Breaking Through Concrete: Building an Urban Farm Revival

People have always grown food in urban spaces -- on windowsills and sidewalks, and in backyards and neighborhood parks -- but today, urban farmers are leading an environmental and social movement that transforms our national food system. To explore this agricultural renaissance, brothers David and Michael Hanson and urban farmer Edwin Marty document twelve successful urban farm programs, from an alternative school for girls in Detroit, to a backyard food swap in New Orleans, to a restaurant supply garden on a rooftop in Brooklyn. Each beautifully illustrated essay offers practical advice for budding farmers, such as composting and keeping livestock in the city, decontaminating toxic soil, even changing zoning laws.

Join us at The Ecology Center for a visual presentation and discussion on food. David and Michael Hanson will guide an international scenic tour, illustrating how people connect to food via images they've collected from years of travel and documentary assignments: Fiji's remote island fishing villages, Bolivia's high-desert quinoa farmers, America's Deep South hunters and gathers, and more. Then they'll discuss what they discovered during their two-month cross-country tour of America's urban farms. Nothing says more about us than our food - You are what you eat!