A MAGAZINE FOR GREEN URBAN-DWELLERS, PROMOTING ECOFRIENDLINESS, SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, & A NATURAL LIFESTYLE.
MEET THE CROP:
Lettuce introduce you to the “rock-stars” at the root of RE/, who took the thyme to plant the seeds which budded into this publication. We till it like it is.
G U NTER JO NES
SALLY T HOMPSON
ART D IR ECTO R
KN OL L IN G MASTE R
VA LERY H ER M A N
SYDN EY GOLDST EI N
JU S T PEACH Y
BE RRY- TAME R
RE/
CONTENTS 08
DEPARTMENTS
FEATURES
08 / RE/MAKE
22 / MOSS IS BOSS
Five green DIY projects to give color and fun to your home.
Moss graffiti is becoming a new big phenomenon. Many artists use it as a medium in everything from furniture to graffiti.
15 / RE/VOLT Learn all about New York City’s progressive Highline Park.
64 / RE/USE Prevent packaging waste with Japanese technique furoshiki.
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66 / RE/PURPOSE Turn your trash into art by upcycling, a variation of recycling.
34 / GUERRILLA GARDNER Ron Finley plants and grows food in South Central LA and is changing the way the world sees gardening.
44 / THE EDIBLE BALCONY Meet Mark Ridsdill Smith, founder of Vertical Veg, and learn about his solution for small space food growing.
54 / ORGANIC FOOD
64 66
Growing your own food can be rewarding and productive. Learn the basic elements of successful organic vegetable production.
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34 44
54
RE/ MAKE
HANDMADE 5 diy projects
These 5 projects will spice up your home and office with color and fun. Make a light bulb vase, your own laundry detergent, an egg crate garden, yarn bombed plants, and your own recycled paper.
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ONE
LIGHT BULB VASE D
Don’t throw away those old light bulbs just yet! I have a fun, easy DIY for you that will brighten up your home decor or workspace. This DIY is very simple, but it requires working with glass so you definitely need to be careful! What you need: A light bulb (any shape or size will work), pliers and gardening wire.
STEP THREE/ Once the black glass was removed it was really easy to get the little glass tube and wiring on the inside of the bulb out – I simply tapped it with the pliers and it broke right off. And now you have your empty lightbulb! I didn’t like how the metal part looked so I covered it with a little piece of fabric.
STEP ONE/ First you need to remove the little silver layer on the bottom of the light bulb. Work the pliers under the layer to create a little lip, and then you should be able to peel it right off with the pliers. STEP TWO/ Now you have to remove the black cap from the bottom of the light bulb. This was the most difficult part for me – you definitely want to wear safety goggles and be extremely careful, as it is glass. Some sites suggest using a hammer to crack the black glass but this didn’t work for me – with some time, I was able to work the pliers into the hole left after you remove the silver cap, and snap the glass. I used the pliers to tap the rest of the black glass off the bulb. Do this outdoors or over a hard surface so you can sweep up the bits of glass.
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STEP THREE
STEP FOUR/ Add flowers and water, and hang with the gardening wire! Now I want to make more! In addition to brightening up my desk space at work, these would be adorable for a summer party or as bathroom decor!
/SO PLANT YOUR OWN GARDENS & DECORATE YOUR SOUL INSTEAD OF WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO BRING YOU FLOWERS//
RE/ MAKE
MATERIALS
TWO
LAUNDRY DETERGENT J
ust as we take care in the food we put inside our bodies, I also feel that it’s very important to feel good about what we’re putting on our bodies. Of course this includes beauty products… but what about the detergent that you use to wash our clothes? Today I have a very simple recipe for a homemade laundry detergent that uses just three ingredients. What you need: 1 cup Borax, 1 cup washing soda, ½ cup grated bar soap (anything natural is great – like Dr. Bronner’s!) Washing soda and Borax can be found in the laundry section of most grocery stores. Washing soda is made from common salt and limestone, and is also found as deposits in nature. Borax is a mineral that occurs in nature, made up of sodium, boron, oxygen, and water. I just want to note that although it can be found in many natural soaps found on the market, there are still conflicting views as to whether or not it is a safe ingredient. I think it’s
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best to look around and gather as much information as possible before making a decision. To help you along, there is a post on Crunchy Betty that may offer you some guidance! STEP ONE/ You can grate your soap using either a hand grater or a food processor. STEP TWO/ Once this is done, measure out the ingredients, combine in a large bowl, and mix well. STEP THREE/ Store in an airtight container – mason jars work well for this. Because of the varying sizes of the particles, be sure to shake or mix well before each use! About 1/8 cup to 1/4 cup should be all you need for each load of laundry.
STEP TWO
/THE HAPPIEST PEOPLE DON’T HAVE THE BEST OF EVERYTHING, THEY JUST MAKE THE BEST OF EVERYTHING//
MATERIALS
E
ver since I first saw images of yarn bombing, I have always wanted to have a go at it. Yarn bombing is a form of street art that has spread throughout cities all over the world, and unlike permanent graffiti, it is easy to remove if necessary. To see such vibrant colors on everyday objects is such a pleasing surprise. Today I wanted to try yarn bombing small house plants. I was really inspired by this image, so I picked up a bonsai tree and a bamboo shoot and took a go at it. What you Need: Yarn, string or twine, bonsai tree, bamboo shoot, hot glue gun and glue stick, crochet doily. STEP ONE/ Decide what string you are going to use first, and tack it down with the glue gun at the base of your bonsai tree.
STEP ONE
STEP TWO/ Wrap the string up the tree until you are at your desired height and tack it down with more glue. STEP THREE/ Keep wrapping your tree with your string until you like what you see. I cut a piece off of a crochet doily and used some of that to wrap around my tree. Don’t be afraid to get creative with yarn bombing!
THREE
YARN BOMBED PLANTS
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RE/ MAKE
STEP ONE
FOUR
EGG CRATE GARDEN W
ith spring aproaching this is a fun way to brighten up your home and work space. Planting flowers and herbs in empty egg shells is the perfect miniature garden to have at work and home. It’s easy to do and looks so adorable you will not be able to stop yourself from smiling every time you see it! Plus, in a couple of weeks, you’ll have flowers sprouting by your desk and fresh herbs to cook with.
STEP TWO/ Rinse out your egg shells and place them back in the carton. I used a small plastic spoon and put one scoop of soil in the bottom of each egg shell. STEP THREE/ Sprinkle the seeds into the egg shells. I made a chart so I wouldn’t forget what I planted and where! STEP FOUR/ Cover the seeds with more soil. Make sure your garden has plenty of light and stays moist!
