An indoor solution for the balcony and allotment-less urban dweller.

The word parasite carries with it some nasty connotations, particularly for the independent young urbanite. There’s the bloodcurdling kind (rats scrambling into crevices pitted into the tracks of the F train, e.g.)and then there’s the human kind (roommate, from hell). Both are pretty nasty.

They feed off our trash while lusting for our blood. They’re capable of murder most foul. Parasites: they suck. Whoever would invite them to live amongst us, in our kitchens? Where we eat?

The answer is, clever Deutschlanders Charlotte Dieckmann and Nils Ferber. They’re behind the strikingly inoffensive Parasite Farm.

The Parasite Farm is an indoor vermicomposting system, replete with a chopping-board for quick scraps disposal. It can be attached to a kitchen table and the mountable plant boxes can be affixed to existing bookshelves.

Inside the Parasite Farm live the parasites that feed off your biological waste churning it into humus soil.

According to Fast Company via The New York Times, food waste accounts for roughly 13 percent of the trash in the United States. Composting in the open country or even the ‘burbs offers an easy solution to offset that level of waste. Composting in the city is “not for the faint of heart.”

“It requires commitment, space and sharing tight quarters with rotting matter and two-inch-long wiggler worms that look like pulsing vermicelli.”

Um, ick.

It also beckons fruit flies and, if not pulled off correctly, major olfactory funk. Luckily the Parasite Farm comes with this handy little flytrap to keep the fruit flies where they’re meant to be.

And the lively green device makes the task look friendly and approachable, thus totally doable for the composting impaired.

Here’s a visual of how it works:

Step 1.

Slide veggie trimmings into the bin, where the worms live.

Step 2.

Harvesting involves shaking the grate at the bottom and pulling it out of the drawer underneath

Step 3.

Leftover water is siphoned into a separate tank to be used as a liquid fertilizer.

Step 4.

Voila! Fertilize seeds with your apartment grown soil. Call yourself Farmer Jane.

Truly, this is as close to urban organic as you can get.

Images: Alexander Giesemann; Charlotte Dieckmann

Gardening stories that had us wanting to intensify our green thumb.

The urban homesteading movement gained serious speed this year, proving that you don’t need to move to the suburbs to enjoy the simple pleasures of growing your own vegetables, raising your own chickens, and starting your own bee colony. And despite some groups’ best efforts to kill the momentum, it doesn’t look like the trend is disappearing anytime soon.

One great offshoot of the urban homesteading movement is the spread of new, innovative ways to grow things indoors. Forget standard windowsill planters; this is the 21st century. Here, a sampling of Shelter’s favorite herb kits, terrariums, and other gravity-defying, thought-provoking indoor gardening objects from the past year.

It’s a very small world after all in these mini moss terrariums made from vintage glass and upcycled objects. Michelle Inciarrano and Katy Maslow specialize in miniaturizing scenes, and they take custom orders.

The Plantable concept table/planter from JAILmake reflects on “the distance we place between ourselves and the processes involved in making our food.”

These gravity-defying ceramic sky planters use Slo-flo irrigation technology to minimize water use.

It’s a greeting card! It’s a garden! The City Postcarden is both, with a little water and tending, of course.

The Eco Orb Terrarium kit from Tend Living lets you build your own miniature glass orb garden from a Tilliandis plant, reindeer moss, sand, and accents.

The Zozio from Pousse Créative might look like a “standard windowsill planter,” but it is so much more. This eco-friendly planter doubles as a bird feeder and is ideal for vertical gardens.

The Miroir en Herbe from h2O Architects blurs the boundaries between nature and culture.

Grow your own herbs from the comfort of your kitchen with a selection of indoor herb garden kits and accessories.

Wine bottles get a second life with these Growbottle Upcycled Hydrogardens from Potting Shed Creations, available in Oregano, Chives, Basil, Parsley, and Mint.

And finally, with the addition of Mike Lieberman’s 2012 series on Urban Gardening, expect good harvesting ahead and get your garden planned out now.

