Vertical Farm

Center for Urban Agriculture - Vertical Farming from Mithun on Vimeo.

Urban Farming Grows Up

Feeding the 5,000

How come we've missed that?! In January in an attempt to highlight the staggering amounts of waste generated in the UK's good chain, author Tristram Stuart offered free lunches to central London made of food that would otherwise have ended up in the bin...

Truck Farm

Here's a short introductory trailer to TRUCK FARM, the project I mentioned in connection with Ahyoung's research proposal. This film + food project about growing a little food in a big city is realised by the Wicked Delicate collective.

Sound Of Soil: Alunda Church Choir plays the soil of northern Uppland

“The vinyl is dead. Good. Now listen to the beautiful noise of the earth. In this performance Alunda Church Choir, conducted by Cantor Jan Hällgren, plays the soil of northern Uppland (in Sweden)."

Introducing: the terrafon, a large version of the horn gramophone, amplifying the sounds in the track it ploughs. What I like in particular about Olle Cornéer und Martin Lübcke's work with the title "Harvest" is the participation of local ensembles "playing" their soils, the analogue approach and the use of soil as a media: putting the soil on the level with vinyl discs to which one can listen to. These performances offer a complete new experience of soils. I have never had the chance to listen to soil before! Check also Diego Stocco's similar but more digitised work on music from Sand or from a Tree.

Contaminated:The New Science of Food

There are currently over 786 million hungry people on planet Earth. And while few would deny that world hunger is one of the most important issues facing mankind today, if the solution is left to companies like Monsanto, Aventis, Dow, and DuPont, we may face even greater challenges to the security of our global ecosystem.


With the second Green Revolution well under way, the world's food supply is slowly being transformed by a radically improvised agricultural paradigm. Genetically engineered crops have been introduced into the market without the rigorous testing that many scientists feel is required. The history is instructive:

In 1986, US biotech companies began testing the first genetically engineered food products. In 1993, the FDA declared that GM food was "not inherently dangerous", which gave a green light to biotech corporations who had been developing GM seeds. One year later, the first GM food product, Flavr Savr tomato, was released to enthusiastic US consumers.

But, in Europe, GM food did not win such easy converts. Groups like Greepeace and Friends of the Earth protested the new "Frankenfoods," galvanizing a broad level of public outrage and the eventual policy mandate requiring all modified produce to be clearly labelled.

Despite the highly publicized battle over genetically engineered food, many people are still unaware that many of the products they consume on a daily basis contain genetically modified. In Contaminated, Fritjof Capra, Paul Hawken and Vandana Shiva explain the evolution of the new biotech agribusiness and its potential dangers to the sustainability of the global food supply.

LENAPE,MANHATTAN

This garden landscape is located on a rare patch of open, south-facing land in the middle of Manhattan. The triangular piece of land is in front of Hudson Guild, a vital community center that was established in 1895 and currently serves the 2,000 residents of the surrounding New York Public Housing Authority’s Robert Fulton Houses and Elliott-Chelsea Houses. The garden includes the native edible plants and mounded plantings of beans, corn, and squash—also known as the “three sisters”—that the Lenape people would have eaten for millenia in that very location. It provides a view back to their lives and how they lived off the land on the island they knew as Mannahatta at the time that the first European, Henry Hudson, visited in 1609. Unlike the other Edible Estates gardens, which are very much about the present, this garden is a meditation on the historical facts of and future possibilities for our occupation of the island.

The Lenape garden is surrounded by detailed signage that tells the story of each plant, the food it produces, how the Lenape used it in their diet, and the natural history of the site. It is not intended to feed the current local residents, but rather to provide visible evidence of both the general fact that our food comes out of the dirt and specific examples of the sources of food for the previous residents of the island. It is a demonstration garden, part experimental laboratory and part educational display. Visiting students and those from the nearby children’s center use the garden and its central gathering circle for activities and workshops dealing with the history, ecology, food, plants, animals, energy, and other aspects of the immediate natural environment.

The residents of Elliott-Chelsea Houses, members of the Hudson Guild community, visiting students, and the general public become more aware of organic growing cycles as they watch the garden evolve through the seasons and years. They become aware of the natural and cultural history of the island they live on by observing food growing on plants that existed in Manhattan soil before it was the city we know today. This garden landscape may also serve as a model for small-scale urban edible landscapes and as a possible prototype for modest green spaces at similar housing sites across the city.

ST. ANN'S ALLOTMENTS

STAA runs a Community Orchard on a collection of plots on the St Ann's Allotments. It is a lively hub of educational and community life centered on local children and families.

It was set up in September 2001 on several overgrown allotments. The plots – which include mature fruit trees, a pond and a stream - were cleared and planted up by volunteers, schools and community groups.

The Orchard provides a safe, natural and exciting place for people to learn and explore. Much of our work focuses on children varying in age from nurseries to secondary schools. Educational activities include gardening, construction, management of the environment and arts and crafts. Occasionally the site provides a learning space for gardeners on-site too. We run free sessions such as tree pruning and other horticultural skills.

The Community Orchard is also a place where we hold regular Activity Days and other open events. At these we focus on looking after the site, providing informal activities (especially for children) and seasonal events such as the annual Apple Day celebrations and our Winter Extravaganza. It's a great opportunity for the public to come and explore the orchard, to try new skills, and to sample some of our food and drink around the fire.

EDIBLE ESTATES regional prototype garden

The Edible Estate was established on a highly visible triangular lawn in front of the Brookwood Estate. This rare green space is fenced off and was previously unused.

Twenty-four units at Brookwood and another sixteen in Lancaster House (another council estate) all face the triangle. Placing the garden here meant that everyone would be watching: the local gardeners would perform for their neighbors. In the centre of the dense city, the production of food would become a public spectacle.

Initially many residents were sceptical about the prospects of such a garden in this location, and they feared it would be vandalized. But there is a school across the street, which insures a steady flow of children past the garden. It was the children of the council estates who were the most excited about the garden and eager to get their hands in the dirt over the course of the three days of planting.

This garden is intended as a new model for urban agriculture. It is not a true community garden (or “allotment,” as the popular practice is referred to in Britain) with separate private plots for each gardener. It is one holistic design that also integrates spaces where people may gather; a pleasure garden made up entirely of edibles. Those who tend it will eat from it.

Wildlife film maker Rebecca Hosking investigates how to transform her family's farm in Devon into a low energy farm for the future, and discovers that nature holds the key.

It is an interesting documentary on Peak Oil and it’s potential impact on farming. It is also an introduction to Permaculture as a way of designing a way out from the reliance in agriculture on fossil fuels.

Here is the link to the YouTube playlist to watch the entire show (takes around one hour).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xShCEKL-mQ8&feature=PlayList&p=9975CC0E8CC2CDDE&index=0&playnext=1