Two more colleges offer urban agriculture degrees

A quick kick to spotlight two urban agriculture programs: Mesa Community College in Arizona has introduced a new urban agriculture degree and UMass is now offering their 60 credit urban agriculture degree online!

Gila words of the week: Urban Fruit Trail & Underground Rooftop Garden

Ahhh...I know I have your attention now! We're going to end the week on a very, very high note.

-What is an underground rooftop garden you ask? Have a look...

Art students from Savannah, Georgia are exploring what it is like to live in a micro house. Their choice of pop-up locations with all of the amenities...the campus parking garage. Have a look.
Their ephemeral pad even includes container gardens.

-There's a bit of flexing underway in Vancouver as Canadian Pacific Railways is looking to once again use railway lines last touched 13 years ago. This could mean the destruction of 10% of Vancouver's urban gardens, many surround the formerly defunct line. The City of Vancouver is pushing back...just a touch. And of course community gardeners are not that pleased. This could take a while to play out, let's see what happens.

-Historically why have landscape architects resisted designing productive landscapes? One blogger  believes it has to do with Management, Liability and Aesthetics. Hey, wait a second, that would spell MLA...the acronym for Master of Landscape Architecture. Weird!!!

-A scaled down, more structured artistic spin of a food forest is being planned in Los Angeles. They have coined it the urban fruit trail.

-Rooftop gardens have been part of the New York landscape since the early 1880s. Take a trip back in time to find out why they became all the rage.

-Charleston, South Carolina and Waltham, Massachusetts are planning huge eco-districts. Waltham is setting aside $20 million dollars for a 58 acre agriculture and community farming hub. Charleston is designating 865 acres (!) as an eco-district, unfortunately what that means is unclear. Eco measures, including green roofs, seem to be "voluntary". Let's hope for the best!

-And last but not least for the week. Plants can hear, according to researchers from the University of Missouri. Yes, you heard that right.

Virtual Living Architecture Summit - 2013 + permaculture conferences

Starting tomorrow, January 9 and continuing through February 8 greenroofs.com is hosting the 2013 virtual summit. Check it out if you have time!

Also starting tomorrow is a permaculture conference at Oregon State University. This one lasts even longer...until March 22, 2013.

Often folks interested in permaculture feel more comfortable with college/university based permaculture offerings, which is totally understandable. Here are a few more if the Oregon State dates don't work for you:

California State University - Stanislaus
Indiana University - Bloomington
University of Massachusetts - Amherst

A quick aquaponics round up

With the amount of aquaponics information coming out these days, I could probably have a blog just devoted to aquaponics.

-For those looking to start their own large scale aquaponics system, a Cape Cod operation has some tips. Much I have read about aquaponics stresses starting small and scaling up, these owners have different advice.
-A 2 hour drive north a Lynn (Greater Boston) elementary school is getting their own system. I think this may be the first school system in Massachusetts, need to double check that.
-From Minnesota we learn of two new aquaponics ventures, the 55,000 square foot one featured and another 38,000 square foot, a few years old.

Green roofs, a symbol of bad or good architecture + breathless in France over urban ag

A ton happening on the urban agriculture front around the world:

-Urban ag enthusiasts in Vermont have another week to voice their opinion on the recommendations made by Burlington's Urban Agriculture Task Force. A stone’s throw away, Somerville Massachusetts is encouraging its residents to grow by planting an urban garden at its city hall. 

-In France, they are just beginning to investigate this thing called “urban agriculture” and the author of this article seems amazed by it all. It made me chuckle at first, but when I step back for a moment and think about it, it is pretty amazing. Maybe 10 years ago the nutty neighbors were the ones growing vegetables, these days its less and less likely that your neighbors would label you so and in places where urban gardens were slashed and burned, they are now less often targeted.  

-How a week can change things! Green roofs on this New York City building go from being possibly good to very bad when community groups take a look at some renderings. 

-Last month the National Resources Defense Council released a paper detailing how California could reduce its energy expenditure with green and white roofs. Sorry for not posting that sooner, it has been waiting in the queue! 

Green roof athletic field...North America's first

Totally forgot to post this one. North America has its first green roof field, I think second in the world. Worcester Polytechnic Institute will have their soccer, softball, field hockey, lacrosse and rugby players playing atop an underground parking lot. 

Green roofs and Devens, Mass.

As someone involved in living architecture and green roofs in particular for some time now, it is great that more and more cities are recognizing the value of having a green roof professional as part of the design team. Joining Calgary and DC Devens, Massachusetts now requires an accredited green roof professional (ahhm, you know how to contact me) on the job.

-Pee Wee the red wriggler is back. If your kids loved the previous books on composting, this is bound to be a treat as well.

-If you're in Roanoke, Virginia and have an opinion about the proposed
urban farm scheduled to be built where Countryside Golf Course used to be, you...umm...missed a chance to talk about it on Thursday, September 22. If you still want to share your thoughts, it looks like you can talk to the Planning Administrator.

-For all of the entrepreneurs out there, this list of the biggest food deserts means while citizens do not have equal access to fresh fruit and vegetables and there are folks waiting for your business!

-This article makes me so, so, nervous for a few reasons:
1) Folks are growing vegetables in tyres American translation: tires).
2) The numerous citations of Wikipedia as their main source of information.
But I wish them all the best and hope those tire planters are lined!!!

-To round out this my most eclectic blog post yet, we get a peak inside why Japan is embracing urban agriculture.