A roundup of some of our favorite food related articles.

It’s no secret: here at EcoSalon we’re big on food. Eating it, dreaming about it, cooking it, reading about it, thinking about it, talking about it, and writing about it. We even have two weekly columns devoted to all things culinary. Why? Because no matter who we are or where we live, we all must eat.

Food touches so many aspects of our lives, far beyond just the dinner table. It’s intertwined in culture and politics, economy and tradition. What lettuce we buy at the grocery store can affect a farmer, a town and a watershed on the other side of the country. What country is marked on our bag of coffee can indicate how workers are treated. How much we eat and how much we throw away, says a lot about our consumer culture as a whole, and the lack thereof in other regions.

Given all of that, what we eat, where it comes from and how we eat it is in fact one of the greater defining factors of who we are as a society and how we think about the world and our fellow human beings. But food is also fun, and it’s an ongoing adventure to identify new things to eat and how to cook things, or to simply be reminded of a product that we may have overlooked.

In honor of food, and given that it’s the season for dinner parties and farmers market strolls, here are the top 10 food stories that you may have missed the first time around but are certainly worth a read, be they thought provoking political pieces, or just reminders of why we love food:

1. What Does $20 Billion in Wasted Food Look Like?

Did you know that in Britain alone $20 billion worth of food is wasted per year? That equals out to about a third of Britain’s groceries. But what exactly does $20 billion in food waste look like? The real visual just might get you seriously thinking about what food you keep and what food you throw away.

2. The Sexual Politics of Dinner

I grew up with a mother that made fantastic meals, in fact she is truly a lover of good food. Sometimes cooking is simply a task that needs to be completed, and when it comes down to it, men and women approach that task differently.

3. Living in Sin With Breads from Berlin

Bread. Good old bread. Gluten-free may be the current mantra of many, but this article is a good reminder that, serious food allergies aside, we shouldn’t be afraid of real food. Check out the complete list of fresh-baked, dark-brown breads and why they have a culinary, and nutritional, advantage.

4. What We Don’t Know Can Hurt Us

Most of us are well aware that vegetables are better than fries and whole grains far outweigh their processed counterparts, but how much do we really know about what we eat? Nutrition fads draw attention, but it turns out, that in seducing us with things like “fat free” and “low sodium,” we’re distracted from what’s really good for us, and the choices that we make because of it, could be detrimental.

5. 10 Street Eats

What’s a better way to explore a new place than by its food? The Green Plate columnist Vanessa Barrington takes us on a tour of 10 street foods, from Banh Mi to Burek, complete with recipes for those of us with minimal travel plans on the summer to do list.

6. Boost Your Brain With the 20 Smartest Foods on Earth

If these 20 foods aren’t on your “Keep on hand at all times” list, they should be. From avocados to oysters to eggs, these are the foods that make for powerful brain boosters and you should be putting on your daily, or weekly, menu.

7. No Excuses, Just Vegetables

A guest post from urban gardening extraordinaire Mike Lieberman, this article is a great reminder as to why we should all be making an effort to be growing more vegetables at home. Lieberman outlines the first important steps to home gardening, and highlights the most important: no excuses. Just do it!

8. The Facts About Food Dyes

Hold the sprinkles, please. Food dyes may have more side effects than you think. Linked to allergies, cancers and even hyperactivity, you may want to rethink what colorful items you’re putting in the pantry.

9. The Conscious Case Against Veganism

A vegan turned omnivore posits why the sustainable path may not lead to veganism, eliciting plenty of thoughts and comments from the EcoSalon community. The moral? “Conscientious consumption means eating and living ethically, not religiously.”

10. Just Cook: How to Integrate Cooking Into Your Daily Life

With all this talk of food, what’s the most basic way we can have an impact: cook consciously. Cooking keeps us from processed foods, saves us money and gets us to eat healthier. So what’s stopping you? Read this hassle free guide to ensuring that cooking – and cooking well – becomes a part of your everyday routine.

