Gil Friend and David Morris of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance

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PLOWBOY: What will go into your compost tea? Grass clippings? Leaves? What can you compost here in town?

FRIEND: The raw materials will come from another of our demonstration projects. We collect about 500 pounds of vegetable wastes each week from some nearby community-controlled food stores. As you might imagine, that produces quite a large compost pile.

PLOWBOY: Where do you keep it in such a high-density neighborhood?

FRIEND: We use an abandoned driveway behind a warehouse

PLOWBOY: Don't people in the neighborhood object`?

MORRIS: They did at first. They were afraid the compost would smell bad and attract flies and rats. But that was the purpose of the project . . . to prove that it's possible to maintain a compost pile in the city without any unpleasant side effects. We're careful not to put in any meat or bones—that would attract flies and rats—and, by mixing the vegetable waste with leaves, we prevent bad odors. We haven't had problems with the neighbors at all. Many of them help us turn the pile and use the humus in their own backyard gardens.

PLOWBOY: How successful have your rooftop vegetable patches been so far?

FRIEND: Very. Our first year we produced approximately 20 pounds of tomatoes out of a 4 X 8-foot box. Allowing space for support equipment, that's probably about 70 tons per acre compared to a U.S. average of, maybe, 5 to 10 tons per acre. So the experiment made a big impression on the people who saw it, and this past summer at least a dozen of our neighbors set up hydroponic gardens of their own. Next year there will probably be many more.

PLOWBOY: In this vicinity?

FRIEND: And in other neighborhoods of the city. Our gardens have been widely publicized by several newspapers, including the Washington Post.

PLOWBOY: Do you think the idea will spread to other cities?

FRIEND: It already has! We've received requests for information from all over the country. This is, obviously, a concept that can be used in just about any city.

PLOWBOY: Have you gotten negative reactions to your rooftop gardens?

FRIEND: Very few. The first year there was some criticism of our use of synthetic chemicals instead of organic nutrients . . . but that's an objection we share and which we're working to eliminate.

MORRIS: Most of the response has been very encouraging. In fact, we're now planning a project to put a rooftop greenhouse on an apartment building for senior citizens in the middle of downtown Washington. We'll be working closely with the residents. We'll teach them to use the greenhouse and gradually turn it over to them. After a year, it'll be their project, not ours.

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