Crops spring from an urban rooftop - (Queens, N.Y.)

[ensho]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-rooftop-farm-20111023,0,769304.story


On the roof of a building in Queens, Ben Flanner is growing leafy greens, tomatoes and other produce. It is sold at farmers markets and to local restaurants, with nothing traveling more than three miles.


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We're talking 140 rows of crops, including leafy greens, tomatoes, even fancy Japanese turnips — as well as high-tech irrigation and five plump hens who enjoy a sixth-story view of the Manhattan skyline that any penthouse dweller would pay millions for.

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"It just makes sense to utilize the open spaces we do have in the city to benefit the community," says Ben Flanner, head farmer and a co-founder.

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Last year, Flanner and his partners, also Brooklynites unafraid of dirt under their nails, raised $200,000 from investors and even bake sales, and hunted around for a location, eventually settling on a sturdy 1919 building in Long Island City with a 38,164-square-foot roof empty except for air conditioning units and a water tower.

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On a recent rainy fall day, he surveyed what was left of the rainbow chard, radicchio and a few other late-season vegetables. The farm is now focused on sowing rye and oat grass as ground cover to hold down the soil during the windy winter months.
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there is a pic - the roof is huge

props to Ben for leading the way

[Cassandra]

1. That is an unusually large roof top.

Some people grow fruit trees on their balconies and set-backs.

[malaise]

2. K & R

Nice