The Brooklyn filmmakers who gave us the Peabody Award-winning feature documentary King Corn turn an old pickup truck into a farm and a film. And Chicago’s first certified organic farm is on a restaurant rooftop.
How do you grow your own food in the big city if you ain’t got any land?” That was the central question behind Truck Farm—both the tiny farm and the film. Filmmakers Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney set out to prove that fresh vegetables can be grown just about anywhere. Even in the bed of a 1986 Dodge Ram pickup.
To do so, they combined “green roof technology, organic compost and heirloom seeds to create a living, mobile garden on the streets of Brooklyn, NY.” They’re using green techniques to film the project too, outfitting the truck with a solar-powered camera to provide a time lapse record of the farm’s progress.
Following the lead of other small farms, they’ve even started their own CSA. Your $20 subscription will get you a DVD of the short film Truck Farm, an invitation to the Truck Farm Summer Picnic [presumably already past] and “a completely unknowable amount of truck-fresh produce.” If you don’t live within trucking distance, a $20 remote subscription will get you a copy of the DVD and a free bottle of “smokin’-hot Truck Farm Hot Sauce, fresh from the fall crop of habaneros.”
To find out more about Wicked Delicate, their Brooklyn-based production company and advocacy project, and to see clips of Truck Farm, visit the Wicked Delicate website.
Farm to table, two flights down
Even in a city known known as the green roof leader—Chicago tops all other cities with nearly 535,000 square feet of green roof—this is impressive. For more than 18 years, local restaurant Uncommon Ground has taken a farm to table approach in its Wrigleyville kitchen, building relationships with farmers from the Great Lakes region who follow sustainable and organic methods. So when Uncommon Ground owners Helen and Michael Cameron opened their second location in Edgewater in 2007, they took what felt like the next logical step: They planted a farm on the roof.
And not just any farm. In October 2008, the Midwest Organic Services Association designated the 2,500 square-foot farm organic, making it the first certified organic rooftop farm in the United States. Running an organic farm—even a tiny one—is not something you do between orders of trout with bulgur and herb salad. So the Camerons hired urban farmer Natalie Pfister to operate it.
The farm shares space with five solar panels that heat up to 50% of the water for the restaurant and four beehives that will eventually produce over 200 pounds of honey. It’s also home to urban agriculture classes for local school groups of all ages, ranging from grade school to grad school. And it reflects the Camerons’ commitment to running restaurants that support small farms and local artists and nourish the communities they serve with more than just food.
Find out more about the restaurants and their rooftop organic farm. Visit the Uncommon Ground website and check out farmer Natalie Pfister’s blog, eat this, grow that.
They say farmers look to the ground and look to the sky – this opens up all kinds of new territory! Thanks for a fascinating post, Terry. Wonder where else we’ll find farm land. On a slight tangent…just heard from a rancher friend who put in a new well and solar tracker system. (I think this helps moderate pump action.) Makes me think about ways to tie in natural energy sources to these creative farming ventures.
Thanks, Ronnie Ann! I know factory farming isn’t going to go away any time soon, but it’s wonderful to see so many people interested in alternative ways of making food.
This is so weird! I was JUST thinking about Uncommon Ground this morning … I went there fairly often when I lived in the city. Now, reading your post, I’m inspired to go back!
Kate—We used to go there too. And discovering the information that led to this post, I’m now totally ready to go back.
This is a fabulous post (and blog). I love the idea of a garden in the back of a pick-up. Brilliant. Next time in Chicago, I know where I’ll be dining.
Thanks, Madame Fromage! And I’m so glad I discovered your wonderful cheese blog.
I remember watching a documentary about a couple building a rooftop garden. The forethought and planning that goes into an endeavor such as this is not to be taken lightly. It’s wonderful to see that in spite of the difficulty and expense restaurants are embracing this previously untapped resource – rooftops!
ok, the pick up truck is officially a hoot
sweetbird—Now that you mention it, one thing that immediately springs to mind is structural issues. Dirt and water are heavy.
bibliochef—I think I have to agree with your assessment. Of course, the point of the truck is not so much to be a viable economic success as it is to make the point that you can grow food just about anywhere. And should.