What’s in the ground:

Hopefully anything you’ve transplanted is looking great and you’re having a lot of success with any seeds you germinated directly in the soil. But even if your transplants took or your seeds popped through, but they don’t seem to be growing at the rate you’d expect, shocking your plants with some fertilizer is a great idea. If you just want to go and buy something, and those miracle grow commercials just aren’t selling you, fish emulsion is a great fertilizer. Many people use Neptune, but I’ve been using stuff from a company called Schaffer. They get their fish from invasive carp that are destroying the eco system of the Illinois River. Not exactly local, but sustainable nonetheless.

If you are more of a homemade kind of person, you can make a compost tea by taking a five gallon bucket of water, put some really nice compost (vermicompost is great) in an old sock, and circulate water through it (an auquarium pump usually works).

Just make sure that when you spray down the plants, you hit the soil and not the actual plant. Also, it’s best to do this when plants are maturing and not at full maturity, especially when you are doing fruting plants like tomatoes or eggplant. Too many nutrients can make too much vegetative growth and not enough fruit growth. But we still have a few more weeks until we’re even thinking of tomatoes, so let’s till that ground when we get there.

What’s going on in sustainability:

This past weekend I went out to Chester County for the Sly Fox Goat Race. A good friend of mine entered two of his parents’ goats and had two friends race them. I guess there’s a reason the event falls on the same day as Kentucky Derby Day, I felt like a promoter as I traveled with the entrouge, eyeing the competition, prepping the goats. I felt like I needed a straw hat, a cigar and should have been taking bets on the side. I was also surprised by all of the West Philly faces I saw out there, which led me to two observations.

The first is that although my basic morals stopped me from declining into such shady undertakings, there was also a natural boundary. My friends all rely on the goats for our monthly goat cheese our friend brings back to the city when he visits his parents. And even with other goat owners, that respect drew a fine line between competition and just good old fun.

My next point is that most city folks wouldn’t think that racing goats is good old fun. But as I said, after seeing a good amount of West Philly folks out there, even a few of the boys from Hoots and Hellmouth, I noticed an amazing blending of cultures. It made me appreciate the great resources us Philly Folks have in Chester County. Getting out there, racing goats and jumping in the river are neccessary outlets if I want to keep my energy of urban homesteading going.

Hope to have a few more days like that this summer. But until then, this is the note from the urban homestead.

What’s in the ground:

Just a few more weeks to hold off until those nightshades are going in. But if you’re looking for something to do and watching your kale grow is just not satisfying enough, do your beets, radishes and carrots a favor and thin them out. When you don’t you get those stubby little roots. By giving them enough room, they can spread out and take that nice shape you’d expect.

What’s going on in sustainability:

In the past week I’ve received calls from about ten farmers asking for products to manage pests they were not expecting for another month. Already leaf minor (which turns chard and brassica leaves a dry translucent color) has shown up, along with harlequin beetles. We don’t look for harlequin beetles until at least late May, it’s amazing that they’re here already. So if you’re going out to your cold weather crops and they’re full of holes. Here are some tips.

1. Intercrop between your bigger plants. Aside from beet tops being a great distraction for a bug going after your chard, these crops also keep weeds down. And bugs love to live in weeds. So take away their first home before they move onto your plants.

2. Use remay. Some people may be traditionalists and not want to go and buy this material, but it really does work to cover your crops and keep the bugs off. If constantly admiring your garden is important, you can try attracting beneficial bugs by planting flowers, which everyone should do. But if you have a problem and are banking on that food to feed yourself, use row cover.

3. Neem oil is a very effective, mostly safe and natural remedy for bugs. Neem oil comes from the neem tree which is native to the African continent. It kills pests, but occurs naturally and has tested as not harmful to humans. It’s really good for leaf minor. but watch your concentrations. A too thick solution can make plants waxy and not very tasty.

4. And then there’s the third option, invite all the neighborhood kids over and have them pick off the beetles one by one. You can make a game out of it and see who can get the most. It will also help those city kids realize that bugs are not scary, but just another part of nature.

