Wikipedia describes urban gardening [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_agriculture] as the practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in, or around (peri-urban), a village, town or city (Bailkey, M. and J. Nasr. 2000. From Brownfields to Greenfields: Producing Food in North American Cities. Community Food Security News. Fall 1999/Winter 2000:6). Urban agriculture in addition can also involve animal husbandry, aquaculture agro-forestry and horticulture. These activities also occur in peri-urban areas as well.
URBAN HOMESTEADING
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_homesteading] A lot of people are worried about the human race's impact on the environment and ethical living, when it comes to topics like global heating, organic food, and sustainable development.
The approach to urban homesteading depends on what people are looking to gain from it: Urban Homesteaders can raise chickens[4], they can grow and subsequently can their own foods for consumption in winter[5], enjoy a closer relationship with nature[6], are enjoying organic food, and are saving money in the process[7], all while living in inner-city areas all over the world.
In addition to saving money and arguably enabling people to eat cheaper, healthier food whilst having a lower impact on the planet, Urban Homesteading has a community element to it too; the New York Times found that urban homesteading events attract people from far and wide: everything from tomato-canning, jam making and pumpkin-processing to pig-butchering, sausage-making and home-made wine production - all raised and grown on people's own ground in the cities.[8]
Initially, my desire to grow food in our small space originated in past struggles to feed my children. More recently, our family's reduced income has made cheap living even more critical. I am determined that our family won't go hungry again and pray that our neighbors may benefit from our example.
Why am I boring you with all this information?
This page will now serve as my forum for urban homesteading newbies like me. Please excuse the dust as I rework my posts to reach to others of all races and backgrounds but especially African American in their twenties, thirties and forties who don't know one end of a chicken from the other. I personally feel that excessive consumption of non-necessities has robbed us of the deep connection our people had to the earth both in the US but also in Africa. I'm not saying that we need to wear potato sack clothes, whittle for fun or give up soccer practice, but wouldn't buying (or better yet making your own) clothes, going to the movies or even that group sporting events be more meaningful if we didn't have to squeeze it into our hectic work school schedules? Just a thought.