Inside Urban Green

London » A Tour of Three Urban Agriculture Projects Including the FARM:shop

Visit three London urban agrculture projects. The first is a traditional in-ground allotment garden (community garden), the second uses recycled construction skips (dumpsters) and is portable (though not sub-irrigated) and the third is the FARM:shop that includes aquaponics, hydroponics and chickens. This is the type of urban agriculture diversity that we need in NYC but do not have at the present time. It's all about dirt here.

via www.youtube.com

I went along to the Open Garden Squares Weekend in London to find out how people are using vacant urban space and land to grow fruit and vegetables in the Capital. I visited the new Regent's Park allotment garden and spoke to Capital Growth about their recent successes in developing new community food growing spaces in London. I also visited the King's Cross Central Skip Garden, created by sustainability education charity Global Generation, and FARM:shop in Dalston, East London - a derelict inner city terrace which has been transformed into a mini hydroponic and aquaponic farm.

FARM:shop on Flickr

It seem that there is a news item about the FARM:shop just about every day. The publicity and community involvement that this small urban agriculture project in London has generated is more than impressive.

If you are not familiar with it have a look at this Flickr photo set. It is a good place to start.

Projects like this should be in every city in America. Currently the topic of “urban agriculture” is dominated by a culture that seems only to worship digging in the dirt.

There are other more modern and productive ways to produce food in the city that are not tied to expensive and often-contaminated land. The FARM:shop is exploring them.

The project is obviously attracting the attention of London urbanites including horticulturists, urban activists, artists, designers and business people. We would do well to investigate the reasons for its success.

via www.flickr.com

Prior posts about the FARM:shop

London » A Meeting at the FARM:shop in Dalston

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is so cool. I look forward to the day when we can have meetings like this at CuGreen headquarters. We will! Become a part of it. You are needed.

via www.thepeoplessupermarket.org

Last Tuesday we had a fantastic meeting at The FARM:shop in Dalston to talk about The People’s Supermarket with some very important people… our PR team! Arthur has had to tell the story of The People’s Supermarket over and over again in the past few months and we are trying to make his life easier. The discussion was fully recorded and the raw cut version will be available on our site soon.

London » FARM:shop Progress Video

The video was shot this past December. The FARM:shop is now open and apparently thriving.

It appears that there may be lighting issues regarding the nutrient film technique (NFT) hydroponics wall system and the indoor plant vertical garden in the stairwell. Time will tell as it always does when growing plants inside buildings. Light is the limiting factor. The best thing to do is to measure the light with a light meter before planting.

Also note that there are no solid media (artificial soil) based sub-irrigated planters (SIPs). In my view that is a significant omission in what I view as a very progressive urban food production project.

There is also a comprehensive Flickr photo set by AlexandraMPayne a New Yorker who worked at the FARM:shop as a volunteer.

via www.youtube.com

FARM:shop » Under Construction

The FARM:shop in London is open now. Here is what it looked like under construction. More to come about the FARM:shop. Stay tuned. 

Prior post about the FARM:shop.

via www.youtube.com

At The Farm:Shop Something & Son are converting a derelict shop into an urban food 'Hub', cafe and arts venue complete with mini 'aquaponic' fish farms, rooftop chicken coops, indoor allotments and polytunnel.

Fantastic FARM:shop » FARM:London

This rundown storefront happens to be in London but it could be right here in Brooklyn or most any city in the U.S.

It also happens to be the coolest urban food-growing project I have found on the web in a very long time. If not for my pending knee surgeries, I would fly to London to see it with my own eyes.

The FARM:shop evokes for me the spirit of two of my favorite urban food growing projects; the Rooftop Garden Project and McGill Edible Campus in Montreal.

The following is from the FARM:shop website. It is now open and there is much new information to blog about. It is all about local food, community and modern methods of growing such as hydroponics and aquaponics. Stay tuned.

via farmlondon.weebly.com

How much food can we grow in this shop?