Urban Farms for Buffalo
by Joanna and Larry Bachman, Buffalo
From Genesee Street and Bailey Avenue headed west to downtown, there are numerous vacant lots, many of them, contiguous. These should be developed into urban metro farms. My husband and I have maintained a far East Side urban metro farm for twenty years.
These farms would provide vegetables for the people in the surrounding blocks and, also, the corner stores they frequent. Some of these lots might, also, have dwarf orchards that provide apples, peaches, pears, cherries; and, too, fields of strawberries and blueberries. Hops for craft beers. And, when it is legal to do so, medical marijuana.
Neighborhood youth would be taught farming, landscaping, carpentry, irrigation, sales and marketing. Moderately priced one and two family houses developed by the University at Buffalo School of Architecture might provide good “companion plants” for these farms. In addition to the existing neighborhood populace, the owner-occupants of these new houses would provide a built in customer base. ‘Agrihoods’, as these are called, are thriving in other areas of the country. Why not, here?
Joanna and Larry Bachman, BUFFALO
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