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.

Shia LaBeouf, Hollywood's aquaponics champ

Wow, with so much aquaponics news I should just start an aquaponics only blog!

We know that Hollywood has it's share of green celebrities, you can add Shia LeBeouf to the list. Movements can often benefit from a well-known spokesperson, and it looks like he's an early candidate for Hollywood's king of aquaponics.

-Last week first indoor farm in Chicago was licensed, an aquaponics set up which has received tremendous support from Silicon Valley.

-For most people learning the art of aquaponics means starting your own system. If you have time to spare and want to learn while doing some good, there are volunteer opportunities in Haiti to develop a community education system which could be scaled down for homes and businesses.

-It's great to get an update on the aquaponics project at the Zayed Higher Agricultural Centre for Development and Rehabilitation in Abu Dhabi. It's the biggest in the world and they are clearly not just mucking about. The staff thought that they would be ready to start selling in May...it looks like they weren't far off and have already produced 10 tonnes (11 tons) of fish!

-Compared to the aquaponics project in Abu Dhabi it seems almost everything else is small. But Greenville, South Carolina has its own "small, but big" aquaponics project up, running and helping make the community more food secure.