Urban Farming - Greater Greater Washington

Farm the roof

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 08:47:00 EDT

Taking green roofs to a new level, one developer wants to put farms on the roofs of the planned Capital Crossing I-395 air rights development. He hopes the small farms will be an attraction for certain restaurants. (Post)

Comment

Back to the land in the city

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 08:45:00 EDT

by David Edmondson

No city is a stranger to vacant lots, but no city knows vacancy as well as Detroit. To combat the problem, citizens are planting gardens and taking over neighboring lots, largely without the city's approval. (Free Press)

Comment

Can blight, or even an auto ad, invoke opportunity? (Feb 12, 2011)
Demand a better Wal-Mart on city land (Nov 19, 2010)

And...

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 08:55:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

Arlington looks to overhaul urban farming laws. (Sun Gazette) ... Metro Transit Police help save a bald eagle inside the track fence near the Van Dorn Street station. (Examiner) ... What do people build in the Lego room at the National Building Museum? (TNAC) ... L'Enfant Plaza's underground mall may get a glassy entrance. (City Paper)

Comment

Underpriced Metro parking doesn't justify more parking (Sep 9, 2010)
East Falls Church needs more bike racks (Oct 28, 2010)
Then and Now: Arlington's Ord-Weitzel Gate (Jan 21, 2010)
Arlington plans to increase capacity at Rosslyn Metro (Sep 24, 2010)
What if Washington never built Metro? (Oct 19, 2011)

And...

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:12:00 EDT

by Steven Yates

Brick sidewalks have their diadvantages. (In Shaw) ... It's hard to garden vacant lots in DC. (City Paper) ... DC has far, far less surface parking than many cities. (Old Urbanist)

Comment

Arlington's missing sidewalks (Aug 3, 2010)
DDOT reminding property owners to shovel sidewalks (Jan 11, 2011)
Glover Park organizes neighborhood snow shovel team (Jan 20, 2011)
Missing sidewalks stir debate (Apr 7, 2009)
Large buildings have no excuse for not shoveling (Dec 22, 2009)

Urban farming returns to DC

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 09:35:00 EDT

by David Edmondson

Urban farming faces uphill battles with every vacant lot used, but a forgotten law to encourage urban farming could make things easier for farmers. (City Paper)

Comment

Soccer field a key goal

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 08:36:00 EDT

by Jamie Scott

A 20-acre farm in Potomac will likely become a soccer field. The Montgomery County school board owns the land and the Potomac Master Plan calls for an athletic field on the site if not a school. (Fox5)

Comment

Sprawl is the only option at the Planning Board (May 27, 2009)
JHU Life Sciences Center: show me the transit! (Jan 27, 2009)
Rockville City Council votes to reroute CCT out of town (Jan 20, 2011)
Eastern Montgomery discusses White Oak's future (Jul 7, 2010)
Smart growth with more affordable housing in Wheaton, take 2 (Jul 29, 2009)

And...

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 08:41:00 EDT

by David Alpert

A 90-year-old man still farms a 1-acre plot right by Downtown Silver Spring (Post) ... PriceWaterhouseCoopers made a video about their employees who bike commute ... Police district changes include Dupont and Fort Dupont. (LITV, Borderstan)

Comment

Silver Spring bike station gets planning money (Nov 3, 2010)
Downtown Silver Spring provides freedom for couple (Mar 14, 2011)
The hazards of driving: Michael Phelps and you (Aug 18, 2009)
Ped/bike safety enforcement stories, part 1: Alice Swanson (Feb 7, 2011)
Share the road, because the sign is blocking the path (Jun 3, 2010)

The National Pasture: Bring sheep back to the Mall

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 13:10:37 EDT

by Adam Irish

These days, lawmakers are talking a lot about cutting budgets but not much about cutting carbon emissions. With spring around the corner, soon it will be time for cutting grass.

President Obama could address all three concerns by bringing sheep to the grounds of the White House and National Mall.

