Urban farms are taking the world by storm and, while in New York schools students are raising food to fight inequality, some homeowners are picking up on the initiative and setting up urban farms at home. [Related topic: Plattekill Garage Doors]
Who doesn’t love farm-to-table ingredients that bring freshness to your everyday dishes? After all, that’s why many people spend a big buck dining at places that claim to offer the “freshest ingredients”. However, for those people without enough money to splurge on a nice restaurant, a fancy farmers’ market or Whole Foods, urban farming seems like an interesting alternative, and some folks have already started to turn their garages into urban farms, or at least a section of them.
Restaurants started incorporating hydroponic gardens into their kitchens a while back. Then, the container farms made their debut providing fresh produce and top quality ingredients to various restaurants and local markets. Now that schools are implementing their very own high-tech take on farm-to-table, other people are trying to do the same.
The non-profit program Teens for Food Justice has turned spare classrooms, unused science labs, and even an empty closet into urban hydroponic farms in a few schools in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan as an experiment in self-sufficiency, science education, and food equity.
But how are these people translating this initiative into garage-based urban farms? Well, the process is not that difficult. A few LED lamps and temperature control play a big role in the setup of an urban farm. However, depending on what you want to grow, the implements you will need to set up your urban farm may vary. Nevertheless, something is certain, having your own crops can reduce costs or even become an additional income generator for your household if you decide to commercialize some of your produce.
A word of advice: if you’re considering putting an urban farm in your garage, before undergoing any renovations, contact an expert to help you set up things in the most cost-effective way and with minimum disruption.