Tagged Community

Ben Ripple Big Tree Farm Bali
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Sustainable Farming in Bali | Ben Ripple of Big Tree Farms

On the forefront of developing sustainable, community enhancing food systems in Bali, Indonesia Expats Ben and Blair Ripple left their organic farming jobs in Washington and moved to Bali, Indonesia, in the late 90s. Since then, they’ve been become somewhat famous in their efforts to bring artisinal Indonesian products to a larger market and to establish and…

The Incredible Edible Todmorden

What would it take to create food security for an entire community?  This was the question that Pam Warhurst and Mary Clear sought to answer when conceiving ways in which they could make their hometown of Todmorden in Yorkshire, a self sustaining township.  Their goals were big—to transform a wasteful and disconnected food culture into…
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Daily Bread: Doing Business and Doing Good

JP and Michelle MacFadyen are dedicated to sustainable practices in their restaurant and to sharing the bounty of their bakery with others through local food donations to feed the hungry. By now we’re all familiar with the locavore ideal: buy food from local producers, family farms and businesses. In the pursuit of this ideal, sometimes…
sustainable restaurants
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How Green is Your Favorite Restaurant?

Sometimes sustainability is equated with upscale restaurants that specifically market their local and sustainable credentials. But what about your favorite pizza joint, or the place where you pick up a quick salad on the way home from work, or the bakery that supplies your daily bread? To really make a difference, sustainability has to take…

The GrowHaus Urban Farm Oasis

Bringing food back to Denver neighborhoods marked by the EPA as hazardous waste areas. In just two years, The GrowHaus, a 20,000-square-foot Denver greenhouse and education space, has become a veritable food oasis. Based in Elyria-Swansea, a neighborhood with Superfund designation and few healthy food options, The GrowHaus is providing fresh, local, affordable produce to…
Detroit: Creating Oases in a Food Desert

Detroit: Creating Oases In A Food Desert

Home to Henry Ford’s assembly line, Detroit was once affectionately referred to as Motor City—the epicenter of American car production.  With the recent collapse in the American automobile industry and overall economic recession that has ravaged the United States over the past four years, over a fifth of Detroit households do not even own a…

Guerrilla Grafters

Urban landscape grows fruitful—literally—thanks to Guerrilla Grafters In San Francisco, it happens to be illegal to have fruit trees along sidewalks. Fallen fruit is considered a public health hazard, liable to get squashed, trampled and slipped on as well as attracting rats and other vermin. Which means that Guerrilla Grafters aren’t just posing as rogue…
Variety of produce.
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How To Create A Hyper-Local Foodshed

Can you and your neighbors produce a complete diet for the community from your own home gardens?  Own Dell believes so, and gives his tips for defining, organizing and creating your own hyper-local foodshed. Situated on some of the most fertile land, many suburbs have a legacy of once being extensive orchards or acres of…
Starting A Free Communal Food Exchange In Your Neighborhood

Starting A Free Communal Food Exchange In Your Neighborhood

Owen Dell talks about his experience starting a free neighborhood food exchange and working toward food security through converting ornamental suburban landscaping to edible ones. Owen Dell is a sustainable landscape architect and advocate of edible landscaping in suburbia.  In my interview with Owen, he describes how a free food exchange that he and a…

Santa Barbara Food Not Lawns

Community food exchange fosters a resilient hyper-local foodshed. Many home gardeners find that they grow more produce than they can eat.   Residents in Santa Barbara have found an alternative to using this surplus as mere composting material—they’ve decided to pool their suburban harvests to create a free community food exchange. Santa Barbara Food Not Lawns…

ECO City Farms

Eco City Farms not only brings food back to the urban landscape of Maryland, but also works to educate a new generation about eating well and urban farming.