Whatever you do, be mindful of this. We’re in the season of hearty, low maintainence crops and plentiful rains and not much heat. Many people make the mistake of planting, occasionally looking at their plants and not keeping track of what else is going on in the garden. Hopefully you all can avoid that.

Good luck. Until next week, this is the note from the urban homestead.

What’s in the ground:

I was very excited this week to make a really cool leap in sustainability and sow my own garbanzo beans. It’s funny because everyone every year plants pole beans, bush beans, green beans, and I love how well they fix nitrogen in the soil and get the space ready for some ripping tomatoes, but who really likes those varieties of beans. I wanted to get a little more adventurous so I went for it. Looking forward to the humus in the late summer.

What’s going on in sustainability:

Speaking of garbanzo beans and tomatoes, I wanted to offer this little insight as we all begin implementing those crop plans we worked so hard on over the past winter. And I hate to rain on anyone’s parade, but in my opinion, people get too conservative when growing in their garden. It’s no secret that gardening and sustainability have been sold to us as this “green movement” in a neat little Whole Foods bag. And I’m very grateful for the zeitgeist that has been spread in this country around gardening. But now it’s time to keep moving forward.

I think it’s a waste of space to plant the same varieties and even the same vegetables that one can find at the local farmer’s markets. Larger farmers grow these varieties because they prove themselves year after year. So we get early girl tomatoes, silver queen corn, romaine lettuce. If you are used to these varieties and they bring you that same warm feeling of home that they bring me, then please support your local farmer and buy these crops.

But if you have space, why not try growing stuff that’s not readily available in this area. This means growing crops like garabanzo beans. I’m a humus junkie, but don’t really find local, organic varieties of garbanzos. Grains have still not had the same local breakthrough that veggies and fruits have enjoyed, but it’s about time they did, so why not start in your back yard.

Also, this is a great opportunity to try those crazy heirloom varieties of the veggies you’ve come to love. Rather than you basic red tomato, try planting a Green Zebra or a Pruden’s Purple. Or experiment with any kind of variety of lettuce that you want. As I hope reading this blog has shown, it is not sustainable nor is it fun to cut yourself off from everyone and make a homestead compound or fortress. We still need to supplement our smaller gardens with food from the whole community. So this season, go to the market, support local and get creative with your own space.

I’ll keep you updated on the beans and please feel free to comment with the fun things you all are growing.

Until then, this is the note from the urban homestead.

What’s in the ground:

When a season is this turbulent, it’s hell to crop plan. I imagine that many people have been really tending to their greens in between these highs and these lows, and if there are other things going on, those other great early spring crops may have been overlooked. If you haven’t seeded your radishes or beets in your soil, no big deal, they will pop up in no time. But if you forgot those carrots seeds and are looking at the 50 days to maturity, I have a little trick to speed up that germination. Soak your carrot seeds. Many people will just do it in a little mason jar. I actually ditch my broadcast line extra wide and deep so it’s a depression in the ground and then flood the line a few times. As long as the ground is not on too much of a decline, the seeds will stay in place and soak in the soil. After an hour or so, I cover the puddle with soil and let them do their thing. Give it a whirl and see if you can catch up with your neighbor who put hers in in Late March.

What’s going on in sustainability:

As I said, we get busy around this time. But I try to never get to busy to gorget sustainability. On the youth cooperative farm I co-founded, we have a water crisis. My time constraints tell me to hit up the coffers and get hooked up to the city water. But the day after our workday, when I could relax, I took a walk and looked around and I took notice of the just how lucky we are to be surrounded by houses. Aside from their being a community of great people to fence in our farm, they also have roofs. I have a vision of extending their rain gutters out past their fence line, and into rain barrels we place on stands, strategically placed around the garden. To do this three things must be done. We must first survey the roofs and make sure that the shingles are not made of asbestos. We then must build the stands to a proper height. I feel many people make this mistake of hooking up a rain barrel and then not thinking of the gravity. The flow is much better the higher you go. Seems obvious, but we’ve been tipping barrels over into buckets because our land fluctuates so much. And the third point is to help the residents out with information on tax credits for introducing energy saving techniques onto their homes. That’s what I love about the city, there are so many things to think about, but in the end, everyone can benefit.

