Soaring prices and concerns about chemical-laden fruits and vegetables increasingly drive us to grow our own healthy food close to home. In cities, however, vanishing ground space and contaminated soils spur farmers, activists, and restaurateurs to look to the skyline for a solution. The hunger for local food has reached new heights, and rooftops can provide the space that cities need to bring fresh, organic produce to tables across North America.
The first full-length book to focus entirely on rooftop agriculture, Eat Up views this growing movement through a practitioner’s lens, explaining:
Structural, access, and infrastructural considerations
Zoning and building codes
Proven growing techniques
Business and marketing strategies
This graphically rich guide provides inspiration and advice to aspiring growers through photographs of successful rooftop farms and gardens and interviews with industry professionals. Easy-to-use checklists and a decision tree are included to help gauge the viability of each unique rooftop opportunity. Essential reading for home gardeners, entrepreneurs, restaurateurs, policy makers, academics, and designers, Eat Up takes urban agriculture to a whole new level, proving that rooftop farming is not just pie in the skyit is the future of urban food.
Lauren Mandel holds a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor of arts degree in environmental science. She is a project manager and rooftop agriculture specialist at Roofmeadow, where she designs green roofs and oversees green roof and rooftop agriculture projects around the country.
Review
A smart, comprehensive guide for ambitious beginners, written by a woman with extensive expertise in her rooftop field. If we’re going to see gardening spread atop our skylines, it’ll be led by farmers with Ms. Mandel’s book in their backpack …This guide suits all cities, roofs and styles of farming: once read, you can no longer ignore the possibilities above us. Green thumbs up! —Annie Novak, Co-Founder and farmer, Eagle Street Rooftop Farm
Ms. Mandel offers a practical introduction to the exciting potential as well as the challenges associated with rooftop agriculture. EAT UP is a must read for designers, urban planners and agriculturalists who are thinking seriously about how our cities can accommodate the pressing needs of the 21st century. This book offers useful case studies of successful projects which serve a wide range of values, including building community, promoting social justice, and bolstering public health. —Charlie Miller, President, Roofmeadow
A smart, comprehensive guide for ambitious beginners, written by a woman with extensive expertise in her rooftop field. If we’re going to see gardening spread atop our skylines, it’ll be led by farmers with Ms. Mandel’s book in their backpack …This guide suits all cities, roofs and styles of farming: once read, you can no longer ignore the possibilities above us. Green thumbs up! —Annie Novak, Co-Founder and farmer, Eagle Street Rooftop Farm
Ms. Mandel offers a practical introduction to the exciting potential as well as the challenges associated with rooftop agriculture. EAT UP is a must read for designers, urban planners and agriculturalists who are thinking seriously about how our cities can accommodate the pressing needs of the 21st century. This book offers useful case studies of successful projects which serve a wide range of values, including building community, promoting social justice, and bolstering public health. —Charlie Miller, President, Roofmeadow
From the Back Cover
FROM ROOF TO TABLE – URBAN FOOD HAS REACHED NEW HEIGHTS
Rooftops may be America’s greatest unused resource and Ms. Mandel’s book gives an exciting, but realistic assessment of the opportunities and challenges involved with turning these forgotten spaces into productive suppliers of food. — Stacy Bare, Sierra Club, Mission Outdoors Director
This guide suits all cities, roofs and styles of farming: once read, you can no longer ignore the possibilities above us. Green thumbs up! — Annie Novak, co-founder and farmer, Eagle Street Rooftop Farm
The hunger for local food has reached new heights, and rooftops can provide the space that cities need to bring fresh, organic produce to tables across North America. Whether you are a home gardener, restaurateur, entrepreneur or policy-maker, EAT UP will give you the tools you need to turn your dreams of rooftop farms and gardens into reality. As the first full-length book to focus entirely on rooftop agriculture, EAT UP provides inspiration and advice to aspiring growers, as well as easy-to-use checklists and a decision tree to help gauge the viability of each unique rooftop opportunity. This graphically-rich guide views the burgeoning rooftop agricultural movement through a practitioner’s lens with useful tips related to: • Structural, access and infrastructural considerations • Zoning and building codes • Proven growing techniques • Business and marketing strategies. EAT UP takes urban agriculture to a whole new level, proving that rooftop farming is not just pie in the sky – it is the future of urban food.
Anyone interested in bringing the benefits of a localized food system to cities will gain from EAT UP’s clear and concise information on how to capture the relatively untapped potential presented by urban rooftops.— Beth McKellips, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Director of Agricultural Economic Development
… an inspirational look at the future of food gardening in cities. This book will expand your notions of where gardening is possible and just how much food you really can grow right at home.— David Greenberg, Growing Gardens, Executive Director
Lauren Mandel holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science. She is a Project Manager and Rooftop Agriculture Specialist at Roofmeadow, where she designs green roofs and oversees green roof and rooftop agriculture projects throughout North America.
About the Author
Lauren Mandel is a Project Manager and Rooftop Agriculture Specialist at Roofmeadow, the preeminent green roof firm in North America, where she designs vegetated and agricultural rooftops, and oversees green roof construction throughout the United States. She has visited rooftop farms and interviewed rooftop farmers and gardeners across North America, and has contributed to the design of several rooftop agricultural operations in the Mid-Atlantic. Ms. Mandel holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science from Skidmore College. She has previously worked as a landscape designer, US Forest Service wilderness ranger, organic farm intern, and a research intern for American Farmland Trust.
