Photo via Denver Urban Farm Truck
Last week, we took a little trip out to Denver, Colorado. Nestled right between the mighty Great Plains and the looming Rocky Mountains, this city is a convergence of food, sites, and culture. The entire city, or so it seems, was built using brick. Besides being absolutely charming, fusing old world sophistication with present day style, those homes are super sturdy and there to stay! It reminds me quite a bit of the Washington D.C. neighborhood, Capital Hill–but with a bit bigger lots and a little more yard (only a little though). However, interestingly enough, there is a reason behind the mostly brick architecture in Denver. In 1863, Denver had a huge fire, akin to the Chicago fire of 1871. The mayor of Denver at the time was also the owner of the city’s only brick manufacturing company. So, he deemed it “illegal” to build with anything other than brick–for the safety of the city’s citizens of course–oh, and his bank account. However, even though the ethics of what he did were highly questionable (both then and now!), the city’s history and character have been preserved beyond most cities I’ve seen and it is truly beautiful.
Denver also has something else really amazing going for it: an urban Truck Farm!
Photo via Denver Urban Farm Truck
Two University of Colorado master’s in landscape architecture students, Ashleigh Quillen and Ryan Sotirakis, decided they wanted to give Denver a new idea about what urban agriculture means and where it can reside. They are demonstrating for the city that “growing your own food can happen in even the most unlikely of places. Remnants of the past can literally become new vehicles for growing food”. Just because they didn’t have access to a backyard or garden plot to grow fresh food didn’t stop them–and they don’t want it to stop others either. Check out how they turned an old Ford 250 from Craigslist into their garden here! Personally, I think it’s a fantastic idea and am a little bit jealous that Portland doesn’t have something like this too. Seeing what they were up to was so inspiring, it made my mind explode with ideas–teaching gardening demonstrations for inner-city neighborhoods, school or corporate teaching/lunch programs… Just the sheer accessibility of the garden in a vehicle is a tremendous asset, and it really puts them way above and beyond the average “community garden”. Keep your eye out for them, they are going places! (pun totally intended).
