JASON’S GARDEN

The Backyard Homestead is coming of age!  40 years after the “Back to the Land” Movement took us all out onto our remote 20 acre parcel…

The newest generation to begin farming is making their wave on front lawns, in backyards across America.  It is now very hip to keep chickens in town, and the movable mini-coop (Chicken tractor) that can clean up & fertilize a garden bed is a wonderful invention being built just about anywhere!

Jason Bradford – localization spark plug & recently of my hometown – Willits, CA – has moved to Corvallis, OR –  in search of a wide & fertile valley to farm organically.  His dream is to organize Organic farming for thousands of prime farmland – revolutionize the future of our basic grain crops.  As that bigger dream unfolds, he is making a cozy home with wife – Kristin Bradford – a full time MD & very good baker of scratch German Chocolate cakes, beautiful young mother of 2 extraordinary boys, a Tai Kuan Do student, ballet dancer extraordinaire, and – well – you get it – these are not your ordinary backyard gardeners….but, wait – they are extra ordinary just as are we all, each in our own way.

So find your extra-out-of-the-ordinary time & dig a patch in your front yard, your side patio, your balcony pot of soil…plant a tomato & savor the goodness of the connection to your food.  Meanwhile, you can get inspired & informed by books such as The Backyard Homestead by Carleen Madigan.  

I have learned something new on every page!

Why Planting Farms in Skyscrapers Won’t Solve Our Food Problems

Why Planting Farms in Skyscrapers Won’t Solve Our Food Problems

By Stan Cox and David Van Tassel |

Agriculture in America has become an ecological, social and nutritional disaster of sufficiently huge scale to inspire a frenzy of book-writing, filmmaking, conference-holding and project-initiating in recent years. The critiques that emerge are often right on the money, highlighting pesticide and nitrate pollution, soil erosion, the consequences of meat production in feedlots and confinement sheds, the destruction of rural communities and the poor nutritional quality of food. But the solutions being proposed have not, for the most part, been of the same scale as the problems; most would do little more than nibble at the edges of America’s long-running agricultural fiasco.

A striking example of such ill fit between problem and proposed response can be found in the November 2009 issue of Scientific American, where Dickson Despommier, a professor of public health and environmental health sciences at Columbia University, made his case for what he calls “vertical farms,” a vision he promotes through his site verticalfarm.com.

After doing a very good job of describing the terrible toll that agriculture takes on soil, water, and biodiversity across the globe, Despommier’s article lays out a proposal to replace soil-based farming with a system of producing food crops in tall urban buildings-to, he writes, “grow crops indoors, under rigorously controlled conditions, in vertical farms. Plants grown in high-rise buildings erected on now vacant city lots and in large, multistory rooftop greenhouses could produce food year-round using significantly less water, producing little waste, with less risk of infectious diseases, and no need for fossil-fueled machinery or trans¬port from distant rural farms.”

Despommier describes how one of his scenarios-which are based on the use of hydroponic or “aeroponic” methods of growing plants without soil-might work: “Let us say that each floor of a vertical farm offers four growing seasons, double the plant density, and two layers per floor-a multiplying factor of 16 (4 _ 2 _ 2). A 30-story building covering one city block could therefore produce 2,400 acres of food (30 stories _ 5 acres _ 16) a year.” By extrapolating numbers like those and assuming extraordinary leaps in technology, as well as the repeal of Murphy’s Law, he has made such a convincing case for vertical farms that, he claims, “many developers, investors, mayors and city planners have become advocates.” Time magazine has run a generally positive story on the concept. And an Australian architect is currently planning to build the first full-scale vertical farm, in China.

The idea for vertical agriculture grows out of the realization that there are not enough exposed horizontal surfaces available in most urban areas to produce the quantities of food needed to feed urban populations. Although the concept has provided opportunities for architecture students and others to create innovative, sometimes beautiful building designs, it holds little practical potential for providing food. Even if vertical farming were feasible on a large scale, it would not solve the most pressing agricultural problems; rather, it would push the dependence of food production on industrial inputs to even greater heights. It would ensure that dependence by depriving crops not only of soil but also of the most plentiful and ecologically benign energy source of all: sunlight.

Biochar

The Promise of Biochar

“char·coal” definition: a black or dark gray form of carbon, produced by heating wood or another organic substance in an enclosed space without air.