Wilson's flock, circa 1919.

Unlike conventional groundskeepers, sheep don't require salaries and expensive benefit packages. Unlike conventional lawnmowers, sheep don't pollute nor rely on foreign oil.

Sheep are powered by the grass they eat and then convert the clippings into a natural fertilizer. Sheep are nature's own lawn mowers.

Sheep have saved us before in times of national crisis. President Woodrow Wilson brought a flock to the White House grounds during World War I. Led by a famed tobacco-chewing ram named Old Ike, the sheep replaced expensive gardeners, freeing up men to fight and slashing groundskeeping costs. Although they occasionally munched on rare shrubbery and perennials, Wilson's flock trimmed the grass better than any lawnmower.

But the sheep did more than keep the grass at bay. The auctioning of prized White House wool raised over $100,000 for the Red Cross. That's equivalent to $1.5 million in today's dollars—money that could be well spent restoring the decrepit National Mall. But even beyond the sale of shearings, the federal flock would be an economic boon for Washington. Just think of the tourist kitsch.

Above all, returning sheep to the nation's capital would encourage sustainable agriculture. Urban farming is an important component of making cities more ecologically sound, and turning Washington's greatest open spaces into pastures would promote similar innovations across the country.

The Mall has been a symbol of our agrarian roots since the city's founding. Its earliest incarnation was a pasture called the Commons. Even in its current form, the National Mall was meant to embody the American rural ideal: plans for its redesign in 1902 featured a watercolor of a shepherd and his flock ambling across the lawn toward the Washington Monument.

During the Wilson administration, the White House sheep came to symbolize national sacrifice for the war effort. Today, a new flock in Washington could come to symbolize a sustainable American future—both fiscally and environmentally.

51 comments

How would you improve the Washington Monument area? (Jul 16, 2010)
Ideas for a "3rd Century" National Mall (Nov 20, 2009)
How can Obama really do more for DC? (Dec 2, 2010)
National Park Service defines "important vistas" (Jul 15, 2010)
Where should the Latino museum go? (Jul 16, 2010)

Support local charities this holiday season

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 13:13:00 EDT

by David Alpert

The season of giving is upon us, and many of us make meaningful contributions to charitable organizations at this time of the year. When thinking about what groups to support, please consider helping out some of our local nonprofits which work to improve the lives of people in our region and create better communities.

Photo by Mindful One on Flickr.

Here are a few nonprofits which our contributors listed as some of their favorites:

The Coalition for Smarter Growth: There is one organization in this region which advocates for all of the issues we discuss on this blog, including smart growth, transit, affordable housing policies, and bridging the east-west divide.

CSG advocates for policies in many of the parts of the region where they are most needed, from Loudoun to Prince George's, and has been featured multiple times in the Catalogue for Philanthropy.

A movement is most effective when blogs, traditional nonprofits, and elected officials work together to promote ideas in concert. The Coalition for Smarter Growth is working every day to turn what we believe in and discuss here on the blog into reality.

They're a small organization (4 full-time staff) and need our support, especially in this tough economic time, to continue doing their great work and to do even more. Plus, for the month of December, other donors will match every dollar you give to CSG.

Human services: Help those most in need this year with basic food, shelter, and more. This is especially important now with a bad economy, widespread unemployment, and governments cutting back on vital services. Direct service groups like Bread for the City and So Others Might Eat provide food, clothing, medical care, legal counseling, job training and more to the most needy.

The Capital Area Food Bank provides most of the food that the direct service organizations distribute. And DC Central Kitchen turns unused food from area businesses into meals for the needy, and trains unemployed people for culinary careers.

N Street Village helps homeless women find housing, get medical and mental health care, and job training; their center on 14th Street replaced an ugly parking lot and has become an anchor for more growth on its part of 14th Street. Charlie's Place helps homeless people with food, clothing and job training. AMEN gives emergency financial assistance to Arlington residents in crisis.

