I am intrigued with the creative way concrete jungle dwellers are finding ways to grow gardens whether it's through yardsharing or fire escape farming, and now, Truck Farms. Film makers Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, the creative minds behind King Corn and The Greening of Southie are proving that you can garden anywhere with their mobile garden planted in the bed of their 1986 Dodge Ram pickup.
If you live in Brooklyn you may see this four wheeled farm and if you do flag it down and for $20 you can join their CSA and they'll deliver fresh truck grown veggie to you home. You can also go to their site Wicked Delicate and email them to join. Now of course, being filmakers Ellis and Cheney are making a film out of the project. Actually the $20 CSA membership will get you a copy of the DVD when it's out.
There's more to this project than just throwing some soil and some seed in the bed of an old pickup. To make it work they needed the right drainage, a way to prevent errosion, and fertile soil that wouldn't crush the old trucks suspension. With the help of NYC native green roof company Alive Structures, they filled the truck with a root barrier, erosion blanket, drainage mat and special lightweight soil made out of recycled styrofoam, gel, organics, and clay. Topped with a layer of compost and seeds from Iowa based Seed Savers this concept became reality.
The garden is growing great with rows arugula, lettuce, broccoli, herbs, tomatoes and habaneros which they are documenting with a roof mounted solar powered time lapse camera, that snaps a pic every 5 minutes. Check out some excerpts from the film...
