sky-high winter greens

While rooftop farms around the country lay fallow for winter, one skyline gem continues to churn out greens.  Noble Rot, a restaurant and wine bar in Portland, OR, supports a 3,000 square foot (0.07 acre) farm that fuels the kitchen below.  The upscale restaurant occupies the sixth floor of a LEED Platinum building, providing a panoramic view of the city.

Noble Rot’s rooftop farm in winter || photo by Jake Stein Greenberg

I travelled from snowy Philadelphia to the City of Roses last week, and saw for myself how crops continue to grow – albeit slowly – in Portland’s mild winter climate.  Kale, lettuce, endive, cabbage, arugula, parsley, thyme, and garlic sprouted from the roof’s raised beds and steel containers.  A fig tree with small buds stood near the roof’s bee hive and compost bins, and to my surprise, restaurant co-owner and manager Kimberly Bernosky explained that the tree remains uncovered year-round.

Insulated planters || photo by Lauren Mandel

How do the growers at Noble Rot keep their crops warm in winter?  Fig tree aside, they elicit the help of insulated containers.  The steel containers were wrapped in a thin layer of insulation, which helps to moderate soil temperature fluctuations.  Several of the steel containers were additionally retrofit with opaque lids – resulting in vessels known as cold frames - in order to retain heat from the sun.  By trapping solar radiation, cold frames act like miniature greenhouses and moderate or warm both soil and air temperatures.

Hoop house greens || photo by Jake Stein Greenberg

A handful of the farm’s raised beds were covered with plastic to keep the greens inside toasty.  Ground-level farmers and gardeners often use plastic or garden fabric to cover crop rows or raised beds, but on a roof, the wind may blow the covers off your crops!  Noble Rot keeps their plastic in place with the help of wire framing, attached the the wooden raised beds.  These low-stature “hoop houses“ prevent air temperatures above the greens from swinging down to uncomfortably chilly levels at night.  A rather clever approach to crop warming.

Of course, Portland is blessed with a relatively mild climate that allows for year-round production.  Farmers in less utopic regions (like the Northeastern US or Canada) may not be able to grow throughout the whole year, but they sure can extend their growing seasons by expanding upon Noble Rot’s clever innovations.  What tricks do you use to keep your crops warm?

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Sandy beets

For quite some time now climate change experts have warned of doomsday scenarios with harsh storms, flooding, and general chaos. We’ve all heard the predictions, but no one was prepared for what Superstorm Sandy brought to the northeast seaboard last week. The downgraded hurricane wreaked havoc on cities like Hoboken and New York City, where surge flooding and tropical-force winds left over 8.6 million households without power, and countless buildings destroyed.

How did New York City’s rooftop farms fare? Well, Brooklyn Grange lost an entire apiary – located on a pier adjacent to the company’s Brooklyn location – at a reported loss of over $10,000. According to the company’s website, this value reflects only material losses, and does not include losses in anticipated revenue from the sale of honey. Brooklyn Grange is accepting donations through a Kickstarter campaign to replace the hives and rebuild their apiary program. The company’s website did not report on damage to either of its rooftop row farm locations, although it is reasonable to assume that damages were endured.

Employees and volunteers at Eagle Street Rooftop Farm worked overtime before the storm to prepare for the forthcoming winds, and harvest as much as possible. The farm’s website reported that the roof experienced 70 mph winds and a drop in temperature. Thanks to the roof’s green roof drainage system, most of the damage resulted from high winds, rather than from the multiple inches of rain that fell during the storm period. All chickens and rabbits were safely housed indoors when Sandy struck, and the roof’s remaining crops are beginning to bounce back.

If you’d like to help with New York City’s post-Sandy recovery, please contact these organizations to see how you can contribute.

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got organic? you betchya.

Chicago has something to brag about.  Uncommon Ground, a restaurant on the north side of town, houses the country’s very first certified organic rooftop farm.  The farm was founded on the restaurant’s Edgewater location in 2007, and became certified by the Midwest Organic Services Association (MOSA) shortly thereafter.

