Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Who needs Hip Advice?: Weed Your Own Garden!
Reposted from August 26, 2011 http://hipurbanfarmer.myblogsite.com/entry28.html#body
Melissa Jeter aka HUF
As great as the words on this paper look, they are not my garden. C-o-r-n are just characters that symbolize the actual corn in my garden. Having said that, I was reminded the other day about weeding my garden.
My potatoes haven’t come up at all I lamented to my fellow community gardener.
Well, it helps if you weed, my friend replied.
Well, I could have taken that comment as a slap in the face, but no. She was merely stating the facts. I later thanked her for being a great friend, because the truth is sometimes, most times, you’ve got to stop complaining about the potatoes and and pull the weeds that are taking up the space where those potatoes could be growing.
GUILTY as charged!
We are sentenced to a life of pulling weeds out of the garden in order to get the potatoes to grow. Truth be told, I’ve overextended myself in gardening this year.
And how many times have you overextended yourself then complain about the potatoes not growing? What are your p-o-t-a-t-o-e-s?
There’s no Mystery to this! Pulling weeds takes time and it is work! The point of it all is to reap what you sow. If you you are careless about sowing your seeds, you may get some potatoes, you may not. Certainly, you will get weeds, though.
And there is no point in getting angry about it, because unwanted plants will grow when you haven’t mulched or made some kind of plan to deal with the unwanted plants that will choke the life out of your potatoes. If you have enough self-regard you will be able to accept the truth of the matter. You could weed a little more often. . .a lot more often.
If you, like I have overextended yourself in the g-a-r-d-e-n, then it is time to start pulling weeds. Clear a path, make some space. You can’t get any potatoes without weeding. This is what my friend pointed out to me.
She’s right! I could weed a lot more!!! Hip advice from a fellow community gardener.
one comment
(raises hand)...and I could mulch and fertilize more, and have DECENT garlic, instead of pitiful garlic.
Linda (email) - 20 08 11 - 13:40
Melissa Jeter aka HUF
As great as the words on this paper look, they are not my garden. C-o-r-n are just characters that symbolize the actual corn in my garden. Having said that, I was reminded the other day about weeding my garden.
My potatoes haven’t come up at all I lamented to my fellow community gardener.
Well, it helps if you weed, my friend replied.
Well, I could have taken that comment as a slap in the face, but no. She was merely stating the facts. I later thanked her for being a great friend, because the truth is sometimes, most times, you’ve got to stop complaining about the potatoes and and pull the weeds that are taking up the space where those potatoes could be growing.
GUILTY as charged!
We are sentenced to a life of pulling weeds out of the garden in order to get the potatoes to grow. Truth be told, I’ve overextended myself in gardening this year.
And how many times have you overextended yourself then complain about the potatoes not growing? What are your p-o-t-a-t-o-e-s?
There’s no Mystery to this! Pulling weeds takes time and it is work! The point of it all is to reap what you sow. If you you are careless about sowing your seeds, you may get some potatoes, you may not. Certainly, you will get weeds, though.
And there is no point in getting angry about it, because unwanted plants will grow when you haven’t mulched or made some kind of plan to deal with the unwanted plants that will choke the life out of your potatoes. If you have enough self-regard you will be able to accept the truth of the matter. You could weed a little more often. . .a lot more often.
If you, like I have overextended yourself in the g-a-r-d-e-n, then it is time to start pulling weeds. Clear a path, make some space. You can’t get any potatoes without weeding. This is what my friend pointed out to me.
She’s right! I could weed a lot more!!! Hip advice from a fellow community gardener.
one comment
(raises hand)...and I could mulch and fertilize more, and have DECENT garlic, instead of pitiful garlic.
Linda (email) - 20 08 11 - 13:40
Finally, the first tomatoes
Reposted from August 12, 2011 http://hipurbanfarmer.myblogsite.com/entry26.html#body
Today, I picked my first tomatoes off the vine. Woo hoo! I am grateful.
Right around this time of year, I am anxious about there being enough time to get those tomatoes off the plants. I really need to go back and look at how it started. I mean I start from seed. Most of what I grow I start from seed. The fact that it takes root and eventually produces fruit is a miracle on and of itself. Yet, there they were three beautiful roma tomatoes. Not enough to can, but definitely enough for me to make a pot of sauce for one.
Now that's gratitude that's hip!
Today, I picked my first tomatoes off the vine. Woo hoo! I am grateful.
Right around this time of year, I am anxious about there being enough time to get those tomatoes off the plants. I really need to go back and look at how it started. I mean I start from seed. Most of what I grow I start from seed. The fact that it takes root and eventually produces fruit is a miracle on and of itself. Yet, there they were three beautiful roma tomatoes. Not enough to can, but definitely enough for me to make a pot of sauce for one.
Now that's gratitude that's hip!
Here comes . . .
Reposted from August 5, 2011 http://hipurbanfarmer.myblogsite.com/entry25.html#body
HUF aka Melissa Jeter
Today, I picked my first tomatoes off the vine. Woo hoo! I am grateful.
Right around this time of year, I am anxious about there being enough time to get those tomatoes off the plants. I really need to go back and look at how it started. I mean I start from seed. Most of what I grow I start from seed. The fact that it takes root and eventually produces fruit is a miracle on and of itself. Yet, there they were three beautiful roma tomatoes. Not enough to can, but definitely enough for me to make a pot of sauce for one.
Now that's gratitude that's hip!
two comments
Doesn’t the whole process make you feel like a magician? It was a seed and water and dirt and now it’s spaghetti sauce?
Linda (email) - 14 08 11 - 11:09
Yep, it does make me feel like a magician!
HUF (email) - 17 08 11 - 10:41
HUF aka Melissa Jeter
Today, I picked my first tomatoes off the vine. Woo hoo! I am grateful.
Right around this time of year, I am anxious about there being enough time to get those tomatoes off the plants. I really need to go back and look at how it started. I mean I start from seed. Most of what I grow I start from seed. The fact that it takes root and eventually produces fruit is a miracle on and of itself. Yet, there they were three beautiful roma tomatoes. Not enough to can, but definitely enough for me to make a pot of sauce for one.
Now that's gratitude that's hip!
two comments
Doesn’t the whole process make you feel like a magician? It was a seed and water and dirt and now it’s spaghetti sauce?
Linda (email) - 14 08 11 - 11:09
Yep, it does make me feel like a magician!
HUF (email) - 17 08 11 - 10:41
Harvest? What Harvest!
Reposted from July 29, 2011 http://hipurbanfarmer.myblogsite.com/entry23.html#body
by Melissa Jeter aka HUF
Harvest Season
Well, as harvest season is upon us, I look out upon the land and I wonder, , , How the heck did all that THAT get there! The corn is 6 foot tall, the tomato plants are trying to give them a run for their money; the sunflowers are starting second and third flowers; the blackberries have all been picked and the basil is up to my knees. The potato plants have sprawled over their raised bed and on to the sidewalk. Mint and lemon balm have grown wild in the landscaping. And a few seeds have even sprouted in the cracks of the sidewalk.
Because no,I refuse to use roundup or some other seed destroying chemicals. That ain’t hip.
My neighbor looks over her fence into my yard, she shakes her head and walks away. I think she’s making judgements about the weeds in my yard.
Little does she know that this is an urban farm!
However, I begin to think, “It’s time to put this puppy to bed.” So I am thinking about how I can pull the mint and lemon balm out of the garden space to make it all nice and neat. . . organized.
The last time I did this my neighbor, exclaimed, that’s the best thing you have ever done to the yard. Yeah, just forget about the mint and dill, I have given you over the past few years.
Anyway, the plan, is to pull the mint and lemon balm. It’ll still come back. Cut down the oregano and dry it out. The blackberry canes will be cut down to the ground, in hopes of more berries next year.
But what about the fun stuff you ask?
I’m still waiting for red tomatoes from my plants. But, it’s almost time to dig up potatoes and I can’t wait to see what they look like. I’ve been trying to hand fertilize the corn just in case there weren’t enough bees buzzing around. I can only hope that this will work and I get corn kernels on the cob. There were a few pods from the soy bean plants. Not as much as I hoped.
In the meantime, I will enjoy the harvest from friends whose earlier planting have yielded great abundance. Thanks, friends! I am open to receiving any veggies you are wiling to share.
Ain’t Mother Nature Grand!
two comments
Yes she shole is. (Your neighbor knows a lil sumthin about positive reinforcement). Keep on sprouting.
brett (email) - 29 07 11 - 23:27
Thanks, Brett!
HUF - 05 08 11 - 13:51
by Melissa Jeter aka HUF
Harvest Season
Well, as harvest season is upon us, I look out upon the land and I wonder, , , How the heck did all that THAT get there! The corn is 6 foot tall, the tomato plants are trying to give them a run for their money; the sunflowers are starting second and third flowers; the blackberries have all been picked and the basil is up to my knees. The potato plants have sprawled over their raised bed and on to the sidewalk. Mint and lemon balm have grown wild in the landscaping. And a few seeds have even sprouted in the cracks of the sidewalk.