All you need for this project is a dozen eggs, seeds of choice, and seed starting soil. I got the seeds and soil from Home Depot. STEP ONE/ First you will need to empty the egg shells. Use a knife and tap lightly on the shell around the top of the egg – it should break right off, or you can use your fingers to break the top off. STEP THREE
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/THE PERFECT MINIATURE GARDEN//
FIVE
RECYCLED PAPER H
omemade paper tugs at my heart like no other. It’s delicate, beautiful, and thoughtful. It actually is not difficult to make paper. It takes a bit of time, but each moment spent on any project is another opportunity to pour some love into the creation process! What you need: Fine-gauge screen, wooden frame (old picture frame works), basin slightly larger than the wooden frame, medium bowl, nails or staples, paper scraps, food processor, pressed flowers, seeds, thread pieces, anything else you’d like to add into your paper. STEP TWO/ Next, tear your paper scraps up into small pieces, about 1×1 inch each. Soak these in warm water for at least a half hour. Thicker and stronger paper may need a full 24 hours before they become soft enough. STEP THREE/ Combine a handful of soaked paper and about 2 cups of warm water into a blender and pulse until you reach a relatively smooth consistency. MATERIALS
STEP ONE/ First, make your framed screen. Attach the screen to the back of the frame using nails or staples. Trim away the excess screen.
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STEP FOUR/ If you’re planning to use your paper for writing, add in the liquid starch to your pulp at this point and mix. STEP FIVE/ Fill your basin with at least a few inches of water. Press the framed screen into the basin so that it’s submerged. Pour the pulp onto the screen, and smooth out evenly with your hands. Lift up the frame, and arrange any pressed flowers or other items into your pulp. Continue to hold the frame above the basin to allow the excess water to drain back into it.
STEP SIX/ Place the frame onto a counter or table, and press evenly on top using a towel or sponge to collect additional excess water. STEP SEVEN/ Allow your paper to dry fully – this could take anywhere from a few hours to a full day, depending on the thickness of the pulp and how much water it has absorbed. Setting it in a sunny spot can help speed up the process! STEP EIGHT/ Once it’s fully dry, peel the paper off of the screen and enjoy!
STEP FIVE
THE HIGHLINE re/evaluating YOUR TRASH
DID YOU KNOW?
RE/ VOLT
HIGH LINE ART PRESENTS A WIDE VARIETY OF ART INCLUDING SITE-SPECIFIC COMMISSIONS, EXHIBITIONS, PERFORMANCES, VIDEO PROGRAMS, AND A SERIES OF BILLBOARD INTERVENTIONS. SUBMIT PROPOSALS TO ART@THEHIGHLINE.ORG
THE HIGHLINE Re/volt against the norm.
t
he High Line is a public park built on a historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on the Manhattan’s West Side. It’s owned by the City of New York, and maintained and operated by Friends of the High Line. Founded in 1999 by a few community residents, Friends of the High Line fought for the High Line’s preservation as well as transformation at a time when the historic structure was under the threat of demolition. It is now a non-profit conservancy making sure the High Line is maintained as an extraordinary public space for all visitors to enjoy. Friends of the High Line works to raise the essential private funds to support virtually all of the park’s annual operating budget, and to advocate for the preservation and transformation of the High Line at the Rail Yards, the third and final section of the historic structure, which runs between West 30th and West 34th Streets.
High Line opened on June 9, 2009. It runs from Gansevoort Street to West 20th Street. The second section, which runs between West 20th and West 30th Streets, opened June 8, 2011.
The High Line park is located on Manhattan’s West Side. It runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues. The first section of the
The High Line runs through three of Manhattan’s most dynamic neighborhoods: the Meatpacking District, West Chelsea, and Hell’s Kitchen/Clinton. When the High Line was built in the 1930s, these
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The High Line is owned by the City of New York and is under the jurisdiction of the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation. It was donated to the City by CSX Transportation, Inc.
neighborhoods were dominated by industrial and transportation uses. Now many of the warehouses and factories have been converted to art galleries, design studios, retailers, restaurants, museums, and residences.
RE/ VOLT
The High Line is owned by the City of New York and is under the jurisdiction of the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation. It was donated to the City by CSX Transportation, Inc.
PARK I N FORMAT I ON
DIRECTIONS
The park can be reached by the following methods of public transportation:
SUBWAY/
L or the A / C / E to 14th Street & 8th Avenue C / E to 23rd Street & 8th Avenue 1 / 2 / 3 to 14th Street & 7th Avenue 1 to 18th Street & 7th Avenue 1 to 23rd Street & 7th Avenue
BUS/
M11 to Washington Street M11 to 9th Avenue M14 to 9th Avenue M23 to 10th Avenue M34 to 10th Avenue
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The City of New York, New York, and maintained and operated by Friends of the High Line. Founded in 1999 by community residents, Friends of the High Line fought for the High Line’s preservation and transformation at a time when the historic structure was under the threat of demolition. It is now the non-profit conservancy working with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation to make sure the High Line is maintained as an extraordinary public space for all visitors to enjoy. In addition to overseeing maintenance, operations, and public programming for the park, Friends of the High Line works to raise the essential private funds to support virtually all of the park’s
annual operating budget, and to advocate for the preservation and transformation of the High Line at the Rail Yards, the third and final section of the historic structure, which runs between West 30th and West 34th Streets. The High Line is located on Manhattan’s West Side. It runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues. The first section of the High Line opened on June 9, 2009. It runs from Gansevoort Street to West 20th Street. The second section, which runs between West 20th and West 30th Streets, opened June 8, 2011.
RE/ VOLT
T H E M E AT PA C K ING D IS TR IC T
W ES T C H ELSEA
Much of the first section of the High Line is located in the Meatpacking District. Around 1900, the district was home to more than 250 slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants. Before the High Line was built, trains on street level, as well as barges and ships from the Hudson River, brought goods to the district for processing.
To the north of the Meatpacking District is the neighborhood of West Chelsea, where the majority of the High Line is located. West Chelsea shares the industrial past of the Meatpacking District, with large factories and warehouses lining its streets and avenues. West Chelsea is now home to the world’s largest concentration of art galleries. In 2005, much of West Chelsea was rezoned by the Department of City Planning, to allow for the High Line’s reuse, to encourage the continued use of former industrial spaces as art galleries, and to encourage economic growth through residential development along Tenth and Eleventh Avenues.
