Urban Agriculture

Urban Agriculture is the practice and the fast growing phenomenon of growing food in city settings. This is done through community gardens, utilizing vacant lots, balcony gardens, back yards and for those willing to deal with the scrutiny of there neighbors their front yards.  Urban agriculture despite all the hype that it is receiving today is actually not a new phenomenon. Here in the US it has cropped up several times in the past couple centuries. One of the most notable occasions was during WW2 when people were urged to plant Victory Gardens. These gardens supplied more than half of all vegetables eaten during war years. This production right at people homes in cities led to supplies being freed up for the war effort.  Growing good food in the city is not as difficult as some people might think.  There are many things about cities that make growing food in them easier and more enjoyable than growing it in the country.    

Heat Island Effect:

Cities create there own micro climate protecting the delicate vegetables from the vagaries of the weather. Wind speed is reduced and temperatures are slightly higher in cities which improves plant growth and extends the growing season.

Easy Access:

When your garden is on your balcony it is not hard to take excellent care of it. While the difficulty will increase with the size and location of whatever you are growing the city offers many things that make it easy to care of a garden. Access to a ready to use clean water source is a great asset for growing quality food. Plus you will also be able to utilize the knowledge of the people and institutions like university extension offices to help you along the way.


Potential Profit

For a lot of people after they grow there first garden it will have had one of two effects on them.  One they end up hating it with a passion and they never want to pull a weed or pick up a shovel again.  But sometimes the passion gets turned the other way and they loved it.  They love it so much that they begin to look for ways to grow more and expand on what they are already doing.  This can and usually does lead to overproduction.  The excess needs to be done away with and the opportunities provided by urban agriculture make this a cinch.  Food shelters are always looking for fresh produce or you could sell to your friends and neighbors who most likely would love some fresh right from the garden food.  Being in a urban setting offers lots of potential customers right outside the garden and such a potentially profitable venture.  

 

Fringe Benefits

 

Urban gardens can produce not only high quality food but also provide a host of other benefits as well. They provide positive interactions between people and the environment. Provide fresh purified air in the center of cities. Restore more greenery to the center of concrete jungles and provide a ecological balance that is missing in most cities. There is also the numerous health benefits that come with gardening including exercise, fresh air, and a little shot of sunshine to give some color to office bound urban dwellers.

To learn more about urban agriculture I would suggest tracking down and reading a book called Urban Agriculture- Ideas and Designs for the New Food Revolution by David Tracey. This witty and highly entertaining book is a fun yet educational read. Packed full of fun facts and useful advice this book is great for growers of all levels and types. Whether you want a balcony full of plants or a half acre to call you own this is a good reference to read and have.

Until next time my fellow environmentalists

Josh

The downside to soil tilling

Tillage the practice of turning over and mixing the soil to incorporate nutrients, crop residues and to kill weeds in the fields. For many years tillage has been the go to soil preparation technique for its soil enhancement properties like,

• lightens the soil
• breaks up clay pans and compacted soils
• oxygenates the soil
• breaks up soil clods
• smooths out planting surface for seeds

But what we have discovered in recent years is that tillage can lead to more problems then it help alleviate. Studies have shown plow pan or compacted layers forming just beneath the extent of the cultivator blades which can restrict planting rooting depth. If your crops in the field or the garden cannot get their roots deep into the soil they will not do as well. One way to improve rooting into soil is to preserve soil structure as much as you can. Soil structure is essential to plant growth as it provides a perfect environment for roots to grow into. Good soil structure will hold water better but still have good drainage and will be full of organic matter which contains nutrients that the plant can use.

Tillage also can lead to excessive erosion in the soil because is breaks the soil into smaller and smaller particles which can easily be taken away by the wind or water. Erosion had lead to the loss of over 400 billion* dollars of productivity every year under current agriculture practices. With soil formation being a very slow process around .5 tons/acre/year it cannot keep up with the current loss of soil due to soil tillage practices.

Finally tillage is very expensive to do. It requires a large output of money for tractors, tillage equipment, and finally fuel to power those vehicles. This being done across the world on a annual and semi annual basis is a very expensive and unnecessary step in food production.

