Pittsburgh Garden Experiment

Here's my approach to starting a CSA farm in Oakland. Please comment. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

I started by identifying my goals with this project. I want to:

• Start a small farm as a side job (see farms vs. gardens)
• Get Hands-on experience
• Create a space to hold meetups for PGE
• Sell 10 weekly CSA shares for a short season.
• Make a positive income. Maybe enough to pay a month's rent

So first off, my money is limited, my skills are rudimentary, and I don't have any land to my name.  I'm going to have to improvise.

Here's my ten step plan to starting a farm with no land (as of now I'm on the first step):

Find unused land near you. - A quick bike ride with a map will provide me with a list of viable spaces. I'm going to look for a cluster of yards that have good looking conditions.

Approach the land owners. - This is the scary part. I'm going to draw some preliminary plans for the property and present them in person. I'll ask that the landowners meet me as a group to discuss their issues.

Agree to work together. - Basically, I will draw up a contract that says, "let me design and build a farm on your land for the next 3-5 seasons, and I'll pay you in vegetables." At the end of that contract you will be left with a low-maintenance, food producing back yard.

Develop a cropping plan: In this example, the cropping plan covers everything including labor and pricing. The first year is really experimental. So I'm going to start small and simple. I chose to work with only 4-5 vegetable varieties and some herbs. As the farm grows, so will the selection and production.

Get help. - This might have been the first step. Actually it's in all the steps. Repeat after me, "you cannot do this all by yourself." I'll ask my customers to put in a couple hours a week during the season.

Make mistakes. - I don't have a lot of farming experience, so I plan on getting it wrong a lot before I get it right. As long as I know it now, I can plan ahead.

I thought there were more, I guess it's only a six step plan for now haha.

 More to come.

Here are our notes from the Permaculture Working Group meeting on August 5th.  We took a closer look at Japenese knotweed.  A few questions were left unanswered:

1.  We know a small cutting of a root will sprout a whole new plant.  What about the stalk?  How long (and how) would it take to compost them down to the point we could use them in planting beds?

2.  We learned that if you cut them without touching the root, the sprouts will grow to a foot tall in 2-4 weeks.  If you want to wear out the root, keep cutting every 2-4 weeks throughout 3-5 growing seasons.  Does anyone have good recepies for all those knotweed stalks?

3.  We saw how knotweed plants grow from rhizomes in a lateral fashion.  They grow shallowly, but can reach and sprout from pretty far down.  What's the maximum rhizome depth that a plant can resprout from? 

4.  When composted, the knotweed plants are broken down by an unkown (to us) mixture of bacteria and fungus.  If we find out exactly how those microbes work, could this help us develop a natural herbicide for weakening knotweed roots?

Please post answers if you find them!

Sorry it took so long to post this.

Later,

JEff

Hey guys and girls. Great News.  This blog journal will continue!  We have found some property that we can farm on.  The owners have agreed to let us farm in exchange for a share of the harvest.  It's really the perfect set up. 

The farm's located in West End, so we've appropriately named it West End Farm.

Here's a summary of the land setup:

Our annual veggie beds will be about 30'x50' area in the back yard.  The land was not previously built on, and the soil biology is great.  We'll also have herbs out front of the house and fruit and berry plants.

There is some concern for drainage, and the closest water source is at the house.  The property is located on a hill, so I'm hoping to find a way to capture the flood water and filter it into the garden using a plant filter. 

So far we've stripped the sod and piled it for composting.  We planted some early season crops in about half of the beds.  Since my overall concern is for healthy biology and not short-term production, we will plant a number of support crops on the farm.  I want to experiment with leguminous bushes. 

Does anybody have any advice on species to incorporate into a farm for muclching and nitrogen fixing?

Fresh vegetables are great. They are even better when they grow in your back yard. There is something to be said for watching life (and food) develop from a tiny, dried-up seed.Is there anything better than walking outside in your bare feet and picking the tomatoes, oregano, basil, and jalapenos you will use for that evenings pasta sauce?

