Photo courtesyGrowing urban center
Filmmakers Dan Susman ( right ) and Andrew Monbouquette ( left ) traveled the country looking for urban farming .
clause first publish inUrban FarmNovember / December 2011 .
Filmmakers Dan Susman (right) and Andrew Monbouquette (left) traveled the country looking for urban farming.
From youngster fleetly entering their teenage geezerhood to small towns hastily acquire into cities , maturation — and transfer — happen within a blink of an eye . But a quick increment spirt may not always be a good affair .
“ In our hometown of Omaha , Neb. , signs tell us how we are one of the quickest - uprise city in the country , ” filmmakers Dan Susman and Andrew Monbouquette compose on their website , www.growingcitiesmovie.com . “ Yet , there are other signs that say [ our country is ] one of the least goodish . One - third of our children will arise diabetes , nearly 9 percent of the population is unemployed and environmental disaster , such as the Gulf petroleum spill and Hurricane Katrina , have become almost commonplace . ”
Quaker since puerility , Susman and Monbouquette began to contemplate the type of growing that would make America ’s city healthier position for its occupant . Then an musical theme hit them : Why not catch America ’s ever - expanding urban - farming movement on pic ?
“ During college , I worked at an urban farm in Portland , Ore. , called Zenger Farm , where I instruct kid about sustainable Department of Agriculture and work in the fields planting , harvest home and weeding , ” Susman says . “ It was through this experience that I was first introduced to urban farming and really arrest excited about its electric potential to improve cities across the country .
“ I want to learn more about urban farming — to adjoin the amazing people behind the movement . Andrew was passionate about attain moving-picture show that could have a positive impact on gild . So we put our heads together and come up with the theme forGrowing Cities . ”
A feature of speech - duration documentary motion-picture show set to be released in summer 2012,Growing Citiesfollows Monbouquette and Susman as they road trip across America to cut into behind the scenes of urban farming .
“ Urban agriculture has remarkable power on so many levels : It connects people to their food for thought , strengthens communities , creates jobs , revitalizes blighted areas ; the inclination goes on , ” Susman says . “ But what ’s most exciting to me is that it allows us to reimagine what ’s potential in city . It dispute us to get beyond the urban / rural divide — to really think about how we can all be producers in a social club driven by consumption . ”
Monbouquette and Susman begin inquire what Omaha had in terms ofurban farms , but they did n’t find a whole lot other thancommunity garden . “ That ’s when we resolve to arrive at the road to see what was going on in the rest of the nation , ” Susman says .
In former May , the film maker bundle their bag and headed to their first major stop : Los Angeles , Calif. There for only three days , they were surprised to encounter numerous urban raiser in Southern California ’s bustling metropolis .
“ We catch bees with the Backwards Beekeepers [ a mathematical group ofbeekeepers ] who rely on constituent , treatment - gratuitous practices ] and meet with some awful Mexican immigrant who grow for their families on about 10 Acre [ of realm ] in the middle of South Central , Los Angeles , ” Susman reflect .
When Susman and Monbouquette stopped in Seattle , Wash. , they experienced their most memorable instant : milkinggoatswith the Goat Justice League .
“ I ’d never milk anything before , much less arrest milk shoot into my sass direct from the udder — you ’ll have to wait for the moving picture for that one — so that was somewhat fun , ” Susman enjoin . “ Not to mention , we were just a few miles from downtown Seattle in a residential neighborhood , which was strange to consider about . ”
Since then , the pair has visited more than 20 city and meet James Leonard Farmer , community organizers and children who are all involved with the movement . They ’ve even pick berry on a rooftop farm seven tale off the ground — at the Brooklyn Grange in Queens , N.Y. — while enjoying a sight of the Manhattan skyline .
“ One of the most of import thing we ’ve memorize is how remarkably diverse the urban - agriculture move is , ” Susman mull . “ People from all over the country with infinite backgrounds are all growing food for thought for a plenty of unlike reason . There is not one face of the urban land movement , and what it is ca n’t be summed up in one time . That ’s part of the trick ; that ’s why it will be so powerful to put all these faces and stories into one film .
“ OnceGrowing Citiesis completed , we ’ll be doing a promotional and educational tour across the nation to spread the message as wide as possible . And hey , once all that ’s done , we may just start an urban farm of our own back in Omaha ! ”
To study more about Susman and Monbouquette ’s journey across America , confabulate theGrowing Citieswebsite .
