What's the best green roof plant of all time?

Some cool events happening in NYC in the next few weeks including two conferences and a makers faire. The Soda Bottle Garden workshop looks great!
However a word of warning, if you're in NYC and tempted to pick some tasty treats from park property, please don't. You've been warned.

-Detroit really is the place to be for urban agriculture these days, check out all of the programs currently operating! If you're not near Detriot, there are a plethora of ways to get involved with the urban agriculture movement online, thanks to Grist we have several new websites to try out. If you want a more hands on way to learn the skills, check out Gwinett Tech next year, they'll have a sustainable urban agriculture certificate program. Maybe the second in North America???

-I've made you wait long enough. Last week research came in that lamb's ear may be able to reduce the surface of a green roof 1.5 degrees celsius. Looks like I'll have to get to know Stachys byzantina better.

-Lastly, but not...umm...leastly...a permaculture website in French! Why? Because they are so rare! As rare as finding a forager in a New York City park after today!

Urban agriculture...the global, the local, the wacky

My computer goes down and all of a sudden a million great things are happening around the world. But I'm back like Hawaii 5-0, so here are a few things that I've spied...

-On the global front, in South Africa , Argentina, China, and Brazil lots of news about how urban agriculture programs and projects can provide jobs and food for thousands of people.
Speaking of Brazil, that article was the most sarcastic one I've read in a while!!!

-Stateside, some investors have begun to favor farmland over stocks as an investment vehicle. Following the money thread, Forbes has an article where Weeden & Co.'s Charles Maxwell tells us how we can "profit" from peak oil.
And in a sign of things to come...let me stop there, because I couldn't keep a straight face. As we discovered last year, we know farmers sometimes destroy their crops, rather than bringing them to market. Has anyone ever heard of a farmer being sued for producing too much food?

Urban agriculture bonaza

So much happening in the world of urban agriculture this week!

But first a little about "decking highways", which seems to be a green roof by another name. Looks like Dallas is giving it a good hard look. At $500/square foot, gotta look at it REALLY closely.

On to the urban ag...

-Vancouver unveiled it's regional food draft report, which includes labeling local food and creating a school for sustainable agriculture. Comments are due by October 24, so have your say!

-There's a new battle brewing between big agriculture and the locavore movement. When John McCain chimes in you know it's now a national issue.

-Couldn't make either one of these, but while the ASLA has a conference on urban agriculture this weekend, the Good Food (National-International Urban & Small Farm Conference ) conference is also happening. Wouldn't it have been nice if they weren't on the same weekend???

-On the heels of the history of urban farming in New York City, comes a short post chronicling urban agriculture's history in Philly.

Lastly check out this comprehensive article on how agriculture & urban heat islands are changing regional and continental climates.

More foraging aps + urban agriculture in Maryland

It's been a while since the last post, lots happening on the work front..a touch less on the internet, it seems.

In Maryland it seems an urban agriculture project or two is sprouting up, including this one in Edmonston . Could this be the DMV's first urban farm?

Wonderful article from Huffington Post about school gardens in New York City.

More phone apps for urban foraging, if you prefer to carry around something more traditional, like a wad of paper and live in the UK this foraging guide might be for you.