Because no,I refuse to use roundup or some other seed destroying chemicals. That ain’t hip.
My neighbor looks over her fence into my yard, she shakes her head and walks away. I think she’s making judgements about the weeds in my yard.
Little does she know that this is an urban farm!
However, I begin to think, “It’s time to put this puppy to bed.” So I am thinking about how I can pull the mint and lemon balm out of the garden space to make it all nice and neat. . . organized.
The last time I did this my neighbor, exclaimed, that’s the best thing you have ever done to the yard. Yeah, just forget about the mint and dill, I have given you over the past few years.
Anyway, the plan, is to pull the mint and lemon balm. It’ll still come back. Cut down the oregano and dry it out. The blackberry canes will be cut down to the ground, in hopes of more berries next year.
But what about the fun stuff you ask?
I’m still waiting for red tomatoes from my plants. But, it’s almost time to dig up potatoes and I can’t wait to see what they look like. I’ve been trying to hand fertilize the corn just in case there weren’t enough bees buzzing around. I can only hope that this will work and I get corn kernels on the cob. There were a few pods from the soy bean plants. Not as much as I hoped.
In the meantime, I will enjoy the harvest from friends whose earlier planting have yielded great abundance. Thanks, friends! I am open to receiving any veggies you are wiling to share.
Ain’t Mother Nature Grand!
two comments
Yes she shole is. (Your neighbor knows a lil sumthin about positive reinforcement). Keep on sprouting.
brett (email) - 29 07 11 - 23:27
Thanks, Brett!
HUF - 05 08 11 - 13:51
What's Herbally Hip in Hot Weather?
Reposted from July 9, 2011 http://hipurbanfarmer.myblogsite.com/entry22.html#body
by Melissa Jeter aka HUF
Today, we reached a high temperature-97 degrees in July. So what could be better than iced tea?
Well nothing, unless you make it from herbs grown in your backyard. I love sweet tea and ice cold slushies and slurpies and all sorts of corn syrupy icy drinks. But today, I picked lemon balm mint, and a little lavendar and added a little cane sugar.
Okay, Let me be honest. It was a lot of cane sugar.
And now, I'm drinking my own herbal sweet tea. While the convenience and fast food places have good drinks, you just can't beat sweet tea that's free.
Here's the heuristic (I'm no good at accurate recipies):
Pick some lemon balm
Pick some peppermint
Pick the flower buds of the lavendar
Fill small sauce pan with water
Throw in herbs and flower buds
Boil until it smells real good or water turns brown like tea
Let it sit
Skim out the herbs and buds
Next throw in some sugar to taste
Pour tea over ice cubes
Get your self a glass and drink up.
Ahh herbal sweet tea. Enjoy!
Now that's really hip!
by Melissa Jeter aka HUF
Today, we reached a high temperature-97 degrees in July. So what could be better than iced tea?
Well nothing, unless you make it from herbs grown in your backyard. I love sweet tea and ice cold slushies and slurpies and all sorts of corn syrupy icy drinks. But today, I picked lemon balm mint, and a little lavendar and added a little cane sugar.
Okay, Let me be honest. It was a lot of cane sugar.
And now, I'm drinking my own herbal sweet tea. While the convenience and fast food places have good drinks, you just can't beat sweet tea that's free.
Here's the heuristic (I'm no good at accurate recipies):
Pick some lemon balm
Pick some peppermint
Pick the flower buds of the lavendar
Fill small sauce pan with water
Throw in herbs and flower buds
Boil until it smells real good or water turns brown like tea
Let it sit
Skim out the herbs and buds
Next throw in some sugar to taste
Pour tea over ice cubes
Get your self a glass and drink up.
Ahh herbal sweet tea. Enjoy!
Now that's really hip!
Are you a late bloomer?
Reposted from June 16, 2011 http://hipurbanfarmer.myblogsite.com/entry21.html#body
Finally it’s hot outside! After weeks of complaining about the rain, rain harvesting season is over. So now we are placing our hands in the dirt and putting those plants in the soil.
It takes a lot of thought and planning, to do urban farming. Those of us who know the work that is required before the harvest, spend a lot of time observing the weather patterns, as well as the locations and times that the sun shines on the prospective planting areas. It takes a keen mind and then a lot of hope and faith in Mother Nature.
Skills of observation, critical thinking, and planning can be taught. I believe that you can be taught to be hopeful, but then again that could be optimistic. So the worry has started again. . .
My tomato plants are so small, the pepper plants still have their new leaves on them. . well at least the corn is growing. The farmers didn’t even get to plant corn; the ground was too soggy. Ahh nuts! I won’t have tomatoes until August or September at this rate. . .
Yet, when I think about my garden over the previous years, I recall that I always have tomatoes in August. One look in my gardening journals will confirm this. I have the records.
Oh my! Oh dear! I’m a late bloomer!
Standing on the mulch, surveying my urban farm, I have come to the inevitable conclusion. The plants in my garden will bloom late. Later than if I had bought plants at the store. Later than my neighbors. Later than my friends. It is hopeless. I am a late bloomer. How about you?
Finally it’s hot outside! After weeks of complaining about the rain, rain harvesting season is over. So now we are placing our hands in the dirt and putting those plants in the soil.
It takes a lot of thought and planning, to do urban farming. Those of us who know the work that is required before the harvest, spend a lot of time observing the weather patterns, as well as the locations and times that the sun shines on the prospective planting areas. It takes a keen mind and then a lot of hope and faith in Mother Nature.
Skills of observation, critical thinking, and planning can be taught. I believe that you can be taught to be hopeful, but then again that could be optimistic. So the worry has started again. . .
My tomato plants are so small, the pepper plants still have their new leaves on them. . well at least the corn is growing. The farmers didn’t even get to plant corn; the ground was too soggy. Ahh nuts! I won’t have tomatoes until August or September at this rate. . .
Yet, when I think about my garden over the previous years, I recall that I always have tomatoes in August. One look in my gardening journals will confirm this. I have the records.
Oh my! Oh dear! I’m a late bloomer!
Standing on the mulch, surveying my urban farm, I have come to the inevitable conclusion. The plants in my garden will bloom late. Later than if I had bought plants at the store. Later than my neighbors. Later than my friends. It is hopeless. I am a late bloomer. How about you?
Where’s the blank canvass?
Reposted from June 16, 2011 http://hipurbanfarmer.myblogsite.com/entry20.html#body
As I was kneeling in my garden to weed, I look at the plants growing from seeds. I just threw those seeds in the ground. Yes, after years of reading Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew and companion gardening books. I just threw away the book. . . figuratively, of course.
Tomato plants need a 2 foot by 2 foot square, so I guess I can put this little roma plant in the dirt next to the wildly growing chives. Hmmmm, there’s more room over here. I pick some purslane and wild grass. Huh, look at that, it’s a volunteer tomato plant. Well, I’ll just leave that there. Let’s put some beet seeds in here next to that. They are root crops; there’s gotta be room. I crawl over to the next section. Huh, dandelion. Yeah, that’s got to go. Where’d I put that weed puller. Doggone it, Where’s my tool! Oh, there it is! Hey squirrel, get out of here!
And so it goes. . . I often think that my kneeling in the dirt is a prayer. Pulling weeds is an affirmation of hope. What I have come to realize, however, is that I never have a blank canvass. In the spring, the raised beds are already teeming with growth and seeds from the previous year. I know I could turn the soil over and use it all as some kind of green manure(??). I know that something has to die for my food, yet I can’t bring myself to do it. To create that blank canvass, where I can plant according to the directions that Mel Bartholomew has given, I must pull the weeds and the plants that voluntarily come out from last year.
When I first started the square-foot gardening raised bed, I had a blank canvass. There was new soil with no history of what came before.
Well, that dirt has a history, but I won’t launch into that discussion.
My point is that I only expected the seeds that I put into the ground to come up. Everything else was a weed. And weeds got pulled.
So, now I have no blank canvass. The soil has a history. Next year, I”m going to turn over every raised bed. I will be ruthless and meticulous. The green volunteers are compost and from that compost, the soil will be conditioned. I intend to plant as Mel Bartholomew has planned and measured out the spaces for each type of vegetable plant. I will bring order to this gardening chaos!
As I was kneeling in my garden to weed, I look at the plants growing from seeds. I just threw those seeds in the ground. Yes, after years of reading Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew and companion gardening books. I just threw away the book. . . figuratively, of course.
Tomato plants need a 2 foot by 2 foot square, so I guess I can put this little roma plant in the dirt next to the wildly growing chives. Hmmmm, there’s more room over here. I pick some purslane and wild grass. Huh, look at that, it’s a volunteer tomato plant. Well, I’ll just leave that there. Let’s put some beet seeds in here next to that. They are root crops; there’s gotta be room. I crawl over to the next section. Huh, dandelion. Yeah, that’s got to go. Where’d I put that weed puller. Doggone it, Where’s my tool! Oh, there it is! Hey squirrel, get out of here!
