SPIN Farming

In 2010, after starting up an edible landscaping business in Durango, Colorado, my business partner and I began exploring alternative ideas for helping people to access fresh, locally grown vegetables on a budget. We discovered the concept of SPIN Farming, Small Plot Intensive Farming. You aggregate multiple lots to create enough acreage that supports your business as an urban farmer. The homeowner pays for water, lends you the land, and in return receives a weekly share of produce aggregated from all the lots being farmed.

In 2011, I dove deep into grad school for landscape architecture, which equated to learning computer programs and working behind a computer for 12 hours a day, every day. This was a totally different world for me and I quickly missed having my hands in the soil. So, after the Eat Here Now exhibit in 2012, I created a community of SPIN farms in North Park. I worked on five properties and transformed their grassy, underutilized spaces into gardens and farms. UCSD interns from the Urban Planning program jumped in to help with sowing, planting, harvesting and nourishing the soil. This labor of love became a study on whether a partnership structure with a local urban agriculture-focused non-profit could become a viable business or social enterprise that would increase healthy fresh food access, create productive and diverse urban landscapes and create water savings by employing water efficient systems.

COLLABORATORS:

Your Backyard Harvest
Emily Yeates - UCSD Urban Planning intern
Dylan Sacks - UCSD Urban Planning intern