The former Philadelphian moved to St. Louis after he retired in the early ’90s. He splits his time between there and Vero Beach, Fla., neither spot a mecca for moviegoers. Sometimes he’ll drive 100 miles to Palm Beach, Fla., if the flick he wants to see isn’t playing any closer. But Mason will essentially watch anything, including the Bollywood offerings at the local AMC theater that serves St. Louis’ sizable Indian population.
Ruth Jacksier, her mother, soon joined the family at their wooded, six-acre farmette on Henderson Road. Within a few years, these former city slickers had hatched a bold plan to foster a flock of hens.
Not sitting on his couch surfing Netflix or catching the latest on HBO. We’re talking about the whole moviegoing experience: standing in line, buying a ticket, sitting in the darkened theater.
Mason bought the U.S. rights to Sony’s Sprinter, a high-speed duplicator, which cut the time needed to copy a movie onto tape, making it easier and cheaper to manufacture home videos. Mason ran plants in Malvern and the Netherlands, producing tapes with no decrease in quality from the original real-time duplicating machines. In the late ’80s, Mason sold his company.
Her favorite source for hens is the Murray McMurray Hatchery in Ohio. After studying the catalogue and perusing the mesmerizing website, she places an order in the spring. When the chicks arrive at the post office, they are approximately a day old. Jacksier places them in their sturdy box on the dining table, where special lights keep them toasty.
That may be true. But urban farming may carve a path to sustainable success by creating a new type of subsystem within the larger food system — one that’s bigger than boutique but smaller than Big Agra. A company called BrightFarms is pioneering a method that aims to do just that — one that takes place directly above the stores that sell the produce it grows. BrightFarms builds greenhouses on supermarket rooftops and manages the growing operations for free. In return, the store below signs a long-term contract agreeing to buy the food that’s produced. BrightFarms estimates it can harvest up to 900,000 pounds of produce annually per acre. It’s a solution that seems custom-built for cities, places with plenty of roofs but little ground.
