About this item
Street Farm is the inspirational account of residents in the notorious Low Track in Vancouver, British Columbia -- one of the worst urban slums in North America -- who joined together to create an urban farm as a means of addressing the chronic problems in their neighborhood. It is a story of recovery, of land and food, of people, and of the power of farming and nourishing others as a way to heal our world and ourselves. During the past seven years, Sole Food Street Farms -- now North America's largest urban farm project -- has transformed acres of vacant and contaminated urban land into street farms that grow artisan-quality fruits and vegetables. By providing jobs, agricultural training, and inclusion in a community of farmers and food lovers, the Sole Food project has empowered dozens of individuals with limited resources who are managing addiction and chronic mental health problems. Sole Food's mission is to encourage small farms in every urban neighborhood so that good food can be accessible to all, and to do so in a manner that allows everyone to participate in the process. In Street Farm, author-photographer-farmer Michael Ableman chronicles the challenges, growth, and success of this groundbreaking project and presents compelling portraits of the neighborhood residents-turned-farmers whose lives have been touched by it. Throughout, he also weaves his philosophy and insights about food and farming, as well as the fundamentals that are the underpinnings of success for both rural farms and urban farms. Street Farm will inspire individuals and communities everywhere by providing a clear vision for combining innovative farming methods with concrete social goals, all of which aim to create healthier and more resilient communities.
About the Author
Michael Ableman, the cofounder and director of Sole Food Street Farms, is one of the early visionaries of the urban agriculture movement. He has created high-profile urban farms in Watts, California; Goleta, California; and Vancouver, British Columbia. Ableman has also worked on and advised dozens of similar projects throughout North America and the Caribbean, and he is the founder of the nonprofit Center for Urban Agriculture. Alongside Street Farm, Michael is the author and photographer of From the Good Earth; A celebration of growing food around the world (Abrams, 1993) , On Good Land: The autobiography of an urban farm (Chronicle Books, 1998) , and Fields of Plenty: A farmer's journey in search of real food and the people who grow it (Chronicle Books 2005) . He is the subject of the award-winning PBS film Beyond Organic narrated by Meryl Streep. Ableman lives and farms at the 120-acre Foxglove Farm on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia.
