GILA word of the week: Compost Cuisine

One of these days I'll do another "best GILA websites". Allafrica.com, will definitely be on it. In the last week they've had great permaculture features. Check out this one detailing how students in ten schools split between Malawi (with some assistance from Norway) and Zimbabwe are getting a taste of entrepreneurism as they raise, harvest and sell fruits and vegetables.

-Yes, this story is too good to pass up. While looking into some green roof media I discovered a restaurant in Japan that serves dirt. Dirt in drinks, dirt in dessert, dirt as a dressing. A review of the restaurant points out that some of the dishes made use compost, not dirt. Duly noted. I've never heard of it before, but this can't be the only restaurant in the world...can it? Either way, I have to get there. One day...
While we're on the topic, it's probably a good time to talk about biosolids and ask your municipality if they are allowed in your compost.

-More research into the plants that are best for green roofs; in southern California a student's experiment suggests that the indigineous dudleyas may be a better fit than sedum species plants.

-Should the USA have an Office of Urban Agriculture? 200 of the nation's mayors think so.

Edible Mushrooms

Have you seen mushrooms popping up in your neck of the woods? With warm, steamy weather across most of North America, it's the perfect time to start your own mushroom garden. Here's a video to get things started...

Friends of urban agriculture take on wildflowers and transit

This may go down as the week friends of urban agriculture took on all comers. Wildflower fans maintain that there shouldn't be fruit orchards, transit advocates saying there should be no urban agriculture at all! But maybe there is space for growing flowers in the city?

-If you're in the green roofing business I would like to direct your attention to the ultimate guide demonstrating how green infrastructure (like green roofs) can overcome the urban heat island effect. These kids in New York City are already firmly on board, they've started a petition to hopefully have green roofs installed on all NYC schools! Here's the petition if you want to go straight to it.

-Lastly here's a couple of GILA (green infrastructure, living architecture) stories from some lightly reported places: Thailand, Nepal and China.

Biosphere 2 - the biggest living architecture and permaculture project of the 1990s

The NY Times recently did a retrospective on Biosphere 2. One could argue that it was the signature living architecture and permaculture project of the 1990's. It's where I first became interested in both disciplines, so as a Biosphere 2 research alum and fan I had to post the video. One of these days I'll write a long post about my time there; it was and continues to be an amazing place!

Singapore + vertical farming

It feels like just yesterday (it was actually Wednesday) that I said there seems to be more urban agriculture stories coming from Singapore. And then wouldn't you know it, I stumbled upon a story from last week in addition to this PBS video...

Watch Singapore Looks Skyward to Take Farming in New Directions on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

Free LEED Certification to Groundbreaking Projects in New Markets + urban ag in Japan

A couple of days ago I was soooo excited to see an article about urban agriculture in Japan, it's rare to see English language articles about urban agriculture in any other Asian countries besides Singapore and China....and Singapore is only recently. The article was actually a reprint from the Washington Post. But a few days ago we got the real deal, urban farming in Tokyo.

Al-jazeera has raised the profile of peak soil, including this little, big tidbit from the Soil Carbon Sequestration conference: "Soil provides an estimated 1.5-13 trillion dollars in ecosystem services annually.  

-Registration is now open for the 2013 Aquaponics Assocation conference in September.

-A fantastic announcement from LEED. There are 112 countries without a LEED certified project, the first project in a new LEED market will get free LEED certification!!!

-And to wrap up the day...here's Edmonton's answer to the Highline.

Book review - The professional design guide to green roofs + Creating Rain Gardens

It's summer time and the reading is easy.  I polished off two books this week which I wanted to write about.

Creating Rain Gardens is a must have book. How many times have I said that over the years? If you're a designer or want to design a rain garden, get this book. Now! Cleo doesn't mess around.
Although not the prettiest book you'll see (no color) it has everything you need, including how to design, build, plant and maintain a rain garden. There are case studies, worksheets (!), charts (for rainfall runoff, for instance), plants to use, steps to take and materials needed to complete a project.
Awesome book.

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Released in February 2013, The professional design guide to green roofs by Karla Dakin, Lisa Lee Benjamin Mindy Pantiel, is part coffee table, part instructional guide. As the book jacket asserts, it does examine the factors that influence successful green roofs from the professional's point of view, including chapters on site analysis, pre-design, planning and conceptual design, encouraging biodiversity on rooftops, contracts and the future of landscape design.
The bottom line? Although it's exactly 300 pages, 100 of that is solid text helpful for a professional just starting out. Said professional may want inspiration, to know more about the ins and outs of the business, bidding for a project and working with prospective clients or things to be wary of once a project is in the works. But to be honest if you're an experienced green roof professional this is not a book one needs to own, despite what the foreword says.
It is essentially the Green Roofs for Healthy Cities 201 manual with some very nice photos, the aforementioned content and comments from experienced, long time professionals from around the US (with a few international experts and projects sprinkled in).

If you have a few ($27) extra bucks and are just starting out, this book might be a decent addition to your shelf.

Foraging season begins

If you're a permaculture enthusiast in or near Belgium, (here's looking at all of you urban agriculture folks in the Netherlands) later this month is your chance to be part of the very first permaculture "teach the teacher" course.

-Urban agriculture proponents have plenty of reasons to champion their cause. One of the most profound is how reconnecting to the earth can literally change lives.

-With most of North America enveloped in warm weather for the last month, urban foraging season is upon us. Take a look at some recent foraging excursions in Washington DC and  Toronto.

-In "The Big Smoke" earlier this week the Toronto Food Policy Council released a new report which details how over 60 goverments use food systems for a slew of purposes, from generating economic development to engaging communities.

Songs of the month - Songs of Spring

June is upon us and spring is almost on its way out. First, a little tribute...


Beach Boys - Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring

Beatles - Here Comes The Sun 

Benny Goodman and His Orchestra - Santa Claus Came In Spring

Astrud Gilberto - It Might As Well Be Spring

Hubert Laws - The Rite of Spring

All the fruit trees in the US and Canada

If you're a non-European and you've been in the green roof industry for a while, no doubt you've heard a lot about Germany and how many green roofs it has. Here are some fantastic aerials views of one town in particular, Wohldorf-Ohlstedt, posted by a blogger who attended the International Green Roof Congress last month.

-One of the challenges of the internet is deciphering what is worth your time perusing and what is not. If you like fruit, the Falling Fruit website, is worth your time. Building off the pioneering mapping work of Fallen Fruit, which they did by canvassing the neighborhood, Falling Fruit utilizes public databases and catalogs hundreds of thousands (!) of fruit trees across North America and beyond. The honey locust seems to be the most popular tree. I'm nominating this for website of the year!

-Here's a great article about a horticultural therapy program which provides therapeutic activities for refugees and immigrants.