urban farming

This project has got me thinking. Its not that its a new idea or incredibly articulated, but its nice to see a project like this shown at a conference for architects...I'll explain:

The project is for a factory in South Africa that includes housing for workers. But thought has gone into the design of the housing and the land use. There is land set aside for families to farm themselves, or to rent out, as well as larger areas for farming, where large amounts of food can be produced. Calculations are done as to how much water is produced from the housing, and this is enough to support the entire farm - giving a clear advantage in a hot dry climate. Not that this is rocket science, but man if its so simple why the heck aren't people doing it more????

It got me to thinking about my life here. Granted, there isn't an emergency in food shortage or anything, but I think there could be in the future. And there is a shortage of organic, healthy food, and of beautiful surroundings, and a sense of community. All these things are as urgent as food shortage I think. This all got me onto the topic of Urban Farming. Something I have been in to for a while, but I think I need to seriously start thinking and learning about it. So, blog readers, be prepared.

There is an organization in the USA that does urban farming, and provides food for low income families. There are a couple very small community gardens in Calgary...but to be honest they are very small in scale compared to the amount of wasted land within the city limits, and to how much food could be produced... more on this later...