Why Urban Gardening: An Answer for Atrios
Please Get A Soil Lead Reading First
I guess we can make this contrarian Saturday. One thing I really don’t understand – help me! – is the regular stream of people promoting urban agriculture. I don’t understand the point. I’ve got nothing against community gardens and the like, I understand that even urban hellhole residents might want to play in the soil a bit, but I really don’t get what the point of promoting urban agriculture more widely is.
Well, there are a number of reasons, both direct and indirect.
Gardening helps remediate and clean up all that lead in the soil, which by the way is plentiful in your standard country-agriculture too, thanks to decades of lead-based pesticide use. As the linked article makes clear however, remediating soil with lime or compost can raise the pH of your growing medium, and make lead less of a problem. One of my friends, who works at one of Philadelphia’s urban farms, tells me that if you remdiate your soil with compost ever year for three years or so, any lead is thoroughly dissipated. So that’s one reason: cleaning up and improving soil.
Another reason pertains to the whole “think globally, act locally” philosophy. Even though Philadelphia fits the description of a sustainable city due to our direct economic link to the farms of Lancaster county and beyond, it still costs money in terms of gasoline and road wear to truck meat and produce into the city. These costs are part of the price you pay at local farmers markets. Example: earlier this week, I paid $3.00 for a bag of baby greens and $2.50 for a head of red leaf lettuce. That same $5.50 pays for at least 2 packets of seeds which will grow ten times as many greens. In fact, the only reason I bought the baby greens this weekend was because mine aren’t fully grown and ready to eat. Urban farms encourage the local economy, and make our city more sustainable.
Planting crops like dill, cilantro, basil, and other herbs that bear very small flowers helps support our honeybee and beneficial insect population, all of which are under enormous pressures from chemical pesticides and pollution. Out in California, there’s worry that colony collapse disorder will literally destroy the bee-dependent almond industry: as we all should know by now, honeybee-based pollination is responsible for about two-thirds of all the food we eat, including beef (alfalfa is prime cattle feed, and wholly dependent on bees). Honeybees aren’t native to the US, and anything we can do to help them thrive and survive is a good thing. As it happens, there’s a hive somewhere on my block, and my cilantro and basil helps keep them alive, while playing a small role in ensuring biodiversity.
This brings us to the economics. A few years ago my buddy Larry let his daughters buy some baby chicks to keep as pets. Larry’s good with his hands and built a coop for the birds in the back yard. After about a year, the fluffy yellow birds had grown into full-size chickens, which lay eggs that Larry eats for breakfast. I don’t know the last time he had to buy a dozen eggs at the store. That’s a savings right there. Furthermore, the birds are pretty much self-perpetuating: chickens will eat just about anything, and don’t require a ton of care. It’s not like you pay out the nose for feed.
I’ll continue with the economics: it’s November and we just tore down our tomato plants yesterday. Even then, there was some discussion as to whether we could wring a few more fruits out of the vines. While it’s difficult to quantify exactly how many pounds of tomatoes we grew, I can tell you this much: our cabinets are stocked with quarts of tomatoes Christina canned herself. Last year, we didn’t buy a single can of whole peeled tomates ($1.79-$2.50 apiece, trucked in from someplace else, canned in a factory the doubtless genrates runoff and other pollution) all winter. All of our turnip greens are canned. So are the green beans. I don’t think we ran out until March and by that time, spring was upon us and it was almost time to start the cycle over. Currently, I’m growing broccolli and cauliflower in the backyard, two crops I eat a lot of. Thanks to my urban garden, I don’t have to buy them at the store, where the price will include a markup that covers all the trucking costs and provides for the grocery’s profit margin.
Did you know most grocery store garlic comes from China? Again, there are ramifications for global warming (all that fuel spent in shipping the stuff), as well as worries about what chemicals the Chinese are using to grow the crop. Garlic is incredibly easy to grow: plant cloves each October, harvest whole bulbs by July.
Urban agriculture also adds greenery to neighborhoods that might otherwise be blighted with vacant lots, which in Philadelphia is another word for “impromptu landfill”. Community gardens help create a sense of ownership and neighborhood cohesion among the residents. For example, my neighbors have taken over the lot next to their house, setting up about 10 raised beds as well as a work space. Earlier this month, they got their hands on a cider press, and were going through crate after crate of apples. All the little kids on the block were looking through the fence and asking to help. What better way to teach kids about the value of nature and respect for their world than through hands-on activities that end with something yummy?
Finally, there’s the whole notion of learning a skill. It wasn’t too long ago that everyone had some level of gardening and farming skills (as well as sewing and clothing repair, brewing, basic carpentry…). These days we’re almost entirely dependent on others to provide the necessities of life. If the apocalypse hit tomorrow, Christina and I would be set for a few weeks at least, and if we were able to avoid the rampaging mobs of zombies and flaming hailstone dropping from the sky, we’d have more crops going as soon as possible.
So: urban gardening helps individual households cut their dependence on corporate food and all the negative consequences that go along with that; helps build the local economy by encouraging small business and nurturing entrepreneurship; helps sustain populations of beneficial insects and encourages biodiversity; teaches adults and kids a meaningful skill; promotes responsibility and independence; and helps build community. those are just some of the reasons for promoting urban agriculture widely.
November 2nd, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Curious, how did you can your turnip greens and green beans? Did you use water bath method or use a pressure canner. According to most canning books, water bath is only safe for high acid foods. That means your tomatoes and other fruits would be fine, but most other vegetables would need to be canned using a different method.
I remember my mom canned a lot using the water bath method, but I don’t recall her canning green veggies. I think she usually blanched them and packed them into freezer containers.
I’ve canned lots of jams, butters, and sauces with high acid foods, but I’ve been concerned about doing anything with veggies. I’m wondering if you know something that I don’t or if I’m warning you of a safety issue of which you weren’t aware.
As for your other points, I agree. What could possibly be bad about urban gardening?
November 3rd, 2009 at 1:51 pm
christina can answer most of your canning questions, but yes we use a pressure cooker for canning. works great!
i don’t think atrios thinks there’s anything bad about urban gardening per se, he just doesn’t get the enthusiasm for it.
November 3rd, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Duncan is just jealous cuz the squirrels ate all his plants!