Urban agriculture is the practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in, or around, a village, town or city. Urban agriculture in addition can also involve animal husbandry, aquaculture, agroforestry and horticulture. These activities also occur in peri-urban areas as well.

Urban farming is generally practiced for income-earning or food-producing activities, though in some communities the main impetus is recreation and relaxation. Urban agriculture contributes to food security and food safety in two ways: first, it increases the amount of food available to people living in cities, and, second, it allows fresh vegetables and fruits and meat products to be made available to urban consumers. It decreases food deserts. A common and efficient form of urban agriculture is the biointensive method. Because urban agriculture promotes energy-saving local food production, urban and peri-urban agriculture are generally seen as sustainable agriculture. Another aspect of urban farming, especially in densly populated America cities is the use of grow-bags to raise a wide range of crops. Many apartment dwellers with no yards to speak of, or people with very small yards will set up these bags on a balcony or thin strip of land. Also, many types of hanging bags are available to plant, expanding the area available for planting. The bags themselves are made from a variety of materials, canvas, weed barrier fabric, polyester, but all having a semi-porus properties so the soil can drain adequately. The term, "Bagriculture", was coined in 1998 by Los Angeles animator and amateur archaeologist, Rudy Zappa Martinez, to describe this type of agriculture.

Robert Jordan was the pen name of James Oliver Rigney, Jr. (October 17, 1948 – September 16, 2007) He used this pseudonym for fantasy novels, including the bestselling The Wheel of Time series for which he was best known; he also wrote historical fiction as Reagan O'Neal, a western as Jackson O'Reilly, and dance criticism as Chang Lung, and he had ghostwritten an "international thriller" that is still believed to have been written by someone else.

Jordan was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He served two tours in Vietnam (from 1968 to 1970) with the United States Army as a helicopter gunner. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star with "V" and oak leaf cluster, and two Vietnamese Gallantry Crosses with palm. After returning from Vietnam he attended The Citadel where he received an undergraduate degree in physics. After graduating he was employed by the United States Navy as a nuclear engineer. He began writing in 1977. He was a history buff and enjoyed hunting, fishing, sailing, poker, chess, pool, and pipe collecting. He described himself as a "High Church" Episcopalian and received communion more than once a week. He lived with his wife Harriet McDougal, who works as a book editor (currently with Tor Books; she was also Jordan's editor) in a house built in 1797. Responding to queries on the similarity of some of the concepts in his Wheel of Time books with Freemasonry concepts, Jordan admitted that he was a Freemason. However, "like his father and grandfather," he did not prefer to advertise, possibly because of the negative propaganda against Freemasonry. In his own words, "no man in this country should feel in danger because of his beliefs."