Green roofs at the Biosphere

-Way back when (over 10 years ago) I had an internship at Biosphere 2. It was a fantastic experience that influenced my career path and ambitions more than anything to date. So imagine my delight to learn about their current green roof research. In the industry, there is a dearth of information concerning appropriate materials and assemblies in arid green roof environments and Arizona is the perfect place to do research!

-What will be eating in 2050? If I were a betting man, I would double down on "micro-farming". Relatively low tech and inexpensive as well, I hope Western taste buds will be up for the challenge?

-Seton Hall University has started it's own permaculture design certificate program.. The first in New Jersey and the first, as far as I am aware, in the tri-state region. But you don't have to be enrolled at Seton Hall to join the movement. The National Student Food Center
is looking for more students to voice their opinions and assist in developing the national student food movement.

1 Website is down, but 1 remains

The verticiel.ca site is down. Problems with the ISP and not too happy about it. Thank goodness there is still verticiel.com. Reality check, there are worse things in life. Oh well...

Mushrooms may be the ultimate urban agriculture product

-Raising mushrooms seems to be one of the hottest urban agriculture/socially responsible businesses. You can take waste, for instance, coffee grounds, grow and sell the mushrooms in a dark, dank basement (of which there are plenty in an urban setting) and when the grounds have been spent completely, you can sell that product as a fertilizer. Well, add this to your list of mushroom media: dirty diapers.

-There is a battle royale taking place in West LA. Residents of residential-agricultural zones say the character of their neighborhoods are threatened by proposed development.

-Oooo...it's that time of year folks, a new Plant Hardiness Map for the USA. Behold the beautiful colors in all their interactive splendor!!!

-Lastly, a community in England hopes to produce all of their own food by 2018. Good luck, Todmorden.

A few things

-An interesting aquaponics/food security project is developing in India. It includes a buy back guarantee for farmers who participate.

-We tend to think of the food security movement as being mostly small players, but there are large organizations doing their part as well including Feeding America.

-On January 31 San Diego's city council will be discussing various urban agriculture ordinances. On tap are the requirements for farmer markets (both daily and weekly), honey bees (2 hives per lot), community gardens and miniature goats...which have to be dehorned. Do you really have to dehorn a miniature goat???

Of compost cuisine and Qatar conservation

-While reading an article about compost cuisine the other day, I thought how much dining out has changed.
Ten years ago a vegan restaurant made some people utterly confused. Now, it's not the most "far out" out there; there are gluten free restaurants, raw restaurants, restaurants that serve only cereal (!), and now restaurants which use every last bit of what they buy. Truly sustainable restaurants. What's the next food frontier? Perhaps "feel good" restaurants... a restaurant which donates all of it's proceeds to a partner organization??? Wouldn't that be great?

-Seattle University's school farm produced and donated 7,000 pounds of food last year. With a $100,000 grant, they'll be able to grow a whole lot more.

-A few weeks ago I wrote a bit about Qatar buying farmland abroad and exploration into aquaponics. Connecting the dots a bit, I wonder could this need for viable farmland far from home make a country like Qatar more supportive of global conservation, because degradation could be seen as a national security threat? Could we see a country like Qatar be the first to link currency to natural capital?

A Swarm of Autonomous Microplanters + Word of the week

-How long before then next horror flic is made starring these microfarming robots?

-If you are planning on being on Mars for a few years, you'll need lots of grub.That's where our word of the week, bioregenerative (plants that produce food and oxygen) comes in.

-Governors across the US made headlines last week too.
Connecticut Governor Dannel gave a big thumbs up to the idea last week. Strong supporters of aquaponics want a little more cash.
Meanwhile in Illinois, Governor Quinn wants to green 3,500 underutilized acres with parks, nurseries and organic farming.

Boston's big urban agriculture month

-If you're looking for a job in the food security field and live in Ottawa (Ontario, not Kansas) get that resume updated.

-Lots happening in Boston. January 30 you can join Will Allen to brainstorm the future of agriculture in Boston. While you're downtown, you can hop on that Red Line to check out the first winter farmer's market.

