City Farmer
Periodical profile published 1978

Year Published:  1978  
Pages:  8-12pp  
Inactive Serial

Resource Type:  Serial Publication (Periodical)
Cx Number:  CX955

Based on the observation that hundreds of urban people, legally and illegally, are producing their own food, City Farmer is an alternative Vancouver newspaper concerned with all aspects of such urban agriculture.

Abstract:  Based on the observation that hundreds of urban people, legally and illegally, are producing their own food, City Farmer is an alternative Vancouver newspaper concerned with all aspects of such urban agriculture. It attempts to address many questions: e.g., how the food is produced, who are the farmers, how successful are they, what are the problems and how are they overcome. The newspaper is also oriented to the non-farmer in the city who is simply bewildered or feeling helpless at the rising cost of food.

Articles cover a variety of topics, including city legislation making chickens illegal in the city, hydroponics, slug removal, raising rabbits for meat, soil balancing, roof-top gardens.

The first issue (August, 1978), carries an article on "Outlaw Bees Keep City Blooming." Besides providing data on costs and honey yields, the article observes: "If it were true that there were no bees raised in the city, apple, pear, plum, cherry and peach trees would bear no fruit." The interviewee, Mr. X, further states that only the domestic bee is around to provide pollination for such crops in early Spring. The article therefore concludes: "And since bees will normally only forage a mile or so away from the home hive, it's reasonable to assume that there is someone with a backyard that is not quite what it appears to be, located every few blocks around Vancouver."


$2.50/5 issues; $5.00/10 issues.

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