Having grown up St. Mary’s County, Maryland, I’ve always felt a great affection for the farm landscapes that dominated my childhood. I loved watching the summer thunderstorms roll across the fields, walking the rows of corn, or smelling the fragrance of drying tobacco on my way to school. While I have dabbled in backyard gardening since moving to more urban locales it was only during the creation of this photo essay that I really began to see the many facets of the urban farmscape. It is a landscape that exhibits a perfect blend of what I cherish in urban life with the slower elements of rural life. The farmers I met have a deep connection to the seasons and the land, which they often need to coax into productivity with nothing less than brute force. There is also a palpable sense of community and hometown pride, hope literally sprouting from long abandoned lands across the city. From the various murals that illustrate the intersection of urban life and farming, to the high tunnels and row crops in Clifton Park, to the backyard chicken coops and vacant lot veggies, this essay only begins to scratch the surface of the many faces and forces behind the Baltimore urban farming movement!

Thanks to the following for their participation in this project!

Real Food Farm
Tyler C. Brown, Baltimore, MD
Baltimore Free Farm
Nick and Kelly Lindow, Baltimore, MD
32^nd Street (Waverly) Farmers Market
Saratoga Farmers Market
Farm Alliance of Baltimore City
Gardeners Gourmet, 3201 Uniontown Road, Westminster, MD 21158
Various artists, murals, Baltimore, MD

Video: Real Food Farm-Urban Agriculture in the Heart of Baltimore City