Down On The Urban Farm

One of the biggest challenges down on the Urban Farm is keeping our soil healthy. In fact it is an ongoing process of adding organic compost and a nice bit of only organic fertilizers. Healthy soil is made of five important components and when one of them is missing…well gardening becomes very hard.

The two most obvious ingredients are dirt and organic matter and are the bulk of what you see. Dirt is decomposed rock that contains many of the micronutrients and minerals that plants need to thrive. Organic material made up of sticks, leaves, compost and mulch, break down very quickly and need to be added often.

Air space and water are the next two ingredients in healthy soil that contribute to the success of your garden. Highly compacted soil (dirt minus the air spaces) leaves no place for the roots to venture giving them no place to grow. Water for obvious reasons makes the whole process go. One caveat – roots do not travel to find water, the water needs to come to them.

So what else could there be? In my humble opinion the most important component for a successful garden -- all living things that occupy the space…worms, bugs and a plethora of valuable microorganisms whose names I cannot pronounce. Without which our gardens cannot thrive. Which leads to our next big issue, keeping your garden in balance.

Nature brings a certain order and balance to our gardens that when we nurture it, the success of our plantings are greater. By adding harsh chemical fertilizers and pesticides in effect we are throwing nature balance off, making the environment more susceptible to pests. Adding lots of compost rich in microbial life, organic fertilizer and only using natural pest controls will take you a long way in keeping your garden in balance.

I have found over and over when I honor this process the bounty is great and sometimes overwhelming. Next time I’ll share a process that you can make a whole lot of great soil where you want it, in just a few months.

Yeah Oprah for bringing green to popular culture. Today she outlined several 'green' products including CFL's and drinking bottles. There is one that I particularly like the Corn Based Biodegradible Filter Bottle made by New Wave Enviro. Primarily because of this reusability and the fact that its corn based plastic breaks down 90 days. Aren't we clever in how we bring new and innovative products to the market when the need is there.

Also I read in the Arizona Republic this morning that the City of Phoenix is looking at banning plastic bags. Woohoo.

In the paper this morning the article title said "Another Inconvenient Truth: Going green creating waste." The article chats about how by going green may be having an impact on our global warming issues, however people buying new green products are creating a lot of waste by disposing of all our 'old' unwanted items. Plus in many cases there is an over abundance of packaging that heads to the landfill as well. So what are we to do?

Here at the Urban Farm the first thing I do is evaluate if I really need the item I am purchasing. Then when I do make a purchase I make sure that I buy a good quality, long lasting item. Also don't replace something till it is completely used up and when you do dispose of it make sure to find a way to get it recycled.

Next I am very concious about packaging and will often move on to the next product if the first on has too much packaging. It blows me away when there are two and sometimes three layers of packaging on a product.

Then there is always the thrift and used stores. Interestingly I watched Cheryl Crow this morning on TV talk about how they outfitted their tour bus with items from thrift stores. Go Cheryl Go.

We just posted out newest weekly sustainability article on creating your life to be more green and it is on greywater. http://www.smartspacestv.net/learn/

Just what is greywater you ask? It is all the water that comes out of your sinks (not including your kitchen), showers and washing machine. Yeah and what do you do with it?

Well that's the easy and not so easy part. The easy answer is redirect your greywater to the plant outside your home. The hard part is how. In a lot of cases this requires rethinking your drains. If your drains (such as your shower) are below grade there is not much that can be done. On the other hand as you rething yourl iving space in the future - remodeling and such - this presents a great opportunity to reroute your water.

Short of remodeling here are some ideas for using greywater in your yard.

• Try to use the greywater as close to the source as possible as the drain pipe needs a slope and the further away from the source the more it needs to slope down.

• Never ever store greywater. It gets stiny and goes bad fast. Design your system so that your greywater goesdirectly into the ground.

• Use soaps like the biocompatible Oasis soap when cleaning as you dont want harsh chemicals in your yard.

Ideas for types of systems:

• A hose over the tree in the summer
• Put in an out doorshower or sink for rinsing your veggies
• You can also replumb your bathroom sink - more costly and time consuming however.

Hey - want more information check out our latest article on it or www.harvestingrainwater.com

Often the notion of an urban farm is sequestered in the thought that an urban farm is a FARM, with bad smells, chemical cocktails and all the ickies that come with a farm. A farm that is large and can have some detractors in the neighborhood.

Not so at The Urban Farm. I’d like to throw out the possibility of a new kind of farming, what I will call community farming. Farming on a much smaller basis that what our perceptions give, a kind that each and every one of us can do.

In the late 90’s I started ramping up the amount of food that I grew on my 1/3 acre property in central Phoenix, AZ ( a 1/3 acre in my case is a lot 80 feet x 160 feet.) Now I didn’t plow everything over and put in long rows of corn and beans. On a completely different tact I relandscaped my yard with edibles, replacing some of the grass areas with garden beds and my two dozen trees with fruit. I actually have planted out over 60 fruit trees inside the space of my 1/3 acre. I do this by keeping the trees small and putting them in hedgerows along the edge of my property. My goal is to have some kind of fruit that is harvestable every month of the year. Currently I’m at about 8 months.

Extreme…perhaps, but it is a hobby that my mom says has gone overboard. The good news is that I eat quite heartily from my yard and a few years back I was making over $1000 per month growing food and flowers to take to the market. Since then however I have reevaluated my goals and primarily grow enough food for me and to share with the people that visit.

OK so you don’t have a 1/3 acre lot. If you listen to the square foot gardener you can grow more that you can eat in 100 square feet. So for a teeny plot in your front or back yard you can raise a lot of food. I have also enrolled the neighbor in letting me plant a row of 8 apple trees in the boundary between his property and mine. Plus we have a great community garden that a friend of mine used to raise a lot of food to take to the market each week. She did great and made a fine living too.

Imagine a community where you walked down the street and found food for the harvesting, where you could grab a bag and collect whatever caught your eye. Such a place, abounding with fruits and vegetables, would magically draw people together simply to harvest dinner. I have been imagining such a community cornucopia for years. And while this botanical utopia may not be right around the corner, we can begin to realize the vision, even if it is only by planting a few fruit trees.

Just where can you plant some food? Grow some basil, a tomatoes or artichokes. There is nothing better than munching on that (insert your vegetable or fruit here) that you just plucked from your yard. Whatever you do, will make a difference.