Background: As Mike Lieberman has grown older, he’s realized that the choices that he makes on a daily basis effects the world beyond himself. Lieberman realizes that we live in the information age, so there is a lot of information out there concerning our impact on the environment, but often wonders: What can an individual do?

Instead of sitting back and feeling helpless, he decided that he wanted to do something. He started to think about another passion of his, food. He’s talking about real and whole food — not the packaged and processed stuff that has become identified and accepted as food these days.

Lieberman started to grow on his fire escape garden in NYC during the Spring of 2009. He had no gardening experience and read about half of a book on gardening because, he says, that most gardening books are “mad boring.” In April of 2010, he moved to LA where he started a balcony garden, and has continued to grow even more food.

His methodology is pretty simple. He uses trial and error. He says, “What did people do hundreds of years ago? They certainly didn’t go to school, take a course to get a fancy certificate or Google how to plant seeds. They just did it, which is what I’m still doing.”

Don’t call him a gardener though. “I am not a gardener. I might have a vegetable garden, but I grow food.”

Personal History: Mike Lieberman was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He received his degree from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Penn., where he resided for a few years following his graduation.

As a teenager in Brooklyn, Lieberman had his career path chosen — he wanted to either be a New York Yankee or the heir to Utah Jazz point guard John Stockton. When he stopped growing at 5-foot-10-inches, he realized that his NBA dreams were dashed. (That did not entirely stop him from realizing his dream, as he did make it to the NBA: First as a Communications Intern and then as a full-time employee in the New Media department.)

This is where he began developing his internet marketing skills. He then moved on from job to job. The amount of his check continually increased, but he was left feeling empty and unsatisfied.

In June 2009, he decided to leave the “safe” 9-5 business world to make it out on his own. Since that time, he’s been utilizing his internet marketing skills to raise awareness about our food choices and why they matter.

Current Projects: A long term project is to be able to source about half of his own food from his 13- by-four -foot balcony in Los Angeles.

Find Mike on the Web: http://www.urbanorganicgardener.com/ and as a contributor to our City Farming blog.