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Fenway Farms
Boston, MA, USA
7,000 sf. Greenroof

Greenroofs.com Project of the Week: July 30, 2018

While enjoying the summer here in the suburbs of Atlanta, I remembered back three years ago when Aramis, one of my best friends D’Arcy Goldman, our daughter Anjuli, and our then 6-year old grandson Nicky had the pleasure of visiting Fenway Farms in Boston. I figured this would be a great time to replay it.

On July 7, 2015 we were given a wonderful private tour by Brendan Shea of Recover Green Roofs, the company who designed and installed the Red Sox’s Fenway Park rooftop farm.

The early July temperature difference from the street below on Yawkey Way to the lush verdant field of crops above was palpable! Part of an ongoing campaign by the Red Sox to exemplify and promote healthy and responsible ways of living, it felt (I didn’t actually measure) 10 degrees cooler as Brendan led us through the many rows of varied, colorful vegetables and flowers.

Nicky had a great time exploring the paths and wandering amongst the large leafy greens, and had quite a few questions of his own for Brendan, like how did they get those plants up onto the roof?

Brendan talked about their modular system filled with compost-based growing media, the smart irrigation system, their partner Green City Growers who provide all farm management services including planting and harvesting, and the bountiful harvest already grown since opening day on April 13 of 2015.

The Red Sox ownership is another great example of corporate leadership – a living testament to greening our built environment – this time above the world famous Fenway Park, the oldest baseball stadium in the U.S., and one of the greenest.

Afterwards we were treated to watching some of the Red Sox team warm up, and we ended our visit to Fenway Park with a lively game against our own Miami Marlins (who unfortunately lost). Thank you again to Mark Winterer and Brendan Shea of Recover Green Roofs for a memorable tour of a fantastic project!

Mini Description & Details

Seeded atop the roof of the Red Sox front office and the Gate A entrance of Boston’s beloved Fenway Park, Fenway Farms is the 7,000 square foot rooftop garden designed to provide over 6,000 pounds of organic produce to ballpark attendees each year.

Since its completion for Opening Day on April 13, 2015, Fenway Farms has invigorated what was once an oddly shaped, unused roof into a thriving rooftop farm.

The transformation was initially conceived by Linda Pizzuti, wife of Boston Red Sox owner John Henry, as part of an ongoing campaign by the Red Sox to exemplify and promote healthy and responsible ways of living.

As such, the project was engineered with sustainability in mind on all levels, is highly visible to ballpark attendees, and has been included as a stop on the official Fenway Park tour.

Covered with a waterproofing membrane from Carlisle, Recover Green Roofs designed and built Fenway Farms using its Recover Aerated Media Module (RAAM) system, which features a series of 5-gallon non-woven fabric-lined crates made of 50% recycled plastic content.

Located long the 3rd base side of Fenway Park, the site is equipped with an automated Weathermatic Smartlink drip irrigation system to conserve water while supporting the farm’s rotating array of vegetables and herbs. Crops are sown in locally sourced Vermont Compost Company soil, and Fenway EMC Chefs are incorporated into the process of selecting which plants will be grown each season.

They then utilize the weekly harvests in salads and fresh side dishes prepared in the EMC Club kitchen, incorporating a range of arugula, snap peas, and rosemary in the spring season to eggplant and potatoes come the summer months.

Fenway officials hope to teach fans and younger folks about the importance of sustainability and healthy living, and Fenway Farms is a tool for that education.

Designers/Manufacturers of Record:

Year: 2015
Owner: Boston Red Sox
Location: Boston, MA, USA
Building Type: Commercial
Type: Intensive
System: Custom
Size: 7,000 sq.ft.
Slope: 1%
Access: Accessible, By Appointment

Designers/Manufacturers of Record:

Membrane Manufacturer & Supplier: Carlisle
Membrane Installation: Chaffee Roofing
Filter Fabric Supplier: Root Down Hydroponics
Soil Media Supplier: Vermont Compost Company
Plant Supplier: Natick Community Farm and seeds by Green City Growers (gcg)
Green Roof Design & Installation: Recover Green Roofs
Irrigation Design & Installation: Recover Green Roofs
Irrigation Control System: Weathermatic Smartlink
Irrigation Supply/Consultant: Northeast Nursery
Farming Company: Green City Growers
Modular Greenroof System: Recover Aerated Media Module (RAMM), Recover Green Roofs
Turf Consultant: Scott Koesterich, New England Turf Store

All the Info:

View the Fenway Farms project profile to see ALL of the Photos and Additional Information about this particular project in The International Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database.

