Urban Food Odyssey
Published in Concrete Garden Magazine for the Spring—Summer 2015 issue
A trip to the U.K. and Ireland reveals innovations in urban agriculture
Lynne Davis met me at Roll for the Soul, a bike café in the heart of Bristol, England. I ran in dishevelled after pedalling 20 minutes through a U.K. drizzle. The young software developer-turned-farmer greeted me with a wry smile and jumped right into the story of her brainchild, Street Goat. The “animal share initiative” aims to benefit the community by keeping goats in empty urban lots for dairy production, while offering neighbours the chance to care for livestock in the city.
“A lot of people think of farming as a black box, like car mechanics” says Davis. “They don’t want to touch it and don’t have a chance to try it. This project gives them a chance to try it and learn.”