Tyler and Eric, the people behind the Seeing Green project, are breaking new ground when it comes to urban agriculture. Many know that urban farms are an innovative way to grow produce locally in big cities, but what else is there to know? What makes urban farms so great? And will they work in any city?There has been very little research on urban farming, and Tyler and Eric are trying to change that.

Their main goal is to test theories about farming cities. One of the toughest things about urban farming is irrigation, so the Seeing Green project measures storm water management at two farms in New York City in order to obtain concrete data. There are many benefits to urban roof farming that cities do not acknowledge, simply due to lack of research and concrete data. Tyler and Eric are trying to change this by creating an experiment that can be replicated in cities around America. Part of Tyler and Eric’s research is geared toward making it more feasible for landlords and building owners to host farming on their roofs. There are many rules and regulations regarding this, and Tyler and Eric are trying to convince cities to make it easier for rooftop farming to happen. Tyler and Eric’s goals not only help cities create farms on rooftops, but also help promote food security and economic opportunities are only beginning their

Tyler and Eric, the people behind this research prospect need to raise $12,000 by June 12^th, 2011, in order to pay for the equipment necessary to complete their research. If you are interested in contributing to this innovative cause, please….With a donation of $2,000 or more, Tyler and Eric will even visit your home town and host a workshop in your community to talk about their mission.

Image courtesy of TheNakedLabel.com

Hello, my name is Reginald Greene and I’m an intern at Aubin Pictures. When I found out I would be working here, I didn’t know what to expect. I just believed that I would be working in a field that I want to continue in for the rest of my life, journalism. I began to see perspective in my eating habits and how I wasn’t eating the way I was supposed to. Before I watched What’s On Your Plate?, my eating habits were not healthy.

In the movie, I witnessed many parts that I thought were interesting. In particular, I found interest in the in-depth interviews by the main characters in the film, Sadie and Safiyah. I wondered, as they did, why food that was better for you cost more than fast food? When I finished the movie, I had a revelation about how my eating habits could lead me to become like Caleb’s dad in the movie. I was concerned that I could have a heart attack.

Now, I eat salad and fruits. I haven’t eaten a meal at McDonald’s in a week, and I feel like I haven’t missed anything about it. What I figured out was that the healthier food tastes better and costs less. Pineapples, strawberries, and cantaloupe  are a few of my new found cravings. I always liked fruit, but now after watching the movie, I’m beginning to realize that I’m becoming an adult, and I need to make adult decisions. I’m doing this now by changing the way I eat.

Image credit to Mike Keefe of the Denver Post, 2008

Hello again everyone!

I think a good place to begin looking at the true cost of our food is to consider the impact of subsidies based on the U.S. Farm Bill.

Even though that conventional pear has a price tag that tells you it costs 20 cents less than the organic pear right next to it, that is not really the case.

The money you might think you’re saving by purchasing non-organic food has actually already been spent by you on subsidies for large-scale, industrial agriculture when you pay taxes.

As author David Becker points out, “Conventional farmers receive subsidies in the Farm Bill: more than $3 billion per year for corn and wheat alone… One calculation estimated the national all-in subsidy for industrially grown agriculture at $80 billion per year. That’s $725 per American household.”  In other words, American families are already spending hundreds of dollars every year to fund the crops that form the base of unhealthy, processed foods.

Of course, you will still have to pay those taxes even if you are buying organic instead of conventionally-produced food – pretty discouraging!

But that’s why it’s so important we fight to change the agricultural subsidy policy and level the playing field… And now is a great time to fight, because the U.S. Farm Bill is soon due to be revised.

This bill is the most influential legislation shaping our country’s food system, including not only agricultural subsidies, but also issues such as food stamps and conservation. Legally, it must be renewed every 5 years, and the current bill will expire in 2012 – now just months away.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Farm Bill, check out this clip of Ken Cook (president of the Environmental Working Group) delivering his presentation “Turning the Farm Bill into the Food Bill”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6T37m4r3yo&p=CE159C603C7ED781

If you want to voice your opinion about the upcoming bill, click this link to “tell your representative that you want a fair, equitable food system that begins to help the country heal its dietary and environmental woes”: http://action.ewg.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1913&utm_source=2011q1update&utm_medium=email&utm_content=third-link&utm_campaign=fund

Some further reading:

David Becker’s complete article: http://friendofthefarmer.com/2010/03/rich-people-need-organic-food-to-survive-right/

Dan Imhoff explains the 2007 Farm Bill and why it matters to everyone: http://www.ecoliteracy.org/essays/food-fight-2007-farm-bill

Mark Bittman’s ideas about how to improve the Farm Bill:  http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/dont-end-agricultural-subsidies-fix-them/?ref=farmbillus

The resources that are needed to eat more healthy are out there and I want to let you know about one organization in particular, that’s starting a “revolution” about healthy living.