Overlooking Fenway Farms at Fenway Stadium. Photo via Green City Growers.

Project of the Week Video Feature

Watch the Fenway Farms Project of the Week Video below or see it on our GreenroofsTV channel on YouTube:

Greenroofs.com Project of the Week 7/30/18 photo credits courtesy of Recover Green Roofs and Green City Growers.

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Love the Earth, Plant a Roof (or Wall)!

By Linda S. Velazquez, ASLA, LEED AP, GRP
Greenroofs.com Publisher & Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summits Host

A Spring Garden

Spring is the Birthday of the World

“‘Tis like the birthday of the world,
When earth was born in bloom;
The light is made of many dyes,
The air is all perfume:
There’s crimson buds, and white and blue,
The very rainbow showers
Have turned to blossoms where they fell,
And sown the earth with flowers.”
– Thomas Hood

Spring is way sprung and we’re in full gear, knee deep in the season of birth and renewal, of laying the foundation for the future, of nurturing and sowing our seeds within the season of perpetual hope and new beginnings!

I guess it’s no wonder, then, that events honoring the sacred feminine – the ying opposing the yang in the universe within our spiritual and physical worlds – are observed during this time. Holidays such as Easter and Earth Day occur during Spring in the Northern Hemisphere which runs from March into June. According to Wikipedia, ying yang describes “seemingly disjunct or opposing forces…interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, giving rise to each other in turn.” The decidedly earthy, motherly Yin and masculine Yang are complementary opposites within a greater whole, each dependent of each other – sounds like the basis for a really good relationship, right?

Yes, and wouldn’t you say that the greatest environmental maternal relationship of all has to be with Mother Earth? I believe it’s no coincidence that late March was chosen to host Earth Hour, at the beginning of Spring. Earth Hour 2008 was held internationally on March 29 from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. local time, marking the first anniversary of the event. This year it was celebrated on March 28 from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time and as a company and as a family, this was our second year participating in Earth Hour.

Although we observe Earth Day on April 22, Earth Day was initially celebrated on March 21, 1970, the equinox day. Earth Day, now Earth Week, marked the beginning of the modern environmental movement. Wikipedia says, “The equinoctial Earth Day is celebrated on the March equinox (around March 20) to mark the precise moment of astronomical mid-spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and of astronomical mid-autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.” Margaret Mead added her support for the equinox Earth Day, and in 1978 declared:

“EARTH DAY is the first holy day which transcends all national borders, yet preserves all geographical integrities, spans mountains and oceans and time belts, and yet brings people all over the world into one resonating accord, is devoted to the preservation of the harmony in nature and yet draws upon the triumphs of technology, the measurement of time, and instantaneous communication through space.

EARTH DAY draws on astronomical phenomena in a new way – which is also the most ancient way – using the vernal Equinox, the time when the Sun crosses the equator making night and day of equal length in all parts of the Earth. To this point in the annual calendar, EARTH DAY attaches no local or divisive set of symbols, no statement of the truth or superiority of one way of life over another. But the selection of the March Equinox makes planetary observance of a shared event possible, and a flag which shows the Earth as seen from space appropriate.”

Landscape Architecture Month is also set in Spring, in April. I chose the field of landscape architecture for many reasons, but most definitely for the blending of creativity and ecology, stewardship of the land, and my simple passion for plants – I’ve always had a green thumb (my nurturing side also gave way to my three children) and love to draw. Still dominated by men, the last 20-25 years or so has seen an incredible rise in female practitioners. When I was at the SED at UGA from 1996-2000, enrollment was extremely male-dominated – easily 4, if not 5, to 1.

As a planet, as a culture on a mega-grand scale, we are bound together as minuscule parts of a mutual whole…One of my favorite quotes is sometimes labeled as an Ancient Indian Proverb, or attributed to Antoine de St. Exupery, Ralph Waldo Emerson, David Bower or Andre Gide, but whoever wrote it obviously felt respect for our natural environment, promoting spiritual sustainability, too:

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”

In any case, I hope you’re enjoying Spring by having celebrated Earth Hour, Earth Day and Week, Landscape Architecture Month, and especially Mother’s Day, a smaller scale but equally important celebration to honor the feminine.

Mother's Day 2009
Happy Mother’s Day, from our Pahl/Velazquez family of four generations:
Top: My sister Alicia Pahl-Arritola; Bottom, left to right: my Mom Ellie Pahl; me; my daughter Anjuli and my grandson, Nicholas Joseph.

Let’s continue to honor our mothers, ourselves, and Mother Earth, every day.

~ Linda V.

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