EP029-Brian McCarthy From Cork Rooftop Farm Talks About Urban Gardening/Farming

In this weeks episode of Master My Garden podcast I speak to Brian McCarthy from Cork Rooftop Farm, and what an amazing story this is, starting out as a lockdown project and turned in a story and project that inspired people and showed what is possible even in urban locations. Cork Rooftop Farm started not as a business venture but as a project born out of the COVID-19 lockdown. Myself (Brian McCarthy) and my friend Thayane (Thay) Carlos were thinking of growing some vegetables in a courtyard next to my apartment to help occupy our new found spare time. I had to close my family business, Central Floral Supplies, as a result of the lockdown and Thays' workplace also had to temporarily close down so we needed something to do. We quickly abondoned the idea of growing in my courtyard five hundred square foot courtyard and moved on to a space a little larger. We overlooked the original premises for Central Floral Supplies, which is owned by my father, Kevin McCarthy, and decided, "Hey, why don't we grow our vegetables there?". So we set upon transforming a barron, grey six thousand eight hundred square foot roof into a green, fertile farm.Before we knew it we were assembling a Polytunnel, planting seeds, receiving soil deliveries, building raised beds and transplanting plants. What had started as an innocent project to fill our spare time quickly turned into something of an addiction. Both Thay and myself discovered a passion for growing and sustainable urban food production that neither of us had really imagined would bring us on the journey we are on today.  We love our rooftop farm and our future vision for it has changed dramatically from our humble beginnings. We believe that cities don't need to be food deserts and that everyone has the right to enjoy fresh, delicious locally grown food. Our mission is to demonstrate this!Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/corkrooftopfarm/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corkrooftopfarm/?hl=enWebsite: https://www.corkrooftopfarm.ieThere will be a blog post on this episode very soon on my website. This blog and previous blogs along with all podcast episodes are be available on my website https://mastermygarden.com/If you are enjoying the podcast it would be great if you could leave a review on Apple podcasts its good to know people are enjoying and getting something from the podcast.  If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes please let me know, you can find me on facebook Master My Garden https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/or email [email protected] the next time Happy GardeningJohn   Support the showIf there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know. Email:  [email protected]   Check out Master My Garden on the following channels   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/  Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/   Until next week  Happy gardening  John