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2nd out of 64 books
—
13 voters
The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities
by
Will Allen,
Charles Wilson (Goodreads Author)
A pioneering urban farmer and MacArthur “Genius Award” winner points the way to building a new food system that can feed—and heal—broken communities.
The son of a sharecropper, Will Allen had no intention of ever becoming a farmer himself. But after years in professional basketball and as an executive for Kentucky Fried Chicken and Procter & Gamble, Allen cashed in his...more
The son of a sharecropper, Will Allen had no intention of ever becoming a farmer himself. But after years in professional basketball and as an executive for Kentucky Fried Chicken and Procter & Gamble, Allen cashed in his...more
Hardcover, 256 pages
Published
May 10th 2012
by Gotham
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Being a middle-class white guy, I haven't had to spend much time thinking about the history of race and food in America. Will Allen, the son of African American sharecroppers, has spent a lot of time thinking about it. His thinking and actions have landed him a MacArthur Genius award for his work to bring good food and good jobs to those confronting the "lingering disparities in racial and economic justice." Using highly intensive growing techniques (composting, vermiculture, aquaculture, etc.)...more
p.35 "I believe that this quality of 'grit', the ability to withstand setbacks and disappointments, is more important to teach children than any facts we can cram into their heads."
p.63 "We all need a healthy environment and a community that lets us fulfill out potential."
p.73 "The benefits of the hard work that you do now may not be felt for a very long time. But if you plant seeds and continue to tend to them - and keep faith in the harvest - good things can come."
p.111 "... this experience sh...more
p.63 "We all need a healthy environment and a community that lets us fulfill out potential."
p.73 "The benefits of the hard work that you do now may not be felt for a very long time. But if you plant seeds and continue to tend to them - and keep faith in the harvest - good things can come."
p.111 "... this experience sh...more
"The Good Food Revolution" is a about former pro basketball player, Will Allen, who abandoned the corporate life and committed himself to creating urban farm centers across the country to people the value of locally grown food to healing our environment, improving our nutrition, creating economic opportunity and healing one another. Allen explores how USDA engineered corporate farming who uses harmful fertilizers and pesticides. Corporate farmers also drove the small farmer out of business. Alle...more
Great story! I learned about Will back in 07 and it's a joy to see how growing power has grown. The interwoven community stories make a great testimony for urban renewal!
Although the writing style was not the most sophisticated, I loved the way his story was told. He did a great job of highlighting the transforming effect growing food and being connected to your neighbors had on people. I want to compost more so I can grow better/more food!
History gives us the stories of influential people who sacrificed all to the better good. I feel like I've witnessed the growth of another icon to add to that list, Will Allen. Allen, the son of sharecroppers, embraced his inner farmer and revitalized a community while teaching us what Urban Farming is all about. His story isn't glam; it's about real life as a child of the 60's, his struggles as a pro basketball player, traveling saleman and a man with a dream. It's the story of the people he me...more
I first saw Will Allen in a documentary (now I can't remember which one, but it was obviously on eating locally / buying locally, etc). So when I saw a book come into the library by him, I had to check it out.
I did enjoy it and I did learn from it; he has some ideas on keeping your greenhouses warmer during the winter by putting chickens into them, and by putting compost piles into the corners to decompose throughout the winter (the decomposition process adding heat into the air). I liked these...more
I did enjoy it and I did learn from it; he has some ideas on keeping your greenhouses warmer during the winter by putting chickens into them, and by putting compost piles into the corners to decompose throughout the winter (the decomposition process adding heat into the air). I liked these...more
Will Allen is a bad ass. His story is inspiring and there's something for everyone in here - for the historian, the sociologist, the gardener, the farmer, the ecologist, the economist, the sports fan, the risk taker, the urban dweller/lover, the social worker, the entrepreneur. It's not the finest of writing, but there are plenty of moments of literary clarity to get you through. The story itself is engaging and uplifting. Throughout the book I kept thinking of different people I would recommend...more
Will Allen has done the road most of us travel and turned back.
An incredibly successful sales manager for Proctor & Gamble saw a dilapidated row of greenhouses in a run down urban area of Milwaukee and decided to make a change. Sounds simple dont it?
Probably the last generation of southern blacks to have farm experience, most men his age are wearing the suit or working the factory line, having turned their backs on the feet-in-the-dirt life that they saw break their parents as children. But...more
An incredibly successful sales manager for Proctor & Gamble saw a dilapidated row of greenhouses in a run down urban area of Milwaukee and decided to make a change. Sounds simple dont it?
