urban farming Global food chain edible walls™
Urban Farming™ has established the Urban Farming Global Food Chain™, a vertical farming project. The Food Chain consists of "edible" food-producing wall panels mounted on walls of buildings, growing fresh produce (without the use of pesticides) at four locations in and around downtown Los Angeles, inclusive of the Central City East (Skid Row) area. The organizations that host these 'walls' will utilize the food for their own purposes and, as is the paradigm of Urban Farming™ across the country and overseas, the people who tend the gardens are committed to donating a portion of their harvests to neighbors and/or organizations in need. The Urban Farming Global Food Chain™ project is in partnership with Green Living Technologies and Elmslie Osler Architect.
The wall systems of the Food Chain concept are as "links" connecting to each location by intention and design, as well as presenting a new definition for the familiar term, 'food chain'. Los Angeles is the pilot city for the Urban Farming Global Food Chain™, a project we will replicate in other cities. The Food Chain is a gardening system that offers immediate access to fresh produce, greens the environment, creates team-building and skills-training, and provides an opportunity for community service and involvement. In addition, particularly in areas where concrete and steel are plentiful and ground space and greenery are scarce, the Food Chain will help to lower the heat index and the effects of global warming. The gracious hosts and new owners of the Urban Farming Global Food Chain's™ first four walls are: The Weingart Center; The Rainbow Apartments (In partnership with the Yankee Apartments); The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex.
The Food Chain pilot project in Los Angeles is partially funded by gifts and grants from The Annenberg Foundation, the Los Angeles Office of Community Beautification and Warner Bros Entertainment, with many materials and professional services donated by Green Living Technologies, Elmslie Osler Architect, Cal Poly, Greenheart Farms and Meyer Trucking.
Please help support our work and continue to expand our impact. We are in need of funding to support Urban Farming™ overall and its many projects and programs throughout the United States and abroad. We are also offering Co-sponsorships of the Food Chain Project Los Angeles, pilot program. (Contact information below.) The Food Chain design will include hollow containers, "Guardian Boxes", (See rendering) that will serve the dual purpose of acknowledging our sponsors and serving as containers to house small gardening tools and gloves.
The Urban Farming Global Food Chain™ sites are located where people will greatly benefit from the healthy fresh food and have the opportunity to learn new skills, connect with diverse community members, enjoy the beauty of nature at their fingertips and feel empowered by the process and the gratification of sharing the produce with other people in need. Each Food Chain site will be assigned a Master Gardener to advise and consult, along with local community members who will be assembled to tend and maintain the vertical gardens and harvest the food as needed. Each of these "edible walls" of the Food Chain measures between 24 to 30 feet across, by 6 feet high, made up of individual (2ft x 2ft x 4") interconnected recycled stainless steel panels, inclusive of a fully automated irrigation system.
Over the past few months and in preparation for delivery of the wall system to the various recipients, students and faculty members at California Polytechnic in San Luis Obispo, Sustainable Agriculture Consortium, were the stewards of the plant growing process in the wall panels that are now mounted at the wall sites. Many of the plants are nearly ready for harvest, allowing the instructors to focus on teaching community members a variety of skills for planting, harvesting and maintenance and how the system works overall. Some of the plants we are growing during this first season include: bell peppers, hot peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, tomatillos, strawberries, spinach, parsley, leeks, edible lavender and a variety of herbs.
During World War II twenty million people planted "Victory Gardens" at their homes. They grew 40% of America's produce supply. They did it then. We can do it again!
For more information about the Urban Farming Global Food Chain®, or to donate to Urban Farming™ or contact us to become a Co-sponsor.
For your further information:
Wall System: Green Living Technologies
Architect: Elmslie Osler Architects
Locations of the Urban Farming Global Food Chain®:
The Weingart Center
Skid Row Housing Trust's “The Rainbow”
(In partnership with)
SRO Housing's "The Yankee"
The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank
Miguel Contreras Learning Complex
Thank you for your support in the Urban Farming Global Food Chain® Project!
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In the spirit of the First Guiding Principle of Urban Farming™, which is Win-Win Relationships, we encourage you to visit the websites of some of the non-profit organizations we work with, as well as other non-profit organizations we think are cool and worthy of checking out! They are all doing something positive for our world, so please take a moment to check out as many of these links as possible!
We would like to thank all of the folks that are listed below for the wonderful work they are doing to make our world a better place!
Digging Deeper SF
Environmental Justice:
Common Vision
Harvest Rhythm
Sailing the plastic sea, by David Knowles
Algalita Marine Research Foundation (AMRF)
Izabella Miko
EkoMiko
Youth and Adult:
YoungBiz
YoungBiz -Detroit |
