"In The Town That Food Saved<click here>, Ben explores the contradictions inherent to producing high-end "artisanal" food products in a working-class community. To better understand how a local food system might work, he spends time not only with the agripreneurs, but also with the region's numerous small-scale food producers, many of which have been quietly operating in the area for decades. The result is a delightfully inquisitive peek behind the curtain of the town that has been dubbed the "Silicon Valley of local food." <click here>
Not without tension between some of the "newcomers" and "old-timers," Hardwick is[image: claires hardwick-tomato-salad]<click here>home to a range of for-profit and non-profit food enterprises including the Center for an Agricultural Economy <http://www.hardwickagriculture.org/>, Claire's Restaurant <http://clairesvt.com/>, the nearby Bees Knees<http://www.thebeesknees-vt.com/> , Butterworks Farm <http://www.butterworksfarm.com/>,Pete's Greens CSA<http://www.petesgreens.com/>, High Mowing Seeds <http://www.highmowingseeds.com/>, The Buffalo Mountain Coop <http://buffalomountaincoop.org/>, Vermont Soy<http://www.vermontsoy.com/>, Bonnieview Farms <http://www.bonnieview.org/>, Jasper Hill Farms<http://www.cellarsatjasperhill.com/>, and Heartbeet Life Sharing <http://www.heartbeet.org/index.php>, a nonprofit licensed[image: family farm]<click here>Therapeutic Community Residence based on the Steiner approach called Anthroposophy, among many others. The Hardwick experiment is ongoing, but agri-tourism, a vibrant downtown, and new jobs and economic opportunity appear to be the result.
Permaculture, consciousness of place, bioregional identity, and Yeomans' functional-relationship analysis (whether planned or by default) probably played a role in Hardwick's evolution to a more resilient community.
Detroit may be one of the best examples of what "a long emergency," "white flight,"[image: dilapidated building in Detroit]<click here>suburban sprawl, loss of manufacturing jobs, and "loss of a sense of place" can do to a city. Detroit, once the beneficiary of the industrial revolution and "Motor City", the center of automobile manufacturing in the US, has become one of the most visible symbols of urban decay. Between 2000 and 2010 the population fell by 25%. Its 713,000 population is down 60% since 1950. The flight of the automobile manufacturers in the 1980's exacerbated the situation, as did the "Twelfth Street Riot" of July 1970 during which more than 2000 buildings were destroyed, and thousands of small businesses closed.
Despite some efforts to "brand" downtown as a "Renaissance" city within the city there continues to be severe urban decay. More than half of the owners of Detroit's properties failed to pay their 2011 tax bills. There are thousands of empty homes, apartment buildings, and commercial buildings around the city. Some parts of Detroit are so sparsely populated the city is having difficulty providing police, fire protection, schools, trash[image: industrial building in detroit]<click here> removal, snow removal, lighting, and other municipal services. In March 2013, the governor appointed an emergency manager<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit#Public_finances> to deal with the city's $327-million budget deficit and more than $14 billion in long-term debt. Detroit remains one of the most racially segregated<click here> cities in the United States, and in February 2013 as many as 42,000 of Detroit's estimated 380,000 homes could face foreclosure. The city now owns almost a third of the land in Detroit.
For those who stay in the city, it is nearly impossible to find* *fresh vegetables and fruits as[image: roman ruins, no detroit]<click here>all supermarket chains in the area closed, making Detroit a food desert. A study <click here> from Yale's Rudd Center<click here> recently found that Detroit residents are "*statistically more likely to suffer or die prematurely from a* diet-related disease*, holding other key factors constant,"* due to the severely limited access to healthy food.
Taking a huge gamble, Detroit has been engaged in a series of efforts to deal with the near collapse of its economy and neighborhoods, and the city appears to be embracing agriculture as one remedy. The [image: food desert detroit]<click here>"greening" of Detroit will have other consequences as well, providing greenways to [image: Detroit urban ag]<click here>manage storm water; growing hardwood forests that will improve air quality and eventually provide both lumber and firewood. New jobs in both the demolition of vacant buildings and in the development of facilities creates economic opportunities, provides an improved food-distribution systems, addresses nutritional and health issues while reducing food's "carbon footprint" in vulnerable and under-served communities. This innovative solution will combat food inequities in under-served communities and help to eliminate "food deserts."