And speaking of many people benefiting, tomorrow is our next Philadelphia Urban Farming Network meeting. If you are around and interested, please stop by 4905 Cedar Ave in West Philly. And if you can’t make it, expect a report next week.

Until then, this is the note from the urban homestead.

What’s in the ground:

Even though I said the same thing last year when this happened, I’ll say it again, I can’t believe that it’s April and we’ve hit 90 F. Not only does the ominous effects of climate change loom overhead, but for this month, everything is thrown off. I even heard of strawberry plants flowering somewhere near Fairmount Park. Now, if the weather keeps pace, as it may do since temperatures are supposed to stay in the seventies through next week, we’ll have some extremely early strawberries. But if I know this climate like I think I do, then I think we’re in store for another frost, maybe even a sleet storm. So if your late spring perennials are flowering, make sure to cover them with row cover if temperatures drop again. And if they don’t, don’t go rolling up the row cover that quickly. Put it to good use during those unseasonably hot days to cover your cold weather brassicas. Immature kale and collards really can’t handle this heat. A nice layer of some white Remay row cover will protect the transplants from the sun and keep in the moisture that would other wise evaporate. Also make sure that you’re mulching too to protect the top layer of soil from getting too hot. And keep watching the weather for the highs and lows.

What’s going on in sustainability:

So last week I talked about using egg cartons for seedlings. And as my house finally found a weekend to work on our homestead (we have four new raised beds, an herb garden, a possible cold frame for the fall and ideas to put corn next to our garlic on the side of the house) Rob came home with a few egg cartons to start our seeds, which we ended up using to a to get some eggs a friend hooked us up with. But if you took that advice and have started seeds, the next step should not be directly into the ground. If you planted them now, the summer seeds will probably outgrow the tiny egg shell before they can be planted. But to keep with the recycling idea, and avoid buying bigger plastic pots to transplant the maturing plants before they go into the soil, try using old tin cans like coffee or veggies. You just need to drill holes in the bottom so the water can drain. An old chinese food container also makes a good planter.

This way you can reuse your waste while you wait for the weather to finally settle into summer and you can safely get those tomatoes and peppers in the ground. Here’s looking forward to that.

Until next week, this is the note from the Urban Homestead.

What’s in the ground:

So, the season is upon us, and even with these sporadic frosts, starts need to get in the ground. It will be 80 F in Philly this weekend, so your cool weather transplants should get in the ground. Make sure before you do you harden them off in a shady place to make sure the root structure and stalks are nice and hearty. If the weather keeps going up and down, be sure to mulch very well and if it gets near freezing, put some row cover on.

What’s going on in sustainability:

Speaking of row covers, I’d like to tell a story before I give a gardening tip. Almost a year ago, I began developing what has now become the Walnut Hill Community Farm. Finally, after that long year of community meetings, business meetings and endless organizing, community beds are built, 6 forty foot rows are dug, filled and planted and Philadelphia as a whole is taking notice.

But my favorite moment came the following morning after our last work day. During the work day, twenty five volunteers worked hard for 3 and a half hours and I promised the adults a few beers. But before we could leave, we had to finish building the bed of Ms. Holmes and we had to put row cover on. Now, Ms. Holmes was at those first community meetings, sternly telling us that she didn’t want a bunch of people carrying on right behind her house (her back door opens up to our garden.) we reassured her that there would be beds for the community, and that the garden would help keep the lot clean and safe. She quieted, even consented. But every time we would be out there, surveying the lot, taking soil samples, dropping off found pieces of wood, she would be out there, suspiciously asking when we were going to finally plant something.

It’s understood. There’s a long history in that neighborhood of outsiders coming in and making promises they never keep. But when we finally built that garden bed, she was right out there with us, digging away. She finally smiled for the first time when we gave her a few collard and cabbage starts, and she was very thankful when we explained what the row cover was for and gave her a piece, saying we’d see her the next morning when we would come to take the covers off our rows after the frost.

