Culinate Newsletter: Truck Farm, woks, Japanese picnics, Velvet Chicken with Asparagus

Dear readers,

Awhile back we hosted Curt Ellis on the site, blogging about his film “King Corn,” among other things. Now Curt and his collaborator Ian Cheney are working on a new project — well, a couple of them actually. One is helping to set up FoodCorps, a food-centric national volunteer program that brings gardens to public schools.

Another is Truck Farm, in which the two planted a garden in the bed of Ian’s old Dodge pickup in Brooklyn, raising food awareness as the “crops” grew. Now, Curt and Ian are using Kickstarter to raise money for a documentary about urban farming in New York. Curt writes:

“Traveling in Ian’s mobile garden (itself a central character), we’ve filmed rooftop farms selling produce on a commercially viable scale, vacant lots being reclaimed for school food, and barges populated with chickens laying harbor-fresh eggs.… We don’t claim that these projects on the frontiers of urban agriculture will answer the challenge of feeding 7 billion people healthfully and sustainably, but we think they’re engaging enough and ingenious enough that they can help do something just as important: motivate the rest of us to think creatively about how to make fresh, healthy food available to all.”

Got some spare change? Check out the project, and then join us in supporting the efforts of these energetic and creative people. But hurry: To qualify for funds, they have to reach their goal of $15,000 by June 10.

Kim Carlson
Editorial Director