My interest in food systems and agriculture dates back to the early 2010s when I worked in a large urban farmers market in Philadelphia. I’ve also been a volunteer farmworker, or WWOOFer, through Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms in Maine and Washington state, and a paid farmhand and designer on a flower farm in North Carolina.
MENV CAPSTONE PROGRAM
For the MENV program, graduate students complete a ten-month capstone program with local and national partner organizations. Mine was focused on Dharma’s Garden, a 5-acre urban farm and wildlife corridor in Boulder, and I worked with a team as consultants to help the organization create a stewardship plan for their piece of land. We combined the farmers’ values with scientific research and created a comprehensive plan that is informative, easy-to-read, and visually appealing. Below is a more detailed brief about the project and here is a link to an excerpt from the plan.
In addition, I have traveled extensively as a folk singer, meeting and learning from urban farmers, permaculture homesteaders, fracking opponents, and many others. Such interactions have helped shape my writing, inspiring me with stories of the ways individuals and communities are working to create more sustainable visions for the future.
One way I wove together my musical background and work as a floral designer was through a music video I curated at the botanical boutique where I worked in Asheville, NC. Flora Sessions was an evolving collaboration between over 50 artists who helped to create 20 music videos. I’m so thankful to all the creative folks who lent their time to make Flora Sessions happen.
Claire Duncombe 