the stumbles, stutters, and stark-raving wonderfulness of urban agriculture in east waco.

as part of the ever-burgeoning hipster movement bursting forth 'cross the nation - which hopefully proves more everlasting than such - world hunger relief presents urban agriculture. and all the joys and frustrations of uncharted territory - where beer stores are more prevalent than broccoli stalks and church's chicken more commonplace than chard or choi. where community once thrived but now only resides in the heads and hearts of a few from a different era.

urban agriculture is not just the story of sun, soil and water - but the story of a people. people coming together - be they life-long residents of east waco, eager green students from Baylor, or a wayfaring stranger from the dark, dirty corners of the midwest.

stumbles, stutters

• after-school program coordinators who snub their noses at unprofessional farmer-types, because they would rather have their students play guitar hero than dirty their hands and partake in their food system.
• water. and many hundred feet of hose. and weekday working hours, 9am-5pm. when the administration cooperates. (but praise God! we now have water!)
• too many white people. makes the neighbors feel suspicious.
  

stark-raving wonderfulness

• students who defy the expectations of their elders (see stumbling point #1) by talking so much about collard green seedlings that their parents call their teachers to see what's up with their raving child.
  
• conquering an inner-city teenager's fear of bridges by crossing them hand-in-hand, on our way to the garden as part of an after-school program.
  
• a roving fellow who shouts obscenities at low-flying helicopters and passes out literature on the undercover kkk in east waco - and pray blessings over me after we harvest bok choi, head lettuce, onion greens and snap beans for him and his wife.
• a bike-riding neighbor (even tho our government would classify him as illegal) who offers his hands - and his neighbor's horse manure -in the elm ave. garden, excited that some dirty gringa shares similar passions that the world deems crazy.
  
• a redneck-ed amish-looking fellow who also rides a bike. and helps occasionally. also wears a feather in his hair.
• a forth-coming greenhouse/cold-frame, converted from the junked and soon-to-be gutted refrigerator wasting space on the farm (french men eat alfalfa). constructed in true freegan fashion. spending money is not my style.
  
• rows and rows of onions, collards, lettuce, bok choi, carrots, cabbage, broccoli . . .
  
• 1.5 acres of available land. ready for those brave - or naive - enough to dream.

signed lovingly,
the urban madame

(currently seeking abandoned toilets or bathtubs. and locations in need of some guerrilla gardening.)