And so it goes. . . I often think that my kneeling in the dirt is a prayer. Pulling weeds is an affirmation of hope. What I have come to realize, however, is that I never have a blank canvass. In the spring, the raised beds are already teeming with growth and seeds from the previous year. I know I could turn the soil over and use it all as some kind of green manure(??). I know that something has to die for my food, yet I can’t bring myself to do it. To create that blank canvass, where I can plant according to the directions that Mel Bartholomew has given, I must pull the weeds and the plants that voluntarily come out from last year.
When I first started the square-foot gardening raised bed, I had a blank canvass. There was new soil with no history of what came before.
Well, that dirt has a history, but I won’t launch into that discussion.
My point is that I only expected the seeds that I put into the ground to come up. Everything else was a weed. And weeds got pulled.
So, now I have no blank canvass. The soil has a history. Next year, I”m going to turn over every raised bed. I will be ruthless and meticulous. The green volunteers are compost and from that compost, the soil will be conditioned. I intend to plant as Mel Bartholomew has planned and measured out the spaces for each type of vegetable plant. I will bring order to this gardening chaos!
Gardening 2010 reposted
Reposted June 10, 2011 http://hipurbanfarmer.myblogsite.com/entry19.html#body
Every year in the garden, I surprise myself. I go outside on the most spring of Spring days, when the sun is shining bright like it is today and I clean up the dog poop. Yep, someone has to do it and it has to be done before anything else, specifically gardening, can occur.
But after cleaning up after my pup'ster (who is about 12 years old if not older), I pull the dead decaying plants away from the new green shoots that are coming up. It's at this point that I begin to remember last year's garden. "Oh yeah, there was cabbage in this spot," I think as I pull out what is left of the stalk. I think about what I will rotate into that place this year. I ask myself if I grew tomatoes in this other spot, because if I did, I think, I can't grow peppers over here; they are in the same family. And you know how family can be at times; I believe in the crop rotation method. Something else must go there this year.
These thoughts are all that is left of how I used to garden. I used to garden by a strict plan. You see, in January, I'd get out my Square Foot Gardening book and graph paper, and I would draw the garden and decide where I would plant every single vegetable. Maybe it's because, I've been poking around on this planet a little while now, but I am giving up the planning. As I told my friend, I'm going to be 40, I used to plan, but now I don't.
I was not planning on a lot of things last year. As I finally get through all the gardening spots, pulling and yanking on the dead plants, I get to the part of the garden I love most- my raised bed. In the years, when I planned, I had created a sun box, according to the Square Foot Gardening book. I lift the the lid on the sun box and I begin to dig in the dirt. The soil is warm and I spy with my little eye the tops of carrots. Wow! I dig some more.
I find there are not only several carrot tops, but along with a teeny tiny tot of a carrot-one big carrot still in the ground. I laugh out loud. I see the pup'ster lift her head and lay back down on the ground. I wonder what people would've done with this carrot when they knew food was scarce. Would they clean off all the bad parts and eat it?
I smile and throw the carrot onto the compost pile. I think that there must be a great lesson in this. I get down on my knees as if to pray and I put my hands back in the dirt. I pull up a dead plant. I study it only to remember that this was the lettuce I grew last year. I let it go to seed. I let it grow wild. At that moment I know. The tiny little green plants growing in that dirt- is new lettuce. I smile fully. What a great surprise!
I surprised myself. I remember being tired, last year, when I was "putting away" the garden. I let that lettuce grow wild. I let it go to seed and I found and abundance of tiny little lettuce plants this year. They may not all survive, but I know they are stronger than any lettuce seedling I have started indoors.
There's a lesson in this I think. I don't know what the lesson is, though I suspect there may be many.
Welcome Gardening 2010
by Melissa Jeter on Friday, March 19, 2010 at 4:13pm
But after cleaning up after my pup'ster (who is about 12 years old if not older), I pull the dead decaying plants away from the new green shoots that are coming up. It's at this point that I begin to remember last year's garden. "Oh yeah, there was cabbage in this spot," I think as I pull out what is left of the stalk. I think about what I will rotate into that place this year. I ask myself if I grew tomatoes in this other spot, because if I did, I think, I can't grow peppers over here; they are in the same family. And you know how family can be at times; I believe in the crop rotation method. Something else must go there this year.
These thoughts are all that is left of how I used to garden. I used to garden by a strict plan. You see, in January, I'd get out my Square Foot Gardening book and graph paper, and I would draw the garden and decide where I would plant every single vegetable. Maybe it's because, I've been poking around on this planet a little while now, but I am giving up the planning. As I told my friend, I'm going to be 40, I used to plan, but now I don't.
I was not planning on a lot of things last year. As I finally get through all the gardening spots, pulling and yanking on the dead plants, I get to the part of the garden I love most- my raised bed. In the years, when I planned, I had created a sun box, according to the Square Foot Gardening book. I lift the the lid on the sun box and I begin to dig in the dirt. The soil is warm and I spy with my little eye the tops of carrots. Wow! I dig some more.
I find there are not only several carrot tops, but along with a teeny tiny tot of a carrot-one big carrot still in the ground. I laugh out loud. I see the pup'ster lift her head and lay back down on the ground. I wonder what people would've done with this carrot when they knew food was scarce. Would they clean off all the bad parts and eat it?
I smile and throw the carrot onto the compost pile. I think that there must be a great lesson in this. I get down on my knees as if to pray and I put my hands back in the dirt. I pull up a dead plant. I study it only to remember that this was the lettuce I grew last year. I let it go to seed. I let it grow wild. At that moment I know. The tiny little green plants growing in that dirt- is new lettuce. I smile fully. What a great surprise!
I surprised myself. I remember being tired, last year, when I was "putting away" the garden. I let that lettuce grow wild. I let it go to seed and I found and abundance of tiny little lettuce plants this year. They may not all survive, but I know they are stronger than any lettuce seedling I have started indoors.
There's a lesson in this I think. I don't know what the lesson is, though I suspect there may be many.
- My old planning provided me with some foundation on which to grow.
- Seeds sown wildly are much stronger than the ones coddled inside before they go outside on their own.
- Lastly, beneath all that dead stuff, something new is growing.
I left my heart. . . in the garden
Reposted from May 28, 2011 http://hipurbanfarmer.myblogsite.com/entry17.html#body
Have you planted those potatoes I gave you.
One looked at the other, sheepishly he replied, no
Do you need some help?
He looked at him and nodded his head as if his head nodding would nod his partner's head too
Yes.
Does that mean I get to wear my overalls?
Yes, I think it does, he nodded slyly.
I'll bring you some worms.
I was incredibly excited to garden with my friend, but I reminded myself that this was his yard and he should take the lead. Even still, I went home, scooped out some worms from the composter, and looked around for what else I could gift to him.
Oh yeah, these potato bags and these water spikes, two 2-liter bottles for the spikes. . . what else? Oh yeah cilantro seeds and stevia seeds. I bustled around the house, telling the cats to scat as I got my things together. I was very excited to garden with a friend.
In truth, I think that gardening with a friend has always been a great desire. I can't imagine anything more joyous other than experiencing the planting of vegetables with a friend. I had a great time kneeling in the dirt, digging holes, filling those holes with water putting a selected plants in the holes and covering them with dirt.
What else is there to say? Eventually, the rain harvesting cycle will end and we will all be planting again!
one comment
Yay for gardening and friends! Thank you again for all your help! I did some weeding yesterday, so I’m in full gardening mode now! :)
Eugenio (email) - 31 05 11 - 21:01
No trackbacks:
Have you planted those potatoes I gave you.
One looked at the other, sheepishly he replied, no
Do you need some help?
He looked at him and nodded his head as if his head nodding would nod his partner's head too
Yes.
Does that mean I get to wear my overalls?
Yes, I think it does, he nodded slyly.
I'll bring you some worms.
I was incredibly excited to garden with my friend, but I reminded myself that this was his yard and he should take the lead. Even still, I went home, scooped out some worms from the composter, and looked around for what else I could gift to him.
Oh yeah, these potato bags and these water spikes, two 2-liter bottles for the spikes. . . what else? Oh yeah cilantro seeds and stevia seeds. I bustled around the house, telling the cats to scat as I got my things together. I was very excited to garden with a friend.
In truth, I think that gardening with a friend has always been a great desire. I can't imagine anything more joyous other than experiencing the planting of vegetables with a friend. I had a great time kneeling in the dirt, digging holes, filling those holes with water putting a selected plants in the holes and covering them with dirt.
