| Sacred Ground in Urban Milwaukee More than healthy food is being grown in the city by Nancy Freier Giving back to the earth, remediating the soil for sustaining us and the food we eat, and to repair what we have done has been the quest of many, but none perhaps more than Will Allen, co-director of Growing Power -- a nonprofit organization supporting people from diverse backgrounds and the environments they live in through the development of community food systems. These systems provide high quality, safe, healthy and affordable food for all, but Allen is growing more than plants. He is spearheading the development of Community Food Centers where people learn sustainable practices to grow, process, market and distribute food. "Without food you have problems," said Allen. "Food is the last thing we talk about fixing. We talk about the schools, or the streets, or the inner city neighborhoods, but we need to be starting with the food," she explained. The philosophy behind the organization is that many people -- especially those in urban areas -- do not know how food grows and where it comes from. "It was shocking to find out that few kids knew the difference between a tomato and a potato!" said Allen. "Nothing, neither plants or people, grows without fertile ground. Increasingly, we have been cut off from sources of fresh, healthy produce. Farmer's markets are pulling out of cities, leaving behind minefields of fast-food joints and processed junk." The sacredness of all living things is also in bloom at Growing Power. Will Allen, along with co-director Hope Finkelstein and more than a hundred volunteers, is producing a vibration powerful enough to not only feed, but seed the community with a sense of connectedness with others, and with the earth. People working together in harmony with the power that comes from the earth -- and eating safe, healthy, affordable food -- creates a dynamic cycle. Allen, a former basketball player for the now-defunct American Basketball Association, is familiar with traditional farming. He was raised on a rural Maryland farm. Then, after a decade in the business world, he decided to return to his farming roots, whose power, he believes, changes lives. "Well-fed communities become secure and sustainable communities. We all have a responsibility to meet this goal," Allen said. Built in the 1920s, Growing Power's greenhouses are the last remaining of a bygone era. Located just a couple of blocks from Florist Avenue, named for a once-flourishing area of growers and florists, he explained that nearby Capitol Court Shopping Center was once a farm that fed the community. Growing Power has kept the Farmer's Market spark alive. Allen purchased the property from the city in 1993 with a vision to create a fully sustainable system of gardening, that would not only feed people healthy food, but would tap the spirit of community and bring people together. Growing Power utilizes a fully self-contained, water-based system of producing food called Aguaponics. Its vermicompost (worm breeding) produces the finest natural living fertilizer in the world by a zillion hungry worms. Although not much appears to be happening inside the row of plywood boxes containing the livestock (worms), the poo, or (more politely) worm castings, create the soil that nourishes the lush plants growing in the nearby greenhouses. The worms devour, then convert the vegetable waste they eat into the finest natural living fertilizer in the world. Digging with both hands into the "black gold," as Allen calls it, he says it's the secret to the organization's success -- soil filled with rich, micro, organic life. Not just growing food, but growing people In 1995, the director of the Hunger Task Force approached Allen for a project he was working on involving the YWCA and needed land to create an organic garden for area youth to learn how to produce something themselves. Allen donated a half acre to this project and that was his start of creating a community around raising healthy food. To date, Growing Power has taught thousands of kids life skills in the process of growing food. "My desire is to have kids learn the virtue of how to give back. They learn valuable living skills by learning garden development," Allen said . "Taking a tour provides the spark. Kids come in here all wired and they soon mellow out, because it's such a soothing place to be. They love the hands-on environment." As we walked through the complex of greenhouses, I noticed that more was being grown than just healthy plants. The process is also cultivating people. "Community gardening is also community development," Allen said. "The main thing is to engage the community. We give people a place to go and meet their neighbors, a place to go and get in touch with the Earth." Growing Power is a land trust and can help groups buy or lease vacant lots in their neighborhoods and transform them into urban gardens. "We need to preserve some of the green space so it doesn't all go to development," said Allen. "Through the programs we offer, Growing Power leads the way for communities to develop sustainable, local food systems," Finkelstein added . "Having healthy food in a community develops the community," Allen said. "Relationship- building happens over food. Every group that comes here is growing power. Solidarity happens between the groups." In addition to operations in Milwaukee, Growing Power is active in Illinois and Alaska where Finkelstein resides. Their goal is to develop natural food centers nationally. Community Food: Growing Power is a Milwaukee-based nonprofit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds and the environments in which they live through the development of Community Food Systems. These systems provide high-quality, safe, healthy, affordable food for all residents in the community. Growing Power develops Community Food Centers, as a key component of Community Food Systems, through training, active demonstration, outreach and technical assistance. Community Food Centers are local places where people learn sustainable practices to grow, process, market and distribute food. Contact Growing Power at 5500 W. Silver Spring Dr., Milwaukee, WI 53218. Call (414) 527-1546. E-mail will@growingpower.org. For additional information, visit www.growingpower.org To tour the facility, please call Volunteer Coordinator Sally Leiser at (414) 962-4698. The public is welcome. Nancy Freier (formerly Nancy Rajala) is a writer and author of two books including Heaven Help Me and publisher of The Inner Voice magazine from 1990-1998. Go to www.theinnervoice.com or e-mail Nancy at NFreier@aol.com. Copyright (c) 2003 Nancy Freier |
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