urban farm
GARDEN POOL
Garden Pool started as one family’s blog to document converting an old backyard swimming pool in to a closed-loop food-producing urban greenhouse and has evolved in to a non-profit organization.
The GP (short for Garden Pool) was a one of a kind creation invented by Dennis McClung in October of 2009. It is truly a miniature self-sufficient ecosystem. Rather than keeping our creation to ourselves, we have decided to share it with others. Garden Pools are being built all over the world offering an easy and sustainable solution to current food production challenges.
Garden Pool is dedicated to research and education of sustainable ways to grow food. Our mission as a non-profit is to develop better ways to grow food and help others do the same. Our operations are based in Mesa, Arizona at the home of the original Garden Pool.
MORE INFO: http://gardenpool.org/
VANCOUVER URBAN FARM
Walk along Pacific Boulevard to Carrall Street in Vancouver and you’ll see a garden growing in a concrete parking lot in the shadow of Rogers Arena. This is SOLEfood Urban Farm’s newest (and, at two acres, biggest) project – a sure sign that urban agriculture has reached Vancouver.
SOLEfood, which received a free three-year lease on the land from Concord Pacific Developments, has been growing bok choy, spinach, eggplant, kale, peppers, tomatoes, strawberries and other fruits and veggies in nearly 3,000 wooden planters since last May.
Once harvested, 10% of the produce will be donated to Downtown Eastside (DTES) organizations; the rest will be sold to restaurants and farmer’s markets and divided among members of SOLEfood’s community supported agriculture (CSA) program (find out how you can receive fresh, locally grown produce throughout the year here).
But SOLEfood grows more than food. It also creates jobs for people that may have trouble finding employment. With several more urban gardens in the works, the organization, which was founded by Michael Ableman and Seann Dory, plans to employ up to 25 Vancouver Downtown Eastside residents to build planters and care for the plants by the end of 2012.
– See more at: http://www.bikramyogavancouver.com/vancouver-community/solefood-urban-farm-vancouver/#sthash.gtWyFuSZ.dpuf
Urban Farming Series: edible sprout
One day last summer while wandering around UBC Farm, I spotted someone working on some platform beds covered in plastic, the likes of which I was not used to seeing.
Curiously I walked over to take a closer look. What I found was Chris Thoreau and his sunflower sprouts.
You may see Chris around the city at various farm markets selling his sprouts, but there is more to him and his company, My Urban Farm. Chris knows food. He has spent many years working in the restaurant industry as well as many more years teaching, learning and farming in Vancouver and Vancouver Island.
You may see Chris around the city at various farm markets selling his sprouts, but there is more to him and his company, My Urban Farm. Chris knows food. He has spent many years working in the restaurant industry as well as many more years teaching, learning and farming in Vancouver and Vancouver Island.
Chris and his My Urban Farm bring a wealth of knowledge into helping urbanites turn their land and yards into productive food systems – and he can do it with very little environmental impact. If you see Chris at the next farmer’s market, buy yourself a bag of sunflower sprouts and ask him what he can do to make your garden a great one.
Chris and his My Urban Farm bring a wealth of knowledge into helping urbanites turn their land and yards into productive food systems – and he can do it with very little environmental impact. If you see Chris at the next farmer’s market, buy yourself a bag of sunflower sprouts and ask him what he can do to make your garden a great one.
Tell us a little about your business, your background and how you decided to become an urban farmer?
My Urban Farm focuses on growing sunflower sprouts and pea shoots for local markets and restaurants. All production and deliveries are done by bicycle. Previous to this I operated a small organic farm on Vancouver Island. I am just finishing an Agroecology degree at UBC. Whilst attending UBC I still wanted to grow food and was thus obligated to be an urban farmer! So I developed this sprouting system to be portable and small-scale, yet still profitable. I am now in my second season.
What do you find are the advantages, disadvantages and challenges of urban farming (compared to small scale rural farming)?
Advantages: close to market, promotes local foods, reduced food miles, city water source
Disadvantages: usually requires multiple sites thus more travel time; hard to find land; land tenure unstable; pollution; vandalism
Challenges: Time management
What do you grow? What is your favourite plant/vegetable/fruit to grow? Why?
