Raccoons and green roofs, not so perfect together

(What do you mean we're not supposed to be up here???)

Up on a green roof last week and I wasn't so happy to see evidence of raccoons. How does one know when they've been hanging around? When you can see this:

(they have bedded down for a night...or two...or thirty. Where there once were plants, now there is just medium.)

or this

(do I need to explain that one?)

Not sure what to do to dissuade them from visiting and something must be done as they can present problems.

The picture above is actually from my place, yes they are everywhere. Oh...and if the title of this post made you remember this classic jingle and smile, then my work is done for today.

Should Buffalo invest in vertical farms?

We haven’t had a video in a while, how about peeking in on the University of Detroit Mercy’s School of Law’s Urban Agriculture Symposium? They have been kind enough to put a great deal of the proceedings online and have been at the forefront of discussing urban ag and law for at least 5 years.

-I guess there’s a first time for everything. I’ve never really seen a green infrastructure company campaign for a certain city to buy their product by talking about said product on tv. Maybe they are looking for government funding to make the Plantagon feasible for somewhere in the US? What the spokesperson says is true “we are living in a world where the pollution is increasing and acreage is decreasing.” But the opposite is true of Buffalo, with a decrease in population comes the need to shrink the city. Residential land can become agricultural once again. 

-Remember that Occupy the Farm movement in California? Of course you do! Well, it looks like a lawsuit against the occupiers has been dropped. 

-A model for all of North America, Chicago’s award winning Vanguard Weiss Memorial Hospital is highly accommodating to it’s neighbors, including embracing various payment methods, letting disadvantaged community members garden and growing more “ethnic” crops. 

Book review - Gardening Vertically by Noemie Vialard

Gardening Vertically, by Noemie Vialard was originally published in France in 2010, but has just recently been translated and is now available for the English speaking North American audience.

This book belongs on your shelf. The author, admittedly Patrick Blanc's close friend and frequent collaborator, begins the book with 40 pages devoted to the French green wall innovator. Detailing his style, methods and background, it reads a bit like an extended Blanc biography/promotional piece. Which is fine, we also get insight and an in depth look into his work and inspiration, complete with tons of pictures and full equipment, hardware and support lists to build your own Blanc style wall. With step-by-step instructions the last 100 pages are filled with other techniques (a few time honoured and others fairly recent) for your own DIY projects, included detailed plant lists for achieving the wall of your dreams.

The possible projects are exhaustively described, including the lifespan of the plants in the wall, maintenance requirements, prep time, planting time, the best locations and harvest times as well.
It's very handy as an all-in-one resource for anyone interested in the green walls, especially the mechanically inclined DIYer.

The greatest green roof website ever!!!

Behold! And tell me, this green roof tool isn't the coolest, most practical thing you have ever used!!! (Provided that you're in the USA and/or love green roofs.)

I would be remiss if I didn't remind Austinities to check out their 5th annual bug festival on Saturday. See how many of these insects you can sample!

The Times is busy with bees

-The New York Times has had a bunch of articles in the last two months about bees. From exploring the proliferation of bees and bee lovers, to reports on bees creating various forms of trouble.  Someone at the Times is definitely smitten. 

-I neglected to update everyone on the completion of the green roof debate in Toronto City Hall last month. On May 8-9, 2012 all three motions recommended for adoption by the Planning and Growth Management Committee were adopted. The big one is the establishment of a discretionary reserve fund called the 'Eco-Roof Financial Assistance Reserve Fund' to subsidize green roof installation for all industrial, commercial and institutional buildings.

-I love the fact that the Salvation Army has launched this program in Montana to help kids learn to farm, eat and sell their vegetables. If an organization like the Salvation Army can do it there, they could easily replicate the program wherever they have branches...which is practically everywhere!

A marijuana bust creates an aquaponics opportunity

In one of the stranger (yet strangely, logical) GILA stories I've read recently, a marijuana bust leads to the creation of an aquaponics operation. This novel resource allocation is just one of the many ways in which Philadelphia is trying to eliminate food deserts.
More from Philly. Two features were done last week on green infrastructure, one extolling the impressive and innovative stormwater management mitigation program in the City of Brotherly Love, the other exploring how California can use green infrastructure to solve some of its stormwater management woes.

-Let me set the scene and you tell me if you would want to live here. An affordable, eco friendly condo in dewy sweet Hawaii. Throw in a green wall AND the nation's first certified organic rooftop garden on an affordable home. Jealous yet? It's okay, Hawaii has other delights for you to sample from the comfort of your own home. Especially for those in Pacific island communities, the University of Hawaii now offers reasonably priced, online aquaponics classes! 160 students from 20 countries have singed up so far.

Will Allen talks urban agriculture on the Colbert Report

Does it get any bigger than that? Yanks and canucks each get a special link!

The Amazing Power of Sedums

A quick demonstration of how incredible some of the sedum species plants are and why cuttings can be very handy. The greenish prickly one is Sedum rupestre 'Angelina', the other is Sedum spurium 'Tricolor'. 

Cutting were dropped into 5 cm of (saturated) peat moss and left alone for two weeks in very little sun (at most, three hours per day). Root growth for the Tricolor was 1 cm., 1.5 cm. for the Angelina!

Your GILA (green infrastructure, urban agriculture) word of the week :Urban Agripuncture

Thanks Huff Post for adding this one to our dictionary!

-I didn’t see many inspiring permaculture stories in the back half of May, but there were a couple great ones last week.  El Paso is going to have their very own urban food forest. At 10,000 square feet in a town where it rarely drops below freezing, this provides the opportunity for a few families to feast all year long. 

-In Portland, Oregon neighbors are banding together to save an 11,000 square foot permaculture food forest. The only difference from the El Paso startup? This one is 35 years old!!! 

-Okay, can we officially call aquaponics red hot? A German company, in 2013, will be constructing a 7,000 square meter (75,350 square feet) aquaponics facility! I haven't seen one yet, but I feel somewhere there's a columnist drafting an urban agriculture column pitting aquaponics versus hydroponics. 

Bright Farms scales up urban farming production + your template for urban ag business survival

-If you're active in the urban agriculture field you know how difficult it can be to earn a living as an urban farmer. Global Green USA has released a report, which could serve as a template, for what your organization needs to become a sustainable urban agriculture endeavor.

-Bright Farms is scaling up in a major way, announcing a new partnership in Minnesota with other greenhouses on their way soon.  How are they doing it? This article pulls the curtain back a bit on their financing scheme.

-Check out Boston's pilot urban agriculture rezoning initiative. Instead of removing regulations, like other cities have, they have chosen to add more to make it easier to grow food.

Huge aquaponics project set to launch in California + June songs of the month

A couple of quick links and then back to the grind.

-We can now officially add a decrease in crime to the list of reasons to support green infrastructure.

-Last week word hit the web of a 2 acre aquaponics project in California slated to start in July. Wow!!! Keep track of the folks at Solutions for Change, looks like they have everything going for them. 

Now, without further delay, the June tunes...

Jamiroquai - Seven Days In Sunny June 

Rogers & Hammestein - June Is Bustin’ Out All Over

Juneteenth Jamboree - Fatso Bentley 

June Hymn - The Decemberists