The future of urban farming may mean more than just growing food on rooftops throughout the city or on vacant land in neighborhoods. In London, architects are dreaming up some neat futuristic farming ideas. The idea? Urban farming taking on the form of incredible, plant-filled skyscrapers. “Architects at London-based architecture firm Roger Stirk Harbour...
Meet Jennifer Lumpkin, a volunteer teacher within the Baltimore Office of Sustainability. She has helped residents in the area learn how to make “the best, most sustainable use of property in the city, whether it’s their own back yard or land they’ve acquired through Baltimore’s popular Adopt-a-Lot program.” They hold classes inside...
“Urban dwellers are increasingly looking to grow their own, in any way, and space, possible, from window boxes to large-scale urban farming options such as Brooklyn Grange. Growing networks of community gardens and online resources suggest gardening media has grown well beyond glossy mags near the supermarket checkout. View Urban Organic Gardener on Instagram...
An abandoned and decaying home gets “one last hoorah” before being demolished. “And although the house will no longer stand, its materials will be recycled and repurposed, and the property turned into a beautiful farm. They hope that this project will inspire other people to take back land and buildings from the urban blight and turn the neighborhoods...
A new homeless shelter in Atlanta is opening up positions for farming to it’s residents. They are growing on top of the shelter’s rooftop and raising crops like: “lettuce, collards, kale, chard and carrots”. Their whole idea behind the project was to grow enough to feed all of the residents “something green” daily. “It is important...
On the South Lawn of the White House property, Michelle Obama helped kids plant lettuce and other crops including the same variety of lettuce that was grown on the International Space Station. During the last two terms, the first lady has been surprising kids in the classroom and helping them become more aquatinted with nutritious food. The last time a kitchen garden...
In Sugar Creek, Missouri, one family was given just a short 4 days to rip out their entire vegetable garden or hefty fines would be placed on them from the city. “What makes the situation even more unfair is the fact that the ordinance under which the city is fining Nathan Athans and his family was just passed on March 28, 2016. Because of that remarkably convenient...
When someone mentions urban farming, you probably picture vertical farms in large empty warehouses, however one company believes it could very well take on a spherical shape. Recently a new prototype has been released and people can’t stop talking about it. The new Urban Farm Pod is a futuristic look at what growing your own food might look like. It can...
In Kentucky, near Louisville’s Hazelwood neighborhood a new urban farm is sprouting up right on top of an old housing complex that had been demolished. The goal is to provide locally grown, fresh produce to the neighborhood while helping to change the landscape of the empty property as well. Almost 9 acres currently sits vacant and abandoned but with the...
Back in 2008 a farm was built on a small garden plot (Garden Dreams Urban Farm and Nursery in Wilkinsburg) which now has grown to over 2 acres in size. It boasts a bio-shelter and solar greenhouse as well as sells fruits, vegetables and herbs to nearby public housing communities at prices they can afford. It also helps to employ neighborhood residents. “I’m...
photo via- PortlandTribune.com “Scanning a prison menu is a bleak task. Common food items range from nutraloaf—a mishmash of ingredients baked into a tasteless beige block—to, rumor has it, road kill. The substandard quality of food at some correctional facilities has led to protests and hunger strikes, as in summer 2013 when nearly 30,000 California state...
“Kräuter Garten is a small glass unit that can be found in one of METRO’s supermarkets in the Berlin neighborhood of Friedrichshain. In the unit enables the store to produce fresh vegetables and herbs for its customers on demand. Basil and other herbs and veggies are growing on a thin nutrient-rich layer of water in a space-efficient vertical growing...
DC now rivals Portland, Madison and San Francisco in the number of garden plots per capita. People who are “farm-curious” can look into the Department Of Parks and Recreation to find everything from Gardening 101, and classes on vertical gardening, how to make kefir or tinctures, and how to care for urban fruit trees. “We have such a huge array...
“Jennifer and Jason Helvenston of College Park, Orlando, Florida have been ordered by local officials to remove their front yard vegetable garden at a time when Orlando is touting its environmental credentials and reaching out to citizens for input on what additional steps the city could take to become one of greenest urban centers in the country.” After...
Nursery Fields Forever, has made a proposal for a pre-school filled with toddlers to be placed on an urban farm. They say: “The dominant preschool system keeps children in classrooms, where plants barely peek out from the window,” and animals are only visible in places like zoos, Jonathan Lazar, one of the architects, tells CityLab, adding: The absence of...
New farms are popping up all over the nation, growing food vertically has provided a way to grow more food in less space. In South Philly, a new farm has sprouted and they are producing fresh, local food 365 days a year. They also are serving up their community the fresh goods by making deliveries to restaurants, grocery stores and more. “Metropolis Farms is...
The new Assembly Bill, (551), that was passed in 2014 allows owners of vacant lands between 0.1 and 3 acres of size to qualify for major tax incentives if they use their land for agricultural purposes based off of long-term leases. In the coming months, new “urban agricultural zones” will be installed on the map across the county, not just in the city. “City...
Did you know that Facebook has a nine-acre rooftop garden? Even in the wintertime, the garden boasts spectacular views of beautiful plants and interesting structures. The whole garden was built so that employees could have a space to walk outdoors, since there isn’t much room for them to walk inside the building. “Ninety percent of the garden consists...
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