In The City Off The Grid - Building Sustainable Communities
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Front of the Greenhouse cafe at 2271 East Main Street. Cafe operations are run by Coffee Connection, a nonprofit distributor of organic, fair-trade coffee products
Behind the Greenhouse Cafe at 2271 East Main Street lies what its backers hope will become a model for independent, sustainable urban communities. In The City Off The Grid, a sustainability engineering firm has completed what it refers to as the first of three stages of the project. The front of the former florist shop has been converted into a coffe shop/Bistro with a front and rear solarium. One of two greenhouses behind the cafe has been renovated and is being set up as a hydroponic garden. The technology uses common household components such as gutter pipes, sump pumps, garden hoses and food barrels for high-tech equipment. Its backers hope to grow up to 750 lettuce plants every 3 to 4 weeks during the growing season. Organic seeds and natural nutrients will be used, no bio-technology or genetically modified organisms.
Newly renovated greenhouse from former florist shop now houses a hydroponic garden
Stage 2 of the project involves renovation of a second greenhouse to house two fish ponds. In addition to raising fish for consumption the waste water from the fish will be used to sustain the hydroponics. Types of fish being considered are Talapia, Crawfish, Catfish and Eel. Salmon may be considered at a later date but they are more difficult to raise and high waste producing. The group hopes to eventually produce energy in the form of biofuel and electricity from windmills and solar cells. The energy will be used to power the facility's lights and pumps. Once enough fuel can be produced, it could be used to heat the greenhouse in winter allowing production year-around.
Before and after. Greenhouse on right resembled the one on left before renovations beginning in January 2013
Hydroponic technology need not be expensive. Common gutter pipes and garden hoses are used
An ordinary sump pump supplies a thin film of water to plants. Plants are placed in a medium such as would be found in a florist's arrangement. These are placed into the holes in the pipes. Ordinary rain gutters return water to the barrel to be recycled. Barrels such as those used to ship olive oil or flour are used.
Stage 3 involves integrating everything into a self-sustaining community, an urban "eco-village" a place where people can live where their food and energy are produced. It would be a return to a village or community based economy, something which sustained humanity for thousands of years. It would be based on a sustainable permaculture, with people living and working where their food and energy are produced. The concept needs to be easily replicated in economically ravaged communities. This is a new frontier but emphasis is on building on what's already there. We are not coming to colonize. This is about building a new full-scale economy. It's more than just a few corn stalks growing on a plot of land on the corner. Building a greenhouse that produces a few hundred heads of lettuce is a small step in that direction.
Lettuce plants begin to grow from blocks of florist's foam. Lettuce has large leaves but short roots making it well-suited to this form of hydroponics
Lettuce from the greenhouse will eventually fill this salad bar in the bistro
Inside of the old unrenovated greenhouse still contains equipment from the former florist operation. In Stage 2 fish ponds will be located here.
The eco-village concept would integrate homes such as these behind the greenhouse into independent communities that exist "off the grid"
