Monday, December 6, 2010
Enviro 13 facts about Wheat Street Gardens, the Old Fourth Ward's bold experiment in urban farming
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Mon, Dec 6, 2010 at 9:11 AM
The garden, a long-time vision of community leaders and Rashid Nuri, the Harvard-educated, quick-witted urban farmer who wants to feed and educate people through sustainable urban agriculture, officially broke ground yesterday with a well-attended ceremony at the massive vacant lot at Wheat and Hilliard streets.
Because it's way too early to endure an inverted pyramid rehash of events, we present a rundown of factoids about the project — that Nuri says really needs your help — after the jump.
* People care about this project, which Nuri is launching with the help of his team at Truly Living Well, the urban farm network and educational outfit he founded to make fresh fruits and vegetables more accessible. An estimated 200 men, women and children from all walks of life braved the cold to mark the occasion. When CL posted the news, it was retweeted, liked, poked, upped and cheered far and wide.
* Nuri plans to plant such cold weather crops as garlic and onions within the coming weeks. In January, he and other farmers will add cabbage, broccoli and collards to the mix. On the eastern hill he'll plant beans. Come February, Nuri says, visitors should expect a full-fledged organic farm where residents and restaurants can purchase all kinds of fruit and vegetables, straight from the ground.
* Once operational, the garden will be fourth urban farm that Nuri will have launched in the region.
* The property will be filled with nearly 100 fruit trees donated by a local nonprofit. Nuri hopes to snag more for the property.
* According to preachers who blessed the garden yesterday, God understands if you choose not to remove your hat during prayer on a cold day.
* Local restaurants, including Restaurant Eugene, have already expressed interest in purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables from the garden for dishes.
* Nuri's son, who's currently attending college in Washington, D.C., hopped on a plane Sunday morning to help his father celebrate the groundbreaking.
* Wheat Street Gardens, the former public housing project that once stood where the garden will be built, was a pilot site for the federal government's Section 8 program. Wheat Street Baptist Church owns the land, which Nuri will lease.
* Councilman Kwanza Hall, who represents the district, spent time as a child at the low-income housing project. His father, the youngest member of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s staff, often brought him there as a young boy to visit the civil rights icon's bodyguard.
* Nuri envisions the project, made possible in part by the Arthur Blank Family Foundation, Wheat Street Baptist Church, and the Environmental Protection Agency, as ultimately becoming a self-sustaining economic engine. Money donated will build infrastructure, he says, which will then support revenue-generating operations. He thinks there's enough land in metro Atlanta to create similar farms that could provide every man, woman and child with fresh fruits and vegetables.
* For several years, Old Fourth Ward leaders and activists have wanted to build a community garden. Marie Cowser, a longtime O4W advocate who recently died, was a vocal champion. Some years ago, Hall said, a proposal for a plot of land no larger than an eighth of an acre fell through. When Wheat Street Garden apartments were demolished, the idea was revisited. Nuri says the Atlanta Development Authority introduced him to the land. Now they're sitting on four acres just blocks from downtown's skyscrapers.
* Not all the crops will be planted in the ground. Because of environmental concerns and the cost of tearing up concrete, raised planting beds will be used for some fruits and vegetables.
* Nuri and his team need help. In addition to volunteers and subscribers to TLW's CSA program, Nuri needs: help with an irrigation system, trucks, wood chipper, picnic tables, a gazebo and sinks to clean fruits and vegetables. He'd also love to work with an experienced beekeeper who can wrangle some hives to help pollinate the crops. Most importantly, he needs cash — roughly $250,000 — to convert the entire four acres into the crop-filled gem he imagines. "We got started," Nuri said. "And now we need help to get this further." For information on how to donate or volunteer, visit TLW's website.
Comments (5)
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I trust Nuri has had the soil tested for lead, and will publish the lead count.
I am not concerned about leachings from the old nearby hazmat site of the old Scripto Factory, but any leaf crop like cabbage grown on an in-town site as old as this area - harkening back to days of close-by automobile traffic belching high-lead exhaust - needs to have its soil tested.
Once the soil has been cleared, we can then only hope and pray that Wheat Street Baptist will donate the land to the City as a park and be far-sighted and community-oriented, and not redevelop it into dense mixed-use as did their near-neighboring brethern (sp) did with the block down Auburn for perceived profit.
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Don't forget old lead paint scraped off buildings--way worse than leaded fuel pollution. This would be a great time for the UGA Extension Service to advertise their soil testing program.
I have a 2000 sq ft garden and keep wondering what this guy needs $250k for. Free land, free plants, and most likely free labor.
What is the money for?
I could pickup a tractor for a few grand that would till the crap out of 4 acres with the quickness. Or just pay someone a couple hundred bucks to do it.
Sounds like a 'show' garden instead of a productive one. Raised beds are going to lose water, building those raised beds are going to cost money. And that soil is going to need some serious freaking amending. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a lovely idea, but there's better ways to use soil, water, and money than what is being proposed here.
Lest people forget, Atlanta has over 100 community gardens that could use all sorts of supplies, grants, and volunteers as well. They will, however, *not* be selling the food for profit but rather using it to directly feed their families, and through the Atlanta Community Food Bank, feed the homeless.
You can grow on top of contaminated soil by placing a barrier (landscape fabric, wood chips etc.) between it and the new soil. This is a common practice. Raised beds do not lose water, if made properly and mulched, they keep the soil and roots cooler than field plants. I have use them for almost 20 years and even through the droughts, watering 50% less.
Wheat Street is going to be an education center not just a field to grow crops, and don't forget all farms are subsided by any combination of local, state and federal governments and some by corporations and foundations.
Yeah, raised beds built like that are going to require water-retaining soils, which cost a lot of money to ship in - especially in that quantity. Those soils can definitely hold more water than what is in the ground. However, it's hardly a reasonable solution to the food deserts, as is implied. In fact, it doesn't even address it at all.
Unless the education center focuses on the importance of beans or Georgia peanuts as a cheap form of protein, it's worthless. I'm tired of all the impractical greenwashing when people are going hungry. #$*&ing organic crusaders - it's NOT the answer to the hunger problem. Or do all you mofos think the poor can afford to spend $25 on a small bag of carcass-based fertilizer from Farmer D?
Sorry o'neill, I don't know you or your food politics - just had to get that off my chest.
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