Preserving gardens that sit on multiple lots is especially difficult if any of the lots have privately held tax liens

In 2019 alone, MMSD spent $5 million from its capital budget on green infrastructure . In the last two decades, MMSD has supported garden improvement projects such as the installation of rainwater catchment and cisterns at numerous gardens in the city. In the process of restoring the Kinnickinnic River, MMSD has partnered with the Sixteenth…

Sedimentation is the physical process of particles settling in water

The civic conventions in Philadelphia present a different context for legitimizing urban agriculture projects and mobilizing to protect threatened gardens. In Philadelphia, as evidenced by prior work and my interviews, cynicism about the local government runs high. There are fewer opportunities to seek public resources for resident-driven projects, and land is controlled by a complex…

Correlations in variables measuring racial composition also required attention

Philadelphia Green was developed as a strategy to help the larger organization of PHS maintain its legitimacy as times were changing, interest in horticulture as a status-signal was on the decline, and urban problems were making their way into the consciousness of Philadelphia’s elite. Initiated in this context, the Philadelphia Green program increased PHS’s activity…

The organizations that manage formal community gardens have been part of this roll-back and roll-out process

Food access inequalities are linked to disparities in the built environment and the legacy of urban racial segregation . Food insecurity in Black and Latinx communities is perpetuated by interpersonal discrimination and structural racism, through inequitable access to education, employment, housing, and credit . Over the last century, processes of institutional racism including segregation and…

Untangling questions of ownership and use has in itself required significant time for city staff and garden advocates

The concept of structural vulnerability is crucial not only to refine anthropological analyses of the social production of suffering but also to reorient medical and public health attention away from individual behaviors and toward social structures.Growing and preparing food are fundamental to virtually all human societies, forming the basis of both cultural traditions and social…

It is not surprising that soil texture is an important determinant of SOM in these organic systems

To determine drivers of this variation, we explored key predictors for soil N cycling and found that SOM indicators influenced gross N mineralization and nitrification rates, in particular gross nitrification rates. Each of the four indicators for soil organic matter used in this study—total soil N, total organic C, POXC, and soil protein—showed a strong…

Our detailed view of the gardens and fields at this village reveals a diverse and nutritious diet

Therefore, the indication of trees cultivated within the milpas at Cerén suggests that the ancient farmers valued the contributions of forest ecosystems within agriculture. Cerén’s agricultural fields were dynamic and incorporated a variety of species that were likely encouraged to grow and utilized for a variety of reasons, not just for food. It is possible…

Tree parts were preserved through carbonization and recovered when encountered during excavations

Such extraordinary preservation provides an opportunity to not only understand what plant species the ancient inhabitants of this village utilized in their daily lives, but also how the villagers perceived and managed their landscape . The preservation from the rapid deposition of volcanic ash results in the archaeological visibility of flora that were either growing…