by Bernadell Larson,
HCMG |
Campbell Soup Edible
Crop Wall
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Last month we learned
about Vertical Gardens
and how they can be an
efficient way to clean
our environment, provide
beauty, and produce food
crops for us. This month
I will be writing about
a collaboration between
the Campbell’s Soup
Company, Green Living
Technologies, and Urban
Farming Inc., known as
Urban Farming Food
Chain. This project
provides an opportunity
to change the paradigm
on how we produce crops. |
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The Food Chain is a
gardening system that
offers immediate access
to fresh produce, cleans
the environment,
creates team-building
and skills-training, and
provides an opportunity
for community service
and involvement. It also
lowers the heat index in
areas where concrete and
steel are plentiful and
ground space and
greenery are scarce. |
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Campbell’s Soup provided
specially cultivated
seeds to grow tomatoes
for the Living Wall.
Green Living
Technologies provided
the Green Living Wall
System.
In April 2009, a living
vertical fruit and
vegetable garden was
installed on an
apartment complex in the
middle of Harlem in New
York. The apartment
complex serves as a
transitional living
facility for
rehabilitating formerly
homeless people back
into society. |
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The project was to
install the vertical
garden, which was
pre-planted with
tomatoes, leeks,
cucumbers, strawberries,
etc., on a concrete wall
that typically was
covered with graffiti;
and then rely on Master
Gardeners to work with
the tenants and a local
garden club to maintain
the garden. The panels
grow fresh produce
without the use of
pesticides. It quickly
turned into an
educational opportunity
for the tenants, with
several of the tenants
taking a leadership role
in the installation and
an excitement in
maintaining the garden. |
The living wall brought
an entire community
together developing a
strong bond between the
wall and the people
involved
As a note: Urban Farming is
an international
non-profit organization
that plants food on
unused land and space
such as rooftops, walls,
in planters at malls,
sidewalk cafes and
school campuses to help
eradicate hunger by
establishing an
abundance of healthy
food for people in need
while greening the
environment, educating
youth, adults and
seniors and providing a
sustainable system to
uplift communities.
Urban Farming is now in
14 cities and five
countries including
Jamaica, Canada and
England and offers
educational
opportunities in
nutrition, environmental
justice and
entrepreneurship. |
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