What’s in the ground:

Last week I sowed my cover crops of clover and rye grass. Sowing cover crop is important for both the small scale and large scale farmer. I’ve had gardeners come ask me when we were getting more soil delivered for the garden beds, and I have to break it to them that what’s in their bed is what they have to work with. Aside from doing some soil amendments of adding worm castings or compost, a good gardener is one who makes good soil composition his or her priority. Most cover crops are grasses or are in the legume family, which work to suck nitrogen out of the air and place it back into the ground. My method is to plant rye grass in the places where I ripped up my summer crops, which tend to deplete the soil of most nitrogen. I then sow clover seed in between my fall crops that are still in the ground so I can start rebuilding my soil but not compete with what’s in the ground. As I said, some people feel that cover crop is not needed for small scale. But actually, since you want to grow as intensely as possible in such a small area, putting that nitrogen back into the soil is a necessity.

What’s going on in sustainability:

Last week we held a cold frame building class in the Woodlands. It was great to see so many people so serious about growing food that they want to extend their season. While a cold frame won’t protect against the most frigid temperatures, its passive solar design makes it perfect to extend your fall and get a head start on your spring. Next installment I’ll give some tips for maintenance, but for now I’ll walk you through the design.

Materials: Three two by eight pieces of wood, A standard window (make sure it’s modern- antiques tend to have led paint)

1. Cut  pieces of wood to the dimension of  your window.

2. Take two of the pieces and cut them on a forty five degree angle, making the pieces completely identical.

3. Attach the angle pieces to the back board piece by screwing all three board together to make a three sided box. To make the corners stronger you can use brackets in the corners. (Note: you can also use a two by six board for the back board and leave some space either on the top of the box or bottom for air flow)

4. Just lay your window on the frame and there you go, a simple cold frame.

Next installment I’ll talk about maintenance. But until then happy building, this is the note from the urban homestead.

What’s in the ground:

So my garlic is back in the ground. It wasn’t as exciting as our garlic planting party last year, but it was a nice afternoon of digging in the dirt, imaging what my garden will look like next year and hoping the garlic finds a good home next to some great plants. If you are at a loss for where to put it, always go with using it as a perimeter planting. Garlic can be really good at keeping unwanted bugs away.

What’s going on in sustainability:

So as I promised, a few stories from the West Coast. Aside from the amazing time we had at Orr Hot Springs in Mendocino, the free wine tour in the organic vineyards on the way up there, or the forest fire that we fled in Big Sur, we did get to connect with some amazing farmers and see some great things.

We spent much of our time in Oakland. We spent an afternoon at City Slickers farm, which is a non profit that has eight garden sites across West Oakland that used to be vacant lots. We checked out a few of the farms that were a part of the People’s Grocery, which City Slickers has now partnered with to get great boxes of produce out to low income families. City Slickers also has this amazing back yard gardening project where they build garden boxes that have a trellis in the middle of the box, making it fully functional for all types of crops and compact enough to fit in a backyard.

And finally we got to hang out at Novella Carpenter’s house. Aside from being a great gardener and a really cool person to shoot the shit with, her set up for animals is amazing for any city dweller. Although more than three chickens are still illegal in Philly, and we are a long way from goats, her space was amazing because she utilizes balconies, side alleys and a back yard for them. Not a square inch is wasted. If you haven’t read her book you should. She also is part owner of an amazing Urban Homestead store that is short on the aesethic things like planters and fancy compost tumblers, and heavy on the essentials; bee boxes, chicken feed, canning jars. It was amazing.

In San Francisco, we didn’t have as much luck finding stuff. We found out that the city has an ordinance that makes selling food from your backyard almost impossible and the property is so expensive and used up that there really weren’t any places for communities to get together and create gardens. I may have missed a lot, but from what I saw, it made me excited that Philly has been and continues to be so proactive at helping people create garden spaces in communities.

