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.

Lessons Learned from the Edible Front Lawn #2

Creating an edible garden where previously a lawn had been struggling keeps providing opportunities for learning. Once I had the entire lawn covered with cardboard and paper products and the grass and weeds were no longer visible, it was time to design a layout and build garden beds.

The house faces southwest so the sun is more prevalent in the afternoon. There is a small ornamental tree providing a shaded area. I watched the sun’s pattern and decided to create a circle surrounded by stones and two garden beds the first year. Being the Frugal Fraulein , I needed to find wood with which to build the boxes. A friend called to say she had seen some fiberglass boxes about four feet by four feet on the side of the road with a for sale sign. I checked them out but they had top and one side missing and would not have held soil. Too bad because they were a good size and would have been high and easy on my back while bending. Next I discovered reclaimed lumber. Buildings are torn down and carefully stripped of useful wood, windows, doors and fixtures. The remains are brought to a warehouse and sold to benefit the local Habitat for Humanity. All kinds of treasures were available for much less than new. I bought used 2x8’s that were 8 ft long for less than I would have paid for two boards at the local lumber store. I then rummaged around and found some L brackets and a couple of 2x2’s to use for bracing that I had purchased at a yard sale.

For years I have been collecting tools at yard sales. I got out the circular saw, power drill, square and measuring tape. The boards were not the same length so that meant having to cut them to size. It is much easier to use a circular saw when you have someone to hold the other end. Next step was to measure where the screws were going to go. I drilled in pilot holes then laid out the boards where the boxes were going to be placed. Now don’t get me wrong. I am not a carpenter and I don’t have much practice building things. I have learned along the way and every step takes me forever. Finally hours later I had the boxes together. The task was end by screwing in L brackets on the corners to hold the boxes together and cutting the 2x2’s into eight pieces which I secured to the inside corners for even more sturdiness. The final step was to dig a small hole for each 2x2 so that they would hold the boxes in one spot and not be moveable. I don’t know why I thought a 4x8 box full of dirt would move.

When I was done I was thrilled. Looking at pictures and plans of boxes had paid off. I had gleaned the best of the ideas and built something functional, inexpensive and durable. I learned that although I have limited carpentry skills I could build something durable and useful. I have to admit I was proud of myself.

Eat Your Front Lawn! #3

Now that I had covered the entire yard with cardboard to kill off the weeds and grass, it was time to build some garden boxes. I chose to build garden boxes out of reclaimed wood from the local Habitat for Humanity store. Their materials have been taken out of buildings being demolished or refurbished. I scooped out the store a couple of weekends till I saw the size wood I wanted. I went online and compared buying wood from Lowe's and Home Depot. No comparison in price!

There are as many ways to build garden boxes as people who build them. I would have preferred to have boxes that were almost waist height so I wouldn’t have to bend over but when I figured how much wood I would need and how much soil I would need, at this point in time that was not practical. I have seen some boxes that were built at an Assisted Living Complex that were first filled with shipping peanuts to take up some of the space before the soil was introduced. Since I wanted to be as organic as possible I decided my boxes would be filled with garden soil and compost only.

I love the Square Foot Gardening books by Mel Bartholomew http://www.squarefootgardening.com/ and decided to build my boxes 4 feet by 8 feet. Using the square foot method, I could maximize the space in the boxes and produce more food.

I bought some 2” by 8” by 8’ boards that were untreated. I did not want treated wood as the chemicals could leach into the soil and be absorbed by the plants. I cut one board in half for the ends using my circular saw. I laid out two 8’boards and the two 4’ boards in a rectangle on the ground. I used wood screws to put them together and then screwed L brackets on the outside of the corners to keep the boxes from separating due to the pressure and weight of soil and water. Pre-drilling holes helped a lot. I had found some L brackets at a yard sale for about $3 and the wood cost less than $5 per box and had a can of wood screws that I bought for $1 from an estate sale. I would guess the boxes cost about $6 a piece.

Having two sets of hands helped since I am not an experienced carpenter. It was suggested I also screw in pieces of 2” by 2” into the corners for more long term stability. I had a piece of 2” by 2” and cut it up. Lesson here is that when I see a good piece of wood at a very low price or even better free I take it home. I never know when it will come in handy. I always scour the cans of nails and screws that are left in some old geezers’ garage or basement and show up at estate sales. Seems the kids never know what to do with all that stuff of Grandpa’s and usually there are some real finds out there for a few bucks. New hardware is wildly expensive these days and often I would pay the more for a package of 10 new screws than I would for a bucket of mismatched ones in a coffee can.

Next posting will be about garden soil. Tune in and leave me a comment! If you send me an email I promise to write back promptly.