From the Blog

A Farm Grows in Brooklyn – on the Roof

Posted on April 29, 2014 //

by MARK J. MILLER, for National Geographic, April 29, 2014

This story is part of National Geographic‘s special eight-month “Future of Food” series.

U.S. cities lead a rooftop-farming movement that’s spreading around the globe.

For most urban dwellers, visiting a working farm requires a journey into the countryside. But in a growing number of world capitals, a farm is just a short elevator ride away—on the roof.

In Singapore, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Montreal as well as several U.S. cities, farms have been built atop multistory buildings.

“Five years ago, there were virtually no rooftop farms,” Steven Peck, founder and president of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, told National Geographic. “Now they are starting to appear across the globe.”

Peck says that as fossil fuels become more expensive and the number of urban dwellers continues to rise, urban farming will help feed the population without increasing the cost and pollution of food transport.

Rooftop farming was born out of the green-roof movement, in which building owners partially or completely cover roofs with vegetation atop special waterproof membranes. Green roofs use plants and flowers to provide insulation, create a habitat for local wildlife, help control runoff, put more oxygen into the atmosphere—and provide a welcome, verdant break from urban drabness.

Rooftop farms take the green-roof concept a step further, with plots that provide fruits and vegetables for local residents and the chance for urban volunteers to become part-time farmers.

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Rooftop poppy field planted to mark WW1 centenary

Posted on April 29, 2014 //

by ROBERT CUMBER, GetWestLondon, April 29, 2014

The roof of The Big Yellow Self Storage Companys warehouse in Brentford, on which thousands of poppy seeds have been planted in the shape of a giant '100' to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War Source: www.getwestlondon.co.uk

The roof of The Big Yellow Self Storage Companys warehouse in Brentford, on which thousands of poppy seeds have been planted in the shape of a giant ’100′ to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War
Source: www.getwestlondon.co.uk

Thousands of poppies have been planted on top of a storage depot in Brentford in the shape of a giant ’100′.

A spectacular rooftop display has been planted to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.

Thousands of poppy seeds have been sown in a lawn on top of The Big Yellow Self Storage Company’s warehouse beside the M4 in Great West Road, Brentford.

It is hoped they will bloom in time for the 100th anniversary of Britain’s entry into the conflict, on August 4, providing a colourful reminder of the huge human sacrifice on battlefields across the globe.

The seeds were planted last Wednesday (April 23) by roofing firm Wild About Roofs, in partnership with the storage company and Hounslow Chamber of Commerce, with sponsorship from Boningale GreenSky, Sedum Supply and Quilliam Property Services.

Daniel MacAuliffe, managing director of Wild About Roofs, said: “We wanted to mark this year in a unique way. By sowing the poppy seeds and watching them grow over the coming months into a spectacular and bright 100 this is a great way to show our support to the 100 Years of Remembrance.

“Once the poppies are in full bloom we will be hosting an official launch at The Big Yellow Self Storage Company and have a special guest to unveil the ‘100’ in its full glory.”

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Rooftop dog park in NW provides unique amenity

Posted on April 29, 2014 //

by STEPHEN TSCHIDA, April 28, 2014

Rooftop dog park of the City Market at O apartment complex in Northwest Washington
Source: WJLA / ABC 7

WASHINGTON (WJLA) – The first Erin Siegel does when she gets home is walk her dogs Darla and Theo. But the three of them don’t want to head for the street. Instead, they aim for the sky.

Siegel is a resident of the City Market at O apartment complex in Northwest Washington. It’s a dazzling new development over a once grungy parking lot. What was it that really hooked Siegel on this complex? The roof.

“You get the views of the city and you get the ability to play with your dogs, socialize them, get exercise,” she said.

The complex’s developers wondered what to do with a large roof area before deciding to let it go to the dogs. The ultimate amenity is the rooftop dog park. There are special areas for big dogs and little dogs, as well as lookout so that tenants’ four-legged friends can take in the spectacular view.

“It’s been fabulous,” City Market at O developer Richard Lake said. “It’s been absolutely amazing. Nearly forty percent of our renters have dogs.”

Just off the top-floor doggie playground is another special room with dog washing equipment for both large and small canines.

