Comments on: What Does it Mean to be Queer in the World of Urban Farming? http://www.urbanfarmhub.org/2010/02/what-does-it-mean-to-be-queer-in-the-world-of-urban-farming/ Puget Sound's Urban Farming Resource Sat, 28 Jan 2012 05:31:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Natalie Boustead http://www.urbanfarmhub.org/2010/02/what-does-it-mean-to-be-queer-in-the-world-of-urban-farming/comment-page-1/#comment-15057 Natalie Boustead Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:25:40 +0000 http://www.urbanfarmhub.org/?p=1504#comment-15057 Hi there! I came accross your blog while doing a bit of research on queer urban farming, and really liked the article and also the question posed in response to how "queer" farming is a different form of radicalization than for cis gendered farmers. I have recently published an article about being a queer urban farmer in the November 2011 issue of Curve magazine. In this article, I talked about the modern realities of queers finding more community in city centres than in rural areas. This is due to a lot of different reasons, but has created a diasporic culture for many queers in the city, who have left their rural upbringings to try and find their place in urban centres where they can find community and acceptance not offered in their small towns. Many of these people (including myself), I would argue, perhaps do not even desire to live in an urban centre, but are nearly forcibly pushed out of small rural communities due to lack of support and queer-positive community. Therefore, I see urban farming as an interim resolution to the disconnect from the small-town life that some of us desire, which includes a focus on farming, a connection to the land, and a slower-paced lifestyle not often offered in the city. By creating farming and gardening spaces in an urban setting, queers are not just resisting the patriarchal systems which have denied us knowledge and access to the basic fundamentals of life, Food, but also we as queers are attempting to find a way to reclaim a more rurally-oriented lifestyle, while still being surrounded by the community offered to us in city centres. I would like to see more queer communities popping up outside of urban spaces, and they are, but it is a slow process, and often more isolated than connected to the surrounding community. For now urban farming provides a great balance for queers looking to balance between two worlds. Hi there! I came accross your blog while doing a bit of research on queer urban farming, and really liked the article and also the question posed in response to how “queer” farming is a different form of radicalization than for cis gendered farmers. I have recently published an article about being a queer urban farmer in the November 2011 issue of Curve magazine. In this article, I talked about the modern realities of queers finding more community in city centres than in rural areas. This is due to a lot of different reasons, but has created a diasporic culture for many queers in the city, who have left their rural upbringings to try and find their place in urban centres where they can find community and acceptance not offered in their small towns. Many of these people (including myself), I would argue, perhaps do not even desire to live in an urban centre, but are nearly forcibly pushed out of small rural communities due to lack of support and queer-positive community. Therefore, I see urban farming as an interim resolution to the disconnect from the small-town life that some of us desire, which includes a focus on farming, a connection to the land, and a slower-paced lifestyle not often offered in the city.

By creating farming and gardening spaces in an urban setting, queers are not just resisting the patriarchal systems which have denied us knowledge and access to the basic fundamentals of life, Food, but also we as queers are attempting to find a way to reclaim a more rurally-oriented lifestyle, while still being surrounded by the community offered to us in city centres. I would like to see more queer communities popping up outside of urban spaces, and they are, but it is a slow process, and often more isolated than connected to the surrounding community. For now urban farming provides a great balance for queers looking to balance between two worlds.

]]> By: cityville http://www.urbanfarmhub.org/2010/02/what-does-it-mean-to-be-queer-in-the-world-of-urban-farming/comment-page-1/#comment-7889 cityville Fri, 14 Jan 2011 14:50:47 +0000 http://www.urbanfarmhub.org/?p=1504#comment-7889 Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wished to say that I have truly enjoyed surfing around your blog posts. In any case I'll be subscribing to your rss feed and I hope you write again soon! Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wished to say that I have truly enjoyed surfing around your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your rss feed and I hope you write again soon!

]]> By: jess http://www.urbanfarmhub.org/2010/02/what-does-it-mean-to-be-queer-in-the-world-of-urban-farming/comment-page-1/#comment-2573 jess Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:51:47 +0000 http://www.urbanfarmhub.org/?p=1504#comment-2573 As a fellow queer urban farmer, I am also interested in these issues but I struggle to make connections when this stuff comes up in conversation. Is the garden an extension of my radicalization? Would my urban food production be less radical if my sexuality was different? I have had wonderful queer-friendly hetero allies who started amazing, inspirational community gardens producing food for schools, children, food banks, etc. Is that more radical than my own, queer, self-sufficiency efforts in my yard? How is my small-scale production different from my (hetero) neighbor's similarly organic, heirloom, non-GMO edible landscape? The yards look the same when you walk or bike past them. I don't (never would even consider) fly a rainbow flag in my microfarm. I think, sometimes, of the luxurious free time of childless or childfree people, and how much more food I might grow if I weren't protecting the plants from a teen in addition to slugs, squirrels and deer. But more and more in our modern queer landscape, being childless or childfree is not a function of queerness, but of choice. I am in support of this evolution, obviously, but it does complicate the pictures of our stereotypical lifestyles. Since sexuality and orientation are not necessarily tied to any specific lifestyle or set of choices (career, family, housing situation, etc), it is difficult for me to talk about queer urban farming as something that is momentous and exciting - although it feels like it should be, to me. If my sexuality and my farming are both extensions of my radicalization and political stance, are they related anywhere beyond the common hub of me? I can speak more easily about the radicalization of women farmers -- since women produce much/most of the small scale agricultural energy in the world, but own the very smallest percentage of anything, or reflect on the pastoral image of a hardworking farmer's wife, and how different her life is from mine even though we are, technically, both farmers' wives although I am in the (fortunate, i think?) position of also HAVING a farmer's wife. anyway, thanks for the thoughtful blog post! As a fellow queer urban farmer, I am also interested in these issues but I struggle to make connections when this stuff comes up in conversation. Is the garden an extension of my radicalization? Would my urban food production be less radical if my sexuality was different? I have had wonderful queer-friendly hetero allies who started amazing, inspirational community gardens producing food for schools, children, food banks, etc. Is that more radical than my own, queer, self-sufficiency efforts in my yard? How is my small-scale production different from my (hetero) neighbor’s similarly organic, heirloom, non-GMO edible landscape? The yards look the same when you walk or bike past them. I don’t (never would even consider) fly a rainbow flag in my microfarm.

I think, sometimes, of the luxurious free time of childless or childfree people, and how much more food I might grow if I weren’t protecting the plants from a teen in addition to slugs, squirrels and deer. But more and more in our modern queer landscape, being childless or childfree is not a function of queerness, but of choice. I am in support of this evolution, obviously, but it does complicate the pictures of our stereotypical lifestyles.

Since sexuality and orientation are not necessarily tied to any specific lifestyle or set of choices (career, family, housing situation, etc), it is difficult for me to talk about queer urban farming as something that is momentous and exciting – although it feels like it should be, to me. If my sexuality and my farming are both extensions of my radicalization and political stance, are they related anywhere beyond the common hub of me? I can speak more easily about the radicalization of women farmers — since women produce much/most of the small scale agricultural energy in the world, but own the very smallest percentage of anything, or reflect on the pastoral image of a hardworking farmer’s wife, and how different her life is from mine even though we are, technically, both farmers’ wives although I am in the (fortunate, i think?) position of also HAVING a farmer’s wife. anyway, thanks for the thoughtful blog post!

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