Why It’s Now Possible to Eat From Roof-to-Table

How to get the freshest farm produce even if you live in the city… by converting your roof into a garden!

Imagine always having the freshest fruits, herbs, and vegetables for your meals coming straight from a garden. Imagine restaurants always having farm-fresh ingredients that haven’t had to endure hours or days in transport. Imagine being able to buy produce that comes straight out the ground inside a city mall or supermarket. Already, restaurants and homes around the world are promoting garden-to-table philosophies. To be able to do that in the urban areas of the Philippines is the dream.

Unfortunately, many homes, restaurants, and malls in the city simply don’t have the space to have their own garden or mini farm. Urban real estate is expensive after all.

But what if it turns out they actually do have the space? What if the roofs and roof decks of these structures could be made more functional, turning them into more than just protection from the elements and into productive and beautiful roof gardens where people can plant various kinds of crops, herbs, and produce? Not just potted plants and plant boxes, but actual gardens with soil that people can walk on… only on a roof. That is now a reality.

In 2015, SPECSERV, Inc. and De La Salle Araneta University (also known as “The Green University”), started the Bungkal Rooftop Experimental Farm. This pilot project uses the SPECSERV Roof Garden Engineering System Bungkal to maintain a productive roof farm on the roof deck of the university. Bungkal (which is short for Bubong Kalikasan or Nature’s Roof) is an innovation from the European roof garden engineering system, DAKU, which SPECSERV Inc. is the exclusive distributor of.

The beginning stages of the Bungkal Rooftop Experimental Farm

“What if the roofs and roof decks of these structures could be made more functional, turning them into more than just protection from the elements and into productive and beautiful roof gardens where people can plant various kinds of crops, herbs, and produce?”

Since the project started, the roof garden has successfully planted, harvested, and sold to market several farm products such as lemon grass, stevia, eggplants, lettuce, tomatoes, and many others.

The farming procedures do not require any additional high tech or complicated equipment to make it work. Bungkal allows for just the regular and simple way of planting seeds in soil and harvesting produce.

The roof where the garden of De La Salle Araneta is installed has also never experienced any problems. Since Bungkal is meant to be installed on a structure’s roof, it is guaranteed to be leak free, with no floods or mud, low in maintenance, low water consumption, and light weight, meaning it can be easily installed even on the concrete decks of existing buildings. Bungkal’s special feature is that this particular system of roof garden has a long life, unlike other cheaper roof garden systems. Where most roof gardens are later converted into concrete patios and terraces because of numerous problems, leaks being the most prevalent, Bungkal roof gardens hold the track record for lasting the longest, the oldest being installed 15 years ago. On an average, Bungkal gardens installed 10 years ago still exist and are problem-free.

Fresh lettuce and herbs growing on the De La Salle roof farm

Bungkal will be offered to the market in the last quarter of 2018, with strong after sales services to be included, since this has been the traditional practice of SPECSERV, Inc. for the past 35 years to all its customers.

So imagine a world where private homes that have concrete decks, supermarkets, hotels, universities, and all other establishment consuming or selling farm products can partake of this concept of Roof to Table Freshness in the Philippine Market.

For further inquiries about this amazing new system, contact SPECSERV, Inc. at info@specservinc.com or visit our website at www.specservinc.com.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade