CONCRETE GARDEN ISSUE 1: FALL 2012
Why a Magazine about Urban Agriculture?
JORY MACKAY
Editor in Chief & Art Director
MIKE EDEL
Publisher & Managing Editor
DAVID LEACH Supervising Editor
CONTACT:
DLeach@Uvic.ca CONTRIBUTORS: Luke Stime Quinn MacDonald
Special Thanks to: Kim Profili The University of Victoria Sustainability Project Synergy Green Consultants The Times Colonist
I moved to Victoria as an overeager 22 year-old with a Honda Civic full of possessions and a 10-speed dangling off the bike rack. I had no place to live, I knew nobody; it was an attempt at adventure. The only thing that seemed concrete was that I knew that I would attend UVic and that I would like it. After a few years of abstract thoughts and academic jargon, Jory and I found ourselves in similar places. We wanted to finish our undergraduate studies with something concrete, and we wanted to leave something real and tactile for others to continue and build on. As we are just two kids with beards blindly working on the inception of this magazine, the final product itself has two parts. It is about both caring and not caring, latching onto a trend while finding our own path. It is about being original and telling stories that have already been lived while highlighting those people that have the time, energy and drive to work towards making the cities we live in more sustainable, beautiful places. Concrete Garden is about being conscious of food production and sustainability but also about grafting this with mainstream culture and the lives we live. It’s easy to preach when it comes to food security, but that’s not what Concrete Garden is about. We want to move away from the rhetoric of the activist and instead create a welcoming place for people interested in where the food they eat comes from and how it’s grown. It’s about bringing food production and sustainability to the forefront whether our feet are in the grass or on the pavement. With this in mind, we hope you enjoy our premiere issue. It’s filled with stories about people from Vancouver Island and all over the world, and what they are doing to help educate and empower the city-dwelling farmer. Whether you’re a seasoned urban agriculturalist with a rooftop garden and some squirrel pelts out back (see “Guerrilla Gardening” on page 26 for more details), or just interested in starting your own home garden, we’re sure you’ll find something of value within these pages.
-Mike Edel
Fall 2012
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