Get to know your urban farmer!

A preview of an upcoming short film:

A couple of things

-Two green roof studies have been recently referenced on The Earth’s Institute website. It will cost you a bit to get your hands on the studies, but well worth the price.

-Near and far innovative food security efforts continue to assist those in need. Of particular interest is a permaculture project in Malawi which has trained hundreds of teachers and planted thousands of trees.

Urban agriculture + permaculture events

May is rapidly passing us by and there is lots to look forward to this summer.

The PeaceMeal project has planned a four day workshop, from June 18-23 at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). If you have ever thought how can my “daily act of eating contribute to creating a more peaceful world”, this is for you! Also in Toronto is a one week Locavore Food Camp. On the menu, growing, preserving, cooking, harvesting local food at the incredible Evergreen Brick Works.

And I can’t forget to plug an Architecture for Humanity get together next week, a speed networking event where two people have five minutes to discuss one topic and then it's on to the next topic and attendee. 

Lastly in July, once you have attended the first ever Mediterranean Regional Permaculture Conference in Istanbul, you can head stateside to get your permaculture teaching certificate in Oregon.  

Before you get married, you must plant a tree

-Not sure what this statement means, but it appears the Gill Tract saga at UC Berkeley has entered a different stage. Does anyone know where one can get an objective summary of what happened in Berkeley and what it means for all stakeholders?

-It’s the best when press releases are issued which include the names and contact information for your elected officials. Last week Sioux Falls began a discussion on urban agriculture husbandry, while St. Paul launched a new website to “encourage the increased consumption, production and distribution of healthy, sustainable and locally grown food.

Minnesota has a ton of fantastic initiatives growing strong, like the Minnesota Food Association, a “small business incubator teaching immigrant and minority persons how to operate financially viable farms. A member of the National Immigrant Farming Initiative, the MFA is just one of many such programs thriving across the USA. 

-If you want some interesting banter and a few urban agriculture yucks while doing your household errands, listen to last week’s Science Friday talk on NPR. From rooftops to abandoned lots, there’s much to be eaten in your city, wherever you are.

-Naturally you are wondering about today's title. Across the world people understand the importance of trees and in different places, different things are being done to preserve the tree canopy. From the Great Green Wall in the Sahara, to an interesting idea in the Philippines where before getting a marriage license one city would like to mandate that the couple must first plant a tree.

Bees on a green roof - in song

I was up on a green roof just last week and when reflecting on my May song list couldn’t help but think that I have never done a list of songs concerning bees. How could I forget them, I have certainly been stung enough. Maybe if I dedicate a post to them, word will get around and they will cut me some slack? It’s worth a try:

Taj Mahal - Queen Bee

Cleveland Crochet - Sugar Bee

Cannonball Adderly & Nancy Wilson - A Sleepin’ Bee

Elvis Presley - I Got Stung

Rainwater harvesting info overload

Every once in a while I like to dig into my crate o' bookmarks and share some of the info I have collected over the years. I hope some of the following is useful.

North American resources:

-Texas Manual on Rainwater Harvesting

-Rainwater Harvesting: System Planning

-A Methodology for using Rainwater Harvesting as a
Stormwater Management

Feasibility of Rainwater Harvesting BMP for Stormwater
Management

-Managing Wet Weather with Green Infrastructure, Municipal Handbook, Rainwater Harvesting Policies

-Chesapeake Bay Region
Bay-Wide Rainwater Harvesting Design Specification & Spreadsheet

Australian resources

-Australian Guidelines for Water Recycling: Stormwater Harvesting and Reuse

-Managing Urban Stormwater: Harvesting and Reuse

-Urban Stormwater Harvesting Options Study for South Australia

Montreal's urban agriculture conference begins

I hope that everyone's Mother's Day was fantastic. The GILA (green infrastructure, living architecture) community took a break like everyone else, but there were a couple of interesting events/articles. The biggest was a guest blog post from Will Allen on Forbes.com making a call for all to support the next green revolution. Of course we cannot forget Montreal's long awaited urban agriculture and food security conference, which kicked off on Saturday. Can't wait to hear the details.