Librarian by Day Hip Urban Farmer by Blog: Grow a Revolution

by HUF aka Melissa Jeter

It isn't easy being an urban farmer. It's not easy being a farmer period.

Well first of all there's the drought. You know there's a drought, right? The corn is nowhere near the height it should be. Well, if you don't notice now, you will the next time you go to the grocery store. And this issue makes me think about the book I’m currently reading.

I am reading the Good Food Revolution by Will Allen. He is no hip urban farmer. He is Urban Farmer Extraordinaire. Living in Wisconsin, this man has steadily changed the food scape in his community. If you are interested in true urban farming that brings people together and changes the lives of people in city neighborhoods, this is a book that must sit as a reference on your table.
What Allen has that is better than hip is Growing Power, a non profit organization that not only grows food, but also serves as an educational institution where people can learn how to grow their own food. And when I say food, I mean vegetables, fruit, and fish!

I found so many little seeds of information in this book that are ready to be planted. For example, did you know that Heifer International could serve urban farms by considering worms to be livestock? What that means for the urban areas is the potential to reclaim the soil. Worms are critical to a healthy soil that can grow food!

I'm going to combine my understanding of these seeds for thought with some other information. . . . Watch out now! I am a professional. . . . Library and information specialist in my day job. . .

If you are interested in being more than hip with your urban farm, but also interested in creating a food revolution as Will Allen has in Wisconsin, you could apply for grants.

If you have ever read the blog Free Money Ate My Brain, by Linda Koss then you know there is some good information there.

Yes! As a professional librarian and information specialist, I can offer more than just books with information but digital information. . . . blogs.

And she’s also a professional, folks, don’t try this at home. .  . unless you are on your computer and using information backed by an authority! Of course, you could go to your local library. . . just sayin’. . .

If you haven't read it, well get over there right now and look for information about the Awesome Foundation. Awesome Foundation gives small grants for community gardens and even more.

Thinking about green jobs? Why not start up your own mobile composting business? Think worms, compost, soil, and food. And maybe you can find some real start up funds for that business.

I'd do it myself, but really aren't I hip enough?

Look, there's only one Hip Urban Farmer, but you could be an extraordinary urban farmer growing a food revolution!

Look into city and county land banking programs. In some cities, there are programs for urban gardening where you can lease or buy a vacant lots where you could grow your own power.

You can do this. Go on. Do it.

Grow a revolution!

Blooming later is better than never.

Just when I think nothing is going to happen and all this urban farming business is nonsense. . .something grows. . .

It's hip to watch it grow

Months ago the farm looked like this

Opening up to morning

The flowers on the pumpkin vines open up every morning seeking bees for pollination. If I am quiet and walk gingerly around my vertical pumpkin patch, I can hear and see the little bees and even some polka dotted pollinators I have yet to identify. This is morning.

I am at my best in the morning. I am up st 5:30 am.

You know it's hip to keep urban farmer hours.

I slowly ease into the day lifting five pound weights, while I sit on my exercise ball. My cat lingers around me, laying on the exercise mat. He refuses to move, no matter how close the ball or weights get to him. Anaerobic first then aerobic. . .jumping rope and Tae No style ab work. Then I go out and water my little patch of land. Much like the flowers in the pumpkin patch. I open up to the day.

Home grown garlic

Oh yeah! That's hip!

Slug Warfare

One morning, I spied a slug trailing its way up a purple cone flower plant in my garden. I quickly located a spray bottle of neem oil mixed with dish detergent and sprayed and sprayed and sprayed the slug until my friend cried,"Enough!, I'm sure it's dead already."

I, however was not so sure.

In this Organic Life, Joan Gussow states that something somewhere dies for your food. For my food, slugs die. I'm sure that there are some other creatures in my garden that get stepped on, dug out, sliced, etc, but what I know for sure is that the slugs must go.

Though on this occasion, I grabbed the spray bottle of neem oil and dish detergent, I have used beer to get rid of the slugs. Joan Gussow has confirmed for me the righteousness in killing for the sake of my food. As I said before, the slugs must go.

And what better way to go than a beer party?

That's right- a beer party for the slugs!. This may not sound like war, but trust me it is.

Listen closely people. . . there's a war going on for the food in my garden and my sanity. And though, I'm usually not one for a zero-sum conflict where the situation requires there to be someone who wins and someone who loses, the war on slugs is without a doubt in my mind the right thing to do. I know, there are some of you who may ask if this war is just? Is it necessary to kill the slugs? My answer to YOU gentle vegan hippie isYES!

Justification for the Slug Warfare- My Sanity

My garden is an urban oasis. My garden is the Eden where I lay down my burdens and relieve the stress that could drive me to drink- literally and figuratively. Honestly, outside of locally grown food, the next benefit to gardening is peace of mind -sanity.

For about a year, I reminded myself to maintain my sanity by keeping a bottle of Olde English 800 prominently displayed on my mantel. This beer display acted as subtle reminder to myself to refuse to let anyone drive me to drink. So instead of coming home, declaring, it's Miller time and cracking open a cold one, I go out to the garden and dig in the dirt.

However, this summer I did succumb to cracking open that large gold can of Olde English 800.

On this a particularly challenging summer day, I went out to my garden to find trails of slugs eating my lettuce, greens and whatever ever else they could slide to for a little snack.

My heart raced, this kind of aggression could not stand. (reference to the Big Lebowski).

Immediately, I headed back into the house and reached for the Olde English 800 on the mantel. On this day, I'd crack this warm baby open and give it to the slugs.

Wuah ah ah ah ( evil laughter).

The war had begun.

Strategy, tactics, and remains

Any war has a strategy. My strategy involved direct and indirect tactics. For the direct tactic, I sprayed the garden with neem oil and dish detergent. For the indirect tactic, I poured the beer in bowls and set those bowls in my yard in locations away from my precious edibles. Slowly, the slugs changed their direction. Party ova' here! I exclaimed gleefully. Heh heh heh. . .

The next morning the remains of the war could be seen in the bowls. There were at least twenty 3-inch slugs, floating in each bowl of beer. Heh heh heh! The battle was a success!

Even though the battle was a success, the war is not over. As exemplified by the day, I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed a slug slinking its way up the leaves on the purple cone flower, I will not stand this kind of aggression-man.

When will there be enough neem oil sprayed? How many slugs have to die? How many times must my friend witness the death by my hand of these slimy leaf snacking culprits?

I'm not so sure. Heh heh heh. . .

Pulling the lavendar & remembering my Grandmother

When I was a kid I used to sit on the porch with my grandmother and pull weeds. In my mind I was cooking. I'd pull all the weeds and strip them of their leaves and berries. I'd put them in a pot and stir it up.  It was hot outside, much like it is now.

Grandma lived in the city and visiting her was a great joy for me.

Now, I live in the city and as I harvest the lavendar, I remember Grandma. And this is the reason I keep gardening.

And that is the reason, urban farming is hip.