What else is there to say? Eventually, the rain harvesting cycle will end and we will all be planting again!
one comment
Yay for gardening and friends! Thank you again for all your help! I did some weeding yesterday, so I’m in full gardening mode now! :)
Eugenio (email) - 31 05 11 - 21:01
No trackbacks:
What color is your garden?
Reposted from May 20, 2011 http://hipurbanfarmer.myblogsite.com/entry16.html#body
What I love about gardening is that it cuts through a lot of divisions and unites us as people. Gardening unites us, because we all have to eat. The larger questions of environmentalism are deduced to the question of our ability to produce and sustain ourselves.
A little piece of land is an American dream, yet how many really make use of that land. Grass is pretty, but I don't want to eat it. As a young adult newly out of my teen years, my father told me about his people-people who owned land during the depression. They also owned shops and livestock. They had tanneries, were butchers farmers, and seamstresses. They had businesses that originated from the land and fulfilled the need to survive and be self-sustaining.
The simplicity of my resolution to poverty seemed to fall on deaf ears. My college roommates began to see me as someone falling off the deep-end, but I stuck to my dream. One day, I'd have my own homestead, where I would grow food, make clothes and have a horse.
To me, these questions are irrelevant. The question that is life-giving and life sustaining is how can I provide for myself in a way that allows me to hold my head up with dignity instead of a head held low in guilt our shame.
At this time in my life, I can see that I am part of an interdependent web-an ecology where relationships with people, places, the earth, the ground, the dirt, animals, larger institutions like banks etc all have a place in shaping and creating me. I, in turn, also shape these things in relationship, in a social ecology. The question is no longer what color is your garden
What I love about gardening is that it cuts through a lot of divisions and unites us as people. Gardening unites us, because we all have to eat. The larger questions of environmentalism are deduced to the question of our ability to produce and sustain ourselves.
Are you able to feed yourself? Can you really get in there-in the dirt and read what the soil is telling you? Do dandelions in the far corner of the yard tell you that the soil is alkaline? What else might you grow there?
Can you feed yourself?
A little piece of land is an American dream, yet how many really make use of that land. Grass is pretty, but I don't want to eat it. As a young adult newly out of my teen years, my father told me about his people-people who owned land during the depression. They also owned shops and livestock. They had tanneries, were butchers farmers, and seamstresses. They had businesses that originated from the land and fulfilled the need to survive and be self-sustaining.
"The Depression didn't hurt them as hard as most folks. . .they could barter with what they had. They raised livestock they could slaughter and barter for what they needed. . "I dreamed of my father's people, my relatives, generations ago, making a life from the land. I decided then that what people need to live is food not money. In my mind a fundamental social problem of our society had a resolution.
People need food to live. You can't eat paper, I would announce to one of my more conservative college roommates.
The simplicity of my resolution to poverty seemed to fall on deaf ears. My college roommates began to see me as someone falling off the deep-end, but I stuck to my dream. One day, I'd have my own homestead, where I would grow food, make clothes and have a horse.
Yes, I said horse. Though later, I would think hopelessly that if the people in hell wanted ice water and they weren't getting it, how the hell did I think I could have a horse!I feel strongly that to be able to garden, homestead, or farm is to have dignity. There is a certain dignity in being able to take care of yourself, of being self-sufficient.
How green is your garden?
How green are you?
What makes you green?
To me, these questions are irrelevant. The question that is life-giving and life sustaining is how can I provide for myself in a way that allows me to hold my head up with dignity instead of a head held low in guilt our shame.
At this time in my life, I can see that I am part of an interdependent web-an ecology where relationships with people, places, the earth, the ground, the dirt, animals, larger institutions like banks etc all have a place in shaping and creating me. I, in turn, also shape these things in relationship, in a social ecology. The question is no longer what color is your garden
if it ever was. . .The question is how do you sustain the relationships that will product and sustain life, earth, love and dignity.
Information Sources of Inspiration:
- The Hidden Connections: A Science for Sustainable Living by Fritof Capra
- Fritof, Capra's website: http://www.fritjofcapra.net/bibliography.html
- Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
- Race During the Great Depression Library of Congress http://memory.loc.gov:8081/learn/features/timeline/depwwii/race/race.html
- African-Americans in Virginia after Emancipation http://www.balchfriends.org/bhmap.htm
Rain Rain Rain
Reposted from May 11, 2011 http://hipurbanfarmer.myblogsite.com/entry15.html#body
It's spring and I like most people am dying for the sun after being in the dark all winter. Yet, it's raining! And to top that off it's still dark outside every other day. While this darkness and rain does nothing for my undiagnosed seasonal affective disorder (SAD), it does wonders for the garden. A lightening storm is even better. When the lightening strikes, it releases the nitrogen in the ground- not just the howl from your hound.
My point, however, is that the rain is good for gardening. I know you've heard it all before:
April showers bring May flowers
But it's not April, you say.
So let me help you reframe these feelings of ughs and ickiness from the dampness of the swamp we live in in three words. . .
Bear with me now.
Think about it as if it is a toy. It's a toy that only works if it is raining. Well, not really, but, I'm always going out in the rain to play with my rain barrel. First of all, I want to make sure it is filling up with water.
Really I've got to assuage the guilt I feel from taking so many baths. I may be clean, but I definitely use a lot of water.
Then I check the faucet to make sure there are no leaks. Of course, going out in the rain, gives me an excuse to wear my nifty yellow rain gear- a yellow jumper and coat, my rain boots.
Uh huh that's me!
Now go out there and harvest that rain! It's good for you!
It's spring and I like most people am dying for the sun after being in the dark all winter. Yet, it's raining! And to top that off it's still dark outside every other day. While this darkness and rain does nothing for my undiagnosed seasonal affective disorder (SAD), it does wonders for the garden. A lightening storm is even better. When the lightening strikes, it releases the nitrogen in the ground- not just the howl from your hound.
My dog, now deceased used to cry and hide every time there was a thunder storm. Pardon the pun.
April showers bring May flowers
But it's not April, you say.
So let me help you reframe these feelings of ughs and ickiness from the dampness of the swamp we live in in three words. . .
Rain harvesting season!
Yes! The ickiness and ughness of all this rain can be overcome if you just get yourself a rain barrel.Bear with me now.
Think about it as if it is a toy. It's a toy that only works if it is raining. Well, not really, but, I'm always going out in the rain to play with my rain barrel. First of all, I want to make sure it is filling up with water.
Really I've got to assuage the guilt I feel from taking so many baths. I may be clean, but I definitely use a lot of water.
Then I check the faucet to make sure there are no leaks. Of course, going out in the rain, gives me an excuse to wear my nifty yellow rain gear- a yellow jumper and coat, my rain boots.
Uh huh that's me!
Growth and Abundance
Reposted from October 5, 2011 http://hipurbanfarmer.myblogsite.com/entry14.html#body
It's raining and yes, I've been gardening. My hands still have dirt on them and the dirt under my nails reminds me of the little phalanges of children who've made mud pies. My overalls are wet and muddy as well. And boy oh boy was that fun!
The earth is abundant. I was reminded of this today as I looked at those little lettuce seedlings. My how they have grown. Take a look at the new set of photos I've taken.
I am so connected to the land of my home. Land is a foundational part of home and culture. My beliefs and values are shaped by this land that I work. The mud on my hands and clothes are the artifacts of the culture I create. Even more so, when I take what I have grown and transform it into something that feeds and heals me, I am nurtured by the earth as a child wrapped in a mama's arms.
In gardening, I am loved and nourished. I feel complete and there is not much more outside myself that I find I need. My suffering is the past as I witness the growth of lettuce and experience the life cycle of growing plants. I can see the use for what has rotted and has become valuable as compost. This compost will fertilize the lettuce, sage, peppermint, lavender, spinach, and a few carrots.
So, though, I will use a brush and soap to scrub away the dirt on my hands what will remain is the joy I received from digging in the mud. The weariness of the weeks gone by recede. And instead, I perceive the value in rotting things that hold the possibilities of growth and abundance.
reposted from facebook May 5, 2010
The earth is abundant. I was reminded of this today as I looked at those little lettuce seedlings. My how they have grown. Take a look at the new set of photos I've taken.
I am so connected to the land of my home. Land is a foundational part of home and culture. My beliefs and values are shaped by this land that I work. The mud on my hands and clothes are the artifacts of the culture I create. Even more so, when I take what I have grown and transform it into something that feeds and heals me, I am nurtured by the earth as a child wrapped in a mama's arms.
In gardening, I am loved and nourished. I feel complete and there is not much more outside myself that I find I need. My suffering is the past as I witness the growth of lettuce and experience the life cycle of growing plants. I can see the use for what has rotted and has become valuable as compost. This compost will fertilize the lettuce, sage, peppermint, lavender, spinach, and a few carrots.
So, though, I will use a brush and soap to scrub away the dirt on my hands what will remain is the joy I received from digging in the mud. The weariness of the weeks gone by recede. And instead, I perceive the value in rotting things that hold the possibilities of growth and abundance.
reposted from facebook May 5, 2010
Do you see the abundance?
