Inside Urban Green

Meet Martin Schreibman » Dr. of Aquaponics at Brooklyn College

Many people in the NYC horticultural community know Dr. Martin Schreibman and his work but it’s doubtful that many in the population at large know about him and his work at Brooklyn College. Dr. Schreibman wasn't a presenter at the recent TEDxManhattan "Changing the Way We Eat" event but Marianne Cufone was (watch this video). Martin is a board member of the Recirculating Farms Coalition.

Martin is also the founder and Director Emeritus of Brooklyn College’s Aquatic Research and Environmental Assessment Center (AREC). It’s a long name to remember but a key part of AREC is its aquaponics lab (the symbiotic raising of both fish and plants).

There is little doubt that aquaponics is playing a key roll in developing facilities for localized urban food production. It is a modern method and the antithesis of throwing tons of dirt on the roof of an industrial building to create a traditional “farm”. Urban dirt farming may seem like a good idea at this time but there are much better ways to create a profitable urban food production business.

We already have well-known pathfinders in the aquaponics movement in Growing Power and Sweetwater Organics in Milwaukee. There are many others springing up around the country. Two good ways to keep up with the trend is to tune in to activities of the Recirculating Farms Coalition (see prior post) and the burgeoning Aquaponics Association (more about it coming soon).

The recent TEDxManhattan event gave new hope that we can move the current rather recalcitrant urban agriculture movement into the 21st Century. It was great to see progressive people like Marianne Cufone (Recirculating Farms Coalition), Paul Lightfoot (BrightFarms) and Howard Hintertheur (Center for Veterans Issues and one of the creators of Sweetwater Organics) on the TEDxManhattan program.

Diane Hatz the main organizer and host of TEDxManhattan did a superb job of assembling a very interesting menu of speakers. I look forward to seeing videos of all the presentations (coming soon) and participating in the next event.

Supermarket Shopping Makes a Whole Foods Lot of Zany Fun

Sybil Dessau of Fawlty Productions is the one who kept the camera (and me) rolling for the TEDxManhattan video even though I wasn't feeling well. She did a highly professional job under rather stressful conditions.

Now I'm rolling with laughter after watching this trailer she created for the movie American Shopper. I've had tears rolling down my cheeks even after watching it several times. It's worth a whole lot of tweets in my opinion.

I try to avoid using hyperbole, but to me it's not just funny, it's hilarious right from the opening scene. It's difficult to pick a favorite, but the young girl who wanted to know what her grandmother would do really got my attention with her dance. Who is your fav? 

Absolutely no criticism intended but I think this would have been a good show at the TEDxManhattan event. It tells a story about American supermarket life in the center aisles in a lighthearted but meaningful way. We could use some funny food in the often too-serious urban ag and food movement.

We are the inventors of the supermarket food and fast food society and we need to fix it. It's particularly unfortunate that we exported it all over the industrialized world. As we know, there's no eraser button next to the send button. So Ollie, now what are we gonna do about this mess?

American Shopper Trailer from Sybil Dessau on Vimeo.

 

Marianne Cufone » Recirculating Farms Coalition

Marianne Cufone is Executive Director of the Recirculating Farms Coalition and now lives in New Orleans. She spoke at the recent TEDxManhattan event "Changing the Way We Eat" this past Saturday. I regret not being well enough to attend and meet Marianne and other participants.

The TEDxManhattan video of her presentation will be uploaded in the coming weeks. In the meantime you can learn about the coalition in this video featuring Marianne. It is a look into the future of urban agriculture and more than likely a peek into the future of personal food production.

Few people understand that sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) are actually highly productive and versatile hydroponic micro recirculating farms for personal food production. They save water and can also save the lives of children who might otherwise be exposed to lead poisoning from often-contaminated city soil.

Thanks to the rather dumbed down consumer horticulture education system in the U.S. people (including the USDA Extension Program) call them "self-watering" planters. If there is a horticultural "ignorance barometer" in the U.S., the widespread usage of this term is it.

