Oases in the Food Deserts

Depending on who you ask, estimates for the number of Americans living in food deserts ranges between 23.5 and 26.5 million. What’s a food desert, you ask? This:

A food desert somewhere in the USA

and this:

A food desert somewhere in New York City. I think I’ve even been on that block.

I didn’t know it at the time, but when I moved to New York in 2002, I lived in a food desert. The three nearest grocery stores had shrinkwrapped produce, so you couldn’t really feel or smell it to check for ripeness. Because of the styrofoam and plastic wrap around it, you also couldn’t fully inspect the produce, so a few times I got home with my lettuce or bell peppers only to discover moldy patches hidden against the styrofoam.

I was lucky to have a car at the time, and armed with my meager savings and student loans, I simply drove to the nearest Fairway to get fresh produce. These days, I live upstairs from a 24/7 fruit and vegetable shop, and I volunteer at a couple urban farms from time to time, so I fortunately don’t have that problem anymore.

But a lot of people do, and if you’re the type of person who’s into food policy and such, you’ve probably noticed that awareness of food deserts has fortunately become a bit of a Thing over the past few years. Where I live, organizations like Just Food do an outstanding job of sharing information and resources to combat the food desert problem, and organizations like GrowNYC operate 54 Greenmarkets in New York City, so that people can have better access to fresh local or regional food. There are also urban farms popping up more often, and I’ve written about some of them before.

Today, I’m writing briefly about how two people who are working to provide fresh, local food are also promoting social mobility, economic growth, and sustainable development. Ron Finley gave an inspiring and fun TED Talk about how and why he decided to take the soil into his own hands and grow food in South Central L.A.. Ben Greene (and team) have created an experience in Durham, North Carolina called The Farmery that helps people reconnect with their food and each other. Here is a fun minimentary on The Farmery.

There is plenty of data out there that correlates prenatal and early childhood nutrition with cognitive and behavioral development. The World Bank has a good primer, with a bonus quote from Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan that sums it up: when there isn’t enough food, the body has to make a decision about how to invest the limited foodstuffs available. “Survival comes first. Growth comes second. In this nutritional triage, the body seems obliged to rank learning last. Better to be stupid and alive than smart and dead”. By making fresh, healthy food available in the poorer communities that tend to be food deserts, we can help give more children a fighting chance to grow out of poverty and up the rungs of the social ladder.

By growing food locally and in small batches, urban farmers don’t have to rely on an Industrial Age house of cards to get most of their food to the market. As Ben Greene says in the Farmery minimentary, when you harvest produce using machines, then pack, refrigerate, and transport it, you lose a lot of inventory at every step in that process. On top of that, the cost of labor, machinery, maintenance, and fuel further eat into a farmer’s profit. Why not create a network of small, sustainable farms in major cities that eliminates most of the labor and all of the machinery and its related expenses? Decoupling the price of food from the volatile cost of fuel is an obvious way to increase food and energy security. We could even take a cue from the Farmery and build them out of upcycled materials like used shipping containers and pallets to cut down on some of the excess material that just sits in huge lots like this:

Shipping containers and pallets just sitting there…

Next time, I might get into cost externalities and the subsidies we’ve heard about recently that have gone to dead people or that support obesity-promoting crops at the expense of healthy ones. For now, wouldn’t it be nicer to go somewhere in your neighborhood where you can buy fresh food from real people at a place that looks like one of these?

The Farmery and Ron Finley’s Garden

The Plant

Closed loops, a few inputs, and lots of outputs.

It was May, 2013, and the opportunity had arisen to visit Chicago, home of The Plant. The picture above is a diagram of systems, resources, and products that are made at The Plant. I took it during a tour of the facilities, which was very inspirational.

Blake Davis, who is a Board member at The Plant and an adjunct professor in Sustainability and Urban Agriculture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, led the tour, taking our group of about 25 people through the nearly 1 million square feet of building that is home to The Plant and its mission-aligned commercial tenants. He was also gracious enough to stick around after the tour as we plied him with questions about how to recreate something like The Plant elsewhere.