When the High Line was built, it carried freight trains full of meat and other goods directly to the upper floors of these meatpacking plants and factories. In recent decades, as industrial uses have declined in New York City, the Meatpacking District has seen a resurgence of other uses. Its historic cobblestone streets and low-lying industrial buildings are now home to many restaurants, nightclubs, design and photography studios, and fashion boutiques.
C L I N TO N / H ELL’S K ITC H EN The High Line’s northernmost section runs through the southern section of the Clinton / Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. Much of this neighborhood was part of the 2005 Hudson Yards Rezoning, which was meant to encourage large-scale development and the improvement of transportation infrastructure. Within the next decade or so, this neighborhood will most likely undergo quite a significant amount of changes to its built environment.
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W ES T S IDE RAI L YARDS North of 30th Street, the High Line runs around the perimeter of the West Side Rail Yards, located between Tenth and Twelfth Avenues and 30th and 33rd Streets. This section of the High Line is not yet owned by the City. Its future depends on a planning process now underway between the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the State agency that owns the site; the Related Companies, the developer leasing the site for a large-scale development. Throughout the planning process, Friends of the High Line has been working with these parties, as well as with many community groups and elected officials, to ensure the historic High Line is preserved at the West Side rail yards.
IN POPULAR CULTURE 1979/
The opening sequence of the film Manhattan includes a shot of the High Line, as director and star Woody Allen speaks the first line: “Chapter One. He adored New York City.”
1984/
Director Zbigniew Rybczyski shoots the video for Art Of Noise’s on the High Line.
1988/
The protagonist and his boyfriend trespass onto the then-overgrown High Line in Fun Down There.
1984/
Director Zbigniew Rybczyski shoots the video for Art Of Noise’s on the High Line.
2001/
In Walking the High Line photographer Joel Sternfeld documented the dilapidated conditions and the natural flora of the High Line between 2000 and 2001.
2007/
Some chase scenes in the film I Am Legend were filmed under the High Line and in the Meatpacking District.
2009/
The 2009 hip-hop song “The High Line” by Kinetics & One Love is a pro-green song which uses the High Line railway, before its conversion into a park, as an example of nature’s reclamation of man made structures.
2011/
The park appears in a scene in the second season of Louie as the site of one of the title character’s dates.
2012/
The movie What Maisie Knew features a scene where Maisie and Lincoln play at the High Line.
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BUY a pair GIVE a pair. For every pair of glasses we sell, we provide a pair to someone in need.
MOSS ART has grown a reputation as one of the best natural art mediums. Moss is just inherently touchable – soft and lush, tactile and spongy. Perhaps this is why we’re so drawn to it – and why so many artists and designers have chosen to use it as a fun and surprising medium in everything from furniture to graffiti. By JOHN DOE
“MY RESPECT FOR THE WILD AND MY LOVE OF THE CITY RESULTED IN THE JUXTAPOSITION OF URBAN AND NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS.”
the
—Anna Garforth
MOSSENGER Everyone has heard of moss, but they don’t really understand how important it can be. Moss can help maintain a consistent level of humidity in a room. Moss, it turns out, can not only absorb moisture, but emit it, too. When the humidity is low, moss will let out moisture, and when the humidity is high, the moss absorbs moisture. In addition, moss acts as an air purifier. Instead of absorbing water and nutrients from the ground through a system of roots, moss sucks them in from the air around it. This means it actually collects unwanted particles from he air and stores them inside itself.
Imagine walking down
a city street and, instead of paint tags, you find a spread of creative artwork growing in moss on a wall or building. You’ve found the latest in ecological guerrilla garden art, moss graffiti art. Moss can be blended and painted onto a wall, and may then grow in position. By replacing the harmful chemicals found in paints (such as methanol, which damages the nervous system when consumed in large quantities) with plant matter, the artist can still create works without damaging the environment.
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Designer Anna Garforth
has gone above and beyond green-washing to create a truly biodegradable and all natural graffiti. With “Mossenger” she’s created living, breathing, and sustainable outdoor art.
Anna Garforth will
transform any environment into a moment of brand excitement. She is a remarkably talented 26-year-old artist based in East London who works with unusual and unconventional elements to convert the world around us into a work of art that makes us stop in our tracks. In an unusual take on traditional, spraypaint-approved wall art, Anna Garforth’s moss graffiti emerges from brick walls as fuzzy layers of green grass. Garforth was originally inspired by a trip to an old Victorian cemetery where she discovered the beautiful script and moss that covered the grave sones. One stone had moss growing inside the carved out letters. From there, moss typography was born.
(TOP) GROW A self initiated project, searching for hidden, wild spaces around London. (BOTTOM) NATURE Saatchi & Saatchi in Germany commissioned a moss artwork to feature in a campaign for DM, one of Germany’s largest pharmacies. The campaign is focused on organic food and natural beauty products.
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MOSS IS B O S S
Hafsteinn
JULIUSSON HAF by Hafsteinn
Juliusson, an Icelandic company based in both Reykjavík and Milan, Italy, describe themselves as an innovative company. Their design objective is about changing the traditional design process as we know it and their main objective is to influence modern society. Combining both jewelry and gardening, the collection is a series of hand rings that contains real Icelandic moss. Wearers need to take care of their jewelry by frequently watering and trimming it. Earlier this year Juliusson opened his ‘growing jewelry’ store at reykjavik art museum, where pieces are displayed on sand beds under spotlighted growing lamps.
spread some eco-love by sporting tuffets of moss as jewelry. We have been waiting for an upgrade on the Chia Pet for years now, and with Juliusson’s sleek handcrafted collection there is finally an alternative to micro gardening for the design set.
Called Growing Jewelry,
the pieces are hand made from silver in a limited edition. The designer claims the moss can remain green for up to twelve weeks if cared for properly. It’s not every day that you get to watch your garden grow while wearing some fashion-forward digit bling. The Growing Jewelry collection is ideal for green thumbs who not only care about the environment but also want to
It’s a clash
of jewelry and gardening couture and organism. The collection of this hand jewelry is designed for people in metropolitan cities and is an experiment in drawing nature towards man, as nature being the presupposition of life. You might already be a bit fatigued by this year’s fashion mantra ‘Green is the new black’, but with rings and things that trade gold for the sparkle of real Icelandic moss, there is some relief in sight. What better message to send when it comes to caring for the environment and properly tending to things at arm’s reach?
