Urban Greenthumb

Ah, the holiday season. New York City turns into gear as millions of tourists crowd the streets for one of a kind assembly-line tourism. For some reason, we are all compelled to buy gifts for one another. There’s just nothing worse than receiving a gift from someone you had no intention of giving one to at all. And to not gift after someone’s gifted you? Well congratulations, you’ve just created a real life Seinfeld situation for yourself.

So avoid that, and just give something.

Back to the Roots Aquafarm

Maybe someone’s interested in growing their own food, or building their own aquaponics system at home. This is a perfect way to dip your toes in urban agriculture.

Photo Credit Amazon

EcoGrower Max

Similar concept, except the options to grow are much larger.  This goes to show you how simple, and how complicated growing our own food can be.

Photo Credit Amazon

Heifer International

Great non-profit organization. Need to buy a gift for someone that you don’t like? Buy a poor family a flock of chickens, you’ll feel better about spending that money.

 Photo Cedit Heiffer.org

Hells Kitchen Farm Project

Another really great non-profit. I am an advocate of donating money as a gift during the holiday. It takes a lot of pressure off of each other and sometimes reminds us that some people measure their wealth in goats. This project is similar, but works a little bit closer to home. Let’s work to build a better world.

 Photo credit hkfp.org

There are super cool super market ideas that have greenhouses built right on them. This futuristic concept would grow some of the produce sold at the store in an effort to bring local food to consumers. This aims to reduce he carbon footprint of our food, while producing more of it, grows sustainably.

Gotham Greens and Whole Foods have partnered up to build their first location in Brooklyn, NY. They have 20,000 square feet, with solar powers supplementing the electricity used to maintain the greenhouse year-round.

The project shows how produce can be grown with more efficient use of water, and nutrients than typical farming methods. He process looks a little like science fiction, but the future is coming.

If you want to know more about urban agriculture, and want to get your hands dirty check out Farm School NYC. (Just Food)

Want to experience a meal grown right upstairs on the roof of the restaurant? Head to Bell Book & Candle in Manhattan. (Bell Book & Candle)

Do you believe in locally sourced food? Do you live in a tiny NYC apartment with no realistic opportunities to grow your own food or chickens? Buy your produce from a local farmers market. Greenmarket started in 1976, now they operate 54 markets around NYC. (Greenmarket)

Ever been interested in gardening, try volunteering at a local community garden. There are countless little gardens all over the city, you just got to know where to look. Check out my virtual tour here, or you should check out Greenthumb community gardens.

Are you a New York Times subscriber? Are you interested in urban Agriculture? Well get excited because the NYTimes just opened up an Urban Agriculture topic on their website, it’s pretty cool. (NYT)

What started as an organic craze that doubled the price of humanely raised chicken has exploded in recent years as a push for farm-to-table cuisine even in the heart of a major city.  Now, it would seem that the idea of raising chickens in modern day New York City is being promote as idea for food sustainability, environmental benefits, food quality and education. But for some people, what started as a cool idea or a hobby and way to introduce fresh eggs into their diet, turned into a problem that was best dropped off at a nearby animal shelter.

“We had Rhode Island reds that produced an egg a day,” said Sean Foote 23, whose mom started raising chickens on their property outside Manchester, NH, “they were really tasty, we started with a small chicken cage, then finally upgraded to a coop. We had 15 chickens at the most, now we are down to six after dogs, fox, hawk, and fisher cat we suspect got after them. [My mom] has to let the chickens out daily to exercise, and we had to bring a heater in because it gets so cold.”

This doesn’t sound like the kind of effort New Yorkers are used to putting in for their food. It’s obvious why this trend hasn’t caught on big in our city while services like Menupages.com and Seamless have flourished.  I understand why people would want to raise a chicken for the eggs, I admire how people took the challenge doing it in New York City, but I think some things should be left out of amateurs hands.