We started in a part of the building that houses models of what the area around The Plant can grow into, once operations are scaled-up. Based in Chicago’s Union Stockyards neighborhood, the site is at the epicenter of what used to be a thriving meatpacking district. As the industry moved away because of emerging technologies that made it cheaper for livestock producers to slaughter animals themselves, jobs disappeared, and the area became economically depressed. By converting the building into a production facility that houses several businesses and provides fresh food, The Plant hopes to bring economic stability back to the Stockyards.

During the tour, Mr. Davis led us through the bowels of the building – home to an ammonia-powered cooling system from the days before freon, a vast indoor warehouse of materials salvaged from the meatpacking plant’s deconstruction, and a room that will house the building’s power plant which generates electricity from organic waste.  We also walked through spaces that will eventually house two breweries, a bakery, and passed some gardens and tenants that grow mushrooms in the building’s basement.

I took quite a few pictures of The Plant’s own aquaponics setup, which in a lot of ways is ideal because it’s so big, and that is the way to grow enough fish and produce so that you can hit your ROI in a hurry. There are also pictures of the cooling room, the indoor salvage yard, the outdoor garden, a Henry Ford-inspired ceiling rail system, and a couple pictures of the exterior.

Here are my pictures from our tour of The Plant.

The Plant has gotten a lot of press over the years, and a lot of it lives here. Like I said, the tour was inspirational, because it’s a living, growing example of how we can retool our infrastructure so it’s more efficient and can meet the demand of our growing global population. If we can have Plant-inspired developments in more cities, we can produce healthy, local food, eliminate waste, and generate renewable energy on a scale big enough to address the energy crisis, climate change, and food shortages.

To replicate projects like The Plant in other major cities is a no-brainer, and the only piece of the development puzzle that I would add is residential space. So if you’re on a walk one day and see a large, abandoned factory of some kind, let me know, because we can do this.

Name(required)

Email(required)

Website

Comment(required)

Submit

Δ

Windowfarming!

On Monday, I went to a workshop at the Sunnyside Library on how to build a D-I-Y windowfarm, and I thought I’d share a couple pictures and links you might find helpful if you want to build one for yourself. I’m going to build one soon for my tiny apartment in Woodside, and will post when it’s completed to let you know how it turned out.

What’s a windowfarm?
A windowfarm is basically a microfarm for your window. You can grow almost anything in it, as long as the plant isn’t really tall like corn or a root vegetable like carrots or potatoes. Or… this. Click here for a more comprehensive list of what grows well in windowfarms, and hover over the pictures for additional info on sunlight and water requirements.

Why have a windowfarm?
Plenty of reasons! Maybe you want strawberries year-round, fresh herbs for you, catnip for your cat, organic tomatoes that don’t have to travel miles to get to you, or just the cool factor that comes with being a self-proclaimed windowfarmer. I’m looking forward to the challenge of figuring out what I can grow in my fairly low-light, drafty apartment. Plus, a window with plants growing in it is way nicer to look at than this:

A view from one of my windows

Gil Lopez led the workshop, played a slideshow with some information on windowfarms, and then built the windowfarm unit from scratch (in about 45 minutes). Here are some pictures I took of the slideshow and the windowfarm building process. Gil is very active in the urban agriculture scene here in NYC, and he’s one of the founders of Smiling Hogshead Ranch, which is a very cool urban farm in Long Island City, Queens. Gil also taught the Skillshare class on eco-roofs I mentioned in my first post. Smiling Hogshead deserves a post of its own, so I’ll get to that soon, but for now, check out the Facebook and tumblr pages. Shameless plug: I helped build the semi-portable compost bins out of salvaged shipping pallets.

