As A Matter Of Fork

Today I Scooped Poop.

It was a beautiful day at the farm.  The sun was shinning and plants with shades of green, red and purple were in abundance.  Laura and I started by harvesting arugula.  A lot of arugula.  It wasn’t going to be sold at the farmers market so it would either be composted or we could take it home to eat it.  It was enough to feed an army, so we got talking about all the different things we could do with arugula.  We talked about different salad options.  I suggested pesto.  She suggested preserving it by freezing it in olive oil (she had heard about doing this with basil).  I questioned whether it could be cooked like spinach.  What a wonderful little arugula brainstorm. 

Laura began to tell me how her boyfriend was a fashion photographer and spent all his time in Soho and she found it humorous how different her life was here farming.  She asked me where I lived.  I told her Soho, and added that I used to work in fashion.  Next, it was onto check on the chickens.  When I opened their coop, I was so excited to see an egg - our first egg!  The only problem, was that it was deep inside and I would practically need to crawl in the whole thing to get it - through their poop, spilled feed and all.  Laura started chanting, “go Soho girl, do it,” so I climbed in and got it.  

Laura needed to leave shortly after, and I finished up the tasks around the farm.  I sat on the deck for a bit too and had a peaceful quiet moment looking back and forth between the water and the green farm.  I was also waiting for a call back from the head farmer Annie as I needed some instruction on a task I had yet to do on the farm - clean the rabbit cage.  She told me what to do, and it seemed easy enough - but, oh was I wrong.  I had to basically scrape a combination of pee and poop that was completely matted down in their cages, all while having three large rabbits staring at me and in one instance bite me (I knew it was a smart decision to wear those gloves).  The front part of the cage was bad, but I pushed through it and got it done.  Cleaning the back part was near impossible, and I felt like at any moment all three rabbits were going to launch at me, and kill me.  I felt like the guy in 127 hours as he is cutting off his hand to get free, and he knows it is crazy, but he knows it is the only way out.  I know this may seem like an extreme comparison, but that is how I felt while scooping poop today.  

Not to worry, I had a wonderful ending to the day.  I put together a delicious meal - arugula and radish salad with a fried egg with chickpeas and garlic (the first three ingredients from the farm).

Wonderful Window Gardens.

Not to worry if you don’t have a roof or even a fire escape and want to do some urban gardening.  Check out this solution from Paris-based design collective Barreau&Charbonnet.  As reported in The Atlantic:

They offer the Volet Végétal, a system of planters that uses a drawbridge-like contraption to utilize the space directly outside an apartment window.  Rows of custom-sized planters are fitted into a wooden frame that is then mounted against the windowsill. A pulley system allows one to pivot the entire frame horizontally, extending five feet perpendicular to the window. To water, trim, and harvest the plants, one simply reels the planters back into a vertical position for easy access. In colder months, the entire frame can be moved indoors, serving as a free-standing indoor garden. As Natalia Repolovsky mentioned on Shoebox Dwelling, the Volet Végétal functions much like an obsolete fire escape, extending access to that precious commodity we call space beyond the small interiors of many city apartments.

The Latest In Urban Farming….Truck Farming.

Brooklyn filmaker Ian Cheney covered this exact topic in his documentary Truck Farm. Upon moving to New York in 2009 and realizing how difficult it can be to find a place to grow local food, Cheney planted a mini farm in the back of his old Dodge, and so the Truck Farm project was born. The project’s mission is to teach the public how easy, fun and accessible growing food can be.  There are now 25 Truck Farms across the United States. 

Luxury Residences….For Chickens.

Fitting with yesterday’s post on luxury hotels that have started farming, today’s story is about urban luxury residences for your very own chickens.  It’s called the Chicken Coop and designed by the architecture firm, Raad.  I love the slick, functional design and the tongue and cheek language used on the website.  For instance, some of the luxury residence amenities listed are:

• Floor to ceiling windows
• Plenty of storage
• Complimentary dining area
• Solar powered fan for keeping cool in the summer
• 4 very spacious private units with great views

We’ve heard the saying, “happy chickens lay better eggs,” but now we need to see if chickens living in “luxury” lay even better eggs.

The New York City Farms of Yesterday.

It’s no secret that there are less farms today than there have been historically.  New York state alone has shrunk to a little more than 35,000 farms today, 70% less than existed in 1950.  It is interesting to take a look at some of the oldest farms that once operated in our five boroughs, the oldest of which, Queens Country Farm is over 300 years old.  Here are some others to feast your eyes on: New York City Farm Colony (in Staten Island), Harsenville and Gericke Farm.

New York City Artist Grows Food Inside Furniture.

Jenna Spevack’s home gardening designs fall in range of unconventional. Open a small travel case in her living room and you’ll find yourself staring at a plush crop of parsley, for example. But her ideas on what can make for a miniature “farm plot” of microgreens are changing the outlook of the average apartment agriculturist. No longer is the fire escape the most viable option for the home gardener in the city.

With Spevack’s creative sub-irrigation system in place, steamer trunks and bookshelves become functional greenhouses. Now she’s pushing the idea forward not only as a means of spreading the benefits of growing your own food, but of supporting urban ag’ nonprofits in and around New York City. Click through to the full story for info on Jenna’s charitable greens project, as well as the Kickstarter she’s hosting which might land you a growing system of your own.

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Vertical Farming 101.

I just ordered a great book by former Columbia professor, Dr. Dickson Despommier called The Vertical Farm.  I love being a New Yorker, but as much as I love nature, I always see myself living in an urban place.  I was moved by the statistics that by the year 2050, nearly 80% of the earth’s population will reside in urban centers. It is also estimated that the human population will increase by about 3 billion people during the interim.  How and what people are fed will continue to be a focus as the world changes.  Vertical farming seems like a great solution, and I must admit I am also enticed by the great building designs.  

A Day At Bissel Gardens.

Today I volunteered at the magical Bissel Gardens in the North Bronx.  The garden is named after Bissel Avenue, which was an unmapped city street that remained an unused dirt road for many years.  It became an area full of trash and crime until a bunch of community residents decided to turn the 5 block area into a garden in 1994.  Some of the founding members are still active and a host of volunteers help maintain the garden.  Over the years a large number of war veterans have also participated.  Each block is set up for a specific purpose: propagation area, children’s garden, community garden, food for others garden, and farmers market.  

We spent the day weeding, picking up trash and laying wood chips.  All the trash in the area was particularly saddening as it is a place filled with such amazing beauty and nature.  Speaking with the regular volunteers provided plenty of amusing stories, light-hearted ones about neighbor with odd gardening practices to serious ones about young drug dealers in the area.  The enthusiasm and commitment from the community was incredible, and I hope that more volunteers join the effort to continue to revitalize Bissel gardens. 

It Looks Good and Does Good.

The Parasite Farm is a project byCharlotte Dieckmann and Nils Ferber.  Itconsists of an indoor compost system that can be hung on your kitchen table and illumined plant boxes which fit perfectly in a bookshelf.  To integrate with your interior and your habits both the vermicompost system and the plant boxes use existing furniture as infrastructure. The parasitic objects are fed by your food scraps and provide you — in turn — with fresh vegetables.  I love when something that promotes sustainability is mixed with a great aesthetic like The Parasite Farm.