Many people bemoan the fact that they can’t grow their own food (or even flowers) because they lack any kind of garden space, but guess what? You can actually grow more than you realize in really small areas as long as they get a bit of direct sun. Hell, you can even grow things indoors under a lamp, but there’s something special about plucking your own food from a stalk that’s been sitting in summer sunshine all day. In any case, whether you have a little concrete slab behind your house, a fire escape outside your window, or even a tiny balcony, your urban garden can be a veritable Eden of fresh, healthy, home-grown vegetables, and herbs.

Read the rest of DIY: How to Plant a Personal Garden In a Small Urban Space

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: balcony garden, companion planting, food, herbs, Organic vegetables, patio garden, patio gardening, self sufficiency, tomatoes, urban food gardening, urban food solution, urban garden, urban gardening, vegetables

Earlier this year, when a tornado ripped through Hattiesburg, Mississippi, it left a scene of destruction in its wake. But as the storm-ravaged residents set about clearing fallen trees and branches, Jody Mabary saw an opportunity to create a space that pays homage to nature’s gentler side—by constructing a community garden from all of that storm debris.

Read the rest of Mississippi Man Transforms Tornado Debris Into a Sustainable Vegetable Garden

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: garden, Jody Mabary, landscaping, salvaged wood, storms, sustainable garden, tornado, tornado garden, urban gardening, vegetables, yards

In today’s world, where a shift from large scale agribusiness to smaller scale, localized growing can be seen, ideas such as hydroponics and aquaponics have begun to take hold in the urban environment. However, we won’t be the first generation to have considered these possibilities. Indeed, hydroponics could possibly be attributed to Aztec cultures, but in Myanmar a large scale traditional hydroponics system can be located and is still being used today at Lake Inle. Hit the jump to learn about this historic growing process, and what we could learn from it.

Read the rest of Myanmar’s Inle Lake Shows Bridge to Ancient Hydroponic Farming Systems

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "sustainable agriculture", Biodegradable, burma, Drought, ethical farming, farming techniques, floating islands, hydroponics, Lake Inle, Myanmar, natural process, organic matter, sustainable farming, tomatoes, vegetables, water issues, water shortage, wetlands

There are few things more disappointing than reaching into your refrigerator for a nice fresh piece of produce only to be greeted by a slimy, stinking glob of mush in a bag. While you could have sworn you just went to the store or had that CSA delivered mere days ago, fruits and vegetables have a remarkable way of escaping even our most diligent of cooking schedules. Food waste is not just a personal problem, but one that strains the resources of an already stressed planet. Seeing as 40% of all food produced goes uneaten, a product like FreshPaper that can extend the life of your groceries up to four times longer doesn’t just make economic sense — it’s something that could potentially help conserve energy, help the environment, and avoid that embarrassing smell of rotting broccoli in your house.


Read the rest of Amazing Organic FreshPaper Keeps Your Produce From Rotting

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: CSA, fenugreen, freshpaper, fruits, Hurricane Sandy, India, kavita shukla, Produce, vegetables, whole foods

Made of recycled crates and 25,000 edible plants, The Great Crate is a fully recyclable installation that was erected by Plus One at the Art & About Sydney event last month. The growing plants gave the project a life of its own over the weeks that the cube was in place, and the plants were given away to residents this week, making the fully recyclable artwork live on following its time as an installation.

Read the rest of The Great Crate is an LED-Illuminated Living Sculpture of 25,000 Edible Plants in Sydney

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Architecture, contemporary design green, green architecture, Installation, plants, sydney, sydney australia, sydney green architecture, temporary garden, vegetables

A success story in times of crisis is always a pleasure, and this 22-acre Community Farm in Bristol has boosted for the local region in many ways. Landowner Luke Hasell teamed up with local food producers, and using an unusual Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) business model the team managed to get a fully organic, not-for-profit farm up and running. The CSA invited local restaurants and businesses to invest in the project at the outset, and in return they are guaranteed fresh, organic local produce year after year.

