Breaking through concrete : building an urban farm revival / David Hanson and Edwin Marty ; photographs by Michael Hanson ; foreword by Mark Winne.

Includes bibliographical references.

P-Patch Community Garden Program, Seattle, Washington : The neighborhood garden ; How to change your city's urban agriculture zoning codes -- Homeless garden project, Santa Cruz, California : The farm as therapy ; How to grow good, safe food -- Fairview Gardens and the Center for Urban Agriculture, Santa Barbara, California : The historic farm ; How to plant perennial fruit trees in the city -- Denver urban gardens, Denver, Colorado : The garden as community ; How to turn your waste into black gold compost -- Juniper gardens and Cultivate Kansas City [Center for Urban Agriculture, Kansas City], Kansas and Missouri : The farm for profit ; How to access start-up capital for urban food projects -- Versailles community, New Orleans, Louisiana : Backyards of bounty ; How to develop a congregational urban farm -- Jones Valley urban farm, Birmingham, Alabama : The education and production farm ; How to engage the community with education programs -- Greensgrow farms and the Philadelphia project, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : The nonprofit, for-profit farm ; How to rehabilitate contaminated soils -- Eagle Street rooftop farm, Brooklyn, New York : The rooftop farm ; How to convert rooftops to residential gardens and urban farms -- Catherine Ferguson Academy, Detroit, Michigan : The alternative curriculum farm ; How to raise urban livestock -- Wood Street Urban Farm and Growing Home, Chicago, Illinois : The job training farm ; How to extend the growing season with hoop houses and greenhouses -- Sandhill Organics and Prairie Crossing, Grayslake, Illinois : The peri-urban farm ; How to start an urban farm.

People have always grown food in urban spaces--on windowsills and sidewalks, and in backyards and neighborhood parks--but today, urban farmers are leading an environmental and social movement that transforms our national food system. To explore this agricultural renaissance, brothers David and Michael Hanson and urban farmer Edwin Marty document twelve successful urban farm programs, from an alternative school for girls in Detroit, to a backyard food swap in New Orleans, to a restaurant supply garden on a rooftop in Brooklyn. Each beautifully illustrated essay offers practical advice for budding farmers.