Greens basking in the sun at Uncommon Ground || photo by Lauren Mandel

The 2,500 square foot rooftop contains an intricate patchwork of raised beds, containers, and gathering space, with a lower roof area reserved for bee keeping.  The farm’s innovative design drips with sophistication, and great care was clearly taken in both layout design and material selection.  One key innovation involves a railing system that integrates raised planters into the perimeter fencing.  Additional design features include a rainwater harvesting system (to capture roof runoff), drip irrigation, and solar thermal panels (to heat  water within the building using sunlight), which provide an extra pinch of “green” to the rooftop farm and the building below.

Earlier this week I visited Uncommon Ground for the first time, and was delighted by the farm’s spring bounty.  Radishes, mustard greens, and lettuces were out in full force, as were blossoming chives and spring peas, climbing toward the sun.  An idyllic setting?  Yes.  An example of how a commercial agricultural facility can build community and empower people?  You betchya.

Radishes ready for the chef || photo by Lauren Mandel

Before diving into a fiddlehead and asparagus salad down below in the restaurant, I had the pleasure of meeting Dave Snyder, Uncommon Ground’s full-time farmer.  Dave’s official title of Rooftop Farm Director is as comprehensive as it sounds.  In addition to crop planning and tending to seedlings, Dave spends almost half of his time tending to people.  Whether it’s leading rooftop farm tours or training interns, coordinating with the chef or meeting with partner organizations – it’s all part of the job.

As Dave and I chatted, he sat on a bar stool beside a pile of papers ballasted with Felco hand shears.  When discussing Uncommon Ground’s decision to go organic, Dave explained that “we use our farm as an education and outreach tool… to get people more aware of the food they’re eating.”  One benefit of the farm’s organic certification is that it opens the door to conversation about organics.  If you can get people talking about organic veggies, they are more likely to try them, love them, and support the cause.

Sign up for a rooftop farm tour at Uncommon Ground’s Edgewater location next time you’re in Chicago, and see what all the fuss is about!

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3… 2… 1… action!

Australian film crew at Eagle Street Rooftop Farm || photo by Lauren Mandel

While standing in the spotlight may be uncomfortable at times, the strategic rooftop farmer embraces the media and “eats up” it’s marketing potential.  Simply put, media coverage can be instrumental in disseminating a farm’s brand.  Print and broadcast media coverage can go a long way, and social media may go even further within certain demographics.  Regardless of whether a newspaper journalist, cinematographer, or blogger visits your rooftop farm, it will behoove you to be accommodating and put your best foot forward.  The media’s relationship with a rooftop farmer, as with any public figure, can be either helpful or harmful in building the farm’s reputation, so be prepared!

Over the past few years, Trey Flemming from Urban Apiaries has learned how positive media relations can go a long way.  Trey and his urban honeybees often appear in magazine and newspaper articles around Philadelphia, as well as in online articles, blogs, and documentaries.  With all the attention, the Urban Apiaries brand has reached new heights: corporate America.  While once available only at local co-ops and specialty stores, Trey’s honey is now available at Terrain – Urban Outfitter’s garden center.

Annie Novak, from Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, similarly embraces media coverage.  When I visited Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in 2011, Annie welcomed me to the roof while in the middle of a photo shoot on the other side of a kale patch.  With a warm air and magnetic disposition, it was no wonder that Annie simultaneously engaged a film crew, a foreign journalist, and myself (the aspiring author).

Annie welcomed each person to the roof with the same friendly smile, before she figured out who they were.  Just remember, out on a roof you never know to whom you may be speaking.

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who are these people, anyway?

Rooftop farms and gardens are sprouting up in cities across the country.  Restaurants, community groups, families, and individuals are enjoying the bounty, but who the heck is up there growing all this food?

