Down On The Urban Farm

If the Arctic Ice Cap melts, what will happen to Santa Claus?

Green Prohet today had an interesting article about a company developing a solar-powered air conditioner.

I don't know if it would be efficient enough for our 110-degree days here in Arizona but it sounds interesting

Being the analytical type, the question popped into my head the other day: "How many square miles of solar cells would it take to provide the entire US population with electricity?"

I went to Affordable Solar's website and pick their BP Solar SX3200B model. It is 66.14 inches long x 32.95 inches wide. 2179 square inches and it produces 200Watts. That works out to be 10.9 square inches per watt.

Then I found this Department of Energy site providing statistics about how much power is generated from various sources. I decided to total up 2008's forcast pwer generation for fossil-fuel-generated power only: 5,989,811 THousand Megawatts, or 16,410 Thousand MegaWatts per day.

16.4 Trillion watts of electricity per day generated from fossil fuel sources. That's 178.6 trillion square inches of solar cells. 1.24 trillion square feet. THere is approximately 28 million square feet per mile. So if I have done the math right, we need 44.3 thousand square miles of solar cells.

I wonder what the environmental impact would be of 44.3 thousand square miles of formerly sunny earth suddenly being transformed into eternal shade?

That's what your car gets while you are sitting at the light waiting for it to turn green.

In my (much) younger years, the solution would have been to take a quick look around for the cops and then blow the light. I'm too old for that now.

I'm tryng to do what the real hypermilers do: pay more attention to what's going on ahead of me. If the light turns yellow - or is about to - I take my foot off the gas and start slowing down a lot sooner. My objective is to minimize the amount of time I spend getting zero miles per gallon.

A common practice among hypermilers is to shut off the engine when coasting downhill.

Some of the newer cars have this functionality built into the engine management computer. For my 2008 Honda Accord, HOnda says:

Fuel Cutoff Control
During deceleration with the throttle valve closed, current to the injectors is cut off to improve fuel economy at engine speeds over 850 rpm (automatic transmission) or 1,000 rpm (manual transmission).

I guess are cars are sometimes smarter than we think they are.

There was a great article a couple of days ago on The Ecopreneurist

Living in the city, it’s natural that your thoughts may turn at one point or another to daydreaming about having your own produce generating garden. But then they just as quickly get tossed in the mental recycling bin as an impossibility. Or maybe not, but with your erratic schedule, it sits there, limping along. Maybe you’ve been wanting to participate in an urban farm or a community garden , but there again, your life gets in the way. My Farm in San Francisco has come up with a solution: They partner with you to cultivate a specified plot of land in your own yard, from as small as 4′ by 4′ to as big as your whole yard.

It occurs to me that this can work two ways. It fills a need for not only those with more soil than time, it can also satisfy those with more time than soil. Suppose there were a clearing house designed to match up these two groups? Maybe add a third group: Those who want to teach.

I'll have to think about that for a while.

A recent in the Sacramento News and Review got me to thinking: What if we could partner with developers and owners of undeveloped land?

With today's housing slump, there are vast tracts of ground sitting idle waiting for the real estate market to recover. Until then, why not farm them? The resulting bounty could be sold at farmer's markets or provided to those unable to afford fresh fruits and vegetables.

Thirty-five years ago, Rob picked up gardening as a hobby, a pastime that eventually led him to the challenge of farming the desert. His farm is in Tonopah, Arizona where he has lived for the past eleven years.

Originally, Rob's goal was to cultivate using purely organic methods. As Rob explaines it:

Unfortunately, though, as large corporations and the federal government became involved with organic certification, small farmers such as me were being priced out getting the “certified organic” label. A small farm must now pay between $400 and $1,400 for certification, annual fees, plus the cost of the inspection which includes travel expenses for the inspector.

Regardless, the produce Rob sells is chemical-free. INO pesticides of any kind, NO insecticides, ZERO antibiotics, NO chemical fertilizers, and absolutely NO genetically modified organisms. Certain sprays and soaps are allowed in organic farming, but at Tonopah Rob’s Vegetable Farm he practices an all-natural method using beneficial bug warfare, green compost, natural fertilizers, and companion planting.

