By Brooke Elliott Living in New York it can be hard to find a real sense of community. So much is happening at once that finding natural comforting places is a challenge. For some people, a walk in central park is enough to cure the passing blues, but another great option is participating in a…
And I thought my brother’s girlfriend was crazy…
Adina Lichtman, 11/13/14 It was only about 3 years ago that my brother was dating someone completely insane… I would see her take all our scraps of food from our plates or from the salads my mom and I would cut, and put it in a bag. My only reaction was “eww, that’s disgusting.” I…
Hands On For New Experiences
In certain parts of South Africa, you can find an abundance of family maintained fruit and vegetable gardens. My father grew up in a mountainous rural area where his family cultivated fruit trees and vegetable gardens. Although we now live in the city with only a lemon tree and an herb garden, my aunts have…
The Possibilities for Urban Agriculture
What are benefits of urban agriculture? It can provide fresh produce for the community, while reducing transportation emissions by growing food locally. It provides an outdoor space for residents. Additionally tending to the garden can provide a means of getting physical activity and some sunshine on good days. A community garden can bring the community…
So that’s what it looks like?
By Catherine Dammer-Jones For the first 19 years of my life, I had never seen broccoli grow. Or cabbage. Or peppers. Or almost any other fruit or vegetable I regularly ate. The produce I ate was packaged and harvested out of my sight, possibly trucked hundreds of miles to be stacked on a grocery store…
From the Farm to the Can
By: Maricruz Iniguez Coming from Ecuador, a small country, where I saw food being grown countryside farms, seeing food being grown in urban space has been an eye opening experience. My grandmother back home in Ecuador is kind of the “farmer” of the house. She loves her garden and her plants. She has lemon and…
Urban farming will do to you what Spring does to the cherry trees!
“Urban community gardens and farms help overcome social, health, and environmental justice challenges. that counteract the physical passivity associated with the obesity epidemic. Participating in beautifying a neighborhood builds a constructive, collective consciousness. The presence of vegetable gardens in inner-city neighborhoods is positively correlated with decreases in crime, trash dumping, juvenile delinquency, fires, violent deaths, and mental illness. Safe and pleasant neighborhoods promote active lifestyles and outdoor exercise ”
Hurley 2004; Patel 2003; McKay 1998.
Urbanity and the Agricultural Ideal
By Ethan Johns America is the land of self-determination, self-sufficiency, liberalism, rugged individualism. Founded on the ideals of the yeoman farmer and grown by concepts of frontier-oriented manifest destiny, land ownership and stewardship was the original marker of a citizen in America. While the nation has accepted that land-owners are not the only citizens entitled…
Urban Farming is Radical, or How I Found an Inchworm in my Cabbage
Last week, I brought home some collard greens, kale, swiss chard, cabbage, eggplant, and jalapeño peppers. My stomach was empty and I couldn’t wait to sauté the vegetables in a pan with some coconut oil, salt, and pepper. As I started cutting the head of cabbage, I found a little green inchworm nestled between the…
Urban Agriculture: Need for a focusing event
I am a Social Research and Public Policy major taking “Introduction to Urban Agriculture” class. Although these two subjects in one sentence might sound odd at first, one will eventually understand that the two are in fact not mutually exclusive. Recently, a couple of policy recommendations to encourage urban agriculture and the provision of healthy…
NYU Urban Farm Lab 