What was missing in my point of view was the connections between the city, the non proifts and the people that we have here. As I drove down to a friend’s farm in Santa Cruz and passed the hundreds of thousands of acres of farm land in the Central Valley, looking at the strawberries and being pretty sure that I would be seeing those same fruit a week later on the shelf in Fairmount Wholefoods, I imagined that California City officials have more to deal with than Urban Ag. But in Philly, we seem to have a different idea on that subject, and I came home pretty excited about being in this movement.

So next week, more about this movement. But for now, this is the note from the urban homestead.

What’s in the ground:

I have to say that this has been a remarkably insane season for weather. I get back from San Francisco where it was in the 90’s during the day, and I was wearing a winter coat yesterday. I’m still getting my bearings on what do do with the crops. But in the meantime, I am going to get out the row fabric and make sure that a lot of my stuff is covered. Even though it’s supposed to be nice and sunny this weekend, and I don’t think we’re even close to a frost, those heavy rains and brisk winds can impede plant growth.

What’s going on in sustainability:

I have plenty of great things to report on about California, things that made such an impression on me that I won’t soon forget them. So, with that in mind you all may have to wait a week before I write about them. This week I’d like to give a true lesson in sustainability.

Although I camped at Big Sur, drank wine in the organic grape fields of Mendocino, and relaxed at a hot springs, I can’t tell you how good it felt to walk through the door of my house. I fancy myself a pretty good traveler, hell I’m going for a two month treck in India in the winter. But I have to admit, it’s hard to leave the Homestead, and I think that’s the sign of truly accepting this sustainable lifestyle. With as many wonders as there are to see out there, I never leave home for escape. My home is my escape from the world.

Monday night made me feel this way after we canned 12 quarts of tomatoes Rob brought home from Dickinson College Farm after one of the Harvest Tour shows. It was great to sit with my housemates in our kitchen, and go through this beautiful ancient process of boiling the tomatoes, peeling the tomatoes, sterilizing the glass jars and lids, stuffing the jars with the tomatoes salt and lemon juice, topping off the jar with hot water, and then boiling them in a hot bath for 40 minutes.

This added to our collection of over sixty canned vegetables and fruits. I personally can only take credit for helping with the tomatoes, all of the others were done by my amazing housemates. But when we all work together, and run a house where food is just open to all because we all pull our share, it really creates a special environment. It’s a homestead you rarely have a reason to leave.

So it’s good to be home, and it’s good to have taken part in a great Harvest Tour show last Saturday. If you haven’t been to one, there’s only one left at the Sunnyside Farm in Virginia. But rest assured that next year the boys will be on the road again, playing music and celebrating the harvest.

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

What’s in the ground:

I really think it’s beautiful when you can tell the fall has come by the way the light looks around four o’clock. There’s something magical about this, but the phenomenon is quite easy to explain. The sun is getting farther away and is lower in the sky. What that means for the gardener is that your sun exposure has greatly decreased, so those tender seedlings are going to be a lot harder to get going the longer you wait. So if you haven’t seeded your leafy greens or transplanted your hearty greens yet, you are running out of time. That’s the next thing I would do.

What’s going on in sustainability:

So it’s around that time again when we honor the last harvests, can and preserve our hopeful abundance and get ready for the winter. But before you plant those cover crops or get your winter clothes out, come celebrate the Fall with Hoots and Hellmouth on their Harvest Tour. I’m not going to give too much away, but these shows are definitely going to be worth catching. And if you’ve read my blog entries from the last tour or were lucky enough to see the shows, then you know how special it is to get together with your community, eat some great food and enjoy a band that is as dedicated to promoting sustainability and local agriculture as they are to putting on a great show.

I’ll be out with the band on a few shows so come say hi if you’re there. You can find dates near you on the Hoots and Hellmouth website. If we don’t see you, no worries, please enjoy your harvest and the Urban Homestead will be back in october. I’ll be on a trip to California for the next two weeks so I’ll see you all when I get back.