The Growing Jewelry
collection is available at the Reykjavik Art Museum where it lives on sand beds under growing lamps. buy here: http://www.hafstudio.is/en/hafstore/
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Levi Van
VELUW Levi van Veluw
is a young visual artist born in Hoevelaken, the Netherlands. He studied between 2003 and 2007 in the Artez School of Arts, Autonomous Arts, Arnhem. He has shown works in London, Stockholm, Chicago and Berlin, among other cities.
The ultimate one-man
show, Van Veluw designs, creates, models, and photographs all of his works on his own face. Blending photography, surrealism, ecology, and physiology, he creates images that are strikingly visual and that also re-imagine the extremes of the human face. Visceral and elemental, there’s obviously an emotional reaction and power to the way he mutates his own image, the work is impacting not just because it’s a face, but because the face is being used as the secondary element – not the primary.
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MOSS IS B O S S
In his latest
series, “Landscapes”, he creates an entire ecosystem and then turns it through the seasons. The mixture of humanity and ecology, their inter-connection, is obvious. But normally we’re used to seeing ourselves amongst nature, not nature literally spread across our own skins. Veluw’s “Landscapes” aren’t landscapes at all, but are actually self portraits featuring amazing miniature landscapes created on his own head. One ‘landscape’ even includes a working model railway. “Landscapes” forms part of a much larger collection of work featuring a common thread of performance art and using a human subject combined with sculpture.
“BY PLAYING WITH THE VALUE OF EACH MATERIAL AND USING THEM FOR A PURPOSE THAT WASN’T ORIGINALLY INTENDED FOR THEM, I CONSTRUCT IN A SMALL WAY, A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON THE WORLD.” —Levi Van Veluw
(ALL) LANDSCAPES Landscapes are four different seasons created as self portraits of Van Veluw
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Pete & Sue Brother and sister,
Sue and Pete Hill have been making things together since 1996. Based in Cornwall, they work all over the world making theatre, creating artworks (mainly out of mud, plants, steel and mosaic) and setting fire to things.
Two of Sue
and Pete Hill’s best known sculptures, The Mud Maid and The Giant’s Head, were both commissioned by the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall, United Kingdom. A 400-year-old garden, restored to beauty. Described as one of the most mysterious estates in the whole of England, the Heligan estate is located in Cornwall. Its fame derives from the magnificent gardens surrounding the estate (the “Lost Gardens of Heligan”), and their mysterious resurrection.
HILL
The Hill siblings
built the sleeping Mud Maid around a hollow frame of timber and netting. Her hands and face were formed with a mixture of mud, sand, and cement, which was then coated with yogurt so that lichens would grow. Her hair is a veil of wood sedge and montbretia; her dress, a lattice of ivy. For the second piece, they transformed the root ball of a fallen tree into The Giant’s Head. Plastered with mud, the roots formed a face. His skin is a tapestry of local plants, and his hair is a growth of montbretia and sycamore twigs.
Emulating the romantic
mythicism of a Victorian woodland, the Lost Gardens of Heligan are a perfect landscape for these living sculptures. As time passes, the figures grow with the garden. The Mud Maid slumbers under a cloak of evolving grasses, while a colony of bees inhabits the ears of The Giant’s Head. The incredible larger-than-life sculpture even has grass and moss growing atop it.
Sue and Pete
Hill have created other moss maidens for The Eden Project in Cornwall and the 2006 Chelsea Flower show and other earthwork installations. Today Sue is a core member of Wildworks, an unconventional Cornish theatre group that travels the world to create massive installation/ theater events.
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(TOP) EVE TWO Located in the garden devoted to myth and story (BOTTOM) DREAMING GIRL Commissioned for the 4Head Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show
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Vegetal
IDENTITY Vegetal Identity was initiatied by two type designers, Antoni Bellanger & Bertrand Reguron. Inspired by the spontaneity and beauty of nature, French design company Vegetal Identity uses up to forty different species of plants to create its range of wall pieces, which combine 3D wall art with plant pictures and typography.
The French company
reinterprets a space with vetegal graphic writing, ranging from typographical sculptures to 3D hanging objects and plant frames. The frozen-in-time preserved plants need neither water nor light. Just a space to be displayed and sublimate a room.
Vegetal Identity’s latest
works transform leafy greens into descriptive icons and messages. These sculptures of sphagnum moss packed into the confines of a metal border – similar to how cookie dough is cut into shapes with a silver template – lend new meaning to the space occupied by plants and vegetation. The plants are stabilized by replacing their natural sap with a 100% biodegradable preservation product, making water and light unnecessary for them to stay fresh and green. purchase here: www.shop.yttm.fr/vegetal-identity
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RON FINLEY is changing the way the world sees gardening. He is a self-proclaimed, “Renegade Gardener,” and he plants and grows food in South Central LA. By DAVID HOCHMAN
RON Finley is bringing a new light to gardening
in South Central-LA
Finley is bringing a new light to gardening in South Central-LA
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G U ER R ILLA G AR D ENER
RON FINLEY was home by the pool recently when his thoughts once again turned to dirt. “People need to realize how powerful the transformation of soil can be,” he said powerfully, with a hint of evangelism. “We’ve gotten so far away from our food source. It’s been hijacked from us. But if you get soil, plant something in it and water it, you can feed yourself. It’s that simple.” Mr. Finley’s two-story house in South Los Angeles used to be headquarters for a swimming school but the pool was drained long ago to make way for greener dreams. Potted cactuses, bags of organic fertilizer and gardening equipment cluttered the shallow end. Graffiti emblazoned its once-white walls. Old shopping carts planted with succulents lined the pool’s edge.
been up since dawn dealing with e-mails, invitations and other byproducts of what he called “the TED effect.” Last winter at TED, the annual ideas confab in Long Beach, his rousing 10-minute talk about guerrilla gardening in low-income neighborhoods was the hug-your-neighbor presentation of the week, and Mr. Finley was suddenly, but not surprisingly, the man to meet.
“We’re going to do a parade with a hundred of these to show you can repurpose the carts instead of just junking them,” he said. It was early afternoon and Mr. Finley, who is tall, extroverted and disinclined to give his age (he has two sons in their 20s), had
“I should have brought a stripper pole and had people throw money at me,” said Mr. Finley, who juggles jobs as a fitness trainer and fashion designer to support his passion for gardening. He does not receive a salary for his work at L.A. Green Grounds, the volunteer organization he helped found three years ago to install vegetable gardens in vacant lots and sidewalk medians in blighted areas.
