Sorry for the late notice that Stephen Ritz will be speaking in Toronto tomorrow evening at 7:00 PM. Click the link below for details and registration.
Here is some additional information related to this event. There is a job posting by FoodShare Toronto. They are evidently planning to emulate the Green Bronx Machine in a big way. Later this year there will be 10 Toronto schools with 3 tower gardens each to pilot what they are calling the Good Food Machine program.
FoodShare Toronto is looking for an experienced, passionate, and creative educator with a strong understanding of the food system, including nutrition, cooking, gardening, composting and food justice. FoodShare’s Field to Table Schools program has been delivering food literacy education to students and teachers across Toronto for the past decade.
This year we are working with 10 schools to pilot the Good Food Machine – each school will receive 3 hydroponic tower gardens, a mobile teaching kitchen cart, and support from FoodShare Toronto staff to animate these resources and bring fun food literacy education alive in their classrooms. To drive and deliver produce on behalf of FoodShare Toronto with a specific focus on driving, setting-up, cleaning up and assisting with Grab Some Good Markets.
No one knows that I have been secretly auditioning people to fill the role of a horticultural incarnation of the "Music Man" immortalized in the 1962 movie adaption of a musical by Meredith Wilson. The story setting is 1912.
Skin colors need updating but just use your imagination for the color composition of the 2016 band musicians. Let's also change the uniform color from red to green. Turn the sound up if you can and get your blood flowing faster.
I beleive we have found just the man to play the part of the leader of the band, the "Music Man of School Green". His name is Stephen Ritz. I'll follow him anywhere as band leader and Chief Eternal Optimist (CEO).
I experienced a number of spellbinders in my corporate life before my career change. The ability to speak at this motivational level is rare and hard to learn unless you are born with it or undergo a life-changing experience.
This is the TEDx talk that made Stephen the talk of the town back in 2012. Note the TEDx logo in back of him. It is a planter box made by Frieda Lim, a consulting client, friend and talented creator of a rooftop garden atop her home in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn. She grew the plants in the logo planter from seed and nurtured them in a studio in her home.
She calls her rooftop SIP garden "Slippery Slope Farm", a sly reference to the fact that her garden is on the slope just below Park Slope, home of Bill de Blasio, current Mayor of NYC and Chuck Schumer, US Senator.
Her garden is a sight to behold. In the summer it is a dazzling array of vegetable plants and edible flowers It is arguably the most productive and hygienic residential rooftop garden in NYC. It is unfortunate that it is not available for the public to see.
This is the TEDx talk that Stephen refers to in the interview following as his favorite Ted Talk.
Read the interview below. Stephen shares some information about his personal life that I did not know. It is most inspiring. We need hundreds (make that 1,000's) more educators and motivators like Steve. He used to be obese weighing 300 pounds. You can see by the photo above he has lost most of it. I hardly recognize him now compared to when I last saw him.
Stephen has also recognized the value and need for new technology for growing food in schools and all of urban society. The tower gardens he is standing among have long amazed me. Read more from the IUG archives here, here, and here,
Stephen Ritz is an educator in the South Bronx and the founder of the Green Bronx Machine. The self-proclaimed CEO, or Chief Eternal Optimist, of the Bronx, he is a tireless advocate for healthy eating in schools and underserved communities. By growing gardens in schools in the South Bronx, Stephen works to create healthy students, communities, and cities.
I recently had the opportunity to speak with him about his work in the South Bronx, the opportunities that come out of school gardens, and food policy.
New York City Food Policy Center (FPC): What motivated you to get involved with food policy and to become a food policy advocate?
Stephen Ritz (SR): The realities of my life and my students’ lives. I ballooned to over 300 pounds as an ex-athlete simply by eating what was available in the local community. My habits, which were really informed by the students, were killing me. Over the course of my 30-plus years of being an educator I am seeing kids getting sicker and fatter. And I am appalled at what is happening to kids. I am seeing the onset of puberty in girls coming at much younger ages than I did 30 years ago. The stark realities of my life and my students’ lives in the South Bronx prompted me to become a food policy advocate.
