Urban farm. Loft Project Etagi

Fragment from the book "Andy Wormwood. The Urban Farm". Translated into English by a neural network.

Bird's-eye view

In November 2016, we ascended to the roof of the Loft Project Etagi, and the following year was officially declared the year of ecology in the Russian Federation.

Above the numerous shops and food outlets, I decided to create a garden, which, in my opinion, could close the local "ecosystem".

Andy Polin had never sat at a table in an earthly cafe, and when he had such an opportunity, he took advantage of it, trying to get the most pleasure. At least from the outside, Andy looked pleased, thought he was behaving quite naturally, sticking his feet into all the pots with plants that came his way. Neither I nor anyone else stopped him. The news that he was from a company of some plant growers quickly spread through the loft. We wore white coats, so those around us attributed Polin's strange behavior to the research we were supposedly conducting. One of us literally probed the ground under our feet - Andy talked to the plants. This is how he found that many cafes attribute the "eco" prefix to themselves without any particular reason.

Such ways of caring for the environment as the use of biodegradable packaging and the rejection of disposable tableware are, of course, good. But are these measures sufficient to restore soil fertility, through which biological species exchange matter and energy, maintaining the life of the entire ecosystem? We should not think about the number of interconnections that make the food on our plates ready for consumption every time we sit down at the table, but maybe it's worth trying at least once? Renewable natural resources are renewable because they can be renewed naturally if no obstacles are put in their way. And what happens to the land in city courtyards when janitors collect dry leaves in the fall? Almost nothing happens - the soil degrades, turns into dust. The same happens with agricultural land if vegetable peels are not returned to it, but instead thrown away by the cook in the trash can. When building healthy relationships with anyone, including wildlife, you should not just take endlessly. A fairly large number of researchers believe that the most important environmental problem in the modern world is desertification.

When we got a huge composter, we dragged it onto the roof through the window of the fifth floor, because it didn't fit through the door. The idea of recycling organic waste was supported by two local establishments, but it never came to fruition. The composter stood empty for several months against the backdrop of St. Isaac's Cathedral.

The methods of growing plants that we used are a completely different story. In winter, we grew them indoors: on a vertical bed and on window sills. In summer - outdoors and in a greenhouse. We planted directly in orange mailbags, which remained from the huge number of parcels Andy received, coming from all over the world after he won the prize of a St. Petersburg magazine. And in the fall, someone gave the fateful order: "Clean the roof immediately!" When I learned about this decision, the spruce seedlings, perennial flowers, mint bushes, Tibetan raspberries, amaranth and many other plants in a hundred bags of earth had already been thrown away. At the same time, we were offered to return to work in the spring, to which I replied: "With pleasure, but without land we are unlikely to succeed."

The relationship with the office at that time was the same as at the very beginning - businesslike, they did not deteriorate. Yes, of course, the terms of work were stipulated from the very beginning. As in a museum - one garden season, a conditional year. The approach to work was also stipulated. The bags, which the volunteers had been lifting to the farm for more than one day, were instantly sent to the landfill not because the agreed deadlines had expired or someone did not like the way we work, but because the concept of "sustainable development" was beyond the perception of a certain professional environment. Artists, like the venues that represent them, often simply throw away the decorations that have already "played", that is, served the finished statement. I was interested in the process itself, and I had no idea if there would be any sense in it. All my proposals to save the situation were rejected.

As the "Metamodernist Manifesto" says: "Error generates meaning."

Being at a bird's-eye view in the center of St. Petersburg, Andy Polin until the last hoped that he would come across a lost comrade.

Ecology is the science of relationships.