Urban NO TILL Farm Growing 200+ Heirloom Varieties on 1 Acre

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0:16we're at Edible Uprising Farm uh located

0:19in South Troy New York we grow on one

0:21acre of

0:23land we are just 2 miles from the

0:26downtown of this small city um right on

0:29the Hudson

0:31River we're growing in zone 5B and so we

0:35have a pretty decent growing season from

0:37May to early October is pretty reliable

0:41and so we've set things up on the farm

0:44to the best of our ability to be able to

0:45handle either temperatures or wind or

0:49precipitation or whatever it may

0:53be we're on elmridge fine Sandy loone so

0:56the soil we're working with is extremely

0:58well draining we grow over 200 varieties

1:01of vegetables fruits and flowers we are

1:03not certified organic but we grow with

1:06Organic practices and we do pretty much

1:08all direct marketing through the CSA

1:10Farm Stand and

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1:22restaurants well so Alicia and I met

1:24when we were in high school and at that

1:26time neither of us were really

1:27interested in agriculture uh or farming

1:29we just

1:30fell in love and we loved food we love

1:33food so food food has always been a

1:35central

1:37theme so I grew up in Colorado I was

1:41pretty directionless I didn't really

1:42know what I wanted to do after high

1:44school I could either have gone to Green

1:47Mountain College and gotten into

1:48agriculture or I was looking at a couple

1:51culinary schools so I was really

1:52interested in food one way or the other

1:54and after visiting different schools

1:56decided to go the agriculture route

2:00I have a background in uh Fine Art

2:03through that work I started kind of

2:06questioning kind of my life and what

2:09sustained me and where is my food coming

2:12from how do I create that

2:15too and then it wasn't until I moved to

2:18Vermont that we sort of started to come

2:19together with this shared vision of

2:21wanting to farm

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2:25together when we first came here we were

2:27like we're not going to live in a been

2:30place it's not fun to for us who loves

2:34you know a rural

2:37lifestyle it sort of felt like we went

2:39backwards you know most people are in a

2:42more urban environment and then want to

2:44go farm and move and are like attracted

2:46to the more rural life but I would it

2:48was really clear when we visited this

2:49property that was so unique in so many

2:51ways and that we could really do

2:52something cool something powerful with

2:55it there's a population of hundreds of

2:59thousands of people on our doorstep here

3:02there is a huge need for good food in

3:05this city where there isn't a lot of

3:07fresh

3:16food when we first got here uh the city

3:20didn't really know what to do with us

3:22we've struggled because uh the city has

3:25certain limitations like you can't drill

3:27a well and you're basically forc to be

3:30on the water supply and so in a dry year

3:32like this year it's been a really big

3:35hit to our budget and so it's a

3:38challenge for us to figure out how we

3:40can communicate with the city government

3:43in order to allow other Growers like

3:45ourselves to be able to do something

3:47like this because that that really can

3:48be a limiting

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3:52factor so when we first came to this

3:55land it was just an empty field and we

3:58immediately put up the C pillar tunnel

4:00because it's mobile and you really need

4:03covered growing space especially in this

4:05climate if you want to extend your

4:08season now we just need a couple more a

4:10does a dozen

4:14more the first few months of us being

4:17here was really hard to find other

4:19people to connect

4:20with and that presented us with a really

4:24unique um challenge trying to sell CSA

4:28shares to people

4:30when all we had was an empty field was

4:33extremely difficult amazingly wonderful

4:36people signed up kind of on a whim with

4:39us last year and almost every single

4:42member from last year came back this

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4:48year we were not interested in just

4:51selling to you know the wealthier

4:53population in Troy we really wanted to

4:55be able to feed people right in our

4:58neighborhood and and the wheels started

5:01turning in my head I was like how do we

5:03do this I came up with the idea of

5:06basically when somebody buys a CSA share

5:09from us they're given the opportunity to

5:11donate into a fund that then is able to

5:15sponsor families that can't afford CSA

5:18shares being able to see the impact of

5:21this program on the families that

5:24participate and how important this food

5:27is to them is so moving to

5:34us the quick greens Harvester hands down

5:37has been the biggest timesaver tool on

5:40our day-to-day rotation of things being

5:43on your hands and knees cutting greens

5:45feels ridiculous and it's just been it's

5:47been a game changer

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5:58really if food food streams collapse if

6:01the big conventional models uh all

6:04struggle to move food around the globe

6:06these small community Farms are going to

6:08be a a sort of pillar for neighborhoods

6:10and for

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6:14communities we call our farm edible

6:17Uprising because we hope that we're kind

6:18of part of a movement of small farms

6:21that really can set the stage for this

6:24to be the norm not the

6:27anomaly when you reconnect with where

6:30growing food and where your food comes

6:32from there is something that just like

6:34lights a fire in you and I see it in all

6:36sorts of different people and we feel it

6:39really strongly

6:42too and so I get really motivated by the

6:45idea of community- based Farms where

6:47people have more accessibility uh to

6:49their food and that's something that uh

6:52sort of keeps me

6:55going I really love working outside I

6:58really do love the intensity of it even

7:01though it's sort of extreme at

7:03times and so what I really can't imagine

7:07doing anything

7:11different one of my favorite parts of

7:13the life is sitting outside at the end

7:15of the day and Grilling the food that

7:17we're growing and eating it with good

7:18people I mean that is like such a great

7:21sort of conclusion to every day there is

7:24a place for like joy in your growing

7:28space

7:36hi guys I'm Jonathan with Farmers friend

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