Happiness up above...

So as I continued along my merry way through the Big Apple, I was kept visually stimulated with the cities uniqueness in both architecture – which was epic in proportions, and also the greeneries that was squeezed in amongst the abundance of concrete. We’re spoilt for space here in Melbourne when you really think about it. We just need to make better use of it, especially with the every growing population.

Just a couple of subway stops, under the Hudson River, is Brooklyn. We were invited by friends to visit a market one Sunday morning in bustling Greenpoint, Brooklyn. It delivered more than an ordinary market - it was the Eagle Street Rooftop Farm. We had yet again, discovered across another blissful garden up above. It was an edible garden – with a view.

A group of local residents teamed up and gathered council approval for a communal vegetable garden on the rooftop of old industrial building transferring it into a thriving 6,000-square-foot farm. And with initiative and commitment, so begun this wonderful edible rooftop gardens.

With Manhattan as a backdrop, the garden has been growing delights such as kale, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, radishes, peas and herbs since April 2009, on 100 tons of soil that he hauled up to the roof by crane.

Volunteer farmers maintain the garden and it also sells produce to local restaurants eager to use homegrown food. In return, many local cafés have given their used coffee grounds to make compost.

Sure Melbourne have places like CERES and Veg Out St Kilda in terms of Community Gardens. But nothing like I came across in Brooklyn and Manhattan. And so it continues, with an additional influence (mainly because it is edible) my quest to bring such a happy green space to Melbourne, up above.