John Mooney Shows Off Rooftop Farm Above His New NYC Restaurant, Bell Book And Candle (VIDEO)

Chef John Mooney shows off the rooftop farm above his soon to open restaurant, Bell Book & Candle, in this video from CNN.

Mooney plans to grow nearly all of the produce used in his restaurant on the roof, which utilizes an aeroponic system where plants are held in vertical towers that provide a nutrient-rich solution, using no soil. Because the solution has a regulated temperature, Mooney says they are able to grow 10 months out of the year. He also contends that the vertical setup not only saves space, but provides a more rapid growth for the food.

The benefits of the setup are obvious. With food going directly from the harvest to the consumer's plate, there is no need for energy-consuming transportation or the chemicals and refrigeration used to preserve products in that process. His patrons get the freshest possible meal, as a result.

"I believe, especially in an urban setting, that this is the wave of the future," Mooney tells CNN.

WATCH:

Comments

[Mike Vaz]

12:38 PM on 10/08/2010

Rooftop gardens are apparently taking off. It seems to be all over major US metropolitan areas which is rad. I hope more people get into this. Since I'm a NY resident I tend to hear more about the NYC rooftop culture from friends down there.

http://glenwoodnyc.com/roller/blog/entry/nyc_rooftop_gardens_and_urban

[bnation]

09:32 PM on 09/27/2010

I'm wondering if they could eventually build a greenhouse roof over some of the plants to facilitate year-round gardening. In any case, it is a great idea!

[anthonytaurus]

02:55 PM on 09/29/2010

Yes, they can and do! I'm having my roof replaced as I type this. I was talking about a rooftop garden with the building owner, next door. He knows more about this stuff than me. He says he helped a friend put a greenhouse on the roof and it was all year round. I was actually shooting more for a completely green roof but it's too expensive right now. So, that's the plan for me. There are a lot of restaurants near me so I will target them in the future.

However, my indoor grows will be some other plant *wink wink*

[Pleroma]

01:23 AM on 09/27/2010

This is one clear-thinking chef! Nearness to the garden defines quality.

[roseau]

05:36 PM on 09/26/2010

I love the idea, but having spent a lot of time in a 10th story NY apartment with a window open, I can honestly say that the airborne pollution is pretty intense. This is a great idea in terms of environmental impact, but not that appealing to me as food. I hope they wash it very, very well.

[Dean Smith]

12:31 PM on 09/26/2010

Elsewhere today we read that only 5 percent of Americans order a salad with their meal.

[anthonytaurus]

03:55 AM on 09/26/2010

As a marijuana grower, I can say hydroponics is the future for the rest of you growers. For us, it's kind of already mainstream and I would go so far as to say we're at the forefront of the movement if not the very reason it's become mainstream. Who else has needed a reason to grow indoors? Who else has needed a reason to not use soil (as police can ID grow ops by the amount of used soil that was dumped)?

You want to learn how to do hydroponics effectively, take a look at what marijuana growers are doing and talking about. While folks at Home Depot are still selling cheap quality Miracle Gro products, marijuana growers have been using inorganic salts like GH, Botanicare, Advanced Nutrients, and many more. When it comes to organic hydroponics, the door is wide open for us. There are many options that exist under those same companies and more.

No one is saying that you should grow marijuana. But, if growing your own food with hydroponics really interests you in your own home (especially those in the city, like me), you're going to have to dance with devil, so to speak. No one else really has the science and chemistry down like a marijuana grower.

[Pleroma]

01:03 AM on 09/27/2010

Great information. Many kinds of expertise are necessary for the cannabis (marijuana) grower. Purity and cleanliness of the product is highly important.

[Beth Boyle]

10:02 PM on 09/24/2010

That is not a farm.

[Pleroma]

01:36 AM on 09/27/2010

This chef has created a farm of greenery on a city rooftop. We all have memories and sentiments about farming. I'm reminded of a story I heard about Farm Aid, the farm preservation movement that started on 1985, that none of the farms they visited that were in financial distress had a kitchen garden. They were enslaved to single crop farms and the huge debt incurred by such.

Maybe it all hinges on your definition of farm.

[Lpeter]

05:58 PM on 09/24/2010

Looks and sounds great but I beleive when you grow in soil there is more of a connection to nature that is hard to describe the benefits. Kind of the God thing.

[Pleroma]

01:04 AM on 09/27/2010

Soil is stardust.

[jmar829]

05:35 PM on 09/28/2010

Soil is not abundant in cities though.

[Cryostatic]

01:11 PM on 09/24/2010

Interesting idea, and although his aeroponic system isn't organic, it's still pretty impressive.

[jsarets]

07:53 PM on 09/24/2010

You have to be extremely careful using organic nutrient bases with aeroponics, because undissolved particulates can clog the spray nozzles and/or pump filters.  

It's very difficult to produce a high-quality organic nutrient base for hydroponics.  The only truly viable feedstocks are fish meal and earthworm castings.  The latter is substantially deficient in calcium, and the former is probably less sustainable than using inorganic nutrient salts.  

Even fish-based nutrient bases are somewhat deficient in calcium, and larger plants such as tomatoes are susceptible to blossom-end rot unless the nutrient solution is fortified with inorganic calcium salts.

The supply of nitrogen is mostly ammonium ions, which are more slowly assimilated into the roots than nitrate ions and therefore more suitable for soil and other high-density media rather than pure hydroponic techniques such as aeroponics, nutrient film, or deep water culture.

The leading-edge practice in advanced hydroponics is to use a nutrient base of inorganic salts and trace metal chelates supplemented with smaller amounts organics, including earthworm castings, kelp extract, yeast extract, and root-colonizing microbes (Bacillus bacteria and Trichoderma fungi).  

Besides solving the classic agricultural compromise of balancing root exposure to water and air, aeroponics has less evaporative water loss than other methods and more complete recycling of nutrients, since the root chamber is relatively water-tight with no medium to trap nutrients.  

With proper maintenance, aeroponic systems can go three weeks or more before replacing the solution, so whatever kind of nutrients are used, they will use less of it and less water.  NASA is developing aeroponic systems for food production in space, where waste must be kept to an absolute minimum.

[lilpeg]

08:27 AM on 09/25/2010

What happens to the nutrient solutions and waste after they are used up and need to be replaced? Are they recycled back into the system? Too bad there are no compost methods for this sort of gardening. Soil seems to be best.

[ValdaDeDieu]

01:11 PM on 09/24/2010

I'm a fan! I love it. Sustainable way for healthy eating...Organic by default.

[KarlaElisa]

12:41 PM on 09/24/2010

This is fantastic and his produce looked heavenly! The only thing I might add to this mix is solar generated power to keep that solution at the 68 degree temp, if this is doable.

BTW....Thanks HuffPo for subjecting me to a bloody EAR SHATTERING advertisement prior to the clip. The difference in volumes between that and the actual REASON I came here to see this was undeniably huge. Think you can maybe equalize the settings?

[Lorilita]

11:19 AM on 09/24/2010

An awesome way to contribute to the sustainable movement! To connect with likeminded people, you guys should check out www.kaluyala.com.

[ilovecandy]

10:43 AM on 09/24/2010

Great idea