Inside Urban Green

Collective Roots « An Intelligent and Safe Urban Gardening Solution

Collective Roots is a non-profit located in East Palo Alto, California that advocates local food production.

They have discovered the safe and productive benefits of portable micro gardens (aka sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) like the EarthBox.

One good example of safe gardening is the nearby Google headquarters (aka Googleplex) garden. It is a joint project of Google and The Growing Connection, a UN organization. They chose to plant the garden in EarthBoxes, one of many portable micro garden options.

With safety as the primary goal, the first intelligent step is to have your soil tested for toxic metals contamination before growing any edible plants in the ground.

Thank The U.N. For Helping Us To Grow Food In The City

This photo showing EarthBoxes growing food on a city rooftop is from The Growing Connection (a UN Food and Agriculture Organization – FAO) blog. The location isn’t identified but it could be anywhere in the U.S.

The Growing Connection is responsible for the use of modern food producing methods like sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) in many urban locations across the country. Helping people to grow fresh food, improving nutrition and eliminating hunger is their mission.

If it were not for the work of TGC, we would be largely dependent on the information provided by the USDA Extension Program. The following Extension video recently uploaded to YouTube is a typical demonstration of what that would mean. It is uncomfortable to even comment on the video, it is that bad.

Watch it and see for yourself. If you have any experience with SIP food gardening, you will understand my discomfort. The information is totally outdated and reveals how out of touch the Extension program is regarding the needs of urban America.

The fault lies not with the presenter but rather on those in management who signed off on the videos. Incidentally, there is a Container Gardens, Part 2 video here. My best advice is to not follow any of the information presented in these two videos.

It is no surprise that a recent PEW Survey revealed the high level of distrust of big government we have in the U.S.

EarthBoxes In Education At My Alma Mater

Look to the left and you will see EarthBoxes at this event in Hagedorn Hall on the campus of Hofstra University.

They are there because of the support provided by Bob Patterson and his team from The Growing Connection (TGC) of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

I learned about this project when I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Pattersion at the PS 102 workshop he conducted.

How is that we get more education, more support for modern methods of family food production from the UN than we do from our domestic institutions, including the USDA Extension Program and our botanic gardens? This project was a perfect partnership between TGC and the Hofstra School of Education. We desperately need new teachers of this science and art.

Married with family and working full time, I was able to earn my degree in 1957 from the Hofstra evening school program. Today a university it was still a college then, albeit the largest liberal arts commuter college in the U.S. It's enrollment exploded with the return of thousands of WWII vets going to school under the G.I. bill.

Reading this has made me very proud to be a Hofstra grad. I look forward to making a personal contribution to this program in any way that I can.