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Detroit's Urban Farms: Budget Battles and Milking Goats
I had never milked a goat before the time I wrapped my fingers around Apple's teat and squeezed, inside a barn on a one-acre plot next to a public school in Woodbridge, Detroit. Two volunteers at the farm, Doug Reith and Leeann Drees, offered to bring me along for their turn at tending the animals at the Catherine Ferguson Academy, a school that's also home to one of the city's best known urban farms, made so by its appearance in the much-lauded documentary Grown in Detroit and a profile in Oprah Magazine.
Urban farms have become sort of cliche in Detroit, cast as a gardener's pipe dream that will save the city, one batch of arugula at a time. There's no question that many stories on the subject have been done. But at the Catherine Ferguson Academy, a school for pregnant teens and young mothers, four in five girls participate in free and reduced-price meal programs. Cliche or not, this is a city that needs cheap, nutrient-dense food -- the kind that comes out of the sun and soil of a farm, urban or otherwise.
But the pastures at CFA, as its known, are facing a crisis.
Gallery: Catherine Ferguson Academy Urban Farm in Detroit
As Rachel Maddow recently reported, city-wide budget cuts are threatening to close the school, and if that happens, the fields will go fallow. My hosts Doug and Leeann, who make cheese with surplus goat milk harvested from the farm, told me about a protest to keep the school open, a sit-in that was quickly broken up by police.
Why risk arrest to protest the school's closure? Says one student in a YouTube video of the sit-in, talking about pregnant women, including herself, "Sometimes it's like we don't have no hope. Basically it's our job to give them some hope. You can't just let them feel like they're alone. [This says to them] You're not alone, because you've got people like us fighting for you."
As the budgetary fight wages on-a decision on CFA is scheduled for this summer-the goats still need to be milked twice a day. As the sun was setting and the mosquitoes were coming out in force, Apple and her pen-mate Royal, gave almost two liters of milk, most of which will stay on the farm. (I was most proud of myself for avoiding the flying hooves of Apple, who probably hasn't been called docile lately.)
Walking past the rabbit warrens, hen house and horse pasture, where the school's brown mare trotted over to greet us, Doug and Leeann wondered what would happen to the farm if the school was shut down. Without girls and volunteers and, yes, money to tend the fields, they'd probably just be abandoned. Like so much else in Detroit.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Diana Jun 9th 2011 4:45PM
I read thiss school is closed. I wondered if private donations could keep it open?
dmpolis@aol.com
dickn2000b Jun 9th 2011 4:52PM
This is the AOL/HUFFPOST headline: "This Is in Rural America, Right?
Nope. A school for pregnant teens and young moms is teaching students to tend horses and milk ... goats."
Now get this: A school for pregnant teens and young moms...and what's the photo of? Two young MEN milking the goat!! How dumb is that?
Tuula Jun 9th 2011 5:17PM
Am I lost.... teaching girls what, not to get pregnant... give them birthcontroll pills, problem solved.
patardugno Jun 9th 2011 5:26PM
How the fuk do they have a "school" for PREGNANT TEENS where the girls are expected to take care of horses & goats?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! What kind of INSANE $H!T is that!!?? Pregnant teenage girls are forced to shovel menure, cleaning stalls, walking horsesto & from paddocks, catching horses in paddocks, WHEN THAT IS OBVIOUSLY NOT SOMETHING THEY ARE ACCUSTOMED TO DOING, implied by the word "school". THAT'S SLAVERY!! NOT A SCHOOL!!! What is the actual lesson they are supposed to be learning there?! They were stupid enough to make a mistake & now they are screwed over for life & have NO rights whatsoever??!!! FREAKS!!! They are probably forced to give up their babies when they give birth, too. And,you can bet the "school" SELLS the babies!!!! And,then kicks the girl in the @$$ with NOTHING!!! WHAT FREAKS!!!!
FEHL Jun 9th 2011 11:26PM
Getting exercise, being in the fresh air and learning how to feed themselves in a protected environment is schooling. Teaching them to be self sufficient will keep them off the dole. It also removes them from the bad background from which they came. Parents neglect their kids and do not chaperone them. That is a plan for disaster. Their original upbringing is what would enslave them to a life of unneeded kids, poverty and reliance on others for sustenance. A farm is the BEST place to learn good habits, how to be independent of the grocery store, gain self confidence and skills. An education is great, but skills should come first.
Edward Kline Jun 9th 2011 5:27PM
Let's see this school is where. No wonder the City is in decay.
Cynthia Jun 9th 2011 5:32PM
I have to agree that the photograph is rather confusing. The editor didn't do a very good job there. A picture from the protest would have made a lot more sense. I would hope that private party donations would keep the farm going. I hate to think that the animals will suffer because of budget cut backs. This kind of exposure is so great for young people.
