Buying The Farm

Yesterday I let slip that I’m planning my first actual garden. It occurred to me that I hadn’t explained how this came about!

In a fit of new year’s resolve, I spent the first week of January visiting dozens of gardening websites, one of which linked to Sharing Backyards – a North American take on the much bigger, much more entrenched Landshare program, which – though huge in Britain – hasn’t yet taken root in Canada. (I’m exhausting my gardening metaphors, here.)

Sharing Backyards offered more locations in Toronto than I expected, but was pretty woeful in the suburbs, where I live. Lo and behold, though, there was one listing not 10 minutes’ walk down the street from me, and the homeowner and I hit it off immediately. The backyard isn’t huge, but as first-time gardeners and first-time backyard lenders, we agreed it’d be more than enough for experimenting, and we’re both excited for Spring.

http://sharingbackyards.com/

Mother Earth News offers this handy online garden planner. I’m sure, for experienced gardeners, it’s a bit too simplistic, but for pale green thumbs like me it’s very useful. You can lay out your garden and have a list of sowing/planting/harvest times generated automatically. Not everything is represented, and it’d be nice to have some companion planting suggestions (dos and don’ts!), but for one just starting out this is a nice little resource.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/garden-planner/vegetable-garden-planner.aspx

I’d read about Mangelwurtzels (say that three times fast) a few years ago, and am still intrigued by them. They’re a species of beet which, historically and by the suggestion of my local seed catalogue, are fit for animal fodder, not human consumption. Some investigation shows that people do grow them for home use, and one shares a tip about forcing their leaves for a nice gourmet entree.

This is an interwsting thread to me as I have been growing them for a few years now for my own consumption.

Incidently, I found out by accident that if the stored roots are left to sprout in a covered container, the blanched shoots produce a gourmet sprouting dish.

http://www.idigmygarden.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-1095.html

I’m investigating sharing a space with a local homeowner. She’s got a few fruit trees but most of the ground is in shade. I found this list of shade-happy plants which gives me some hope our potential crop won’t be entirely composed of microgreens.

**EDIT** Turns out she’s a he, and the shade isn’t as bad as I thought. Still, plenty of space to put shade-tolerant kale!

http://www.motherearthnews.com/shade-tolerant-vegetables-zm0z11zsto.aspx

Nerve compression plus a total inability to tackle hills without getting off to push mean I never mount a bicycle unless I have to. Exercise in general is not a favourite pastime of mine. Laundry? Eh. It’s just one of those things you’ve gotta do.

Combine all three, though, and we have a multitasking device I could get behind.

Behold, the bike-powered laundry unit!

http://www.bikehacks.com/bikehacks/2012/01/green-power-bike-washing-machines.html

Food Garden International’s Roger Doiron gives an entertaining talk on how backyard gardens can help change and save the world.

http://www.ted.com/talks/roger_doiron_my_subversive_garden_plot.html?awesm=on.ted.com_RDoiron&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=on.ted.com-static&utm_source=direct-on.ted.com&utm_content=awesm-publisher

More Swedish animal keeping: This time, a rabbit hutch made from a metal Ikea shelving system.

http://iheartprettystuffs.blogspot.com/2011/07/our-rabbits-diy-rabbit-hutch.html

Aquaponics meets utilitarian Scandinavian design. I like this, though I wonder if the fish it can hold would be enough for good eatin’.

http://www.conceptualdevices.com/2011/06/malthus-a-meal-a-day-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-about-the-food-and-love-the-population-bomb/

The beauty of the Internet: I can go from total ignorance of biogas generation to a YouTube video of some guy making one at home in but a few clicks.

I’ll need more steps in a how-to than Lord Vaader here provides, but it’s an excellent start.

http://www.youtube.com/user/LordVaader#p/search/3/aju_kNKNtXw

Mother Earth News always gets the gears turning in my head. Here’s a detailed essay from 1974 about their creation of a methane-producing anaerobic digester. One load of cow manure kept a gas-powered farm going for a few months, and even its waste provide useful to feed back into the soil. I’ll have to look at something like this if I ever own a homestead.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/print-article.aspx?id=64546