Sunflower Shoot and Pea Shoots. I like these as they grow on a quick ten-day cycle and can be grown just about anywhere. Plus no one else grows them!
When you harvest your produce, where do you sell it or what happens to it?
Farmers’ markets, CSAs, restaurants, grocers
What are your views on today’s food system?
Too commoditized; still too much focus on chemicals and GMO; we are all disconnected from our food
What are your hopes for the future of urban farming?
City makes more land available for farming; more grants for urban farmers
Finally, since this conversation is all about food, what is going to be on your dinner plate tonight?
Had urban zucchini stuffed with rice, currants, roasted sunflower seeds, and asiago cheese and steamed urban cauliflower shoots, my own sunflower sprouts, and farmers’ market biodynamic sauerkraut.
http://landwaterfork.com/urban-farming-series-my-urban-farm/
COLTIVARE GLI SPAZI VUOTI DELLA CITTA’ – URBAN ORCHARD IN A OLD GAS STATION
Una vecchia stazione di benzina a Vancouver trasformata in un orto urbano, grazie a Sole Food Farm. Un organizzazione che si occupa di coltivare negli spazi abbandonati della città.
An old gas station in Vancouver is now a sprawling, temporary urban orchard, thanks to Sole Food Farms. It’s the organization’s fourth farm on vacant space in the city, and helps provide local jobs
MICRO GARDEN
Highly productive, easily managed
Micro-gardens are highly productive and can be easily managed by anyone – women, men, children, the elderly and the disabled. FAO studies show that a micro-garden of one square metre can produce any one of the following:
- around 200 tomatoes (30 kg) a year
- 36 heads of lettuce every 60 days
- 10 cabbages every 90 days
- 100 onions every 120 days
Where no land is available, vegetables can be planted in a container filled with garden soil or a “substrate” made from local materials, such as peanut shells, coconut fibre, rice husks, coarse sand or laterite. If substrates are unavailable, there is another option: growing the vegetables on water enriched with a soluble fertilizer.
A micro-garden can be grown on an area of just one square metre. Water requirements are modest, an important consideration in developing cities, where good quality water is often scarce and expensive. In a year, a one square metre micro-garden consumes about 1 000 litres of water, or less than 3 litres per day. To ensure a regular water supply, micro-gardeners can channel rainwater into storage via a system of gutters and pipes. Rainwater is virtually free (after the investment in harvesting equipment) and usually of good quality. From a roof of 20 sq m, growers can collect 2 000 litres of water for every 100 mm of rainfall, enough for the year-round cultivation of a micro-garden of two square metres. Keeping micro-gardens productive is also fairly simple. They can be fertilized regularly, at no cost, with compost produced from household organic waste. Pests are controlled by non-chemical means, including coloured sticky traps, insect proof nets and intercropping with aromatic herbs that naturally repel insects, such as basil, parsley and mint
LINK: http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/greenercities/en/microgardens/index.html
Indoor food: idroponics kit
The Fizzy Farm Classic is a beautiful, healthy, simple to use, state-of-the-art hydroponic growing system.
Designed Grow non-vining fruits and vegetables – Lettuce, Kale, Swiss Chard, Basil, Strawberries, Chives, Thyme ect.
- Turn your deck, balcony or any outdoor area into a stunning garden.
- 90-Day 100% money back guarntee.
- Choose from either 2″ or 3″ net cups for ALL your growing needs
more info: http://www.zeromilefarms.com/fizzy-farm/
MICRO-FARM
Urban agriculture is being technologically liberated from an utopian vision, opening the horizons of contemporary design research at an accelerated pace. The creation of micro-farms is one of the most fascinating themes that was once visible, unfortunately, only virtually in exquisite video-graphic simulations — from demographics to Facebook farms. Today, however, technological opportunities are rendering their implementation and standardization concrete. The micro-farm on display at ENSCI, one of the most prestigious design schools in Paris, is the third and first truly working farm.
MORE : http://www.domusweb.it/en/design/2012/04/13/micro-farms.html
Agricoltura Urbana 