Beyond the utilitarian value and bragging rights of just having a windowfarm, windowfarming is also related to something I learned about at the workshop called R&D-I-Y. R&D-I-Y is a very cool community working to integrate personal scale innovation for environmental stewardship and quality of life into the existing infrastructure of cities. What does that mean? Think open-source software development meets physical systems development. The idea is that by empowering people with enough know-how, individuals everywhere can innovate solutions to infrastructure and quality of life problems we all face. Those innovations are then peer-tested and incrementally improved, spinning off further solutions – all open-source. Britta Reily gave a TED Talk in 2011 called A garden in my apartment about windowfarms and R&D-I-Y that started the movement.

How to build a windowfarm?
There are many different types of windowfarms you can build, so to pick the one that works best for you – and to check out the windowfarms community that has grown out of the R&D-I-Y movement – go to our.windowfarms.org. Once there, you can look around and see what people are talking about, check out the variety of windowfarm design options, and create a profile so you can download instructions and provide feedback on your windowfarm-building experience!

If you’re in NYC and can get to Astoria on Monday (Earth Day!) at 6pm, check out a repeat of the workshop Gil is leading at the Queens Library Steinway Branch. More info is at the New York Permaculture Meetup event page.

And like I said, I’ll be building my very own windowfarm soon. Once it’s done, I’ll post pictures and maybe even a video! If I can get someone to video the process…

Uncle Milton Pet’s Eye View Camera Lightning Review on Gizmodo

Taking Permaculture to The Next Level

I’ve been curious about permaculture since my mother got involved with it years ago after moving to Austin. At the time, I was under the impression it was mainly about things like weaving clothing out of burlap sacks and making soap from fish bones, and as someone whose interests have tended toward the specs of the latest smartphone and when we’ll finally have flying cars, I wasn’t naturally drawn to what I then perceived to be permaculture.

Since then, I’ve learned that permaculture is really about working with naturally-occurring designs to develop systems that are good for people and the planet. Wikipedia has a good, succinct definition: “Permaculture is a branch of ecological design, ecological engineering, and environmental design which develops sustainable architecture and self-maintained agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems.” In other words, it’s a way to meet our social, ecological, and economical needs, sustainably. What permaculture is not is some kind of half-baked “back to the earth” movement or school of thought that would have us all foraging for berries and living in log cabins. After all, if everyone on earth tried to live in a log cabin, we would run out of trees on the quick.

Coincidentally, a friend of mine introduced me last year to Cradle to Cradle, a fantastic read on how good design can save us from ourselves. There is also a TED Talk from one of the authors here. I’m not a designer, but I love good design, and I really appreciate things that look beautiful and don’t waste resources. So naturally, the more I researched cradle-to-cradle design, the more I was drawn to permaculture, which led me to attend my first meeting of the New York Permaculture Meetup in November of last year (full disclosure: I’m now one of the group’s event organizers, and we have a cool event coming up on how to build your own windowfarm). However, the question for me was, “is it possible to do permaculture on a large enough scale to make a difference?”

Last Friday night, Beth and I attended a Meetup on Scaling Up Permaculture Design at The Commons in Brooklyn.  One of the key concepts that the speaker, Lisa DePiano, mentioned is that in nature, there is no waste. Nature doesn’t need a trash can in the forest or in the ocean, because everything gets reused. Nature has had a bit longer than we have to develop systems that work together without producing waste, but fortunately, we’re surrounded by examples we can look to for design inspiration.

[And in case you’re reading this and thinking, “Hello, Sean – biomimicry!”, I’ll put up a separate post on that. While biomimicry and permaculture might be two sides of the same coin, to cover both would make for a super long blog post.]

So, how can permaculture inform the way we make things so that they look beautiful and create zero waste? And how can permaculture help us remake our cities into truly sustainable places to live and work? Below are some examples that Lisa DePiano mentioned in her presentation that really stood out to me, as they indicate that it is possible to scale-up permaculture to meet the needs of our growing population.

Some good organizations working to spread permaculture knowledge:

• The Center for BioRegional Living is working to to create regionally-appropriate models for economic development using permaculture design.
• Permaculture Institute of the Northeast (P.I.N.E.) is a great resource for connecting with others interested in permaculture in the region.