Unfortunately, I live in the woods on the side of a mountain/hill and my topsoil is non-existent. When I attempted to plant several hundred dill plants we stumbled across on craigslist, I encountered rock, clay, and more rock. The land is untenable. Even more unfortunate is that I am kind of lazy and mechanically deficient. Soooooo, raised beds are out. This conundrum came up in a conversation with a friend in NC who has been involved in community garden development on the coast. After the convo, the instructions for straw bale gardening were in my inbox.

Straw bale gardening is inexpensive, lazy laborer friendly, and most importantly, simple. I purchased 20 bales of straw for $5 each and had them delivered with this year's mulch. The flat roof of our garage gets the most sun, so I tossed the bales up there (minus 3, one each for the neighbor kids), and arranged them in rows. For three days, I only had to water them. Thankfully, Mother Nature reallllllly helped out there with the continual rain.

The watering of the bales begins the "seasoning," which is necessary to break down the straw and provide a medium suitable for growing. Next is the introduction of nitrogen, to really get things cooking. I chose to use urea (45-0-0) for this step. At $12.99 for a fifty pound back, it is the most cost effective option. Also, the left overs can be used to melt the ice off of our slope-of-death driveway in the winter. Organic alternatives can be used, such as blood meal or even the introduction of compost and worms. It may take longer with the organic option. In addition, bales can be directly seeded. Basically, pretend the bale is your garden, spread the seeds, and cover them with a thin layer of compost or soil.

The seasoning takes seven days. For three days, 1/2 cup of urea must be sprinkled on each bale and watered in while being sure not to over water, as the urea can be flushed out. For three more days, 1/4 cup of urea is added and watered. The final additive is one cup of 10-10-10 fertilizer on day 10. Again, it is sprinkled on and watered in.

Did I mention simple? With this process, the bales are ready to be planted. On day eleven (and I am not on day 11 yet), a spatula is used to crack the bale. Seedlings are then put in up to their first leaves, the the crack is smooshed closed. Plants can be planted in the top, in the sides, and in the ends. I intend to put rooty vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, and cauliflower in the top of the bales. In the ends, I will put the viney things like squash, cucumber, and watermelons. In the sides, leafy things will work best, I think. My plan is a combination of herbs, like basil and chives, as well as lettuce, spinach, and a mescalin mix.

The beauty of straw bale garden is a combination of its simplicity, low cost, and the fact that anyone can do it anywhere. Do you have a patio? Straw bale. Do you have bad soil? Straw bale. Do you have a parking space you don't use? Straw bale. I will add pictures shortly and photo journal the progression of the garden.

Will you consider straw bale gardening when you are thinking of your next planting? Vote now!

Yesterday Jeff and I set up a table as part of the Blossom Tour in Lawrenceville.  It was a great opportunity to meet other local green businesses.  Thanks to everyone who stopped by and entered our free garden plot contest.

I want to give a shout out to a few of the local businesses that we met yesterday:

Fossil Free Fuel -Colin's company converts diesel vehicles to run off of veggie oil.  He also collects used oil from restaurants for re-use as fuel.

Sweet Vitriol - An excellent local garden blog (and existing PGE member).

Personal Chef Rachel Lori - Rachel is working with local CSA programs to offer prepared food shares.  An alternative for those who don't always know what to do with a box of raw veggies.

I followed wiggy's recepie for seed balls earlier this year.

My mix:  clay from the farm, finished compost, starting soil, seeds, beneficial fungus powder

I noticed that the seeds in seedballs took longer and required more water, but they seemed to sprout stronger and at a higher rate.  I will do this again for my outdoor crops in the fall.

Sprouting a whole guild in one ball seemed like a waste because I had to thin out most of the plants that sprouted.  Next time I'll make the balls, and add only a couple seeds to each.

I'm also going to experiment with indoor and low tunnel starting using seedballs to nuture my seedlings.