Advocacy membership organizations: Many nonprofit advocacy groups are structured as membership organizations. Being a member supports their work and sometimes comes with a few extra bonuses as well. Consider joining the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, and Maryland's Action Committee for Transit. The DC Sierra Club provided much of the driving force behind streetcars. And of course, if you think DC residents should have voting rights like all other Americans, join DC Vote.

Environmental groups: Sprawl constantly threatens our natural resources and, by extension, the quality of our drinking water, recreational opportunities, and more. Some of the many local groups working are the DC, Virginia, and Maryland Sierra Clubs, the Anacostia Watershed Society, Friends of Rock Creek's Environment, Anacostia Riverkeeper, Potomac Riverkeeper, and more. Casey Trees plants and nurtures street trees to help all neighborhoods develop a healthy tree canopy.

Education and mentoring: There are so many worthy education nonprofits it's not possible to do them justice here, but here are just a few to start with: For Love of Children connects underprivileged children with one on one volunteer tutors; they're looking for more volunteers as well as funding. College and Career Connections works in Ward 7 to encourage youth to stay motivated in school and go to college, which are key to success in the modern world. And Big Brothers Big Sisters of the National Capital Area has made a difference in so many children's lives.

Food security and urban farming: People struggling with hunger and homelessness aren't the only ones who need help with food. All children need healthy meals which are often difficult for poor families to afford. Urban farms and nutrition programs seek to make more fresh food available to poor neighborhoods.

Consider supporting the DC Farm to School Network, which gets healthy, local, and sustainable food to DC schoolchildren; Common Good City Farm, an urban farm and education center growing food for low-income residents; The Farm at Walker Jones is building a farm in the H Street area for kids to learn about food and to provide it to them and needy neighbors.

Your local aging in place "village": A number of neighborhoods have "village" associations which help senior citizens remain in their homes by providing assistance with illnesses and disabilities, small home maintenance tasks, and connections to community activities. A diversity of ages is healthy and important for every neighborhood.

There are villages in Capitol Hill, Dupont Circle, Kalorama, Palisades, Chevy Chase, and more. Also, Iona Senior Center not only provides services for the elderly but helped fund the Connecticut Avenue Pedestrian Action program to make upper Connecticut safer.

Others in the Catalogue for Philanthropy: This annual publication showcases valuable, small, effective nonprofits in the DC metropolitan area around sustainability, education, human services and more. It's a great way to find out about organizations worth supporting that you might not otherwise know about.

What other local and regional organizations do you support?

22 comments

Food insecurity in the District (Feb 5, 2009)
Don't forget the homeless: Mini-walk for Charlie's Place today (Nov 2, 2008)
Support the Coalition for Smarter Growth, meet Gabe Klein (Mar 26, 2009)
Truxton Circle school and youth housing in doubt (Jan 23, 2011)
Helping the homeless requires compassion (Sep 15, 2010)

Planning Department veggies

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:15:00 EDT

by David Alpert

Montgomery Park and Planning is creating a vegetable garden and adding some beehives on its roof to be greener. (The Straight Line) In the comments, Casey Anderson suggests also repurposing the vast surface parking around the building, perhaps as the much-needed Downtown Silver Spring skate park.

Comment

Will Gaithersburg stay green and chicken-friendly?

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:09:04 EDT

by Dan Malouff

Urban chickens are an essentially free, organic, and local source of food, fertilizer, and pest control.

Photo by Baying Hound.

They eat cockroaches and mosquitoes and in return give you an unending supply of eggs. It used to be everybody with a backyard kept a backyard chicken coop, and as word of their benefits gets around again, more and more people are starting up the old practice. It's one of the best and easiest ways to go green.

However, a lot of people think backyards should be reserved for perfectly manicured Kentucky Bluegrass and that actual nature, agriculture, or production shouldn't come within several miles of their subdivision, for fear of what it might do to their property values.