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TED was a world apart. “Sergey Brin from Google was standing there clapping,” he said, “Benedikt Taschen was inviting me to his Hollywood parties and Goldie Hawn wanted to say hi and kiss me. I kept thinking, what am I doing here?” Since then, Mr. Finley has been thrust into the unlikely role of pavement-pounding Johnny Appleseed. His talk has received almost 900,000 views on TED’s Web site and his message that edible gardens are the antidote to inner-city health issues, poverty and gang violence (“if you ain’t a gardener, you ain’t gangsta,” he told the crowd) has gone supernova. The talk show host Carson Daly, the renowned actress Rashida Jones and the celebrated Danish chef René Redzepi were among hundreds of new admirers issuing shout-outs on Twitter directed towards Finley and his movement.
RONFINLEY.COM Join Ron as he embarks on his next project: igniting a (horti)cultural revolution! Ron envisions a world where gardening is gangsta, where cool kids know their nutrition and where communities embrace the act of growing, knowing and sharing the best of the earth’s fresh-grown food. So, visit his website and join the movement!
Alice Waters made a stop by Mr. Finley’s house, Russell Brand put him on his late-night talk show, and corporations like Reebok, Disney, Stihl and Toms Shoes had collaboration ideas. A graduate student asked to write a dissertation about Mr. Finley, who, to his credit, has kept an eyebrow arched over his newfound fame.
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G U ER R ILLA G AR D ENER
“Ron is compelling, funny and completely authentic in his quest to redefine what’s possible in areas where there’s no nature to be seen,” said Chris Anderson, the TED curator who helped select Mr. Finley as one of 34 speakers discovered during a worldwide talent search that drew thousands of applicants last year. “He takes on the depressing narrative that our inner cities are irretrievably decaying. Watching him fight back rewires your worldview.” Mr. Finley, who grew up with seven siblings near the intersection of Florence and Normandie Avenues, where the 1992 Los Angeles riots began, aligns more with graffiti artists like Risk and Retna, both friends of Mr. Finley’s, than with English horticulturalists of yore. Neat rows of zucchini are for grandmas. His gardens have spirals, color, fragrance and curves, and, to him, soil is sensuous. “How much more sexy can it get than you eating food that you grew?” Mr. Finley asked. In a city where an elite few fuss over $13 plates of escarole wedges, too many others eat at 98-cent stores and drive-throughs or go hungry altogether. Mr. Finley estimates that the City of Los Angeles owns 26 square miles of vacant lots, an area equivalent to 20 Central Parks, with enough space for 724,838,400 tomato plants. His radical fix is to take back that land and plant it, even if it’s the skinny strip between concrete and curb.
// WE GOTTA FLIP THE SCRIPT ON WHAT A GANGSTA IS–IF YOU AIN’T A GARDENER, YOU AIN’T GANGSTA /
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The city was less magnanimous. As do other metropolitan areas, Los Angeles owns the “parkways” that run alongside the curb, and the Bureau of Street Services cited Mr. Finley for gardening on his median without the required $400 permit. Outraged, he and a band of green-thumbed activists petitioned a member of the City Council, who convinced the city to back off. “People in my neighborhood are so disconnected from the fresh food supply that kids don’t know an eggplant from a sweet potato,” Mr. Finley said. “We have to show them how to get grounded in the truest sense of the word.”
It was the barren 150-by-10-foot median outside Mr. Finley’s house that inspired his first act of crab grass defiance. In 2010, he planted a sidewalk garden to reduce grocery expenses and to avoid the 45-minute round-trip to Whole Foods. “I wanted a carrot without toxic ingredients I didn’t know how to spell,” he said. A few months later, neighbors were gawking in delight at the sight of pumpkins, peppers, sunflowers, and corn in an area better known for hubcap shops. Late one night, Mr. Finley, who is a single father, noticed a mother and daughter sneaking food from his garden. He conceived L.A. Green Grounds as a way to share the abundance with people like them.
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That missionary zeal got Mr. Finley noticed by Jesse Dylan, a filmmaker whose company made a short video about the gardener’s City Hall battle. It helped that Mr. Finley is a magnetic character. He motors around town in a three-wheeled CanAm Spyder roadster, often dressed in the couture garments he designs for his clothing company, the Dropdead Collexion. His storehouse of African-American entertainment memorabilia is considered one of the country’s most impressive, at least by Mr. Finley. “Ron’s got a deep and feisty spirit,” Mr. Dylan said. “He’s a modern Walt Whitman with attitude.” On a sparkling Saturday morning in March, Mr. Finley was overseeing a “dig-in” in Baldwin Hills with around 20 volunteers from L.A. Green Grounds. “We’re usually begging people, but this time we had 300 requests,” he said. After a few hours of working with donated shovels, mulch and seedlings, the team transformed a backyard tangle of weeds and pale grass into an outdoor salad bar
Finley working in his garden. He has big plans to maintain his neighborhood and community’s environment.
offering Japanese eggplant, black tomatoes, Swiss chard, red kale, dragon kale and plum trees. It was organic proof of Mr. Finley’s second most indelible line from TED, that “growing your own food is like printing your own money.” Mr. Finley now faces the challenge of living up to the hype. “The world is behind Ron, and it’s wonderful that his efforts and instincts intersect with latent support,” said Ben Goldhirsh, a co-founder and chief executive of GOOD, a publishing and marketing business that promotes social causes, and whose Goldhirsh Foundation plans to give Mr. Finley a grant. “The question is how to convert that energy into outcomes. Ron’s got a lot of energy and ability. It’s up to him whether he can harness that for the long slog.” With a shovel in one hand and a cellphone full of new messages in the other, Mr. Finley appeared to have as many plans as there are seeds in the new garden. “I want to plant entire blocks of vegetable beds,” he said, back in preacher mode. “I want to turn shipping containers into healthy cafes where customers can pick their salad and juice off the trees.
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// I WANT TO PLANT ENTIRE BLOCKS OF VEGETABLE BEDS // I WANT TO CLEAN UP MY ‘HOOD /
Finley’s backyard, pool, and entire neighborhood have been converted into gardens. He believes that “growing your own food is like printing your own money”.