Farms and bioshelters actively using permaculture principles:

• Whole Systems Design conducts research (they have an amazing research farm/homestead) and identifies, designs, and develops resilient habitats and landscape/infrastructure systems.
• D Acres is a nonprofit permaculture farm and educational homestead that has, among other things, a plant-based greywater filtration system linked to its garden.
• The Radix Center in Albany promotes more local control over essential resources like food, waste management, and energy production. Here’s a short video.

And here are a couple tidbits on how to convert a vacant urban lot into something useful:

• Bioremediation using sheet mulching essentially uses garbage to make land arable. Brilliant.
• A reclaimed and bioremediated vacant lot can be turned into a garden that provides food and economic stimulus for its community.  Holyoke, MA and Seattle, WA feature thriving edible gardens. 
• Seed bombing can allow you to plant wildflowers or other plant species that will begin bioremediation for you when you don’t have access to a vacant piece of land.
• The seed balls you use for seed bombing are designed to keep birds and pests away from seeds until the plants can take root – killer design!

So we have examples of rural and urban places where people are applying permaculture principles to meet the demand for fresh food, energy, and infrastructure. Permaculture’s decentralized, distributive systems also offer the added benefits of huge savings on energy consumption and local job creation. Montview Neighborhood Farm in Northampton,  MA has a fun graphic on its website that illustrates the energy required to get food from farm to table in a centralized production model. And on the job creation front, local production can offer people the opportunity to make and spend money where it often matters most – right in their own communities. Pedal People (also in Northampton), offers transportation by community residents of locally-grown produce, among other things.

If we can continue to adapt nature’s models – in which nothing is wasted – to the ways we produce, move, and consume the things that surround and sustain us, we have a bright future ahead of us.

Not Your Broker’s Co-op

With a mission as lofty as “creating communities for the future,” it’s critical to be aware of what exists at present. To that end, Sean and I have been doing a variety of research, including attending “Urban Collectives: Creating Community in NYC” at the Brecht Forum on April 3, an interesting panel consisting of representatives from four cohousing developments in New York. For these purposes, cohousing can be loosely defined as an intentional community established by a group of individuals choosing to live together, share resources and facilities, and participate in collective decision-making. Ideologically, cohousing arrangements take the idea of residential co-ops back to their roots – past the idea of strict boards comprised of wealthy blue-hairs that might first come to mind and straight to Merriam-Webster. The following communities present on Wednesday were examples of different variations on the cohousing theme (descriptions provided by each respective development):

• 1399 – a Crown Heights, Brooklyn collective of four four-person households, each with its own internal rules about sharing and participation, that leverages shared interests and capacities toward a stronger sense of belonging and responsibility, both to the house-wide community and to the local neighborhood.

• Midwood House – a freestanding home of six women in Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn. The residents are like-minded artists, musicians, writers and activists who value sustainability, cooperative living, and social justice, regularly hosting “house concerts” and other small events in their home.

• Treehaus – a collective household of 13 people in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. They have been in existence for five years and are committed to sustainability, cooperation, and community.

• Yggdrasil – a four-person home and garden in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn that seeks to live collectively within its household (and its extended membership) and to contribute to the social health of its block and neighborhood.

After hearing about each development, I began to wonder what made cohousing different from simply living with roommates. In my personal experience, it’s common courtesy to share your food with your roommate or clean the living room or ask permission/work together to host a party – after all, in New York especially, you’re living in very close quarters and you should treat anyone that near you with respect (or suffer the consequences). Unfortunately, after recalling horror stories told by friends about tragic roommate situations as well as reflecting on how overwhelming and lonely New York can seem sometimes, I realized that my personal experiences are not the norm.

