The Mayor comes to Sweet Beet City Farm (City councilman Steve Schewel, myself, Emily-Kate, and Mayor Bill Bell)

Farming in the city is pretty incredible for many reasons. Here are just a few:

1) Everyone who walks by asks what we’re growing. Some even share stories of remembering their grandmother/mother/father/grandfather growing various vegetables.

2) We’re able to be very connected to our community (farming and otherwise). Our plot is located near one of the major thoroughfares through Durham, so when we’re out there, we interact with many people walking or driving by.

3) Our transportation costs are cheap. We’re close to restaurants, other people, and traffic

The con side so far has only been working through the innards of local government regulations. After meeting Will Allen of Growing Power, the mayor of Durham, Bill Bell, was inspired by the positive social changes created by urban agriculture, as well as the economic successes of Allen’s operation. Bell charged the Durham city government to help make something similar happen in Durham. As aspiring urban farmers, this was very inspiring to us, but in reality has meant very little to us in terms of  allowing us create a viable farm in the city. There was a recent amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance that made commercial crop production legal within city limits, which for us, means that we can legally grow food to sell. However, since we are a farm (no matter how small!), we need basic farm infrastructure such as hoop houses (unheated greenhouses, which we would build with PVC/metal poles, 2x4s, and plastic), a storage shed, wash stand, produce display table and stand, and refrigeration for our produce. It is incredibly difficult and expensive to build all of these necessary farm infrastructure pieces following the current city government regulations.

We are doing what we can to make urban agriculture a success, and for us what that means is providing jobs for ourselves and our community. Hopefully, we can continue to work with Durham’s city government to make this possible.

Laura Stephenson is an environmental science graduate from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where she focused in environmental and community health. She is currently working on a small farm in Rougemont, North Carolina called Four Leaf Farms, while also starting an urban farm in downtown Durham, NC. Laura writes the Farming and the Local Food Scene series about her experiences with local farms and farmers around the Piedmont area of North Carolina.

For those of you who haven’t heard of Will Allen, the enormous personality behind Growing Power, he’s the face of the urban agriculture movement of our nation. He’s worked with Michelle Obama in her campaign against obesity, received a Genius Award from the MacArthur Foundation, and is widely known amongst the urban farmers of the United States. Allen was raised in Rockville, Maryland on a family farm, and then went on to play basketball at the University of Miami (the entire weekend he wore a UM cap). He never imagined coming back to farming, but noticed that the unhealthiest people of all were located in the poorest urban neighborhoods, where unemployment and violence were also rampant.

Allen co-founded Growing Power in 1993 to create economic and educational opportunities for youth in the Milwaukee, provide healthy food for his community, and ultimately serve as a model for the rest of the nation. Allen stresses his non-profit model as the way to go when starting a similar organization as non-profits receive tax exemptions and access to a wider variety of grants than for-profit organizations. However, many fledgling businesses find it too cumbersome to manage the 501c3 paperwork necessary to operate as a non-profit and don’t like the idea of relying on grant funding to stay afloat. While his model has clearly been successful, I’m not sold on a “one-size-fits-all” model for all organizations focused on urban agriculture and increasing access to healthy foods.

The two-day conference featured a keynote address from Will Allen on Saturday night. The take-home message for me was to go ahead with my plans for a farm in the city, and (hopefully) the city will embrace my hard work and investment. It’s difficult for me, as someone who is not inherently a great risk-taker to feel comfortable investing my time and money into something that is currently illegal within city limits. According to Allen however, as soon as the city of Milwaukee realized that Growing Power was an asset for the city, they have been extremely supportive in terms of grants and navigating (and changing) the city’s zoning laws. I am hopeful that the same will happen in Durham.

The city of Durham, where I live, is in the process of changing its laws on farming within city limits. We’re lucky to have a receptive planning team to work with and a motivated and highly educated community that understands the benefits of urban agriculture. Hopefully the momentum that Growing Power, IFFS, and other like-minded organizations have created within the Triangle will force the restrictive laws regarding urban agriculture to change within all Triangle cities in order for people to better understand and access where their food comes from.