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I want our inner-city churches to become ministries of health instead of places that serve up fried, fattening foods. I want to clean up my yard, my street and my ’ hood.” The neighbors are certainly responding. In April, a local dialysis clinic pictured in his PowerPoint slide show at TED wrote to say it had more than 200 volunteers ready to serve Mr. Finley’s cause. “It’s definitely a start,” he said. “Although the kind of support this community needs might eventually put them out of business.” If nothing else, Mr. Finley hopes to use his moment in the spotlight to give the next generation an alternative. “I wish,” he said, “somebody had told me, ‘don’t go down that street,’ or ‘find yourself a mentor,’ so that’s a role I’m trying to play.”
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The future he envisions is full of shovels, not guns, and mint and marjoram instead of drugs. “I saw a kid walking down the street listening to music when he came face to face with one of my giant Russian Mammoth sunflowers,” Mr. Finley said. “He said, ‘Yo, is that real?’ ” “He thought it was a prop or something. That’s what I want on my streets. Flowers so big and magnificent, they’ll blow a kid’s mind.”
THE EDIBLE BALCONY Meet Mark Ridsdill Smith, founder of Vertical Veg, and learn about his solution for small space food growing. Mark’s success has inspired hundreds of fans around the world, from Israel to Sri Lanka, Canada to New Zealand. By ALEX MITCHELL
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URBAN FARMING
It was necessity rather than choice that prompted Mark to convert his tiny balcony into an ambitious grow zone. After languishing on an allotment waiting list for two years, he realised he was never going to get his hands on some real earth. “My wife said: ‘Why don’t you see how much you can grow on the balcony?” So I gave it a go two years ago, and I’ve been genuinely surprised how successful it’s been,” he says. “We don’t have to buy any salad any more and grew about 90 per cent of our fruit and vegetables. Every day of the year there’s something we can eat. Our son loves it, eating strawberries growing on our windowsill every morning and following me around with a watering can.’’
Mark Ridsdill Smith’s productive 9 by 6ft balcony produced 184 lbs of produce in just ONE year, and has featured in at six books.
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And if that call came through from the allotment now? ‘’I really would think twice about it because I have so enjoyed having this beauty under my nose,’’ Mark says. “I get a really primitive joy in going out on to the balcony.” Even when you’re picking your 200th runner bean? He smiles. “Actually, I did get really sick of runner beans!’’
So what are the secrets of this tiny, shady balcony’s vast productivity? Mark uses large planters, allowing him to grow anywhere, built from floorboards found in skips. To cut down on watering, he gave the planters an internal reservoir so that rainwater can be channelled from the roof into each planter through a system of tubing. Successional sowing is vital in a space this small. No pot is left empty and the minute a crop is harvested there are more seedlings waiting to go out. He also eats a lot of crops at seedling stage - from sunflowers to peas, broad beans and coriander. Above all, though, Mark puts his success down to one thing: commitment. “If you want really good results from container growing, a few minutes of attention each day is key.”
Seen on this page, the blank canvas as Mark calls it; the front of his old London flat before he began planting. On the right page, the plant-filled face of Mark’s London flat. It sparked interest and conversation among his neighbors… and produced a lot of food!
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//YOU DON’T NEED A GARDEN TO GROW YOUR OWN FRUITS AND VEGETABLES//
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//URBAN GARDENING HAS A VITAL ROLE IN DRIVING A WIDE INTEREST IN SUSTAINABILITY//
Above: chives, mint and parsley growing happily on a kitchen windowsill. Perfectly placed for easy harvesting while cooking!
Lack of sun is one of the most common challenges for growing in a city. Surrounding buildings, walls and trees can all conspire to cast shade on your growing space for much (or even all) of the day. The amount of sun you get is critical because it determines which crops you can grow successfully. As long as your space gets at least three to four hours of sun each day, you’ll have a good choice. Less and it becomes more challenging—but still give it a try.
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Q: A:
What sort of reactions has your garden gotten from your friends, neighbors, and passersby?
I was really surprised by how overwhelmingly positive the comments about the growing at the front of the house were. When I was tending it, I got to know many of my neighbors for the first time who’d stop and ask questions. It became something of a focal point for the community. It was common to see people engaged in conversation about it outside.
Q: A:
What connections have you noticed between your urban garden and your sense of community?
I lived in the flat for fifteen years before I started growing. Over all that time, I’d hardly conversed with anyone living on my street. It wasn’t actively unfriendly—just that people didn’t stop and talk. But once I started growing, I slowly began to feel more connected. I got to know many people who lived on the street, and it completely changed our family’s relationship with where we lived. Another connection was when I started to sell surplus salad and herbs in the local deli, and also take away their waste coffee grounds that were going to landfill to recycle in my wormeries.
Q: A:
What role does urban gardening play in the larger sustainability movement?
In my view, urban gardening has a vital role in driving wider interest in sustainability. Sustainability messages are complex, and hard for many people to relate to. Food growing is a simpler, more compelling message that can also deliver wide-ranging benefits for individuals and communities. By growing food, people in cities can become more connected to the seasons, to nature, and to their food supply. This can help create a vital shift in perceptions and connections to our planet. Food growing is also a common language shared by young and old and people of all cultures. It has potential to act as bridge, bringing people from different backgrounds to work, share, and learn together. By helping to bring people together, food growing can also help to build the kind of closer-knit communities that are vital for future collective action and resilience.
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Mark’s son with home-grown rhubarb above, and strawberries shown right.
Growing your own food is good for our health, too. Very fresh food is higher in valuable nutrients – and with salad growing quite literally on his doorstep, Mark and his family eat it within minutes of picking. You can’t get fresher than that!
//ONCE I DISCOVERED IT WAS POSSIBLE TO GROW IN A SMALL SPACE, I SAW LONDON WITH NEW EYES: ALL THE BARE CONCRETE AND EMPTY BALCONIES AND WINDOWSILLS WITH THE POTENTIAL TO BE GREEN & PRODUCTIVE!//
But, above all, as a family they get so much pleasure and satisfaction from growing the food, watching the plants grow, and harvesting it for their meals. Mark and his family also enjoy watching the birds, bees and butterflies that now visit their previously lifeless concrete space.
