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    The Farm on the Roof: What Brooklyn Grange Taught Us About Entrepreneurship, Community, and Growing a Sustainable Business
    The Farm on the Roof: What Brooklyn Grange Taught Us About Entrepreneurship, Community, and Growing a Sustainable Business
    The Farm on the Roof: What Brooklyn Grange Taught Us About Entrepreneurship, Community, and Growing a Sustainable Business
    Audiobook6 hours

    The Farm on the Roof: What Brooklyn Grange Taught Us About Entrepreneurship, Community, and Growing a Sustainable Business

    Written by Anastasia Cole Plakias

    Narrated by Anastasia Cole Plakias

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook


    In their effort to build the world's first and largest commercial green rooftop farm, the founders of Brooklyn Grange learned a lot about building and sustaining a business while never losing sight of their mission-to serve their community by providing delicious organic food and changing the way people think about what they eat. But their story is about more than just farming. It serves as an inspirational and instructional guide for anyone looking to start a business that is successful while making a positive impact.

    In The Farm on the Roof, the team behind Brooklyn Grange tell the complete story of how their "farmily" made their dream a reality. Along the way, they share valuable lessons about finding the right partners, seeking funding, expanding, and identifying potential sources of revenue without compromising your core values-lessons any socially conscious entrepreneur can apply toward his or her own venture. Filled with colorful anecdotes about the ups and downs of farming in the middle of New York City, this story is not just about rooftop farming; it's about utilizing whatever resources you have to turn your backyard idea into a sky-high success.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateApr 19, 2016
    ISBN9781494588496
    The Farm on the Roof: What Brooklyn Grange Taught Us About Entrepreneurship, Community, and Growing a Sustainable Business

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    Reviews for The Farm on the Roof

    4/5

    23 ratings9 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 5/5
      I got this book as an early reviewer. I am no stranger to the urban farming movement and I have, in fact, written a business plan for a type of urban farm which never came to pass. After reading this book, I agree with the points the author makes in essentials required to succeed in the business. I did not have the dedicated, hard-working business partners I needed, and who were strong in my areas of weakness. Because of my chronic illnesses, I could not muscle my way through challenges. We were wise enough to not rent some poorly maintained greenhouses at outrageous rents that were offered to us. (What is with property owners who think that farming is lucrative and will enable us to afford ridiculous rents for shoddy properties?)If you have given serious thought to starting an urban agricultural endeavor, I would recommend this book to help you plan your business or charity. It is a very easy read. My only quibble with the book is that it mentions chickens tangentially 2 or 3 times, but does not have a chapter on how the chickens came to live on the rooftop farms and the lessons learned from that, which I would have loved. It does discuss how the principal business partners found each other, how they secured funding and tips for securing your own, how they found rooftops to rent, some tips specific to growing plants on a roof, a little bit about beekeeping in the city, how to make money as an event space and photoshoot location, a few tips on how to choose plants to sell and how to sell them, and a *whole lot* about good team dynamics/corporate culture/human resources/hiring.
    • 4/5
      Plakias takes her readers on an enlightening tour of what it takes to start a profitable business in an unlikely location. While the story line of the book clearly focuses on urban farming, she also lays out practical advice on beginning any type of small business. I especially appreciated that she addressed how Brooklyn Grange has changed to accommodate economic realities without losing its focus on being a 3P (people, planet and profit) enterprise deeply rooted in their local community.
    • 5/5
      Having a small business is not for the faint of heart. That is the takeaway from reading this book. I requested it, thinking it would be a book about how to start a sustainable garden in odd places like the roofs of buildings in New York City and its surrounding boroughs. It is sort of that, but it's mostly a how-to for small businesses and how to go about getting them going from thought to actualizing. "Monster it" and "scrappy" were two favorite terms I enjoyed. "Monster it" being to tough it out, just put your head down and power through the task at hand. "Scrappy" is self-explanatory, to my way of thinkin'. It behooves the small business endeavor-ers to remember that no job is too big or to small to tackle and to keep track of all data. Sometimes luck has something to do with it. Like being in the right place at the right time, meeting the right people to connect with. Know your strengths and weaknesses.The book meanders back and forth in time, but it doesn't necessarily detract from the information being dispensed. If told linearly, I'm not sure it would make as much sense. The book is articulated by events momentous or not and/or problems encountered and solved. I liked the blueprint.More than what I bargained for when I requested it, but...it's going on the Keeper Shelf...I can definitely recommend it.
    • 3/5
      Not what I was expecting. I thought this book would be more about farming and farming practices. Instead it is more about how to build a business. It just didn't really interest me. Others may like it more than I did.
    • 3/5
      Interesting, yet also annoying. I would describe the feeling of this book, overall, as "kum-ba-yah". It's kind of like, "look you can be as awesome as us, if you have people as awesome as us working for you"....not a direct quote just a feeling I came out of this with. I expected the book to be along the lines of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle but it was more of a how-to business book. The how-to wouldn't apply to lots of people though, in my opinion, so I wish it had more about the actual farm. The author is also having a flagrant love affair with the word "nascent". I've never seen it so much before, and I hope I don't see it again for a while.Overall, a good reference for how to search out diverse streams of revenue for a business, but not incredibly compelling.
    • 5/5
      Won as an ARC in a Goodreads Giveaway.The imagination and work that went into the Brooklyn Grange project is simply staggering. I am familiar with pot gardening and similar ventures, but to grow enough produce to serve as an income source is a totally different kind of looney. And yet, it worked for them. I found it to be an excellent resource to free up the imagination to implement a dream of starting a new and exotic business as well as a lot of good old *how to*. It made for good reading, and fascinating.
    • 4/5
      The Farm on the Roof is a lively look at the intricacies of starting and running a rooftop farming business. What I thought would be a book about growing food was actually more like a small business handbook. The rapid growth of Brooklyn Grange from the seed of an idea to a multi-dimensional business is impressive and the sense of immediacy is reflected in the tone of the writing.Throughout this whirlwind read we get to meet all of the supporting characters who had a hand in the business and learn about the constant challenges they faced. At times I found it difficult to keep track of everything that was going on. But that didn’t diminish my enthusiasm for the successes they found as they met each and every obstacle head on and evolved into a smart, tough and sustainable business.
    • 3/5
      Excellent book about the challenges of farming in the city.
    • 3/5
      The story is positive and hopeful. It was a really enjoyable read. Some of the characters get lost in the narrative; however, those of more importance are well introduced. Without dwelling too much on the plot (which you should read the book to find out about), the story gives the reader enough to keep them reading without too much detail to become bored with. It is an enjoyable book.