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In the latest episode of The Perennial Plate, series creators Daniel Klein and Mirra Fine travel to East Asia, where urban farming is beginning to take hold on empty rooftops. The clip introduces us to Osbert Lam at City Farm in Hong Kong and Guichun Zhang in Beijing, each of whom have created rooftop garden oases in their respective cities. In both cases, it seems like the motives......read more
Food doesn't get any more local than when you can plant, pick, cook, and eat it all within a space of about five feet. That's the exactly the situation that building manager Peter Malerba finds himself in. The longtime Brooklyn resident takes advantage of having open access to a vast rooftop by growing a variety of organic delights every summer. But like a good Brooklynite, Malerba......read more
For Justin Vernon, there's more to gardening than growing plants. His rooftop garden, one of the many cropping up on the Brooklyn skyline, is part of a broader shift in environmental consciousness. The moment he started thinking of the planet as a living entity, Justin couldn't wait to get some seeds and get down to business. Now, with the Gaia philosophy informing his approach, Justin raises......read more
In New York City, hidden among the cement and concrete, there lie pockets of plantlife, carefully nurtured by denizens of the city. In the SHFT series Gardens NYC, we give some shine to these gardens and the people who grow them. In this episode, we pay a visit to landscape designer Jamie Hardy's backyard oasis in Williamsburg, where peas, peonies, and tomatoes thrive in the Brooklyn air. ...read more
There's nothing new about urban gardening. The Romans grew food on rooftops. Schoolyards and vacant lots have hosted veggie plots for centuries. So today's city agriculture explosion is really just a reclamation of our heritage. And nowhere is it more prevalent than Brooklyn, where Patrick Nagel (no, not that Patrick Nagel) gets his green thumb dirty every day. Born and raised near Detroit,......read more
Ten years ago, when artist Greg Van de Hey felt the creative impulse, he'd make a painting. But now, with two young kids, there just isn't enough time to make art. That's where his garden comes in. Whether it's building a rain barrel, making a grapevine trellis, or making wine, the young dad can always find a garden project that satiates his creative drive. It all plays into......read more
Growing up on a farm in Greece, New York restauranteur George Iliopoulos learned a thing or two about growing food. At 12, he hopped on a ship and headed to America. He finally settled in Staten Island, where his garden now produces plenty of fresh veggies for his family's table. But it wasn't always easy; despite his understanding of farming, things didn't always grow like he thought they......read more
If you were in New York City in the late '60s, you may have come across a longhaired Stephen Rutsky out in the streets with his hippy brethren, advocating for social and political change. These days, you're more likely to find him among the abundant greenery of his Park Slope garden, where he practices a quieter, more personal form eco-activism... by growing plants. From beans for his table to......read more
Native New Yorker Peter Manerva comes by his love of gardening honestly. His parents were into plants, and when he was a kid, instead of building forts out of sheets and couch cushions, he would create his own little jungle worlds from all the plantlife around the house. That childhood interest in greenery blossomed into an adult obsession. Peter was kind enough to show us around his spectacular......read more
If you're reading this, you're probably already familiar with Brooklyn Grange (if not, start here then go here). In Brooklyn Farmer, filmmaker Michael Tyburski follows the story of a small group of dedicated staff and volunteers, who turned unused space in the city into the world's biggest rooftop farm, producing over 120,000 pounds of food for the local community. Today the farm is looking to......read more