I have been putting my final charcoal from burn piles & the wood stove into my garden beds for several years, hoping this common charcoal was Biochar… it is  created in a smothered fire & yet didn’t consume like the rest of the logs, fits the description…but, how to smash & screen it into a finer powder, that sounds important!  This year I will do it better…

Ed Burton has been talking about this for years too…& of course, biodynamic gardening has  promoted it forever…time to take it more seriously…

My friend Lee thinks that this will save us when we can no longer get outside sources of fertilizers & amendments…we do live in a forest after all…

The Garden Greenhouse

The Garden Greenhouse is being Built!

So exciting, the little greenhouse is happening!

Now we have dug & laid the paver floor, and are framing it out

…an 8×12 multi-use building on the western edge of the garden…

We have begun to clean up some repurposed windows for the West & South sides,

I have a full set of vintage patio doors & side lights to give elegance to playhouse entrance on the East side, with its “patio for having tea”. I am gong to plant climbing roses on both sides of the doors.

…the back wall is to be a solid wooden panel for hanging tools inside & hiding the handcarts outside.

Actually, it is much more imposing than I had thought.  I am not a builder, and in fact – now realize I cannot envision structures after they have become more than a door & simple walls.  It turns out the doors need “headers”, the roof requires eves, the walls have strong corner posts, all classic construction details that have somehow never come on my radar.

I helped Joel cut some wallboard – was just holding it steady, really, but have given a hand here and there in the process.

My job is more that of the designer of the overall garden space…

How to make best use of the tiny garden we urban folks have…compost piles, beds, fruit trees, nursery or greenhouse, plus a beautiful look to it all, & having fun!!!…quite the challenge!

I love the garden as it wakes up in the spring – the rose bushes look happy, their leaves all shiny & healthy, the early bulbs nod their heads in the breeze, the longer days seem to give everything beauty & hope!

Blessings of Spring to you All,

Annie

SIMMERING SQUASH in my Crock Pot

Simmering Squash in my Crock Pot

LAST CHANCE WINTER SQUASH SOUP

How to eat what you have on hand…
End of winter finds me cleaning out the pantry just like my great gramma did – and indeed – finding a small box of our homegrown butternut squash.  They are all so tiny (4 inches long) & in fact – have no seeds … these little babies were the ones I grew in my only-slightly-successful circle bed of the Three Sisters…beans, squash & corn, the ancient inter-planted companion staple foods for simple nutrition & long storage. Mostly I struck out in that cute little circle bed – no beans to pick, a dozen small, short ears of corn & these few puny squash. Ok – I did have one fabulous and huge squash, but she seemed out of place with the others…

The bed was a converted hard pan walkway in partial shade that I dressed with compost & turned, so maybe I shouldn’t feel too bad – but, still – wished I could have eaten a lot of lovely sweet corn last year!! I won’t be trying corn again with my shade problems & space issues…look out Farmer’s Market!

Back to the cooking…

So, easy to make a dinner with them – after breakfast – as Richard is doing the dishes, I just cut them up slightly, clean out the centers & pop into a slow cooker for a few hours of slow steaming.  By afternoon they are cooked up and soft.  If you are at work all day, you can leave them as long as you need, it won’t hurt the result.

Dinner is almost ready when you walk in the door – 5 minutes to chop one large onion – sautéed until soft in olive oil, then add a scoop of Thai spicy sauce (you could just use Italian seasoning or even simply salt & pepper to taste) and use your handy stick blender right in the crock pot…or transfer everything to a jar blender & give it a whirl!  Leave chinks of squash & onion for texture.  This delicious & hearty soup dish has no protein, but is a perfect serving of slow burning carbs, with very little but high quality fat calories from the olive oil.  With an addition of a cold bean or chicken salad, it is a simple yet balanced meal for the busy cook and her(his) family!

I love squash & pumpkin soups all winter long, and am sad to see the last of them go with the end of these lovely little baby squash from my pantry.

So – DO try making a simple squash soup before it is too late!  Or, plant some of those seeds & by September you’ll be eating this yummy vegetable again… Seeds from my biggest squash are already to sow & start in the  “greenhouse that is becoming”…now, that is an exciting thought!  The miracle of the seed & the harvest, the on-going cycle of nature & the seasons…seed to squash to seed to squash to seed…

Blessings on your Planting and Eating,

MORE yummy squash planted soon – started in my own greenhouse…now, that is exciting & VERY LOCAL!