Reposted from April 11, 2011
http://hipurbanfarmer.myblogsite.com/entry13.html#body
I can't stand waste of any kind, now. If I can compost food scraps, I'm fine, but meat and cheese cannot be composted. So in planning meals, it is helpful to be mindful of what you put on that salad. A salad with bacon and cheese cannot be composted. Vegetable foods from my plate can be composted. With this in mind, I know that the vegetable scraps will not be wasted. Instead, these vegetable scraps will become compost that will contribute to feeding the soil, and in turn the plants which will feed me. This is the cycle of abundance.Some may recall being admonished as a child to eat the vegetables because kids in other countries don't have enough food to eat. How well did that strategy work?
Jacob, eat your veggies. There are kids starving in South America.
AWW Ma!! I hate peas. Jacob uses his fork to shift the peas from one side of the plate to the other.
Maybe if Jacob actually saw where those peas came from he might eat them and take a sense of pride in the fact that he grew them. The peas on the plate, if your lucky came from a frozen bag that traveled all the way from California, where someone picked and shelled those peas. However, all you saw was the peas being boiled to mush in a a pot on the stove. Mmm mmmm, deeeelishuus. NOT!
Fresh vegetables and fruits picked from the garden a few minutes before preparing and eating are the most nutritious and delicious. If these fresh fruits and vegetables are lacking, but junk food is widely available our country ensures that kids are malnourished, especially in urban areas. Therefore, I am arguing that urban farming is important for growing real food and getting kids to eat their vegetables. So there!
Sources of Inspiration:
Johnson, W. (2002). Healthy Environment, Healthy Children, Healthy Future: The Role of Urban Agriculture and Pesticides. Electronic Green Journal, N.PAG. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Guard, R. (2007, Winter2007). The fat of the land. Canadian Organic Grower. p. 66. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Mead, M. (2008). The Sprawl of Food Deserts. Environmental Health Perspectives, 116(8), A335. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
http://hipurbanfarmer.myblogsite.com/entry13.html#body
I choose to see the glass half full and I see a full glass when I garden. Because I know the time and effort it takes to grow peas, beans, potatoes, etc., I refuse to waste it. I only pick what I plan to eat when the vegetables are in season. There's little value in picking to save for later. Let it grow and have life until I need it. My motto becomes live simply so that others my live.
I can't stand waste of any kind, now. If I can compost food scraps, I'm fine, but meat and cheese cannot be composted. So in planning meals, it is helpful to be mindful of what you put on that salad. A salad with bacon and cheese cannot be composted. Vegetable foods from my plate can be composted. With this in mind, I know that the vegetable scraps will not be wasted. Instead, these vegetable scraps will become compost that will contribute to feeding the soil, and in turn the plants which will feed me. This is the cycle of abundance.
Jacob, eat your veggies. There are kids starving in South America.
AWW Ma!! I hate peas. Jacob uses his fork to shift the peas from one side of the plate to the other.
Maybe if Jacob actually saw where those peas came from he might eat them and take a sense of pride in the fact that he grew them. The peas on the plate, if your lucky came from a frozen bag that traveled all the way from California, where someone picked and shelled those peas. However, all you saw was the peas being boiled to mush in a a pot on the stove. Mmm mmmm, deeeelishuus. NOT!
Fresh vegetables and fruits picked from the garden a few minutes before preparing and eating are the most nutritious and delicious. If these fresh fruits and vegetables are lacking, but junk food is widely available our country ensures that kids are malnourished, especially in urban areas. Therefore, I am arguing that urban farming is important for growing real food and getting kids to eat their vegetables. So there!
Sources of Inspiration:
Johnson, W. (2002). Healthy Environment, Healthy Children, Healthy Future: The Role of Urban Agriculture and Pesticides. Electronic Green Journal, N.PAG. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Guard, R. (2007, Winter2007). The fat of the land. Canadian Organic Grower. p. 66. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Mead, M. (2008). The Sprawl of Food Deserts. Environmental Health Perspectives, 116(8), A335. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Heaven and Earth: How will you resurect the good news of ecological sustainability?
Reposted from April 22, 2011
I have been finishing up the last chapter, Passion, of The Lamb, the Gospel According to Biff Christ's Childhood Friend by Christopher Moore. (Yes, you can pick up a copy at your local library.) For Christians and people living in a predominately Christian culture, this is holy week. In the spirit of holy week, I've been trying to think of a parallel for gardening. Plants are coming back, seedlings bursting through the ground, spring coming back. . .by itself this seems so cliche. I've heard that all before.
Yet during the holy week people do return to the source of their being on earth. Whether you are a practicing Christian, pagan, or religious in some of the many ways a person can be, my bet is that most people will be taking a holiday break this weekend and meet up with their families. I am an odd bird in that I will not be making such a consanguineous pilgrimage. But before you imagine me an orphan during this weekend of family retreat, I submit to you a metaphorical story to connect to family as well as the earth, the larger home.
What if we were to consider how we treat this ground we walk upon? How do we relate to our home?
If you are reading this blog, You have probably thought about how we treat the earth and the multitude of ways that we can live a sustainable life. Perhaps, you only eat meat once a week. Maybe the beef you eat is grass fed. Maybe you have eschewed meat altogether. You make sure to recycle and you are mindful of your transportation habits. Your good news is that the earth will be fine, but we, humans must change our ways if generations of us are to live eternally on this place called earth.
Is this the good news you carry with you when you go home?
Years ago before recycling was as accepted as it is now, I carried this home and the following is representative of what happened:
Yet with time comes some wisdom, however small it may be. And if you are lucky, when you go home this year, the good news will have been resurrected. Without prompting, family members are putting those pop bottles in the recycling bin for the city curbside recycling program. As for me, I will be reusing the pop bottles as cloches to cover newly sprouted lettuce and the flower seedlings I've started. And in the spirit of remembering and celebrating, I will be bringing flowers and blue potato seeds to dinner this year.
Happy Easter! Happy Earth Day!
I have been finishing up the last chapter, Passion, of The Lamb, the Gospel According to Biff Christ's Childhood Friend by Christopher Moore. (Yes, you can pick up a copy at your local library.) For Christians and people living in a predominately Christian culture, this is holy week. In the spirit of holy week, I've been trying to think of a parallel for gardening. Plants are coming back, seedlings bursting through the ground, spring coming back. . .by itself this seems so cliche. I've heard that all before.
Yet during the holy week people do return to the source of their being on earth. Whether you are a practicing Christian, pagan, or religious in some of the many ways a person can be, my bet is that most people will be taking a holiday break this weekend and meet up with their families. I am an odd bird in that I will not be making such a consanguineous pilgrimage. But before you imagine me an orphan during this weekend of family retreat, I submit to you a metaphorical story to connect to family as well as the earth, the larger home.
What if we were to consider how we treat this ground we walk upon? How do we relate to our home?
If you are reading this blog, You have probably thought about how we treat the earth and the multitude of ways that we can live a sustainable life. Perhaps, you only eat meat once a week. Maybe the beef you eat is grass fed. Maybe you have eschewed meat altogether. You make sure to recycle and you are mindful of your transportation habits. Your good news is that the earth will be fine, but we, humans must change our ways if generations of us are to live eternally on this place called earth.
Is this the good news you carry with you when you go home?
Years ago before recycling was as accepted as it is now, I carried this home and the following is representative of what happened:
Me: Hey, where's the recycling?
Family member: What?
Me: This pop bottle can be recycled. Let's put that where we can take it to be recycled?
Family member: Oh I don't have time for that non-sense?
Me: huh?
Family member: It's just more work for me to do, just throw it away.
Me: But then it goes to a dump, it doesn't biodegrade. . .
Family member: What? What are you talking about? Get that bottle out of here!
Me: sigh. . ..
Maybe you had a similar experience with bringing the good news home, especially if you were away at college and returned home during the break. There are a variety of ways that people react to this good news. Family systems being what they are, the good news may fall upon deaf ears, if you are lucky. If family members are very tied to tradition, there may be some struggle with the good news, because it requires that we change our thinking. Could we be responsible for our behavior and how we relate to each other and our home on earth?Family member: What exactly are you learning up there at that college?
Me: sigh, maybe I should've stayed at school. . .
Family member: What! are you getting smart with me?
Another family member: Yeah, where's your common sense. . . got all that book learnin' and coming in here thinking you can tell us what to do
Me: huh?
Family member: This is Easter. We're supposed to be celebrating the resurrection of our Lord.