Until then, this is the note from the Urban Homestead.

What’s in the ground:

Although it’s hot in the sun, you can feel that fall breeze of september. No more walking down the street and sweating. So hopefully all of those fall crops are in the ground and you seeded that spinach. I think we’ll have a very long season coming upon us so it’s the earlier you get those plants, the longer you’ll have to reap the harvest. There will be more on season extension soon. I also wanted to give a little tip for those of you who have transplanted your collards or kale into the ground but are getting destroyed. You may ask yourself, “Why’d they do so well in the spring. That’s because the dreaded Harlequin Beetle had not yet reared it’s ugly head. Although I do remember seeing them as early as may this year. They’re the orange and black bugs who eat those little holes in your leaves. Well, when the plants are babies, they don’t stand a chance. That’s why keeping row cover like Remay or spraying with neem or a natural soap solution is a necessity. What I’m doing is keeping little mason jars on my plant, creating a mini greenhouse. Someone asked me if that would create too much heat. But as I keep the ground really moist and the sun’s rays begin to recede, the condensation on the glass creates a jungle affect and the plant stays moist. Then it cools down at night. I’ll keep these on until the plant matures enough so it can establish, and then I’ll do row cover. But I want to get as much sun on it as I can.

What’s going on in sustainability:

So this Saturday is the big Fall Garden Festival at the Navy Yard, hosted by the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society. Since I will not be working for them after this friday, I figured I’d give one more gesture and tell everyone to come to this great event. My position there was only temporary and it has run it’s course and I’ll be moving on to some other great things, which I’m sure will be on this blog. But I had a great experience working on their projects and in the organization. They are an amazing organization that positions itself on all fronts of this green movement: rich suburbanites with money, neighborhood block captains in some of the toughest Philly neighborhoods, corporations,  non-profits, and the city. They work with them all to really make Philly one of the greenest cities in this country. This Festival will be a chance to explore what PHS has to offer and lend support to this great organization. Hope to see some of you out there. I’ll be there so if you see me, come say hi.

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

What’s in the ground:

So it’s the first day of September and the second day of a five day heat wave. It’s a good testament to this season. But I’ve not let that stop me from getting some lettuce mix and spinach in the soil. I admit I sowed it when it was still 70 degrees outside, but I’m hoping that the soil temperature will allow germination and by the time the seedlings pop up, they will be enjoying some cooler temperatures. But I just couldn’t wait any longer, so the lettuce is in, spinach will be next week.

What’s going on in sustainability:

On Sept. 19th at the Programs Employing People Center in South Philadelphia, a great group of people will be hosting a dinner called STAKE. The dinner is modeled after the Brooklyn dinner called FEAST and their mission is for a stake in the Philadelphia community, a  stake in the arts and in creative thought, a  stake in local organic food, and a stake in local economy.

So when I was approached to help coordinate the local produce buying for the dinner, that mission statement was enough to get me to donate my time. The way it works is that organizations can submit proposals to the organization. A dinner is then organized and all of the proceeds from people paying for plates will go to the organization that is voted on by the people in attendance.

I love this model for a few reasons. The first is that it really empowers people to learn to vote and speak with their wallets and purses. Too often in this country people confuse complaining about where tax money goes with trying to eradicate tax money in general; this is why libertarians piss me off. Sure, some organizations can support themselves without grant money. But a group that teaches orphans to read can’t ask those orphans to foot the bill for the lesson. That’s why we as a community needs to pick up our less fortunate neighbors and give them a hand.

As I always say, you take your talents, divide them by your good fortune and use the remainder to help those in need. And that’s what this dinner will do. The second reason I love it is because it brings the arts and sustainability together. All people should be incorporating sustainable practices into their lives, from the mechanic who goes the extra mile to dispose of her oil properly, to the contractor who wants to use natural building materials. This dinner will bring a diaspora of cool projects under one roof and hopefully reward one group with some funds.

