Visitors check out the chickens at Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in Brooklyn, NY
To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves. ~Mahandas Gandhi
One of the best and most delicious ways to add whole foods to your diet is to grow it yourself. It's as organic and cheap as you want it to be! You get to supplement your diet with homegrown fare and you know exactly what goes into it. True, it takes a lot of work (especially in the upfront planting and prepping stage) but it's remarkably satisfying to watch your plants grow and therapeutic to spend time outside gardening. And, you get to throw in some exercise benefits to boot.
With the downturn in the economy, more and more people are growing some of their own food. I often fantasize about having a garden, but I alway scoffed when people told me to grow my own food. I live in the urban jungle! Don't people get it? Well, it turns out that there are LOTS of urban gardens. Even resourceful city people do it (and have been doing it for ages).
I volunteered at inspirational Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in Brooklyn, NY. This 6,000 sf farm is on the roof of a warehouse, and it grows primarily vegetables, though this year it added a chicken coop and bees. To be honest, I got there late and didn't actually do any work. But I DID take some great pictures, pet a chicken, and sample some delicious bread. The farm was an experiment to see if it would work, and it has! So now there will be a 25,000 sf roof farm in Queens.
Intern Ray kindly shares a chicken
If you don't have access to your own plot of land, you can grow plants on the roof, in a community garden, on your fire escape, in a window box or on your windowsill. Guerilla gardening is all the rage!
What to do - Grow Your Own Food
Gardening is funing. Be prepared to invest upfront and then reap the benefits. You'll need to think about location, soil material, plants, maintenance, then finally, harvesting! Read up on it, talk to friends and neighbors that garden, and ask questions at your garden store.
- Get inspired! Even the White House has planted a vegetable garden on the lawn. Save money by gardening. A gorgeous roof garden that yields salad via Mark Bittman.
- Are you lucky enough to have a yard or access to some land? This basic About.com primer on starting a garden is easy to understand, and this one is on how to start a vegetable garden. A simple primer from GardenGuides.com. More complex information on WeekendGardner.net.
- Urban gardeners are limited only by their imaginations. This article has great ideas - everything from community gardens to container gardens.
- More gardening resources? BackyardGardener.com
Evidence that people were working - there are 15 double rows of crops
Urban bee-keeping
What I ate: cafe au lait, Fage yogurt + strawberries + flaxseeds, 1 slice banana bread (bad but I made it) macadamia nuts, Mindful Mix, brown rice, microwaved asparagus + spinach + soy sauce, 3 squares dark chocolate, strawberries, NYCheese raw milk cheddar, 5 Dumpling Man vegetable dumplings, Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip cookie dough, 60 oz. water
Exercise: 60 min yoga
