Metropolitan Gardening

S o when you're going to scope out some potential urban garden sites to renovate what do you do? Browsing ecologically stressed sites is geographically more challenging in NYC that visiting web sites. I visited the sites the first time on my wife's electric bike, but this trip would be uncomfortable riding with two. So the thing to do would be drive a ZIPCAR !  I looked to see what electrics or hybrids were in the neighborhood. Outside my loft the bus runs two blocks from where a Honda Insight hybrid lives. I booked the car for a couple of hours to take a look with an associate who is also interested in scoping out vacant lots for renovation. When she called to confirm the time she asked if we could extend the reservation because she needed to make a run to redhook to get a bookcase. Sure enough the reservation was super easy to change from 2 hours to 4 and just called her back within seconds to give the good news. Karma was my...

T utu Goes Green by Tulani Thomas is on the shelf at Red Rooster in Harlem. Over the rare groove and coffee there's books and oddities to discuss on a rough wood bookcase. Tutu Goes Green describes perfectly the required lifestyle practices of green living in the simplest and attractive terms.

B K Farms in Brooklyn is a shop for urban farming gear, design, installs, projects and info. While they lead with hydro my gut is telling me what they are really selling is urban agriculture under the cover of  hydroponics. But you never know with hydro, right? I met Marco originally when he was at a competing shop in the Bronx. He was knowledgeable when I met him - Marco's new job transformed the man into a urban farming dynamo. His excitement and enthusiasm for BK Farms was so compelling I wanted to post a piece on the work they are doing there. Unfortunately due to someone stealing my bike the day I was headed over there this ended up as an email interview. CURSE YOU NYC BIKE THIEF!

  A lec Baxt discusses soil amendments for growing vegetables in the rooftop environment. Particularly we explore his experimental use of "Bio-Char" which may be a ground breaking idea for mixing with roof light to potentially create a nutritious and fertile growing medium. Alec is the Founding Farmer of Farming up.org in Brooklyn, NYC There is another longer video of this interview forthcoming that delves deeper into the details of the subject.

M etropolitan Gardening has received approval for inclusion in this reputable and extremely useful listing of green websites. Green Maven is a green search engine that requires a submission procedure and human approval to become a part of. Take a look at our new listing there and be sure to browse the amazing company we have been included in. Finding a cache of green information like this on the web makes everything else in life seem a little easier.

Dr. Chaoui. being interviewed on CSI-liveby "youandmedia", website of the Center for Social Innovation. (photo supplied by UFO ) U rban Farms Organic, Inc. is essentially research and development conducted by Hala Chaoui, PhD who is the Principal and an Agricultural Engineer. The work has focused on an alternative to composting that could solve enormous problems in the disposal of food waste as well as create a fantastic resource for gardening. There's a good UFO blog link for the gist of the material but I wanted to get more clarity about what the product was that was being developed. Also because the Center for Social Innovation interview was streamed live I couldn't find the video link to download it. The story is a bit hard to grasp but worth the read. Technically speaking concepts are moderately complex. On a related note Dr. Chaoui's doctoral thesis was on removing earthworms from vermicast aided by an electric field. She is an innovator in vermicast...

T he Royal Creature is a collection of eccentric and adorably detailed art objects and renders from artists Delaney Jane Larson and Matthew Tellier. The work is absolutely original and appears to be inspired from the faces of playing cards. Ms. Larson was a delight to speak with and offered us tea when we visited during a recent open studio tour of their loft in Bronx. We left with a marvelously illustrated greeting card and took these wonderful snapshots we would like to share of the little curio planters they design . These planters shown come with a seperate drainage dish created for them.

L ooking to get your hands dirty this spring? Here's a number of  top links for green jobs. We are just aggregating here so explore these on your own - but they look pretty good so far : reviews to follow! Time Magazine on what a green job is. Green Collar Blog on the hidden green job market. Facebook Green Jobs Network Sustainable Business : Green Dream Jobs. Green For All : Green Collar Jobs Treehugger' s Job site Green Jobs.net Canadian green jobs Green Biz's Job site NYSERDA : Green NY Urban Agenda : Green Projects Corps Jobs