The problem with permaculture

 I've never really seen someone elaborate like this, via a major outlet, about the problems with how permaculture is currently taught. The author has a number of valid points. His major complaints center around money and philosophy:

-Because of the base cost, permaculture design courses are usually out of the question but for a select few.
-Throw in the cost of books and even more people are unable to gain a certificate.
-Some in the industry recommend using expensive equipment and machinery, instead of low cost methods, further driving up the price of a typical project.
-Permaculture teachers view sharing their knowledge as money making tools/income generators, which runs counter to the similar, yet still very much different, agroecology movement. 
-Courses "sometimes seem like a publicity campaign for companies that market organic products". In one particular course he mentioned hundreds of plugs for popular products.

What do you think?

-A billion dollar project in Florida spent over $700,000 moving mature trees to their latest project!

-Will this ambitious wine loving, Brooklyn based duo be able to pull off the world's first rooftop vineyard? It's been a few years in the making and they are now oh so close.

Introductory tutorial to rooftop gardening in India

About an hour long, if you're curious about rooftop (or terrace) gardening in India or want to give it a try, have a look.

GILA word of the week: Bee highway

The FAO has definitely been busy. This week it announced that Cape Verde has it's first FAO urban agriculture program. Earlier in the month the FAO released a collection of findings from scientists and economists who have taken stock of climate change impacts on food and agriculture at global and regional levels. The document investigates, among other things, how climate change will impact crop production in Africa and grain production in Russia and neighboring Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

-I hope these entrepreneurs can do it, however it will be an uphill climb. By 2017 a Brooklyn duo hopes to produce the first rooftop wine from rooftop vineyard.

-Norway is creating a bee highway. What is that you ask? Private individual, state bodies, companies, and associations post their little slice of green on the website polli.no to map out a bees’ safe route across the Oslo.

-A graduate student has published the first summary, I believe, stating the limits of community gardens in creating communities. One of her preliminary findings (in the Netherlands) is that those who garden together don't often become friends outside the garden, however they are more likely to ask for help from others. As this story hit the web, so did one which focuses on urban agriculture and measuring what it actually yields, in terms of food production and money.

-Chicago laps the fields in rooftop farms, 13 have been documented, compared to 3 in Chicago and only 2 in Toronto. I wonder how many exist outside North America?

$2.1 million dollars for aquaponics research

Lethbridge College in Alberta has been at the forefront of aquaponics research for over a decade, really it's the place to go in North America. So the fact that they got over $2 million dollars makes a lot of sense, they deserve it and I can't wait to see what comes from their efforts!

-How something is labelled makes a huge difference. So I often find it interesting to hear the phrases of English speakers outside of the UK or USA. In this article this Vietnamese woman calls the produce she collects from her rooftop garden "clean" food, because it's organic. How would things change elsewhere, if organic produces co-opted the phrase "clean" for their produce?

-Installing a green roof, with the help of a couple of professionals, can be a fantastic community event. And it's tremendously satisfying to put the plants in and stand back as you water the plants to help them settle in. But I have never heard of what these folks in Buffalo are trying to do, getting people to also GROW the plants at home, take care of them and bring them to the installation.

-Following up on last week's email, if you want to see pictures of Patrick Blanc's home, and not just a video, check this out.

-I don't think people took the California drought as something to be worried about until the mandatory cuts came last week. What will this mean for landscapers? A switch to more permaculture based gardens as people look to grow more of their own food? More xeroscaping? More painted grass?
The mayor, seemingly, has taken this crisis to heart and wants to weave sustainability into every city department and proposes things like allowing food stamps to be used at farmer's markets. Which would be great, especially because in 20 years the number of farmer's markets has quadrupled across the USA!

-Please indulge me for a second; I have a little pet peeve. I'd like to have a definition for "vertical farming", because I realize it's not something everyone agrees on. And I think you'll see that, as time goes on, there will need to be standardization of the language because the technologies required for growing plants 2 stories high versus in a plastic drum half the height of an average human, are vastly different.

-Here's a KickStarter campaign everyone can benefit from. If these entrepreneurs get their funding, they will create the first DIY program to turn anyone into a mushroom farmer.

Public parks with private poppy

As you know New York's Highline was the catalyst behind big changes on the westside of Manhattan. More changes are coming down the pike with a new park. But is that a good thing? Sponsored by private money, what is private wealth's role in remaking public spaces?

-This fall was the first time MillionTreesNYC free tree giveaway featured exclusively edible fruit trees, in total 4,500 were claimed!

-Since the spring residents of a retirement facility, just outside of Chicago, have grown vegetables on their rooftop hydroponic facility for use in their kitchen and others kitchens across the city. This is the first of it's kind, I believe.

-If you'd like to peer into the life of one horticultural therapist practicing in New Jersey, check out this blog. I've linked to the latest posting in the past, she periodically updates it with interesting anecdotes.

-An Emory College student has launced a vineyard to study the American starvine, a threatened native plant which may have tremendous medicinal benefits.

