What is Urban Agriculture - a discussion with practitioners.
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- November is Urban Agriculture Month and here at the Permaculture Education Institute we are celebrating the beautiful array of urban agriculture and the potential this brings to living a one-planet life, creating resilience and robustness, addressing social justice, growing new livelihood opportunities, nurturing nutritious urban gardens for community wellbeing, transitioning our cities, and sharing stories of what is possible.
The first of our urban agriculture series is this panel conversation with three Churchill Fellows focussing on Urban Agriculture in different ways - Dr Nick Rose, Gavin Hardy and Fiona Buining. We will host another masterclass at the end of November about community gardens and city farms, and each Wednesday during November, we will share a new podcast conversation as part of our special Urban Agriculture series. (check out the Institute site and the Urban Agriculture month events page for updates)
ABOUT THE MASTERCLASS SPEAKERS
Dr Nick Rose
Nick is a passionate advocate for food sovereignty and sustainable food systems in Australia, a 2013 Churchill Fellow investigating innovative models of urban and community agriculture in Argentina and USA, author, and founder & Executive Director of Sustain - the initiator and host organisation for Urban Agriculture month. Nick is the editor of Fair Food: Stories From a Movement Changing The World (2015) and the co-editor of Reclaiming The Urban Commons: The Past, Present and Future of Food Growing in Australian Towns And Cities (2018) which I contributed a chapter about citizen design in community food spaces. Nick is also a lecturer in food systems, food policy and governance and food movements for William Angliss Institute in their Bachelor of Food Studies and Master of Food Systems and Gastronomy.
Nick is dedicated to working with communities, institutions, enterprises and organisations around Australia to co-create a vision and a practice of fair food systems. These are systems that are democratically and collaboratively developed, and that prioritise human health and well-being, and eco-system integrity. These are systems in which the economy is consciously designed to serve people and the environment, not the other way round.
Gavin Hardy
Gavin will be joining us from Italy, still on his Churchill Fellowship journey exploring the potential of community food forests and orchards. For 25 years Gav has been creating, teaching and writing in the areas of permaculture, environmental design and ecological sustainability, particularly in subtropical Australia. He created Eco-flat Brisbane, a remarkable example of urban subtropical permaculture and his family’s home, and is a founder of - and regular contributor to - Northey Street City Farm. This is where Gav and I began working together, when the city farm was still largely an open paddock! Gav has planned, designed and built numerous sustainable landscapes in Brisbane and beyond. He is also the Queensland coordinator of Community Gardens Australia.
Fiona Buining
Fiona Louise Buining is passionate about growing plants, especially food plants, and is inspired to create pathways for future food growers in urban areas. She has grown vegetables wherever she has lived. Working with teenagers as a teacher she has seen first-hand the physical and mental health benefits of learning to grow food. As a grower she has observed an unmet demand for locally grown fresh food. Her question was: how do you become an urban grower in Australia? Fiona was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2020 to investigate urban farm ventures that provide vocational pathways for aspiring food growers. Fiona believes that growing good food is one of the most positive actions people can do for their own health and to heal the planet.
Fiona taught Permaculture Design Courses with David Holmgren for many years. She managed the Merici College Kitchen Garden from 2012-2019, a teaching garden that grows seasonal vegetables using organic growing methods to supply the school canteen and restaurant and she now runs Ainslie Urban Farm where she grows microgreens for local restaurants and cafes and seasonal vegetable seedlings. Fiona’s property has over 50 fruit trees, nuts, berries, vegetables, two beehives, chickens and working rabbits.
I had a similar experience with brimbank council. I asked if I could use our 400 sqm nature strip and plant some edible trees. Olives, citrus, apricot.... even jus6 one or two. I was told they would be removed and ne fined for a reason I don't recall
We live in a court and no one uses the strip except us to park. So the garden and or trees would bot harm anyone there. And I know our neighbours would all be happy to have the trees. Go figure.
Just do it anyway. If they ask if you did it just say you don't know who planted them. Hopefully by the time they find out they are there if they ever even do they will be too big to remove. You can always plant spiky cactus or agave around them so they can't get to the fruit trees. Don't let the nay sayers hold you back from making the world a better and more beautiful and abundant place. Good luck and God speed!
One thing we could do to transform the world in 5 years is for everyone to plant just one fruit tree or bush. If only 5% of people did this no one would be without food.
👋, how are you doing today; how’s everything going; hope it was a blessed day for you Emily?
But don't stop at one. Be a tree planting nutter!
Perhaps planting for compost fodder would be allowed. And it would mean I could use more of my garden for edibles as the compost crops could be on council land.
Hello Morag,