Urban Homesteading Update

Please watch this video on Urban Homesteading . Called The Power of Growing Your Own Food.  They also have a website called Path to Freedom which is excellent.  I highly recommend you view both the Utube video and  their website.

I would also like to recommend a website called Food Matters .  Food Matters has a free newsletter that I subscribe to for the latest on food issues.

I have written about my urban homestead and my edible front yard.  These are the folks who inspired me.

Now that we are in Fall and Winter is coming fast we are still working on putting the garden to bed.  The plant material has been cleared out and put into the compost pile.  Next step is to get a truck load of mature manure for the garden beds.  I have my eye on an area in town that has large maple trees.  When the leaves have finished falling I will rake them and bring them home in bags.  Again I am doing someone a service in return for getting the rich leaves.  Then the beds will be covered with (gasp) black plastic to keep them from growing weeds during the winter months.  The plastic was given to me and I recycle pieces used last year which makes me feel a bit better.  I am also watching a large road construction site that is using black plastic sheets to keep erosion in control.  I will ask the supervisor if I can have the plastic when the construction is complete. Again I will hopefully get more plastic free and prevent it from going to the landfill for a bit longer.

I know others plant green crops which are turned back into the soil in spring instead of covering the boxes.  I have chose to cover the beds because I am loading them with manure to make more good soil.  We have a substantial amount of rain usually in the winter and I am not confident the green crops would grow.  Maybe next year I will be brave and try that.

We are also collecting all the free wood we can for our wood stove.  It is the plan to only heat with wood this year.  I will be watching the electric bill to make sure it stays very close to what we consume in the Spring and Summer.  Within the past week we have picked up three truck loads of free burnable wood.  The wood included end cuts from a construction site, very large rounds of Doug Fir which will need to be split, plywood which will be used for building projects, pallets and assorted 2x4s, 2x10s and 2x12s.  We have built a relationship with one builder who will call us when he has a scrap pile. Since we have cleaned up when we have picked up free wood from him he is delighted and said he will deal with us only.  Yea!

While collecting free wood we have come across alot of wood that can be used to build more garden boxes.  I plan on adding boxes to the front yard which is now lawn free.  Then the back yard will be tilled and covered with garden boxes.  The boxes will be filled with mushroom compost which is a local byproduct of a mushroom factory, my composte and garden soil. It is a huge undertaking but will bring me step closer to being sovereign.

Check the June postings archive for more articles on Edible Front Yards.