Urban farmers
Posted 18 November 2009 // Kerryn Pollock
A haven for urban farmers – The Stricklaw Street community garden in Christchurch
Over the past few years or so I’ve noticed that urban people have become more interested in growing their own food than in the recent past. Vegetable and herb gardens, and to a lesser extent small fruit orchards, are cropping up in suburban sections again, and on council reserves and even city streets.
Personal food production is not new in New Zealand – in the past people had to grow their own food or perish. Traditional Māori communities spent a lot of time growing food, mainly introduced plants like kūmara (sweet potato) and later potatoes. Food production was a do-or-die task for early European settlers.
The vegetable plot became a typical feature of the suburban backyard. It’s part of the quarter-acre section romance. Most families were self-sufficient in this way until the 1950s. After this, increased use of pesticides and fertilisers by market gardens meant that it was cheaper and easier to buy produce than grow it yourself. Sections became smaller and busy urbanites were less inclined to maintain them. Have a look at Te Ara’s Gardens entry if you want more history.
What has changed? The rise of the contemporary urban farmer is part of wider interest in issues of environmental sustainability in the 2000s. People are starting to think about how they, as individuals and community members, can work towards feeding themselves rather than relying on national and international food distribution chains. Some are also pursuing an organic lifestyle free of pesticides.
Though commercially grown produce is plentiful and relatively cheap, increasing prices have pushed people back to the vegetable plot. Even apartment dwellers are cultivating tomatoes and lettuces in boxes on balconies. Councils have set aside land for community gardens. In Wellington, olive trees line the streets of inner-city Mt Victoria, and the olives are harvested for oil. At the moment there’s a petition on the Wellington City Council’s website asking the council to plant more food-bearing trees on reserves and roadsides. Many schools, urban as well as rural, have vegetable gardens cultivated by the kids.
It will be interesting to see whether the interest in urban food production is sustained – it is fad, fashion, or are urbanites in it for the long haul?
Not just urban gardens but also urban hunting and gathering - well gathering at any rate. Heard these guys on the radio not so long ago - they’ve set up an Edible Wellington map. You can still hear the interview on RNZ (http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/thiswayup/20090905)
and the map is http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=113590851064152193524.0004641b2f15ae7f5a829
Hey, you forgot the most enjoyable reason for growing your own - it tastes better! What have they done to tomatoes to make them so flavour-free? And strawberries… the last lot I bought were almost leathery, and the taste so dull we lost interest in eating them. Grow your own! Even in Wellington it can be done.
You are quite right Megan, though I imagine that’s a more enduring reason for growing your own than the ones cited above, which (for most people) are more recent trends. There’s also the simple pleasure involved in watching something grow, thrive and produce, especially when grown from seed. I’ve enjoyed introducing my 2 year old to the wonders of life by sowing seeds.
Thanks for that link Mel - perhaps an alternative christmas party idea?!
I’m with Megan - I for one am mostly motivated by taste, and by the ability to grow stuff that’s not that readily available in the shops. I also really enjoy the look of a vegetable plot bursting with coloured lettuces and bean and pea plants, or a plum tree in bloom. Not to mention ripening strawberries…
I’ve noticed the trend too. Go into any gardening centre and you’ll find a whole host of new composting and propagating products for this growing market.
We joined in a couple of years ago at our place with a new glasshouse.
I’d love to say it’s been a cost saving venture. But Wellington gales have regularly blown out several panes. We’re now onto super reinforced glass!
The tomatoes have been expensive but there’s nothing like the convenience of just stepping out of your kitchen for fresh food, the pleasure of growing your own and, as Megan says, the taste!