Kathleen Jun 9th 2011 5:56PM
I wish the writer of this article had done some more research. There is a lot behind this school closing. Michigan's governer has appointed an emergency financial manager to the city of Detroit who has complete control over the city. The elected officials in the city have no power. The EFM, all by himself, decided that this school needed to be closed even though it has a 90% graduation rate with acceptance into college as a requirement. Whether or not you think these girls shouldn't have gotten pregnant, the issue is that they are and they are trying to better themselves and the lives of they're children. It's called breaking the cycle. Without this school the children will be more likely to follow in the mom's footsteps. For those that look down on these girls I pity you. What happened to compassion and helping others?
Gloria Jun 9th 2011 5:58PM
The one negative comment I agree with is the photo showing two guys when this is a school for girls. The rest are completely either off the mark or mean spirited.
The POINT, dear hateful ones, is to help get these girls an education and in the process learn about responsibiity among other things. They have had a high graduation rate and an incrediblle number go on to college, One grad is now a medical doctor. Whether we like it or not, teen pregnancy is not going away any time soon. Males are involved in that but never in the responsibility later. This has not changed through the ages. Meanwhile, it is terrilbly difficult to finiish high school with the responsibility of a baby/toddler to care for. Many young girls end up in poverty, uneducated, on the dole, or in impossible situations withless than minimum wage jobs and child care needs. The POINT, dear hateful ones, is to help them rise out of their circumstances and become productive citizens. Surely you can't find in that something to disparage. Oh, I forgot, haters hate for the sake of hating like,. oh, let me think, FANATICAL TERRORISTS LOVE TO HATE.
Kathleen Jun 9th 2011 6:02PM
no birth control, planned parenthood was defunded. let's blame the girls who you know made the baby themselves and plan on living on food stamps and state funding for the rest of their lives instead of finishing school and going to college. oh wait, that's what these girls are trying to do but their school is being closed.
Ted Jun 9th 2011 9:34PM
The one to blame for the school closing is the govenor of michigan and his "GOON SQUAD".The way i look at it is that the govenor ain't republican,he should be listed as a communist.It's amazing that the people of Michigan have not signed a petition to recall him from office.As for the compassion for others,they lost that when they elected the current govenor.
tom Jun 9th 2011 6:08PM
Those 2 DUDES in the one milking pic certainly dont look pregnant nor do they look like teen moms to be
Debby Jun 10th 2011 11:24PM
While horses are considered an extreme sport so are bicycles, surf boards and motorcycles. I've no doubt the mare was carefully picked for her docility. If you are of pioneer stock (or not) endless generations of your ancestors worked with horses. And some of the women were pregnant at the time, so were some of the horses!
Considering that manufacturing is on a downward trend and a lot of people will likely never have the lifestyle of their parents, learning how to care for livestock and garden are very useful skills to have. Less squawk about how those young women were 'endangered'. Learning such ancient skills to take care of themselves is worth the risk and quite a confidence builder. Try it yourself, you might like it! I can't wait to get my grant and start building my boarding stable!
stormynigh Jun 9th 2011 7:33PM
Which of the 2 guys in the picture is the pregnant teen?
mouse Jun 9th 2011 8:42PM
I understand the goats, pediatricians have told mothers to give their children organic milk until they are 2. Goat milk is much easier to digest than cow's milk and fewer children are allergic to it. BUT WHY THE HORSE? Where would it be ridden? Why would a pregnant girl who is totally unfamiliar with livestock have any need to learn about a horse?
OTTER Jun 9th 2011 8:53PM
Where are all the Black Welfare Mothers?
weasalie Jun 9th 2011 9:55PM
I am kinda surprised that somebody has not shot up the farm animals yet ..I mean it is Detroit
Gail Gannon Jun 9th 2011 11:53PM
There is a really good book called "Blessed are the Cheese Makers," the dairy only let pregnant girls milk their cows and goats, and then it was made into cheese. Same principle, I wonder if this is where this school got the idea?
LillieFaerie Jun 9th 2011 11:11PM
Detroit, could use some razing of the city and making it central farm. We're 80 miles from there in farm land. The schools have reduced lunches, and offer breakfasts to those economMichiically in need anyway, we also have vocational schools and what would help more-college/highschool hours. There are United Way day cares on income sliding scales. Michigan has lots of this already. Lots of farm land, lots of schools and programs for stuff. i don't think money needs to be spent to have pregnant moms segregated. I am dead set against that. However, if the parents want the vo-tec agriculture that's available in many areas of the state. And detroit should consider it-but not just for pregnant people.
What?! Jun 10th 2011 1:14AM
They are getting ready to deal with the third world country status. We should. We have outsourced everything, thanks to the labor unions.