Homemade Veggies

These little miracles showed up in Foodshare's break room today, and though they may look ordinary, they represent a number of breakthroughs. First, they were grown in a tower garden, which is an aeroponic system--the plants grow without soil, just a nutrient mist sprayed on dangling roots. These small systems (smaller than a Christmas tree) can produce a harvest every four weeks year-round.

The tower garden that produced these particular vegetables is one of three that are part of a pilot program being run by the Upper Albany Hunger Action Team. The principle is that these kinds of gardens, which take up very little space and can be maintained indoors, are ideally suited to urban neighborhoods like Upper Albany. And they are far more productive that conventional gardens: those three tower gardens are currently feeding 15 families year-round with various lettuce and tomato varieties, pak choy, cucumbers, peppers, melons, Brussels sprouts, and kale. This is the kind of innovative, locally tailored solution that Hunger Action Teams are finding across our region.