ROOFTOP WHEAT GROWN, HARVESTED, AND PROCESSED
Wheat, ready to be harvested.
Completed in 2016.
Lead by renowned architect Jeanne Gang, Studio Gang had envisioned a native meadow green roof on top of their new headquarter in Chicago. However, due to their construction schedule, the green roof system was slated to be installed in Fall. The green roof system manufacturer and installer, Omni Ecosystems, suggested using a winter wheat cover crop to achieve the construction timeline, maintain the integrity of the green roof system during the harsh Chicago winter, and act as nurse crop for the tender perennial meadow seeds that would ultimately establish on the roof top.
As the old adage goes: you reap what you sow. Come following May, the roof top was a field of amber waves of wheat, along with budding native, perennial seedlings below. Not wanting these beautiful grains go to waste, Studio Gang collaborated with Omni Ecosystems and UHC to harvest the grains.
How to harvest these wheat presented an unique challenge. Due to the fact that this is a rooftop, conventional machinery cannot be used, while the tender seedlings intermingled with the wheat meant that most traditional methods might delay the meadow’s establishment. So UHC engaged its youths to harvest the wheat by hand, thus allowing the meadow plants to continue to thrive.
But why stop there? We decided to show our kids the whole nine yards of wheat processing by hand. We threshed, winnowed, and sifted the wheat. Collaborating with The Roof Crop, a sample was sent to the lab and deemed to be food grade. A miller was able to mill the batch of wheat into flour, and voila! This cover crop turned into fried wheat cakes and cookies.
But most importantly, this field of wheat allowed us to demonstrate to our youths how much of their food came to be: cookies and bread are no longer just something that come in a plastic bag from the store, they were part of a plant, and had passed through many steps to become something edible.
See an article covering the wheat roof here:
ROOFTOP WHEAT FIELDS ELEVATE CHICAGO’S URBAN FARMING SCENE TO EXCITING NEW HEIGHTS.