Probably the last generation of southern blacks to have farm experience, most men his age are wearing the suit or working the factory line, having turned their backs on the feet-in-the-dirt life that they saw break their parents as children. But...more
In short, this book is a great inspiration. A combination of Will Allen's family history and his urban farming revolution, this book will inspire you to rethink what you're eating, who is growing it, and how you can help the food revolution Will began. I loved reading it and I really hope this book takes off!
He defies adversity and takes a gamble on a feeling in his soul that healthy fresh food should be for everyone, especially those who live in low income urban environments and growing healthy...more
He defies adversity and takes a gamble on a feeling in his soul that healthy fresh food should be for everyone, especially those who live in low income urban environments and growing healthy...more
At one point, while describing a friend and employee Will Allen writes:
"She wants me to tell her story now.
'Don't pretty it up,' she said.
Sometimes on the sidewalks of Milwaukee, there will be a flower or a tall weed sticking defiantly out of the tiniest crack in the concrete. I realize that human lives can be like that. People find a way to persist even when they are provided the narrowest possibility."
Allen tells the story of persistence, whether it be in the people he knows and lives and work...more
"She wants me to tell her story now.
'Don't pretty it up,' she said.
Sometimes on the sidewalks of Milwaukee, there will be a flower or a tall weed sticking defiantly out of the tiniest crack in the concrete. I realize that human lives can be like that. People find a way to persist even when they are provided the narrowest possibility."
Allen tells the story of persistence, whether it be in the people he knows and lives and work...more
Over the past few months, I've had a strong desire to read organic cookbooks and books about revolutionizing how and what we eat. THE GOOD FOOD REVOLUTION is the 'aha' that my soul has been searching for and I'm so glad to have finished it. Let me add, as a political science teacher, I tell my students that they can change the world starting in their own neighborhood. Allen proves me right as he dug in his heels and shared his vision of growing good food for his urban community. I know this is t...more
Summary: Will Allen is a former professional basketball player (mostly in Europe) and business man (mostly in Wisconsin). This story is about how he turned unused green houses from a defunct florist into the basis for a national urban food movement: Growing Power.
Thoughts: I heard about this book when Will Allen was interviewed on the radio show To The Best of our Knowledge, Will Allen on Urban Farming. From that interview, I expected a book about food policy. What I got was so much more than th...more
Thoughts: I heard about this book when Will Allen was interviewed on the radio show To The Best of our Knowledge, Will Allen on Urban Farming. From that interview, I expected a book about food policy. What I got was so much more than th...more
I kept seeing will's book reviewed in mother earth news and finally decided to read it. It wasn't quite what i expected. It was a lot more autobiographical than i expected. I think this added a lot to the treatise he was making about the need for replacing (or at least augmenting) factory farming with a smaller urban based community food production model. Will's story is inspiring for his determination to do what makes him happy, his resoluteness and 'sticktuitiveness' in the face of numerous ob...more
Wow. Will Allen is a game changer. Looking for an inspirational book? This is the book for you. Instead of hoping to change the food system, Will Allen changed it for many small inner-city communities...and it all started with a dream that he could do it. Believe in yourself and others will believe too is the main theme in this book. The work he does is amazing. If you're interested in eating locally, eating organically, or eating economically, if you like "foodie" books, if you like memoirs abo...more
Will Allen is a farmer and a retired basketball player from Wisconsin. He bought some greenhouses in 1993 to (make money and) provide some fresh food to a part of Milwaukee where there was a grocery black hole, and nothing fresh. This book follows his journeys from before getting the greenhouses to growing with the greenhouses. The stories of Will's family (who were farmers in the South) and the friends he works with. Way more than just what the title promised...
Makes me want to get my hands dir...more
Makes me want to get my hands dir...more
Mr. Allen the author runs a community garden in Milwaukee and heads an organization called Growing Power dedicated to urban farming. This book is his memoir. He came from a hardscrabble background and really made something of himself. He is an inspiration to us all and has touched a lot of lives through his community organizing and entrepreneurship. I enjoyed his ability to tinker with his operation and to always by looking for ways of doing things better, cheaper and differently.
An insightful, inspiring memoir/call for change by urban ag visionary Will Allen, with writer Charles Wilson. For all the books you may have read about changing our food system, you've never before heard from an American black farmer who works nationally and globally with underserved, multicultural communities. This is an honest story about Will Allen's search for meaning in his own life--and how his pioneering work in urban farming came to transform the lives of so many, often people who were p...more
This is a powerful and touching account of how a single person can get a community on board to make a vast difference and create a domino effect of “change” throughout the nation. Will Allen, once a sharecropper’s son, takes us through his journey of how he went from a professional basketball player, manager of several KFC chains and a salesman at Proctor and Gamble to return to doing the work he despised as a kid but later in life realized was his passion. Simply written with powerful messages,...more
Living in Madison, I had heard about the work Will Allen was doing for years. I was very excited to read his book and I was not disappointed. What a fascinating tale of his life journey to the work he is doing and his vision for his ideas and dreams to continue past his lifetime.