Visit Tonopah Rob's Blog

a.k.a Green
8100 E Indian School Rd
Scottsdale, AZ

a.k.a. Green is the Phoenix area's leading supplier of eco-friendly building materials. Their goal is to promote the triple bottom line - people, planet and prosperity - by educating people on products that are healthier for them and the planet. They provide these materials through a business model that is sustainable for our community, their customers, their suppliers and themselves.

"We carry a wide variety of products to finish your home or business in a manner that is healthier for you and the planet. We’ve researched our products so that you can feel comfortable knowing, as soon as you walk in the store, that what you discover is the best we can find within the market and get to you. We take both pride and care in our research so that you are able to focus on your design and materials selection.

We offer everything from eco-friendly countertops to healthy flooring to water-saving toilets to low and zero VOC paints, sealers, and coatings. But, we are really a community of people working to improve our built environment. Our showroom serves as a hub for our dedicated employee advocates, thoughtful customers, innovative suppliers, cutting-edge professionals, and pro-active community members to share knowledge, ideas, plans and achievements in their quest to improve the way we live."

Here is a great article on IdeaBite about natrural deoderants

Farmer Greg is going to each us about fruit trees:

Fruit trees in the Desert with Greg Peterson
Saturday, Aug 30th from 8:30 to 10:30
Requested Donation $10

Learn which fruit trees to plant, what grows well and what doesn’t in the desert, the single most important thing you need to know before you buy a fruit tree and more. We cover apples, pears, stone, citrus, and specialty fruits. You will also be able to purchase fruit trees for delivery in January.

Some of California's aggressive pursuit of green living is beginning to pay off.

Pacific Gas and Electric CEO Peter Darbee made some interesting comments at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group's Energy Summit last Friday.

He said the state's aggressive approach to slashing greenhouse-gas emissions will help shield it from significant utility price hikes that will soon grip the country.

"Rates in California will be going up much less than the rates across the entire United States," said Darbee. "What we have learned from our discussions from other utility companies across the country is that they may be looking at between 20 and 30 per cent increases in energy bills in the future," he said. Darbee believes California will only suffer rate hikes in the single digits.

PG&E attributes this bittersweet news for Californians partly to the company's more diverse portfolio of plants across the state, including nuclear power, hydro power, solar and wind.

You have to click here and take a look at this picture of harvesting peas for use as cattle feed. Huge mounds of peas.

While the photo is sixty years old, peas are still used today this way. Field peas or "dry peas" are marketed as a dry, shelled product for either human food as "split peas" or as a livestock feed. Field peas contribute significant amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and amino acids to all species but is increasingly considered an excellent ingredient in beef, dairy, swine and poultry rations due to their nutrient density.

Things are different at my house. When we've grown peas in the garden, my wife picks them and eats them right on the spot: they never make it to the table

Yes, CHicken Diapers. I didn't know such a thing existed either until I read Robin's great post on Blue Skies Urban Farm.

When I was very young and lived in a rural area, my sister and I had a chicken as a pet. It used to sit quietly in the basket attached to the handlebars of my sister's bike as she road around. I often wondered what was going on in that chicken's mind.

For some of us, it's hard not to see some of these animals as more than just farm animals - seeing them as pets. Interacting with something as simple as a chicken or turtle and watching it respond. I believe there is more going on inside those brains than we give them credit for.

Frank Gieringer’s farm sits on 80 acres acres in rural Edgerton.

Gieringer and his wife, Melanie, began growing peach trees in 2001, and they started selling the fruit — at a profit — at farmers markets and the store they’ve built near their home.

“It’s kind of a hobby that got out of control,” he joked.

Gieringer said the market for his products — which now also include sweet corn, tomatoes and blackberries — has increased this year.

Wouldn't you love to be able to do that?

I've discovered a new blog, A Garden In The Desert.

I don't know who the author is but he/she sure does take great photos. Just look at those tomatoes!

Public Farm 1 is a unique farm located in New York City's PS1 (Public School 1) courtyard.