Image: Anna Brones

Guest authorUrban gardening expert Mike Lieberman shares his tips.

The number one excuse that apartment dwellers have when it comes to growing their own vegetables is that they have no space. They also believe that growing one or two things is a complete waste.

These are just excuses. Lots of space isn’t required. What is required is a bit of creativity. It’s worth the time and effort if you grow even one herb or vegetable. It will make a difference.

Did you know that on average food travels 1,500 miles to get to our plates? By growing some of your own, it will help to cut back on the intensive resources that go into food production and transportation. It will also help you to re-establish your connection with food. There are plenty of simple reasons that I can list to grow your own food.

I started apartment gardening in the spring of 2009 on my fire escape in New York City. Despite being on 2′ x 3′, I was able to grow plenty of veggies. Since then, I’ve moved to Los Angeles and now have a balcony garden.

Growing veggies without much land can be your reality, too. Here’s how you can start your own vegetable container garden.

Decide on a Location

First thing is first. You need to pick the location where you are going to start. An important factor to take into consideration is how far from the water source your garden will be. The last thing you want to do is be carrying water through your apartment to your garden, but there are ways around that.

Don’t Just Think of the Floor

After deciding the where, you need to figure the area that you are working with. Don’t just think of the space on the ground. Think windowsills, ledges, railings and the space above you. Get creative.

Conditions of the Area

Figure out how much direct and indirect sunlight your space gets. If it gets at least 2-3 hours of direct sunlight, you are good to grow. My balcony garden is east facing and gets about 4-6 hours of early morning sunlight, so I grow what works best in those conditions.

What to Grow In

You can either go to the store and buy some containers or make self-watering planters, which is what I use. Self-watering planters use two containers and require little maintenance after they are built. They are constructed from two 5-gallon containers (you can get these from your local flower shop, deli, restaurant or farmers market for little to no money).

If you have the space to hang some plants, then you can use soda bottles to make hanging planters or buy new ones. Herbs such as basil, oregano and mint do well in these.

What to Grow

This is the big decision. What will you grow?

This could very well be determined for you by your space and sun conditions. Since I get limited sun on my balcony and use smaller containers, my selection is pretty small.

From there, you can grow things that you know you like and will eat or you can experiment with new veggies or new versions of veggies that you like. That’s up to you.

I always suggest growing greens and lettuces because they don’t get to be too big, grow pretty easily and you know that you’ll use them.

Herbs are the other thing that I recommend. They are likely the best economic value. When you buy herbs in the store, you have to buy a huge bushel when you only need a few pieces. Most usually goes to waste. By growing your own, you can take what you need and let it continue to grow. It’ll always be on hand.

No Excuses

Now you have a foundation to get your urban vegetable garden started. You don’t have to plant a ridiculous amount. Remember, just one plant will make a difference. We are humans. We grown food. Land, space, money and lack of experience shouldn’t be excuses. If I can do this, why can’t you?

Guest author Mike Lieberman is the man behind Urban Organic Gardener, where he share his expertise on urban gardening, green living, and real food. You can also connect with Mike on Twitter and Facebook.

ColumnEcoSalon’s best gardening articles to get you going.

We’ve sprung forward. Now it’s time to coax life from your own backyard soil. Get out there and start those starts, sow those seeds, and grow your own food. Here’s a handy roundup of our best gardening articles to help you get started.

It all begins with the soil. Without healthy soil, your plants won’t thrive and create great tasting produce so here’s a step-by-step guide to building what I like to call, sexy soil.

1. If you’re worried about what dangerous heavy metals and contaminants might be lurking in your urban loam, get the dirt here.

2. Not sure what to plant? Start with the 10 easiest plants to grow at home.

3. Lack the luxury of a traditional backyard? Don’t despair, you can grow in milk crates, on walls, and even in your front yard.