Laura Stephenson is an environmental science graduate from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where she focused in environmental and community health. She is currently working full-time at a small, organic farm outside of Hillsborough, North Carolina called Maple Spring Gardens. Laura writes the Farming and the Local Food Scene series about her experiences with local farms and farmers around the Piedmont area of North Carolina.

One of the highlights was attending a pre-conference workshop at Olga and Tradd Cotter’s Mushroom Mountain. About twenty minutes southwest of Greenville, South Carolina, the farm and homestead is located in a typical southern, rural neighborhood. I thought I was lost until I nearly drove past the mailbox adorned with painted mushrooms. A group of about twenty people interested in mushroom production were there to learn from the mushroom master—Tradd Cotter. He’s worked with mushrooms for around twenty years, and is still in awe of the mighty fungi. He encourages others to “think like a mushroom” in order to better understand them.

Tradd walked us around his mushroom farm and taught us about different varieties (from easiest to most difficult to grow) and also a bit about different production methods. There were edible mushrooms growing everywhere at his place—in the woods, in the greenhouse hanging from the ceiling in 5-6 foot growing bags, and even in pots. Tradd has an extremely inquisitive mind and explores each and every possibility that mushrooms have for creating a more sustainable world. He does this by creating a profit, remediating contaminated soil, pest management, and educating his community about the multi-faceted value of mushrooms. He’s currently working with Clemson University to continue his scientific research on using mushrooms for remediating contaminated land. As a testament to their work in studying mushrooms and teaching others about how to grow and make a profit, Tradd and Olga were the winners of CFSA’s Young Farmer of the Year Award.

Another highlight from the conference was Michael Phillips, a rock-star orchardist from Lost Nation Orchard in New Hampshire. He was particularly captivating on the subject of growing fruit in a holistic manner. As an opening to his presentation, he stated “I am a community of one trillion.” It was a rather eye-opening introduction to the world of fruit growing—realizing that we’re all made up of complex interactions between bacteria, fungi, and other microscopic creatures. I attended two of his presentations at the conference, and taking in all of the information he shared will admittedly take time and experience working with fruit. I’ll also continue to read and refer to his incredible book The Holistic Orchard throughout the years of my fruit-growing life.

These are simply a few of the incredible presenters and people involved in sustainable agriculture in the Carolinas—I encourage you to attend the next CFSA conference in Durham, North Carolina on November 15-17th, 2013.

Laura Stephenson is an environmental science graduate from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where she focused in environmental and community health. She is currently working full-time at a small, organic farm outside of Hillsborough, North Carolina called Maple Spring Gardens. Laura writes the Farming and the Local Food Scene series about her experiences with local farms and farmers around the Piedmont area of North Carolina.

After reading about The Farmery and looking at their designs for growing food in the city, I had to check them out. I was extremely intrigued as it was the first time I’ve heard of an approach to urban farming that varied with either Will Allen’s approach (he does vermicomposting, aquaponics, and micro-green production in downtown Milwaukee), or intensively farming on a small lot space (or the beautifully drawn vertical farm skyscrapers of Despommier’s dreams). Recycling shipping containers into a retail space and growing area for greens and edible mushroom production provides a low-cost method to growing food in a vertical way (although they’re only one story now), and in doing so takes advantage of the small spaces in urban areas.

I contacted Ben Greene, CEO of The Farmery, and he encouraged me to come out and volunteer. The Farmery’s workspace is based in Clayton, NC (about 30 minutes east of Raleigh), and allows ample space for experimenting with shipping containers. When I arrived this past Sunday I was greeted by both Greene and Tyler Nethers, COO of The Farmery. Ben studied Art in undergraduate, and then Industrial Design in graduate school at North Carolina State. Tyler has managed greenhouses all over the world, and is currently managing North Carolina State’s aquaculture systems. They showed me around a bit—I was able to see prototypes one and two (the latest)—and then set to work filling the felt growing walls that adorn the lean-to greenhouses with a mixture of peat moss and worm castings. While I was filling the individual felted pockets with soil, Ben was inoculating oyster mushrooms that are now growing within the storage container itself. Prototype number two allows for mushroom production in the center and herbs, lettuces, and other greens to be grown on the living walls outside the storage container. Surrounded by some of North Carolina’s greatest tobacco land, The Farmery is working hard to design a business that will maximize food production within the confines of a city lot.