What caught my eye about, Being Healthy Is A Revolutionary Act is that the website is built not only for their information and purpose, but also showcases other  healthy ideas, that are beginning their own movement. The website has books, videos and people who are producing the best information that could be helpful to individuals (like me) who want to improve their health. Majora Carter who is noted as, “an urban planning visionary” for Being Healthy Is A Revolutionary Act, is also a project advisor for “What’s On Your Plate?.” This is interesting, because she’s making strides for change in her firm, The Majora Carter Group. Her ideas have been practiced in states like North Carolina and New Orleans.

Being Healthy Is A Revolutionary Act speaks for itself, but also highlights other ideas or thoughts which makes this website and organization insightful and promising. Different underground health organizations like this one will lead to change for individuals who cannot find an outlet for a healthy way of life. After discovering  this organization I feel inspired to educate my family and friends about how they could start their own revolutionary act. I don’t want to sound cheesy but I feel enlightened, which is an uncanny feeling in our society now.

There’s one, basic, huge question that comes into my head whenever I think about food systems and the way our food gets to us: why is it so hard to get something that comes up out of the ground.  I know that’s a simple way to ask a pretty complex question, and that there are a lot of complex reasons why we get our food by paying stores to buy it from companies that grow it in far away places and fly and ship and drive it across the whole world before we eat it.  A quick way to answer might be “if we were all farmers, we might not have time to make other neat things like books, the Hubble Space Telescope, or, I don’t know, the internet, mr. blogger.”  And alright, that’s fair, but it’s still good to think about how food comes straight up out of the dirt.  Put in a little water and sunlight and hard work, and there it is!  My point is that people gotta garden more.  Wait, no, people gotta garden like their very lives are at stake.  I’m serious here, people, the economy has been walking with a limp for a good 3 years now, and it ain’t easy to buy good food.  And if that isn’t bad enough (it is, by the way) we are looking at an ongoing global food crisis.  It’s scary stuff, but always remember that food grows out of the ground!  So, Internet, I ask you: do you have access to dirt?  Do you have a backyard?  A windowbox? Do you live in a town with community gardens?  Do your friends?  Is there any way at all that you can get your hands on a little dirt?  If so (and please comment if the answer is no, I’m interested to hear why) there is no good reason not to use it to grow something good, healthy, and tasty.  Feed yourself, if only just a little, feed your neighbors, if only just for one salad a year when your tiny tomato plant finally gives you enough to chop up and put in some store-bought lettuce.  Just a little bit will help and just a little bit will make you feel totally excellent, I promise.

Where's all the food at?

It's here! The food's all here.

Recently, our pals at Wholefoods Salt Lake City gave away tickets to the Tumbleweeds Film Festival at the SLC Film Center.  It was totally great!

Either this is a different movie that was in 3D, or WOYP? has some very cool fans.

Also, WOYP? screened at The Hamlin School in San Francisco, and our friends Oliver and Alice were there to check out the party!

Best friends!!

Thanks for coming out to WOYP? screenings, folks!  And thanks to Wholefoods for handing out free tickets.  We’re really excited that so many people get to see our movie all over the country.

Hey, Internet, it’s been a while.  How are you?  Good?  I’m glad.  Remember when I talked about keeping chickens in your backyard?  Well, take a look at this.  That’s right, Internet, fancy, high-design chicken coops for the sophisticated farmer.  I am a huge architecture nerd, Internet, so I can’t completely write this off in the way that I can write off designer dog clothes.  I gotta admit I like seeing a little thought put into chicken coops.  I like the Frederik Roije one that looks like steps and appears to be lit from the inside (is this normal?  I think that’s strange) and I like that the Mitchell Snyder one is a DIY project.  Building a chicken coop yourself is great, building a chicken coop yourself from a thoughtful and excellent design you came up with yourself is the greatest.  Also, I have decided that I want to raise chickens in a coop made to look like a miniature Coop Himmelblau design because I think that would be hilarious.

