Elizabeth Royte at the NY Times has an amazingly charming write-up of Will Allen, the head of Growing Power farm in Milwaukee, WI.
Through his farm and community outreach, Will Allen is spreading the word on how much fun you can have growing your own food.
Some choice quotes:
“We’re growing in 25,000 pots,” he said. Ducking his 6-foot-7 frame under one of them, he pussyfooted down a leaf-crammed aisle. “We grow a thousand trays of sprouts a week; every square foot brings in $30.” He headed toward the in-ground fish tanks stocked with tens of thousands of tilapia and perch. Pumps send the dirty fish water up into beds of watercress, which filter pollutants and trickle the cleaner water back down to the fish — a symbiotic system called aquaponics. The watercress sells for $16 a pound; the fish fetch $6 apiece.”
“We’ve got to change the system so everyone has safe, equitable access to healthy food.”
“Not everyone can grow food,” Allen acknowledged. But he offers other ways of engaging with the soil: “You bring 30 people out here, bring the kids and give them good food,” he said, “and picking up those rocks is a community event.”
“This nondogmatic approach may be one of Allen’s most appealing qualities. His essential view is that people do the best they can: if they don’t have any better food choices than KFC, well, O.K. But let’s work on changing that.”
Awesome. I can’t wait to meet him.
Will Allen – Agrariana Superstar @ nytimes.com
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