If you carried the burden of the good news of environmentalism to your family, you may have felt as if you were being targeted or scapegoated for any and every problem that always existed in your family. Or was it just me? So if you got home Friday night, you might be thinking, what's so good about it?Yet with time comes some wisdom, however small it may be. And if you are lucky, when you go home this year, the good news will have been resurrected. Without prompting, family members are putting those pop bottles in the recycling bin for the city curbside recycling program. As for me, I will be reusing the pop bottles as cloches to cover newly sprouted lettuce and the flower seedlings I've started. And in the spirit of remembering and celebrating, I will be bringing flowers and blue potato seeds to dinner this year.
Happy Easter! Happy Earth Day!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
What's that garden tool doing in your car?
Reposted April 16, 2011
I have a pitchfork. . . . hmmm that sound like a threat. Rest assured, it is not a threat and I do have a pitch fork. I travel with my pitchfork between my home garden and community garden. I don't have truck for my pitchfork, though. So, I pull the back seats down, open the trunk and insert that pitchfork into the car.
From April to October, I'll ride around town with this beauty in my little black car. When I go to work? pitch fork. Shopping? pitchfork. Art walk on Thursday night? Yep, pitchfork.
I am not usually a self-conscious person; I have no concern about who sees my pitchfork in the back of my car. Once, I even traveled to see a friend in Cleveland with the pitchfork in my car. Of course, this must have been an odd sight to see; I was wearing faux leather pumps and a nice little fitted purple dress. I was going to dinner. I just forgot to take it out of the car. I just threw my bags on top of the pitchfork and drove off. I didn't even think about my pitchfork until I got lost and had to ask for directions at a toll booth.
It was gardening season damn it. Neither lack of truck, nor travel to distant places, can shame me. I have a pitchfork and I know how to use it . . .
How I use my pitchfork
Books about Pitchforks
I have a pitchfork. . . . hmmm that sound like a threat. Rest assured, it is not a threat and I do have a pitch fork. I travel with my pitchfork between my home garden and community garden. I don't have truck for my pitchfork, though. So, I pull the back seats down, open the trunk and insert that pitchfork into the car.
From April to October, I'll ride around town with this beauty in my little black car. When I go to work? pitch fork. Shopping? pitchfork. Art walk on Thursday night? Yep, pitchfork.
I am not usually a self-conscious person; I have no concern about who sees my pitchfork in the back of my car. Once, I even traveled to see a friend in Cleveland with the pitchfork in my car. Of course, this must have been an odd sight to see; I was wearing faux leather pumps and a nice little fitted purple dress. I was going to dinner. I just forgot to take it out of the car. I just threw my bags on top of the pitchfork and drove off. I didn't even think about my pitchfork until I got lost and had to ask for directions at a toll booth.
It was gardening season damn it. Neither lack of truck, nor travel to distant places, can shame me. I have a pitchfork and I know how to use it . . .
How I use my pitchfork
- turning the compost
- carrying thick heavy mulch
- aerating the lawn
- digging out potatoes
Books about Pitchforks
- Homemade contrivances and how to make them : 1001 labor-saving devices for farm, garden, dairy, and workshop. New York : Skyhorse Pub., c2007. Call no. 681.763 Hom
- Holy shit : managing manure to save mankind / Gene Logsdon ; illustrations by Brooke Budner. White River Junction, VT : Chelsea Green Pub. Co., c2010. Call no. 631.861 Log.
Who wants my urban farm?
Reposted from April 7 2011
So the only problem I envision with urban farming is that small-scale community farmers will be taken over by agri business and we will defeat the point of the urban farming. The point of urban farming is based on your perspective. And, actually there are many points of view of urban farming, including sustainability, concerns about population growth, creation of green jobs, food justice and just aesthetics.
As I plan more raised beds in my back yard, I grumble a little. I'm thinking that once this looks real nice, some developer will want to come and take my property- my urban oasis. I immediately drift off into a daydream where I imagine myself in jean overalls, a t-shirt, and gym shoes standing on my back porch with a shot gun cocked in both my hands.
Get off my land, I say.
Mam, put the shot gun down, by eminent domain, we have the right to seize this property for the public good.
I squint my eyes and growl. There's no public good from takin' my land. You got til I count to three.
But Mam!
One!
Here's the paper. .
Two!
I think she's serious, they say incredulously. As the men turn and run away they exclaim, We'll be back with the police.
You do that! I"ll be right here.
There's a sly grin on my face and my eyes are rolled up to the right as I day dream. The squeak of a squirrel running through the yard wakes me from my stupor.
Hey squirrel, get out of here! I hiss and the squirrel runs up the fence and into the neighbor's yard.
Who wants my farm anyway, I think.
So I decided to to a little digging. Digging through the ether, in databases on my local library website.
And yes, this is a shameless plug for you to use the resources at the public library.
Who indeed wants an urban farm? Urban city planners who are interested in revitalizing cities include urban farming in their plans. They discuss enlisting neighbors and residents in planning this urban revitalization with the inclusion of urban farms, but also the creation of green jobs.
There are a lot of issues to overcome in urban farming, from obtaining the land from government land banks to actually tilling the soil. Soil that in most cases has suffered the effects of industrial development. Soil remediation is a critical issue if the urban farm is growing food.
And what would be the point of a farm only growing flowers- unless they were edible. And, though nasturtiums are great, can you an imagine only a diet of flowers. . . No. . . no, I can't.
So after getting my tax dollars worth of research on the library databases, I causally "googled" for agribusiness and urban farms; I found an example of just the thing I feared. In Detroit, it looks as if developers have looked at an urban farm and considered turning this community-based revitalization project into a large-scale business. Personally, I'm not against business. What I have concerns about are the principles upon which that business is based. Urban farming that accounts for building community, sustainably, providing food and jobs where both or scarce is important. A business model of civic entrepreneurship would be acceptable to me.
But who am I? I'm just one hip urban farmer.
Sources of Inspiration. . . excluding the squirrel
So the only problem I envision with urban farming is that small-scale community farmers will be taken over by agri business and we will defeat the point of the urban farming. The point of urban farming is based on your perspective. And, actually there are many points of view of urban farming, including sustainability, concerns about population growth, creation of green jobs, food justice and just aesthetics.
As I plan more raised beds in my back yard, I grumble a little. I'm thinking that once this looks real nice, some developer will want to come and take my property- my urban oasis. I immediately drift off into a daydream where I imagine myself in jean overalls, a t-shirt, and gym shoes standing on my back porch with a shot gun cocked in both my hands.
Get off my land, I say.
Mam, put the shot gun down, by eminent domain, we have the right to seize this property for the public good.
I squint my eyes and growl. There's no public good from takin' my land. You got til I count to three.
But Mam!
One!
Here's the paper. .
Two!
I think she's serious, they say incredulously. As the men turn and run away they exclaim, We'll be back with the police.
You do that! I"ll be right here.
There's a sly grin on my face and my eyes are rolled up to the right as I day dream. The squeak of a squirrel running through the yard wakes me from my stupor.
Hey squirrel, get out of here! I hiss and the squirrel runs up the fence and into the neighbor's yard.
Who wants my farm anyway, I think.
So I decided to to a little digging. Digging through the ether, in databases on my local library website.
And yes, this is a shameless plug for you to use the resources at the public library.
Who indeed wants an urban farm? Urban city planners who are interested in revitalizing cities include urban farming in their plans. They discuss enlisting neighbors and residents in planning this urban revitalization with the inclusion of urban farms, but also the creation of green jobs.
There are a lot of issues to overcome in urban farming, from obtaining the land from government land banks to actually tilling the soil. Soil that in most cases has suffered the effects of industrial development. Soil remediation is a critical issue if the urban farm is growing food.
And what would be the point of a farm only growing flowers- unless they were edible. And, though nasturtiums are great, can you an imagine only a diet of flowers. . . No. . . no, I can't.
So after getting my tax dollars worth of research on the library databases, I causally "googled" for agribusiness and urban farms; I found an example of just the thing I feared. In Detroit, it looks as if developers have looked at an urban farm and considered turning this community-based revitalization project into a large-scale business. Personally, I'm not against business. What I have concerns about are the principles upon which that business is based. Urban farming that accounts for building community, sustainably, providing food and jobs where both or scarce is important. A business model of civic entrepreneurship would be acceptable to me.
But who am I? I'm just one hip urban farmer.
Sources of Inspiration. . . excluding the squirrel
- Homesteading
- "The Art of Homesteading." Mother Earth News 229 (2008): 6. GreenFILE. EBSCO. Web. 6 Apr. 2011.
- Green Jobs
- Priesnitz, Wendy. "Are Green Jobs Really Green? (And How Do I Get One?)." Natural Life 127 (2009): 9-11. GreenFILE. EBSCO. Web. 6 Apr. 2011.
- "What are Green-Collar Jobs." http://www.greenforall.org/green-collar-jobs Accessed April 6, 2011
- "Local Food: Strategies for Job and Health." http://uac.utoledo.edu/localfood/LocalFoodStrategiesFlyer.pdf Accessed April 6, 2011
- Soil remediation
- "COMPOST'S ROLE IN URBAN GARDEN SOIL REMEDIATION." BioCycle 51.5 (2010): 16-17. GreenFILE. EBSCO. Web. 6 Apr. 2011.
