Foodtopia Dreaming Episode 1 - The future is how we imagine it.

"Vision is not seeing things as they are but as they will be".

There are variations on this quote.  Yes this is Principle 12 of Permaculture.  We use it in times of change.  When we need inspiration, when we need to support our families and loved ones, when people are going through a tough time.  Well for current and future generations times just got tougher and reality has hit.  Now is the perfect time to re-image the future. 

Here's my take on what the future could look like.  It's one I am working towards in my own little space, but collectively, unless we are all doing little bits in our spaces, not much will change.  These ideas are not new.  They exist in bits and pieces.  People are doing many of these now.  I have just built the ideas into a story as to how I'd like my reality and that of my daughter and her friends to look like.

If you think I have written about you, I hope you take it as a complement.  You are inspiring.  Keep going.

I'm not too concerned if you don't think it will happen.  It's my dream.  I'll just ask you to do your little bit.  Humor me by trying things. Fail.  Try again.  "Fail while daring greatly".  Thanks Dev for introducing me to this quote - . then I heard it again in Brene Brown's work, then I read the passage it came from in Theodore Roosevelt's Citizen in a Republic speech (yep it's long).  So I am going to fail writing a blog series about the food future I want.  There.  The expectations have been set low.  Let's begin.

I am a cyclist. A Cook. An ex-Cafe Owner, a Dad, a Barista and a Permi. I’m also a gardener and a wannabe Urban Farmer.  I am a Urban Farm Dreamer.  Who made me like this?  I don’t know how it came to be.  Maybe that's a job for a psychologist in the future to figure that out. Maybe it will come out as I tell my story.  Well, it’s part story and part dream.  Those who know me could figure out where the story ends and the dream begins.  Maybe the dream becomes a nightmare and then reality - the dream that is.

Did I also say that I am a frustrated Greenie and a practicing permaculturalist.  Lets get it out there straight away - I think Climate Change is real.  Even if you think it isn’t, you have gotta admit that we need to learn to live sustainably on this planet otherwise we’ll have a few other problems to solve and climate change will be pretty small by comparison.

It was a few years ago now that I found myself cycling around town.  You know, just going for a little ride.  It was strange how the route followed where my daughter and I used to ride.  Quiet roads, backstreets, lane-ways, via playgrounds and creeks.  Exploring really.  It was calming.  These places were in the heart of rural suburbia.  There were largish tracts of land.  Under utilized. I think the kids were all inside on their gaming consoles.

Ruminating on a lack of local seasonal produce for my kitchen got me thinking.  Why can’t these spaces be made productive?  I kept riding and looking and counting.  I reached 9 potential plots.  And that was just on the west side of town.

I contacted the local council.  I had a site in mind.  Absolutely perfect for an Urban Farm.  An old rodeo site. Next to the sports grounds and parkland and cycle and walking trails.

Phone calls, emails and the council cogs clicked away.  Nope, sorry mate but 3 feet under that ground is the old municipal waste dump.  What!  That's right next to the river.  Yeah I know laughed the non-believer on the end of the phone,  “And you thought you were going to farm that land!”  He was useful in the end, giving me that Community Well-being and Healthy Relationship Coordinator. Yep, that's the local Government for you.  So please could you tell me where I could start an Urban Farm on Council land in our town?  Yeah OK, just email me.  What? You have a reference number for our conversation and you have logged a customer service request and it will go into the system to be actioned depending on priorities.  See ya.

Dinner time that night is as usual containing a smattering of produce grown from our garden, The usual suspects of salad mix, some Kale and broccolini with a lemon and parsley anchovy salsa (no an inland country town doesn;t grow anchovies but heck they add a cracker amount of flavor.  Plus my daughter is addicted to them, so go with the flow I say).  During  dinner that night we always ask each other what we got up to each day.  Oh I went for a bike ride and chilled out by the river, you know relaxing stuff.  Sometimes it’s good to keep your crazy thoughts to yourself.

But an idea formed.  What if I wrote about my food dreams, how I wanted the world to revolve around food.  My Foodtopia.  My dreams. 

What could an urban farm enterprise look like? 

A place that inspires people to grow edible food, provides learning opportunities, experience and skills in urban and backyard farming and associated skills (Marketing, accounting, business management, retail, hospitality and sustainability).

Create paths for young people showing that growing food is an important life skill, small scale farming is a viable career and can be a sustainable way of life in a rural community. A regenerating place for the elders, to reconnect and a space for the disenfranchised to feel safe, learn to eat again and socialise in a free space, owned by the community for the community.

Create a thriving and supportive community around the urban farm by repurposing the buildings into a cafe, utilise them for tool storage and processing areas, workshops and farm sales.

Run workshops teaching life skills, pickling, preserving and processing of seasonal produce, and backyard farming and sustainable farming sessions. Facilite food learning initiatives and life skills workshops.

Welcome to Foodtopia Dreaming.

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