"Urban farming has become increasingly popular in recent years as a way to deal with vacant property, revitalize neighborhoods, and provide job skills and nutrition to remaining local residents struggling with poverty and a lack of access to fresh produce."
Detroit is no stranger to urban agriculture. <click here>The community garden movement in the United[image: detroit urban ag 1]<click here>States was born in Detroit during the depression of the 1890's, when Detroit mayor Hazen Pingree initiated a program to donate vacant land for gardens to supplement the diets and incomes of the unemployed. These gardens became known as "Pingree's Potato Patches;" the program was subsequently copied by several other large cities." <click here>
In February 2013 Detroit adopted the City of Detroit Urban Agriculture Ordinance <click here>that allows among other things aquaculture and aquaponics, composting, farmers markets, greenhouses, orchards, and urban farms and gardens, in certain locations and under certain circumstances.
Like Hardwick, non-profits, entrepreneurs, universities, and development companies are beginning to lay the groundwork for an agricultural-based environmental, economic, and social-equity based recovery. LEAP, the Lower Eastside Action Plan, is playing a substantive role by "engag(ing) people in a community-driven project to transform vacant[image: empty lots in Detroit]<click here> land and property into uses that improve the quality of life in our neighborhood."
Urban Farming <http://www.urbanfarming.org/welcome.html>, a national organization, has maps of community gardens and farms in Detroit on its website. Grassroots organizations like the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network <http://detroitblackfoodsecurity.org/>, whose farm is depicted in the You Tube video <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP5fqqzv35g>, is a coalition of organizations and individuals working together to build food security in Detroit's Black community, places such as Keep Growing Detroit<http://detroitagriculture.net/>, The Greening of Detroit <http://greeningofdetroit.com/>, The Michigan Urban Farming Initiative <http://www.miufi.org/>, Warrior Demonstration Garden <http://www.clas.wayne.edu/unit-inner.asp?WebPageID=2104>, and St. Andrew's Allotment Garden<http://www.clas.wayne.edu/unit-inner.asp?WebPageID=2848>. Other enterprises are featured in a film, Urban Roots<click here>, When Everything Collapses, Plant Your[image: detroit urban ag 2]<click here> Field of Dreams, like Earthworks Urban Farm <http://www.cskdetroit.org/EWG/>, Field of Our Dreams <http://fieldofourdreams.ning.com/>, a mobile market "bringing fresh produce at the best possible prices to the neighborhood. Others are Georgia Street Community Collective<http://www.georgiastreetcc.com/>, The Detroit Food Policy Council <http://www.detroitfoodpolicycouncil.net/>, and the controversial Hantz Farms <http://www.hantzfarmsdetroit.com/> that some in the city think of as a "land grab" are all pieces of the quilt of urban agriculture that is transforming Detroit.
*Food businesses, universities, and institutions like Eli Tea<http://www.elitea.co/>, Avalon International Breads <http://www.avalonbreads.net/> (a place Mark Bittman of the New York Times calls the unofficial meeting place for the Detroit food movement), Motor City Brewing Works<http://www.motorcitybeer.com/>, Detroit Eastern Market <http://www.detroiteasternmarket.com/>, Seed Wayne <http://www.clas.wayne.edu/seedwayne/> at Wayne State University that works in partnership with [image: more brewery]<click here>[image: Bread]<click here> community-based organizations promoting access to healthy foods, urban agriculture, farm-to-institution, and food planning and policy development, Earthworks Urban Farm <http://www.cskdetroit.org/EWG/about_us/contact_us>, a program of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, and the Catherine Ferguson Academy (CFA) is a charter-operated <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_school> high school in Detroit for pregnant girls and teen mothers. The school has an urban farm<http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Qwied0hUX8A in its backyard, and provides day care and pre-school education for the students' children, The school was almost shut down <http://detroitfunk.com/?p=5235>as a result of cut backs by the emergency manager but has re-emerged as a charter school <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KB063-UQxc>. These institutions and businesses support the burgeoning urban farm enterprises. There are also a few farm-to-table restaurants that are springing up in Detroit and the surrounding area.*
Regardless of the conditions of a city like Detroit (including the fact that corporations have abandoned it) creates a tremendous amount of opportunity for those who want to plant their own food and build their own homes. Is there opportunity in the face of the constraints and does Permaculture have answers to the issue of food deserts and crumbling infrastructure?
