Friends who know my interest in gardening, agriculture and food send me the coolest stuff.
Today I received an article from Pam, "clipped" from the U.K.'s Guardian news: there's a supermarket in Crouch End, north London England, that has a vegetable garden on its roof!
The Food from the Sky project began in May 2010, when 10 tonnes of compost and 300 recycling boxes were lifted to the roof of the store. This is a real community project. Returning to London after living in Devon (a rural area of England), art consultant Azul-Valerie Thome took her green roof idea to Andrew Thornton, the manager of a Budgens Supermarket. The town council of Haringey donated the recycling boxes, twenty volunteers tend the garden, and the produce is sold on Fridays in the store. The view below is from the Guardian article.
The garden grows raspberries and strawberries, purple sprouting broccoli, kale and other vegetables. There's a composting area. And warmth from the supermarket's heating system keeps the winter chill at bay on the roof.
This year, there will be a permaculture course run in conjunction with the gardens, and primary school children are coming to visit.
Thome says that the aim of the project is "to create a template to show that produce can be grown in cities, and sold locally. One day, I want to see supermarket roof-gardens all over the country."
I hope Thome gets her wish and far beyond - gardens on many more buildings and mixed vegetable, herb, flower and fruit gardens on many, many available lands in her city.
Best regards, as always,
Why's Woman
To see this story with its related links:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/09/supermarket-rooftop-vegetable-garden
http://foodfromthesky.org.uk/contact/
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