But when my partner Erica got there in the morning, next to our rows was a black trash bag, with our row cover neatly folded inside. Now, I can’t say for certain that it was Ms. Holmes who did this. But I can say that when a garden is built by a community, when people find common ground and mutual respect by growing food that will nourish us all, then those community members can do things like go the extra step on a sunday morning to save the other some work. It’s the same energy that makes a house a homestead.

As for my promised tip, as I was working the other day, transplanting hundreds of kale starts into black plastic trays, I was freaked out by the plastic. Now, I know we are doing this for a load of people and helping them out. But there’s such a better alternative to the plastic trays you buy at the Lowe’s. Old egg cartons make the best planters. You can cut the top from the bottom and use both sides. Just fill the little holes with soil, and plant your seed. I also line the hole with a bit of newspaper to add just another protective layer so when you water it doesn’t break down the cardboard too fast and they are easier to transplant. But it’s so much better than using plastic and a good way to reuse.

Hope you liked the story and the tip. Until next week, this is the note from the urban homestead.

What’s in the ground:

We couldn’t have asked for a better equinox in Philadelphia. Not only was the ground soft enough to finally break through and begin digging out the rows for the community farm, but I was also able to throw down some lettuce seeds. I sadly had not checked on my garden plot since the snow, but I was pleasantly surprised by the spinach roots that had lasted through the winter and my cultivation of my soil. At some point during the winter as the ground began to freeze, I made the hard decision to aerate my soil rather than let the spinach roots take up space. But spinach is a hardy plant and is now in full bloom again.

What’s going on in sustainability:

The organization I’m working with this summer affords me many pleasures. Aside from being at the center of Philadelphia farm organizing and resource management, I also get to leave the office, go out in the field and get my hands in the soil. It’s the perfect balance between the ethereal satisfaction of farm work and the soul satisfaction of community building. And many great lessons can be learned from such a balance.

This one particular day, I was building the foundation for a shade house with two of my colleagues. By the time we had just laid out the parameters for where the posts were to go, it was already two o’clock in the afternoon, with only an hour left to work. Part of this had to do with only having materials and no plans. The other part had to do with the typical Philly farming fashion of everyone’s voice and opinion being heard and consulted over and over.

Just as that old italian man in me began to emerge, the kind of guy I was raised with on worksites whose only acknowledgment of my presence was to tell me to get something from the van, I had a good epiphany of what communal labor looks like in a homesteading culture. Opinions were asked and time was taken not because of some overtly ridiculous adherence to all things PC, nor was it because we didn’t know what we were doing. We took our time and asked opinions because we had the time and mindfulness to do so. Yes, a huge jab at so-called “hippies” is that in the time it would take them to change a light bulb, a red blooded American could rewire the whole house. But I’d like to think that my team proved that cliche wrong.

Once we finished measuring, the posts were driven into the ground and the baseboards were attached in one hour. It was our mindfulness that not only set the stage for such easy labor, but ensured that the best ideas were being heard and we were being conscious of how we built and what we were building with. Rather than the person who tacks together some cheap chinese made product from a box store, or the organization who builds with whatever material no matter its danger to the environment because it saves money and time, we took those extra few hours to do it consciously. It’s this kind of slowing down that is the true testament of sustainability.

Until next week, this is the note from the urban homestead.

What’s in the ground:

Happy St. Patty’s day. The luck of the Irish brought us this amazing weather in Philly. But we’ve been fooled before by this winter, so please, don’t rush to put those starts in the ground. If they are getting too big for your little cups or planters, transplant them into bigger ones to let the roots expand to mature even more before that beautiful spring day when your garden comes back to life.

What’s going on in sustainability:

First, I would like to thank everyone who read and responded to the GRID article. It was an honor to have a story done about me. I would also like to apologize for my absense last week. I was in Mexico with my partner and couldn’t get to a computer. But from that amazing trip, I have the subject for this blog.