It was simple. The realities of my life as an educator demanded that I start looking at the connection between food and education and become an advocate for kids. Also, the way I see kids in high-need, low-income communities being marketed to, not only the by food industry but overall, demanded that I stick my neck out and move us from being consumers to becoming producers—really determining and advocating for and contributing to our destiny. I am a voice for the voiceless. Children are often at the bottom of the food chain, and that needs to change. Kids need to be empowered!
And who knew that we could grow food? That was the coolest thing. I had no idea we could grow food. Ten years ago I couldn’t tell you 10 kinds of vegetables and now I grow 37 kinds of fruits and vegetables indoors with my kids, en route to outstanding academic performance and changing health outcomes. What could be more spectacular? Crisis equals opportunity! These aren’t challenges; these are opportunities dressed in work clothes, and I believe that my kids are poised, ready, willing, and able to change their destiny if given the opportunity. So we’ve got to create that opportunity, make that opportunity, and acknowledge that opportunity. That opportunity is here and this is our moment!
FPC: How did you get involved with school gardens? Were you always drawn to gardening?
SR: No! I got involved with school gardens by mistake, but by absolute necessity. Was I always drawn to gardening? Absolutely not. There’s a part of me that loathes it but loves the results. But at the end of the day it’s about planting seeds, and my children are my seeds. For me, seeds represent genetic potential and my goal is to make sure all my students and all my colleagues reach their G-d given genetic potential.
Many of you have seen this photo before. As of today there have been more than 76,000 views of it in this Flickr album.
I installed this sub-irrigation planter (SIP) garden (mostly succulents) on the property of a b&b hotel as compensation for temporary storage space for my plant lab back in 2014. Unfortunately the inn closed due to declining business that was evidently triggered by the great recession. It is now apartments.
The plants are still alive but now intermingled with traditional drain hole pots. The garden as it was is no longer intact. All of their planters should have been converted into SIPs. Sad story but life moves on.
The replacement garden is below. As you can see this version is an indoor light garden. It is housed on an Inter-Metro style rolling rack (aka wire rack) from Costco ($90 - 4'x6'x1.5', 6 shelves with casters for easy mobility, chrome). These racks are also available from other stores such as Lowe's Home Depot and The Container Store (usually without casters). The light is supplied by LED shop lights, also from Costco ( 2 per shelf). These lights appear to be an exclusive Costco item ($30-35).
This as a beta-test garden in my plant lab. We will see how the plants grow in this set-up. I am creating a Flickr album with many more close-up photos of individual planters. I will post the status monthly. Stay tuned.
Note the shelf below the "desert garden." It is a "coffee plantation" shown previously in this post. Click the photo for a much larger view.
The little coffee trees below the desert garden are growing like Topsy. I keep pruning the tops to create strong trunks. I will soon have more room to let them grow taller. The next light garden theme will be tropical rainforest plants including Tillandsias (air plants).
Another shelf in the desert garden. Click on the photo for a much larger view.
There will also be another version of the "desert garden" in the future. The plants will be growing in sub-irrigated tray planters instead of individual pots. The SIP trays will simulate a desert landscape with decorative sand over the top of the artificial planter mix substrate. It will allow much more room for creativity for those whose vision includes an Arabian fantasy. Shhh...don't tell anyone there is water just below the sand. It will be your little secret.
These theme gardens will offer a new way to supplement book learning of other subjects besides STEM based plant science in public schools (geography and environmental studies for example). My vision is that there be one or more of these light gardens in every school in the U.S. and abroad.
I will seek corporate sponsorship for this worthy project. Our horticultural education system is currently dominated by ideology and outdated gardening practices (drain holes for example). We need disruptive change if we expect to feed ourselves in the future.