Lessons learned: 

1.  Don't mix the seeds in with the ball mixture.  Push them in later after you make the balls.

2.  Sifting the clay is key.  We did without this time, but I will build a sifter for next year.

3.  Soak the seeds before (the ones you can handle) in warm water.  This gives them a head start.

Last night began the planting of the straw bales. As I began planting, I saw things growing that I did not plant -- clusters of dark mushrooms. Being a budding mycologist, I became distracted from the planting and focused on identifying the mushrooms. Personally, I use http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/. When that fails, I break out my book Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora. One of these days, I will hit paydirt and find a huge bunch of tasty edibles. This is not that day.

These mushrooms had a specific property that made them relatively simple to identify -- they ooze black ink. As I handled several of these mushrooms, you can imagine what my fingers look like right now. These little guys are Coprinopsis atramentaria or Common Ink Cap mushrooms. Unfortunately, although edible, they are not desirable if you consume alcohol. I love a good IPA, and probably will not sacrifice beer for 5 days (suggested to be safe) to eat a mushroom that may or may not be tasty.

After identifying the mushrooms, I had to see what, if any, effect they may have on the bales and my plants. GOOGLE! After pouring through web sites, I think it is safe to say that mushrooms can only help the growing process.

Are there any fig growers in Pittsburgh? I have been growing Brown Turkey figs for the past few years, and last year I started a Black Mission Fig. Most of my figs are in pots that I bring inside over the winter, but last year I started some Brown Turkey figs outside. I buried one over the winter, and it is doing fine no, no winter damage at all. The two I left out died down to the ground, but they have come back this year. One of them even has two figs on it already! The ones in pots look good, but they do not have a lot of figs on them yet. 

If anyone else is raising figs, I would be interested in sharing notes and practices.

I live in the Carrick area and have found the perfect spot for a community garden . I contacted the owner everything seemed to be going fine then all of the sudden things got crazy .  Insurance , ownership , back taxes and I've hit a wall .  Most of you know how beneficial a community garden can be and I want so much for it to happen . The only way I can get help from the city is if the land is given up or taken away from the owner .  I don't know how to tell him this .

  I really would like to get this lot gutted out before winter .  Planted by next spring . Come harvest season all the food will be going to the free farmers market I'm starting at my local food bank . IT HAS TO HAPPEN !!!

 If anyone has any advice or good contacts please let me know . I feel like I've called about 20 people about this issue .  I maybe want to reach someone who has started a community garden before ; I think that would be most helpful .

BTW : The owner doesn't live here and wants to go home but is giving me a chance to sort things out .  Time is a factor!

Today, I attended a talk from Frank R. Reese Jr. of Good Sheppard Poultry Ranch  He's been breeding standard or heritage blood lines of chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese for decades.  Here's a quick summary of what I learned:

Virtually all poultry has been bred over a very short 40 year span to produce meat from corn and soy beans.  Just like seeds, they are selected for aesthetic performance at market rather than overall quality.  The current birds at hatcheries are distant hybrids of standard or heritage poultry varieties that do not live well or have the capability to reproduce on their own.  Often they are mislabled as heritage which confuses matters even further.  The handfull of companies that own the genes make their money off of volume, and have a stake in keeping reproduction out of individual farmers hands.

It was shocking to me to find out that 9 out of 10 poultry birds in the country are all owned by one corporation from Germany.  Slowly companies consolidated as genetic traits were continually selected.  Through economic pressure small farmers lost the infrastructure (butchers, drivers, farmers) to keep standard blood lines of chickens available to most of the country.  Concurrently, poultry breeding and medicine became obsolete to the world outside industrial production.

Heritage Poultry varieties are like heirloom seeds.  They have a full set of genetics which makes them capable of living and surviving disease as well as the ability to reproduce and socialize themselves.  The downside for farmers is that they take longer to mature and require different cooking methods.

For more on Heritage Poultry check out Good Sheppard Poultry.  and http://www.poultrypress.com