Rooftop Gardening – For Sale or for Help?

An article posted in City Farmer News on Dec 29, 2010 tells of the latest success story in using a growing source of food production. Rooftops.

For several years now we have been reading of rooftop farms from small to large that have boasted huge yields. The produce from these gardens are used to feed who? If even some were dedicated to feed the homeless, with excess stored over for winter it would go along way to helping the down trodden. Regardless of whatever reservations society at large has toward supporting a population of hard core street people, there are others who due to foul economic times have found themselves on the streets despite doing what they can to support themselves. We have all, at one time or other needed a helping hand.

I remember years ago hearing the phrase 'a hand up, not a hand out'. Despite the more positive intentions of this idea the fact remains there are increasing numbers of people in need of food and rooftop gardening can go along way towards helping.

Can there be existing government subsidies redirected towards this form of food production? If the white house can have a 'freedom garden' why can’t cities all across the nation have 'handles gardens'?

This rooftop garden, on the campus of Trent University in Ontario Canada, has been in operation for the last ten years supplying fresh food to a university café.

Rooftop gardens have been sprouting up from Singapore to New York to Milwaukee serving CSA’s, restaurants, farm stands, grocery stores, but I have not found one instance where food is being grown to feed the homeless.

If you know of one please let me know. I would like to see them become more numerous.

Every year we are all urged to donate to food banks why can’t we donate time, money, space etc to raising food on a community garden on a rooftop?