Grad Show 22

Natural resources has been removed identity from their orgins and ship to every household to further alienate people with the land they live in.

Sirui Wang

Farming publics: Use farming practices as a tool to de-alienate people with land

Historically, farming was the primary way people interacted with the land. Colonialism, industrialization, and capitalism have made people increasingly detached and alienated from nature and the land. The return to agriculture has the potential to play an essential role in resisting the increasing monoculture of our society through re-establishing the kinship toward land. The rising public awareness of sustainability makes the market for organic food expand every year and allures capitalism to manipulate the organic market from its original purpose into their familiar realm of the conventional food system for maximum profit. The market economy, which is controlled by capitalism, limits the method of farming and consumption by restricting the connection between farmers, consumers, and the land. Ignoring the voice of land and people is one of the strategies used in colonialism, and rebuilding an equal relationship with the land is fundamental to counteract the domination of urban areas.

As the health of the land is deteriorating from increased monoculture and economic pressure, there is an urgent need for landscape architects to consider how to re-establishing the kinship towards the land. In this thesis, I investigated the potential of a non-profit farm to provide a point of access for people living in cities to reconnect to the land through spending time participating in farming activities. The public can interact with the farm in varying ways for different amounts of time. Daily visitors can enjoy the beautiful scenery produced by perennial sunflowers and other vegetable gardens. Weekend visitors can camp and offer their labor for additional activities such as foraging and fruit picking. For people who want to start a farming career, there are rentable 1-acre farming plots, and tiny houses installed on-site for beginner producers to live inexpensively while gaining skills, experimenting, and learning from each other. The rentable farmland serves to diversify the demographic of predominantly white farmers as they are the remainder of colonialization. Through this, the aim is to shift away from capitalist and colonial attitudes about land and land ownership and stimulate a new culture between people and the land by generating connection to place through farming practices.

Capitalism and colonialism is alienating people from the land

Alienation has been created. Between people and land we live in since we lost track of the land identity because of uniformity. The detachment between producers and consumers has also been created because this assimilation process also blocks the voice of farmers to be heard and limits the choice of purchasing.

Four benefits about preserving small-scale farms

Benefits of small-scale farms

The increasing expansion of the organic market only benefits the large operation and leave small-scale farms in constant struggles. However, it is the small farms that can be most beneficial to the local communities.

Design Principle

Design principles to set guidelines for the site design.

STRUCTURE TYPOLOGY

There are five physical structures that will be scattered around the site to enhance the visitor experience.

Visitors who decide to stay over the weekend will be accessible to more activities as long as they offer their labor to the farm.

Itenary for people who stay on the farm over the weekend

A group of friends who want to stay longer on the farm will be allowed to camp in the designated camp area. After volunteering in the field, they will be given the ability to forage in the orchard and nearby forest and pick some additional ingredients in the permaculture garden, depending on the location and length of their volunteering work. While staying, people will absorb sheep and cows to graze freely in the orchard area.

People who decide to rent the crop field for a season will be able to learn from experienced farmers while working together to maintain the non-profit farm and experience growing on their own field.

Itenary for people who stay on the farm for a season

Renters will be fully responsible for the 1-acre crop field and learn essential farming skills by working alongside experienced farmers to maintain the non-profit farm. The rentable area opens up opportunities for marginalized groups such as people of color and LGBTQ+ groups to have land ownership for a period of time. The goal of rentable houses and land is to help diversify the demographic of producers since land properties are controlled by the white population as the remainder of colonialization.

Axonometric drawing of tiny house and community garden area

The community building will contain essential functions such as laundry, a shower room, and a community kitchen. All the greywater will be collected and filtered to reuse for irrigation in the community crop field. The goal of the community crop field is to allow renters to experience crops with more extended growing periods, including grapes and perennial wheat, as well as encourage interaction with other novice farmers.

Pollinator hedgerows divide the community crop field with rentable land.

Perspective drawing about tiny house area

Pollinator hedgerows provide both food resources for pollinators and barriers to provide a degree of privacy for the rentable crop field. The framed private land not only serves the need to experience farming techniques but is also designed to counteract the colonialism that has been placed on the land ownership. A diverse demographic of farmers will be encouraged to oppose the land ownership controlled by the white population.

A section about the seasonal change in the camping area

In spring, people can enjoy fruit tree blossoms. Fruit picking will be available during summertime, and visitors can enjoy the autumn color created by dogwood, crabapple, and apple trees as the season changes.