TEDxManhattan Leads the Way About Lead and Good Food

This is a screen shot from the TEDxManattan “Changing the Way We Eat” event held this past Saturday in New York and live streamed to a large audience on the web. The speaker is Paul Lightfoot, CEO of BrightFarms the company that is developing a business installing hydroponic greenhouses on supermarket roofs.

Dollars to donuts Paul did not know that he was standing by a hydroponic lettuce grower in the shape of the TEDx logo. It is also likely that few in the audience did either until the end of the program when this video was shown. Then the lettuce was out of the logo so to speak! Have a look and Tweet away.

The video is also on Vimeo.

Contoured Plant Based Plastic Bottles Coming From Pepsi. But What About SIPs?

The sub-irrigated planter (SIP) to the left was made from a 3-liter diet Pepsi bottle (see prior post also see how to make them). While it is good news about a new and greener Pepsi bottle, it looks like the days of straight-sided 2 and 3-liter soda bottles are numbered. That is not good news for making soda bottle SIPs.

Coke has already gone curvy. As you can see, a Spider plant is growing in a curvy SIP but it is more difficult to make and not nearly as flexible in design options. From the picture of the new contoured Pepsi bottle above it looks like the same thing will be true for Pepsi SIPs.

Contouring adds strength and perhaps some visual appeal but it is not so green. It may seem a utopian idea but there is real value in making soda bottles straight-sided. Are you thinking Don Quixote rides again? 

Recycling is good but upcycling or repurposing is even better. Soda bottle SIPs are an unintended secondary product of significant value to society.

Having grown plants in them for many years, I believe it could be justified to make them as a primary product. I’ve learned more about growing plants and plant science from soda bottle SIPs than any other information source.

Clear soda bottle SIPs should be helping to grow plants inside every school in the world. They would quickly demonstrate how easy it is to grow plants using sub-irrigation as compared to tricky-to-learn drench and drain watering in traditional pots with drain holes.

Clear SIPs teach recycling, water conservation, some basic plant science as well as an introduction to edible plant growing. What could be more important than learning some simple science along with self-sufficiency about feeding oneself? Learning how to use sub-irrigation on a personal level is a survival skill.

So, my message is to save all the straight sided soda bottles you can find and turn them into SIPs. What a great recycling project this would be for every school in America.

Know that growing edible plants with sub-irrigation is scalable from windowsills to backyards and school yards, to rooftops and balconies to commercial farms. It is not well known by the public that sub-irrigation is widely used in greenhouse growing around the world. It is even employed in field farming in some parts of the U.S.

Why then is it not taught in the public school system? Why are consumer horticulture institutions such as urban botanic gardens not teaching it? Many millions of children who are destined for lives of obesity or hunger deserve better.

via:crispgreen.com

Using plant-based, fully renewable resources, the company plans to manufacture a beverage container with a significantly reduced carbon footprint.

For years, scientists and inventors have offered up futuristic alternatives to the resource-intensive plastic packaging clogging up our landfills and recycling bins. And for just as many years, practical environmentalists have said that these designs are all well and good, but until the day they're used in mainstream commercial production, their impact will be minuscule.

It appears that day may not be as far away as we thought.

Kaboom!...Exploading Peat Moss

Who knew that peat moss exploded to propagate? Now we need to answer the question is it sustainable? Coir as a substitute for peat moss is a great horticultural product but it's a long way to Sri Lanka.

via Science Friday

The Secretly Speedy Life Of Plants. Plants have a reputation for staying put. But some plants are moving so quickly, we can't see their motions. Biologist Joan Edwards and physicist Dwight Whitaker broke out the high-speed cameras to capture the story of exploding peat moss. The research was published in the journal Science.

Root System Explodes in Just 3 Weeks

This Ficus benjamina (a bonsai in training) in a recycled soda bottle sub-irrigation planter (SIP) surprised even me with all my years of growing plants.

I'm in the process of reinstalling plants in the CuGreen lab to increase the plant care interval beyond weekly care. I need to do this pending upcoming knee surgeries and months of rehabilitation.

