Growlots Philadelphia the Book!

Since our last post we have been extremely busy. As you all know growlotsphiladelphia.com and growlotsphiladelphianetwork.com are fully functioning websites that are up and running. It has already gained members, but we hope that many more of you will join and use this new resource. In addition to creating the website we also presented our work and compiled a book that documents our research. “Growlots Philadelphia: Integrative Development for Philadelphia’s Urban Agriculture Movement” can be viewed at Issuu.com. The book is also available to download or purchase from Lulu.com. Thank you all for your participation throughout the semester, and we look forward to any comments you have on our book, the website, or on how urban agriculture communication is growing in Philadelphia.

“Design Does” and Presenting Growlots

Since the “Garden Party” we have been working away to create our final presentation and posters for Design Does, The University of the Arts’ all inclusive design show. It is the first time in the University of the Arts’ history that multiple design departments  joined together for their end of the year showings. “Design Does” included work from the Masters of Industrial Design, Industrial Design, Museum Studies, Graphic Design, and Multimedia departments. The show was bustling and we were glad to have our website as a part of the event.

The following week we defended our research and the website during a series of Thesis Presentations. To get a quick recap of our research take a look at our presentation below.

Through the Rain, Growlots Shines

The “Garden Party” was a success, despite a brief torrential down pour students, gardeners, farmers, nonprofits representatives and members of local government met at the University of the Art’s new rooftop to garden to celebrate the launch of Growlots Philadelphia a dual website that ties together collaborative content management with social networking, visit http://growlotsphiladelphia.com and http://growlotsphiladelphianetwork.com, described by some as Philadelphia’s newest and sharpest gardening tool. We presented our our project and afterwards the new website administrators Sarah Wu and Nic Esposito said a few encouraging words about how they envision the website assisting in the city’s urban agriculture development. Check out the party pictures below, and thank you to everyone that came out, it was great to see all of you!

THIS THRUSDAY!!! APRIL 22nd 5-7PM “GARDEN PARTY in the LIVING ROOM”

We are in the final days of preparation and are excited to be hosting the first event at UArts rooftop garden. We can not wait to share the newly designed collaborative content management system that you all inspired. Just to remind you one last time the event will be at 401 S. Broad Street, the Gershman Y.  We will have a very brief presentation of this thesis project and the website. There will also be a short talk about the roof top and how it was given new life by a team of industrial design seniors for the capstone project. The presentations will be between 5:30-6-00pm. If you are interested in what you have read on the blog throughout these past few months please be sure to come for our talk. The rest of the event is for searching through the new website and enjoying the warm sun and soft breeze in this developing garden space. We are looking forward to meeting/seeing you again this Thursday evening.

Hope to See You All at the Party April 22!

The website is just about complete and to celebrate its arrival we would like to invite each and everyone of you out to “The Living Room” for a rooftop garden party. The “Living Room” was constructed throughout this semester as a capstone project by a group of graduating industrial design seniors, at the University of the Arts. This  party is a ground breaking event for the garden and for the website. Please feel free to come and invite anyone who is interested in urban agriculture, greening, eating, listening to music, and having a great time. The Garden Party will be on April 22nd, from 5-7 pm. Spend a part of your Earth Day at “The Living Room” located on the top floor of the Gershman Y Building located on 401 S. Broad Street Philadelphia PA. We Look forward to seeing you all soon!

Plugging Away

The collaborative content management site is more than half way complete. Megan has been working feverishly to transform CSS codes into interesting virtual environments. We are looking forward to revealing the site to each of you. To celebrate the arrival of this site, we would like to invite all of you to a rooftop garden get together on Earth Day. It will be somewhat of a website launch party to give everyone an opportunity to check out the new site.  The garden party will also be an opportunity for anyone who would like to become a member to join on the spot and start adding information right away. We are still ironing out the details but we will keep you all up to date. Be sure to pencil us in as a stop on your Earth Day events calender.

Making It Work

We have completed categorizing every resource we could find, although we are sure that there is more to be added. We also have considered how that information can be given back to all of you. We worked on a few prototypes and decided on a collaborative content managment system. It is a system where multiple members can join and edit the content they see. It ensures that whatever information that is available is as recent as possible. It also ensures that anyone can link the system to a pre-existing website. We hope that all growers, nonprofit representatives, and local government officials will feel enabled to use and link the system to their own work. It would become a tool for each group involved in the movement, and potentially act as a connecting bridge between different interests. We reviewed our collaborative content management prototype with our thesis committee and recieved very positive feedback. We will keep you updated on the progress of the system in the weeks to come.

Showing the Movement as a System

After speaking and listening to many of your views, we have reached the point where we feel comfortable using organizational design to visualize what is occurring in the movement. Previously, others have categorized city efforts based on the relationships between different groups. We began to tread the same path when we realized that we were going in the wrong direction. Initially we mapped the funding relationships and alliances that organizations shared. But while interviewing we became aware that so many of the organizations that have so many great tools to support growers are under utilized. But why is that the case? We realized that many growers have particular perceptions of which nonprofit organizations offer resources. The key to showing the movement as a whole is to focus on the services, programs, and tools that different organizations can provide. We are organizing and categorizing everything that has been accomplished to show the strengths of urban agriculture efforts in Philadelphia.

The Entreprenuerial Farmer

Over the past six months another reoccuring theme of discussion has been whether or not being a farmer is a viable profession to live off of. Many argue that there is no point for small scale farmers to even attempt competition against agribusiness giants. While others contend that the small scale regional farming is essential to maintaining higher standards of freshness, and to offer consumers the satisfaction of knowing they are contributing to their local economy. Of course we value the later as one way of sustaining Philadelphia’s regional food shed. However we know from speaking to local farmers that it can be difficult to create and follow through with a business plan. A number of workshops have been developed to aid this issue and one is taking place tomorrow evening at The Enterprise Center on 4548 Market St. There will be classes on writing a business plan and pricing produce for market. Each class is $10, if you are interested and have any questions email Nicole Sugerman at nicole.sugerman@gmail.com.

Access or Culture? You Decide!

Over the past weeks we’ve had many interesting conversations about how urban agriculture relates to the bigger issues of food access and food culture. Some argue that access is more important. Without grocery stores, farmers markets and other fresh food sources there is no infrastructure to support the efforts of nutrtion education, cooking and neighborhood produce growing programs. Others believe that even if the grocery stores are available that is no guarntee that residents will use the resources that are avaiable to them. Rather it is more important to tackle the American mindset of convience and speed instead of building more markets. There is no doubt that both issues go hand in hand but what can be tackled more immediately? or which of the two will have more immediate results? Add to the conversation tell us what you think.