The Fertile Ground of Urban Milwaukee:
Washington Park, Sherman Park Neighborhoods
What is a Food Desert?
A Food Desert is "a low-income tract with at least 500 people, or 33% of the population, living more than 1 mile (urban areas) or more than 20 miles (rural areas) from the nearest supermarket, supercenter, or large grocery store." [1] Technically, neither Sherman Park nor Washington Park are Food Deserts due to a single Pick'nSave supermarket in the area. Instead people have taken to declaring the neighborhoods as Food Swamps. The idea being that there is indeed some food accessible, but very little if any is wholesome or nutritious. North Avenue Food Scape Map
Why Pick'nSave alone does not solve the issue Much of the available food on North Avenue between Kilbourn Reservoir Park and 51st Street is sold by corner stores, whose primary sales go to tobacco. A large portion of the remaining establishments include fast food restaurants. There are groups in these neighborhoods petitioning for a new grocery store, but this solution is not holistic. Supermarkets are stakeholders in this, too. They rely on constant sales throughout the month and volume to turn enough profit to remain. According to the Food Marketing Institute, supermarkets averaged less than 2% profit after taxes in 2015. [2] North Avenue Food Landscape Sherman Park Food Justice Limited Food Access and its Lifetime Affects
Reoccurring, serious health issues from heart disease, diabetes, obesity, to reproductive concerns, and even mental health are all byproducts of repeatedly eating greasy, sugary, fried fast foods. Health on Milwaukee's North Side click here Along with sever health issues, a lack of access to raw food material can keep community members from cooking homemade meals, and enjoying the sense of identity cooking and food can bring. Some may feel a loss of identity from the loss of cultural cooking practices because they can not purchase the food necessary. However, Sherman Park and Washington Park residents have refused to accept starving in a urban desert, and are instead actively participating in strategies to redefine their neighborhood as no longer a Food Desert but a Food Destination. Southeastern Wisconsin grew up at the intersection of industry and agriculture." Brief History of Urban Farming/Gardening in Milwaukee:
Even before Wisconsin official claimed statehood, agriculture was a means of livelihood in the area today called Milwaukee. Milwaukee’s new inhabitant’s, early European settlers, built up thriving markets such as in Haymarket Square and the Center Street Market. Even by the early 1900’s, the concept of beautifying the city was appearing across the nation. In Milwaukee the City Beautiful movement partnered with another practical problem in the city, the need for further accessibility of food. A city farmer, Dr. S.D. Mischoff declared, “beautify the vacant lots of Milwaukee by amateur gardening, " addressing both issues at once. Milwaukee’s residents took to their citizen gardening like guardians serving and protecting the community as a whole. Beautify the vacant lots of Milwaukee by amateur gardening." Gardening would continue to be a strategy successfully implemented by the people of Milwaukee through both World Wars. As the agriculture industry suffered due to a loss of workers and a need for war rations, growing one’s own food or extra food became an invaluable skill. Milwaukee’s residents were known for their successful war gardens during WWI, as well as their strong participation in the Victory gardens movement of WWII, which continues today across the city. These Victory Gardens, maintained by everyday citizens were typically 20-30 feet large. [3]
At this time households growing their own sustainable food grew from 30.2% to 54.8%, over half the city’s population assisted in the supplying food at this crucial time in history." After the end of the wars, the urgent need to garden one’s own food ebbed. Gardening around Milwaukee transformed into a mere hobby instead of an obligation or a commitment to one’s community. By the 1960’s gardening became a luxury for those with extra time and the extra resources to join social clubs such as the Milwaukee Urban League, 4-H Clubs, or the University of Wisconsin-Extension program based in Wauwatosa. Although these clubs may not have been accessible to all people, they did strive to continue community gardening for those in less developed portions of the city. Specifically the large African-American population on Milwaukee’s north side who were feeling the loss of deindustrialization the hardest. Community gardening would once again be implemented to “teach city dwellers valuable skills and provide the with a tangible, useful product – healthy food.” [4]
Since the 1970's community gardening programs have come and gone, growing out of the Park West Freeway protests and the newer waves of Asian-American immigrants moving to the north side of Milwaukee. All the below Milwaukee based urban gardening programs share a common goal of social justice and community building, many of which still exhibit today in and near the Sherman/Washington Park Neighborhoods.
