process
Thursday, May 5th, 2011
I know it doesn’t look like much… but in this package are the 200 sedum starts that will be available for planting the modules at the StreetFest at the New Museum this weekend!
I will have a limited number of modules available (50) on a first come first serve basis. I will help you build a module, and each module gets 4 sedum starts (these little guys LOVE to spread, so more than that reduces their chance for healthy growth). Each participant will get a module and a Seeding the City flag to take home for rooftop installation!
Find me at booth #24 in front of the New Museum. See you Saturday!
Sedum clippings compliments of thegardensage on etsy.
Tags: diy, envrionment, eve mosher, exhibitions, festival of ideas, new museum, participation, sedum, seeding the city, seedum, streetfest
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Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
So I decided to try growing some herbs in the modules. I took two modules and planted oregano, thyme, tarragon and lavender in them – and they are loving it! It takes a bit of maintenance (the sedum don’t know), like watering when its been super hot. I’m planning to do a bunch of herb modules to offer to those who are interested! (I will post pics soon).
I am also putting together workshops for this summer for those who are interested! You bring your people and I’ll bring the knowledge and resources. Building your own green roof can be educational, fun, rewarding, collaborative and a little dirty! Contact me for more information!
Finally, I’m excited to be introducing the project in our first location outside of NYC – at Fathom Creative in Washington, D.C. I would love to introduce the projects in other locations, again – get in touch if you want to get it started!
Tags: community, dc, envrionment, eve mosher, fathom creative, green roof, green roofs, herbs, installation, sedum, washington
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Monday, April 5th, 2010
With the beautiful weather that has descended upon NYC, we here at Seeding The City have been itching to get our fingers dirty. Over the weekend we planted some test modules with herbs (some that are good in sandy dry shallow soil – cuban oregano anyone?) and some that traditionally don’t do as well (rosemary?) — we are hopeful that at least some of these plants will thrive so that we can offer them over the fall.
Those of you who are on my general mailing list (if you aren’t already, sign up here: http://evemosher.com/gallery2/page/contact) know about the inventory loss that we suffered in February. Due to some mis-communication completely out of our control, half of our modules (they were awaiting spring installation) were thrown out. It is reported that the plants were replanted, so that is good – but it is a loss of a lot of materials, labor and the time that it took for them to get established. (The modules that we have still have mostly done really well – the sedum spreading and the grasses growing anew).
So… we are starting a fundraising campaign. We’ll be launching a campaign (complete with donor gifts) in a couple of weeks. This fundraiser will allow us to collect money to both continue the original network of green roofs as well as plan and produce workshops with communities around the city who are interested in either creating a green roof for their community (schools, institutional organizations) or hosting a green roof workshop day for their constituency (community organizations, neighborhood and block associations).
If you are a current proud host of a module, watch for an email soon, we want to come check on the plants and do a quick soil acid test to make sure everything is growing well!
As always, if you are interested in participating as an individual or if you think you might like to host a workshop – email me!
p.s. i will try to get some photos up of the herbs right away!
Tags: community, diy, fundraising, green roof, green roofs, installation, participation, planting, remediation, sedum, seeding the city, workshop
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Monday, April 27th, 2009
So after much research and consideration, I have decided that I want to make my own modules for the project. This will probably save money, but there are other reasons for wanting to do this.
- I can use expanded clay in the soil mixture or Gaia Soil in the trays as opposed to the not great for the planet or weight of the modules slate that is used in the commercial mixtures.
- I can try a few different seedum mixtures as well as try mixing in some different plant types – like native flowers or herbs that don’t require a lot of depth.
- I can share the “how-to” so that people can make their own!
This is very exciting to me! I have to thank Hans Hesselein for getting me started on researching the DIY green roof options. I found a great resource of information on the Reclaimed Home blog.
Now I have to find a garden apartment (or one with roof/terrace) to move into so that I can get to work on planting the modules – anyone?
Tags: diy, gaia soil, green roof, green roofs, hans hesselein, seedum, share
Posted in process | 11 Thoughts →
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009
Seeding the City continues to move forward, with some great advances and additions to the project team. In December I was contacted by Vert, a local green roofing company that was really interested in the project. We met and they are coming on strong as a valuable partner. They are going to help ensure safe installation through design help and installation management. I really look forward to working with them.
