May 18, 2010 Update: The stop-work order was lifted after payment of a $5,537 fine. In my view a heavy dirt garden like this is still a bad option when compared to other more modern, productive, water-saving methods such as portable micro gardens, including raised bed sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) or a hydroponic greenhouse like Gotham Greens.
The NY Times ran a story about the Brooklyn Grange last Thursday. Check the comments.
What's your definition of "ambitious"? Mine starts with the letter "s".
via www.nytimes.com
It had been a week of furious dawn-to-dark activity building a farm high above an industrial stretch of Queens: directing traffic along Northern Boulevard, hoisting truckloads of growing mix up to the roof and raking it over drainage and protective material. Once the eight-inch layer of engineered soil stretched over the 40,000-square-foot space, the volunteers could begin planting the 9,000 seedlings awaiting their new home.
But all that came to a sudden halt on Friday afternoon, courtesy of the New York City Department of Buildings, which issued a stop-work order on the installation. According to department records, organizers of the project, an ambitious for-profit farm called Brooklyn Grange, had not secured permits and engineering plans showing the roof could handle nearly a million pounds of dirt, which will weigh even more when wet and rooted with vegetables.
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