UAID in a Nutshell

When we go to conferences, or social events, or other gatherings where people hear about UAID for the first time, people want what I call the "cocktail version" of what UAID is: a brief description that gives them the general idea. This is normally a struggle, partly because we've been involved in fairly limited activities so far compared to what we dream of doing. Essentially, because we're in the beginning stages still, there's a lot of shaping left to do.

I struggle to fit UAID in a nutshell - it certainly isn't almond sized, or hazelnut sized, or walnut sized. Maybe if I go for coconut-sized (a coconut is the largest nut in the world), I can manage it.

I picture UAID as a web of connections, or a network of bridges, between people who are and/or should be interested in Detroit. So far, we have some departments from Michigan State University on board, a bookstore in Lansing, and a community collective in Detroit. We're looking into additional partnerships all the time. The key, for us, is innovation (the word "initiative" helps convey this - the idea of a beginning, a fresh start). Detroit needs something new, something fresh, something knowledge-based. I know many people don't see agriculture as a knowledge-based field, but especially in urban areas, there's a lot of learning that needs to happen before it reaches its full potential. We see the challenges of urban agriculture not as an impediment to success, but as a pathway to fixing overall food systems.

That said, we are not about starting new community gardens, although we love community gardens and hope to see more of them - Greening of Detroit is doing a great job with that, and I'm constantly amazed by the level of support they offer Detroiters. We're not about starting goat farms, either (although some people do know us as the "goat girls") - though we love goats, think there's a place for them in the city, and have worked to create opportunities for that. We're not about aquaculture, or green therapy, or alternative energy. We're about seeing all of those things working together in a process that creates a sustainable economy for Detroit.

That's UAID in a nutshell.

Nature Deficit Disorder

I was reading The Engaged Scholar Volume 4 (a publication of Michigan State University's Outreach and Engagement Office) when I came across a phrase I'd never heard before: nature deficit disorder. Fortunately, it listed the book where the term originated, Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. In 20 minutes, I was on my way to the library.

The author makes it clear that nature deficit disorder is not a medical/clinical diagnosis, but rather observation of a trend in which children spend less time outdoors, often have limited access to green space, and thereby have a different relationship to nature. The book also focuses on the calming effects of nature, including the use of green therapy for children with ADHD.

This, of course, started me thinking on Detroit. With high crime rates and lots of cement, it seems to follow many of the patterns listed in the book. However, in many areas, pheasants are sighted in the prairie grasses that have grown over vacant lots. The city has high rates of lead poisoning, which can cause behavioral and cognitive issues in children. ADHD is also prevalent.

With Detroit's agricultural revolution and the efforts to make the city greener, there also comes an opportunity to lead in green therapy and other alternative approaches to children's special needs. We hope soon to establish a partnership between the Children's Center in Detroit and appropriate departments at Michigan State to try green therapy on a small scale.

Seven Generations

At the Bioeconomy and Climate Change Symposium at MSU yesterday, Frank Ettawageshik, the executive director of the United Tribes of Michigan, gave a tribal perspective on climate change that I found to be really interesting, and one that fits well with UAID's underlying goals. In a nutshell, it was that the tribes plan seven generations ahead. Seven generations isn't a quantifiable time, nor is it a time frame that allows us to develop models and scenarios realistically (we just can't accurately predict that far into the future). However, thinking that way challenges us to plan for a time when we're entirely forgotten, when our descendants probably can't name us.

So I'm asking: what would you want to see for your descendants of seven generations? What would Detroit have to do, be or look like for you to want your descendants to be residing there that long from now?

How We Do (Or How UAID is like Roomba)

A few years ago, the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner became available. Essentially, directions were to remove impediments such as cords, furniture, and other objects, set it on the floor, and let it go to work. It would start vacuuming in one direction, and then when it ran into something, it would change vectors and continue until it ran into something else. Not nearly as cool as the droids most people imagine completing such a task, but eventually it got the job done.

I wish I could said that UAID is like a droid rather than a Roomba, that we had all the knowledge and connections necessary to methodically accomplish our goals. Truthfully, though, we've run into a lot of impediments and had to change vectors. At first, many people thought we were crazy (and we are), or they couldn't imagine that we'd find the resources we needed. We've also had a lot of people help remove cords so that we could at least get better access to the next wall (Steve Safferman and Denise Maybank come to mind). Sometimes we've been able to go great distances before having to change direction, and sometimes we end up in a tight corner where it seems like all we're doing is bumping our heads.

Even in that tight corner, though, we're adjusting, learning, and cleaning some floor along the way. Of course we hope to find more direct methods to achieve our goals, but we're not above being Roombas for now. We hope that you'll join us in the task, although it means accepting some hard knocks occasionally.

UAID in the News

Urban Agricultural Initiatives was mentioned in today's State News! They wrote a piece about the senior design projects that students complete in the Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering department at MSU.

To check it out, visit http://statenews.com/index.php/article/2010/04/teams_engage_in_engineering_project.

An End, A Beginning, and Lots of Dirt

As the academic year draws to a close, our goat engineers are finishing up their project. We had a chance to see their presentation on Thursday, and we were so impressed with the progress they've made. Their model looks to be useful (I've already heard one request for access to it and a recommendation that they make it available through MSU Extension). We wish them all the best as they graduate and move on with their careers, and we hope that they'll check in with us periodically!