-Italian architect Stefano Boeri goes big (and green) or goes home. He has created six bold, transformational "ideas for a bio-diverse metropolis" that could be installed in and around the city of Milan, to establish "transitional states between the city, nature and agriculture" and provide "energy sources for a new model of urban economics." Visionary and Idealistic, they challenge us to think about cities and the possible in new ways. The concepts were first introduced to the public at an exhibition in Rome last year.

Green roofs workshop February 26 in Toronto

Yours truly will be teaching the Green Roofs for Healthy Cities Plants and Media 401 course on February 26. The bootcamp starts February 23.

And yes, I encourage laptop use in class!

Urban Agriculture Word of the day: Guerilla grafting

-Big news for aquaponics keeps rolling in. A couple of weeks ago Continental Organics announced that they would open a new aquaponics facility, the biggest in the Northeastern USA. They promise offering up to 140 new jobs when the operation is in full-swing.

-If you want to learn more about aquaponics and don't live near a pioneering company or organization where you can gain experience, there's a new webinar to help with your self-education.

-Organic agriculture has been seen as the solution to all sorts of environmental, social and economic problems. The Indian government
is hoping an embrace of organic ways can lead to a decrease in farmer suicides.

-By spring time urban farmers in Lantzville, British Columbia may be able to sell their wares after city council met on Monday to discuss bylaw amendments. As urban agriculture becomes more popular look for similar developments across the continent as communities grapple with noise, smells and the realities of farming placed right in the middle of existing communities.

-Last but not least, your word of the day:Guerilla grafting.

Catching up

The first week of January has brought a ton of news and stories.

-On the local education front, in Detroit a high school will offers kids a chance to learn about urban agriculture via their new training center, complete with solar hoop house, photovoltaic labs and more.
In Edmonton high schoolers can now learn about raising fish and veggies and serving them to their classmates in the cafeteria. And a Vancouver university is rolling out a four year degree in small scale, sustainable agriculture!!!

-On the city level, Cleveland announced funding for several green projects, look for more community gardens and other projects designed to mitigate stormwater and flooding.
Ottawa was considering a green roof bylaw and now they are not so sure. Thanks to freedom of information requests, intrepid reporters dug up earlier drafts which reiterated mayor Jim Watson's support of green roofs and then, for some reason, mention of the bylaw didn't make the final speech. We'll see what happens in the spring!

-Let's go bigger, country big. Qatar is developing a food sufficiency plan. Makes sense when 90% of your food is imported. Or does it???
And lastly, check out Lebanon's first green wall.

Living architecture, urban agriculture top 5 phrases of 2011 + A Green Roof song!

Everyone loves top o' the year lists...here's my top 5 living architecture phrases for last year...

5. Food Czar
4. Vertical Street
3. Horticultural Foodscapes
2. Suburbian Small-Scale Agriculture/Urban Agrarianism
1. Aquaponics

I could only find one decent song for the month:
Eighth of January - Arkansas Barefoot Boys

but I did find something more incredible. A song that is actually entitled "Green Roof". Let the artist know what you think. I think it's pretty good, all in all!

Download a free aquaponics book + Book Review - Aquaponic Gardening

As someone who has involved in the still developing world of living architecture, it is amazing to see the industry constantly evolving and new offshoots developing. Case in point, aquaponics. Although some would argue that not all aquaponic systems could fall under the umbrella of living architecture, if the system were integrated into the home, I believe it would be. So I am claiming it and verticiel has begun experimenting with systems of our own. But more about that in a few weeks...

The book Aquaponic Gardening by Sylvia Bernstein really is a step-by-step guide, as is claimed, to raising fish and vegetables together. Sylvia is definitely qualified to call herself an expert and could've written the book by herself, but she got other experts in the field to contribute, edit, and proofread, making it truly worth buying.
It starts slowly and building quickly, with chapters covering everything from what aquaponics is, to everything ones needs to know to start and maintain a do it yourself system. And she really does covers everything, from lighting to plumbing in great detail and includes a list of mistakes she's made and what to consider before trying aquaponics commercially. Plus you get color photos! What's not to love?

Oh yes, if you'd like more aquaponics information, here's a free download chock full of info, from one of the industry leaders.