Some say The Farmery is before its time, but I think the innovative idea could certainly take off and fill gaps in our food system by offering locally grown food throughout the urban environment.

The Farmery’s Kickstarter campaign was recently funded, and their website has more information about their model, volunteering, and investing.

Laura Stephenson is an environmental science graduate from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where she focused in environmental and community health. She is currently working full-time at a small, organic farm outside of Hillsborough, North Carolina called Maple Spring Gardens. Laura writes the Farming and the Local Food Scene series about her experiences with local farms and farmers around the Piedmont area of North Carolina.

How do you make the desert bloom? Actually that question should read “how do you make the desert in a young country with almost no natural resources bloom?” The short answer is lots of manure, plastic pipes, and a Swiss Army knife.

When I signed up to be a kibbutz volunteer in Israel, I envisioned myself in the verdant green fields of the Galilee region. At the volunteer office, I was handed a piece of paper that said Kibbutz Grofit in the Negev Desert. As the bus sank further and further away from the hills of Jerusalem to the lowest point on earth, the landscape switched from urban congestion to craggy mountains surrounded by valleys of sand without so much as a power line in sight.

I arrived at Kibbutz Grofit in the spring when the date growing season begins. Dates are an important crop because they raise money for cash-strapped kibbutzim. I was sent to work in the date fields with volunteers from Sweden, Norway, and South Africa. Our job was to plant a new date field in a patch of sand. We were joined by scientists from India and China who came to Israel because it is a global leader in agricultural research and technology. The power of we was felt by our international group who were going on to teach farmers in water-strapped areas the techniques learned in Israel. The scientists were there to learn about drip irrigation specifically. The China I pictured as forests filled with bamboo and panda bears, is actually covered in large areas of desert.  India has to be increasingly resourceful in order to feed its growing population.

Fresh date crop.

Drip irrigation is one of the most important farming techniques of the twenty-first century. It brings the possibility of farming to areas once thought too parched. Since much of Israel is desert, and the parts that aren’t are challenged with water shortages, drip irrigation was borne out of the necessity to survive. The process has been refined by the invention of plastic tubes that resist clogging. Drip irrigation is considered green because it waters crops with a fraction of the water used by sprinklers and other traditional methods. Nearly all of the water goes to the roots of plants and is not wasted in run-off or evaporation.

Drip irrigation line.

The first step in setting up the date field was supplying water. A hose was secured to a water main. We then dragged the hose out to the field. It was a hot morning, over 40°C (104°F), and I was the lucky one chosen to see if the water would flow. I held the hose that looked like a giant anaconda up against my body. I thought a splash of water would cool me down. The leader of our group, a man named Juan from Colombia, turned the valve and we waited to hear the gurgle of water. Slowly the water spilled out. I was splashed with a brown stinky mess. I didn’t know it was recycled water from a local treatment plant. Because of the severity of the water situation in Israel, agricultural water is recycled from household usage.

Having ensured a water supply, we moved on to the next step of laying the lines. Digging in sand takes patience, a lot of it. As soon as I lifted the shovel, sand would slide into the hole I had created. I had to dig twice as deep as was needed to account for this. The deceptively simple looking pipes were then buried in the ground. Harnessing the velocity of water, the long pipes would manage an even water flow. A computer system back at the kibbutz monitored the lines and would alert the members of any problems.

Small date saplings were unloaded from a truck. Date trees have spearlike thorns that will prick your hands and make them go numb. We were handed leather gloves to wear, but the thorns still punctured the hide. In pairs we dug holes, packed in manure, and planted the saplings. We cut a hole in the drip irrigation line at the site of the date tree and inserted a valve. After a while this became a rhythm of digging and cutting. Partners realized their strengths and established efficient systems. Alternating digging, one would cut the line, one would install the valve; we worked like this for weeks.

At the close of our final day, we sat with sodas dripping condensation caused by the hot sun, and looked at our work. Our hands, arms, and legs were filled with cuts and our cheeks were bright red. We envisioned blooming fields in the places we would travel to—Jordan, Egypt, India, and China.  The power of we is the power of people to come together from the corners of the world and make trees blossom where there had been sand. The power of we is innovating and sharing farming techniques to eradicate food shortages and starvation.

Amy Styer is a freelance journalist based in Jerusalem, Israel.