Will Allen talks urban agriculture on the Colbert Report

Does it get any bigger than that? Yanks and canucks each get a special link!

The Amazing Power of Sedums

A quick demonstration of how incredible some of the sedum species plants are and why cuttings can be very handy. The greenish prickly one is Sedum rupestre 'Angelina', the other is Sedum spurium 'Tricolor'. 

Cutting were dropped into 5 cm of (saturated) peat moss and left alone for two weeks in very little sun (at most, three hours per day). Root growth for the Tricolor was 1 cm., 1.5 cm. for the Angelina!

Your GILA (green infrastructure, urban agriculture) word of the week :Urban Agripuncture

Thanks Huff Post for adding this one to our dictionary!

-I didn’t see many inspiring permaculture stories in the back half of May, but there were a couple great ones last week.  El Paso is going to have their very own urban food forest. At 10,000 square feet in a town where it rarely drops below freezing, this provides the opportunity for a few families to feast all year long. 

-In Portland, Oregon neighbors are banding together to save an 11,000 square foot permaculture food forest. The only difference from the El Paso startup? This one is 35 years old!!! 

-Okay, can we officially call aquaponics red hot? A German company, in 2013, will be constructing a 7,000 square meter (75,350 square feet) aquaponics facility! I haven't seen one yet, but I feel somewhere there's a columnist drafting an urban agriculture column pitting aquaponics versus hydroponics. 

Bright Farms scales up urban farming production + your template for urban ag business survival

-If you're active in the urban agriculture field you know how difficult it can be to earn a living as an urban farmer. Global Green USA has released a report, which could serve as a template, for what your organization needs to become a sustainable urban agriculture endeavor.

-Bright Farms is scaling up in a major way, announcing a new partnership in Minnesota with other greenhouses on their way soon.  How are they doing it? This article pulls the curtain back a bit on their financing scheme.

-Check out Boston's pilot urban agriculture rezoning initiative. Instead of removing regulations, like other cities have, they have chosen to add more to make it easier to grow food.

Huge aquaponics project set to launch in California + June songs of the month

A couple of quick links and then back to the grind.

-We can now officially add a decrease in crime to the list of reasons to support green infrastructure.

-Last week word hit the web of a 2 acre aquaponics project in California slated to start in July. Wow!!! Keep track of the folks at Solutions for Change, looks like they have everything going for them. 

Now, without further delay, the June tunes...

Jamiroquai - Seven Days In Sunny June 

Rogers & Hammestein - June Is Bustin’ Out All Over

Juneteenth Jamboree - Fatso Bentley 

June Hymn - The Decemberists