Got Available Ground? Want Free Vegetables?

By RACHEL CROMIDAS for the Chicago News Cooperative
pub. July 16, 2010 in the New York Times

In return for vegetables rather than money, some Kenwood residents are letting their properties be used by community gardeners — many of them strangers — who are strapped for space.

This so-called urban sharecropping has also been growing in popularity in Austin, Tex., and Portland, Ore., thanks to networking Web sites.

Kenwood, known for its arts-and-crafts mansions and President Barack Obama’s house, is considered a natural place for the partnerships because thousands of square feet of lawns dot the blocks between 47th and 50th Streets.

“It’s an unusual relationship,” said Deborah Hammond, a gardener who tends to 300 square feet behind a three-story mansion. “I’m not a service provider, I’m not a friend of the family, but I have a key to the back gate.”

Her use of the land has involved negotiating with the homeowner over who would pay for topsoil (they do), and plants (she does), and what to grow.

My name is Rachel, I'm 19, and...

Who am I again? I've spent the past couple of weeks wrestling with various forms of the verb to be, (Wittgenstein would not be happy with me!) and shame on me for failing to even find the time to write a blog post. I may not have written all of it down, but I've been on a series of pretty involved searches for a summer job, an apartment to sublet with the boyfriend (found!), and places on campus and in Chicago that are thinking of sexuality and activism in the same ways as me. UChicago's student feminism group, Feminist Majority, has already pleasantly surprised me with some events on porn and communication that are all about getting people talking outside of their preconceptions.

In lieu of writing ten blog entries, here are four things I did this week that I promise to update readers on in the future:

1) Applied for a University of Chicago Summer Action Grant to spend the warmer months researching and reporting on the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid and its impact on South Siders. Wish me luck—it's $1,500.

2) Interviewed for a summer job at Backstory Cafe. They needed to hire someone right away, so that didn't work out for me (you know, with the whole four classes and one part-time job thing going on) But this place is cool! By far my favorite coffee hang-out on the South Side, Backstory follows a sustainable, community ethos that translate into tasty soups and sandwiches made from scratch, and interesting program ideas like movies and board-game nights.

3) Baked a delicious set of pumpkin empanadas. Yum. Recipes to come.

4) Scheduled the first University Community Service Center Book Club and potluck for Friday, May 1st from 7 to 9 pm. We're reading Gang Leader for Day, and all are welcome.

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And with that out of the way, Here is a pair of articles from the week that do everything for me but answer the question I posed above (Come on, neither of us really thought it was that easy):

*This just in! David Carr says Journalism is Dying! Really, we mean it this time. The NYTimes Media Equation columnist evaluates the state of the newsroom, again.


*In, "Tempest in a Compost Pile," Hyde Park Progress blogger "chicago pop" de-mystifies the ridiculousness behind the University's decision to close the 61st St. Community Garden. He tells it better than I could.

And lastly, I hope everyone here in Chicago enjoys the 70 degree weather.