Masanobu Fukuoka birthday - February 2

Monday, February 2 natural farming advocates celebrate the 101st anniversary of Masanobu Fukuoka's birth. Best known for his groundbreaking book, The One Straw Revolution, Fukuoka began experimenting with organic farming techniques in 1938 when the industry was heading in the opposite direction.
His five principles of natural farming look very familiar to permaculture enthusiasts today, including minimal human cultivation of soil, weeding or application of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.
The consummate teacher, he was still giving lectures around the world well into his 90s.
If you haven't read The One Straw Revolution, check it out...it may be your best read of the year.

Influencing policy change in urban agriculture

Everyone is super busy and it can be hard to catch up on the world of living architecture...sometimes it's just difficult to devote the time. So whenever possible I like to feature audio clips, that way you (and I) can multi-task. You know, wash the dishes, perhaps, while learning! Here's a nice clip about an aquaponics facility in Chicago.

 

-White roofs vs green roofs. The debate continues with a recent article touting the economic benefits of white roofs. It is good to read a discussion about the benefits of green and white roofs, it raises the profile of both. But if you're going to do a study why not a study on the total, holistic benefits of "alternative" roofing solutions and not just add one layer of complexity (climate change on top of economics) to a possible reason for picking one over the other?  

 

-Tools, tools, tools. Not tangible ones, but a valuable and extensive bibliography detailing the social, economic and health benefits of urban agriculture. If you're a policy maker, today's your lucky day. How about International Water Management Institute (IWMI) report on ways to influence policy change?

 

-If you've been following the vertical farming world and Alterrus' rise, last week's closing statement no doubt feels a bit heartbreaking. Hopefully those involved will resurface with future ventures which soar.

New permaculture videos with Toby Hemenway

Here's the latest from the dean of Permaculture (I just made that title up!)

The long lasting effects of green spaces

Green space is a good thing. How good? Maybe better than marriage or the lottery when it comes to making us feel great for a long time.

-Add Oman to the list of countries giving aquaponics a whirl...with a little Canadian help!

 -New York State has expanded and extended its green roof property-tax abatement. $200,000 is now the maximum allowable and more plant species can now be incorporated as well.

Book reviews: "The age proof garden" and "1000 designs for the garden"

It's been a while since my last book review. But I have been on a reading kick. More good stuff to share! The first one up is called 1000 designs for the garden. Written by Geraldine and Ian Rudge in 2011, it is a great book for a design professional looking for a specific product for a gardening projects. Or even for a little inspiration. Of course, with products which look this good they must be pricey


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The second book for today is The age-proof garden : 101 practical ideas and projects for stress-free, low-maintenance senior gardening, shown step by step in more than 500 photographs by Patty Cassidy With a title like this I wondered if it would have a horticultural therapy bent. And it does, is a practitioner in the Washington/Oregon areas. This book is for seniors who haven't gardened before. If this description fits you or someone you know, give this book a look. With simple instructions on how to make various gardens (like a lettuce garden) it's a great resource for beginners. The book truly shines with instructions on how to make "gardens that stimulate the sense", in particular a sound garden sounds like a fantastic idea.

Pair the sound garden idea with a product from the 1000 designs book and you've got a garden going on!

Low energy greenhouses

Greenhouses are great...low energy greenhouses are even better! About 18 minutes in there are even some specifications for how you can build your own.

Toronto's first large scale aquaponics system

Following up on the Eastdale Collegiate article in Monday's blog post, it should be noted there were no medium scale aquaponics systems in Toronto until Foodshare's a few years back. So it's exciting to see Toronto will have its first large scale, commercial system in North York. It has been difficult, historically, to make an aquaponic endeavor profitable. Let's keep our eye on this one.

-Aquaponics is being used in Indiana not just to bring 45,000 pounds of food to the local community, but also to give jobs to young adults with autism.

-It's absolutely essential to have positive stories in mainstream media supporting green roofs and refuting the common myths. So I was happy to see Forbes' write up. The author could have also mentioned that the EPA estimates that repairing, replacing, and upgrading our aging water systems will cost at least $300 billion dollars, so green roofs and all green infrastructure, needs to be part of our plans as we plan for the future.

Schools start the New Year with urban agriculture announcements

Late December normally brings cold, snow and a slow GILA newscycle. 2013 was no different, but there were a some interesting discoveries over the last couple of weeks. And kids in three cities will be very happy when they come back after the winter break.

-To start things off, the Toronto Star covered the massive, urban agriculture rooftop at Eastdale Collegiate. You heard about it first here on Living Architecture Daily because we were part of the team! Hopefully the story takes Toronto by storm in the spring, a write-up on Christmas feels like the story could be buried a bit...but it's so incredible I am sure that it will resonate across Canada, and the world, for decades to come.

-Not to be outdone a school in New York will have a $1.2 million hydroponic garden on its roof this year. 

-Everyone one of the 31 schools in the Delta school district will have an urban agriculture installation by the end of the year, reports the Vancouver Sun. Wow!!!

-Edmonds Community College is the first college in North America to offer an urban agriculture degree (plus six certificates) focused on learning to grow, develop and manage urban agriculture systems and businesses for local markets and clients. The first quarter starts today!

-The last few years have been dominated by aquaponics. Before that hydroponics was the biggest "ponic" and once upon a time there aeroponics inspired the imagination. Could it be back?

GILA (green infrastructure, living architecture) trends for 2014...and beyond

Let's see how I did with last year's picks...

Am I batting .500?
I'd say I was right on the money with aquaponics, government agencies are boasting about it (and even kids are now building systems!), but whiffed on other cities getting Highlines. We did see quite a few more rooftop farms, but not so much activity concerning government policies revolving around green infrastructure. It would be good if I could be accurate with the macro, not micro trends, as that helps more people!
We'll see what I can do this year.

-This year I have profiled several individuals and companies interested in farming insects.
I think this is going to be a major trend moving forward as we look for easy to farm, low cost protein sources. It looks like the North Americans may be late to the game as a little research shows a million cockroaches escaped from a Chinese insect farm and a robust industry in Burkina Faso exists already.

-In addition to insects, the culinary industry will continue to experiment with different ingredients including dirt (ampo, anyone).

-I believe in 2014 and beyond we will continue to see the development of a crowd sourced plant development industry which spawned the glow in the dark plant in 2013.

-Farming is hard and the numbers across North America are on the decline, I'm betting North America will follow Michigan's lead and the number of female farmers will continue to rise.

-We've seen front lawn battles for years across the US. Orlando officials over the summer finally changed their rules to allow a few vegetables in lieu of lawns. In St. Louis things were at the other extreme with full-fledged farms at the center. Tension between home owners, entrepreneurs and city officials revolving around urban agriculture and urban farming will increase and questions like when does a front lawn become a "farm" and how many plants are too many for an existing neighbourhood will reverberate across North America. Watch Hantz' Farm in Detroit, in particular, for the most high profile case.

-The last big prediction? An amendment to last year's forecasting. It will take longer, maybe five years, before we see true exploration into and development of systemic, comprehensive city scale urban agriculture hubs which be the driver behind green infrastructure gains. In essence I am saying food will be the driver behind macro changes, not climate control (cooling cities, reducing smog, stormwater management). "Super value added" green infrastructure, if you will. Two big announcements earlier in the month piggy back on last year's development...me thinks.

Happy 2014!!!