-Earlier in the year I wrote about Brightfarms opening a urban farm in DC, it will be one of the biggest in the USA. Make that, it would have been. The site is so contaminated, they make walk away from the project and $700,000 already invested. A recent paper highlighted the problem in Buffalo and New York City.

2015 - International Year of Soil

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has declared 2015 to be International Year of Soil. Have a look to see how you can take an active promotion role.

-2015 may also be a big year for a couple of other organizations. Here's some great video of a trip to EnerGaia, the folks farming spirulina in Bangkok.

-Plant-e has expanded their "power plant" trials, where they generate electricity from plant roots. They hope, one day, to get enough power from 120 square meters of roof space to power an average Dutch home.

Rooftop beer

Last week I wrote a bit about Congressman Tim Ryan's love for urban agriculture. Silly me, I didn't even realize he had a new book out.

-In LA a rooftop garden has drawn a lot of publicity, especially once they launched their very own beer grown with hops from their rooftop..

-To assist with their rehabilitation, a jail in Denver is opening an aquaponics facility.

-In the same week, both Pittsburgh and Oakland have announced that they are both working hard to open up vacant land for urban agriculture.

Urban farming under gun fire

Urban farming for refugees in Syria is a risky, but necessary part of daily life. Two facts from the article really stand out to me, first that farming on rooftops is often done under the threat of snipers (!) and secondly that some refugees picked up farming techniques from youtube.

-Washington State is making people who want to keep small livestock take a certification class, I think they're the first state to do this. Smart. Urban agriculture is likely to cost the city extra money for animal control services (rounding up loose or abandoned animals), so this makes a lot of sense. 

-On the east coast a $1.5 million dollar federal grant awarded to Virginia State University will go to refurbish an old building and turn it into an urban agriculture hub featuring both aquaponic and hydroponic systems. 

-Here's a school aquaponics facility which hopes to add snails to its offerings.

-When Land8 talks about urban agriculture it seems to happen in spurts. Two weeks ago they published a helpful 10 principle article for creating food-producing landscapes and then a follow up article which delves into the challenges of urban agriculture.

-As practitioners know permaculture can mean many things. Here's how one group makes it synonymous with activism.

-A rise in community activism and pressure on governments to scale back and save money in the face of declining revenues has led to more do-it-yourself groups. The trend is taking off in San Francisco and Vancouver as residents help build mini-public parks using their own tools and ultimately time and money.

GILA word of the week: Rooftop Terraculture

Last year I wrote a bit about Terraculture and Terraponics. Here's the next level, I'll call it Rooftop Terraculture.

See the School Grown Rooftop this weekend

You've perhaps heard about the School Grown Rooftop in Toronto at Eastdale Collegiate Institute.
For those late to the game, it's a 16,000 square foot rooftop atop a high school on the east side of Toronto with gardening beds for vegetable and fruit production. verticiel Inc. was fortunate to be part of the team which brought the project to life.
From 10 am - 4:45 pm this weekend, May 24-25, you can visit the rooftop during Doors Open Toronto and see what the buzz is about.

Urban agriculture gets the National Inquirer treatment + $200 green wall

This is probably the first GILA article I have ever read which somehow manages to incorporate violent crime and takes a turn towards the truly sensationalistic.

-Check out this living wall in Jakarta, which reportedly costs only $200. How is that possible?

-Whenever Nevin Cohen publishes something new, we would be wise to listen. His recent paper shows that race and class based disparities, in addition to resource needs, still remain in the urban agriculture system. For any municipal official, this would be a handy tool.

-Toronto's own Foodshare shares some more information about their tremendously successful and productive School Grown initiative plus details about their Eastdale Collegiate Institute's Rooftop garden.

-I don't know if this job exists, if not, it could be a great opportunity for someone. The other day I spied this article about urban agriculture in China. No doubt, there is much more going on there than we ever hear about, simply because it is not written in English. Perhaps there is someone who can splash some cash to pay people to translate relevant articles about their subject of interest to leap the linguistic barriers.

-The world's second largest green wall was just completed in Colombia, feast your eyes:

Green roof research, near and far

A couple of months ago I highlighted a green roof research project which is investigating native plants suitable for the Mediterranean region. Important stuff, as is a recent project which highlights plants that can work well in the area and how much additional water plants must be given if there’s a decrease in substrate.

-A Walmart in Portland, Oregon has stepped up in a big way, offering it’s rooftop for research.

-Toronto's FoodShare posted a little more about the new and totally unique School Grown Rooftop Garden. Prepare to be amazed.

-Occasionally I like write posts featuring new and exciting projects from one country to help understand what’s going on in their GILA world. The last Singapore post was in June, here’s one article which gives us a look into what some other innovators are doing in the sovereign city state.

-Sign up right now to follow this urban agriculture series, it’s going to be a good one!

Is Boston's urban agriculture movement about to take off...or implode?