So if you are landowner or gardener please look into other ways of preparing soil for planting like no-till or mulch till. Getting away from tillage will save you time, money, and wear and tear on equipment.

Until next time my fellow environmentalist

Josh

What Plants to Grow

That is a good question and one that will require a little bit of soul searching to figure out.  Some people just want to grow a little bit of there own food, others want to grown enough food to feed themselves year round and others want to be able to to sell excess produce to friends, family and neighbors.  The types of plants to grow in those three scenarios are not necessarily the same.  There will be crossover in plant types but the amounts and varieties are going to change depending on your end goals.


Small Row Gardens

Row Garden

For a lot of people they just want a simple garden that can be planted in one day growing summer favorites like cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and beets. If you want this then a simple row garden that is based on modern agriculture practices is the one for you. Most gardening tools that can be found in home improvement warehouse are designed for this type of gardening. It is not the most effective layout for a garden as it can cause weed problems and soil erosion because of the openness of the design. It also is water, fertilizer and space inefficient. On the other hand it is very easy to layout and the initial planting is a breeze when compared to other garden systems.  Above you can see a garden I planted during my Great Cardboard Garden experiment.  It was not my most successful garden I have ever planted but it does clearly show how wasteful in space a row garden can be.  To learn more about my cardboard garden experiment check out my Garden tab as the top to read on my observations.



Food for a Year

If you plan on trying to grow enough food to feed yourself year round then you have entered into a a whole new realm of food growing. To grow enough food to feed yourself year round to you to look at the food you really eat on a daily basis. Vegetables only provide around 10% of our daily caloric intake so if you plan on eating off of your garden you have to take into account the other 90%. This is made up primarily with grains like wheat and corn and meats like beef, chicken, and pork. So if you really want to grow your own food for the year you have to plant grains and grow some meat. This requires a shift in your garden designs to accommodate animals like chickens and the growth of densely planted grains. It will also require looking into some intensive gardening techniques like Square Foot gardening in order to maximize space and productivity.

Selling Fresh Produce

Finally you have people that wish to garden for the purpose of selling produce. If that is your primary goal then you will tailor your garden to maximizing production and growing profitable popular items.  In most areas popular items include veggies that are very perishable like the salad greens, fresh fruits like watermelons and items that damage easily like tomatoes.  If your goal is to sell fresh produce then some investigating in the local area is a must.  Check out local farmers markets if there are any and maybe conduct a survey with friends and family to find out what they will like to eat that can be grown in a garden.  Doing some footwork like above should give you a snapshot on what would be easy to sell and hopefully grow. 


The goals are presented above are very broad by design.  You maybe have a more specific goal of making you own spaghetti sauce or making applesauce.  For me the best type is a combination of Food for a Year and Selling Fresh Produce. The plan for this summer is to try and grow enough foodstuff to feed a group of 4 and still have some to sell on the side. If you want to follow along with a trials and triumphs of the growing season check out the Learning Curve Garden tab at the top of the page to learn all about it.


If you have never gardened before I will tell you one thing for sure will happen, something will go wrong. It is a absolute certainty that something will go wrong but never fear their are a variety of great resources out there that can help you out for what ever type of gardening you wish to pursue. One of my favorites is a book called Mini Farming-Self Sufficiency on a 1/4 Acre by Brett Markham which covers a variety of gardening methods, seed saving, produce selling techniques that are easy to follow and use. So whatever type of gardening you choose I wish you good luck in your growing endeavors.

Josh

GMO Seeds

Genetically modified food is one of the most contentious subjects in agriculture today. With it being used on many of our staple crop species such a corn and soybeans it is and will be a simple fact of agriculture from this point on.

Roundup Ready varieties of corn and soybeans created by the agriculture giant Monsanto are very common in farm fields across America. Now what Roundup Ready means is that it can be sprayed with the herbicide Roundup. The crop is able to survive this because foreign genetic materiel has been placed into its genetic code making it resistant to the herbicide.

Another aspect of genetic modification is inputting genetics that allow plants to create there own pesticide. One of the most famous examples of this is BT crops which contain the genetics of a variety of bacteria called Bacillus thuringiensis. The genetic material placed in the corn gives it the ability to create a pesticide that kills insects that attempt to feed on it.

