PLEASE READ ~ Can farming save Detroit?

Yes, a farm. A large-scale, for-profit agricultural enterprise, wholly contained within the city limits of Detroit.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/29/news/economy/farming_detroit.fortune/?section=magazines_fortune <http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/29/news/economy/farming_detroit.fortune/?section=magazines_fortune>

Fortune asked artist Bryan Christie to imagine how Detroit’s thousands of abandoned residential acres might be transformed into cutting-edge, city-style farms: Solar panels and windmills power vertical growing systems that are efficient, attractive, and tourist-friendly. Greenhouses allow crops to grow year-round.

So, we might ask ourselves, what is Toronto doing? Detroit has their champion. Chicago is way ahead with their 24 acre green roof. Italy, Denmark and most of Europe have been doing it for years.

How is Toronto prepared for Peak Oil? How many days will our current system provide us with food in case of emergency?
How much food can we grow on the 5000 sq hectares of rooftop space?
How positive is this for climate change? Healthy environment, storm water management? These are the questions that we have been asking friends, businesses, policy makers and building owners.

Green Energy Act positions us with the correct policy.
Toronto has mandated the Green Roof Bylaw, which positions us to be the most progressive GreenRoof city in the world.
There is a ground swell of support among the youth and people in the Green Movement.
Where are Canada’s investors to step up and help inititaives grow which provide Food Security to Canadian Cities?

Together we can truly create a Green Renaissance, and not just talk about it.
What is the Canadian government doing right now (Besides having an extended vacation?)
And what are we doing to make sure our food sources are local, NON-GMO and available to all?

Tune into initiatives like Seed Your City, the Carrot Common Green Roof, Artscape’s Whychwood Barns, Markham’s Garden Project and the Food Policy Council and Toronto Youth Food Policy Council for answers to these questions and more.

We can and will make a difference by reclaiming our food sources.

Seed Your City: People of the Green Renaissence

The Artan Gardens documentary has grown into a larger project.

CALLED Seed Your City!

Seed Your City is:

A documentary about the Green Renaissance growing in Ontario, Canada, and around the world. We are showcasing all the grassroots supporters of Urban Agriculture and we are looking for initiatives that want to have their projects and voices heard!

Zell and Krist come to the city armed with two years of hands on hard work at the Artan Gardens Urban Permaculture Farm and they have a mission: Decentralizing and re-localizing the food source of cities. Join us on the adventure as we cultivate the rooftops to provide heirloom produce for urban landscapes.

Seed Your City exposes the inner workings and people in Toronto’s sustainability network while maintaining a link to the community garden roots movement in the North. This Micro-cosm/Macro-cosm structure keeps viewers of all types entertained and enlightened. Reality and Science Fiction fuse in our Ryerson University Pilot. Sustainable living is in organic growing. Donate online at www.artangardens.com so that we can complete our video. See segments online at youtube/artangardens.com

George of the Sustainable Jungle

Zell and Krist at the Banquet for OSEA with George Smitherman.

The Story of Food

http://usc-canada.org/storyoffood/

Executive Summary

Feed Your City Organization launched their nation-wide program “Seed Your City” on September 28th at Queens Park to build Urban Agriculture in Cities and provide people with sources of Non-Genetically modified food. The first step is to make heirloom Seed Banks available.

The “Seed Your School” initiative builds the stock for these Seed Banks through horticulture, revealing “Nature’s way of Compound Interest.”This innovative and necessary educational program blends Arts and Horticulture and teaches creative productivity through an eco-based curriculum. Students earn Horticultural and Arts badges through connecting back to nature. We have received a $3000 grant from the Carrot Common to develop our curriculum.

Starting January 30, 2010 The City of Toronto will mandate that most new building permits must have a green roof. There is 5,000 Hectares of roof top space in the City of Toronto.

How many tons of food can we grow with all these roofs?