A few weeks ago we learned that Boston was changing its zoning guidelines to allow more urban agriculture. And wouldn’t you know it, last week Higher Ground announced their rooftop farm is in the planning stages and there seem to be a bunch of other interested parties (including Lufa Farms who just opened their second farm in Montreal) at the table! In 2013 Boston may have gone from middle of the pack in the rooftop farming world to first place by late 2014.
Or will it be only be highly commercial ventures which survive. A San Franciscan seems to think their struggle to keep community urban agriculture alive will be experienced by Boston.

We did a little world urban agriculture news crawl in the last post, but didn't stopover in Asia. Let's rectify that...

-We'll start in Japan where there's a 9 story high (like Higher Ground’s farm) urban farm which is up and running. Seems they are employing a wide array of technologies inside and outside the building.

-There have been a billion articles about a really eclectic rooftop in China, but no video. Until now, thanks to the Brisbane Times.



-A 350 square meter (3760 square foot) living wall in London has been just as well covered as the amazing roof in China. If you haven’t heard (or read), feast your eyes. Let’s add it to last year’s list!!!

-There are others in the urban agriculture world who are thinking big. One particular fellow wants to build 100 aquaponics farms (2/3 in Charlotte, 1/3 in Haiti) and another just signed on to stake Alberta’s claim in the aquaponics game.
In Fiji the national university and Joe’s Farm (love that name) are pioneering research and development into an aquaponic system and mushrooms production.

Still more from the last couple of weeks! Two studies document urban agriculture in Seoul and Los Angeles.

Phew! That's it for now!

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.

Eat up! - Book Review

I've been waiting for this book for about four months and it just hit the shelves Tuesday, May 14. I will now pen my shortest book review to date. Two words. Get it! If you’re into green infrastructure, urban agriculture/farming, green roofs, green walls, vertical gardening...none of the above but merely curious, this book is for you. And if you hope to get into “the business” in some capacity, it is a absolute must read.

The book sets the stage nicely by answering the what, why and when of rooftop agriculture. Stories about, profiles of, and information related to small, medium and large rooftop endeavors and their supporters can be found throughout. And there are even checklists for starting a garden, farm or large scale venture. Throw in copious end notes and a well-researched bibliography and you have great first book for a burgeoning industry.

Happy reading!

Sedums not the best green roof plant?

This research is sure to cause a stir. Sedum species plants have long been a staple of green roofs and sometimes green walls as well. Researchers in the UK now argue that the best all-around performance, including the effects of water ability on the plants and their ability to reduce air temperatures, should be major factors, not just survivability in minimal amounts of medium.

-Looks like Detroit may yet get its zoning ordinance allowing large-scale urban agriculture within city limits. However something tells me this isn't all sewn up just yet.

-Interested in a web application which helps make growing food easier? Then support the Agrisaurus campaign on Kickstarter.

-Dodgy veggies from mainland China have inspired a wave of Hong Kong residents to grow their food wherever they can, especially on rooftops. Two quick nuggets: Hong Kong imports about 90% of their food and they have gone from 0 to 100 organic farms in just 7 years!

A marijuana bust creates an aquaponics opportunity

In one of the stranger (yet strangely, logical) GILA stories I've read recently, a marijuana bust leads to the creation of an aquaponics operation. This novel resource allocation is just one of the many ways in which Philadelphia is trying to eliminate food deserts.
More from Philly. Two features were done last week on green infrastructure, one extolling the impressive and innovative stormwater management mitigation program in the City of Brotherly Love, the other exploring how California can use green infrastructure to solve some of its stormwater management woes.

-Let me set the scene and you tell me if you would want to live here. An affordable, eco friendly condo in dewy sweet Hawaii. Throw in a green wall AND the nation's first certified organic rooftop garden on an affordable home. Jealous yet? It's okay, Hawaii has other delights for you to sample from the comfort of your own home. Especially for those in Pacific island communities, the University of Hawaii now offers reasonably priced, online aquaponics classes! 160 students from 20 countries have singed up so far.

New Zealand is down with foraging

If you're hungry for some foraged fods in the Land of the Long White Cloud check out the Wild Foods Festival on March 12,
where you can sample things like wasp larvae ice cream, and, in general...wait for it, because I can't resist...get your grub on!
Also, while you're at it you can check out this map of urban foraging for New Zealand. And if you can use it, I'm jealous.
What about stateside? Check out Urban Edibles for similar maps and Fallen Fruit started off the same way, but in the last couple of years has expanded to include WAY more than fruit!

A mainstream org embraces a rising movement when the US Green Building Council sponsors a talk on urban agriculture and edible landscapes in St. Louis on March 9. Some might argue if the USGBC is mainstream, but with the size of their workforce, they can't be considered small timers anymore.

Alex Rochas delivers this funky 1,500 foot edible green roof/rooftop garden in Los Angeles.



Looking for a great blog? Behold Danielle Nierenberg's Nourishing the Planet, it's there I read about one of Malawi's new permaculture miracle workers
.

Short video on how to build a staple of permaculture gardens, the herb spiral.