We're also looking at new projects within the Biosystems Engineering Department at MSU. They're changing the way senior design projects will be selected, so we're not sure how everything will happen, but currently it looks like we'll have students working on heavy metal toxicity in soil as well as an aquaculture project (imagine huge tanks of tilapia).

The heavy metal toxicity project will address one of our main concerns for Detroit's urban agricultural movement, which is the lead contamination, so heavily present in many areas of the city, that has already caused lead poisoning in many of Detroit's children. While working at Georgia Street Community Garden, I chatted with Mark Covington about this. The dirt coating my hands wasn't an issue - although the soil on Georgia Street is poor, it isn't contaminated. However, Mark knew of other gardens that required soil remediation before they could move forward. We'd like to target these areas in our partnerships.

Sweet Anticipation

Tomorrow Rebecca and I will be in East Lansing for the MSU Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Showcase, in which the seniors will present their capstone projects to the faculty members from the department. I imagine that our team is engaged in a whirlwind of activity to prepare, and given that their grades and chances of getting a job will be influenced by the outcome of tomorrow, I assume they're nervous.

I have some butterflies too - it's been about a year since we kicked our goat farm plans into gear, and this is the first finished product we'll have. Not only does their design of the goat farm affect whether it can be implemented soon, it may also influence how strong UAID's relationship with the department will be. We're hoping to work with MSU on plans for a fish farm in the city, and we'd also like to see the department doing work on soil remediation.

And yes, part of me is just plain excited! We've had a chance to talk to our seniors all year, and we have a fair idea what they're working on. They've done a great job not only on the engineering, but on helping us grow as a non-profit. One student recommended we present at MLK Day, an opportunity we wouldn't have found on our own. Another has said that they're writing recommendations for future urban agriculture groups. Both of these activities went above and beyond their call of duty.

In closing, let me just holler: "Go green!"

Belated: What we learned at the Symposium

On Friday, Rebecca and I attended Re-Building the Post Industrial City, an excellent symposium put on by the Journal of Law in Society at Wayne State. Not only were the speakers and panels wonderful, but the conference was well-organized and publicized.

I'll give just a few highlights:

Meeting Kathryn Lynch Underwood of the City Planning Commission (CPC). She indicated that she knows Mark Covington of Georgia Street, and that the CPC is working on building codes and zones related to urban agriculture. This is a huge relief for us (although we'll want to get in on the public hearings), because we can dedicate resources to areas other than lobbying for permission to keep livestock in the city.

Learning about the amount of lead in Detroit's soil. This was disappointing, since there's a huge heavy metal problem in the city that will need to be solved before urban agriculture can really take off, but Rebecca and I have been discussing possible strategies for remediation and partnerships.

Realizing that MSU should have an Urban Agriculture Symposium. As a land-grant institution with some of the top agricultural programs in the country, MSU should be closely and visibly involved with the urban agriculture happening in Detroit. More on that later, we hope.

Location, Location, Location!

We met with the Georgia Street Community Garden (GSCG) today - we'd met a couple who volunteers there at MSU Spring Goat Day. They explained that they're interested in having goats in Detroit in addition to their current vegetable and chicken projects.

As we discussed our plans, all of us got more excited - we have resources and contacts that could be very beneficial for Georgia Street, but more importantly, they have already begun work in a neighborhood and have developed rapport with the people there. Given that Rebecca and I are starting med school and grad school soon, we're excited to be able to implement our engineers' plans in the relatively near future. We plan to keep a partnership with them in order to increase their capacity and get them access to new resources.

Given that Georgia Street already has several lots available, this allows us to bypass the work of finding a suitable location - GSCG will be a great home for urban goats.

Kudos to MDGS!

Rebecca and I had the distinct pleasure of attending the Michigan Dairy Goat Society's (MDGS) Spring Goat Day, held at Michigan State University (yes, we have bleating hearts at "Moo U"). Because of one of our team member's contacts, we were also able to present our workshop there.

Although attendance at our workshop was small, around 10 people, the input we got from them was not. The attendees were both enthusiastic and realistic about the hurdles we would have to overcome. Their main concern was making sure that residents of the nearby neighborhoods would be involved and have a sense of ownership - something Detroit Goat Farm, and now UAID, have emphasized from the start. This is particularly interesting to me because one of my earlier sessions, about the Michigan Right to Farm Act, also stressed that farmers in rural and peri-urban areas should be good to their neighbors in order to reduce complaints and form good community relations.

We're hoping to stay in contact with MDGS and maybe even to share one of its board members for our board of directors.

Incorporate with Us!

This morning, Rebecca and I filed paperwork to become a nonstock corporation with the name Urban Agricultural Initiatives of Detroit (UAID, pronounced You Aid - yes, we did that on purpose). Once approved, we'll be a non-profit corporation. We also applied for and were granted an EIN.

The next step is to write bylaws, find a board of directors, and come up with a few hundred dollars to apply for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. If you are a lawyer familiar with non-profit law and would be willing to do pro-bono work, we'd love to talk to you.

If you are not a lawyer, but are interested in helping, we're in need of a board of directors, money, office supplies, workshop venues, expertise in a variety of areas, and people to sit and dream with us.

You're Invited . . .

. . . to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. with Detroit Goat Farm!

We'll be presenting a workshop entitled "Detroit: A New Land of Milk and Honey" at Michigan State University's MLK, Jr. Student Leadership Conference. Get more information or sign up here. The theme this year is "The Message: Our History, Our Future," which Detroit Goat Farm will be sharing through information about Detroit's history and the hope that we have for its future in community development and local food.