Urban Community AgriNomics

By Secretary Derek Haynes I can remember the beginning of Urban Community AgriNomics, and our speaking of the visions and future of our work.  Our meetings, our seeing prospective areas, and now our having actual land we are actually building on!  To see the Catawba Trail Farm (CTF) become a reality after being a dream is simply astonishing!  A big thank you to the lovely people of Triangle Land Conservancy for collaborating with us! To see the volunteers come and help us also leaves me speechless!  These past workdays have been ice cold, and even super muddy, but we still had people willing to tough it out.  People willing to donate some sweat equity to further the set up of the CTF.  And so far, UCAN has hit the ground running with workdays, and progress of the garden area.  I truly cannot wait until the growing season comes, and we can provide fresh produce, and herbs! It is so great to see various people, of all l...

By Chris Fowler Published Jan. 2, 2018  Sandy Sweitzer and Delphine Sellars hold the signed agreement.  Urban Community AgriNomics (UCAN) and Triangle Land Conservancy (TLC) entered into a User License Agreement on November 16, 2017 to activate an old farmstead on TLC’s Snow Hill IV conservation property in northern Durham County. UCAN is creating the Catawba Trail Farm in Durham as an aspiring agricultural center.  Initial steps will include the creation of a raised-bed and traditional-planting gardens, maintenance of the Catawba Indian trail, and restoration of existing structures. Delphine Sellars, Chair of UCAN Board, explains “We are extremely happy to have reached this point, following a year of negotiation and planning.  UCAN will connect with local schools, neighborhoods and organizations in providing a place to learn to grow, prepare and preserve fresh veggies, engage in STEM activities, and benefit from natural green spaces. This is an exciti...

By Shanell Davis Hello, my name is Shanell. I was invited to the UCAN MLK Project through a friend and co-worker, Lucille Patterson. When I arrived at the location, it was very cold. Mrs. Patterson and other helpers had snacks, fresh fruits, water, coffee, and energy drinks. Then, Mrs. Patterson encouraged me to go look at the area where they were going to start gardening. The area looked big and spacious. When I returned to the area where she was; I helped her at the registration table. The volunteers were coming despite the cold weather.  We had other curious drivers passing along stopping every once and while asking, “What are you guys doing today?”  Mrs. Patterson and other helpers answered with glee saying, “We are building a community gardening!” Once all the volunteers arrived, Mrs. Patterson and I headed to the community area. My job was to take photos of the volunteers working and the area. As I was taking photos, I saw the different houses and I asked ,“What...

By Kyle Kramer, Volunteer The ground was frozen solid when we showed up at the Catawba Trail Farm site early in the morning on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to help with building the new UCAN community garden. The farm site is hidden a few hundred feet back along the old dirt drive, with the cleared garden plot alongside several old farm buildings—some more salvageable than others. Surrounded by massive oak trees and quiet groves of cedar, it's a tranquil place to gather. Some of the volunteers were just about frozen solid too, so the first order of business was building two fires to keep warm! Fortunately Triangle Land Conservancy's AmeriCorps member Molly had a collapsible fire pit on hand and we found an old tin barrel to start the day out with a blaze. One team of volunteers worked on measuring and staking out the locations for fence posts for the garden, even getting marker flags into the ground required a hammer! However, the complicated conditions did create valuable c...

By Chair Delphine Sellars There is nothing like anticipation, waiting and time.  Your imagination gives way to all of the positive things that could happen.  That is if you are a positive person such as I.  You consider how others will or will not react. Oh, anticipation!  Then there is the reality.  A reality that is not even close to your anticipation; best not to over anticipate. That's how I felt up to and including our Martin Luther King, Jr  Workdays.  In less than three weeks, prior to MLK, a small group of UCAN Board and non-board members managed to harvest logs/wood, assess the structures, clear common areas and completely clear the future garden area.  Wow, all this with the weather being less than desired.  We had a lot of pre-work to do before MLK! The entire MLK weekend was cold, cold, cold!  And the volunteers came, yes they did.  The weather & temperature did not stop people from coming out to volunteer....