Smaller is more beautiful

摘要

T'HE five kinds of heirloom tomatoes on Joanna Lehrman's and Roxanne Adair's farm look delicious. Their tiny two-acre (0.8 hectare) farm also has a buzzing beehive and a hoop house, which protects produce in the winter. It is just a short walk from downtown Flint, a gritty struggling Michigan city. Until about a year ago the land was 16 abandoned residential lots along Beach Street, filled with rubbish, broken pieces of concrete and burnt trees. According to Doug Weiland, who runs the Genesee County Land Bank, a third of all Flint's parcels are abandoned. Even seemingly stable neighbourhoods have boarded up houses.