Yesterday a woman named Annie Novak came to educate our learning community about rooftop gardens. Annie works in Brooklyn at the New York Botanical Garden and she is founder and director of many programs around the boroughs. She explained to us how rooftop gardening is extremely ecological beneficial. Her philosophy is to transform roofs into gardens or farms.

Rooftop gardens are found in urban environments and save a lot of space. They are also at less of risk of being destroyed by animals being that they are not on the ground. Fruits and vegetables are grown in these farms and gardens and they are all organic. Nothing is sprayed with pesticides and nothing is processed. She told the class that if they ever wanted to buy a product that was “healthy” they should look at the label and make sure it says “organic” that way you know what you are eaten and how your food was grown.

Annie also explained that she never knew anything about plants and wanted to know more about something she never knew about. She went to school for journalism and she wanted to be a writer, but she came across this career and decided it was a better path for her. She is extremely passionate about what she does and I admire her for that.

Annie also spends a lot of her time with bees. She told us that honey is actually bee throw up which I found to be interesting and disgusting at the same time. Having bees around the rooftop garden helps with the soil and helps the plants grow.

After this lecture, I was inspired to eat more organic and rich foods. I never really had the opportunity to appreciate plants and trees but now since I am educated about them, I can now appreciate them more. Fruits and vegetables are an important part of any persons diet and they provide the body with proper daily nutrients. I really appreciated Annie coming to our school and now I will always truly appreciate plants.