For further information on current Food Activism check out 'THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF GROWING, COOKING AND SHARING FOOD' AT NO STUDIOS from 88.9 Radio Milwaukee. Created By Rebecca Schnabel |
Surviving the Dessert, Cultivating the Swamp:
Milwaukee's Urban Gardeners Guarding not only the health of the people and of the land, Urban Gardeners also protect the identity and culture local foods bring to communities, neighborhoods, families, and individuals. Who can make this food? Gardeners, Cooks, anyone and everyone can be producers of nutritious food. Meet some of the active community members who grow and create healthy food options every season. The Guardian Gardeners of Washington Park. "...it doesn't affect us personally because I have a car and I can get to where I need to go. But a lot of people in this neighborhood do not and it is a real negative thing." Many residents in this area do not own their own vehicles, which is a major factor in restricting food accessibility. However, these neighborhoods are transforming themselves from Food Deserts into food destinations through specific strategies such as Urban Gardens, Community Restaurants, shared Community Kitchens, local cooking classes, backyard barbecues with neighbors, and family dinners. By growing their own food through gardens, and rescuing food usually destined for the waste pile, these communities are redefining their identity, no longer as one of neglect, but as hard working and deeply caring individuals.
Where to find and buy healthy, wholesome food options?
Local Restaurants:
Community Gardens:
Local Delis:
Coffeeshops:
Farmers Markets:
People are even growing their own food in their own backyards with Victory Gardens, in planter boxes and burlap sacks there are many different ways to grow and cultivate the inner city landscape. What does food mean to you? What can food mean to a community?
Food is a substance to fuel a healthy, hardy physical body, but it is also a window to varying cultures from different families to different nationalities food is a part of a person's identity. Flavor preferences and cook tactics are honored traditions to be cherished and rejoiced. Cooking is a social events as well as a self-reflective tool to honor yourself, your heritage, and your current community. Food can both demonstrate human variation as well as serving as a contact zone bringing diverse neighbors together over breaking bread. For example, click here to learn more about Tables Across Boarders, and how local restaurants are aiding new immigrant chefs, supporting both individuals and their families, as well as the larger community as a whole through community food and community kitchens. For further information on food and culture, check out the Hmong Food Landscape here. |
Links Section:
- Food Justice - Jessica Sherlock
- Food Justice in Sherman Park
- [1] "Food Access Research Documentation," USDA, last modified December 05, 2017.
- [2] "Grocery Store Chains Net Profit," Food Marketing Institute, last modified October, 2017.
- Countermapping Sherman/Washington Park
- [3] Carriere, Michael. Growing Place: A Visual Study of Urban Farming. Grohmann Museum. MSOE University. Milwaukee, WI. January 2019.
- [4] Carriere, Growing Place: A Visual Study of Urban Farming, January 2019.
- Sherman Park Community Association
- Growing Power (Will Allen)
- Alice's Garden Website
- Walnut Way Conservation Corp
- Fuster, Vianca. "Big time food activists gather at No Studios to talk about food equity 'THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF GROWING, COOKING AND SHARING FOOD' AT NO STUDIOS." 88.9 Radio Milwaukee. April 2019.
- The People of Washington Park
- Amaranth Bakery & Café
- Tricklebee Café
- South East Asian Educational Development of Wisconsin Inc. (SEAED)
- Further Documentaries
- Tables Across Boarders
- Hmong Food Landscape
- Margaret Pettygrove & Rina Ghose (2018) “From ‘Rust Belt’ to ‘Fresh Coast’: Remaking the City through Food Justice and Urban Agriculture,” Annals of the American Association of Geographers108: 2, (2018) 591-603,
- Mike Carriere, Antoine Carter and Fidel Verdin, “Farming the Revolution,” Aggregate2, (March, 2015), http://we-aggregate.org/piece/farming-the-revolution, (Accessed December 20, 2015).
- Rina Ghose, and Margaret Pettygrove, “Urban Community Gardens as Spaces of Citizenship.” Antipode46: 4, (2014): 1092-1112.
- Jennifer R. Wolch, Jason Byrne, Joshua P. Newell, “Urban Green Space, Public Health, and Environmental Justice: The Challenge of Making Cities ‘Just Green Enough’ Landscape and Urban Planning125 (2014) 234–244, http://ced.berkeley.edu/downloads/research/LUP.parks.pdf, (Accessed October 28, 2017).
Scholarly Works for further consideration:
ghose_from_rust_belt_to_fresh_coast_remaking_the_city_through_food_justice_and_urban_agriculture.pdf |
carriere_carter_verdin_farming_the_revolution.pdf |
ghose_urban_gardens.pdf |
jennifer_r._wolch_urban_green_space_public_health.pdf |
why_the_‘greening’_of_vacant_land_is_a_smart_.pdf |
schnabel_foodjustice_milwaukee.pdf |