Permaculture as a method for dealing with Detroit's "Long Emergency" seems like an oxymoron. But much like Hardwick, food is the glue that may hold the city's true renaissance together.
In the worst scenario, America is becoming Detroit. In the most optimistic sense, both Detroit and Hardwick are examples of the impulse to engage in the development of a sustainable, resilient, self-reliant community whether urban or rural. Bringing the ethics and principles of Permaculture design and regenerative systems into the classroom, the council chambers, and the boardroom can accelerate the recovery.
Not without tension between some of the "newcomers" and "old-timers," Hardwick is[image: claires hardwick-tomato-salad]<click here>home to a range of for-profit and non-profit food enterprises including the Center for an Agricultural Economy <http://www.hardwickagriculture.org/>, Claire's Restaurant <http://clairesvt.com/>, the nearby Bees Knees<http://www.thebeesknees-vt.com/> , Butterworks Farm <http://www.butterworksfarm.com/>,Pete's Greens CSA<http://www.petesgreens.com/>, High Mowing Seeds <http://www.highmowingseeds.com/>, The Buffalo Mountain Coop <http://buffalomountaincoop.org/>, Vermont Soy<http://www.vermontsoy.com/>, Bonnieview Farms <http://www.bonnieview.org/>, Jasper Hill Farms<http://www.cellarsatjasperhill.com/>, and Heartbeet Life Sharing <http://www.heartbeet.org/index.php>, a nonprofit licensed[image: family farm]<click here>Therapeutic Community Residence based on the Steiner approach called Anthroposophy, among many others. The Hardwick experiment is ongoing, but agri-tourism, a vibrant downtown, and new jobs and economic opportunity appear to be the result.
Permaculture, consciousness of place, bioregional identity, and Yeomans' functional-relationship analysis (whether planned or by default) probably played a role in Hardwick's evolution to a more resilient community.
Detroit may be one of the best examples of what "a long emergency," "white flight,"[image: dilapidated building in Detroit]<click here>suburban sprawl, loss of manufacturing jobs, and "loss of a sense of place" can do to a city. Detroit, once the beneficiary of the industrial revolution and "Motor City", the center of automobile manufacturing in the US, has become one of the most visible symbols of urban decay. Between 2000 and 2010 the population fell by 25%. Its 713,000 population is down 60% since 1950. The flight of the automobile manufacturers in the 1980's exacerbated the situation, as did the "Twelfth Street Riot" of July 1970 during which more than 2000 buildings were destroyed, and thousands of small businesses closed.
For those who stay in the city, it is nearly impossible to find* *fresh vegetables and fruits as[image: roman ruins, no detroit]<click here>all supermarket chains in the area closed, making Detroit a food desert. A study <click here> from Yale's Rudd Center<click here> recently found that Detroit residents are "*statistically more likely to suffer or die prematurely from a* diet-related disease*, holding other key factors constant,"* due to the severely limited access to healthy food.
Taking a huge gamble, Detroit has been engaged in a series of efforts to deal with the near collapse of its economy and neighborhoods, and the city appears to be embracing agriculture as one remedy. The [image: food desert detroit]<click here>"greening" of Detroit will have other consequences as well, providing greenways to [image: Detroit urban ag]<click here>manage storm water; growing hardwood forests that will improve air quality and eventually provide both lumber and firewood. New jobs in both the demolition of vacant buildings and in the development of facilities creates economic opportunities, provides an improved food-distribution systems, addresses nutritional and health issues while reducing food's "carbon footprint" in vulnerable and under-served communities. This innovative solution will combat food inequities in under-served communities and help to eliminate "food deserts."
"Urban farming has become increasingly popular in recent years as a way to deal with vacant property, revitalize neighborhoods, and provide job skills and nutrition to remaining local residents struggling with poverty and a lack of access to fresh produce."