On the surface the ability of crops to resist herbicides and create there own pesticides is a revolutionary change to modern agriculture. But when you think about it further some interesting ideas begin to float around in your head.

For me the most prominent idea was the though of pesticide producing corn. So this corn produces a chemical that kills insects that are attacking it. If the corn can produce a chemical that kills insects could that same pesticide affect humans or other animals too. I have heard reports of sheep dying after grazing in fields that contained BT Cotton and cattle in Germany dying after eating BT Corn. We do know from previous pesticide use that some are very persistent in the environment and they have unexpected consequences. A classic example is the effect that DDT had of fish and birds of prey. DDT was a very popular and effective pesticide from the 1940's to 1973. But it had unexpected consequences in local watersheds in which it caused a buildup of DDT in local fish populations. The DDT was deposited in the fatty tissues in the fish which were consumed by birds of prey such the Bald Eagle As the birds fed on fish they accumulated DDT in their system which effected the reproductive success of the birds. The DDT caused their eggs to have very thin shells which broke easily during the incubation period. The effect was a rapidly declining eagle population that landed them on the Endangered Species list.

Many people are opposed to to GM food for the very reason above. They are worried that like DDT and heavy metals the pesticide producing food crops could cause a buildup of pesticides in humans that consume it.

Other concerns include

• introducing allergens into safe food
• contaminating wild genetics
• reducing diversity in crop production

If you think you have never eaten GMO food and you live in America then you are probably wrong. GMO ingredients are estimated to be present in over 70% of products found in the grocery store. Unless you have eaten organic your entire life or raise all your own food you will be stuck with GMO products.

For me personally GMO are a concern because we don't know the long term effects they will have on us and the planet. As a result of that me and few of friends are attempting to grow as much food as we can on some land that we have. You can follow along with us this season under the Learning Curve Garden tab at the top of the page.

Until next time my fellow environmentalists

Josh

Food Waste in the Modern World

First some facts about food in America today

• 40% of all food grown does not get consumed
• Food represents the largest component of municipal solid waste
• Food in landfills creates 16% of US methane emissions (methane is a potent greenhouse gas.)
• We throw out 165 billion dollars annually on wasted food
• 1 in 6 Americans are hungry
• Average American wastes 10x the food a person from SE Asia does.
• Over half of all fruits and vegetables are not consumed.
• Whole fields are left unharvested due to “lack” of market or not enough labor
• 10% of our energy production and 80% of our freshwater is used to transport and produce food
  

I find numbers like that very disturbing to even think about. How can we as a society be so wasteful with a resource vital to our survival. If our ancestors could see what we are doing with our food they would probably smack us for it.  We also should not forget the 925 million people that suffer from hunger to this day.  How can this kind of of food waste be justified in the face of all the need in the world?

It can't...

We don't have a food production problem on this planet but we have a food distribution problem.  We produce enough food to give everyone at least 2,700 kilo calories a day while the average person only needs around 2,500.  The problems that all those hungry people face are not lack of food but the inability to acquire it.  They don't have the land to grow the food or lack the money to buy the food.  The way food is grown, shipped and sold in the modern world is wasteful and it only benefits those that can pay for it.  This has to change or the problem will only get worse as populations continue to rise in parts of the world that cannot provide for them. 

There is much that can be done on a industrial and a societal level to reduce food waste but I wont go into that here since that is far beyond the scope of this post. To find more information on this topic check out a paper written by the Natural Resources Defense Council called Wasted: How American is losing up to 40 percent of its food from farm to fork to landfill for more information.

What I want to talk about is what can be done on a family and personal level. Most of what can be done is common sense but unfortunately common sense can fly right out the window when confronted with the realities of food.

Plan Ahead and only buy what you Need

This one is fairly obvious and most of you are probably thinking I’m not going to read any more of this dribble but hear me out. How many times did you buy that salad mix or that 10 lb bag of potatoes thinking yeah I'll use all of this and how many times has that come back and bitten you in the butt. For me more than I can count unfortunately and I have found really only one way around it. You have to plan your entire food needs for some fixed period of time and not deviate from it at all. This means knowing what you will eat for every meal for the next whatever you decided. I have down this and it isn’t hard when you live alone but when other people get thrown into the mix it is difficult.

