Diving into community design with Agrihoods

In This Podcast: We dive into what AgriHoods are and their transformative impact on communities. Hosts Sarah Rosenberger and Matthew Geldin from Farmscape discuss their roles and experiences with AgriHood projects. Sarah explains her background in urban farming and her journey through various community-based agricultural programs, while Matthew shares his expertise in vegetable gardening and farm maintenance.

We explore the concept of AgriHoods, which are communities centered around agricultural amenities like farms and gardens. Key benefits include providing access to nourishing food, encouraging outdoor activity, and fostering a sense of community. They highlight successful projects such as Rancho Mission Viejo and the challenges of implementing AgriHoods, emphasizing the importance of intentional design and adequate funding.

Our Guests: Sarah has been working at Agrihood sites since 2015 and works for Farmscape in a few different roles. She is passionate about designing programs that exist at the intersection between farms, ecology and human residents. After nearly a decade of working in these types of programs she serves as a consultant for developers of all scales to implement edible and ecologically vibrant amenity spaces and engagement programs. 

Matthew has been Farmscape’s Head Farmer in Southern California since 2014, overseeing the weekly maintenance of hundreds of projects from backyard gardens to neighborhood farms. He is an expert in raised bed vegetable gardening and developed the company’s farming service manual.

Sarah's Book Recommendation - The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker

Matthew's Book Recommendation - The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan

Visit UrbanFarm.org/FarmscapeAgrihood for the show notes and links on this episode!

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