High school, city farm to build "green" garage with solar panels

From an article by Karen Herzog in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

A partnership between a city farm and a Milwaukee trade school will build an urban agricultural training space atop a "green" garage in the Riverwest neighborhood, complete with year-round, rooftop garden.

The project, called Growing Spaces, is a joint venture of the non-profit farm Growing Power Inc., 5500 West Silver Spring Road, and Bradley Tech High School, 700 S. 4th St. Details are to be announced at a 3 p.m. press conference today at the school.

Bradley Tech seniors in carpentry, electrical and plumbing classes will build the 3.5-bay garage beside a private home in Riverwest, starting in the fall. The homeowner, Kate Halfwassen, will coordinate the project and lease the garage back to Growing Power in what amounts to at least a five-year donation of the space, Halfwassen said Tuesday.

The garage will be built against a hillside with wood concrete forms - a green material combining recycled wood and cement. Solar panels on a rooftop shed will power the garage doors and heat water and soil for winter food production in the rooftop hoop-house.

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