Prepare smaller portion to reduce leftovers/EAT THE LEFTOVERS

I have lived with a few people that do not know how to do these things. They always prepare way more than they need and then you pretty much have to put a gun to there head to get them to eat the leftovers. You may know people like this or you may even be one of them. Not being careful about how much food you prepare can lead to a end of the month ritual where you toss the various science experiments growing in your fridge in the trash.  This is not only wasteful of food but also of your time and money which many people have in short supply. 

Grow your own food

For those of you with garden out there you know exactly what I mean, you have sweated and slaved over the food on your plate so you will be damned if it going to be wasted. Nothing motivates you more to not waste food that to see your own effort get tossed in the trash. Plus growing your own food will cut down on losses from transportation and culling that you would normally find in industrial food production.

Composting

There will always be scraps and leftovers when dealing with food but again you can reduce how much is wasted by reusing event he scraps. Proper composting will create very little odor and a useful byproduct for adding nutrients to your garden or yard. Nearly anything raw and organic can be composted including all fruits, veggies, paper, coffee filters, egg shells, etc. Composting can be done in any spare part of your yard and really doesn't require much hands on work once started. For you apartment or townhouse folks I would suggest a commercially produced composting system designed for inside use. Many types can be found at Amazon and they will produce compost at varying rates depending on type and usage.

Just by following a few simple steps at home we can reduce our food wastage and reduce the amount of food that is being wasted in the country.

Until next time my fellow environmentalists

Josh

Food Independence

This blog is dedicated to following me as I try and live a more sustainable life.  But lately I have been going through a bit of a identity crisis as to what kind of life am a trying to build.  I sat down last night and I tried to sort that out as best I could.  The first thing that came to mind was food. 

What do I want to do about my food? 

Food and eating for me is a topic near and dear to my heart.  Like most people I love to eat and I think we are hard wired love eating.  This love of food can have its negative consequences.  If you eat the wrong kind of food like most people in America today it has the effects we are seeing now.  A obesity and diabetes "epidemic" is sweeping across the country following the explosion of cheap heavily processed food we find in grocery stores and restaurants. 

Now don't misunderstand me I love a big greasy burger and fries as much as the next guy but I know that I can't eat like everyday.  I personally will get physically ill if I consume to much greasy sugary foods.  My tolerance for that type of food is nothing like it was when I was growing up.  Maybe that is true for some of you or maybe you can still live of off that type of food. 

All I want from my food is to be nutritious, healthy and safe for me to eat.  With the modern food system in America putting all sorts of chemicals that are made to kill things on the crops and pumping animals full of steroids and antibiotics just to keep them alive.  I am beginning to become afraid to eat anything from the grocery store.  When you can't find anything that hasn't been hosed with chemicals or as a ingredient list so long and confusing you need a PHD to understand it, its time to take a step back and go wait a minute. 

I have stepped back and gone wait a minute and for me there is only one option,

I have to get better food....

These days the many options you have to get food like this is growing with farmers markets springing up across the country and co-ops forming in many cities.  These places will carry many types of food from commercially grow produce complete with chemicals or it can carry Organic and all natural foodstuffs.  But you will most likely pay more that you would in the grocery store because of economies of scale.  The organic local producers cannot produce as much as industrial agriculture that is a simple unavoidable fact.  If you have the money to spend this can be a great option and will guarantee good wholesome food for you and your family. 

But if your like me your finances are tight and you have a itch to grow your own then gardening on a big scale is the way for you.  I choose to garden because I like to and it gives me a better connection to my food and helping me to respect it and myself more. 

For the summer season I will be dedicating this blog to all things food and gardening. 

I along with a few of my friends plan on growing as much food as we can this summer with the goal of being largely independent of the modern food system.  You can follow my daily and weekly activities in our big garden under the Learning Curve Garden tab at the top and I will be posting here about all sorts of food related topics till the end of the season.

So please join me as I learn about food and eating this summer

Until next time my fellow environmentalist.

Josh