4. Need a little more direction on exactly how to plant and tend your garden? This article breaks it all down for you.

5. Kids can learn so much about food and the cycles of nature from gardening, so don’t get all hung up on creating the perfect garden, get the kids involved, and let them loose. Here’s how.

6. Maybe you don’t want to go it alone? Need some moral support? Try yard sharing.

7. Got the vegetables down? Try raising backyard chickens, or maybe even fish.

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

Guerrilla Gardening

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Try your hand at guerrilla gardening. You know that boring patch of grass on the corner? I’m sure no one would mind if you sneaked in some sunflowers or a bunch of marigolds. Guerrilla gardening is an underground urban movement to take back the little green spaces most people ignore. Beautify your neighborhood, on the sly.

The Outdoors

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Hiking, biking or walking in a local natural area or park. Yes, this is obvious, but sometimes we forget how free and easy some of the best pleasures are!

Concerts

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Keep your eyes peeled for free concert and theater-in-the-park series starting in late spring and summer.

Urban Foraging

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Take up urban foraging. Who doesn’t like free food? Learn about wild, regional edible plants or befriend a neighbor with an overloaded fruit tree going to waste. Augment your diet with fresh, free foods!

Sex

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Have a partner? Have sex. Nature’s foremost free fun activity – get creative with it! (Getting busy is certainly one of our favorite healthy recommendations.)

Picnic

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Take your honey or some friends on a good, old-fashioned picnic.

Trade Entertainment

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Scour your books, CD’s and DVD’s for those items you just no longer need and trade them in for credit at a local used CD or bookstore. Spend the afternoon browsing for new reads and new tunes you’d never find otherwise. If there’s no used media store in your area, try a website like SwapTree or Title Trader.

Stargazing

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Spend a night stargazing. Find star maps online or in the library, then scout out the darkest part of town and learn the constellations. Watch as they change through the seasons. Bring a romantic partner for extra motivation.

Podcasts

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Explore the vast world of podcasts. I myself am a podcast addict, loving to enrich my mind with interviews and alternative news. You can find storytelling and comedy podcasts too if you prefer something a little lighter, or podcasts featuring music you’d never hear on the radio.

Volunteer

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Try volunteering. I know, I know, this is not what people usually think of for fun, but my husband has shown me otherwise. He regularly volunteers for behind-the-scenes help at music festivals and expo’s, which means he meets lots of great people and attends the event for free. I’ve done it with him and I have to admit, it’s more fun than simply buying a ticket and being part of the audience.

Craigslist (and more)

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Check out your local Craig’s List free section or Freecycle. This is a fun way to pick up free things you need, and maybe some fun items you can redecorate or make art with. Surprising things have been known to turn up…I’ve seen soap-making kits, antique roll-top desks and even a hot tub! It’s definitely worth a spin.

Clothing Swap

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Call your friends and organize a clothing swap party. Tell them to bring all the clothing, shoes and accessories that no longer suit them (or fit them) and spend an evening hanging out and shopping for free.

Garage Sale

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Have a yard sale. You know you have lots of stuff you could do well to pass along, and make a little extra cash while you’re at it. If the weather is still too cold where you live, start putting things aside now and you’ll be ready for yard sale season.

The Library

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Make use of the public library. This has been one of my favorite free things since I was a kid. I mean, c’mon, books, movies, music – all for free!?! Depending on how extensive your local library system is, you will have an amazing amount of resources at your fingertips. Your taxes already paid for it, might as well take advantage.

Potluck

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Host a potluck. Humans are social animals, and we all love to eat. Food is a great icebreaker.

Get Creative

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Pull out a sketchbook and draw. If you’ve got colored pencils or watercolors, play around with those, too. Looking at something deeply enough to draw it can be a powerful exercise in perception – and recognizing beauty in surprising places.

Nature Knowledge

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Get a regional plant identification guide (from the library, of course) and make a point of learning the names of the trees and plants in your area. It’s even more satisfying if you bring a sketchbook along and create your own personal botanical book.