Read more about Mark’s growing at www.verticalveg.org.uk
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PLANTING YOUR GARDEN Growing vegetables organically can be rewarding and productive. The following explains the basic elements of successful organic vegetable production, from initial site location, soil preparation, irrigation and variety selection to insect and disease control, composting, mulching and fertilization, and successive planting and crop rotation. By SUE ANDERSON
PLANTING YOUR GARDEN G A R D EN LO C ATIO N Planting your vegetable garden in the right location will help ensure the best production. The garden should have a southern exposure, such as on the south side of your home, or be located in an open field if at all possible. The chosen location should receive a minimum of 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight every day. It is also important to have a water supply nearby. For convenience, a location near the house is desirable. A site that drains well even after a heavy rain is ideal. Poor drainage may be improved by re-grading, digging ditches, installing a tile drain field or building raised beds. Nearby trees and shrubs may have extensive root systems that can interfere with water and nutrient uptake of plants at your site. Locate the garden away from these areas to minimize or avoid this problem. As a last resort, consider removing trees and shrubs that may interfere with production. Sites with serious weed problems such as nutsedge, Bermudagrass or kudzu should be avoided unless adequate measures are taken to
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Organic tomatoes are said to be packed with higher amounts of vitamin C and other compounds that help stave off disease control them. The presence of these weeds does not preclude you from using a site, but considerable work is required to remove and control these weeds. Consider fencing the site if you have a significant wild animal population nearby. Deer, raccoons and rabbits, to name a few, may become problems in the garden. Domestic animals such as dogs may also be a problem because many like to dig in soil. Fences as high as six feet, or an electric fence or some combination may be
required to control animals such as deer, or raindeer. Many established neighborhoods have large shade trees and extensive landscaping. This may preclude having a large row garden, but container gardens may still be possible in places where they can be moved to sunny locations as needed. Growing leafy greens is possible in a less-than-ideal light situation, but they will require some full sun during the day.
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IR R IG ATIO N Growing a crop without irrigation is possible, but irrigating will enhance your success. Several different irrigation methods can be used, although overhead and trickle irrigation are the most common. Trickle irrigation is the most water-use efficient because water is delivered directly to plant roots via a low-volume soaker hose, drip tape or emitters. There are some disadvantages to trickle irrigation, including installation and maintenance costs. These types of systems may need to be monitored more closely, especially with newly transplanted plants, because they may not wet the soil sufficiently or evenly for new plants. Drip irrigation tape or soaker hose placement may have to be adjusted, particularly during plant establishment. Overhead sprinkler systems are easy to use and require less maintenance and monitoring; however, they can result in uneven water application and use water inefficiently. For more detailed information on irrigation see Irrigation for Lawns and Gardens, Bulletin 894 from the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension.
C O M P O STING Compost is an excellent source of organic material for your garden. If you make it yourself, it has the added benefit of reducing the amount of waste your household generates. All organic kitchen and garden waste except animal products can be composted.
Material such as bones and animal scraps should be avoided because they attract vermin, flies and scavenging animals. A convenient size for a compost pile is 4 feet wide by 5 feet long by 5 feet high. A frame made of pressure-treated lumber can be built to hold the compost, and containers specifically designed for composting can be purchased, including types that can be easily tumbled. If you build your own compost pile, begin the compost by adding 12 inches of organic matter (kitchen scraps, yard waste, etc.) and applying 1 to 2 pounds of high-nitrogen organic fertilizer such as dried blood, guano or poultry manure. Finally, add 2 inches of soil. Continue building the compost pile in this layered fashion as you generate organic matter. Another method of composting is to combine 65 percent “brown” material with 35 percent “green” material. “Brown” materials include tree and shrub trimmings and raked leaves, while “green” materials include grass clippings and kitchen scraps. “Brown” materials such as tree and shrub trimmings should be chipped prior to use. For complete and rapid decomposition, the compost pile should be turned regularly, particularly during the initial stages. The center of the pile should be concave to hold rainwater and should begin to heat up within a couple of weeks. The composting process should be complete within two to three months, depending on materials and outside temperature.
Large material such as tree limbs and corn stalks should be chopped into smaller pieces to facilitate decomposition. Some materials, such as lawn clippings, will decompose very rapidly; others will require turning the compost pile and adding more high-nitrogen organic fertilizer. This will restart the heating and decomposition process.
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G R E E N M A N UR ES Any crop grown on land with the intent of turning it into the soil is called a green manure. Generally, legumes and various grasses are grown as green manure. Turning under a crop can provide a number of benefits, including increasing organic matter of the soil, decreasing certain disease problems and increasing the nutrient level in the soil. After the green manure is turned under, it decomposes and adds nutrients and organic matter to the soil. When used as a green manure, grasses and small grains can decrease the incidence of nematodes, which are microscopic worms that feed on certain plant roots, weakening the plants.
S O IL S O L A R I ZATIO N Difficult-to-control weeds and soilborne pathogens may be controlled with soil solarization, which involves covering the soil surface with clear plastic for eight to 12 weeks or longer. Clear plastic is used because most of the light energy is transferred to the soil. Black plastic absorbs a lot of heat, but it also shades the soil and is not as effective as clear plastic. In temperate regions where there can be a significant number of overcast days, soil solarization may require an entire season to be effective. For best results, solarization should extend over the entire summer. Although an entire growing season may be lost, weed and soilborne pathogen control will carry over to the following season. This can be particularly effective
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when done prior to winter vegetable production. To begin with, all plant material and crop residue, as is practical, should be removed. The soil should be turned to break up any clods and raked smooth. The area should be watered thoroughly so the soil is saturated. The area then should be covered with a clear plastic sheet 1 to 4 millimeters thick. The sheet can be secured along the edges with soil or rocks. Soil solarization works best during the summer months when air temperatures are high and sunlight is most intense. Soil solarization is not effective during extended periods of cool temperatures or overcast weather.
//GROWING ORGANICALLY IS REWARDING AND VERY PRODUCTIVE//
FOODS YOU MUST BUY ORGANIC Root Vegetable: Potatoes Regular potatoes that are grown above ground are sprayed with pesticides, and the soil they’re grown in is treated with fungicide. By buying organic varieties, you avoid both these threats. In case you can’t find organic potatoes, try sweet potatoes; they are usually grown with less pesticides overall. Organic potatoes cost about $1.49 per pound at grocery stores. Produce: Peppers and Celery Both veggies react to pesticides in the same way: like a sponge, absorbing the chemicals through the skin. Because of this, you won’t be able to reduce chemical ingestion by washing or peeling them. Always choose the organic variety. Organic peppers and celery cost between $3.99 and $6.99 per pound at grocery stores. Leafy Greens: Lettuce, Spinach and Collard Greens Usually these plants are doused in pesticides to ward off insects. Organic growers use methods like non-toxic repellents to keep these vegetables free of pests. Organic greens cost between $2.99 and $5.98 per pound. Dairy Products: Yogurt, Butter, Cheese and Ice-Cream. It’s important to go organic with these kitchen staples because we eat so much of them, so often. Non-organic dairy products may come from cows fed a diet of genetically modified corn, soy, and antibiotics. Organic dairy products can be found at grocery stores and usually cost between $2.19 and $4.29.