Indoor light gardens should be available to all teachers and students every day the year round regardless of weather or climate. Since they are highly mobile with casters they can be rolled easily from classroom to classroom. Simply plug them in and the show is on.
These are examples of the planters used in this desert garden. The rectangular planter at the top was a clearance item from Rite-Aid. They are high fired ceramic. I have found a number of bargains in Rite-Aid at the end of the season. I bought several of these for just a few dollars.
The two water and oxygen reservoirs are made from recycled 5.3 oz Dannon Greek yogurt containers. Note the clear vinyl fill tube (3/4" o.d. - 5/8" i.d. allows for insertion of a plastic funnel with a 1/2" neck). You need just one. Water will flow across the bottom of the planter into the reservoir on the right.
The reservoir for the clay pot (.78 at Home Depot) is the little plastic grow container the cactus came in. All holes in these reservoirs were made with a wood burning pen. The drain hole in the little clay pot was plugged with Goop adhesive (my favorite). It is widely available in big box and hardware stores and on-line.
The high-fired, high-quality, ceramic planter on the right is from Ikea. They were just .49 each (note that they were less than the common clay pot). I bought a bunch of these planters. What a deal! And...there was no need to plug a drain hole in these cache pots.
This photo shows how the soil wicks work. They are partially filled for illustration purposes. The potting mix surrounding the water/oxygen reservoir acts as the wick (no cloth wick required). The plants roots grow down to (and into) the reservoir while the water moves up by capillary action. This "SIP action" is actually a very simple form of hydroponics with no need for power or oxygen pumps.
Part 2 of this series of posts about SIP light gardens everywhere, any time, will explain how I use an inexpensive digital scale to measure, monitor and manage the reservoir contents and the soil moisture. The method is very accurate once you get the hang of it. There is no need for praying and you do not need a mythical green thumb.
At some time in the near future (this year hopefully) there will be an app for it.
If you are considering a career in the field of urban agriculture, there are three workshops scheduled by the University of Florida extension program to consider in the coming year. They all include topical hydroponics information.
The first is on February 2, 2016 at the Mid-Florida Research & Education Center, Apopka (central Fl). More information.
Topics include: Plant physiology and nutrient basics Water quality and media selections How to mix your own fertilizer Understanding the role of pH in your water Monitoring and adjusting nutrient solutions Hands-on lab sessions Equipment and meters
The second is a 2-day workshop on either March 14-15 or 18-19, 2016 at the Suwannee Valley Agricultural Extension Center (west of Jacksonville). More information.
Topics include: Structures for Protected Culture Starting Transplants Developing a Marketing Plan Soilless Media Systems Solution Systems (No Media) Integrated Pest Management Water and Nutrient Management Traditional Crops Specialty Crops
The third is a 1-day workshop for teachers on April 7, 2016. It is also at the Suwannee Valley Agricultural Extension Center. More information.
Topics include: Welcome and Overview of Training Florida Hydroponic Industry Greenhouse and Shade Structures for Florida Production Systems and Media Seeding and Growing Transplants Water and Nutrient Management The Basics of Pest Management Popular and Profitable Crops
It warms my soul to see the success these young guys are having with their business based on modern horticultural techniques and good whole food. They get it! Let's hope our education system can start sending us more like them. May they become the "two Steves of food".
What they have accomplished in such a short time could be the core of a disruptive change we need to make horticulture a mainstream business with new technology and demographics.
Incidentally, I doubt that it will be called horticulture, a rather old-fashioned name. We need a new name for businesses, jobs and careers like this.
As it is now, horticulture is a rather dead-end career for young people. A relatively small group of aging boomers have managed to suck the air out of this field for far too long with their back to the land dirt-based ideology. Maybe it's time for them to retire to some desert island and live happily ever after.
These young gentlemen are Back to the Roots with modernity in the city rather than back to the land in the city with old-fashioned ways ill-suited for today's urban lifestyles.
Kudos to Alejandro & Nikhil. Way to go!
This is from their newsletter yesterday. Sign up here.
