A tour of MIUFI (Michigian Urban Farming Initiative) and interview with its manager - Quan Blunt - Matt and I had an amazing time seeing the revitalized urban farm! ---Links & Creds--- www.miufi.org/
Detroit is becoming an incredible place. I stopped thinking of Detroit in a negative way because all the gardens and farming going on there. It’s a bright future and the food is not only nutritious, it is healing the body and spirit. Keep going and keep agriculture organic and in small fields and gardens so that the government doesn’t mess it up.
I always wonder why there are food deserts at all in cities (like Detroit) were hundreds of acres of land are only overgrown with weeds. It looks more like lack of knowledge of people to grow there own vegetables.
@@frankpost4992 why is there a lack of knowledge? Who decided to remove the farms, gardens and fruit and nut trees from the landscape? There are policies and economic forces that are responsible.
Lol yes just blame it on everyone else for the incompetence of black Americans to be self sufficient... Did anyone pull a gun to every Detroiters head and tell them not to grow their own produce? What a joke. I live next to a black woman. I never see her fat ass ever touching her lawn. Her husband is the only one who at least attempts to do something. She just pranced around bitching. Meanwhile, my 6 month old pregnant wife is busting her ass doing garden work. Maybe stop gang banging in your communities and become resourceful... Especially black women. From another minority. By the way this urban farming initiative was founded by a white dude. The blacks there don't know they're living...
So true. Access to real food should be for everyone. Great to see what's happening in the city of Detroit...there's too much bad press about that city.
I'm from Detroit, Indian Village to be precise. 20 years ago I went to the Arcosanti project in Arizona, and my family figured I had gone insane and joined a cult. After Arcosanti I worked at the Ecosa Institute in Prescott, Arizona, where I helped run permaculture design programs in a project called the Eco-Hood, run by Andrew Millison. It's great to see the work showing up in Detroit, and spreading fast. The next generation will grow up thinking of detroit as an urban farm community, and they will take it to the next level. GREAT WORK! Tell Belle Isle I said Hi.
Detroit deserves way better but this is modern day pulling oneself up by their boot straps like we heard about during the depression years in the 20th century. It’s a start baby steps if you will and those working and receiving home grown food should be proud and thankful. Retired old fart in Omaha Nebraska salutes you!
There is nothing new under the sun. Pulling oneself up by their bootstraps is as old as mankind. Industrialization and globalization has merely made people forget how to do it. It's people like this young man, and others, that will be the force that brings us all back to our more sustainable roots. Grow your own, buy local, love your neighbor.
this is amazing!! there should be an urban farm in every city & every town. just think of the impact it could make now, when we are staring recession in the face.
This is wonderful and an inspiration. It struck me when you said the food was free. Perhaps people could exchange work for the produce they get instead of having volunteers do the work on the farm. (The able bodied recipients could deliver produce and flowers to the elderly and handicapped.) This will preserve the recipients' dignity by not getting handouts. It may even lead to gainful employment. An added bonus would be being out in the sunshine in a beautiful environment--food for their souls in addition to food for their bellies.
Everyone can start with a planter on the porch. Grow basil, green onions, leaf lettuce. If you have more space use it. Put in edible landscaping all over. Fruit trees and bushes, lots of veg is ornamental - eggplants are beautiful as are many herbs and other plants. You don't have to grow all your own fruit and veg. But do some of it and learn. Imagine if people all had a few plants and shrubs providing fresh food!
Awesome! I'd like to offer one suggestion. After studying many urban farms, I've noticed something disturbing. Most of the farms I've seen, become like an exclusive club for the rich elites (intellectual snobs). They're exclusive instead of inclusive to the community, so these farms eventually become targets for crime and vandalism. So, please make sure that you serve the poor first and always put them first, before the rich.
Have they had issues with soil contamination? I know certain parts of Detroit have to be careful where they plant due to pollution. Also if/when they do have that issue.....What do they do to rectify it? Where I live in Detroit...I haven't seen any gardens like that and it makes me wonder if it's because the soil isn't safe? But I do see homeless daily and nothing in the area to help residents. There aren't any close grocery stores and a lot of people that are older have a hard time getting food in general.
Raised beds can alleviate the bad soil issues. Lead for instance is pretty difficult to remove. Forever chemicals near old industrial buildings would be a serious issue. Hopefully folks who start these projects know about the potential for nasty pollutants in old abused soils.
It is much easier to farm in an urban area than a suburban or rural area. The wild animals will destroy everything you work on, including the trees you are planting. It takes a lot of time to learn how to work with nature and live with wild animals.
Why no big field of potatoes? With just a small 1 acre plot of potatoes you get 10 tons of potatoes (professional farmers get up to 30 tons) with little effort. That's enough to keep a small neighborhood in fries the whole year round. Nobody needs to go hungry with a little effort.
If you own land in Detroit in the land next door to you is vacant you can buy it for $100 real estate is very cheap in Detroit, big chunks of the city are empty lots