- Urban Farms
- Toledo, Ohio
- Detroit, Michigan
- http://www.cskdetroit.org/EWG/farm.cfm Accessed April 4, 2011
- http://cleantech.com/news/4336/urban-farming-raiases-remediation-co
- Cleveland, Ohio
- http://www.urbangrowthfarms.com/ accessed April 4, 2011
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- http://www.growingpower.org/ accessed April 4, 2011
- Chicago, Illinois
- http://www.growinghomeinc.org/wood-street/ Accessed April 4, 2011
- Urban Planning
- Amanda Rhoads, et al. "Using Land Inventories to Plan for Urban Agriculture: Experiences From Portland and Vancouver." Journal of the American Planning Association 74.4 (2008): 435-449. GreenFILE. EBSCO. Web. 6 Apr. 2011
- University of Toledo Urban Affairs Center http://uac.utoledo.edu/ Accessed April 6, 2011
Gardening 2011
Reposted February 3, 2011
It is time once again to prepare the seeds for spring. I know what you're thinking. . . Where have I been since I last blogged. Hibernating, of course. The frozen tozen season of winter has a tendency to get me down, but in January I started planning my garden.
This year I plan to add one more raised bed to my yard as well as add purple potatoes and soybeans. These plants, of course are in addition to what I already grow: lettuce, tomatoes, herbs, onions black-eyed peas, cantaloupe, cabbage, spinach, kale, collards and probably a few other veggies, I've forgotten. To add a vegetable or three to my list of garden vegetable plans is the way of the gardener. The excitement gardeners have over growing vegetables is so curious. It often beings with a simple question. "I wonder if I can grow poppies in the back yard," I've said aloud. Only to be reminded of the various uses for such a plant and decide to go another route.
Don't get me wrong, I'm interested in medicinal plants. I just think that I'll keep my nose clean and hands full of soil before my wanderings get me in trouble. By the way, I think you can grow poppies; it's the other medicinal stuff you get in trouble for growing. So purple potatoes and soy beans it is. I promise to be more frequent in my posts, now that it's time to get the seedlings started.
It is time once again to prepare the seeds for spring. I know what you're thinking. . . Where have I been since I last blogged. Hibernating, of course. The frozen tozen season of winter has a tendency to get me down, but in January I started planning my garden.
This year I plan to add one more raised bed to my yard as well as add purple potatoes and soybeans. These plants, of course are in addition to what I already grow: lettuce, tomatoes, herbs, onions black-eyed peas, cantaloupe, cabbage, spinach, kale, collards and probably a few other veggies, I've forgotten. To add a vegetable or three to my list of garden vegetable plans is the way of the gardener. The excitement gardeners have over growing vegetables is so curious. It often beings with a simple question. "I wonder if I can grow poppies in the back yard," I've said aloud. Only to be reminded of the various uses for such a plant and decide to go another route.
Don't get me wrong, I'm interested in medicinal plants. I just think that I'll keep my nose clean and hands full of soil before my wanderings get me in trouble. By the way, I think you can grow poppies; it's the other medicinal stuff you get in trouble for growing. So purple potatoes and soy beans it is. I promise to be more frequent in my posts, now that it's time to get the seedlings started.
Last year's notes on Gardening- Reposted
Reposted May 3, 2011
So you wanna Garden
As I putter around the yard, pulling weeds, harvesting some leaves of spinach, I think ,"whew, this is work." This thought leads me to remember that 80's show Fame. Remember Debbie Allen talking to her dance students. . . So you want fame, well fame costs and right here is where you start paying for it."
Yeah so the version of this mantra in my head said the following:
So you wanna garden, huh? You want food grown local?, Yeah, well right here is where you start pulling the weeds. And just how do you think that food gets to your table in the first place?
I must confess that this year is the first year that I have gotten tired of puttering in the yard. Yet, I am compelled to do so. Being compelled to garden is much like being compelled to do art of any kind, including performance art.
Several times today, I have come into the house and declared, I'm done! I can't do any more. And then I went back outside with the pupster, opened the garage and took out a rake. Maybe this is some kind of obsessive compulsive disorder, I wonder.
So you wanna Garden
As I putter around the yard, pulling weeds, harvesting some leaves of spinach, I think ,"whew, this is work." This thought leads me to remember that 80's show Fame. Remember Debbie Allen talking to her dance students. . . So you want fame, well fame costs and right here is where you start paying for it."
Yeah so the version of this mantra in my head said the following:
So you wanna garden, huh? You want food grown local?, Yeah, well right here is where you start pulling the weeds. And just how do you think that food gets to your table in the first place?
I must confess that this year is the first year that I have gotten tired of puttering in the yard. Yet, I am compelled to do so. Being compelled to garden is much like being compelled to do art of any kind, including performance art.
Several times today, I have come into the house and declared, I'm done! I can't do any more. And then I went back outside with the pupster, opened the garage and took out a rake. Maybe this is some kind of obsessive compulsive disorder, I wonder.
I said it was hip.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/us/06farmers.html?_r=1&smid=fb-nytimes&WT.mc_id=US-SM-E-FB-SM-LIN-NGO-030611-NYT-NA&WT.mc_ev=click
Putting the hip in urban farming
Reposted from June 3, 2011
What makes my backyard garden hip? And what more what makes it farming?
For something to be hip, means that it is up to date with the latest styles, according to dictionary.com. Anyone who knows me, knows that I can care less about the latest styles. However, what I do care about is gardening frugally and as close to organic that I possibly can.
I also care about the environment and doing what I can do. While some may argue that it might be better if I drove an electric car or put solar panels on the house, I'm doing what I can do. As I've said once before, I can't do everything, but what I can do let no one put asunder.
So what makes my garden a farm?
Well the oasis-that's what I call my backyard- is my rock. It is the foundation upon which I want to build life. It is a homestead in the city. While there is discussion about urban areas becoming food deserts, my back yard is lush with veggies growing in raised beds, the landscape, and sometimes even through cracks in the sidewalk. A city does not have to be an urban desert. Local organizations like Toledo Grows also, make sure that urban neighborhoods like mine, don't become food deserts. (see the links below for more information on food deserts) So instead of an urban desert, I am creating a farm. I care for the soil using a minimal amount of chemical products and a whole lot more compost and manures. Farming, according to the Oxford Reference Dictionary is ". . . cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products. . ." The only animals, I have reared are two cats (living) and a dog (now deceased). If I had a sheep, I would definitely shear it and use the wool to make sweaters, because I love to knit. Yet, what I cultivate from the soil, I do use to supplement the groceries I buy. I do what I can do. So I use herbs in my garden and a few products already in my kitchen and I make lotions.
So I call this the Hip Urban Farmer's Blog, because it reflects my desire to grow food to supplement what food I buy and I do this in the city. I can put my hip into digging up the dirt and planting seeds. I do what I can do with what I have. Thus, doing what I can do in my little area of the city puts the hip in urban farming.
More information on food deserts:
What makes my backyard garden hip? And what more what makes it farming?
For something to be hip, means that it is up to date with the latest styles, according to dictionary.com. Anyone who knows me, knows that I can care less about the latest styles. However, what I do care about is gardening frugally and as close to organic that I possibly can.
I also care about the environment and doing what I can do. While some may argue that it might be better if I drove an electric car or put solar panels on the house, I'm doing what I can do. As I've said once before, I can't do everything, but what I can do let no one put asunder.
So what makes my garden a farm?
Well the oasis-that's what I call my backyard- is my rock. It is the foundation upon which I want to build life. It is a homestead in the city. While there is discussion about urban areas becoming food deserts, my back yard is lush with veggies growing in raised beds, the landscape, and sometimes even through cracks in the sidewalk. A city does not have to be an urban desert. Local organizations like Toledo Grows also, make sure that urban neighborhoods like mine, don't become food deserts. (see the links below for more information on food deserts) So instead of an urban desert, I am creating a farm. I care for the soil using a minimal amount of chemical products and a whole lot more compost and manures. Farming, according to the Oxford Reference Dictionary is ". . . cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products. . ." The only animals, I have reared are two cats (living) and a dog (now deceased). If I had a sheep, I would definitely shear it and use the wool to make sweaters, because I love to knit. Yet, what I cultivate from the soil, I do use to supplement the groceries I buy. I do what I can do. So I use herbs in my garden and a few products already in my kitchen and I make lotions.
So I call this the Hip Urban Farmer's Blog, because it reflects my desire to grow food to supplement what food I buy and I do this in the city. I can put my hip into digging up the dirt and planting seeds. I do what I can do with what I have. Thus, doing what I can do in my little area of the city puts the hip in urban farming.