Send a Note

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Make homemade greeting cards for upcoming holidays and birthdays. You can use fabric scraps, magazine cut-outs and odd bits of beautiful paper. People love to receive snail mail.

Get Fit

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Develop a workout routine that you can do without equipment (or minimal things you might already have, like a jump rope or dumbbells) and then do it! It’s most fun if you find a sweet spot outside, with the fresh air and shade under a tree. Need workout ideas? Here’s a place to start.

Write

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Start keeping a journal. If you don’t like to write, don’t be dismayed. One of my favorite journalers simply does one small watercolor painting per day, and that’s all she needs to record the progress of her life. If you’re a crafty DIYer, you can easily make a journal yourself with simply things you have around the house.

Is that enough to get you started? What do you do for dollar-free fun?

Each week here at EcoSalon, the editors choose a post from the archives that we think you’ll love. The original post can be found here.

Images: Mr. Theklan, tanakawho, kandjstudio, orangeacid, sun dazed, davidChief, bensonkua, Phing., poplinre, Emuishere Peliculas, Dave Bezair, acloudman, mmadden, qnr, telmo32, Choctopus, kennymatic, faunng, peregrineblue, laurenatclemson’s, ghedo, peregrineblue

I grew up with a garden. My mother even made sure that I had my own plot (it consisted of mostly sunflowers and a few weeds). But not until recently did I really discover the joy of tending to plants. There’s something about gardening that invokes a raw feeling within you. Getting your hands dirty, digging in the soil, watching seeds turn to seedlings and eventually filling your plate with produce that you were 100 percent responsible for cultivating. But as urbanites know very well, finding the space and time to take part in the grow-your-own-food revolution isn’t always easy.

Rural dwellers with expansive plots that fit beautifully crafted beds are lucky, but there are many city residents out there crammed into tight spaces that barely fit their kitchen tables, much less a fully functional salad breeding ground. Enter yard-sharing.

The basic principles to yard-sharing are pretty straightforward: people come together to share space, skills and time in order to grow food. Community gardens have been around for decades, but the trend of sharing your backyard with a group of like minded people is fairly recent, and taking part is simple. All you have to do is find a space and the people to share it with.

The online community, Hyperlocavore, is playing a big role in spreading the word about yard-sharing, and helping to connect like-minded individuals. What’s a “hyperlocavore”? Simply a person who tries to eat as much food as locally as possible. Before this lifestyle might have been served by shopping at farmers markets or taking part in a CSA, but opting for a yard-share allows individuals who believe in eating locally the ability to make a more genuine connection with their food, as well.

As we all know, space isn’t the only obstacle to growing your own food; growing a garden from scratch, even if you have the space for it, can be daunting, which is why the support of a farm-savvy community is key. Sites like Hyperlocavore aren’t just making sure people find a green space to grow their own food in, but also feel empowered to do so.

There are also regional-specific sites focused on bringing locals together to cooperatively grow food. Portland has one. In fact, the city known for its commitment to sustainable food and lifestyles also has an Urban Farm Collective and Urban Farm Hub offer the latest and greatest of what’s going on with urban farms around the country, including some features on yard-sharing. But since yard-sharing hasn’t hit the mainstream yet, sometimes your best bet for meeting fellow gardeners and finding the optimal space is word of mouth and places like Craigslist.

Then there are those who know that their green thumbs will never develop but still want to make sure their garden space is being put to good use. What’s an eco-savvy home or land owner to do? Find a match for your garden. In Seattle Urban Garden Share is an online space that matches local gardens or garden spaces with seasoned gardeners. That means your green space is being put to good use, even if you don’t have the time to do it yourself. And even if you aren’t well versed in the skills of gardening but looking to find somewhere to learn, resources like this can be a great help.

Ready for locally, hand-grown veggies this spring? Start yard hunting!

Editor’s note: This is the second installment of Anna Brones’s new column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground. Each week, Anna will be taking a look at something new and different that’s taking place in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to culinary avant garde.