My partner and I went down to Mexico to reconnect with some of her distant family just outside Monterrey in a small Mountain town. In the  mountains are these lakes called las Playitas. Although she promised white beaches and crystal clear water, that wasn’t the case. This wasn’t because she was mistaken, but because the idea of conservation in Mexico is mistaken. From the official at the Flora y Fauna office, we learned that due to unregulated tourism by the locals, the beaches were closed. The young man, who by my account was an amazing conservationist, had the imprint on his forehead from where he must have been banging his head against the wall.

To make money, a group of not very conscious locals built a few cabanas along the river and a parking lot at las Playitas, collected an entrance fee, and then taking off before the people must have even left because the power point the officer showed was disgusting. At one point you couldn’t even see the water because of so much trash that has collected in the pools.

I tell this story because it was a great comparison to America. Just like the situation where my partner and I just escaped extortion by two Mexican border police and then were actually “legally” extorted by a Texas cop who gave us a ticket where the price would be set by the judge (anywhere from $0-$500 with no chance of defense), this situation is the same in America and Mexico.

In this country, everyday there are organizations who seek to privatize the land for their own use. Whether it’s the energy industry trying to drill in our state parks or hotels trying to privatize beaches, when land is put in private hands for profit, both the land and our right to enjoy nature are encroached. This even translates to green space in the city for farms and parks. The more people allow land to remain vacant, the more chance there is for a corporation to throw up one of their structures that promises jobs, but that just pays the people minimum wage. The community garden or park that you start, and your support of this amazing national, state, or city park system we have in this country is what will stop the destruction that amazing young Mexican man has to face.

I want to lend all the support I can to him, and the way to do that starts in my community, to keep creating this community consciousness. So, on this beautiful day that I hope signifies the start of a beautiful and plentiful season, I want to inspire you to go out and be as active as possible in preserving, conserving and feeding yourself from this beautiful land we are blessed with. Plant a garden where you can, visit and support with your vote as many parks as possible, and pass on this consciousness to someone else.

Once again thanks for the kind words from everyone who read the GRID article. And also, Mexico is certainly dangerous, but a bit hyped. The only way to stop the violence there is to open ourselves up more to our nieghbors rather than isolating and closing our doors. Until next week, this is the note from the urban homestead.

What’s going on in sustainability:

I can’t wait until I can start these blogs with “what’s in the ground,” but soon enough. For now I guess we must settle for what’s on our windowsills. If you haven’t already, now is the time to start those collard, kale and chard seedlings. If you have a window that faces south that gets good sun exposure, a little bit of soil in a ceramic planter or even plastic cup will get those seeds going. As I said, we’re working on that community greenhouse, and it should be up and running by next fall. I’ll keep you updated.

But for now, I’ll entertain with a tale of urban homesteading at it’s finest. With the same energy as our community apple pick and cider press, much of the same crew (names anonymous) have taken up the search for the finest maple syrup in Philly. I must keep the location a secret, but Philadelphia is the home to many sugar maples if you know what you’re looking for. From there, the process is as easy as forging a spout, drilling a hole into the tree trunk, nailing in the spout, attaching a plastic tube and letting the sweet water drain into the bucket. The time to do it is right now, as the seasons are changing. The warm days and the cool nights make the trees begin moving the water it has stored up and down the trunk to disperse water to the new buds. As this exchange happens, our hole and tube catches the water and it pours out.

Once you have the water, you need to cook it down over an open flame for a long time. In Vermont they build sugar shacks with fire pits right next to the trees for easy processing. We must be a bit more discreet in the city, so we will do this at a friend’s house. But it is a lot of work, the ratio is for every forty gallons of water you collect, you’ll get 1 gallon of syrup.

Now, this seems like a hassle and a lot of work, but that’s the point. Yes, my crew and I got lost in the woods, trudging through the snow trying to find our location, and when we finally hauled the five gallon buckets out and got back to the truck, we found the truck’s tires to be stuck in the snow and we had to push it out. A mission that should have lasted thirty minutes took two hours. But aside from the sereneness of the woods and the water flowing, and the fun I had with my adult friends on a monday afternoon basically playing in the woods, I learned a much more valuable lesson, one that puts into perspective the whole idea of homesteading.