More information on food deserts:
Starting the Seeds: The Season of Faith
Reposted from march 20, 2011
Spring always heralds the new year for me. Every year, I start my seeds about this time. I use black and white newspaper or white paper intended for recycling and I make little cups. The newspaper functions similar to a peat moss cup. So that's my seed starting technique, I'll get to more of that in a minute.
First I must say that every year, I worry that the seeds will not germinate. My rational mind-well maybe it's not so rational- but I worry that the seeds will not become plants. Why? Why in the world does a seed so tiny, put in dirt, a mixture of peat and vermiculite or just seed starting mix, spritzed with water even become a plant? Do you see what I'm asking? WHY? Not how? It is a question for contemplation.
So the season of starting seeds is a season where I must take a leap of faith. Faith, as a vision of tomatoes, lettuce, beets, basil, etc., full grown. Faith of vegetable plants cut and chopped and put on a plate. Faith that I will be fed.
Moreover, some seeds will grow better this year than they did last year and that's what I have to accept as the harvest at the end of the growing season. Much like a Buddhist monk with a begging bowl, I am going out into the world with my cup, taking only what the generous and compassionate put in my bowl. I wonder and I worry what will this year's harvest be like before the seeds are even planted.
The worry is so great that I sometimes, procrastinate starting seeds indoors. I am slow to get started. I fear that I will fail as if it is me that is doing all the germinating and growing. Much like Peter reaching out to Jesus, I fall into the water due to my lack of faith. Yet, it really doesn't take much, I realize right before I take the next leap of faith. I am only part of the process. A small part, yet powerful enough to encourage the growth of what will be a feast.
So I clear up the basement and slide my little greenhouse under the lights. I fill the newspaper cups with seed starting mix, labeling the cups with the current date. I get busy with starting the seeds. I put my faith into action. I give them a warm spritz of water and zip up the greenhouse and wait for the little green shoots. Happy New Year! Happy Equinox! Happy Spring!
Articles, books, and websites of inspiration for this blog entry:
"Begging Bowl " http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/things/begging_bowl.htm Accessed March 20, 2011
Biblical Literacy: The Essential Bible Stories Everyone Needs to Know by Timothy K. Beal
How to make newspaper cups for seedlings http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ9xcRVm5Rc Accessed March 20, 2011
Spring always heralds the new year for me. Every year, I start my seeds about this time. I use black and white newspaper or white paper intended for recycling and I make little cups. The newspaper functions similar to a peat moss cup. So that's my seed starting technique, I'll get to more of that in a minute.
First I must say that every year, I worry that the seeds will not germinate. My rational mind-well maybe it's not so rational- but I worry that the seeds will not become plants. Why? Why in the world does a seed so tiny, put in dirt, a mixture of peat and vermiculite or just seed starting mix, spritzed with water even become a plant? Do you see what I'm asking? WHY? Not how? It is a question for contemplation.
So the season of starting seeds is a season where I must take a leap of faith. Faith, as a vision of tomatoes, lettuce, beets, basil, etc., full grown. Faith of vegetable plants cut and chopped and put on a plate. Faith that I will be fed.
Moreover, some seeds will grow better this year than they did last year and that's what I have to accept as the harvest at the end of the growing season. Much like a Buddhist monk with a begging bowl, I am going out into the world with my cup, taking only what the generous and compassionate put in my bowl. I wonder and I worry what will this year's harvest be like before the seeds are even planted.
The worry is so great that I sometimes, procrastinate starting seeds indoors. I am slow to get started. I fear that I will fail as if it is me that is doing all the germinating and growing. Much like Peter reaching out to Jesus, I fall into the water due to my lack of faith. Yet, it really doesn't take much, I realize right before I take the next leap of faith. I am only part of the process. A small part, yet powerful enough to encourage the growth of what will be a feast.
So I clear up the basement and slide my little greenhouse under the lights. I fill the newspaper cups with seed starting mix, labeling the cups with the current date. I get busy with starting the seeds. I put my faith into action. I give them a warm spritz of water and zip up the greenhouse and wait for the little green shoots. Happy New Year! Happy Equinox! Happy Spring!
Articles, books, and websites of inspiration for this blog entry:
"Begging Bowl " http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/things/begging_bowl.htm Accessed March 20, 2011
Biblical Literacy: The Essential Bible Stories Everyone Needs to Know by Timothy K. Beal
How to make newspaper cups for seedlings http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ9xcRVm5Rc Accessed March 20, 2011
Urban Gardening changes neighborhoods
Reposted from March 24, 2011
I've always believed that urban neighborhoods could be transformed if people grew gardens. I see that there are more people in the Toledo, Ohio community who feel the same. While I was getting my morning cup of joe at the local gas station, my friend called me and asked me to get home so we could go to the groundbreaking of a greenhouse in our neighborhood. My initial thoughts were :What? I gotta go to work.
I hurried home, quickly dressed for work, and we both jumped in the car to drive down to the greenhouse on Oneida Street.
Well as it turns out, there was a press conference on Oneida Street with Mike Szuberla of Toledo Grows, Marcy Kaptur Ohio State Representative, City Council Representative Joe McNamara, Woody Trautman of Multifaith Grows, as well as employees from United North and the youth who work in the Oneida Greenhouse. In all there were about 30 some people there.
"See, now aren't you glad I dragged you out here," my friend said.
I crowded into the back of the greenhouse and listened to the speakers. Mike Szuberla of Toledo Grows was speaking, while the cameras from 13 abc news rolled. At the back of the greenhouse, I could mostly see the backsides of all the attendees, including Rep. Marcy Kaptur. However, on this chilly morning in the warm and humid greenhouse, I could see the gardeners off to the side.One person was watering what looked to me like newly sprouted lettuce. I saw a few young men from the neighborhood. These young men work in the garden and grow food. Their lives in this neighborhood have been changed as a result of this greenhouse, I thought.
Marcy Kaptur was now speaking. A veiled woman I have seen many times in my neighborhood waved me to come in to the greenhouse further. "Come on in here, " she said. Now I could see Marcy Kaptur speaking, as well as the rest of the greenhouse.
I could see and hear the hydroponic garden which holds talapia. I could see the head volunteer who works with the young men in the garden. I took out my phone and began snapping pictures.
I felt a great sense of community pride as I listened to the speakers and observed the greenhouse surroundings.
Just then the alarm on my phone rang. The ring was a reminder that I had thirty minutes to get to work. My adrenaline kicked in again. I gotta go, I whispered to my friend. I inched my way out of the greenhouse; however I felt invigorated to get to work in my own garden and proud that my neighborhood is being transformed through gardening.
More information on the ground breaking can be found here:
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvg/story?section=news/local&id=8032053
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Oneida-North-Toledo-Greenhouse-Project-T-Grows/141779492528492
I've always believed that urban neighborhoods could be transformed if people grew gardens. I see that there are more people in the Toledo, Ohio community who feel the same. While I was getting my morning cup of joe at the local gas station, my friend called me and asked me to get home so we could go to the groundbreaking of a greenhouse in our neighborhood. My initial thoughts were :What? I gotta go to work.
I hurried home, quickly dressed for work, and we both jumped in the car to drive down to the greenhouse on Oneida Street.
Well as it turns out, there was a press conference on Oneida Street with Mike Szuberla of Toledo Grows, Marcy Kaptur Ohio State Representative, City Council Representative Joe McNamara, Woody Trautman of Multifaith Grows, as well as employees from United North and the youth who work in the Oneida Greenhouse. In all there were about 30 some people there.
"See, now aren't you glad I dragged you out here," my friend said.
I crowded into the back of the greenhouse and listened to the speakers. Mike Szuberla of Toledo Grows was speaking, while the cameras from 13 abc news rolled. At the back of the greenhouse, I could mostly see the backsides of all the attendees, including Rep. Marcy Kaptur. However, on this chilly morning in the warm and humid greenhouse, I could see the gardeners off to the side.One person was watering what looked to me like newly sprouted lettuce. I saw a few young men from the neighborhood. These young men work in the garden and grow food. Their lives in this neighborhood have been changed as a result of this greenhouse, I thought.
Marcy Kaptur was now speaking. A veiled woman I have seen many times in my neighborhood waved me to come in to the greenhouse further. "Come on in here, " she said. Now I could see Marcy Kaptur speaking, as well as the rest of the greenhouse. I could see and hear the hydroponic garden which holds talapia. I could see the head volunteer who works with the young men in the garden. I took out my phone and began snapping pictures.I felt a great sense of community pride as I listened to the speakers and observed the greenhouse surroundings.
Just then the alarm on my phone rang. The ring was a reminder that I had thirty minutes to get to work. My adrenaline kicked in again. I gotta go, I whispered to my friend. I inched my way out of the greenhouse; however I felt invigorated to get to work in my own garden and proud that my neighborhood is being transformed through gardening.More information on the ground breaking can be found here:
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvg/story?section=news/local&id=8032053
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Oneida-North-Toledo-Greenhouse-Project-T-Grows/141779492528492
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