Driving through Detroit’s lower east side you see derelict shops, rotting Victorian homes, dilapidated factories slated for demolition, ragweed and lovegrass growing violently over sidewalks, and creeper vines enveloping telephone poles and old street lights, reclaiming the land. You also see dazzling street art on the crumbling wall of an old school or church, admonishing the doubtful that “Detroit never left,” designers restoring the Ford family’s historic homes to their old glory, Michelin-star restaurants donating to local charities, and, among all these sidewalk-crack dandelions, Earthworks Urban Farm.

Earthworks is a nearly two-acre certified-organic farm spread out over several blocks.