gardens
what is Novick Farms?
a farm that works to give local immigrant and refugee communities (especially Burmese and Bhutanese families) a place to grow foods from home
Sankofa means "to go back and get it"... what does that mean to you in the context of the farm?
up to interpretation!
what is mono-cropping?
the agricultural practice of growing a single crop on the same land plot.
mono-cropping has benefits like increased efficiency and higher yields... but it also has significant disadvantages, like decreased soil fertility, increased vulnerability to pests and diseases, and reduced biodiversity
This organization hires teens and local residents to manage gardens and transform vacant land into green community spaces, in Kensington.
NKCDC
explain the tension of outsiders vs. insiders helping out a community
Vague question, so open ended.
But thinking about how in Kensington there have been a lot of attempts to help the community from "outsiders"... those didn't succeed
But orgs like NKCDC, where volunteers are from the community, have greater success
what are the three plants associated with the Three Sisters method?
(bonus points if you can say what they do)
Beans, Squash, Corn
The bean fixes nitrogen, squash shades soil, corn provides vertical support.
Located in Bartram's Garden, this community farm works to learn, teach, and promote self-reliance using the tools of the deep African Diaspora culture of Southwest Philadelphia
Sankofa Community Farm
explain some the tension between modern and indigenous gardening practices
modern = more efficient, more yield, more industrial... worse for land
indigenous = more sustainable, higher biodiversity, better for the land
true or false: regenerative agriculture is a modern phenomenon
false: regenerative agriculture has been in practice for much longer. indigenous gardening uses sustainable and regenerative practices, like the Three Sisters Method.
A garden in West Philly that is a home for horticulture, an ancient riverfront, an African Diaspora farm, and a place of untold histories.
Bartram's Garden
what are vacant lots in Philly sometimes used for? (when not for gardens)
areas where people store and exchange drugs or weapons
Name at least two things that happened when vacant lots in Philly were cleaned and greened (from the Branas "Citywide cluster randomized trial to restore blighted vacant land and its effects on violence, crime, and fear" paper)
Reduced crime, reduced fear, more neighbor interactions, decreased gun violence, increased socializing outdoors, etc
Multiple gardens located in this neighborhood, each representing a unique aspect of Puerto Rican culture.
(additional 50 for each garden you can name)
Norris Square Gardens (including the Butterfly Garden, La Paz, El Batey, Las Parcelas, Raíces, and Villa Africana Colobó)
What was one of the tensions that resulted from the community gardens in Norris Square
Increased green space and community but at the cost of housing prices increasing and residents being forcibly removed from their homes
this is also known as the "green space paradox"
About what percentage of land in U.S. cities is vacant or abandoned?
~15%
(source: "Citywide cluster randomized trial to restore blighted vacant land and its effects on violence, crime, and fear" Branas et al. 2018)