Down On The Urban Farm

Just like anything else, you gotta get them hooked when they are young. Here is a program that is teaching detroit kids the wonders of vegetable gardening:

Click Here

Once these kids have felt the rich dark earth between their fingers. Once they've seen the seeds they've planted make their first appearance. Once they've literally tasted the fruits of their very own labor, there will be no stopping them.

Jenny over on Eat Drink Better says what Greg is doing is not farming, it's just Gardening. Ha!

Call it what you want, but Greg is no less a farmer than my grandfather was on his 140-acre farm in Ohio. He tills the soil, he plants the seeds. He nurtures them until their ready to harvest. Then he enjoys the bounty. Whether this activity occurs on 140 acres or 1/5 acre doesn't change it.

Last summer Greg wrote about The Science Barge, a barge turned into a sustainable urban farm.

The Science Barge reopens in May and is completely off-grid. They are growing tomatoes, peppers, and squash with zero carbon emissions and no runoff. The barge takes these concepts out of the abstract for visitors, who learn about solar energy while standing in front of solar panels and about energy-efficient produce in front of tomatoes on the vine

I just found a great resource for anyone wanting to start growing their own vegetables but does not know how to start: A series of How-To videos.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/vegetables/videos.asp#

Anne at My Urban Farm mentioned the high cost food the other day, coming to the conclusion that gardens should be productive.

I could not agree more. Those little packs of fresh herbs are so expensive in the supermarket, yet so easy to grow. Imagine clipping a bit of rosemary from your rosemary bush instead of spending $2-3.

The price of almost every veggie is really high these days, yet many of them are easy to grow.

I think I've convinced Farmer Greg to begin posting a series of How-To articles here on The Urban Farm. Hopefully, these articles will provide the beginning gardner/farmer with enough info to be successful. (If he leaves anything out, be sure to leave a comment!)

In an effort to clear up any seeds of confusion I am dedicating this column to distinguishing the three distinct “flavors” of seeds: heirlooms, hybrids and GMO’s. Heirloom seeds are left just as Mother Nature intended, while the hybrids and GMO’s (genetically modified organisms) involve some level of human intervention.

Heirloom or open pollinated seeds as they are sometimes called, are seeds that have been passed from generation to generation and have stayed true to their ancestral roots by consistently producing the same offspring. This results in plants that genetically are hundreds, or thousands of years old, each developing a resistance to the diseases and pests with which it evolved. When this type of seed is planted and allowed to grow and go to seed again, it will always produce the same plant.

Seed banks serve a vital role in the preservation of the genetic diversity embodied in the heirloom species. Organizations such as The Southern Seed Legacy, Seed Savers International and our own Native Seed Search also have created methods to work with indigenous peoples to preserve such seeds. Of particular interest to me is the way Cornell University in Geneva, New York maintains an incredibly diverse collection of apple and grape plants, boasting over 2,500 apple cultivars and 1,300 grape cultivars.

Hybrid seeds have their own magic. I find that most people are familiar with the term hybrid, which is similar to the process that occurs in nature called natural selection. The process is simple: plant A cross-pollinates with plant B creating plant C. In essence this is how plants and animals slowly evolve. Here is where it gets interesting -- about 150 years ago a gentleman named Gregor Mendel discovered that different pea plants (Pisum sativum) carried different traits and that by selectively breeding these plants he could bring out, or suppress, these different traits. The value in this method is that the “positive” traits in a plant or animal can be brought out, while the “negative” traits can be suppressed.

So now onto real life…a farmer has a really sweet watermelon (A) but it has a lot of seeds, and watermelon B has a great shelf life. By selectively breeding these two plants the farmer finds that the resulting watermelon magically doesn’t have seeds, and he gets a sweet fruit with a long shelf life. The unfortunate part of this process is that hybridized plants often make seeds that are not viable for future generations. So saving seeds is somewhat futile, and of course impossible with “seedless watermelons.”

I get a lot of questions from people that have concerns about GMO’s. Currently these seeds are only available to farmers and as of this year are not available at the nursery or in live plants that you can buy. For a great primer on this topic, see the book Genetically Engineered Food: Changing the Nature of Nature, by Martin Teitel & Kimberly Wilson.

