their 3rd growing season, this is another young and establishing organisation. They're …
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Lessons from East New York
I feel like I will take so many lessons and inspirations from my time at East New York Farms! Such warmth and integrity seemed to stretch through staff, gardeners, interns. A key lesson feels like it is about the importance of relationships, probably something we all know, but so often forget or get distracted from. …
East New York Farms!
It's hard to know where to even begin when introducing East New York Farms!. After a week spent working alongside them, witnessing many of the different aspects of what they do, it wouldn't surprise me if I had completely missed ten programs they run. Powerhouse is most definitely a fitting term. (*power with rather than …
Project Eats, Brownsville, NYC
On my way home on the Friday of my week in New York, I stop by Project Eats in Brownsville, a neighbouring area to East New York. Here I meet up with Samantha, one of the Farm School NYC students, to hear about what they're up to. The site is just under an acre, upon …
CRAFT, North Brooklyn Farm and the Domino Sugar Refinery
On Monday I caught up again with Connor who is one of the staff at Farm School NYC. We meet in Domino park, a waterfront park which apparently until recently was just the river. We're in Williamsburg, North Brooklyn, which I'm told is the heart of Brooklyn gentrification. I've met up with Connor to hear …
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Stories of Resilience 