Futuristic Farming

These vertical farming  designs are one thing I think of when I think industrial organic. For this climate we would  need a sprawling Frank Lloyd Wright type of design, with greenhouses in rotation. If they can grow pineapples at Heligan...
The same principle applied  on a smaller scale for the backyard gardener, and community gardens? Imagine the LU Garden taller than the Hangar.
Oddly, I didn't see any of this sort of thing in the scenes of Firefly.

Further Reading:
The Vertical Farm:
Reducing the impact of agriculture on ecosystem functions and services

An essay by Dickson Despommier
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
60 Haven Ave, rm. 100
New York, New York 10032
ddd1@columbia.edu

World Food Day 2008

World Food Day 2008
Lakehead University Agora

World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Roots to Harvest, along with the Food Security Research Network, Advanced Institute for Globalization & Culture, Food Action Network, and LUSU hosted World Food Day today in the Agora.
The Boreal Edge Farm, Belluz Farm, Jeff's wheat mill and Brule Creek Farm, Seeds of Diversity, the Good Food Box, were among the many display booths; and Dr. Mustafa Koc co-founder of the Centre for Studies in Food Security visited Lakehead as keynote speaker.

Thanet Earth Greenhouse Project

Britain's biggest greenhouse complex - the size of 80 football pitches - is under construction in Kent. When it is complete it will include seven 140-metre long glasshouses covering a 220-acre site. ...

Using the latest technologies the computer-controlled Thanet Earth complex will have the capacity to grow salad produce such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers which will be picked continuously 52-weeks per year.

Operators Fresca Group Ltd., say it will increase by 15 per cent the UK's crop of salad vegetables most of which currently have to be imported.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

By Paul Eccleston
Telegraph.co.uk

(thanks iDale! :D)

just some stuff

• Using science, proven tools, and evolving methodologies the Energy Farm Initiative seeks to demonstrate systems of agriculture that can sustain both farms and communities in the face of climate change and peak oil. This program weaves threads of the Relocalization vision into a fabric of local currency, local food and biofuel systems, revitalization of local industry, and community cooperation.
  
  Their aim is to build flexible systems that reduce dependence on high energy inputs and produce food and reliable renewable energy for local users. The steps in which this transition is manifest is the Local Energy Farm Initiative.
  
  
  Seattle P-Patch Community Gardening Program organic resources (pdf)
  
  I'm thinking about a filler crop of sunflowers.
  
  Ontario, Ministry of Agriculture sunflowers
  
  Thomas Jefferson Agricultural Institute sunflowers
  

knowing your plants, understanding balance

Canadian Botanical Conservation Network is a registered Canadian charitable organization aiding botanical gardens, arboreta and related organizations, individuals and others to increase their participation in plant conservation and biodiversity programs. Their site boasts (I think) the best children's information page called Botanists in Training which provides an opportunity for kids to dig a little deeper into the science of gardening and plants.

I'm thinking about this in response to my recent wanderings through the Agora, where The Food Security Research Network is holding their Second Annual Food Security Forum today. Displays are set up wth poster presentations on organic gardening in Thunder Bay (and surrounding area), and studies on the effects of various factors (human and otherwise) on environmental conditions relating to food production in northwestern Ontario.

Gardening with native plants and heritage varieties rewards the gardener, the garden, and the wildlife within. Sadly, naturalized gardening has been frowned upon by those uninformed, with the misconception that these gardens are "untamed" or have "gone wild" when in actuality they are beautiful contributors to our environment, keeping peace with the earth. I believe it was sometime just last year, or the year before when I read an article from a Toronto area paper wherein complaints were filed against a homeowner for a garden "gone wild" and considered an eyesore by neighbors, when in fact it was a garden full of natural species providing an oasis for wildlife within the bizarre urban subdivision. It was startling to read, considering.
Gardening with native plants is often easier (less maintenance because you're not trying to force something to grow where it wouldn't normally) and can use less water, pesticides and fertilizers than with nonnative plants - for obvious reasons. It's the smrt way to go.

Native plants are suited to this environment and provide a variety colours and textures in winter. Something not considered often enough here in TBay - thinking winter is for reading in bathtubs, rather than admiring foliage....and thinking about how beautiful the hydrangeas outside the Regional Center are right now, buried in ice and snow as they are, I can not disagree.

Another notable site: The Organic Gardener