Tag: Urban Agriculture

Junction Farm Fest

This past Saturday, we loaded up our homemade livestock pen and our two lambs and made the trip in to Toronto for the Junction Farm Fest. Organized by Lynn of Local Food Plus, the idea was to bring a little bit of farm in to the city. We were a bit worried about how the heat would affect our fuzzy little lambs, but we figured that they were traveling in the back of an air conditioned car, and would have ample shade and water, so off we went. We were stuck in traffic briefly on the 401, and I think that we managed to entertain our fellow drivers who glanced over at our car and saw two lambs staring back at them.

The livestock display was set up in the parking lot of Metro Police 11 Division, and many officers were on hand to help out and learn, including Chief Bill Blair. The chief dropped by our booth and asked a lot of insightful questions about our farm. I told him how nice it was that the police hosted the livestock part of the festival. He told me that police were exempt from the “no livestock allowed” bylaws in account of their horses, and that this was the only place where we could legally have our animals.

The chief was one of well over a hundred visitors that we had the chance to talk to over the course of the afternoon. Lots of kids and adults alike were curious to come and see (and pet) our lambs, and led to a lot of interesting conversations about sustainable livestock, and sheep as an alternative to lawn mowers.
The wool carding and felt making demonstration was a huge hit. Visitors had a look at some of Jennifer's felted creations, and got to try their hand at needle felting.
We are really grateful to Local Food Plus for the opportunity to come and meet so many farm friendly people, and to Butcher By Nature for sponsoring our booth. See you again next year!

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Farms getting closer to the eaters that need them

Lately there have been a number of articles on the net that feature urban or peri-urban farming. It is very encouraging to see that the urban residents are becoming more involved in their own food supplies. The push for farms being closer to the eaters that use them are coming from some traditional and non-traditional organizations. Often the farmers do not come from traditional farm families and unconventional community partners have stepped up to offer assistance and support. For cities that have either had a population decline or are experiencing many food deserts, the urban farming seed is growing well.

The city of Dorchester just outside of Boston is another city to take up the cause of providing local food through micro-farms in the city itself.

Farms in Dorchester begin to take root: City’s push for local veggies yields results

The city is on the verge of bringing small farms to one Hub neighborhood, where carrots, strawberries and lettuce could soon sprout, destined for local tables, stores, food pantries or schools.

The push comes amid more interest in buying and growing local food, said Edith Murnane, the city’s new food initiative director.

“Urban farming has been a great way to bring in really fresh food,” she said. “Because it’s really fresh, it’s much tastier, much more vibrant and has higher nutritional content than anything you will ever get at a grocery store. This is a way to start talking about things like food access, food justice, how we feed our communities.”

MORE...

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Seeds of self-sufficiency

By MONIQUE BEAUDIN, The Gazette May 21, 2011

On the SIDEWALK in front of Marci Babineau's house, I craned my neck to see if I could spot the birds. In the backyard, just beyond her root-vegetable garden and several fruit trees, a chicken stretched out a wing, then ruffled her black feathers back into place

Not exactly what a passerby would expect to see on a quiet, treelined street minutes from downtown Montreal (I can't say exactly where; more about that later).

But it's what urban agriculture enthusiasts across North America would like to see - micro-farms where city dwellers could produce fruits, vegetables, eggs and honey, milk from goats, and meat from rabbits.

Some Montrealers have already enthusiastically embraced the growing urban agriculture movement, which took off after Michelle Obama planted a vegetable garden on the White House lawn two years ago.

Chickens are pecking away in Montreal backyards, bees are buzzing around hives in industrial areas, lettuce is growing in container gardens downtown, and the Lufa Farms rooftop greenhouse near Marché Centrale is producing enough fresh produce to feed more than 1,000 people a week...