Urban Farming Institute
Urban Farming Institute at a Glance
Farmers: Stacy Brown, Liz Dutra
Where they’re located: Oakland Park
Website: Urban Farming Institute, @ufiorg
What they grow: Hydroponically grown leafy...
local heroes
In Memoriam: Jon Albee, Founder of Urban Farming Institute
Remembering a passionate educator on agro-ecology, nutrition and environmental stewardship in Oakland Park
Whenever you visited the Urban Farming Institute, a compact patch of green in Oakland Park north of Jaco Pastorius Park, Jon Albee was there. He’d show off the micro-apiary, answer questions about backyard vegetable gardening, and talk up plans for seaweed farming at the facility he founded in 2012. Always an enthusiastic source of information for backyard gardeners and farmers alike, Albee died Sept. 12. He was 78.
“I could sit for hours soaking up as much wisdom as I could,” says Liz Dutra, UFI educator and editor. “His passion for teaching and inspiring others is something I hope to incorporate in my life.” Dutra and her husband found themselves at UFI after attending a conference about growing hops, used in making beer. A friend told her to meet Albee because “he could grow anything.” “We arrived at UFI and Jon said, ‘Let’s plant some hops,’ and within the year we were growing over 60 hop plants!”
Stacy Brown, a marine biologist and UFI educator, says she discovered the institute in 2015. “It didn't take long before we were all trying to find ways we could add ocean sciences and a coral garden to our already expanding aquaponics, hydroponic and raised-bed garden programming.” Both Dutra and Brown were among many who came to UFI and found inspiration through Albee.
Brown says several businesses were started as a result of visiting UFI and its many programs. “Some learned how to install irrigation or hydroponics, others caring for plants, orchids or landscaping and some, like Liz and I, how to be better educators and community activists,” says Brown. “One of Jon's favorite projects was installing marine labs to grow algae and corals and to create a place for a local high school student to study the marine microbe that causes red tide, Karenia brevis. Another NSU grad student used the same lab to study the nutritional components of seaweed and is now on her way to earning her doctorate.”
Albee, a Fort Lauderdale native, graduated with honors from Columbia Union College (now Washington Adventist University) in Takoma Park, Maryland. He taught at academies in Atlanta and Dayton, Ohio, before taking a position as a hospital administrator. Albee also expanded community education and outreach by overseeing the construction of video production studios within the hospitals. These studios produced educational content and public service messaging, benefiting the communities he served and leaving a lasting impact on healthcare communication. Albee’s love of teaching extended to sustainable food production techniques, leading him to launch the UFI.
“One of Jon's favorite sayings is ‘don't feed the plant, feed the soil’ and he's spent extensive time making sure our gardeners have a soil regimen to follow that sets them up to be successful urban farmers,” says Brown. “Jon’s legacy will span generations of urban farmers as the children he has taught and built gardens for grow older, and hopefully teach their children to utilize their yards and open spaces to grow their own food, too.”
A celebration of Jon Albee’s life will be held at Urban Farming Institute in Oakland Park on Oct. 21 from 3-5pm. All are welcome to attend, share fond memories of Jon, and hear of his future wishes for UFI. In lieu of flowers, organizers ask for donations to UFI, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, to help them continue to teach and grow. RSVP here.
In the Works at UFI
Jon Albee’s legacy will live on in future projects, say Brown and Dutra. These include:
• Community Coral Nursery, with South Florida Association of Environmental Professionals (SFAEP), a citizen science-driven project to teach the community about the ocean and restoring coral reefs. Two 350-gallon tanks were recently installed at UFI and in the next few months, corals can begin to be microfragmented and grown out in preparation for their return to offshore coral nurseries in Broward.
• A new nine-bed community garden at Dr. Carter Woodson Park in Oakland Park.
• Community Oyster Garden, an oyster garden along the New River in partnership with SFAEP and the City of Fort Lauderdale. Oysters help improve water quality.
• The free Kid’s Gardening Project, every other Saturday in the fall from 10am–11am. Kids are immersed in nature and introduced to a wide variety of subjects including nutrition, how to grow food, plant biology, mindfulness and exercise.
• UFI Orchid Project, aimed at taking Oakland Park's successful Parade of Orchids to the next level. UFI plans to involve local schools and families in the community and install them in local schools and gardens.
• 100 Gardens Project, a program proposed during the pandemic, in which UFI installs 100 gardens in the community and teaches people how to grow their own food in their backyards.
• Local farmers market, in collaboration with Community Foundation of Broward, Urban Health Partnerships, Florida Organic Growers, St. Ruth's Church of Dania Beach and local growers. They’re looking for vendors to sell local produce both online and in person at St. Ruth’s of Dania. The markets are slated for the week before the holidays in November and December.
• Local Food-Based Business Incubator, one of Jon's many dreams.
• Adding native garden spaces to the UFI farm space in Oakland Park to showcase all of South Florida’s native habitats and increase pollinator activity, enhancing the productivity of flowering and fruiting vegetable plants.
Urban Farming Institute
Urban Farming Institute at a Glance Farmers: Stacy Brown, Liz Dutra Where they’re located: Oakland Park Website: ...
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