Fieldhands and Foodways

Project Overview

YENC10-034
Project Type: Youth Educator
Funds awarded in 2010: $2,000.00
Projected End Date: 12/31/2012
Region: North Central
State: Wisconsin
Project Manager:
Venice Williams
Center for Resilient Cities

Annual Reports

Information Products

Commodities

  • Agronomic: peanuts, potatoes, sorghum (milo), sugarbeets
  • Fruits: melons
  • Vegetables: sweet potatoes, beans, beets, cabbages, carrots, cucurbits, greens (leafy), onions, peas (culinary), peppers, sweet corn, tomatoes, turnips
  • Additional Plants: herbs

Practices

  • Crop Production: crop rotation, cover crops, irrigation, no-till
  • Education and Training: demonstration, study circle, youth education
  • Farm Business Management: new enterprise development, value added
  • Pest Management: biological control, compost extracts, eradication, field monitoring/scouting
  • Production Systems: agroecosystems, permaculture, transitioning to organic
  • Soil Management: earthworms, organic matter, soil analysis
  • Sustainable Communities: community planning, ethnic differences/cultural and demographic change, leadership development, partnerships, urban agriculture, social capital, sustainability measures, community development

    Proposal abstract:

    In a recent SARE publication entitled, Land and Power: Sustainable Agriculture and African Americans, editors noted that SARE “seek[s] to develop more concrete thinking and identification with Black agrarian thought and its applications to Black American farming, sustainable agriculture, and professional development opportunities.”

    Center for Resilient Cities shares in SARE’s mission, seeking to educate central-city Milwaukee youth and families about sustainable agriculture through FIELDHANDS AND FOODWAYS: an agricultural, historical and cultural program celebrating the farming, food preparation, and folkways of African Americans and Africans throughout the Diaspora.

    The program will be held at Alice's Garden: an urban agriculture site rich in agricultural and African American history. Located in Milwaukee’s urban core, the Garden and its surroundings were once a farm owned by Deacon Samuel Brown. In 1842, Farmer Brown provided safe passage to a young, freedom-seeker named Caroline Quarlls, thus marking Wisconsin’s first stop on the Underground Railroad. Students will learn more about Ms. Quarlls and this National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Site on a program visit to the Kenosha Civil War Museum.

    Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.