How often do you find yourself sitting in the living room of your modest Brooklyn apartment chatting with your roommates about how important the environment is, why organic and local foods are better, essentially enumerating the many reasons to be sustainable and healthy. Discussion soon turns to how great it would be to move to a farm and grow your own food and how the rural holistic life would be ideal. Then the conversation ends and you are back in Brooklyn, in your apartment in a city, surrounded by plaster and concrete and steel but you don’t even notice these things anymore. What happens to those fantasies of surrounding yourself with plants and nature and growth? They fly away in the chaotic whirlwind that is life in this city. They are too far away to holdfast in our minds and instead you fixate on something more tangible –closer to home.
What if instead of letting these thoughts float away until the next time you sit down and reflect on our lives in a massive city, you did something in your small little apartment to bridge the gap between these two worlds. Could you somehow bring some part of the rural world, some sense of growth and greenery into the cold grinding city that harbors the dreams of artists and business people alike? I believe that with a little time and interest this merging of worlds is entirely possible.
One common approach to the idea of bringing vegetation into your life is a garden. Urban gardens are a great way to live the city life with the satisfaction of watching plants grow and getting a little closer to the farm life ideal. Unfortunately, urban gardens take a lot of work and starting them can be relatively costly. Whether you want to grow in planters or in soil is another important consideration. In many urban environments such as New York City the soil in the ground is actually filled with lead residue from industrial plants that contaminate water. This means that growing vegetables is practically impossible or if you do grow them, you cannot eat them. Still the thing that makes urban gardens most difficult is space. Anyone living in an apartment knows that while talking about urban gardens in nice, it’s simply an impossible feat. There is no room.
So without space or money how is one to make any considerable move towards having and keeping plants in your home. Think simple and intuitive. Where is there access to sunlight in your apartment? What materials are similar to pots but aren’t expensive or hard to find? How might you utilize the space in your apartment even though you only have 600 sq feet of floor space?
Answer these questions correctly and you have the brilliant innovation that is sweeping the sustainable community Window Farming! The idea is perfect for homes or apartments with no backyard, little money to start growing and who want the freedom and peace of mind to grow vegetables at home. To start will cost about $125 which is a small price to pay for fresh home grown greens. This is because the project uses easy and cheap materials like plastic water bottles and tubing. Space is also taken care of because of the vertical design of the window farm. As long as you have a window that has access to sunlight for a good portion of the day, there is practically nothing stopping you bringing the farmer mentality and aesthetic right into your cramped New York City home.
wow! what a great idea. I love the idea of window farming. But beside that, you've really stepped up the writing, and I appreciate that. Keep moving in this direction. (Do watch out that for whether you're writing in first person, second or third; you jumble them up a bit at top and it's a tad confusing.) The subject is great and I really, really like your art. Brought the subject to life.
ReplyDeleteExcellent!
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