Photo: Bill Quackenbush
Photo: Bill Quackenbush

This past week I closed up Beyond Repair for a few days to head out with Louis into Ho Chunk land within the Driftless region of southeastern, Wisconsin at the invitation of Nicholas Brown and Sarah Kanouse. Nick and Sarah are part of an old, extend crew of “critical spacial practice” artists from around Chicago that I fell into orbit with about 17 years ago now. The reason for our gathering, and the many thoughts that have arisen from it, I’ll get to at length in writing soon. My experiences over the last few days were rich, complex, and inspiring, not the least of which can be attributed to having spent so many days with people whose desires, imaginings, actions, and ethics I admire so much. But for now I wanted to briefly comment on our experience together with Bill Quackenbush, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Ho-Chunk Nation, and our guide for a long and deeply effecting tour through Ho Chunk land within the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. I think it helped a lot that I had visited parts of the reserve with Nick and the kids last summer to climb “Blackhawk Rock.” Having a small taste of the area allowed me the perspective to look on it freshly through another perspective. As with our gathering in full, our time with Bill I’ll need more time to reflect upon, but for now, I want to, in some fashion, simply let the world know how effecting our experience with Bill on his tribal land was. His ability to distill, expand, and complicate ideas around the environmental, social, and historical landscape that he shared with us provided me a wealth of ideas and histories to consider, not least of which was how the land itself allows us to read stories about ourselves, and in turn, tell stories about our present and future.

I love being in rural areas, but I was born in New York City and have spent the majority of my day-to-day life in cities. Bill’s deft ability in sharing the social histories and tools embedded within the tribal land of the Ho Chunk has opened up new ways for me to think about time and our time here together. I am grateful for the experience and plan on giving all that was provided us as much time in return as we were offered.

· Resident Weirdo· ∞

Sun, Feb. 7, 2016 ⁄ 3:00–4:30pm

Food Enough? / A Continuing Forum on Food, Land, Access, and Possibilities within the 9th Ward and Beyond

Presentation Nº 1: Why Beyond Repair and TCALT: A short talk on land, collaboration, and critical social engagement in the micro.
Question Nº1: What do you think when you think about agriculture in 1850? 1950? 2050?

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Food Enough? A Continuing Forum on Food, Land, Access, and Possibilities within the 9th Ward and Beyond

When considering an urban agricultural future, what does it mean for a neighborhood to have *abundant* or at least *enough* food? How is food-producing land part of a desirable vision for land “development” / land use? And in turn, who benefits most directly from a reconsideration of land-use development?

While South Minneapolis’s 9th Ward contains the highest concentration of urban farms within the entire Twin Cities metro area, it remains, nonetheless, a bit of a barren landscape when it comes to accessibility to fresh fruit and produce. Furthermore, while full of vacant, city owned land, Powderhorn, a 9th Ward neighborhood, is the only area within Minneapolis that is statistically gentrifying.

Within the space between these points folks from Twin Cities Agricultural Land Trust, Beyond Repair, and elsewhere have begun an on-going and exploratory conversation regarding food production, land access, and future visions of the city in relation to agriculture, access, and abundance.

Our group converges through a shared interest in the future and history of urban agriculture, the role of land trusts in establishing more equitable land access, and historical legacies and contemporary examples of community cultivated land (and how we can work toward this in the Twin Cities).

Conversation participants will be able to contribute visually and artistically to this process as the group will co-create printed materials that record major themes to be distributed throughout the 9th Ward and, furthermore, to develop questions for future meetings.

* Relaxed atmosphere!  No bosses, no teachers!  Surrounded by ample beer and food!

** Any conversation concerning land and access within Minnesota, and the country as a whole, needs to be seen through the lens of colonialism and settlement. Inasmuch this series of conversations wants to acknowledge and make clear that it is taking place on Dakota land.

· Resident Weirdo· ∞

The Center Will Not Hold

Back by popular demand, in early 2016 Beyond Repair will be releasing a new publication series of commissioned essays on food, anarchism, gray markets, communal dining, and more. The series, Shatarsky’s – named after Sam’s paternal grandmother, will be printed on paper bags, available each Sunday by pre-order. Like most of our other publications, the bags will be for sale. They will come with “free” bagels inside of them. I mean, who wants an empty bag? Nobody, that’s who.

· Resident Weirdo· ∞