A food forest begins to sprout in Guelph

Ithaca Permaculture Park, River Valley Food Forest, Greenbelt Food Forest in Maryland and most famously, Beacon Food Forest in Seattle, Washington food forests are already on the map. Now Guelph (Ontario) is in the process of building one. I was lucky enough to be part of the kick off.
It's tentatively called Hanlon Creek Community Food Forest. Six designs were produced by breakout groups, last Thursday, and the common elements will be combined into three workable designs for further elaboration in a couple of weeks. 
This is very exciting for a town of roughly 125,000. Your town can do it too! 

-Some big news out of Ireland as a new green roof bylaw in a suburb of Dublin, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County is set to take effect in a few months. It covers new building construction starting January 1!

-Gigantic retailer Target is teaming up with MIT to explore how they can support urban agriculture.

-There's so much happening in Detroit, lots of good stuff gets underreported. A $15 million dollar, 60 acre, urban agriculture project was announced which will hopefully employ up to 125 ex-offenders and recovering addicts.

-A fantastic permaculture program is taking off in Ethiopia. 450 hectares in total may be transformed.

-Here's a handy dandy guide to growing indoor plants, what kinds of containers you can use and which plants work best in them.

Scott Pittman's latest permaculture design lecture

The growing season is winding down in this part of the hemisphere, so perhaps you have a few moments and can enjoy a Scott Pittman permaculture design lecture from earlier in the month!

The Lowline is unveiled

Sometimes it's all about the pictures. Sourceable has a very helpful infograph (seen above), which explains the different types of living architecture.

-Two news items from NY. The Lowline has now entered the proof of concept/experiment phase for what underground, public space could become. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the city will double parks funding to $285 million. What a great way to further build the city's green infrastructure.

-A few folks in the UK would like a Highline. But this one, it seems, would be private. And subsidized by public funds. Many people, including environmentalists, claim this is simply a vanity project and want it kiboshed. With the number of people and groups against it, I think this is going nowehre fast.

-Detroit has 274 acres of vacant land. There are numerous ideas what to do with all that space. The City has some ideas, including dumping 85,000 people on one site to improve the soil.


-Do you live in Austin, Texas? Do you have a fantastic idea for how to turn raw materials into a viable enterprise? Would you like $10,000 to help make your idea a reality? This is your chance!

Food forest community meeting in Guelph - October 22

If you're in or around the area and interested in becoming part of the process, on October 22 from 7-9 pm stop by Jean Little Public School. Led by the City of Guelph and with the support of the immediate local community around the site (University Village Park) and the broader Guelph community, this is a unique opportunity! There are perhaps only 10 food forests in North America  and very few in small communities, be there or be square!

Urban agriculture at airports - part 2

Airport beekeeping has really taken off. (Oh, the delicious puns. I know, I know I have to stop). Starting in Germany and spreading across Europe and North America, look for some tasty honey coming your way. Or start up an operation in your town.

Urban agriculture at airports - part 1

It seems airports are beginning to utilize their space more and more to promote healthy eating and (urban) agriculture. Later in the week I'll preview some other ventures, today is a profile of a collaboration at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport where blue potatoes will be grown to eventually be made into chips for your snacking delight on board JetBlue airplanes.

São Paulo's green roof and wall incentive & agrihoods take off

If there's one thing I learned this week, all good things come from the NY Times.

While reading about São Paulo mayor, who is trying all sorts of things to reduce gridlock, I stumbled upon other initiatives he has enacted including the stipulation that companies must pay for "environmental conservation works" and can do so by installing green walls or green roofs, like the one above.

-Two weeks ago in Santa Clara a plan was selected for a 1.5 acre parcel. It includes 165 affordable senior rental units and much, much more. If you want a list of prominent agrihood/agriburbia developments across the nation, one was convenient posted last week.

That article is one of three I saw over the next 10 days detailing newish and future agrihoods.

-An interesting pairing has Back to the Roots teaming with Sodexo to supply 2,300 schools with garden tool kits, including aquaponics kits, mushroom mini-farms and their “garden-in-a-can”. There’s curriculum for the toolkits as well.

-Vancouver is now offering $10 trees to encourage home owners to build up their urban forest. Fruit trees are available too, including prunes!

-India is working on creating a green wall of their own, this one featuring palm trees to stop sea coast erosion.

The newest style: plants on heads

I really hope this makes it to North America. Apparently people in China are adorning themselves with plants. Now if people could start growing food which they eat...on their heads. That would be beyond awesome! Is this the dawn of "personal living architecture"?

Are green walls bad for human health?

A new study from England seems to say so, when the temperatures are very warm plants emitted volatile organic compands. The industry will definitely be paying close attention to these findings and, if I can predict anything, others will try to replicate or debunk these findings!
Stay tuned!!!

Check out this city hall in Belgium! Very, very nice...