The tree was moved up from a 2-liter to a 3-liter soda bottle SIP on December 26, 2011. There were, of course, no visible roots after the replanting. When watering it this week, I was amazed to see the root system "explosion" in just 3 weeks. This is awesome!

As an aside, all school kids should be able to see the amazing “hidden world” of plant roots that I see every day because the SIPs have clear walls and the roots grow so well. 

The most important factor about what we see here is the vivid demonstration of how plants thrive in SIPs. Know that sub-irrigation is scalable from windowsill herb growing SIPs to 4' x 8' raised bed SIPs. SIP “plumbing” fits all sizes of watertight planters. The key element is the water and oxygen reservoir that is an inherent part of all SIPs regardless of size or shape.

The benefit to the plants is that they receive an online supply of water, oxygen and nutrients. All we need to do is add an adequate amount of light.

In addition, the systems are hygienic when growing edible plants. There is no exposure to often-contaminated city soil. Why risk the possibility of a serious health problem when such a productive way of growing plants is readily available. All it takes is a little bit of knowledge. The systems are so simple to make. 
 

Latkes For All, Latkes Forever!

Don't know what a latke is? It's a potato pancake silly. You must not be Jewish. In Sweden, the country next door to Finland my ancestral country they are called rårakor or raggmunk. How appetizing.

I have no idea what they are called in Finnish, but the latkes you see in the pan look an awful lot like what I often found on my dinner plate.

My dear departed mother was the unacknowledged inventor of TV dinners...long before there was TV. She was a diva of black iron frying pans. What did she fry? Don't ask.

She was also the frugal gourmet who invented lime jello made with left over carrot juice. I was a healthy kid, but very, very thin. Our dog Rex weighed more than I did. If she was still with us, my mother would solve our national obesity problem in a hurry. No doubt about it.

I digress. This coming Monday is the third annual Latke Festival here in Brooklyn. Check it out. It should be fun. Before you go, read about the potato ride from Long Island. I can well remember as a kid when L.I. was covered with potato farms and ducks instead of people and cars. No offense Long Gilanders, but I vote for bringing back the potatoes and the ducks...and the fresh corn...and the soft-shelled steamer clams. Those were the days my friends.

Oops, I almost forgot. Two of my favorite SIP (sub-irrigated planter) boosters, Cathy Erway and Rachael Wharton along with Fuggedaboutit Marty Markowitz and others will be passing judgment on the latkes.

via Edible Brooklyn
via Edible East End
For tickets: festival site:

Yesterday morning, we picked up 250 pounds of potatoes at Foster Farm in Sagaponack and drove them across Long Island to the southern tip of Manhattan. These spuds–Norwis potatoes, to be exact, a flavorful, round white variety favored for chipmaking and frying–will star as the main ingredients in the potato pancakes served at the third annual Latke Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Monday. (Tickets to the festival are going fast, so grab yours here.)

Part of this fall’s harvest, the potatoes were hand-graded by farmer and Edible-contributor Marilee Foster, and packed into the colorful bags with the Tiger Spuds logo and "Grown on Long Island" stamp. A couple hours after leaving the farm, they sat on the Spring Street loading dock of Great Performances, where they were received by Kevin Harney, who coordinates the dizzying delivery and logistics schedule for this New York caterer. Along with garlic and onions (from S&SO Produce Farms in Goshen, NY, via the Union Square Greenmarket), chicken eggs (from Tello Green Farms in Red Hook, NY) and all-purpose flour from Cayuga Pure Organics (in Ithaca, NY, via the Union Square Greenmarket), the potatoes will be divvied up and delivered to the participating chefs as well as the homecook entrant to use in this scrumptious competition where attendees (and a panel of food VIP judges) will taste through two floors of potato pancakes on their way to crowning a champion.

