Fresh Vegetables Five Stories Up

These lucky vegetables have quite a view. Only a block away from the hustle and bustle of M Street, the crops planted on the rooftop of this five-story building in Georgetown overlook all of Washington. They also have produced pounds of delicious eggplant, cherry tomatoes, basil, and parsley in a typically undervalued and underutilized urban space.

Most people who stroll by on the sidewalk below or eat lunch on the restaurant patios at ground level would never guess that the roof of this building provides fresh food to the people who live and work inside it. For the past several seasons, the Local Food Project has demonstrated the potential to grow food in small spaces with our 9 by 14-foot Parking Space Garden. Now we are exploring other ways to garden in space-constrained environments. LFP’s new initiative this season—the Georgetown Rooftop Food Project—answers the call to make local food even more local by growing it right in the city.

Standing among the raised beds of  the Georgetown Rooftop Food Project (or GRFP for short), its urban location is impossible to forget. Airplanes roar overhead as they take off and land at Reagan National Airport. The Washington Monument and Air Force Memorial jut up from the city’s signature low skyline. Children laugh and yell in the yard of a neighboring preschool and rooftop exhaust fans rattle constantly. But there’s also a special peace that comes with the high-altitude breeze and gives this garden an air of possibility. If vegetables and herbs can be grown on this roof, why not others? And if people enjoy the flavor and freshness of this produce, what does that signify for their relationships to other kinds of food? And how can projects like this one encourage more urban residents to eat locally produced food and even grow some of their own?

As summer draws to a close and fall winds blow in, we’ll continue to harvest the bounty at GRFP. We’ll also be thinking about what might come next for this elevated garden in the city. If you have ideas or want to check it out, let us know!