Urban Greenthumb

Walking passed big warehouses, with double wide streets to accommodate delivery trucks, I was beginning to feel lost, and that Google Maps had failed me.  I was about to give up when I spotted chalkboard sight propping up a door that read something like ‘rooftop farm upstairs.’  I couldn’t have been more excited and I ran up the steps as fast as I could and before I got the chance to catch my breath I was met by Annie, the Eagle Street Farm manager.

The farm is collaboration between Brooklyn-based Broadway Stages, which has a history of reaching out to help the local community and green roofing company Goode Green.  According to a 2012 fact sheet, the roof can hold 1.5 inches of rain stopping storm runoff, and the captured water actually helps cool the building and results in lower cooling costs.

Ms. Novak understands that she is at the forefront of the modern movement with her concept of green roofing. “What’s unique about our space is that it’s a green roof, so it’s structured to have a fully landscaped membrane that is completely covered in soil, it is not a container garden. And the nice thing about that, that in addition to growing produce, which is great, it also captures storm water, which is a really big deal for New York because our population far exceeds our ability to operate our sewage system.”

During the growing season, Eagle St. grows a lot of food; they grow cucumbers, hot peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, spinach, radishes, kale, Swiss chard, carrots, peas, beans, herbs, and flowers, according to their 2012 Fact sheet.  Additionally the farm has also begun harvesting honey. The farm sells their produce from its site based Sunday open market.

Annie wants to use this farm as a model for how others should start thinking, … this idea that can be tied into an ecological solution for cities, and that’s important. That’s something that Portland does well, something Toronto does very well, it’s something Chicago does very well, it’s soething that’s happening in Paris, and happening for a very long time in berlin.  I think we get a lot of attention at this farm, because we have a really kick ass view, and I like to talk about it, other than that we aren’t doing anything super original. In fact, I would rather we were less original, because that would mean that more people were doing go0 d things.”

Local volunteers maintain the farm, and there is a weekly farmers market where people can go up and check out the scene.  It’s a large 6000 Square foot plot of farm, with a heart-stopping view of the New York Skyline. Visitors can buy produce such as cherry tomatoes grown right upstairs.

“So where you get this kind of thing, rooftop farming is so revolutionary, people have never actually seen stuff growing before, and to me that’s one of the more deeply horrifying things.” Said Ms. Novak, “Again, education is the key to making smart urban development happen, if you don’t know where a carrot comes from you probably don’t care at all about storm water runoff, you know?”