say, maybe if people did small projects that are more civic in nature, they could reach out to more people. We're thinking of work that's on a more domestic scale."

At a site a little more than a mile away, florist Lisa Waud had a similar epiphany that led to her Flower House project. A wildly successful series of floral installations inside a pair of abandoned homes, which Waud picked up for $500 in an auction, the Flower House reimagines the abandoned buildings as eye-catching displays."It's every florist's dream of filling an old bathtub with flowers," says Waud.

But the installations aren't her end goal. The proceeds from her two events will help fund the deconstruction of the buildings, which will be turned into a flower farm Waud will useGrowing Power has 300 acres under cultivation). "It's not something that's guaranteed. Sometimes you're better going to Vegas with your money instead of putting it to seed."

Near Klein's work in North Corktown, ACRE Farms, a one-acre plot kitty corner to a youth hostel, showcases the small end of the urban farming boom and many of the issues Allen pointed out. Farmers and friends Ryan Anderson and Hannah Clark, sick of working day jobs in Washington D.C. and Chicago, respectively, decided to move to Detroit in 2011 to start an urban farm. They've transformed a city lot into a decent-sized operation sporting okra, eggplants, kale, and more, with a "city do not cut" sign in the middle of their plot, so municipal workers won't accidentally mistake their vegetables for