Why Rooftop Farms are where it's at - Milkwood: permaculture courses, skills + stories

Eagle Street Rooftop Farm is as good as city farming gets, in my book. If you want an example of lo-fi community food security that is blisteringly cool as well as being truly functional, here you are.

What I would really like is that out of our urban-focussed Sydney Permaculture Design Certificate in January, multiple folks full of gumption, verve and can-do skills get some rooftop farming action going on in Sydney. I mean, look at this place. It rocks.

Click to enlarge. © Todd Selby

Eagle Street Rooftop Farm is described as New York City’s only true soil-based rooftop farm. I don’t quite know what that means for Brooklyn Grange, but clearly Eagle Street has plenty of soil. And produce.

Eagle Street also has plenty of attitude. They hold ice cream club nights there. With BYO home-made ice cream. And they hold Kombucha-making workshops there too. And natural beekeeping courses. Oh yes – and they also produce vegetables, in marketable quantities.

So, Sydney. What’s happening? When are we going to get a rooftop farm scene started?

I mean, all you need is some market garden knowledge, some direct marketing, integrated small animal systems for nutrient cycling, organic pest control, massive carbon inputs (not hard in a city), a rocking composting operation (with all the food scraps available, also a cinch in a city), permaculture and people skills, and a whole lotta gumption.

On the start-up capital front, kickstarter worked for Brooklyn Grange, so that’s surely not the biggest barrier.

Maybe it’s the cranky Sydney landlord factor? And the green-roof preparation factor. But is that so insurmountable? Surely not…

If anyone knows of any rooftop garden space that is verging on (or aspiring to be) a rooftop farm, we would love to consider it for a visit in our January PDC (in addition to strata-title permaculture, urban food forests, thriving community gardens etc).

Let me know? And maybe we’ll see you there…