It was hosted by the Lowline Lab, a space I had read about and had been wanting to visit, so the topic and setting were just fantastic. And, last Sunday was a lovely, lovely spring day - somewhat warmer than average in NYC, but a perfect day to get outside, and take the bus, and stay above ground. And it was free too - bonus!
Moderator/speaker was Annie Novak (of Eagle Street), other speakers were Anastasia Cole Plakias (of Brooklyn Grange Farm) and Nicole Baum (of Gotham Greens). Since I had only heard extensively of Brooklyn Grange, it was nice to learn of the other farming efforts, and reinforcing to know there are others out there doing this - on whatever scale. The talk tended more toward the organizational issues of setting up the operations than tangible, applicable tips, but still interesting and worthwhile, and good to know there are resources out there.
On the other hand, as interested as I am in all of this, it did smack of a millennial, hipster-y effort, and having never encountered any of the produce in my local supermarket, or even the local farmer's market, I have no idea how much it all costs, and, as they rightly acknowledged, whether it helps any underserved communities is a question. But someone has to start somewhere.
The free sample of Gotham Greens lettuce has been quite tasty - a good example of hydroponics. Of course, impossible to ignore the slight tension during the talk between the soil-raised and hydroponically-grown camps. But in my book, at this still early stage, if it can help to provide a blueprint for consideration to fix food deserts and transport/delivery carbon fuel consumption, it is better than what we've been doing.... So, go ladies!
The talk also made me wonder whether I would ever have the guts to abandon my safe path for something more risky - pursue the fantasy. Opportunity for self-contemplation.
Now for some photos of the Lowline - a really interesting concept. (Of course, again, my skeptical, questioning, realistic tendencies wonder whether the concept can be feasibly implemented... How I turned out to be a gardener given this healthy does of critical realist tendency in my personality is quite paradoxical. I remember at the end of "The First Four Years" by Laura Ingalls Wilder, she wrote of the ever-optimism of the farmer, constantly subject to the whims of nature. The ladies at the talk raised the same point. And despite my realism, here I am, hoping to grow stuff that will survive in too-little sun, too-much wind, not-warm-enough containers....)
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| Anastasia, Nicole, Annie |
The free sample of Gotham Greens lettuce has been quite tasty - a good example of hydroponics. Of course, impossible to ignore the slight tension during the talk between the soil-raised and hydroponically-grown camps. But in my book, at this still early stage, if it can help to provide a blueprint for consideration to fix food deserts and transport/delivery carbon fuel consumption, it is better than what we've been doing.... So, go ladies!
The talk also made me wonder whether I would ever have the guts to abandon my safe path for something more risky - pursue the fantasy. Opportunity for self-contemplation.
Now for some photos of the Lowline - a really interesting concept. (Of course, again, my skeptical, questioning, realistic tendencies wonder whether the concept can be feasibly implemented... How I turned out to be a gardener given this healthy does of critical realist tendency in my personality is quite paradoxical. I remember at the end of "The First Four Years" by Laura Ingalls Wilder, she wrote of the ever-optimism of the farmer, constantly subject to the whims of nature. The ladies at the talk raised the same point. And despite my realism, here I am, hoping to grow stuff that will survive in too-little sun, too-much wind, not-warm-enough containers....)
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