Friends,
We've always dreamed of bridging the gap between growing and eating food. We're so grateful to TJ, Amelia, and the entire Target team for helping us bring this vision to life today in 1,000 Target stores nationwide.
Find the Mushroom Mini Farm, Water Garden, and new Garden-in-a-Can in your local Target store or online at Target.com.
Following is one of many examples demonstrating the failure of the USDA/Land Grant University Extension Program to provide consumers with up to date information about growing local food. See prior post.
A gardening article in a Canton, Illinois paper written by an Extension educator links to this Watch Your Garden Grow guide. The authors are Extension educators, one from Cook County including Chicago.
It is significant to note that the tutorial contains no usable information about sub-irrigation or any other modern method of growing local food. The ludicrous assumption appears to be that the word garden is synonymous with dirt or drain holes.
Following below is what the guide has to say about container gardening. Note the reference to "the earthbox". EarthBox, of course, is a trade name not a generic name.
Sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) like the EarthBox are self-contained. There is no water wasted due to drainage. Note what the tutorial has to say about drainage.
"All containers, whether plastic or clay must have drainage."
"Containers with no drainage will cause your vegetables to develop root rot."
I see statements like this in Extension guides all the time. It is factually incorrect. Anyone who knows about SIPs can easily prove it.
Those who grow in SIPs know that they produce very healthy plants free of root rot. If anything, they prevent root due to the combination water and oxygen reservoir.
What is particularly deplorable is that one of the authors is deeply involved in the use of SIPs at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. It is one of the finest examples of hardscaped urban gardening in the country. There are more than 70 EarthBox type SIPs on the granite steps of the museum as well as the upper deck of the Smart Home exhibit.
Why isn't valuable information like this included in this gardening guide and many other Extension guides? This major question continues to go unanswered by the Extension program. The public deserves better.
If you don't have space in your backyard or only have access to a sunny balcony or patio, you can still grow vegetables in containers. A container for vegetables can be as simple as a bushel basket lined with plastic, a hanging basket or a self contained growing unit like the earthbox.
All containers, whether plastic or clay must have drainage. Soil in containers will dry out quickly, so frequent watering is necessary. Containers with no drainage will cause your vegetables to develop root rot. Use a sterilized, soil less mix for your container garden. Soilless mixes are light and contain some organic matter. Fertilize with a slow-release vegetable garden fertilizer that is applied in the spring and will provide nutrients for your veggies throughout the growing season. Read more...
When I took the time to study the cutaway drawing of this sub-irrigated (called "self-watering") flower box from almost 90 years ago, I realized it was the same basic construction as the tote box sub-irrigated planter (SIP) below.
There is a fill pipe, connected to reservoir pipes at the bottom. The soil between the pipes acts as the wick. I'm not sure about the need for gravel. The only thing missing (or not mentioned) is an overflow drain hole. Note the mention of an "air supply".
How is that we have these SIPs from around a century ago and we still have millions of new and potential gardeners who know nothing about them. Even experienced gardeners think the EarthBox was the invention that started SIP growing. As archival information demonstrates, this is obviously not true.
Is there any doubt that we have a horticultural education problem when millions of people are brainwashed to believe that you must have a pot with drain holes to grow plants? Or, that a raised bed needs to connect to the ground below for drainage.
When are we going to demand that institutions like the USDA Extension Program fix the problem by modernizing their consumer education? In my view, it is simply a matter of getting these educators to tell the truth about what they already know.
The contributor of this Popular Mechanics article obviously understood sub-irrigation (aka "self-watering") almost 100 years ago. This particular application took some creative thinking.
Once one understands the basics of sub-irrigation, the system is quite simple; reservoir, wicks, fill tube, and overflow drain hole.
That said, fast forward to today. How is it that the vast majority of USDA Extension Program educators still don't vigorously promote it? Instead they pound a drum about the need for pots with drain holes. For them, the word "garden" is a synonym for dirt. Drench and drain irrigation wastes water, wastes time and reduces productivity of edible plants. It is anything but green.
