When the moment came to compile 8 pictures and 250 words from the images and bits of information assembled for this project, I realized I would need a big scissors. The amount of activity occurring at Growing Power and intricate nature of its process’s are far out of your typical routine. Rather than delve into the details and background of the activity and people of Growing Power, I decided to recapture and express my first impressions of the place. People were constantly running around with big exhausted smiles doing curious chores that begged to be explained to the untrained eye. It was an exotic jungle, complete with water falls!
A photo / text spread worked better than a power point presentation for me for two reasons. The images I was using did not fit linearly with the ideas I wanted to describe in text. Offering the pictures as a spread allows for the viewer to look many different directions at once, much like I felt seeing the place for the first time. I felt they communicated best with specific spatial arrangement. I was also able to make the text describing Growing Power’s philosophy a central focal point.
I was previously aware of Growing Power through news and radio and was looking forward to volunteering with them. When I toured the grounds, my expectations were dwarfed by what I saw. Clearly there was much more happening here below the surface, no pun intended. It’s an intensely controlled and maintained little ecosystem you’re surrounded by. From the employees to the interns to the volunteers the hierarchy is leveled as everyone works side by side, all seeming to share a common motivation.
Growing Power is not a retreat full of tree-hugging dirt-worshipers. Two elements are in action. One is a precise, commercial food production facility with clients whose orders needed to be filled. The other is a stoic will to engineer food growing techniques more rooted in nature than in petroleum based fertilizer. Aquaponics and vermaculture create nutrient rich soil by employing fish and worms; organisms whose natural role in the ecosystem is to produce fertilizers.
While that is obviously noble and good, the true purpose of such an enterprise became apparent after visiting the antithesis of Growing Power. I stopped in at a carry-out joint less than 200 feet away from Growing Power to grab a quick bite. Bulletproof glass divided the stark waiting area (that may at one time have customer seating) from the kitchen and cash register. When my gyro came, it was in a brown paper bag translucent with grease. Next door to a McDonalds and kitty corner from a Popeye’s, Dino’s Steak & Lemonade represents the staple food source for much of the neighborhood which Growing Power intentionally chose to move into. Now I’ve been on country farms before but Growing Power’s location gives it a sense of urgency that conventional farms lack. Working here, one quickly makes the transition from observer to participant. The intrigue of all the activity exposes many avenues to explore further.