Ryerson University’s DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURAL SCIENCE FACULTY OF ENGINEERING, ARCHITECTURE & SCIENCE has a partnership with Feed Your City Organization to test how much food can grow on rooftops with our innovative and efficient growing base.
v 1 Seed /Plant = 1 meal
v 1 meal = Has Approx. 100 seeds
v 100 seeds grow to feed 100 people for one day or 10,000 seeds
v 10,000 seeds grow to be 100,000lbs of food or 1,000,000 seeds
Our two initiatives and our product line provide solutions for environmental degredation. We fill out a depleted global seed pantry, create massive sources of local food production, clean air filters and contribute pillars to the new foundation of “real” economic growth. Our television show will take an in depth look at the local food movement and inspire and provoke people to grow their food close to home.

We hope you can help us find the Seed Capital
Seed@Artangardens.com <mailto:Seed

Zell Artan B. Ed Matthew Krist, Hon B.A.

Photos From the Event

Check out some great photos from the event here:

www.nicolettjakab.com/ArtanGardensToronto2009

“Seed Your City” event at Hazelton Lanes a Great Evening of Awareness, Thanks to All Who Supported

The First Fundraising and Awareness Launch of Feed your City and Artan Garden’s “Seed Your City” Program was a smashing success. The great energy and good feelings were shared by all who attended. Due to the success of this event, we are one step closer to our goal of organic heirloom produce production on city rooftops.

Zell Artan and Matthew Krist want to thank all who participated, including a long list of volunteers, artists, entrepreneurs, publicists and talented performers for giving their love and support to the cause of saving and propagating heirloom seeds within city limits.

From the gorgeous paintings displayed by Ilona Nowak, to the faboulous Italian Garden Photography displayed by Paul Till, curated by the great Maurice Fisher (www.artsnetwork.tv), to a hilarious performance by the “Raging Grannie’s” a group of sassy organic growers from Seeds of Diversity, the night was full of lovely surprises, and unique presentations.

The live acoustic music provided by Yossi and Chie on the Sitar and the didgeridoo was magical and insipiring. Lisa Patterson on vocals and piano and Morgan Doctor on Djembe (www.imaginitmusic.com) was soulful and grooving, and the surprise jam amoung all of these inspired musicians was electric and entertaining.

A visit to Aniko Farkas’ The Spa Suite (http://www.thespasuite.ca/) gave attendees a great opportunity to sample the best in beauty, rejuvination and wellness products and practices. Special thanks to Nuno for providing a selection of wanerful jazz music throughout the night and Luis Freitas who as a one man event production crew worked the hardest and the longest to make sure the evening looked and sounded beautiful.

Please take an opportunity to look at photos from the event provided at www.nicolettjakab.com/ArtanGardensToronto2009

The girls behind the scenes included Kelly Drennen of Third Eye Media, who as a teacher, and founder of a naturalist school has partnered with Artan Gardens to help bring a ciriculum of Heirloom Seed Germination to the new school… Just one of the great partnerships formed out of the evening. Thanks also goes out to Fiona Keeshan (www.keeshanpr.com), and especially to Marylin Novak for helping Zell in the kitchen, providing all the wonderful food of the evening.

And get in contact with us for how to donate and support this worthy cause!

Matthew Krist
Co-Founder: Artan Gardens
Co-Director: Feed Your City Organization
647-454-SEED (7333) (cell), 416-660-4879 (pager)
krist@artangardens.com

Zell Artan
Co-Founder: Artan Gardens
Co-Director: Feed your City Organization
416-995-0074
zell@artangardens.com

“Seed Your City” at Cities Alive Green Roof Show, October 21, 2009

Artan Gardens, Seed Your City/Feed Your City and Geoproducts Corporation would like to thank everyone who attended the Cities Alive Green Roof Conference and for taking time to speak with us at our booth.