“This was a huge deciding factor in us coming here,” tenant Abby Slitor said. “It was relatively the same price as for amenities and everything else, and this is obviously an awesome amenity to have in the city.”

While the area around the apartment complex at 7th and O NW has improved, the neighborhood that was once a hotbed for drug and gang activity can still be a bit rough around the edges. City Market tenant Christin Carey said her dog Bogey’s occasional need for a night time bathroom trip is much safer on the roof than the street.

“As a woman I don’t want to be out in the dark alone,” she said.

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Can Mexico City’s roof gardens help the metropolis shrug off its smog?

Posted on April 29, 2014 //

by SAM JONES, theguardian.com, April 24, 2014

A garden on the roof of the environment secretary's air-monitoring labs in Mexico City Source: www.theguardian.com

A garden on the roof of the environment secretary’s air-monitoring labs in Mexico City
Source: www.theguardian.com

Green roofs sprouting across Mexican capital not only purify the air but aid recovery of hospital patients, says environment chief.

In a sheltered corner of one of the greatest megacities on Earth, there is a place where lizards careen around tree trunks, butterflies drink nectar from vermillion flowers and hummingbirds whisk the heavy air with their wings.

Stand in the botanical gardens of the Bosque de Chapultepec (the Chapultepec forest) and listen carefully enough, and something remarkable happens: birdsong begins to pierce the groan of trucks and the screech of taxi horns from the long avenue that bisects the park.

The gardens are home to one of a growing number of azoteas verdes – or green roofs – that are springing up around Mexico City as part of the metropolis’s efforts to purge its air of the pollution that has long been among its least-desired claims to fame.

The azotea verde atop the circular single-story offices of the botanical gardens, is planted with hardy stonecrop, which can withstand the Mexico City summer, but which also produces oxygen and serves as a filter to draw out the carbon dioxide and heavy metal particles in the air. As well as providing the park’s squirrels with an arena in which to practise their parkour, the roof help regulates the temperature of the offices below and soaks up rainwater to keep the building dry.

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Hong Kong’s fish farms in the sky

Posted on April 23, 2014 //

by PETER SHADBOLT, BBC News, April 2, 2014

Michael Leung’s honey commands a premium price Photo: HK Honey Source: www.bbc.com/news

Michael Leung’s honey commands a premium price
Photo: HK Honey
Source: www.bbc.com/news

Under eerie blue lights designed to simulate the ocean depths, hundreds of fish swim serenely through the bubbling waters of their circular tanks, 15 floors up in the sky.

There are 11 plastic tanks in total, holding a combined 80,000 litres of salt water.

They are full of grouper, a white-fleshed fish, which are all destined to end up on the plates of restaurant-goers across Hong Kong.

This is the scene at Oceanethix, one of the numerous so-called “vertical fish farms” in the special administrative region, which have become a key fixture of its supply chain.

For while most fish farms around the world are at sea, or at least, land level, in Hong Kong it is more often a necessity to put them many floors up in tall buildings.

This is because as one of the most densely populated places in the world, there is simply very little spare space. So fish farms have to fit in where they can.

For the small firms that dominate the industry, it is worth the effort, as Hong Kong has an insatiable appetite for fish and seafood. It consumes more than 70kg (11 stone) per capita every year, 10 times more than in the US.

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Urban gardening for city slickers

Posted on April 23, 2014 //

by MICHAEL KELLY, Independent.ie, February 25, 2013

Photo: Urban Farm Source: www.urbanfarm.ie

Photo: Urban Farm
Source: www.urbanfarm.ie

There is always a tendency to consider food growing as something that always has to happen in a field or large garden – GIYing is, unfortunately, often considered the preserve of country people or farmers. In reality, it’s an equally viable hobby in an urban environment.

In fact, if we are to provide a genuine alternative to the modern food chain, then food growing is something that is going to have to happen in much smaller spaces.

I visited two projects in Dublin recently that really challenge your assumptions about where food can be produced. The first is Kaethe Burt O’Dea’s blink-and-you-miss-it community garden on Sitric Road in Stoneybatter. The second is what you might call a ‘hyper-urban’ food growing space on the roof of the Chocolate Factory on Kings Inn Street, a stone’s throw from O’Connell St.

The Sitric Community Garden is literally a street corner, a sliver of green space at the end of a terrace of two-up/two-down houses.

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