Monday, July 20, 2009

Gay Farm Tour 2009 has begun!

Shooting has started! Today I met up with Owen Taylor of Just Food and Bilen Berhanu of Greenthumb NYC at Walt L. Shamel community garden in Crown Heights, Brooklyn where Owen helped build a chicken coop and has a plot. Just Food is an NYC non-profit that is working toward creating sustainable food systems through support to regional, rural family farms, NYC community gardeners and farmers and NYC communities. Greenthumb provides assistance and education to NYC's community gardeners as it oversees over 600 gardens throughout the city.


 We relaxed in the garden and talked about urban farming, and what it means to be a queer urban farmer. Are these identities isolated? Where do they intersect, and how? 

                                                             
Beautiful basil!

    
      Delicious onions on their way...



Owen is Just Food's training and livestock coordinator and does a lot of work helping community gardens like Walt L. Shamel build coops and raise chickens. The community gardeners take turns on a rotating basis caring for the birds and get to share in the egg bounty. 




Owen helps to coordinate the City Chicken project, which Just Food is working on with other community groups. As part of this project, Owen started a meetup.com group of backyard and community gardeners/farmers that now has almost 200 members. Thats a whole lot of urban farmers!



These ladies looked happy and healthy as can be. 


                 Almost ripe peaches in Brooklyn.



A new 1,000 gallon rainwater catchment tank that is catching rainwater off of the building next to the garden. It will be used for watering food crops. 

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