-Annie

Garden Bed Composting

Annie’s Garden Bed Composting Method

When I compost directly in a garden bed,

I follow this procedure:

1- Make a small hole or depression in the soil & cover the waste with a bit of soil
2- Use a shovel to cut through both the soil and garbage several times…this cuts up whole cabbages, bad lemons, moldy squash, wrinkled apples, etc into smaller pieces ( naughty me for wasting such good food!)
-& mixes the soil into the old food mass, which lays a pattern of bioactive microbes into the center of the garbage. They do the work for you, even in the cold of Northern California Mountain winter ( it gets down to about 20 degrees here)
3- I also pile loose straw on top of the whole thing…then walk away from that area once it is pretty full, and use another part of the bed or even another bed…this takes a month or 2…
4- By spring the straw is still whole and dry on top, but has started to compost where it touches the soil, that gets mixed into the bed when I turn it and dig it…

Now, if you want to be a “no-dig” gardener, (Ruth Stout was my hero!)…this method does not work more than once for each garden bed…so, I am doing it only to start new beds, as I am a lazy gardener and want to double dig (John Jeavons style) only once, and then never re-dig the bed again!!!

There are 2 schools of compost style -
I am a compost “mixer, not a piler/stacker”…as mixing seems to speed it all up, reduce smell, etc…although I am now trying a stack method inside of a “box” made of old pallets this spring…using layers of yard waste, cardboard, newspaper layered with my kitchen scraps, I‘ll report on that in a few months!

Oh, oh, its gonna be a wild ride!

What is going on!???? I am probably the “average” person when it comes to understanding the economy…but, when does Wall Street get to be bailed out using MY money????

Upset – yes I am… some rich corporate guys make a big big mistake, and WE, the People have to pay for it? Not fair – I remember a Movie where Chevy Chase’s wife spends the entire family savings in a casino – Chevy tries to convince the owners to give back her money – “It was a mistake”…well, Vegas doesn’t give back lost wages and neither should the stock market be bailed out by the American Taxpayers…those fat guys were gambling, and they lost…

700Billion – that would buy a whole bunch of great houses for the folks who are out sitting on sidewalks after their foreclosures…

Do the math!!

Meanwhile, I feel we are on a roller coaster toward the great crash…I am planting my garden & buying cans of salmon with my savings – how about you?

Let’s Plant a Garden and Lose Weight

So – the last few years it has been hard to maintain my weight…anyone else got this problem? I drive to work, sit at a computer most of the day, then drive home – stopping at the store for a bag of lettuce and squash that came from…where?

Turns out – that instead of having others grow my food, doing the labor of love and magic with seeds and water…if I do it myself, it counts as a workout! How about receiving the multiple rewards of tighter abs, flexibility in thighs and shoulders, better nutrition with local, seasonal & organic food – and – a feeling of satisfaction at being involved with the miracle of life!

Regular garden chores can burn anywhere from 250 to 400 calories per hour. Stress relief is another bonus as we are also outside, touching earth, getting sunshine and fresh air – that age old health giving solar friend. This is Healthy Body Permaculture – getting benefits on many levels at once. To repeat – the food is also healthier for many reasons, including calorie count!

To quote Ralph Waldo Emerson – “When I go into my garden with a spade, and dig a bed, I feel such an exhilaration and health that I discover that I have been defrauding myself all this time in letting others do for me what I should have done with my own hands.”

Bye for now – I am off to put on my hat and gloves…

Permaculture – I hope!

My lovely house needs a lot of garden work – the raised beds have little soil in them, the yard is filled with weedy grass and “stick tights” catch your shoes…

I am putting down cardboard on every place I can to kill the weeds – and since I just moved in – there are a lot of empty boxes to use…that is a good thing.

My little apple tree which has been in a pot for over a year is freaking out – and tho it is a lousy time of year to plant it - I dug a hole today – and filled it with water . Two hours later it was still half full…looks like my soil doesn’t drain….ok, lots of issues. The good news is that Max Meyers – of MELC & a famed local Permaculturist – is coming over tomorrow to take a look and give me some consultation service….can’t wait! What can be done over time to make this a food producing paradise? I will be finding out….