Boston has kicked off a series of community meetings to talk about more urban farming.
The city already allows non-commercial farms, per Matt Rochelau in The Globe, which might include your backyard garden or window-sill herb planter (and there are already plans for rooftop farms). Other types of agriculture, including farms that might want to sell their produce, are bit of a gray area, which can snag prospective green thumbs: "Glynn Lloyd, a member of the working group, knows all about the red tape surrounding urban farming in Boston. In 2010, he wanted to grow lettuce, mixed greens, and other produce for his catering business, City Fresh Foods, but his vision hit roadblocks that eventually got the attention of Menino. His frustrations helped lead to the current rezoning effort."
One cannot help but think that the end result of the community meetings will, indeed, be more urban farming, from community gardens that trade amongst members to concerns like Lloyd's City Growers, one of two organizations selected a couple of years ago to test urban farming in Roxbury and Dorchester.
The trend would gel nicely with Hubway, transit-oriented development, the Innovation District, micro-apartments—indeed, urban farming, given Hizzoner's support and the fact that it's one of those crunchy realities desirable cities like Boston have to be embracing, seems inevitable. There are already proposals from the city on the table (these even include aquaculture—which is exactly what it sounds like: farming fish and shellfish—though there's nothing about chicken coops citywide). Grab your hand trowels.
· Zoning Changes Could Produce New Farms in Boston [Globe]
· Hold Your Head Up, Hub: We're Beating New York on the Bikes [Curbed Boston]
· One Word: Transit-Oriented—JP's Jackson Square Is the Future [Curbed Boston]
· Boston Micro-Apartments Confront Macro-Economics [Curbed Boston]
· How to Talk About the Innovation District [Curbed Boston]
· Would Hub's Urban Farms Be Clucking Over the Neighbors? [Curbed Boston]