250 animal, vegetable, miracle
eval hilltop towns were occupied by small farms, each with its own mod-
est olive grove, vineyard, a few fig or apple trees (both were ripe in
September), and a dozen or so tomato plants loaded with fruit. Each
household also had its own pumpkin patch and several rows of broccoli,
lettuces, and beans. Passing by one little stuccoed farmhouse we noticed
a pile of enormous, yellowed, overmature zucchini. I made Steven take a
“Dig! Dig! Dig! And Your Muscles Will Grow Big”
On July 9, 2006, in Edinburgh, Scotland, the world lost one of its most suc-
cessful local- foods advocates of all time: John Raeburn. At the beginning of
World War II when Germany vowed to starve the U.K. by blocking food imports
with U-boats, Raeburn, an agricultural economist, organized the “Dig for Victory”
campaign. British citizens rallied, planting crops in backyards, parks, golf courses,
vacant lots, schoolyards, and even the moat of the Tower of London. These ur-
ban gardens quickly produced twice the tonnage of food previously imported,
about 40 percent of the nation’s food supply, and inspired the “Victory Garden”
campaign in the United States. When duty called, these city farmers produced.
A similar sense of necessity is driving a current worldwide growth of urban-
centered food production. In developing countries where numbers of urban poor
are growing, spontaneous gardening on available land is providing substantial
food: In Shanghai over 600,000 garden acres are tucked into the margins of the
city. In Moscow, two- thirds of families grow food. In Havana, Cuba, over 80 per-
cent of produce consumed in the city comes from urban gardens.
In addition to providing fresh local produce, gardens like these serve as air
fi lters, help recycle wastes, absorb rainfall, present pleasing green spaces, alle-
viate loss of land to development, provide food security, reduce fossil fuel con-
sumption, provide jobs, educate kids, and revitalize communities. Urban areas
cover 2 percent of the earth’s surface but consume 75 percent of its resources.
Urban gardens can help reduce these fl at- footed ecological footprints. Now we
just need promotional jingles as good as the ones for John Raeburn’s campaign:
“Dig! Dig! Dig! And your muscles will grow big.”
For more information visit http://www.cityfarmer.org or http://www.urbangardening
help.com.STEVEN L. HOPP