urban agriculture

Farmers’ markets are sprouting up like, well, weeds in urban areas across the country. Some are wildly successful. Some never really get off the ground. continue

Minority women in New York’s South Bronx are turning three acres of “scruffy marginal land” into an herb and vegetable paradise. According to Treehugger.com, La Finca Del Sur, the “Farm of the South,” is an urban farmer cooperative with a goal of providing affordable, fresh produce to the community, while encouraging healthy living and educating the public about the environment and social equity. continue

Here is Van Jones, Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, with  Sara Loveland of DC Greenworks, on the site of a green roof installation. They introduce green roofs and discuss the grant funding the work. If building owners along a corridor who already have to replace their roof membranes put up the money for that, the city will add on a green roof, cutting energy expenses some 30%, cooling the city, mitigating stormwater, and training people in how to do the work.  Green roofs in this case mean green jobs, environmental, economic, engineering and energy-saving benefits, and a potential food source: one solution to many problems.

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Green the Grounds, subtitled Bringing Nature into the Public Realm, sprouted from an inquiry by First Lady Michelle Obama’s office to author Susan Harris about ideas she had put about for a kitchen garden at the White House. Susan offered to pull together some suggestions. Thirty-four experts were consulted and the result is the illustrated 19 page Greening the White House Grounds (pdf). It summarizes ideas and discussion on all facets of the project. One conclusion it would be hard to argue with is, “… the prettier and the more people-friendly, the better.”

Susan provides number of resources on how to think about such projects here. Being a prolific writer, blogger, garden maven, and networker, the new blog is a further outcome, aimed at greening executive mansions at all levels, those being governor’s mansions and mayoral abodes. The  idea is that examples at the top will inspire many others.

The mansions of New York and Maryland’s governors are presently featured. How’s your local executive manse? If there’s something to crow about, let Susan know.