Bringing sustainable construction together with sustainable agriculture, PF 1 is built entirely of recyclable materials, is 100% solar-powered utilizes rain collection for irrigation. PF 1 is a giant container garden, formed as a folded plane made from cardboard tubes designed to hold planters for vegetables, herbs and fruit. While most of the tubes create an elevated canopy for shade, some tubes extend to the ground to become columns. Each column holds a different program, from seating to sound environments to a mobile phone charging column and even a juice bar at the farmers market.

PF 1’s intent is to educate thousands of visitors on sustainable urban farming through the unique medium of contemporary architecture.

Watch a time lapse video of its construction:

http://publicfarm1.org/index.php?/ongoing/construction-time-lapse/

Your Guide To Green and The Urban Farm are sponsoring the Billion Bag Bottle and Bulb Challenge to eliminate the use of one billion plastic single-use items and conventional light bulbs world-wide.

In this video, Greg Peterson talks about what this Challengs is and why it is so important:

I found this great article on CasaSugar about a team of people creating and caring for a 10,000 square foot edible garden in front of San Francisco City Hall:

You can read more about it on Slow Food Nation's website.

Mark Fonseca Rendeiro, also known as ‘Bicyclemark’, has created four podcasts about urban farming:

Vertical Farming and the New Agricultural Revolution

Urban Farming in Philadelphia

CityHarvest, Urban Farming in Bits and Pieces

Vancouver’s City Farmer in Your Backyard

Click Here to read the entire article at City Farmer News

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Greensgrow Urban Farm in Philadelphia.

Today Philadelphia's NBC Channel 10 blog posted a great article about Greensgrow and other urban farms in the Philadelphia area, including the website addresses of four urban farms and farmers markets.

If you live in Philly it's worth checking out.

I found this great article on the Green Brooklyn blog about Sky Vegetables, a company that constructs and operates commercial, hydroponic greenhouses on the rooftops of supermarkets in the United States and eventually on all types of flat rooftops worldwide.

Think about it: every neighborhood supermarket could become a farmers market. The vegetables you buy today were growing a few feet away just yesterday.

Even cooler, they set up video cameras on the roof which send a live feed to a screen located in the produce section. Imagine buy a tomato that you've been watching grow for weeks!

I've found another local Urban Farm blog, Rachel' s Tiny Farm.

You really should read this blog and read her ongoing saga of raising Jasper, a white-winged dove from a baby - including hand-feeding him.

T Boone Pickens has a plan. It is bold. It is audacious. And since it is making people on both sides of the argument equally unhappy (for different reasons), it is probably right on the mark.

Watch the video. Visit the Site.

Myself, I have two questions about The Plan:

1. Wind is 100% renewable and 100% domestic, but it's not 100% reliable. Help me understand what happens when the wind does not blow.
2. How are we going to acquire the rights to put all those turbines on all that land between Texas and Canada?

Here is something interesting.

Plant A Card is a greeting card with seeds embedded in it. Printed on chorine-free 55% recycled paper, printed using vegetable-based inks. Even the cellophane wrapping is 100% compostable.

Simply tear off the strip containing the seed pod and follow the easy planting instructions on the back of each card. Once planted, each card will recycle naturally into the soil as the seedlings start to grow.

Want to know what else is cool? Plant A Card is looking for submissions of original artwork for their cards.

Colin Beavan over on No Impact Man asks the question:

Just wondering, if a friend decided they wanted to do something about the environment, how would you tell him or her to start? What's the way in? What's the most important first step?

Your Guide to Green is all about making it easy. Go after the low-hanging fruit first. In other words, do the easy stuff first. Switch to CFLs. Set the thermostat a couple of degrees higher (or lower, depending upon where you live). Don't let the water run while brushing your teeth. Things like this that are no-brainers and don't cost a lot to implement.

Once those have been ingrained as habits, look for the next easiest thing. Rinse and repeat.

Remember the Bat Phone? How about the Shoe Phone?

Well, now there's the Fish Phone!

Blue Ocean Institute has launched FishPhone, the nation’s first sustainable seafood text messaging service. FishPhone text messaging service enables restaurant patrons, supermarket shoppers and chefs to make healthy, informed and sustainable choices when deciding which fish is right for them—and the environment.