PEOPLE

Overview

This chapter of Growing from the Root focuses on the many ways that people engage with and practice urban agriculture as a part of Philadelphia’s food system. If land is the root of the local agricultural system, then people are the stem from which all other stalks grow. Across the city, people grow plants for food, beauty, commerce, and medicine; they raise animals such as bees, goats, and fish; and they do so to educate and feed themselves and their communities, repair the environment, or make a living. People carry the skills, traditions, ideas, and ambitions that have defined urban agriculture in the past and present—and that can define it in years to come. This chapter focuses on the resources and support that people who participate in urban agriculture need to continue and grow urban agriculture in Philadelphia.

> “It connects us to the land and the food that sustains us, and because of the immense opportunities for community building and empowerment that it provides.”

> “It is healing—a way for me and my family to connect to our culture, grow our own food and medicine, a way to connect to other people and my community, and beautify our space.”

> “Growing your own food . . . can be a radical way that resists our current system of oppression and control by connecting you with your community, ancestors, and God.”