On the drive in, the car had a bit of that sweet, wet smell of Bridgehampton loam that yields such good tubers. And with our seasonal eating sensibility re-invigorated, we looked forward to eating potatoes at the event next week, as well as in the coming weeks and months. Like onions and cabbage, potatoes are one of those things that our region’s farmers still offer up even in the dead of winter. So, we hope you'll join us on Monday, and start next week off with a taste of Long Island soil. (Buy your ticket here.)

Guinness World Record Mega-Squash

Joel Jarvis of St. Thomas poses for a recent picture with the 1,487-pound squash he grew on his farm. The gourd breaks the old Guinness Book of World Records title by more than 200 pounds.

Will someone please authenticate this photo. I doubt that it was Photoshopped but you never know in these digital days.

It was interesting to read that Joel is an interior plantscaper. I firmly believe that this is one of the best ways to learn about growing plants in the urban built environment. Growing plants inside buildings is always a challenge but it's a great way to learn.

Interior plantscapers water more plants in a day than most houseplant hobbyists do in a month. Hobby gardeners would learn a lot about plant light/water relationships if they had an interior plantscaping work experience. The job doesn't pay a lot but it's a valuable intern experience. When coupled with some higher education in plant science and horticulture it can lead to a rewarding career as a modern day urban greenscaper. Just don't listen to the drain hole and dirt only dudes and divas.

via www.metronews.ca

While Jarvis’ day job with London Interiorscapes helps funnel his love for growing, he’s yet to have any requests for creating anything too out of the ordinary.

“We look after interior plants in office buildings — upkeep and maintenance of live, tropical plants,” Jarvis said. “If they want to put a squash or something (in the lobby) I would be more than happy to make that happen.”

Joel Jarvis knows his way around super vegetables.

He’s been growing them since the ripe age of 11.

“You pick up little (techniques) along the way,” the St. Thomas resident said. “It’s just persistence, I think. That’s the reason for my success.”

Jarvis, who puts his green thumb to work daily in Forest City office buildings, recently plucked a 1,487-pound squash off the vine at his hobby farm. The gourd trumps the old Guinness record by more than 200 pounds.

There’s a lot more to cultivating gargantuan vegetables than just planting the seeds and watching them grow, Jarvis said. It can be a painstaking process that requires constant vigilance.

Are Rooftop Hydroponic Greenhouses The Future Of Urban Agriculture?

There have been many articles about BrightFarms because of the recent publicity about an agreement with McCaffrey’s Markets.

I thought this interview was more revealing and informative than most of what I have read. Read on and see what you think.

It will be interesting to see how greenhouse hydroponics fares as a business. As we know from the mobile digital world things can change very quickly. One thing I believe, however, is that there is more business potential for greenhouse hydroponics or aquaponics than there is for throwing dirt on a roof and calling it a "farm". That's a tough way to make a living.

via www.perishablepundit.com

Urban agriculture is a big thing now. Last year, The New York Produce Show and Conference took a tour of a rooftop farm. It was awe inspiring to see farming with a backdrop of the Manhattan skyline. This year, we are going to see a small prototype of a greenhouse that one firm wants to put on the roof of supermarkets all across America. We asked Pundit Investigator and Special Projects Editor Mira Slott to find out more:

Benjamin Linsley
Vice President
Business Development & Public Affairs
BrightFarms
New York, New York

Q: How did BrightFarms come about?

A: BrightFarms is the successor company to several others. We’ve been working five years putting greenhouses on rooftops, now exclusively with supermarkets. We strategize turn-key solutions, where we design, finance, build and operate hydroponic greenhouses on rooftops of supermarkets or nearby locations, sometimes in the back of their distribution center.  

Q: Which retailers are involved, and are any of these rooftop greenhouses up and running?

A: We’ve just announced an agreement with McCaffrey’s Markets in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, to build and operate a greenhouse farm directly at one of its grocery stores. We’ve been in negotiations and are developing greenhouse plans with McCaffrey’s and two additional supermarket chains the last eight months, and we’ve received a lot of interest from other leading retailers about our business model. At this point, the downside is that none of the greenhouses on that scale have been built yet. Our first three supermarket greenhouses are scheduled to be built next year. Read more...