A lively local panel of non-profit and private urban farmers shared tips on how to increase urban farming in Edmonton during the second event in the ALES Common Reading Program last weekend.
Among the useful ideas: approach owners of sites you think are ideal rather than sift through enthusiastic but not-quite-right offers that pour in after an open call, create a sturdy network of willing weeders, and never forget that in many locations the city's water pressure is "really horrible."
Reclaim Urban Farm, a for-profit, multi-location urban micro farm covered costs and generated a small profit in 2014, its first year of operation, by keeping 15 sites closely grouped and by growing mainly leafy greens. Greens are a high-value crop because of their 21 to 28-day growing cycle, said Travis Kennedy, of Lactuca, an urban farm that grows organic, high-quality vegetables and greens for Edmonton restaurants.
But success also poses problems. Last year, Lactuca produced 500 pounds of salad greens a week but couldn't find a market for all of it. Picking and cleaning produce for donation is labour-intensive, so much of it became green manure.
Nicole Martin, the garden coordinator of the Prairie Urban Farm, a mixed-crop community food system on South Campus that uses alternative agricultural methods, pointed out that Toronto's Urban Food Share, a mobile food truck subsidized by the United Way, handles oversupply differently.
"They purchase foods from local organic suppliers and sell it to liaisons in different low-income areas," she said.
Since three of the five panelists represented non-profit initiatives established to increase citizen interest in locally grown food, urban farming's wider benefits were also aired. It adds quality of life, community spirit, green space, better air quality and educates people simply by being in view, said audience member Lee Foote, an ALES researcher and director of the Devonian Botanic Garden.
Once people see it's possible, it doesn't take much to attract more urban farmers, said Vicky Busch of the Edmonton Organic Growers Guild, located near the South Campus LRT station.
"Just come and do," she tells passersby. "You don't need garden gloves or shovels. We have them."
For their part, U of A students can grow some of their own food by participating in the Adopt-A-Planter program to. All they have to do is book space in one of 44 planter sites around campus.
"I think U of A's groundskeepers will even water them for you," said Martin.
Foote added that a new Plant Science 200 course, Urban Plants: Gardening and Sustainability, will run July 8 to August 19.
The Common Reading Program's final event will feature Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer. It's on Thursday, January 29, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in room 2-490 of the Edmonton Clinic Health Academy. Everyone is welcome to attend the free event.
Among the useful ideas: approach owners of sites you think are ideal rather than sift through enthusiastic but not-quite-right offers that pour in after an open call, create a sturdy network of willing weeders, and never forget that in many locations the city's water pressure is "really horrible."
Reclaim Urban Farm, a for-profit, multi-location urban micro farm covered costs and generated a small profit in 2014, its first year of operation, by keeping 15 sites closely grouped and by growing mainly leafy greens. Greens are a high-value crop because of their 21 to 28-day growing cycle, said Travis Kennedy, of Lactuca, an urban farm that grows organic, high-quality vegetables and greens for Edmonton restaurants.
But success also poses problems. Last year, Lactuca produced 500 pounds of salad greens a week but couldn't find a market for all of it. Picking and cleaning produce for donation is labour-intensive, so much of it became green manure.
Nicole Martin, the garden coordinator of the Prairie Urban Farm, a mixed-crop community food system on South Campus that uses alternative agricultural methods, pointed out that Toronto's Urban Food Share, a mobile food truck subsidized by the United Way, handles oversupply differently.
"They purchase foods from local organic suppliers and sell it to liaisons in different low-income areas," she said.
Since three of the five panelists represented non-profit initiatives established to increase citizen interest in locally grown food, urban farming's wider benefits were also aired. It adds quality of life, community spirit, green space, better air quality and educates people simply by being in view, said audience member Lee Foote, an ALES researcher and director of the Devonian Botanic Garden.
Once people see it's possible, it doesn't take much to attract more urban farmers, said Vicky Busch of the Edmonton Organic Growers Guild, located near the South Campus LRT station.
"Just come and do," she tells passersby. "You don't need garden gloves or shovels. We have them."
For their part, U of A students can grow some of their own food by participating in the Adopt-A-Planter program to. All they have to do is book space in one of 44 planter sites around campus.
"I think U of A's groundskeepers will even water them for you," said Martin.
Foote added that a new Plant Science 200 course, Urban Plants: Gardening and Sustainability, will run July 8 to August 19.
The Common Reading Program's final event will feature Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer. It's on Thursday, January 29, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in room 2-490 of the Edmonton Clinic Health Academy. Everyone is welcome to attend the free event.