#garden up

[gardenup]

Brooklyn, New York. Garden Up vertical hydroponic tower unit in full growth. August 2012. 

[gardenup]

Along with help from community organization Green Guerillas and funding from programs like ioby, the Youth Farm has created an opportunity for local families to buy locally-grown, organic food in an area considered to be a produce desert. Located on the edge of East Flatbush and Crown Heights, the neighborhood is renowned for high rates of obesity and diabetes, mostly due to its lack of supermarkets. The residents of these neighborhoods rely largely on bodegas for groceries, limiting access to any sort of healthy food.

Last year alone, the Youth Farm yielded 15,000 lbs of produce, which was shared with the community through a farmers market and CSA. Aside from growing healthy food to feed its community, the Youth Farm is also changing the habits of its residents by offering classes and education to students and adults, creating a generation of land stewards. The resulting program invites students to raise their own food, learn to cook, and thus bring their excitement home with them to teach their families and friends. The mission-based school requires 200 hours of community service (which can be spent working in the farm) to graduate, but students are so enthusiastic about the program that most log an average of 400 hours upon graduation.

Read more: Student Farmers of BK Farmyards Grow Fresh Produce for the Local Community Bk Farmyard – Inhabitat New York City 

[gardenup]

TinyLightbulbs is a dedicated marketplace for products that have been launched through crowdfunding.

A dedicated marketplace for crowdfunded goods

TinyLightbulbs is a dedicated marketplace for products that have been launched through crowdfunding, aiming to help startups after funding has been secured.

 20th March 2012 in Retail.

On Springwise we’ve seen countless products brought into being through crowdfunding, but what happens to the projects once the funding is complete? TinyLightbulbs aims to keep businesses thriving by providing a marketplace for such enterprises.

While sites such as Kickstarter provide a popular platform for small startups to get their ideas heard about and funded, the group behind TinyLightbulbs suggests that once those startups reach their target, they no longer have the backing of a frequently visited site to support and market their products. Acting as a marketplace for those independent businesses that have completed their fundraising drives, the website aims to promote new products, sell them, and offer advice to small businesses. The site features video reviews of new merchandise and is hoping to build a community for startups. This short motion graphic explains some of the ideas behind the site:

Crowdfunding has proved how valuable it can be helping startups get their feet off the ground, but as regular readers of our Wise Words series will be all too aware, that’s often only the first of many hurdles. Time to set up a marketplace like TinyLightBulbs in your area or for a particular niche?

Website: www.tinylightbulbs.com Contact: www.tinylightbulbs.com/contacts

Spotted by: Matthew McLachlan

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[gardenup]

Oil prices are now higher than they have ever been—except for a few frenzied moments before the global economic meltdown of 2008. Many immediate factors are contributing to this surge, including Iran’s threats to block oil shipping in the Persian Gulf, fears of a new Middle Eastern war, and turmoil in energy-rich Nigeria. Some of these pressures could ease in the months ahead, providing temporary relief at the gas pump. But the principal cause of higher prices—a fundamental shift in the structure of the oil industry—cannot be reversed, and so oil prices are destined to remain high for a long time to come. Read more: http://www.utne.com/Politics/The-Challenges-Of-21st-Century-Oil-Production.aspx#ixzz1pZfBhBGb

[gardenup]

Man-made noise can affect plants, as well as animals

Man-made noise can affect plants, as well as animals

A new study concludes that noise from humans can have an effect on plant life, in addition to wildlife. JUMP TO ARTICLE

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[gardenup]

Crowdmanaged Farm

Crowdmanaged farm offers participants a share of the crop

Portugal-based MyFarm.com is offering would-be farmers the opportunity to help manage a plot online and receive a share of what is produced.

 22nd March 2012 in Eco & Sustainability.

Crowdmanagement has already hit the farming industry in the UK in the form of the National Trust’s MyFarmproject, which has called upon farmers to help run an estate over the web. Now a Portuguese enterprise with a similar name – MyFarm.com – is offering online farmers a chance to reap a share of the produce.

Developed by a teacher and students from the Polytechnic Institute of Beja, the project offers a 49 sq m plot of land for an initial payment of EUR 60, which is converted into 600 points to be used when controlling the activity on the farm via the internet. The monthly lease of the plot costs EUR 25 and users can purchase more points with cash (EUR 1 equals 10 points). The user interacts with the plot through a game-like interface (think FarmVille), choosing what seeds to sow, when to sow them, and how many to sow. Information is offered to help online farmers get the best out of their crops. When the user has designed their plot, details are sent to farm management teams, who set to work within three working days, weather permitting. Customers are sent a message whenever they need to make a decision, with technical help on hand for those without thorough knowledge of farming. Users enter a delivery address and receive a sample of their work once it is ripe for eating. MyFarm.com enables city dwellers to get a taste of running their own vegetable farm, while gaining knowledge of the process which has gone into making the food they receive at the end.

The project aims to engage consumers with the food they eat in an exciting and interactive way, as well as promote healthy living by offering organic vegetables for a low monthly cost. One to consider replicating where you are?

Website: www.myfarm.com.pt Contact: [email protected]

Spotted by: Alberto Sequeira

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[gardenup]

Start with a base, add an egg, top it off. More than 400 combinations, all of them good.

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[gardenup]

Abundance of cauliflower causes dip in price

Might be a stretch to deliver a good news headline, but here we go....

US (CA): Abundance of cauliflower causes dip in price

With overlapping supplies from cauliflower-producing areas in California, the price of the vegetable has decreased.

Both quality and volumes of cauliflower have been good, says Linda Kivlehan of Coastline Produce.

“We just started shipping cauliflower this week,” she says, “and quality has been very good.” She adds that recent rains have also contributed positively to the crop.

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