Rooftop Food Farming in St. Louis MO

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Rooftop garden Children's Hospital
St. Louis MO
Urban Harvest in St. Louis MO is building a demonstration garden for city dwellers who want to grow some of their own food. And, it's a food roof farm. 

 The idea is to connect citizens of the city with organic food at their fingertips. Rally Saint Louis is funding the initial project along with crowdsourcing.

 The first project will be on the 10,000 square-foot roof of a two story building at 14th and Convention Plaza a block from the City Museum. There will also be event and education spaces on the roof.

 Another community gardening group in St. Louis grows their food on the deck of an underused parking garage.

 What do you think? Could this work in your town?

 Urban Harvest says the benefits are - GREEN ROOFS HAVE AN ISOLATING EFFECT, HELPING REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY NEEDED TO HEAT A BUILDING IN WINTER AND COOL IT IN SUMMER. THEY ALSO RETAIN RAINWATER, THUS HELPING REDUCE PROBLEMS WITH RUNOFF, WHILE ENHANCING BIODIVERSITY AND FILTERING AIR.
Social
  • Increase access to healthy food
  • Engage urban schools and families 
  • Inspire citizens to grown their own food
  • Provide food shares to people in need
  • Create a productive green space
Economical
  • Reduce building energy costs
  • Increase life span of the roof
  • Create jobs
Thanks to Jerry Gustafson for telling me about the project and providing the links.

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