More and more people in Gaithersburg are keeping backyard chickens, and as a result an increasing number of people are demanding the city put a stop to it. The city—Montgomery County's long-time agricultural center—is officially considering a ban and will take up the issue at a public hearing on Monday.

Gaithersburg has the option of going green, or going NIMBY (or should it be NIYBY). Let's hope they make the right decision and keep the chickens.

Cross-posted at BeyondDC.

30 comments

Gaithersburg could get a downtown (Mar 24, 2008)
Gaithersburg police target people in the way of cars (Oct 4, 2010)
Olde Towne Gaithersburg: He who hesitated was lost (Apr 13, 2009)
ACT creates Montgomery County transit vision (Feb 16, 2010)
Hopkins lobbyist circulating "push poll" survey on Gaithersburg West (Aug 21, 2009)

Where would they grow the pot?

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 08:49:00 EDT

by David Alpert

A bill introduced yesterday would authorize medical marijuana in DC. One interesting wrinkle: it would have to be grown in DC, since it'd still be illegal to ship across state lines. Urban farming? (Post)

Comment

Growing possibilities: A new census of community gardens

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:16:00 EDT

by Liz Whitehurst

A squadron of bicyclists armed with satellite mapping instruments swept through the District this summer on a unique mission: locate all of the city's community gardens and interview garden managers for the first ever census of community gardens here.

There are nearly 40 community gardens in DC, but until now, there has been no readily available estimate of the square footage of public land being cultivated for food in the District of Columbia, nor is there a coordinated land management strategy citywide. These are among the issues this census, undertaken by the Neighborhood Farm Initiative, was intended to address.

As I bicycled around town with the Farm Initiative's staff and volunteers, I discovered that the city's community gardenscape is well hidden. Community gardens are secreted between alleyways, under a highway overpass, behind a tall fence covered in vines. Others hide in plain sight: there were fruit trees and raised beds in a triangle of land across from the Air and Space Museum. Just blocks from Nationals Stadium, a neat plot of land in full sun teemed with life.

The Kingman Park-Rosedale Community Garden had the tallest basil plants I had ever seen. As he pulled radishes from the ground, a young gardener at Independence Community Garden near the Air and Space Museum told us that he lives alone and he grows more than he can eat. At King's Court Community Garden on Capitol Hill, garden manager Pat Taylor gave us basil and squash along with her insight into community organizing strategy.

These gardeners had food to share: possibilities for partnership between community gardens and food access programs such as Ample Harvest or the Grow a Row at the Capital Area Food Bank abound.

The census underscores stark realities about food access in the District. Wards 1 through 6 have a greater concentration of community gardens as well as a greater concentration of supermarkets and food retail centers.

A preliminary map of NFI's findings.

But there are signs of change. Ward 8, for instance, recently added a new community garden, Shipley Community Garden at 23rd and Savannah streets SE. Health advocates east of the Anacostia River are looking at food gardening as a way to address childhood obesity.

Another new urban garden, Justice Park, is slated to be built on a vacant lot at 14th and Euclid streets NW in Columbia Heights. The city's recreation department recently announced $25,000 in funding from Whole Foods to help install garden planters at 56 recreation centers throughout the District.

As more community gardeners sprout up, NFI's educational programs can teach them how to grow food sustainably. At their half-acre space near Fort Totten, they also host weekend workshops and volunteer workdays.

Data for the community garden census is currently being compiled and analyzed. If you know of a community garden in operation as of September 2009 whose manager was not contacted by NFI for inclusion in this garden census effort, please contact NeighborhoodFarm@gmail.com.

Cross-posted at DC Food For All.

4 comments

The growing classroom (May 21, 2009)
DC funding depends on 2010 Census mail-back rates (Mar 25, 2009)
Grocery stores scarce for many DC residents (Jan 22, 2009)
Food desert or mirage? (Mar 30, 2010)
Will tax incentives make food deserts bloom? (Dec 4, 2009)