Roots Risen - Top: Burdock root; Left: Jerusalem Artichoke; Right: Oca
Burdock Root, or Arctium, has a taproot that is eaten as a vegetable. The immature flower stalks can also be eaten and are harvested in late spring before flowers appear. Burdock is considered medicinally as a diuretic, diaphoretic, and blood purifying agent.
Jerusalem Artichoke, knows as Helianthus Tuberosus, is a sunflower species known for its perennial edible root tuber. Roots can be eaten raw, cooked, or made into pasta. The plant is a prolific grower and will spread from where it is planted.
Oca, or Oxalis Tuberosa, is a perennial with edible tubers. The roots are crisp when raw or starchy when cooked.
All these roots can be harvested in mid-late fall and the Jerusalem Artichoke can be transplanted to new gardens by breaking off and planting a piece of the root beneath the soil.
One root node was brought to the rooftop gardens at Make Harmony Kitchen and Community Center in the Bayview/Hunter's Point district where it was planted with kale starts from the Gill Tract Farm. The community center is working with others to host a meeting about food justice within the neighborhood Tuesday, November 13th at Boudreaux's Cafe on 3d Street between Revere and Quesada. The working group plans to bring together projects already happening in the district to increase food sovereignty and community resiliency and start some new initiatives toward greater self-sufficiency and community interdependence.
A quick way to terrace a sloped roof with repurposed wood, and even the old nails!
Rising Roots and Space Transformers built these terracing platforms on a sloped concrete roof at Make Harmony Kitchen. The terracing allows for greater even growing surface and the sloped roof drains to a gutter that can be intercepted with water collection barrels to reuse water draining from the planters and to catch rain water that falls on the roof. A cob oven is also in the design phase and will function as a wood-fired oven for baking breads outside of the kitchen. Cobb is a mixture of sand, clay, straw, and water that is like adobe, resistant to fire, and a great conductor of heat.
