Old McDonald Travels to the City

My practicum is located at the Last Resort Farm located in Linden, Virginia. It’s a small organic farm where my mentor implements permaculture techniques into his gardens and around his home. My mentor holds strong views for the promotion of permaculture and organic farming, but he is also very adamant about teaching our youth where our food comes from and how to grow it themselves.

Last week he took me on a field trip to see a local farm that specifically grows food for homeless shelters and offers educational demonstrations for anyone who is interested. One thing that really caught my eye while I was there was a binder full of photos that showed the different families who volunteer at the farm. There’s only one man who gets paid to run the farm so volunteers are very important to the success of the farm. Most of the pictures were of small children aging from 3 years to 18 years old.

Living in a suburban area I can vouch for the lack of education on farming. This practicum experience has taught me almost all my knowledge about growing food. At home I have only grown tomatoes in a large pot off of the back of my deck. I don’t have enough flat land or unshaded areas around my house to grow a small garden, and even if I did, deer would eat all of it if I didn’t build a fence around it.

I’m interested in pursuing a master’s degree in urban planning and design. I would like to build small demonstration gardens or community gardens in order to teach urban dwelling kids about how to grow their own food. I think this is an important skill to learn because we need food to live and may not always be so fortunate to rely on others to grow our food for us. This is especially so due to the droughts in California where farmers are having a difficult time providing for their own families. If we can get our youth involved in gardening then they will obtain new skills, have fun, and it will provide a quality time activity for families. I hope that small gardens, as the ones I plan to build, will help bridge the gap between people and food.