I also just received notice that the project received a Department of Cultural Affairs grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council, which is great news!
Finally I met with the inspirational and endlessly fascinating Josh Klein, who is working on (among many other things), a project called Seed/Bed, whereby he will transform an airstream into a carbon negative machine which will eventually find a home on an NYC rooftop where it will plug into the systems to help reduce energy usage.
One of the things he was pushing me to do with the project is to rethink coming up with a new type of green roofing system (I had considered that in the early days and discarded it). We talked about different ideas, roll out turf, seeded felt, but our favorite was the potential of impregnated exploded clay. With all of its water absorption and drainage it offers similar positive affects on stormwater runoff. It is lightweight and increases the surface area, plus there might be some plants that could grow in it with little to no maintenance. I am doing some, research, will let you know…
In the meantime, if you are a designer interested in working on the project pro bono – potential for a lot of exposure though – let me know. We can start with fixing the logo below.
Any other ides – get in touch!
Tags: brooklyn arts council, department of cultural affairs, green roof, green roofs, planting, pumice, seeding the city
Posted in process | 2 Thoughts →
Monday, November 24th, 2008
I’ve been playing with the logo, and have a rough draft. I’m sitting with it for a while. Let me know what you think…
StC Logo
Tags: logo
Posted in process | 1 Thought →
Friday, June 20th, 2008
*cross-posted from my general blog*
This idea was directly generated from Matthias Merkel Hess’ posting, “Getting Dirty at the Hammer.” In it he mentions that the panel discussion (featuring Steve Badgett/SimpArch, Amy Franceschini/Futurefarmers and Nance Klehm) discussed the role of the gallery for artists who work in communities on a project basis. Amy Franceschini stated something about (in Matthias’ words) “Franceschini said the gallery can be used as a testing ground and that failure is possible without hurting anyone.”
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!
Tags: amy franceschini, community, ecoartblog, futurefarmers, gallery, green roof, hammer museum, lmcc, matthias merkel hess, nance klehm, non-object art, seeding the city, seedum, simparch, steve badgett, swing space
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Friday, June 20th, 2008
So lots of exciting news!
- I think I have found a roof! A friend of mine who lives nearby has a roof I can use for the 6 test plots we are doing. It’s a super secret location
and I need to get an architect to check it out for me, but it is all looking really good!
- I spoke early this morning with my friend Jim, from Pride’s Corner, he is the local nursery for LiveRoof and will be planting the plugs and nurturing the modules for me. He will be starting my plots early next week. They get to live at the nursery for 3 months (ish) before coming to NYC.
- We decided that we would do half the plots with pure native seedum, and the other half will be a mix of native & non-native. (While I prefer the pure native, I also want to ensure that the plants will survive AND thrive, so we are testing them this winter).
- Jim is hosting some green roof installer training programs this month – I am going to attend one! (I think that is SUPER cool).
So all is going well and I am excited about the updates. I will see if I can get some pictures of the plots to post for all of us to see!
*I am doing 6 test plots because I will need to check the configuration for survivability. Usually the roofs are extensive enough that the plots will all provide a buffer for one another. I need to ensure that a single plot, or a grouping of two will do well.
Tags: green roof, liveroof, planting, seedum
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Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
I had a great conversation with a local representative of LiveRoof green roof modules yesterday. The headquarters had been very receptive to the project and put me in touch with a local nursery to answer questions about some of the more technical details. They are actually interested in testing out a native seedum that they have on hand, and are very excited about getting it down to NYC – so StC may be a great way to test that! He and I are also going to do some research on other local plants that might grow well in all of 4″ of soil.
I also got a good response from GreenPaks, but we have not had an in-depth conversation. I will be curious to test out the two different systems to see what will work best!
Additionally, I met with the amazing Marni Horwitz from Alive Structures, which is a local (based in Long Island City) green roof, green wall and garden landscape and design group. They are really creative and interested in experimenting with the products (because green structures are still a young business there is a lot of room for innovation). They are testing new technologies (keeping all the resources local) and trying to include more variety in the plant types to create diversity. Definitely will be fun to see what they get up to in the coming year!
Start thinking about interesting ways that I can build audience for this project, I will be posting on that next 
Tags: environment, green roofs, sedum, sustainability
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