Horticultural Therapy in Vermont

A very cool story about the power of horticultural therapy and how sometimes the students can help the teacher.

Donna's Story - Vermont's Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired from Vermont Event Video on Vimeo.

Rent-a-chicken

Over the last couple of years there has been a huge increase in urban agriculture interest. Recent reports of chicken abandonment, once the chickens stop laying eggs or when the going gets tough (winter!), are horrible, so it's wonderful that someone thought of a fantastic solution, rent-a-chicken!

-From the "this is so big, how did I never know that?" file comes the popular Kenyan comic strip magazine and radio broadcast Shujaaz. I may have to learn a little sheng to understand what three million listeners love!

-The University of Vermont’s Spatial Analysis Lab and the USDA Forest Service’s Northern Research Station have come up with a fantastic way to help municipalities to prioritize tree restoration projects. Could this tool be used to figure out where best to place other green infrastructure, like green roofs or green walls?

-Copenhagen has repeatedly shown to be one of the most progressive cities, in regards to green infrastructure. Here's an update on how Copenhagen is tackling climate change through progressive environmental design.

-Social cost benefits for urban agriculture as generally hard to come by, especially ones crunched by esteemed sources, so relish this report from the Netherlands.

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! 

Great community ideas

Can a local food system save a town? If you're from Hardwick, VT you'd say yes.

Another great idea? In Sonoma, California folks issued a challenge to have a garden on every block. The neighbourhood certainly responded with some great gardens, many permaculture inspired.

If you're similarly inspired or just want to know more about permaculture, a great intro is Will Hunter's NC State University Intro to Permaculture lecture. 90 minutes serve as a great primer for what permaculture entails!