Agriculture's Renaissance... in the CITY

We are very cyclical people it seems, always returning back to our roots.

Passé fashion trends become chic. Old cars become valuable collectibles. Previously owned items become priceless antiques. Derelict neighborhoods become nuclei of important development.

But nowhere is this human nature better demonstrated than in our patterns of settlement. First, we lived in the countryside where agricultural land was utilized as a source of shelter, nutrition, and income. Next, we decided to build cities, eventually leading to the rise of an urban lifestyle, which was soon after superseded by the suburban revolution. Now, with a re-influx of people into the city, its capacity to sustain such a growing population is nearing its threshold. Cities are beginning to expand exponentially into previously rural land.

SO, we have started to bring the country to the city, which marks a sort of return to (at least some aspects of) the country lifestyle we began with.

Urban agriculture is on the rise, shepherding (pun intended!) an agricultural resurgence not in the country, but in the city. Using the minimal space available in the city, urban agriculture has found innovative ways (e.g. Symbiotics, companion planting, vertical gardens, etc.) to produce small amounts of food for personal and community consumption. In so doing, it has brought back significant, and beneficial, aspects of country life to the urban condition - e.g. better nutrition from greater vegetable/fruit consumption; a more active lifestyle attributed to working the land; and greater self-sufficiency, enabling improved social and financial security.

Here are a few pictures of Foodshare's urban garden that I work at. We have been growing a wide variety of plants, vegetables and fruits, including celery, carrots, corn, potatoes, herbs, peppers, cabbage, beans, etc.



Beet root


Rainbow Swiss Chard


Tomatoes


Pumpkin/squash (not really sure what it is!)



PURPLE String Beans (much better than their yellow and green counterparts!)

Is it just nostalgia... that we like to maintain some sort of a connection to our history? Or, have the last few decades of change wronged everything that we got right the first time around?