Yes, I love and respect those great Vermonters who manufacture my maple syrup. These natural industries are what support our high standard of living we enjoy in this country and I love to support them. But as I gained the satisfaction of finding our spot after getting lost, and I felt that sublime exhaustion after pushing the truck out, I captured those moments in my mind, hoping to remember the process when I sit down to enjoy my pancakes and syrup in a few weeks. When our culture ceases to produce, whether it’s syrup, veggies or energy, we lose both our sense of conservation and our sense of how we are a part of this earth. When I sit down to that breakfast, I won’t just drown my pancakes in syrup and then scrape the excess off into the trash. I’ll savor every bite with the satisfaction that I had a larger part in my breakfast than just going to the store. And you better believe that I won’t be wasting a drop.

It’s this participation in creating the means of your existence that is the most important part of homesteading and natural living. As I said, I’m thankful for those talented individuals whose labor provides me the time to focus on my own talents. But every now and then we must honor their hard work by finding out how valuable their products are. It’s the most important step towards learning how to conserve.

So, I’ll let you all know how that syrup tastes. Until next week, this is the note from the urban homestead.

What’s Going on in Sustainability:

Although I owe much of my voice to the internet, reading my farming updates would be a lot harder if blogs didn’t exist, I was reminded last Thursday that the power of community truly comes from people sitting in a room, and working off each other’s energy.

After a year of being a part of the Philadelpia Urban Farming Network’s listserve, and getting all of the amazing updates of resources, events and projects, I felt that there was a little bit of a connection missing. So I sent out a request for a potluck/meeting of everyone doing farming in Philly. That request manifested into a packed house of over forty people, some amazing food, great conversation and a huge step in the direction of sustainability for Philly.

This huge step came by giving our farming community the opportunity to begin thinking about a viable, alternative system for what’s been branded as a “green” or “sustainable” economy. The people who are on the ground in Philadelphia realize that although getting organic foods into supermarkets is important and protecting secure, sustainable and beautiful green spaces needs to be enacted in the legislature, it will take the power of our community to make this change happen, and not just outside sources like corporate supermarket chains or the federal government. So we had our say, and here are some of the amazing things that came from people throwing out a dream to the group for others to brainstorm on how to make the dream possible.

-We decided that we need to streamline all urban ag farms, groups, events and info into one website. We’ve talked to a designer and the site should be up and running soon.

-The idea of a community green house was brought up. Many communities need space to extend the growing season and this cooperative idea can serve that need. Currently, we are looking into land, a green house provider and people to run the green house.

-A neighborhood gleaning project that was brought up last summer was also brought up again and will hopefully be taking shape for the 2010 season.

-We also talked into the future, thinking about the need for more compost facilities, and the need of a centralized distribution system that will help growers distribute the food that they grow for sale more efficiently.

Now, if this was at any other point in time, these ideas would have just seemed like idealistic hope. But we have so many talented people on the ground who are willing to create a cooperative system. As we look to Seattle, which has called 2010 the year of Urban Ag for their city pledging ten new urban farms and improved land regulations that make gardening, livestock raising and produce sales more accessible, Philly needs to keep pace. And in this city where the municipal government can be slow to act on such matters, it is up to us as a collective voice to steer our city to the sustainability this world needs now, not tomorrow.

So, I’m renewed with hope that this season, farming projects won’t exist in a vacuum, but will be a part of this movement.

In other news, I was so antsy to do something with my hands after being out of the garden for almost three months, that I tore apart a fouton that my partner and I found on the side of the rode and turned it into a really nice bench swing and an Adirondack chair. It was pretty easy, I cut the fouton by about 60/40. I took the bigger piece and disassembled the one side of the frame and reattached it to the bigger piece. I then took the armrests and cut them down and then sistered them onto the sides with the cut pieces.

I then took the smaller piece, I angled the back piece of the fouton with scraps I had from sistering the arm rests onto the bench, added some legs to the side, and put armrests on the legs and that was that. I used everything but the mattress. I know that this little anecdote seems odd after such a momentous installment, but hey, it’s the little things that make sustainable life worth living too.

Until next week, this is the note from the urban homestead.