Image: Gabriel Kamener, Sown Together

Have you ever fantasized about starting your own farm?

You need to read Farm City.

In this strange and wonderful tale it’s clear that the author, Novella Carpenter, didn’t exactly set out to go quite as far as she did into animal husbandry. It just sort of happened, as if it were an enterprise she fell willingly into, or was steered to by some invisible inner rudder.

It all starts innocently enough.

A few vegetables planted on a vacant lot tucked away in a forgotten pocket of Oakland, Calif. The dead-end street (the ghetto’s version of a cul-de-sac) is situated in a scruffy part of town within view of downtown and earshot of the BART trains. When Novella and her boyfriend Bill arrive, the street and its inhabitants have achieved a precarious balance of ordered lawlessness that seems oddly welcoming.

After the vegetables, Novella gets her defunct beehive up and buzzing, and before long we find her receiving a box of chirping baby “meat birds” from a baffled postal delivery person. Then a friend persuades Novella to take on her rabbitry, so she can travel. The next thing Novella knows, she and Bill find themselves out on nightly reconnaissance to some of the East Bay’s finest neighborhoods to dive for choice scraps in the dumpsters of famous restaurants – scraps they take back to feed their growing, and hungry, menagerie.

It’s quite a journey and as readers, we get the pleasure of taking it right along with her. She’s a gifted storyteller who knows how to hook the reader and pull you in. I couldn’t put the book down.

She’s both hilarious and deeply honest in describing the strange cast of characters who make up her neighborhood. She doesn’t judge their motivations and they don’t judge hers. Despite all their differences they learn to trust each other. But there’s no sugar-coating here. I live in Oakland, and the descriptions of the neighborhood are spot on. She’s not making this up.

Some of the most moving parts of the book involve exploring what it means to eat animals you’ve raised yourself. This is not something most of us will ever do, which gives me an immense amount of respect for this woman who is neither sentimental nor unflinching in the tasks that confront her.

It’s a huge responsibility to nurture another life along for the purpose of feeding yourself. Novella doesn’t take it lightly, and neither can the reader.

I think that we’re going to start seeing more farming and animal husbandry in urban population centers in the not-too-distant future. In fact, our survival may depend on it. I just hope I get to live next door to such a farmer. I’ll gladly put up with the noise and odors. Trade you some heirloom tomatoes for a pork chop?

If you thought the Hand-Blown Glass Pears and the Magical Air Plant Garden that we recently featured were cute, you’ll be delighted to discover that VivaTerra has hit the mark yet again by blending both of these creative concepts in appealing (and green!) style.

With the Recycled Glass Terrarium, all you have to do is water your tillandsia as directed and watch it flourish on a bed of fine-grained sand. How’s that for an easy way to breathe life into a home that’s in serious need of some green? If you’re worried that you’ll botch even minimal maintenance, buy the vase separately and fill it with shells, moss, sea glass or other treasured objects instead. (Available at sponsor VivaTerra for $49- $79.)

Remember the saying “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”? Ain’t exactly true, especially if you get on board and participate in the National Garden Commission’s One Million Gardens campaign. They’ve teamed up with Edible Gardens to  give away a free assortment of heirloom seeds in celebration of National Gardening Month this April. (And now that you know growing vegetables is easy, you’re out of excuses.)

A handful of these seeds and you could turn your backyard into a mini-food farm, even growing enough to feed the family and invite the neighbors over for lunch. It will take a little time and effort, but the results will be worth it.

All you have to do is register at onemilliongardens.com and they will send you a seed packet containing  4-6 varieties of  heirloom veggies to plant. The site also provides a 52-week online course on backyard gardening, with videos, tips, a social network, free gardening supplies and updates on related events.

The aim of the One Million Gardens campaign is to have a million urban courtyards and backyards growing food gardens by 2012.

Why not help them achieve it?

P.S. Bring out that green thumb with the complete guide to composting and tips for healthy soil.

Image: net_efekt