Urban
Farming has established the Urban Farming Food Chain™, a vertical
farming project. The Food Chain consists of "edible" food-producing
wall panels mounted on walls of buildings, growing fresh produce (without the
use of pesticides) at four locations in and around downtown Los Angeles, inclusive
of the Central City East (Skid Row) area. The organizations that host these 'walls'
will utilize the food for their own purposes and, as is the paradigm of Urban
Farming across the country and overseas, the people who tend the gardens are committed
to donating a portion of their harvests to neighbors and/or organizations in need.
The Urban Farming Food Chain project is in partnership with Green Living
Technologies and Elmslie Osler Architect.
The
wall systems of the Food Chain concept are as "links" connecting
to each location by intention and design, as well as presenting a new definition
for the familiar term, 'food chain'. Los Angeles is the pilot city for the
Urban Farming Food Chain, a project we will replicate in other cities. The
Food Chain is a gardening system that offers immediate access to fresh produce,
greens the environment, creates team-building and skills-training, and provides
an opportunity for community service and involvement. In addition, particularly
in areas where concrete and steel are plentiful and ground space and greenery
are scarce, the Food Chain will help to lower the heat index and the effects
of global warming.
The gracious hosts and new owners of the Urban Farming Food
Chain's first four walls are: The Weingart Center; The Rainbow Apartments
(In partnership with the Yankee Apartments); The Los Angeles Regional Food
Bank and the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex.
The
Food Chain pilot project in Los Angeles is partially funded by gifts and
grants from The Annenberg Foundation, the Los Angeles Office of Community
Beautification and Warner Bros Entertainment, with many materials and
professional services donated by Green Living Technologies, Elmslie Osler Architect,
Cal Poly, Greenheart Farms and Meyer Trucking.
Please
help support our work and continue to expand our impact. We are in need
of funding to support Urban Farming overall and its many projects and programs
throughout the United States and abroad. We are also offering Co-sponsorships
of the Food Chain Project Los Angeles, pilot program. (Contact information
below.) The Food Chain design will include hollow containers, "Guardian
Boxes", (See rendering) that will serve the dual purpose of acknowledging
our sponsors and serving as containers to house small gardening tools and gloves.
The
Urban Farming Food Chain sites are located where people will greatly benefit
from the healthy fresh food and have the opportunity to learn new skills, connect
with diverse community members, enjoy the beauty of nature at their fingertips
and feel empowered by the process and the gratification of sharing the produce
with other people in need. Each Food Chain site will be assigned a Master
Gardener to advise and consult, along with local community members who will be
assembled to tend and maintain the vertical gardens and harvest the food as needed.
Each of these "edible walls" of the Food Chain measures between 24 to
30 feet across, by 6 feet high, made up of individual (2ft x 2ft x 4") interconnected
recycled stainless steel panels, inclusive of a fully automated irrigation system.
Over
the past few months and in preparation for delivery of the wall system to the
various recipients, students and faculty members at California Polytechnic in
San Luis Obispo, Sustainable Agriculture Consortium, were the stewards of the
plant growing process in the wall panels that are now mounted at the wall sites.
Many of the plants are nearly ready for harvest, allowing the instructors to focus
on teaching community members a variety of skills for planting, harvesting and
maintenance and how the system works overall. Some of the plants we are growing
during this first season include: bell peppers, hot peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers,
tomatillos, strawberries, spinach, parsley, leeks, edible lavender and a variety
of herbs.
