urban farming in Detroit (how much, neighborhoods, zoning)

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

I thought this was pretty cool:

Will Detroit Become a Showcase for Urban Farming?


Does anyone have firsthand knowledge about this? Has anyone seen whats goin on?

[Coldjensens]

There are several threads discussing this at length. Maybe someone better at operating CD features will post links to them.

[animatedmartian]

The most accurate and in-depth reporting (that I've seen) has been from Aljazeera. Got a half hour to watch a mini-documentary?


earthrise - Series three, episode seven - YouTube

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

Thank you! Yes, I will watch.

Finished watching...That was pretty amazing. Thanks for the link/information.

I didn't get the date on that. Has it been a year? Did the guy go back for a fish fry??

[danwilsonbsee]

I looked into harvesting rape seed when oil first spiked 7 or 8 years ago. Zoning restrictions among other numerous issues prevented me from doing it. In retrospect I'm happy I didn't invest in it so I could follow my actual job out of state. Regardless, there are so many open spaces it just makes sense to use the land for something other than illegal dumping.

[zthatzmanz28]

I see lots of corner lots and yards that are growing mostly small plants like tomatoes and peppers. There are lots of sunflowers as well.
I did see one space that was may be 3-4 lots that had corn and other crops.

[Retroit]

Wait until the plow gets caught up by a slab of concrete!

It will take quite a bit of work to do to get these tracts ready for commercial farming. Field stones and tree stumps will seem like a blessing!

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

I have done my share of vegetable gardening. To have a good garden requires hard work over a long period of time. Unfortunately, too many people in the United States don't want to do manual labor.
How much of the vacant land in Detroit is considered contaminated and thus off-limits to urban farming?

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by Mouldy Old Schmo

I have done my share of vegetable gardening. To have a good garden requires hard work over a long period of time. Unfortunately, too many people in the United States don't want to do manual labor.
How much of the vacant land in Detroit is considered contaminated and thus off-limits to urban farming?

Not much. Most of the land was housing and stores. Even the industrial properties are not all polluted. Some are, some are not. Just avoid the polluted places. There really are not that many.

[detwahDJ]

Originally Posted by Mouldy Old Schmo

I have done my share of vegetable gardening. To have a good garden requires hard work over a long period of time. Unfortunately, too many people in the United States don't want to do manual labor.
How much of the vacant land in Detroit is considered contaminated and thus off-limits to urban farming?

The majority of Detroit has always been just neighborhoods. It should be easy to determine if an area or parcel was previously industrial, but that is not most of the city.