Tobias Fox watches a grey cat slink behind a raised garden bed. In a blink, the furry feline nearly pounces on a squirrel digging through garlic cloves. “It’s like the nature channel,” Fox says with a laugh. “The cats keep us rodent-free.” Situated next to an abandoned home and in the shadow of the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Fox’s urban farm...
There’s a push to make urban farming in Philadelphia more sustainable, and the city is asking residents to help them map out a plan. Before the city puts out an urban farming plan, they’re getting feedback on people’s gardening habits. “Let us know where they’re gardening, where they’re urban farming, where are their projects....
Bright and early one Saturday morning in downtown Austin, Texas, young people hustle to set up a farmers market stand piled high with leafy greens and freshly harvested vegetables. Just a short drive away on a three-acre farm, more youth are preparing to lead a group of adults through a day of planting, weeding, shoveling and learning. This is what Urban Roots is...
Paris, France – Parisian mushrooms are reclaiming their space in the dark spaces under the City of Light. “When cars arrived in Paris in the 1930s they pushed out “champignons de Paris” (known in English as button mushrooms),” explains Jean-Noel Gertz, CEO of Cycloponics, the start-up that has transformed an abandoned car park into...
When countries run short of food, they need to find solutions fast, and one answer can be urban farming. That was the remedy Cuba seized with both hands 30 years ago when it was confronted with the dilemma of an end to its vital food imports. And what worked then for Cuba could have lessons today for the wider world, as it faces growing hunger in the face of the...
The vast majority of rooftops are just wasted space, especially in crowded cities. At the very least, they should be collecting rainwater or covered in solar panels. Larger urban buildings are more likely to make use of their rooftops by turning them into terraces, but why do we so rarely do the same for houses? Planted rooftops can also help lessen heat exposure,...
Unless you have been living on Mars, you have probably seen the TV ads from law firms seeking cancer patients who have used the ubiquitous herbicide brand Roundup. Three recent high-profile cases in California have brought verdicts against Roundup’s maker, Monsanto, one with a jury award of $2 billion, later reduced to $86.7 million. To date, more than 18,000...
Monycka Snowbird, of Ojibwe descent, is one of the main Haseya advocates and leaders in the organization. She had the idea and implemented the healing garden as a space for victims of violence to connect with another in a comfortable space. COLORADO SPRINGS — Every year, during powwow season, Monycka Snowbird prints fliers with tear-off tabs for Haseya Advocate...
Detroit — If all the high-definition cameras happen to catch is rabbits eating carrots in her garden, that’s just fine, says Barb Matney, who savors the safety cameras provide as she tinkers in her green space. Matney is the co-creator with husband Joe of the “In Memory Of” garden at Minock and Whitlock on Detroit’s west side. As president of...
Limited space is no reason to keep you from having the garden of your dreams. From vertical gardens to mason jar and container gardens, with a little creativity you can utilize your space to effectively grow plants, no matter the limitations, said Kevin Espiritu, founder of Epic Gardening and author of the new book, “Field Guide to Urban Gardening: How to Grow...
Kapil Mandawewala had a cushy job in a leading IT firm in San Francisco, USA. The position of a Senior Consultant at Deloitte Consulting meant that Kapil had easy access to all the luxuries he wanted. And yet, something pricked at him. Kapil wanted to pursue something that will bring a positive difference in society. Always conscious about his health, diet, and lifestyle,...
Glasgow is notorious for the same ills that plague city dwellers everywhere. Is urban life itself harmful to humans – or can we rethink cities so that they can help us to thrive? If you live in Glasgow, you are more likely to die young. Men there die a full seven years earlier than their counterparts in other UK cities. Until recently, the causes of...
Italian architect Stefano Boeri has unveiled plans to create a forested smart city in Cancun, Mexico, that is designed to be a “pioneer” of more eco-efficient developments. Smart Forest City Cancun is intended to be built on a 557-hectare site near the Mexican city. According to the architect, it will contain 7.5 million plants, including numerous species...
For the first three years Babar Qadri worked as a physician assistant at the HUDA Clinic in Detroit, he says he was “just following everything I learned in medical school.” “You see a patient with high blood pressure and you give them high blood pressure medication,” says Qadri, known as “Q,” who is now attending physician at HUDA....
Kensington residents have cultivated fresh vegetables on abandoned lots in the corner of Norris and Lawrence streets for seven years. Last year, a portion of the César Andreu Iglesias Community Garden was bought by a developer, and now the owner of the rest of the land wants to reclaim it. The garden will probably lose its ground. City officials often recognize...
INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) – Austin Hurt, the “Young Urban Gardener” from Indianapolis, is now sharing his story with the world. We first introduced you to Austin two years ago, sharing his mission to feed the hungry from the food he grows in his east side garden. Now, he’s being featured in an episode on Disney+ as part of Marvel’s superhero...
BOISE, Idaho — We’re going to the Boise Urban Garden School this week to meet our innovative educator. Education, sustainability, community and growth are the values at “BUGS.” Teachers serve about 10,000 kids at the school every year. The Boise Urban Garden School called “BUGS” for short — is for everyone. “We are all about...
‘Plants keep our souls alive,’ says Anuella Alexandre, Founder of A Green Community and one of the ‘plant influencers,’ working to keep local schools and businesses green. Roderick Johnson, the founder of Revolutionary Garden, says society is in a “food war,” battling against the chemicals and pesticides that taint our food. The mini biome, their wood-built...
Food deserts are an increasingly recognized problem in the United States, but a new study from the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, published by Elsevier, indicates urban and home gardens — combined with nutrition education — could be a path toward correcting that disadvantage. Researchers from the University of California at San Francisco...
Next time you carve a Jack-O-Lantern or cook a pumpkin for pie filling, save those seeds! Roasted pumpkin seeds are nutritious and delicious, great as a salad topping, and best of all, they’re easy to make. Pumpkin Seed Nutrition Pumpkin seeds are a good source of healthful oils, magnesium, and other nutrients that enhance heart health, bones, and other functions....
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