So the point of the project was to find a handful of people who were interested in installing small green roof modules (little trays of green roof that were less than 2′x4′). These people were then to reach out to their friends/neighbors to interest them in putting modules on their roofs too. The goals were to create a network of people in a region who were all interested in urban environmental issues and spark a wave of green roof building – more on all that here.

So it started slowly with a few people interested – I kind of thought there would be loads of people who wanted a free green roof! Then I started to get interest from institutions, and although this wasn’t the intended audience, it seemed like a good idea anyway. So when we went to install the first modules the comments were along the lines of “that’s it?” “that’s so easy!” — and I realized (after my great experience with the planting program with Covenant House) that there was some other potential here. So I brought up the idea of doing a planting program with the residents of this particular institution. If they cover the costs (at just over $1,000) we could do run a half day workshop and by the end of that they would have a larger green roof – about 2,000 square feet worth!

I have since planted at a pre-school, an environmental organization and another school, all of whom are interested in doing planting workshops in the spring! So that is 4 more green roofs than NYC had before I started the project.

So, while I may not (yet) be getting the broad reach that I had hoped for, I am getting to install some larger scale green roofs with some great people. And the green roof education reaches a broad base of people who will one day build their own networks…

I’ve been busy trying to get a bunch of the pieces of the Summer & Fall’s projects in place, including:

• Collecting water bottles & other materials for Paths of Desire. If you have access to water bottles or want to participate, let me know. Otherwise, plan on coming out on July 18th to participate!
• Kicking off the growing season by starting the green roof module growing (for Seeding the City) with a partnership with Covenant House!
• Finalizing the Seeding the City logo. It’s getting better all the time, thanks to the fabulous Caitlin Martin.
• Working on Seeding the City flag design & production with Graham Coreil-Allen – master of all things flag!
• Designing some project plans for a project on alternative urban agriculture models for a project with students in the fall.

And of course, as happens most of the time, my mind wanders to other projects. I would love it if I had enough funding to just come up with ideas/concepts and then I could have a battery of assistants to make the projects happen. Unfortunately it seems that while my projects are popular with people, they aren’t as popular with the funding agencies

So one of the other projects I was thinking about was “Give Me Four Feet” — I get people around NYC to give me four x four feet of their space, whether it is in the apartment, on the roof in the front or back yard, on their outside walls, whatever. Then with that four x four feet of space I set up some system that moves us towards sustainability. Maybe it is solar panels, or rainwater collection, or a green wall, or a garden plot. And then all of these systems work with each other. The harvested rainwater waters the garden, or the solar panels power batteries for a hydroponic pump, or the garden harvest feeds all the people working on the project. I haven’t worked it all out, but its another one I am thinking of.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know I am still thinking of other ways to do interesting things in the city…

Last night I was trying to figure out how on earth I would store the 100+ plots for the “Seeding the City” project as they await installation. Then I realized that it would be a fabulous gallery show. I could keep all of the plots on the floor of the gallery, as they left the gallery to be planted, in their place would be inscribed the location to which they are taken (the address of the roof). Along the walls would be images of the plots in place. I can even create a little string based network of the plot spaces in the gallery. I LOVE THIS IDEA! So now I have to either find a gallery that would be up for this for the entire 3-5 month project timeline (at least it is summer!) or get a Swing Space from LMCC. If you have a gallery & are interested, be sure to contact me!

First though, let me say that I haven’t been posting lately because I haven’t seen or done a lot. Well thats not true, its just maybe not that interesting for blogging other than sort of a social calendar or something like that. So I have been rebuilding my website (which is why I am feeling antsy with the look of this blog and keep playing with it – none the less it will all get fixed up all nice when I finish the site – it is very nearly there), and I have been writing more grant applications, which is a total time suck. Write me if you want all the gory details.

Anyway, I have been talking to a lot of people about the two projects – the green roof project and the bus shelter project. Most people are pretty into it. But once in a while (and this happened with HWL too) I get a nay-sayer. It’s not that they are trying to be negative. They really just want to help or to ask questions about the project (all well and good!). But I think I would prefer someone who comes with ideas instead of just problems. I met with the native plant botanist at Brooklyn Botanic Gardens (love that place) the other day. He had some concerns about the types of plants that could grow in “nutrient poor, limited water, exposed” situations like the proposed projects. But instead of tell me how it wouldn’t work, or list all of the obstacles, he suggested that I look at coastal plants as a good option – cool! – I love that idea!

Thats the kind of can do attitude that will move us all forward.

I had some other stuff I wanted to say, but I have been waking up kinda early lately, and going to bed kinda late so I can’t remember much. Will try to get back in the habit of posting about the life and habits of an artist.