Farming Concrete » 2010

Home » Archive

Articles Archive for October 2010

Project Status, Stories and Quotes »

[8 Oct 2010 | One Comment | ]

LunchNYC is a new program on NYC Media that looks at food in the city. Farming Concrete is excited to be featured in the very first episode, during a scale delivery and crop inventory of Tremont Community Garden in the Bronx, one of the La Familia Verde gardens.

The first episode is entitled Urban Farming:

New York City is a huge metropolis thats urban areas greatly outnumber its rural ones. Yet for a city of over 8 million people, New Yorkers consume a staggering amount of food. Lunch NYC takes a look at the efforts and movements trying to make this concrete jungle a little more edible. This episode, Urban Farming, is hosted by Nicole Parker.

Our segment features Elizabeth Butler, one of the garden’s coordinators, talking about the food in the garden and where it all goes. It also features Mara Gittleman, Farming Concrete Project Coordinator, talking about several aspects of NYC community gardening as well as the importance of data.

Enjoy!

Sign up for the Farming Concrete Newsletter

Farming Concrete: Measuring Food Production in NYC’s Community Gardens

The American Community Garden Association defines a community garden as "any piece of land gardened by a group of people." These spaces - peaceful enclaves where one can reconnect with their soil, food, and fellow gardeners - are meaningful across age groups and cultures, and serve as valuable assets for community identity. Healthy food production in community gardens is especially relevant today, when the number of New York City residents who rely on emergency food and lack access to affordable fresh produce in grocery stores is increasing. In the context of a dysfunctional food system, urban agriculture is becoming evermore indispensable.

No one knows just how much food NYC community gardeners are growing. That is what this project seeks to measure.