I haven’t posted for quite some time.

Thanfully because I have been busy – up to something here and there.  Although why couldn’t there be so much more?  Time in day?  Income?

Commemorating those that have stuck through the worst near Altgeld and Sawyer.  Hoping that green space, a community farm, is something to give back – to help participate in creating the farm, around the corner from where I was born and raised.

Sawyer Coop?

Now Sawyer 3000 Farm?

Humboldt/Logan Chicken Co-op?

Humboldt Blvd. Farm?

4611 Home Farm?

Erica’s Farm?

Curie Farms?

Drawlz’ Farm?

Your farm?

Need to order garlic seed.

Build bold frames, too.

My friends from the farm in California told me that folks put cardboard down on lawns and cover it with manure and compost and grow potatoes in that.  Not only do you get some great potatoes, but you take out the grass, too!

I think that it is time to say this:

Lawns are wasted space.  Mind you, lawns used for parties and picnics, those that have a functional purpose are like parks or community gardens, they are sacred space in the urban context.  But so many lawns simply exist to waste water on very little habitat, hardly any native habitat, and are under-utilized in any positive way.  Even just the simple conversion of a lawn into a prairie garden, with a good variety of grasses and wild flowers would cause some sort of balance shift.

And that’ll be next spring, i guess.

Right now there are 20-40 people getting ready to work in community run, Neighbor-Space owned gardens in Humboldt Park. Each will have adequate space to grow enough veggies for themselves, but probably not enough room for much else. Some, the Harold Washington Victory Garden and the Our Block Community Farm at Potomac and Washtenaw, have contiguous space that could be farmed. Through intensive gardening practices, this land could be quite productive, either over the long term, such as with perennial herbs and fruit trees, or in using quicker growing crops like lettuce greens, spinach or peas, for the greens.

Humboldt Park seems a hot bed full of ambitious gardeners and community activists. We’ve declared that growing ones’ own food is a political act, and a democratic right. Lifting our voices and our shovels, it’s time soon, to get up to our knees in it.

Community gardens and their exploration is a great opportunity to walk around different neighborhoods, to get information out about urban agriculture, and most importantly for people to see how many of us are out there.  We know never to underestimate the power of a full room and a full belly, or a whole lot of gardening going on.

3/14

Today I cut down a tree. Worked over at Karen’s place. We planted seeds with Una for the first time. Peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, flowers and greens. It was quite sunny and warm today, pleasant for a day as an urban farmer. Welcome to Urban Infarmation. My name is Noah Stein and I’m an urban farmer, cultivating land, minds, neighborhoods, people, spaces.  Making Big plans, failing.  Making smaller plans failing.  Making medium plans success, not making any plans more success, more failure. Practicing this craft is a challenge; practicing this craft in the city is revolutionary. Farming is no doubt an art, and it is beyond question that I am in dire need of practice. I am driven to do it, and today was just another day of practice.