Brain scans show gardening is good + GILA predictions for 2016

More evidence that gardening is good for mental health, this time brain scans show that it's true...which is a first! Horticultural therapy advocates rejoice!

Another $20 million euros has been given to the Great Green Wall programme by the European Union! Finally serious money is heading their way, this is on top of 5 billion dollars from France last month for various greening projects, including building the Green Wall.

-I know, I know, it's very late, but Foodtank.com had it's list of the most exciting stories for 2016. Here are four things I see in my crystal ball...

-The aquaponics movement will continue to develop in landlocked and import dependent countries and regions (like the Caribbean).
-We'll see the beginning of neighborhood scale urban agriculture projects, aquaponics and urban gardening designed to fill the food needs of a urban block or two, further decentralized food production. Those shipping containers? Yeah, they'll be big.
-This year will also mark the true beginning of the miniaturization of the insect growing movement, as tabletop systems, designed for a family, begin to take off.
-I also predict you'll see more green roof funding, specific in it's focus, get moved to general stormwater management funding for gardens and the replacement of lawns.

What do you think?

Be a permaculture professor!

A rare job has opened up to practice permaculture at the college level! Can you move to Colorado?

Community gardens raise property values

Wisconsin has been at the leading edge of the aquaponics movement for quite some time and their state's resume keeps getting more accomplished. The Aquaponics Innovation Center, is not even a year old, but they've received almost 3/4 of a million dollars to study aquaponic systems. 

-Ohio doesn't have the resume, Canton is hoping to change that. They have a $150 million dollar agri-business energy project design to bring 1,300, some of those in the aquaponics field.

-Over 1 million trees have been planted in New York City, more than any other city in the world. Here's how they did it.

-I haven't seen many articles of this type, but this landscape architect is wondering whether we need to start favoring xeriscapes and the "beauty of drought", or at least less water dependent creations, if landscape architecture is going to reflect the realities of a future, thirsty world.

-A fully automated growing system has just hit the market, on the low end the farm cube takes only 6 weeks to grow 200 pieces of your favorite vegetable.

-The UK has a brand new pop-up cafe, called Stroud Food Surplus Cafe, which sells "surplus food", food from restaurants that's perfectly fine, just past the expiration date.

-Two important studies came out last one. One quantifies how much land would be needed to feed Seattle, a city of about 650,000 people, 58 kilometers. Urban food crops, at the maximum, could fill 4% of the city's food needs.If you've been following the blog you know feelings towards community gardens have been changing, positively, over the last few years. Some towns/cities are still a bit reluctant. That should change with the first report indicating neighboring property values rise by as much as 9.4% points within five years of a garden's opening and the gardens can lead to increases in tax revenues of about half a million dollars per garden over 20 years.

Getting rid of pests, the permaculture way

We're already almost halfway into January and for those who are just seeing snow, the growing season starts in about 8 weeks! Amazing! So it's time to start getting ready...here's a helpful video from Australia.

Will recovering food waste get big bucks on Shark Tank?

Happy New Year everyone!

We're several days in and hopefully the resolutions are still intact! If you're able to, resolve to watch Shark Tank on Friday, Hungry Harvest will be pitching their idea for a CSA specializing in recovered (too small, not round enough, too big etc.) foods.  This is a big idea!

-Highline College in Chicago got a nice chunk of change, $80,000, to recruit residents from the area to participate in their Urban Agriculture certificate program. The 9 month certificate and 80 acre campus allows unique opportunities to get your hands dirty.

 -In Kenya the government added to their constitution Article 21, which states "Kenyans'..have the right "to be free from hunger and have adequate food of acceptable quality”. What this means in practical terms has yet to be determined.

-Speaking of practical terms, the Montreal Gazette asked a few experts how Montreal can reduce it's climate change impact. Green roofs were on the list and lots of other great ideas too, like urban gardening.