Greenhouse at the top!

It takes a trio of mother to build greenhouse that produce fruits and veggies for kids atop learning institution

MSC Greenhouse Project

Learning about science, nutrition and politics at the Manhattan School for Children.

By Julie Lasky

Demonstrating the bounty: Hydroponically grown letttuce at Manhattan School for Children's new rooftop greenhouse.

Never underestimate the determination of a New York City public school parent. This may be the most important lesson of a rooftop greenhouse at Manhattan School for Children, on West 93rd Street. The glass-walled environmental science laboratory, which opened last month, was a three-year project of a trio of mothers, none of whom had a science background or experience tussling with the bureaucracy of city agencies (handy if you’re hoping to put a 1,420-square-foot hydroponic farm capable of producing 8,000 pounds of fruit and vegetables annually on top of a public institution).
Two of the women didn’t even hold American passports, noted Manuela Zamora (Bolivian), who led the project with Sidsel Robards (Danish) and Nancy Easton. But after an inspiring visit to the Science Barge, a floating greenhouse on the Hudson River, they obtained the clearances required by every agency, from the school building authority at New York’s Department of Education to the State Historic Preservation Office, raised the $800,000 budget — most of it privately — and oversaw the construction in collaboration with New York Sun Works, the floating greenhouse’s designer. Kiss + Cathcart, Architects built the structure, which features a twinwall polycarbonate roof and retractable heat blanket for thermal efficiency.

Rotating the composting drum.

On December 6, the ribbon — or rather, handfuls of symbolic lettuce leaves — was cut to launch the balmy, wormy, yet predominantly soil-less garden overlooking the rooftops of New York’s Upper West Side. In this net-zero-energy, pesticide-free zone, enlivened by colorful water tanks that will harvest an estimated 40,000 gallons of rain each year, schoolchildren introduced visitors to a barrel of tilapia used in fertilizing plants. Other kids made a game of rotating composting drums, or showed off rows of hydroponically grown arugula and mizuna. The perplexing spectacle of the actress Lauren Bacall being tutored among the greenery was explained by the fact that Sidsel Robards is her daughter-in-law. Bacall’s grandson Calvin Robards, 11, was among the guides discoursing on the value of nitrogen in tilapia poop.

Apart from parental tenacity, the garden’s lessons will include nutrition, biodiversity, climate change (via a weather station) and calculations involving waste management and water use. Produce grown throughout the year — from cucumbers to strawberries to squash — will be distributed in the school cafeteria or donated to local soup kitchens. In summer, the greenhouse will host teacher training programs for environmental science studies. And Zamora and Robards are working with New York Sun Works to replicate the model at 100 more schools.

Tanks will store 30,000 gallons of rainwater harvested each year.

The women have even put their mark on local legislative efforts, said New York City Council Member Gale Brewer. Her office not only supplied a grant for the initiative but is also working to provide tax abatements for citizens who build greenhouses on their roofs. For now, the effect of Manhattan School for Children’s focus on sustainability has been local and powerful. The kids, Zamora says, are “fanatical recyclers.”

Fresh from Garden, new movement?

Restaurants with vegetable gardens that ensure a supply of fresh produce are the in-thing in the US.

GARDENS have been named the hottest trend in American restaurants this year as more chefs involved with the movement to eat local food decide to grow their own tomatoes, herbs and other produce.

A third of the 2,000 chefs surveyed by the US National Restaurant Association named gardens the top trend. Chris Moyer, who leads sustainability programmes for the group, said it costs restaurants less to grow their own produce than to buy it elsewhere and have it shipped. It also gives them more control over quality, he said.

“It lets them offer things people are looking for, and a growing number of people are looking for that locally-grown type of fare,” Moyer said.


A variety of vegetables and peppers picked from the garden at The Blue Water Grill in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The association does not track how many restaurants have gardens, and its survey did not ask chefs whether their restaurants had a garden or had one planned.

Moyer said, however, that independent restaurants tend to be the ones with gardens, because they have the flexibility to adjust their menus with what is in season.

“When you walk into a chain (restaurant), you expect the same thing every time,” he said. “Independent operators don’t have the consistency factor that chain restaurants do, and that makes it easier for them to implement these gardens.”

The Blue Water Grill in Grand Rapids, Michigan, expanded its garden from about 90sqm last year to about 280sqm this year. It started mostly with tomatoes but has added squash, peppers, sweet corn, herbs and strawberries. The restaurant also has 12 fruit trees, including pear and apple.

“We just thought it was a great opportunity that supported doing what we wanted to do and that was to be a local restaurant,” general manager Kevin Vos said.

The garden also adds a personal touch. “A lot of times when we take customers for a garden tour, it starts with what we can do and, ‘Can we cook you something special tonight?’ ” he said.

Larry Bertsch and his wife Diann are weekly guests at the Blue Water Grill. “It’s a benefit knowing the food you’re eating is grown 20 feet from the kitchen without pesticides or artificial fertilisers,” said Bertsch, 50.

The garden also makes a pleasant view from the restaurant’s windows and patios.


The restaurant’s head chef Michael-Patrick McCann in the vegetable garden that has replaced its landscaping.
Moyer said most restaurants start with small gardens in which they grow a few basics, such as lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and herbs. It is rare for them to grow everything they need because weather limits the growing season and big gardens take up staff time and space few restaurants can afford, he said.

Rob Weland, chef at Poste Moderne Brasserie in Washington DC, said his restaurant planted its first garden six years ago in an outside courtyard and it gets a little bigger each year. This year, fruit trees were added.

About 20% of what the restaurant uses is grown in the garden, which includes 12 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, asparagus, basil, mint, tarragon, thyme and strawberries.

The restaurant also gears promotions around the garden, including Thursday events in which up to 15 people have a five-course meal prepared with produce grown there.

Paul Lee opened the Winchester restaurant in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 18 months ago and planted a garden for it on a vacant lot not from far from his restaurant this summer.

“We made a commitment to do an urban garden and with the movement to grow local, to shop local, it was just a natural fit for us,” said Lee, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Jessica.

The Winchester’s 370sqm garden provided about 10% of the vegetables and herbs the restaurant used this year, Lee said.

“Everything we take out we use to create dinner specials,” Lee said. “It’s been overwhelmingly positive.”

The Bell Book & Candle is scheduled to be opened later this year in New York City, with 60% of the produce it uses coming from 60 hydroponic towers on the six-storey building’s rooftop. Its owner and chef, John Mooney, is growing more than 70 varieties of herbs, vegetables and fruits on the roof.

He said the move toward more restaurants growing their own produce probably is based on chefs’ desire to control the ingredients they use better.

“I believe that when you and your staff care about your ingredients from start to finish they have a better appreciation for it,” said Mooney, who also once owned a Florida restaurant that had a 5ha garden. “It has a very positive effect on the guest experience as well.” – AP