But that doesn’t mean the other groups won’t benefit. This is a great chance to expose many people to their projects. Plus, I’ll get to showcase all of the amazing produce being grown by the City Harvest Growers Alliance, who will be supplying a good portion of the food. So please, save the date and if you have any more questions, please comment on this blog.

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

As most of you are probably aware, local, organic and sustainable agriculture is near and dear to our hearts.  Last fall we took our road show to some regional farms to celebrate the Harvest season, and we had a blast.  So we’re doing it again!  That’s right, folks…it’s time for our SECOND ANNUAL HARVEST TOUR!

This year, in addition to the mouth-watering, belly-filling, community-prepared pot luck dinners and performances by little ol’ us, we are working with the Philly Opry folks to provide even more music from our friends plus stories, decorations, raffles and general wackiness to build on the good times we had last year.

These Harvest gatherings are open to the public but since we’re dealing with small, working, community-supported farms, space (parking in particuar) is somewhat limited.  So, if you wanna come out, you’ll need to RSVP (click here for more info).

Here are the dates and general locations:

9/25/10 - Loysville, PA
9/27/10 - Berkeley Springs, WV
10/1/10 - Phoenixville, PA
10/2/10 - Carlisle, PA
10/2/10 - Glen Rock, PA
10/10/10 - Little Washington, VA (about an hour outside of DC)

These spots fill up fast, so let us know early if you’re interested.

We’ll reap what we’ve sewn…

HnHM

What’s in the ground:

I couldn’t believe that my first idea for this week was to start talking about shutting the season down. But don’t despair, I’ll hold off the talk of cover cropping for another month or so, there’s still so much much more food to grow. So, if you’ve reached that point where you’ve taken that last eggplant, or your tomatoes are just too burnt from the heat, try planting some beans or peas or any other legume in their place. It will fix the nitrogen like a cover crop will, but you’ll also be able to eat them. It’s important to put nitrogen producing plants back in the ground, especially after any night shade like tomato, eggplant or pepper, which take so much out.

What’s going on in sustainability:

I hope you all enjoyed the last few entries by Mr. Hoots. I loved everything he came back with and was really inspired by how much he learned and the whole mission of the trip in general. What’s so great about the earthship model is that it’s based purely on experimentation, the hands on kind, not the kind that’s done in some laboratory and then shipped to you in a box. It’s the whole point of this blog and homesteading and sustainability in general. If there’s ever a message I want to give people, it’s that making a mistake is the first step towards getting in right when it comes to this way of life. So hopefully the earthship and Sean Hoots has given you the motivation to keep on trying with those little homesteading projects. If it didn’t, well here’s a story to get you along.

Yesterday was the first day I noticed that my elderberry plant had produced. So I went to the side of my house, stripped off the ripe ones, stained my hands pink and walked into the house with sites on a few jars of jam. So I followed the instructions as I read them (don’t ever be ashamed to look up directions on the internet, not all of us have grandmother’s who can), put the berries in sugar and vinegar and roll to a boil, constantly stirring for a half hour. Easy enough. Well, the bane of having an electric stove is that you can’t get those perfect temperatures.  So as I stirred, and smelled the sugar burning, I pressed on, creating goops of gel that was drying faster than crazy glue to my sink. Being stubborn, I kept on, sterilizing jars, scalding my hand as I got the syrup in the jars, and even pressurized them.

What I was left with was a jar full of elderberry candy, so hard, all I could do was throw the jars away. Sure, I was pissed that I spent a perfectly good afternoon failing so miserably, not to mention losing those beautiful, medicinal berries. But as I said before, I had to fail that miserably so that the next time I’ll know better.

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

Well, hello there. I’ve got one more installation in this series on Earthship design ideas.  This time we’re talking water. Same disclaimer as last week: this is a very simplistic description of some pretty ingenious engineering. I present it here as an idea starter…some inspiration for you in your quest to live more sustainably. For more details and (very helpful) pictures, go to Earthship.com and poke around. You’ll be amazed.