Enter: cohousing. Humans are naturally social creatures, but we are also beings of conflict. For most, cohabitating peacefully requires thoughtfulness and intentionality, and that is what makes the above developments unique. It is this intentionality – this agreed-upon idea that, “yes, we are going to share the same space and live so that we enhance our community and the lives of each other” – that sets cohousing apart from “traditional” urban dwelling. So how do these communities do this? It turns out that there are a variety of ways, but the most important trait that all four developments shared was that they hold regular house meetings designed to resolve conflict (Nonviolent Communication is a prized tool), to brainstorm house projects and events, to delegate responsibilities and uphold accountability, to leverage economies of scale by bundling shopping trips, and to simply spend time together. The results of their efforts to live intentionally, according to everyone on the panel, are increased feelings of connectedness, empathy, and support; stronger fiscal responsibility and personal accountability; and a greater awareness of their place within their immediate community and New York City as a whole. The beauty of the cohousing model is that it is entirely dependent on the preferences, priorities, and personalities of the residents.

Cohousing in New York is not without concerns, the largest of which, for the four communities in attendance, was diversity and gentrification. All four households promote a message of inclusion and a willingness to embrace diversity of all kinds; however, at the time of the event, all four were majority Caucasian as well as fairly young (mid-20’s to 30’s), leading their message and vision to be called into question. Additionally, most of the developments are located within historically Afro-Caribbean neighborhoods, and a few members did express that establishing themselves as members of their communities and getting involved in local affairs was a slow process. Finally, gentrification is occurring quickly in all of their neighborhoods, which will not only demographically change the area, but will also economically alter it and make it much more difficult – if not impossible – for these cohousing developments to remain as affordable as they are currently. Despite these concerns, all four developments are regularly involved with their neighborhoods and communities via open-houses, by hosting events supporting local businesses and nonprofits, and through many other outreach efforts.

While the ideas of house meetings and tandem shopping may seem a bit crunchy to you – it does even to me – there is no denying the benefits of intentionally creating the most positive living situation for you and those around you, which is the message that resounded most strongly and remained with me following this event. For you, it may simply mean learning your neighbor’s name when you run into her in the laundry room; for me, it means cooking dinner and watching Jeopardy with my roommate; and for a growing many, it may mean creating an extended “family” of thirteen (or six, or twenty) people with whom they may share their lives. So will this idea work its way into Sean’s ecovillage? Stay tuned!

The Urban Eco-what?

Toward the end of 2012, I realized I wanted to build an ecovillage. This is how I reached that decision.

About a year ago, I was looking to do something different with my life, so I took a Skillshare class on eco-roofs. I didn’t really know what an eco-roof was going into the class, but I knew that rooftops – especially flat ones like we have in NYC – are a missed opportunity. They’re ugly, contribute substantially to the urban heat island effect, kind of a waste of space, and they compound problems with storm water runoff, especially since NYC wastewater infrastructure is… not the best.

Later that year, I discovered The Plant in Chicago on Fast Company. It was all I talked about for a while, and I’m pretty sure I still mention it at least once daily. A meatpacking plant turned into a net-zero energy urban farm and business incubator? Count me in.

Shortly thereafter, my girlfriend and I stayed for a night at this bed and breakfast called A Stonewall Inn in Windham, VT. It blew my mind. The architecture was fascinating, the setting was beautiful, and there were a slew of green features we learned about while talking with the owner and master gardener over breakfast (which included some food grown onsite).

Meanwhile, it was 2012, and people everywhere were freaking out about crazy weather, food shortages, and impending disaster resulting from rising commodity prices and the crazy supply chain that keeps our ever-growing major cities stocked with the things humans need to survive. Fortunately, the world didn’t end last year. But unfortunately, the problem persists: how to keep people housed, nourished, and happy in the face of disastrous weather events that may well become the new normal.

That is where the Ecovillage Project comes into play. We’ll look at problems and solutions, and develop a blueprint for providing healthy food in a carbon-neutral development that stimulates the economy and sustains the community. Projects like The Plant and places like A Stonewall Inn are just two examples that highlight what people are doing to address some of the big problems we face as a society.

There are many more out there.