We are very excited about our product relationship with GeoProducts Corp and look forward to developing an urban organic gardening solution to build food production systems on the rooftops of Toronto Buildings. GeoProducts in our opinion represents the ideal solution for rooftop gardening and their high-quality innovative solutions will be the foundation behind our plan to “Seed Your City”

Please click the following links for Product presentations:

Geodren Greenroof Solution:
http://www.geoproductscorp.com/2006/gpr/prodotti/giardinaggio/geodren.html Salvaverde Greenlawn, Driveway Solution:
http://www.geoproductscorp.com/en/prodotti/salvaverde.html
GeoFloor GreenParking Solution:
http://www.geoproductscorp.com/en/prodotti/geoflor.html

Or visit the homepage and navigate through their other Green Products…

In the near future we will be announcing the location of our first Art & Gardens Roof in collaboration with Ryerson University’s DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURAL SCIENCE, FACULTY OF ENGINEERING, ARCHITECTURE & SCIENCE.

Kind Regards,

Zell Artan, Business Development 416 995 0074
Matthew Krist, Farmer 647 454 7333
www.artangardens.com
seed@artangardens.com

Seed Your City Charity Fundraiser

The city of Toronto is invited to our Charity Fundraising Event: Seed Your City! October 21st, 7pm-late, come feast on home grown food at Hazelton Lane’s in Greg Couillard’s Spice Room (55 Avenue Rd). Things are moving into high gear for The Feed Your City Organization, who along with Artan Gardens (www.artangardens.com) launched their non-profit from within the legislature building at Queens Park, on September 28th, 2009. By October 5th, Ryerson University teamed up with us and together we are embarking on an exciting mission: To feed Toronto with food grown on their own rooftops, in schools and in urban brown spaces. “Seed Your City” will be the first event in which corporations; government, universities and the community will actively raise funds and seeds to support the growing of non-genetically modified, all natural, super-mineralized food in their own communities.

Dr. Mark Gorgolowski, Professor and Director for the Graduate Program in Building Science says,
“With the steady rise in the use of the LEED green building rating system and the interest in green roof technologies following the recent City of Toronto by-law changes, there are considerable opportunities for new technologies in this area.” Together with funds contributed they will pilot the “Seed Your City” urban agriculture project, proving how easy Toronto can grow it’s own heirloom vegetables for safer, more nutritious and tastier foods on the over 5000 hectars of building rooftops in the GTA. Our pilot project “Rock Roofs” will commence upon reaching our budget. Zell Artan, from Feed Your City says, “By using the world’s most advanced and absorbent growing medium that is currently being used in KEW Royal Botanical Gardens in London, England, we have the key to making our building roofs into productive food sources, clean air filters and edible landscapes.”
“Seed Your City” Co-Founders, Zell Artan and Matthew Krist will give fresh perspective into the future of seed diversity, sustainable communities and the importance of our city’s growth and environmental awareness. Natasha Lewis, Director of Feed Your City Organization says, “This sui generis evening will be live and interactive and attentees will leave knowing they have made a contribution to positive social growth.”

Everyone can take part in the “Seed Your City Challenge” by making a donation. Matthew Krist from Feed Your City Organization says, “People who plant edible heirloom vegetable seeds in their own yards, patios, rooftops and window sills are welcome to donate some Seeds to our “Seed Your City Seed Bank”.

Donations go towards preserving and propagating heirloom seeds through the development of Art & Garden spaces. The Seed Your City initiative will create opportunities for community growth, involvement, and have a specific focus on building sustainable centers, Rock Roof Gardens, and Heirloom Seed Banks. “Seed Your School” brings education of ecological literacy to Ontario’s Schools. Programs of waste minimization, energy conservation, and school Ground Greening are explored through unique curriculum’s developed by the Artan Gardens team.

Seed Your City Event – Queen’s Park

Artan Gardens will launch the first in a series of Seed Your City information events. The first information event will take place at Queens Park on September 28th 2009 from 4:00pm to 7:00pm. Corporations, government and people in the “Green” community will a have an opportunity to showcase ground breaking green solution and products to community and provincial leaders.