Inside Urban Green

Mark Bittman » Break up the USDA!

Mark Bittman's Food Manifesto calls for breaking up the USDA. I agree!

The USDA is a powerhouse agency of agricultural production support as defined by corn, soy and wheat. It is the friendly big brother of large corporate farming.

However, as an agency of consumer gardening education it is a total flop. The USDA propagandizes the consumer gardening market with growing advice that is glaringly out of date. All they seem to know is dig, dig, dig.

Their educators appear to know very little about modern urban food production methods such as portable micro gardens, sub-irrigation, simplified hydroponics, aquaponics and hydroculture. As a result, dollar a day people in emerging economies know more about these methods than we do. They get their information from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

It is an egregious situation that we not only pay USDA educator salaries but we also pay for out of date information. It is time to call it what it is and that is a gross waste of taxpayer money and harmful to urbanized society.

Mark Bittman is an American food journalist and author. He wrote a weekly column for The New York Times dining section called The Minimalist. The final The Minimalist column was published on January 26, 2011. Bittman will continue writing as a columnist for the New York Times Magazine, and he will have a column in the paper's Opinion section; he will also be blogging.

about him: en.wikipedia.org
his website: content.markbittman.com

A Food Manifesto for the Future - NYTimes.com

Glass Joins the Recycled Bottle SIP Parade

This is the first effort at cutting glass bottles to make sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) or hydroculture planters. I believe it is the start of something big. Wine, champagne, liquor, water bottle planters to come. Who knows what else.

I pulled these small beer bottles out of the trash. The planter on the right is the same configuration as the plastic soda bottle SIPs.

The inverted neck portion of the bottle forms the planter. The bottom section forms the water and air reservoir.

There is a fabric wick/retainer at the end of the neck that holds the soil mix in the neck of the bottle and feeds water up by capillary action.

The planter to the left is hydroculture, which is a very simple form of hydroponics. There is no need for the neck. The bottom is filled with expanded clay pebbles. There is a ½” clear plastic tube going all the way to the bottom of the bottle planter. You can insert a piece of ¼” clear plastic tubing (or a straw) and oxygenate the water by blowing air. You do not need an electric pump or air stone.

A Unique Horticultural Learning Opportunity From The University of Florida

If you want to learn more about modern urban gardening and farming methods, do not miss this Starting a Successful Hydroponic Business workshop at the Small Farms Academy in northern Florida.

The dates are March 14 & 15, 2011 and March 18 & 19, 2011. The details are here Download Starting a Successful Hydroponic Business Brochure (PDF) and here Download Starting a Successful Hydroponic Business Brochure (Word doc)

See more photos on Facebook.

For more information contact the academy directly:

North Florida REC - Suwannee Valley
7580 County Road 136
Live Oak FL 32060
386-362-1725 ext. 102
email Sarah White - sewhite [AT] ufl.edu

The two-day workshop will cover a wide range of hydroponic methods including nutrient film technology (NFT), kiddie pool floating raft systems (simplified hydroponics), coconut fiber troughs. Verti-Gro system, Bato buckets and more. 

If you attend, you may be surprised to discover that they even have EarthBoxes at the academy. You probably know them as “self-watering” the misleading, propagandized term used in the U.S. consumer market. Professionals understand that they are really a form of sub-irrigation or simplified hydroponics.

Almost 27,000 Views and Counting!

This is clearly the rock star of the urban greenscaper photo collection. There is no close second. People from all over the world have viewed it 26,738 times as of today.

There is good reason for calling it the Rosetta Stone of container plant growing.  Whether growing houseplants, herbs or vegetable starters it makes plant growing so much easier. You do not need a mythical green thumb to grow healthy plants. 

Even with almost 40 years of horticultural experience, I continue to learn new things about plants using these recycled (or upcycled) soda bottle sub-irrigated planters.

They are not only better for plants than drain hole planters, they are free and you are helping the environment by using them. They are clearly (pun intended) better than what you can buy.

You can use them to propagate cuttings or seeds. Grow vegetable starter plants in them and then move them into raised bed, utility bucket, tote box or EarthBox portable micro gardens (aka sub-irrigated planters, SIPs).

Stay tuned for recycled glass wine and beer bottle versions of these planters. A YouTube instructional video is also in the works.

Garden State Urban Farms » Some of my Favorite People and Plants

Lorraine                                                        Walter (left)

I have been a big fan of Brick City Urban Farms, now Garden State Urban Farms, since its founding by Lorraine Gibbons.

It was a real pleasure to visit with Lorraine and Walter Barry at their new hydroponic greenhouse last Fall. This facility complements their sub-irrigated planter (SIP) farm in Newark. Their work is progressive and in tune with the times. We need so much more of it.

Read prior posts about Garden State Urban Farms here.

Visit their blog: www.gardenstateurbanfarms.com

Meet Philson Warner, Big Apple Hydroponicist and Aquaponicist Extraordinaire

What a pleasure it was a couple of weeks ago to meet Philson Warner of Cornell University Cooperative Extension and have a tour of his lab. No, I did not have to travel to Cornell's home in upstate Ithaca thanks to a meeting and lab tour sponsored by Food Systems Network NYC and the Food and Finance High School in Manhattan.

To my utter amazement I discovered that Philson is in charge of Cornell's hydroponics, aquaponics learning lab housed within the Food and Finance High School right here in New York City. 

I had no idea that Cornell had this food technology resource in Manhattan and wonder how many other New Yorkers know about it. I'm guessing not many.

Read the following article from the Cornell Chronicle Online and learn more. I will have more to say about Philson's good work in the future. He and the lab deserve much more recognition.

via www.news.cornell.edu

Aquaculture and hydroponics flourish in Big Apple's high schools, too