Okay, so most of these designs are a bit silly.  Building a sleek, modern chicken coop isn’t going to make for happier chickens, or more eggs, or anything, really.  But why the heck not?  Put a little thought into it, make your chicken coop look cool.  In fact, make it the coolest-looking thing in your yard and point it out to everyone who comes to your house.

In Harlem there is a revolutionary movement starting that has to do with culinary arts. La Marqueta, a 3,000 sq ft newly remodeled culinary kitchen was recently created as an incubator for small businesses. Hot Bread Kitchen, a nonprofit organization that trains aspiring entrepreneurs to open their own businesses, occupies the space. Their goal is to help struggling entrepreneurs get on their feet. This new incubator provides sustainable jobs for the community and uplifts Harlem’s spirits when it comes to their community. La Marqueta is the newest thing in Harlem and you should try and be a part of it.  For more information here is the link to NY1 story on La Marqueta. Tonight, you can go by from 4PM to 7PM, Their location is 1590 Park Avenue, at 115th street with free samples of food, tours of the Hot Bread Kitchen, and more!

Susan Dominus has a fascinating article in the New York Times about sugar-happy bees.

Recently a few Red Hook beekeepers began noticing that their bees, and their honey, were an usual color. Instead of their natural golden browns, theses bees were bright red. Bright, marishino cherry red — kind of like the color of the huge outdoor vats of syrupy cherry juice at the Dell’s Maraschino Cherries Company in Red Hook.

The beekeepers discovered that yes, the bees were cruising over to factory and drinking the cherry juice, rather then feeding on the nectar of flowers found closer to their hives. But why would they go to all this effort?

According to Dominus, the unhealthy but extremely sweet nectar is just that appealing to the bees. They will go to a lot of extra effort to consume the cherry syrup, which is not only sweet, but also readily available in huge quanitites.

Sound familiar? Just like the bees, we are bombarded with images and advertisements for sugar-filled processed foods. They are everywhere — cheap and in large quantities.

When you hear about the bees and their sugar-addiction, don’t you just want to say: “Hey Bees! That’s not healthy. Look,  you are literally turning another color from that stuff!” So can we say the same things to ourselves when we gravitate towards the nearest processed and HFCS filled food? After all, unlike bees we have the power of rational decision making. We don’t have to drink the marishino cherry juice.

To get a beekeepers opinion on all this, I spoke with Matt Deprizio, who runs Matt’s Honey House at the Columbus Circle Holiday Market in New York City. Matt sells Golden Rule Honey — which is raw, unheated, unfiltered, natural honey. According to Matt, when bees don’t have enough forage in their environments, they seek out fructose from other sources, like soda spilled on the street, or in the case of the Red Hook bees, vats of cherry juice. This is why bees do so well in more rural and natural setting — there are tons wildflowers to feed from. In New York City there just aren’t that many flowers and plants for bees.

Matt also told me some unfortunate things about commercial beekeeping and honey. Here are 3 things I learned:

1. Most generic honey is heated to 160 degrees F and then cooled rapidly. This kills all the enzymes in honey that are good for you! Raw honey is not heated, treated, or tampered with — so it keeps all it’s healthy compounds.

2. Many large-scale commercial beekeepers make their money not from honey production, but from contracts with large agriculture corporations. They bring their bees to massive mono-crop farms and let the bees pollinate. This isn’t the best environment for the bee — they do better with a more diverse environment. But it is good for business.

3. Big honey producers also intentionally feed their bees high fructose corn syrup! It’s cheaper and easier than letting them pollinate naturally, but ultimately affects the quality of the honey, and diminishes its positive health benefits.

Raw, natural honey doesn’t do any of this. It’s made by bees who forage on wildflowers, and left untreated. It’s delicious, and good for you. (Raw honey has been used for centuries for digestion, curing colds, and many, many other uses.)

Go visit Matt at the Columbus Circle Holiday Fair to learn more and get some good, natural honey.

*Thanks to Bria for helping out with this article.