So, water. Modern housing is designed to keep water off you and your stuff, and this is a good thing. But rather than protecting yourself from a problem, why not encounter it? Why not see how you can use the situation to your advantage? The truth is, the water your roof is dispelling could be doing you a lot more good in your home than around it.

Rather than merely sheltering from the rain, the Earthship roof is designed to collect it, sloping down the back of the house and draining into buried cisterns. The water then enters the house through what they call a “water organizing module” (WOM). A series of filters, a pump and pressurization sends the purified water to faucets for drinking and washing.

The WOM then recycles this “gray” wastewater from faucets/drains through several more levels of usage in the house – showers, interior irrigation (greenhouse), toilet and outdoor landscaping. Through every step of the process, the water’s purpose is renewed in your house. Because of this efficiency, you only need 6 inches of rainfall in a given year to provide for all of your water needs. 6 inches! That covers most of y’all out there, I’d wager.

And think of the ramifications! If your house can capture and utilize enough water from the sky to sustain you, there wouldn’t be a need to tap other bodies of water. Lakes and rivers wouldn’t be drying up as they are in a growing number of regions around the US right now (droughts don’t need no help!). Dams would be ripe for the busting, restoring waterflow to so many parched ecosystems.

Living sustainably is nothing more than mindfulness of and responsibility for the way we live. Your home plays a very central role in that and, as such, could be considered an extension of yourself. Be aware of these footprints we all leave behind. Certainly, there’s a lot wrong with the way we try to do things right, but that shouldn’t stop us from trying. I hope that these Earthship blogs will encourage you to keep it up.

What’s in the ground:
So if you’ve transplanted your fall crops into the ground, it’s going to take another three of four weeks for them to begin to mature. While you are waiting, it’s a great time to intercrop some beet seed within your rows. As the beets mature, they will inhibit weeds, and the tender leaves will keep the small leaves of your greens safe from the harlequin beetles that are still probably hanging around.

And now another installment from the Earthship…

Hey, everybody. Sean here again. I wanted to follow up last week’s brief nutshelling of the Earthship experience with a slightly more detailed look at the way these houses work. Certainly I have no formal training or education with respect to this stuff, and as such, I encourage you to check in at Earthship.com for more technical details. However, the principles upon which the designs are based are fairly simple, and I lay them out here to hopefully encourage you, friend, to consider how you could adapt these ideas in your own life.

Earthships, as stated last week, are entirely self-sufficient, providing everything a person could need to exist within the structure. No ties are required to any grid of any kind. This is accomplished through the integration of structural design and a couple systems that operate in the house, of the house and for the house. Let’s start with heating and cooling.

Also mentioned last week, “tire bricks” constitute the basic building blocks for the construction of the walls of the house. By packing them tightly with dirt and then stacking them, they become an effective wall of thermal mass around the back of the structure. The front of the house, south-facing, is a greenhouse, so it’s primarily windowed. Dirt is mounded over the back of the tire wall, essentially burrowing the house into the earth.

Since heat always moves toward a cooler medium, the thermal mass of the tire wall, buried under cooling earth, stores heat in the summer from the sun coming in through the greenhouse. In the winter, when the house cools down, that heat is then released back into the rooms. Additionally, a tightly tuned and insulated room can be heated by some surprising sources – a laptop, a body, a lamp.

The Earthship folks have employed this model in just about every climate on the face of the earth, and apparently it always works…no additional space heaters or fireplaces necessary. Amazing to imagine such a simple concept at work in extreme climates, but they’re developing these ideas in the desert of New Mexico where their summers are sweltering and their winters are cold and snowy. A perfect test kitchen, to be sure.

So there’s heating and cooling, and you didn’t have to do anything but situate yourself facing south and shovel some dirt. Next week I’ll elaborate on the water system for the house – capturing, filtering and recycling. Man’s gotta drink, right? Till then!