[Full Length] Unexpected Agricultures — with Michael Ableman

“One thing I realized early on was the incredible importance of observation. It is probably the most important agricultural skill. It’s amazing what you learn to see.”

- Michael Ableman

SYNOPSIS:

Michael Ableman is a farmer, author, photographer and urban food systems activist. Michael has been farming organically since the early 1970′s and is considered one of the pioneers of the organic farming and urban agriculture movements. He founded North America’s largest urban farm in downtown Vancouver, that employs people who are experiencing long term addiction and mental illness. Michael lives on his farm on Salt Spring Island, which I can only describe as the most glorious farm I have ever visited.

His story will inspire you to get dirt under your nails, to communicate and walk with the land in a whole new way, and to gain a greater understanding of how the act of farming can heal a divided society. Michael is exceptionally rare in his ability to blend the most pragmatic and captivating elements of farming with profound reflections on philosophy and life. Enjoy this soulful and illuminating interview.

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GUEST BIO:

Michael Ableman is a farmer, author, photographer and urban and local food systems advocate. Michael has been farming organically since the early 1970′s and is considered one of the pioneers of the organic farming and urban agriculture movements. He is a frequent lecturer to audiences all over the world, and the winner of numerous awards for his work.

Ableman is the author of four trade published books: From the Good Earth: A celebration of growing food around the world; On Good Land: The autobiography of an urban farm; Fields of Plenty: A farmer’s journey in search of real food and the people who grow it, and most recently Street Farm; Growing Food, Jobs, and Hope on the Urban Frontier.

He is the founder of the Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens in Goleta, California where he farmed for 20 years; co-founder and director of Sole Food Street Farms and the charity Cultivate Canada in Vancouver, British Columbia; and founder and director of the Center for Arts, Ecology and Agriculture based at his family home and farm on Salt Spring Island. For more on Michael: https://michaelableman.com/.

QUOTES:

• One thing I realized early on was the incredible importance of observation. It is probably the most important agricultural skill. It’s amazing what you learn to see.

• Two or three times a week I walk through my farm with a notebook. And while I don't hear voices, the plants, the animals and the soil do in fact tell me what they need. And I mean that very directly. From those walks results a very clear list of the projects and needs of the week.

• When you enter the world of the farm and the farming community, you have to accept that it’s unlike the dominant industrial model of agriculture where the farmer is like a general standing in the field fighting off invading forces. At some point, if you're going to do it well, you have to find your way into the slipstream of biological activity of the natural world and see yourself as only one piece of this system.

• Our intention for (Sole Food Street Farms) was merely to give people a reason to get out of bed each day, a sense of purpose and belonging, with fertile soil to put their hands, and a sense of producing for the local community. Something real and tangible. We have people working with us to this day who've been with us for 13 years, who never previously held a job for even four or five months.

SHOW NOTES

• Michael Ableman: https://michaelableman.com/

• Sole Food Street Farms: https://solefoodfarms.com/

• Foxglove Farm: https://foxglovefarmbc.com/

LINKS:

FOOD SYSTEMS AND AGRICULTURE

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