We recently moved to Craftsbury Common, Vermont, the home of Sterling College, which is small unique college devoted to sustainable agriculture and community.
Sterling is one of only seven Work-Learning-Service colleges...more
We recently moved to Craftsbury Common, Vermont, the home of Sterling College, which is small unique college devoted to sustainable agriculture and community.
Sterling is one of only seven Work-Learning-Service colleges...more
This book combines a bit of memoir, relating Allen's family history with agriculture and the Great Migration, and how he himself got back into farming, with the story of how he started and developed Growing Power, the urban farming nonprofit for which he received a MacArthur genius grant, and which he's now trying to take national.
It's a book that could be inspiring to anyone interested in youthwork, local food, and sustainability, and Allen has a lot to say specifically about farming in an Afr...more
It's a book that could be inspiring to anyone interested in youthwork, local food, and sustainability, and Allen has a lot to say specifically about farming in an Afr...more
A brief, straight-forward and honest summary of Will Allen's journey to urban agriculture. What a life! So beneficial to hear his family history as well as his own evolution. I stopped at 4 stars because I had hoped there would be at least an index at the end of the book giving sources for more info on all that he talks about in the book- one wants to hit the ground running after this sort of read. In addition, the long side journeys through some of Mr Allen's associates at Growing Power were a...more
I cannot recommend this book enough. Not just to people currently interested in sustainability and urban gardening. To everyone. I think everyone should read this book. Will Allen's Growing Power and the road he took with the community to arrive at making a difference is a remarkable story. This isn't little stuff guys. This is huge. There's a food revolution going on and you can all be a part of it.
Oh, how I like this man and the work he's doing in Milwaukee! This should be required reading for anyone interested in sustainable food systems, urban agriculture, or frankly the history of America and what's happening on the cutting edge right now. My confession is that I didn't get through the book before it was due at the library, but I enjoyed the first half!
It was interesting to hear Will Allen's story. Some of this book felt as much like a memoir as it did about growing food, but I enjoyed all of it. I liked reading about his life and his parents and grandparents and how their lives were, coming from share croppers in the south. It really was an interesting and thoughtful read. I also was inspired by it and by his dream and passion. I hope others will also be inspired to get involved with growing food in some way. Awareness and what we do with tha...more
awesome read.
a telling autobigraphy and quite the historical journey of Dr.Will Allen's path to 'GROWING POWER'.
a must read for anyone interested in sustainable food systems and 'living' african-american agriculural history.
having been priviliged to visit Growing Power reading this book really put all that i experienced into context.
a telling autobigraphy and quite the historical journey of Dr.Will Allen's path to 'GROWING POWER'.
a must read for anyone interested in sustainable food systems and 'living' african-american agriculural history.
having been priviliged to visit Growing Power reading this book really put all that i experienced into context.
This is a great story. It's inspiring and hopeful and honest. I would love to attend one of his workshops. I like that they are passionate about educating others on how to replicate urban farming wherever they are. It makes me want a farm. Not that it takes a lot to make me want a farm, but still. This story actually makes it seem possible.
Sep 12, 2012
Karen
added it
Life changing book - set in Milwaukee. Will Allen won a Macarthur genius grant for his work giving young black men jobs growing and selling food. After reading this I felt like after I read Joyride and need to change the world but with gardening this time instead of bikes.
Jul 06, 2012
Mary Schumann
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people interested in urban agriculture, gardening, organic food, or philanthropy
Recommended to Mary by:
NPR
this was quite good. It hit all of my little interest points - ways to be greener about the way I go through life, got me even more interested in doing some vermiculture of my own, and inspired me with a success story that was not about money, but rather meaning.
This was a fascinating well written book about the non-profit Growing Power in Milwaukee WI. I am looking forward to taking a tour of Growing Power this weekend. As a social worker this book is evidence of the power people have when coming together with a purpose. Very inspirational.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goodreads Librari...: Book listed under incorrect author | 5 | 153 | Jun 08, 2012 06:05pm |
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Will Allen is an urban farmer based in Milwaukee and a retired American basketball player.
More about Will Allen...
Will Allen is an urban farmer based in Milwaukee and a retired American basketball player.
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