Read the rest of Bristol Community Farm Harvests Goodwill as Well as Good Food

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: community farm, food security, fruit, Harvest festival, open days, Organic, shared ownership, vegetables, workshops

Read the rest of Lufa Farms Brings Large-Scale Rooftop Farming To Montreal

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: commercial venture, efficient, energy efficient, hydroponics, Lufa Farms, Montreal, natural, rainwater harvesting, rooftop greenhouse, urban agriculture, vegetables

It makes sense to this writer that organic food is a healthier option than convention produce, which is grown with synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Take away those harmful chemicals, and organic food ought to be better for you, right? I am not alone in this line thought, and as such, the organic food market is a $29 billion industry. However a new study is pouring cold water on this theory, suggesting that research into organic food has found “scant evidence of health benefits” — but is the new study missing the point?

Read the rest of Benefits of Organic Food Go Beyond Vitamins and Minerals

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Annals of Internal Medicine, fertilizers, food production, health benefits, organic farming, organic food, pesticides, stanford university of medicine, vegetables

As NASA gears up for its proposed manned missions to Mars in 2030, the space administration’s Advanced Food Technology (AFT) project is ensuring that the crew will have a completely vegan diet of fresh fruits, vegetables and even live plants. We’ve long been familiar with the traditional astronauts’ fare of liquid meals and freeze-dried food stuffs—oh, and Tang—but when considering plans to send astronauts further afield and beyond the reach of supply vessels, the AFT has found it must create healthier space-meals and methods to grow food in zero-gravity.

Read the rest of NASA Astronauts On Mars Mission Will Eat 100% Vegan Menu

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: advanced food technology, fruit, hydroponic bays, international space station, mission to mars, nasa, NASA food project, vegan food, vegetables

This fruitalicious sculpture by Netherlands-based artist Helmut Smits has got us thinking about how we can transform our own fruit bowl into a fabulous piece of art this weekend. Built out of recycled wooden crates, fruit, and green carpet for grass, his Football Stadium is a charming way to display produce. Can’t you just imagine its popularity at your local farmer’s market?!

Read the rest of Football Stadium for Fruit Made From Recycled Produce Crates

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: eco design, eco-stadium, football stadium, fruit, green design, helmut smits, Produce, Recycled Materials, soccer stadium, vegetables

Dutch artist Geke Wouters has created a stunning collection of paper-thin bowls made from carrots, peppers, beet root, leeks, tomatoes, and other vegetables. Each delicate piece of edible art is made using a proprietary drying and forming process that converts organic materials into the paper thin layers, giving you the sense of a microscopic view into their intricate cellular structure. True to their natural materials, no two of these vegetable bowls are exactly alike.

Read the rest of EDIBLE ART: Biodegradable Bowls Made From Vegetables

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Art, Biodegradable, bowls, dried, dutch design, edible, geke Wouters, Green Materials, mossi, Netherlands, vegetables

“How do you grow your own food in the big city if you ain’t got no land?” Easy – do what these Brooklynites did and start a Truck Farm! True, you don’t usually think “1986 Dodge Ram when you think “green vehicle“, but this pickup with ripe rows of arugula, lettuce, broccoli, herbs, tomatoes and habaneros thriving right in its flatbed, is definitely an exception. To make matters even more awesome, “four-wheel farmer” Ian Cheney and his partner Curt Ellis of Wicked Delicate, have even been documenting their automofarm in a series of musical, lyric-accompanied, video shorts (“The recession was upon me, my health was slipping away. I decided what I needed, was more vegetables everyday.”) resulting in both hilarity and a cult-like following as they spread love (and broccoli) around New York City.

Read the rest of Truck Farm is a Roving Veggiemobile

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: alternative farms, Brooklyn, green roofs, green trucks, green vehicles, truck farm, Urban Farming, urban farms, vegetables, wicked delicate