Volunteer at Eagle Street Rooftop Farm (Brooklyn, NY) || photo by Lauren Mandel

Lots of people – that’s who!  People of all different ages and ethnicities, with different skill sets, and different reasons for growing food.  American rooftop farmers tend to be between the ages of 22 and 55, with men and women equally engaged.  Most, if not all of these farmers migrated to rooftops from ground-level farms.  Some came from urban farms, and others from more traditional rural farmsteads.  Farmers who land these highly-prized rooftop positions are generally very knowledgeable about their agrarian genre – whether it be row farming, beekeeping, or hydroponics.  It is rare that a newbie finds himself in charge of much on the skyline.

Trey Flemming of Urban Apiaries (Philadelphia, PA) || photo by Lauren Mandel

Farm interns are a pillar of small agrarian farms.  In this young industry, however, formal trainees are few and far between.  The rare rooftop farm intern generally falls on the younger end of the spectrum, and carries her position for one to two growing seasons.

Volunteers, on the other hand, are key players in most rooftop endeavours.  These are the passionate folks who lend their time and energy in exchange for the experience alone, and maybe some fresh veggies on the side.  Farm volunteers are sometimes much younger or older than typical rooftop occupants.  They may enter the roof from a marginalized, inner-city neighborhood, or form another unsuspecting environment.

Vincent Dessberg of I Grow My Own Veggies (Sarasota, FL) || photo by Lauren Mandel

Laborers are common in large-scale, high-yield commercial farms.  Hydroponic facilities like Gotham Greens are structured to support a crop of highly-trained workers.  The pulse of rural farms across the country relies on migrant labor.  By contrast, the high-profile nature of rooftop farms tends to attract a very different workforce.  At this point in the fledgling industry’s development, commercial hydroponic farms are the only type of rooftop farm that can afford to pay workers aside from the farmer.  Perhaps this will change as the industry becomes more established.

We’ve now covered the key farming players, but what about rooftop gardening?  By 2009, the National Gardening Association found that 50% of American households grew some portion of their own food.  This astounding statistic means that anyone can be a rooftop gardener!  What’s your story?  Tell us about your own rooftop gardening experience, and you could land yourself  in one of the Eat Up volumes.

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rooftop beekeeping video

Trey Flemming from Urban Apiaries || photo by Lauren Mandel

This is an outstanding WHYY video on Urban Apiaries; Philadelphia’s most popular urban honey producer.

WHYY Rooftop Beekeeping

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rooftop beekeeping

European honeybee

According to urban apiarist Trey Flemming, bees that live in cities are generally healthier than their rural counterparts.  Bees are broad spectrum pollinators, which means that they leave the hive and look for varied types of nectar sources.  In the countryside, many bees end up visiting agricultural crops such as corn and soybeans, which are commonly doused with chemical herbicides and pesticides.  By contrast, urban bees feed on local flora found within street plantings, parks, roof gardens, and vegetable gardens.  These small-scale polycultures are generally not treated with herbicides or pesticides, and so the visiting pollinators do not bring chemicals back to the hive.

Trey co-founded Urban Apiaries in 2009 in order to sell local honey throughout the greater Philadelphia area.  The business now cares for 32 hives, located in seven apiaries throughout the city.  Several of these apiaries are situated on rooftops, such as those at North Philadelphia’s SHARE Food Program and Chestnut Hill’s Weavers Way Co-op.

Trey Flemming from Urban Apiaries

Inspecting the frames

Tens of thousands of European honeybees (Apis mellifera) surrounded us on the roof of SHARE Food Program as they went about their business, and we ours.  Trey tended the hives by first spraying pine needle smoke to calm his busy workers, and then he removed each hive’s lid to inspect its contents.  During the inspection we observed bees working the hives and honey cells of various colors.  Trey removed the most mature supers from each hive in order to extract the honey offsite in his honey house.  Urban Apiaries sells its honey in shops, markets, and farm stands throughout the city, and each jar contains the apiary’s zip code on the label.  Visit the company’s website at urbanapiaries.com.

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