Is it lack of expertise on their part or is USDA policy the villain? As a battle scared veteran of corporate policy and politics, I know much about unwritten, but enforced organization policies.
Whatever the reason, the omission of information about efficient growing methods such as sub-irrigation and others is a serious misuse of tax dollars. Taxpayers (and the environment) deserve better.
Tiling has been the way of life in the south central Minnesota region for as long as Pat Duncanson can remember. Many county outles were put in about 100 years ago and has been a tradition that has had a direct impact on the value of farmland.
“It is the culture we grew up with,” Duncanson says. “Drainage and tiling are important parts of crop production.”
I wonder how many home and community gardeners would know that sub-irrigation called "tiling" (not to be confused with tilling) is used for both drainage and irrigation in professional field farming. Long time readers of this blog might know from prior posts here and here.
Further, how would anyone outside of farming know that tile used in field agriculture is plastic rather than ceramic? Tile in farmspeak is the same corrugated perforated plastic pipe used to irrigate and aerate the plants in the first sub-irrigated raised beds here in Brooklyn.
Incidentally, it is the same sub-irrigation method used more than 100 years ago in greenhouse agriculture. Back then, it was “real” ceramic clay tile.
From Cyclopedia of American Horticulture 1904
Why does this matter to the public at large? It matters because it has a significant impact on the quality of public education about modern methods of growing plants, edible plants in particular. Ergo, it has a significant impact on the quality of urban agriculture and the availability of high quality locally produced fresh food.
The public gets a steady drumbeat of propaganda from institutions like the USDA Extension Program about arcane drench and drain plant watering methods but little or nothing about sub-irrigation. Even then, the highly misleading term "self-watering" is used.
What is most egregious is that the same professional educators who know about agricultural sub-irrigation use the unprofessional term "self-watering" when communicating with consumers.
Who would know that "self-watering" and tiling both mean sub-irrigation? Consumers might search on the words "self-watering" but are highly unlikely to ever search the word "tiling" when looking for information about growing fresh food.
A personal experience with a very well-known school garden here in Brooklyn illustrates the point about the word tiling and sub-irrigation. The school garden was built over a former parking lot that was broken up and topsoil trucked in. Now for some reason there is a very significant drainage problem. The school garden manager struggles to overcome it with marginal results. The quality of the plants is significantly below average.
The problem with this school garden is not unique. It exhibits the very same problems that farmers have faced and solved with tiling (sub-irrigation and drainage).
Duncanson says there is a direct relationship between nitrogen use and drainage. Tiling has allowed Duncanson to manage nitrogen more precisely.
“If we go into a farm that isn’t well drained, we have experienced higher nitrogen losses some years. Any mobile nitrogen is lost through denitrification,” he says. “If a farm is tiled, we can fine-tune the nitrogen rates.” Duncanson says they use a lower rate of nitrogen applied to tiled farms.
If the school garden manger knew about tiling and sub-irrigation the school garden would likely double production while saving water and reducing labor time in coping with the drainage problem.
Unfortunately, the information is poorly understood in the urban gardening community where much of the education is based largely on experiential, anecdotal and folkloric knowledge rather than professional, peer-reviewed and science-based academic information.
It is really good to see these young people involved in a project like this. It is particularly significant that they are getting some hands-on experience with alternate ways to "farm" other than in the ground.
EarthBox sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) are an excellent way to reach out to their community to help solve problems of hunger, nutrition and obesity. In my view FFA deserves much more recognition than it gets in big cities like New York.
COTTER — More than 60 Cotter Future Farmers of America club members are joining together on a project to help local families fight hunger.
Student teacher Carley Calico, an agriculture education student at Southern Arkansas University, is doing her student teaching at Cotter High School.
Before she started, she contacted Cotter agriculture teacher Brandy Hughes about potentially applying for one of 140 “Food For All” grants distributed by the national FFA organization. Read more...
