by David Hanson
The Breaking Through Concrete bus on the way to Oregon.(Michael Hanson photos)
Breaking Through Concrete team(Michael Hanson)The Breaking Through Concrete team—David Hanson, Michael Hanson, Charles Hoxie, and Edwin Marty—is taking a 21st century road trip to document the
American urban farm movement. Driving across the country and back in a biodiesel-fueled, Internet-enabled short bus they’ve nicknamed Lewis
Lewis, they’ll visit 14 diverse projects that are, in distinct ways,
transforming our built environments and creating jobs, training
opportunities, local economies, and healthy food in our nation’s
biggest cities. Along the way, David will post stories for Grist (and for one of the team’s sponsors, WHYHunger), illustrated by
his and Michael’s stunning images—material that will ultimately be collected
into a
book—and Charles’ short video snippets.
A bottle of Korbel’s christened
the front right bumper of Lewis Lewis last Tuesday night in Seattle. We rolled
out Wednesday morning, picked up five pounds of farm-direct Sumatra beans from
our friends and sponsors at Caffe Vita, and hit I-5.
Flipped the switch to veggie
grease south of town and ran on the waste fry-juice for over 370 miles. It
doesn’t smell nearly as bad as they say, and Lewis Lewis ran smooth as butter.
Pulled off in Eugene, Oregon, for
a visit to Huerto de la Familia,
a community garden project for low-income Latin American families. Sarah Cantril
and the Huerto project were recently awarded one of WHY Hunger‘s 10 annual Harry Chapin
Self-Reliance awards, honoring community-based organizations for innovative and
sustainable approaches to fighting hunger and poverty.
Norma and Jesús will have a plot for the
first time this year. They used to farm in their hometown of San Pablo Tecaleo,
Mexico. They guess that they pulled 80% of their household food from the farm.
They came to America last year to find a better life. This year they hope to
grow 70% of their veggies here at the Churchill Community Garden.
We slept in Lewis Lewis outside Talent,
OR.
Look for the white short bus emblazoned Lewis Lewis, and if you see
us, come and get some coffee. We want to hear where your food comes from.
Related Links:
Boost your support for urban agriculture with a rice-growing bra
Rooftop farming and beekeeping boom in New York
Cuba’s urban-ag revival offers limited lessons