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When it comes to avoiding pesticides and other contaminants in your food, buying organic is often the healthiest option – but it can also be the priciest. Learn which surprising foods are safe to buy non-organic and which are worth the extra cost with this list. OK to Buy Non-Organic Asparagus Sweet Potato Avocados Spices Salmon According to the Environmental Working Group’s list of least pesticide-heavy foods, cabbage, cantaloupe, sweet corn, eggplant, grapefruit, kiwi, mangoes, mushrooms, onions, papayas, pineapples and frozen sweet peas are also good choices if you’re looking for less expensive, non-organic foods. Worth Buying Organic Grapes Potatoes Spinach Coffee Steak Milk Eggs Apples According to the Environmental Working Group’s list of most pesticide-heavy foods, celery, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, hot peppers, imported nectarines, peaches, strawberries, kale and collard greens, summer squash and sweet bell peppers are worth the extra money to opt for organic.
Plant a variety of foods that range from different colors to shape to size. The more variety the more diverse your diet will be.
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RE/ USE
LEARN MORE For more examples on ways to fold and to see the kinds of objects you can wrap up, visit: http://furoshiki.com/techniques
PAPER, PLASTIC, OR FUROSHIKI? Re/usE AND PROTECT the planet
a lovely way to bundle up a little parcel of goods
A
llow me to introduce origami’s lesser-known cousin, furoshiki, which is a traditional Japanese cloth-folding
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PAPER PLAS T IC O R FU R O S H IK I?
technique that allows you to wrap objects of various shapes and sizes in a single piece of square cloth. While it might look daunting at
first, you will quickly see that the folding steps are much simpler than the finished product appears.
The Japanese have been perfecting the art of wrapping furoshiki since the 17th century. There are many traditional folding techniques that can be used to elegantly wrap anything from books to bottles and can help lend a personal touch to any gift.
Each year billions of plastic bags end up as litter, but reusable products like furoshiki can help to reduce the negative impact of packaging waste on our environment. Its versatility allows you to wrap almost anything, regardless of its shape or size.
A FUROSHIKI can be used in many ways.
Here are just a few! How to wrap square objects.
How to wrap spherical objects.
How to carry two bottles at once.
How to carry two books at once.
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RE/ PURPOSE
WHAT TO UPCYCLE?
wine bottles / cans / newspaper / milk cartons / tires / suitcases / jeans / light bulbs / flannel / water bottles / glass / mail / and many other items — the list is endless!
UPCYCLING turning trash into art
L
et’s say you throw a boomerang and it comes back to you to be improved—better looking, stronger, faster, worth more money. The seemingly magical result is the aim of a very real and rapidly growing movement called upccling, a variation of recycling. Its philosophy: The stuff you throw away shouldn’t just return to the marketplace to be reused, it should come back enhanced.
Above: plastic water and soda bottles are upcycled to create miniature plant holders.
Upcycling is one of several different ways entrepreneurs and consumers are responding to the problem of trash. Americans throw out an awful lot of stuff. From home closets alone, they throw away 26 billion pounds of shoes, textiles and apparel every year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The figure is projected to increase 40 percent in the next six years. Americans in 2011 threw away 1.8 million tons of toasters and other small appliances, the EPA says, plus 3.4 million tons of consumer electronics. Yerdle, an online service started last year in San Francisco by Andy Ruben, former head of sustainability for Walmart, doesn’t take trash and improve it.
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/ THE FOCUS IS REDUCING WASTE / TAKING WHAT IS OLD, AND MAKING IT NEW AGAIN– BUT WITH A TWIST //
Instead, it matches unwanted goods with people wanting them, so that the toaster or sports jacket that would have landed in a landfill winds up on someone else’s back or on their kitchen counter. “Last night I needed a record player,” Ruben told ABC News. “Mine broke.” He found a replacement right away on Yerdle, from somebody in his neighborhood who no longer wanted theirs. People using Yerdle don’t charge for what they give, nor do they pay for what they get. They participate in hopes that when they need a blender, say, one will magically appear, donated by someone else in the network.
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RE/ PURPOSE Below: wrenches are re-purposed and hung on the wall as coat and hat hangers.
With every passing day, Ruben said, social media make trash-reducing schemes like his more possible. “It’s early yet,” he said. “In 1996, it was hard to buy anything via e-commerce. Now, you can get anything.” He expects Yerdle to balloon, and soon. In San Diego, Liz Bordessa and her daughter, Christina Johnson, practice full-on upcycling. Their company, Upcycle It Now, takes dump-destined castoffs from such companies as Patagonia and Disney (parent company of ABC News) and turns them into new, upscale products—some handsome, some witty, some both.
GETTING STARTED
Later, as a student at U.C. Davis, she took a course on sustainability.
01/
The curriculum included the book “Cradle to Cradle” by William McDonough, one of the leading gurus of upcycling. (President Bill Clinton wrote the introduction to McDonough’s newer book, “The Upcycle.”)
Support the upcycling movement. Sort through your closets or recycling bin and create items yourself /
02/
Purchase ready-made items from upcycled materials / Both make a positive impact on the environment and both reward you with something beautiful or useful.
Johnson and Bordessa expect their business to achieve sales this year of $50,000. “We see a huge potential,” Johnson said. “It’s still a new concept.”
For Patagonia, it takes worn-out rain-gear and discarded fleece jackets, then cleans them, cuts them up and recombines the materials to make fleece-lined coats for pet dogs. For Disney, it takes discarded Disney fan-club banners, then cuts and sews them into tote bags and wallets. “Our focus is reducing waste,” Johnson of Upcycle It Now says. She first got interested in repurposing fabric while working in her mother’s tailoring and alterations business, Just Alterations.
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Below: an unused ladder is re-purposed as a functioning book shelf. Bottom: old bathtubs are creatively turned into couches.
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RE/PURPOSE: Rubber Mulch RE/MAKE: Terraniums RE/VOLT: Gardening in School Systems RE/USE: Composting