Try This Green(point) Roof on for Size
How cool is this: Husband-and-wife green roof architects Chris and Lisa Goode starting planning this rooftop garden atop a warehouse in Greenpoint last December, enlisting the help of an aspiring urban farmer and a planting specialist from the New York Botanical Garden along the way. And so far the results are very encouraging, according to…
How cool is this: Husband-and-wife green roof architects Chris and Lisa Goode starting planning this rooftop garden atop a warehouse in Greenpoint last December, enlisting the help of an aspiring urban farmer and a planting specialist from the New York Botanical Garden along the way. And so far the results are very encouraging, according to an article this week from New York Magazine. Corn, radishes, lettuce and peppers have all been planted, and the yield thus far is being snapped up by such locavore-friendly restaurants like Marlow & Sons and Anella. Great stuff.
This Is a Roof [New York Magazine]
Photo by Lucas Foglia
It doesn’t do bugger all to agribusiness. What might be more effective would be to buy organic produce from agribusinesses who also have the resources to farm responsibly, given the demand. Buying your fresh herbs from Satur Farms on Long Island or a rooftop in Brooklyn does nothing except make you feel better. And while that’s nice, it doesn’t mean anything.
Yes, mopar. Quaker hippies in West Philly in the seventies. I think this explains unfortunately too much about my crankiness now.
Heather, you were raised by hippies? I ate dinner with organic farmers once a month in Santa Cruz for several years.
But anyway, no one’s growing vegetables in Marine Park to sell to restaurants that I know of, but quite a few people are doing this in Bushwick and Greenpoint, which are nasty, polluted places. I see what accumulates on my windowsills. There is a world of difference between the amount of pollution in the air in South Slope and upstate New York.
I hear you, Heather, and can understand where you’re coming from. You’re right in that totally locavore isn’t sustainable. But if a place like NYC sourced even 10% of its food locally (meaning within 100 miles or so), it would be good for the economy and the landscape and people’s overall health.
More important, it would shake up the hold that agribusiness (Monsanto, Cargill, etc) has on us now and pave the way for greater availability of fresh, healthily raised food.
Why I hate the locovore movement could be like, a book. Or at least a rant. Possibly an entire blog in and of itself? And maybe “hate” is too strong a word. It’s just… you know, I was raised by hippies, I’ve seen all of this back-to-land urbanity and diy ludditity before.
It doesn’t work. It’s not sustainable. And I’m not sure it would be healthy even if it was.
Look… there’s nothing wrong with growing tomatoes on your roof. It’s nice. Just don’t pretend you’re saving the world by doing so.
“As far as standard smog, my parent’s garden is in Marine Park, which probably has the best air quality in NYC, if you wanna hear about smog, ask an ot about the 60’s when laundry on the line would turn brown. Big improvement in air quality in BK from the bad old days.”
That’s right mopar, that’s what I was telling you the other day 🙂
We do have a load of peaches coming in.
If I grow organically I’m not just using the soil in the sidewalk tree that people pour antifreeze on. I mean using fresh topsoil. There is the matter of acid rain/pollution from coal plants in the Midwest (you know that suppossedley clean place they grow all your food…) which you get everywhere anyway. As far as standard smog, my parent’s garden is in Marine Park, which probably has the best air quality in NYC, if you wanna hear about smog, ask an ot about the 60’s when laundry on the line would turn brown. Big improvement in air quality in BK from the bad old days.
mopar – the voice of reason!
also, pigeon poop. gack!
*rob*
mopar – the voice of reason!
*rob*
Joe, you want to eat an organic eggplant that’s had all kinds of heavy metals and dust fall on it and been absorbed into the skin, water, and soil? I don’t.
I prefer to get all my vegetables from out-of-town organic farms. I’m doing a CSA box.
Whaddya wanna bet these restaurants are growing/buying produce made in NYC because it’s cheaper? These farms are not regulated. They are not organic.