Another term you may have seen applied to seeds is Organic. Simply put, organic seeds are those that have been grown in a manner that is consistent with the U.S. Department of Agricultures Organic Standards. There are organically grown heirloom and hybrid seeds. However, under the current organic guidelines you will not see organically grown GMO seeds because by definition they are excluded.
So carefully select and sow your seeds and soon your imagination’s dream garden will be a reality.

I love to try new things in the yard. In fact that is how I came up with one of the most fun edible delicacies in my yard. Asparagus.

So a few years ago a friend of mine called me and said that she had about 100 extra asparagus roots I was game. It was also time to figure out just how to grow it. Often the way that I learn what something looks like growing is that I plant the seeds or in this case the root and see what happens.

As I alluded above asparagus is a root, one that is a perennial (comes back each year) and produces for many years. So what to do with 100 plants? I visited the local gardening expert Jim Baker who owns Baker Nursery. He shared this with me on how to plant them.

1. Dig a trench one foot deep.
2. Add a good organic fertilizer to the bottom of the hole and work it in.
3. Per the spacing instructions lay the asparagus roots in the bottom of the trench.
4. As asparagus likes organic rich soil add organic material into the trench along with the dirt that was dug.
5. Let the asparagus grow for a year.
6. In year after the asparagus has grown out finish filling the trench with a good organic mix.
7. Eat asparagus

Well I have to tell you it works. Smile. For more specifics on exactly what it takes to grow asparagus see http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg/vegetable/asparagus.html

One of my favorite things about asparagus is that it comes back year after year. I just plant it once and each spring I get to reap the bounty of nature. The way that it grows out is also interesting. Along about March 15th (in Phoenix – it will be later in colder climates) asparagus shoots just like you see in the store stick their heads up through last years layer of mulch. THESE are the ones you want to eat – don’t let them get too tall as they get tough. I find that they will produce edible shoots for about a month. Then tall wispy stalks shoot up – strangely looking just like asparagus fern. These will grow through till it gets cold in the fall AND play an important role in the long-term success of your plants. They are collecting sunlight to photosynthesize and build the roots to they are strong for the next years crop. Then in the fall I cut down the asparagus tops and lay them on the ground and add a little organic fertilizer as next years mulch.

My fertilizing regime consists of the fall fertilizing and adding a nice layer of mulch every year. Watering is easy I give them a nice deep watering every two weeks and in the summer I watch them to make sure they don’t dry out more often. All in all asparagus is one of the easier plants that I grow and one of the more rewarding.

A couple of green places to stay in Santa Fe:

Click Here

Natah Bowers found a guy in his local farmers market selling seedlings in biodegradable pots made from pressed grass.

Natandidn't mention a source for them, and I've not seenthem before, but I do know about these:

Biodegradable Eco-Friendly Cowpots(TM)

They are made from cow manure.

I found this great article on The Grinder today:

http://www.chow.com/grinder/5374

Kipp Nash of Boulder Colorado has converted his front yard to an urbanfarm. He has also convinced his neighbors to let him take over their front yards and farm them as well. He is now farming eight yards. Boulder residents can buy CSA shares, and the residents of Nash’s “farms” get paid rent in produce.

The blogosphere is suddenly full of articles about biodegradable pots. I found some made from chicken feathers!

Vineyards in Arizona????

Yes!

Alcantara Vineyards is on a portion of 87 acres overlooking the confluence of the Verde River and Oak Creek, off Highway 260 between Camp Verde and Cottonwood, not far from I-17.

Saturday, May 3, 2008 Alacantara Vineyards will be hosting a celebration of the local wines and foods of Northern Arizona. The day will include local wine tastings, sampling organic cheeses and local produce, wonderful local breads, olive oil, pecans and other delights.

Sustainable Arizona is co-hosting the event as part of their annual meeting. Their members will exhibit healthy living, permaculture, solar and other green technologies for visitors. Noted harp-guitarist, William Eaton will be there with friends to provide live music. The event is free and doors open at 11 am, and the festivities run until 5 pm.

More information:

http://www.sedona.biz/alcantara-vineyards0108.htm

There is a great article on SaveChange about the different methods of composting.