Here's something I read in a publication of the American Planning Association:
"Changes in water availability and average temperatures [due to climate change] are projected to have substantial consequences for large-scale agricultural output ... Many U.S. communities are heavily reliant on food imported from distant states and countries ... strengthening and diversifying local food systems may be an important response to food security risks associated with climate change ..."
Last week when I was visiting the Valley Road micro-farm in downtown Reno I talked to Lawrence and Jeanette Belli, longtime Verdi residents who had stopped by the mini-farm to see what was going on.
Lawrence told me there used to be farm gardens like it all over the Truckee Meadows. He said many families in Sparks had huge vegetable gardens and what produce they didn't use for themselves they delivered to customers around town. He told me the whole place used to be farms and dairy farms. Reno in those days was self-sustaining, he said.
"A lot of people here raised their families off what they got keeping a few cows and a vegetable garden," according to Lawrence.
It appears we had more food security in Northern Nevada then than we do now. But one of the purposes of the Valley Road micro-farm is to change that. The farm is on a 5,000-square-foot lot where a house once stood. On it, they are raising several varieties of lettuce, beets, herbs, beans, corn, squash, cucumbers, eggplant and more. There are chickens and a hive full of honeybees. It's a lively place - while I was there several other people stopped by and several slowed down to look.
Carolyn VanLydegraf is working on the micro-farm this summer while she learns more about urban agriculture. Carolyn began thinking about agriculture when she worked at an organic farm in Ecuador. Looking for an opportunity to learn more when she returned home, she signed up to apprentice at the micro-farm. I mentioned all the attention the farm was getting from passersby.
One reason they started it, she said, is to give people an example of what you can grow in a medium-sized backyard. They offer gardening classes, but the garden is for more than education. Carolyn told me that their goal is to develop a functional small-scale organic farm in an urban setting, selling products to the local market and, eventually, operating as a profitable business.
It's an experiment, to be sure, but a delightful one - responding to the challenge of an uncertain climate future by greening up a neighborhood and cheering up passersby. If you're interested in trying some of their produce, their current customers include the Great Basin Coop, the 4th St. Bistro and the Dish Cafe.
• Anne Macquarie, a private sector urban planner, is a long time resident of Carson City.