Detroit is no stranger to urban agriculture. <click here>The community garden movement in the United[image: detroit urban ag 1]<click here>States was born in Detroit during the depression of the 1890's, when Detroit mayor Hazen Pingree initiated a program to donate vacant land for gardens to supplement the diets and incomes of the unemployed. These gardens became known as "Pingree's Potato Patches;" the program was subsequently copied by several other large cities." <click here>
In February 2013 Detroit adopted the City of Detroit Urban Agriculture Ordinance <click here>that allows among other things aquaculture and aquaponics, composting, farmers markets, greenhouses, orchards, and urban farms and gardens, in certain locations and under certain circumstances.
Like Hardwick, non-profits, entrepreneurs, universities, and development companies are beginning to lay the groundwork for an agricultural-based environmental, economic, and social-equity based recovery. LEAP
Urban Farming <http://www.urbanfarming.org/welcome.html>, a national organization, has maps of community gardens and farms in Detroit on its website. Grassroots organizations like the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network <http://detroitblackfoodsecurity.org/>, whose farm is depicted in the You Tube video <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP5fqqzv35g>, is a coalition of organizations and individuals working together to build food security in Detroit's Black community, places such as Keep Growing Detroit<http://detroitagriculture.net/>, The Greening of Detroit <http://greeningofdetroit.com/>, The Michigan Urban Farming Initiative <http://www.miufi.org/>, Warrior Demonstration Garden <http://www.clas.wayne.edu/unit-inner.asp?WebPageID=2104>, and St. Andrew's Allotment Garden<http://www.clas.wayne.edu/unit-inner.asp?WebPageID=2848>. Other enterprises are featured in a film, Urban Roots<click here>, When Everything Collapses, Plant Your[image: detroit urban ag 2]<click here> Field of Dreams, like Earthworks Urban Farm <http://www.cskdetroit.org/EWG/>, Field of Our Dreams <http://fieldofourdreams.ning.com/>, a mobile market "bringing fresh produce at the best possible prices to the neighborhood. Others are Georgia Street Community Collective<http://www.georgiastreetcc.com/>, The Detroit Food Policy Council <http://www.detroitfoodpolicycouncil.net/>, and the controversial Hantz Farms <http://www.hantzfarmsdetroit.com/> that some in the city think of as a "land grab" are all pieces of the quilt of urban agriculture that is transforming Detroit.
*Food businesses, universities, and institutions like Eli Tea<http://www.elitea.co/>, Avalon International Breads <http://www.avalonbreads.net/> (a place Mark Bittman of the New York Times calls the unofficial meeting place for the Detroit food movement), Motor City Brewing Works<http://www.motorcitybeer.com/>, Detroit Eastern Market <http://www.detroiteasternmarket.com/>, Seed Wayne <http://www.clas.wayne.edu/seedwayne/> at Wayne State University that works in partnership with [image: more brewery]<click here>[image: Bread]<click here> community-based organizations promoting access to healthy foods, urban agriculture, farm-to-institution, and food planning and policy development, Earthworks Urban Farm <http://www.cskdetroit.org/EWG/about_us/contact_us>, a program of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, and the Catherine Ferguson Academy (CFA) is a charter-operated <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_school> high school in Detroit for pregnant girls and teen mothers. The school has an urban farm<http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Qwied0hUX8A in its backyard, and provides day care and pre-school education for the students' children, The school was almost shut down <http://detroitfunk.com/?p=5235>as a result of cut backs by the emergency manager but has re-emerged as a charter school <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KB063-UQxc>. These institutions and businesses support the burgeoning urban farm enterprises. There are also a few farm-to-table restaurants that are springing up in Detroit and the surrounding area.*
Regardless of the conditions of a city like Detroit (including the fact that corporations have abandoned it) creates a tremendous amount of opportunity for those who want to plant their own food and build their own homes. Is there opportunity in the face of the constraints and does Permaculture have answers to the issue of food deserts and crumbling infrastructure?
Permaculture as a method for dealing with Detroit's "Long Emergency" seems like an oxymoron. But much like Hardwick, food is the glue that may hold the city's true renaissance together.
In the worst scenario, America is becoming Detroit. In the most optimistic sense, both Detroit and Hardwick are examples of the impulse to engage in the development of a sustainable, resilient, self-reliant community whether urban or rural. Bringing the ethics and principles of Permaculture design and regenerative systems into the classroom, the council chambers, and the boardroom can accelerate the recovery.
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