Urban Farming

Time To Get Your Fingernails Dirty, Comrades:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/magazine/05allen-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hpw

Today Allen is the go-to expert on urban farming, and there is a hunger for his knowledge. When I visited Growing Power, Allen was conducting a two-day workshop for 40 people: each paid $325 to learn worm composting, aquaponics construction and other farm skills. “We need 50 million more people growing food,” Allen told them, “on porches, in pofarmlandts, in side yards.” The reasons are simple: as oil prices rise, cities expand and housing developments replace , the ability to grow more food in less space becomes ever more important. As Allen can’t help reminding us, with a mischievous smile, “Chicago has 77,000 vacant lots.”