Hannah's Blog

Seen this article from the NYT? A Milwaukee farmer just got a Macarthur “genius grant.” The full list of winners is here. So many of them are so young! I guess geniuses start early, huh?

Anyway, I thought that what Growing Power is doing is really interesting. Will Allen, the founder, runs a two-acre farm in Milwaukee–and I mean in the city, not Round Rock or something. It’s become something of a magnet for the community and has expanded to fill other neighborhood needs (dare I call this “community organizing”?). Allen says he wants to transform Growing Power HQ into a completely self-sufficient, off the grid, five story building. I know he probably envisions this as a community center and office-type place, but I love the idea of a tall, indoor farm, a giant greenhouse in the middle of Midwestern urban sprawl.

Last year, I belonged to a CSA called Johnson’s Backyard Garden. I paid up front for ten weeks’ supply of vegetables, and every Saturday I picked them up from a random person’s garage. It was a ludicrous amount of food for one person–there were weeks when all I ate was collard greens and pattypan squash–but I loved that I was supporting Austin’s agricultural community, and that my food only traveled a few miles from field to plate. Yeah, I was a little turned off by the worms in the broccoli, and I don’t think I could eliminate bananas and mangoes from my diet in the name of “greenness,” but hey! At least I tried it. And it was cheap.

So I encourage any of you who are interested in food (come on, who isn’t?) to check out Austin-area farms. Represent your neighborhoods, keep Austin weird, buy local, etc., etc. Remember that what you buy can have a greater significance than just exchanging bills with your local HEB cashier.