H. Patricia Hynes, Professor of Environmental Health at the Boston University School of Public Health, interviewed our very own Danielle Andrews (our Urban Grower) for the spring edition of the Women Food and Agriculture Newsletter.

Each spring and summer we take Boston University public health students on an environmental justice field trip to The Food Project in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. The Food Project, a 14 year-old organization, is a prototype of urban environmental health, bringing urban and suburban youth together to do sustainable agriculture on vacant urban land, sell their produce at their nearby farmers’ market, and deliver it to local food pantries. Their raised growing beds and intensively planted, lush organic crops have erased the blight of failed “urban renewal” and slum clearance programs; and they are restoring healthy food systems to low-income inner city neighborhoods that supermarkets abandoned to fast food chains and liquor stores. In their educational programs, The Food Project youth discuss the loss of small farms and growth of agribusiness, farm policy, poor nutrition among youth and trends in obesity, as well as social and personal change to eliminate racism and sexism. What follows is an interview with Danielle Andrews, the Urban Grower for The Food Project’s farm in Boston.

1. Describe briefly the urban farm sites at The Food Project and your job responsibilities as “urban grower.”

My primary responsibility is to manage our 4 farming sites in the city of Boston, which range from 1.4 acres to a house lot size garden and a 100×40 ft. rooftop garden at the Boston Medical Center. They total about 2.5 acres of land. I am responsible for the crop planning, planting schedules, equipment and seed ordering. Additionally, I am responsible for implementing a crop plan which incorporates survey results from our farmers’ market customers, includes the produce needs of our commercial kitchen as well as vegetables for a weekly community lunch event we hold throughout the summer. My duties also include keeping the land clean (I pick up a lot of trash!), repairs to fences, equipment etc…. I respond to inquiries about our urban agriculture program and lead people on tours when possible. I maintain strong relationships with our neighbors both through informal conversations and “over the fence chats” and by attending community meetings and responding to concerns and questions as necessary. During our program season I am responsible for planning and training other staff as necessary for leading work teams with our youth and maintaining a rigorous and safe work environment.

2. How much was grown by the urban agriculture interns and volunteers working with you at the urban farm sites in 2005? Estimate the percent that was sold at the Farmers’ Market and the percent given to food shelters, etc.

We are very careful with records: Everything that comes off the land is weighed and recorded; everything that is distributed is recorded also. Over the last 4 years our annual produce grown has ranged from 13, 650 pounds (2005) to 18,200 pounds (2002). Our quantities were down this year as it was the most challenging growing season yet! My first year as the Urban Fram Manager (2002) was higher because we grew lots of tomatoes for salsa project, less salad mix and herbs. Most of what we grow (average 72%) is sold at The Food Project’s farmers’ market; some is sold internally (average 7%); and an average of 21% is distributed to local food pantries.

3. Do you use organic methods or IPM or some combination at the urban farm?

While we are not certified organic, we do follow organic practices. I depend heavily on row cover both as an insect barrier as well as a season extension technique. We practice careful crop rotation; we add lots of compost each year (as well as small amounts of certified organic fertilizers for some of our crops) and use fish emulsion. I also use “surround” on my brassicas. It is a kaolin clay spray which is helpful for controlling flea beetles, one of our biggest pests.

4. What are the key motivations and satisfactions for you as the urban grower at the Food Project Boston site?

As an undergraduate, I studied community development studies; and I have always been interested in urban community development issues. Being in a neighborhood surrounded by people who continue to work hard to transform their community inspires me to work hard and dream big.

Last year I had the opportunity to travel to Cuba and meet with organic farmers and farming activists there. I had read much about the expansiveness of urban agriculture there, and yet was surprised at how moved I felt seeing urban agriculture practiced on such a large scale. Everywhere I looked up in Havana, I saw vegetables growing on porches. This past season I reflected a lot on that trip as I worked away in our own fields, and was reminded of this larger global movement that I am a part of.

My favorite time of day is working after school with youth, the 3 to 6pm slot, in the spring and fall. By 3 pm I have usually been at work for 8 hours and am feeling tired and often a little grumpy; and there is nothing I love to hear more than a collection of loud, energized voices approaching the fields. In my opinion, this is when the magic happens– teenagers arrive after having spent there days sitting in classes, raising their hands to ask questions, being told to be quiet. They have energy to burn, stories to tell, arguments to work through. Pulling on their t-shirts they ask me what we’re going to be doing today and remark on the differences in the garden in comparison to the week before. We get incredible amounts of work accomplished during these after school hours. Younger kids from the neighborhood also show up on the land, to play around us, occasionally pitching in to help, eager to hang out with these older youth and participate in the preparation of beds and planting and care of crops that grow at the neighborhood farm. Last year one of the neighborhood kids, whom I’ve known over the past 4 years and is now 9, told me that she was thinking about being an urban farmer when she grows up. It’s moments like those that I reflect on how lucky I am to be doing what I do.

5. What is your background in farming and also community development that prepared you for your current job?

In college I worked every summer at a packaging plant. I think it was there that I developed a love and respect for hard work and efficient work, 2 key characteristics for anyone interested in a career in farming. Meanwhile, at school I was working on a community development degree through which I had become interested in food security issues, and in my final year of school I was part of an organic food co-op that lead me to meet a woman who had started a small organic vegetable and medicinal herb farm in rural Nova Scotia, 2 hours from the city of Halifax where I was studying. I arranged to spend a summer working for her on her farm as an unpaid intern; and it was there that I developed a deep love for agriculture and a determination to make it part of my life. From Nova Scotia I traveled to New Zealand for a winter of WWOOFING (Willing Workers on Organic Farms), and then to University of California at Santa Cruz in 1998 where I was accepted into an apprenticeship program run by the university to train organic farmers. While I was at Santa Cruz I learned about programs like The Food Project, and was excited at the prospect of finding work at an organization that combined sustainable agriculture and community development elements. In the fall of 2001, I applied for the position of the urban grower at and I’ve been in this position since February of 2002.

6. What advice would you give to girls and women interested in working in urban agriculture?

- Find a really well-structured internship on a working farm with a farmer who is committed to your learning. Internships vary greatly; so look around at different farms, ask a lot of questions, and speak to former interns, if at all possible.

- If possible, and depending on the neighborhood you work in, learn a second language. This neighborhood is predominantly CapeVerdean and most residents speak Portuguese Creole. I have taken a couple of basic language courses and knowing a small amount of Portuguese Creole helps. Knowing more would be more helpful!

- Understand the less glamorous sides of urban agriculture! I really do pick up a lot of garbage. I occasionally have to deal with vandalism, for example, cars that smash through our fences (5 times since I’ve been here). It is a very public role and means that many of my days are filled with interesting conversations and meetings. However, I am very careful about how I present myself, and how I interact with people who stop by the land. I am not shy about letting people know they’ve crossed a line, I do not put myself in risky positions, and I am always aware of my surroundings.

- Don’t be shy about asking other farmers for advice! I have happily given out my farm planning information to several other small-scale farmers (urban and rural) who have started farms or taken over operations. My experience is that farmers- urban and rural– are eager to encourage and support young farmers as they get started. While I feel a sense of responsibility to support these farmers, I also find encouragement and motivation to keep working at this whenever I hear from others getting started in the field.