Intro!

To let you into my mind a little and show you why I chose this topic, I have to go back to a dream I had many months ago.

I'm squatting in some long pants and a gardening T-shirt next to a Mexican boy at a community garden that I had helped to establish for the residents there. I'm speaking with him about how to know when to harvest cherry tomatoes, and how to pick them so as not to damage the plant itself. After this little exchange, he picks off the ripest little tomato off of the plant and pops it in his mouth. His smile goes from ear to ear as he enjoys the literal fruits of his labor, and I take a glance at his mother who is watching us from a small distance and she has tears in her eyes watching her son enjoy fresh food.

This dream brings a tear to my eye as well, and as I dug into the topic of urban agriculture, it became so much more than a passing dream. As I've learned from researching this topic, urban agriculture combines many of the topics I'm passionate about.

For starters, implementing urban agriculture can majorly increase a city's sustainability efforts. From reducing the heat island effect and flooding, to purifying water, soil, and air, to providing more habitat for local wildlife, urban agriculture is becoming a critical part of how to implement sustainable practices and policies into urban life.

However, urban agriculture is also about helping some of the most historically disadvantaged communities in our urban centers. In low-income and colored neighborhoods where urban farms exist, a sense of community increases in residents, and the rates of chronic diseases decrease because of access to fresh and affordable produce.

So, as you read and explore what I've shared here, I hope that you'll find as much inspiration and joy from growing food and other plants in the city, because feeding people is so important, and how and where we do that matters immensely for our overall well-being and the health of the planet.

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