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From the homestead…

anniesallotment-deactivated2019

Blood Sorrel (Rumex acetosa). A beautiful hardy perennial herb that is used is soups, stews, sauces and salads. It also makes a colourful addition to borders as well as the herb garden.

artamanen

A Guide To Building Raised Gardening Beds

Better Soil, Better Drainage, Better Back Raised beds are great for gardeners who have poor soil (rocky, clay or sandy). By building beds above your soil surface and filling them with higher quality soil, you’re giving your vegetables a better environment to thrive and produce. Also, if you are a gardener with mobility issues, you will find gardening with raised beds to be much easier than gardening at ground level. Similarly, if the task of creating raised beds from scratch is too labor-intensive or difficult, there are many pre-made raised garden bed kits available online. While you don’t have to construct raised beds if you have decent soil, vegetables — particularly root veggies like carrots — tend to like the deep soil that is found in raised beds. Any bed that is raised above the ground surface is “raised,“ whether it’s 6” or 2’ high. Raised beds provide an environment with good drainage for vegetables. The better quality, deeper soil allows water to be absorbed without staying soggy.

How to Get Started

1. Choose a sunny, fairly level site. Most vegetables like as much sun as you can give them, at least 6-8 hours a day, so carefully choose the part of your yard that gets the most sun. And while you can construct raised beds on a slope, it’s easier and less expensive if you can find a part of your yard that is somewhat level. Sloping yards will need to have beds created in a retaining wall fashion, stepping down into tiers to create level individual beds. 2. Choose your construction material. Raised beds can be built out of wood (2 x 4 or 2 x 6, landscape timbers), mortared stone, cinderblock or even rolled steel. Wooden beds and cinderblock are the least expensive, while mortared stone can become pricey depending upon the type of stone you choose. Rolled steel will be the most expensive. Most types of construction can be good DIY projects for the handy homeowner, but the rolled steel beds will most likely need to be contracted out to a professional unless you have welding skills. Your choice of materials can also be determined by your personal aesthetics — wooden beds tend to look more organic and traditional, while mortared rock is more formal, and cinderblocks and rolled steel lend an industrial chic look to your garden. 3. Determine your bed size. Raised beds are the most functional when constructed in 4’ widths, at whatever length you desire (6’, 8’, 10’ or longer). This 4’ width allows you to easily weed, water and harvest your vegetable garden from both sides without having to step into the bed itself, which would compact the soil. The height of your bed depends upon your needs. If you simply want a great growing environment for your veggies, then 6” to 1’ will be sufficient. However, if you have mobility issues, then 18" to 24" or even 32" will be better. This increased height will allow you sit on the edge of your bed (particularly if it’s constructed out of wood or mortared rock) while you work in your garden, eliminating the need to bend and squat. The taller your bed, the more materials you will need and the more expensive it will get, so plan accordingly and be willing to construct one bed at a time as your budget allows.

Now when you hear people talking about raised beds, you’ll know what they are. Essentially, raising the level of the ground in which you plant grants you better access to the soil. Raised beds only have to be about six inches tall to get the job done, and the benefits are two-fold. Firstly, because your soil drains better, and inputs can be added more easily, you may see an increase in the health of your crop. Secondly, the height of the bed makes gardening that much easier on your back. These benefits can be felt even on smaller gardening budgets, and the level of difficulty to construct is minimal. So give it a try!

naturalbuildingencyclopedia

We need more natural buildings, environments, relationships, and food in our lives.

60npermaculture-deactivated2016

18.10.2015 Purho, Finland

This autumn has been so warm that even in Purho, which usually seems to be about 2 weeks ahead of the Helsinki area, was mild. Not as many leaves to rake and mulch with; so we may have to head back in November for a day trip.

I was impressed with how well I managed to char some relatively fresh spruce and pine twigs (not even branches, talking half a centimeter diameter “wood.”) We still had quite a lot of slash, so I decided to start laying out a large hugel bed I’ve been meaning to build for a while now. It’ll serve as a windbreak for the north east corner of the property and it also sits in one of the few places with some direct sunlight. Hoping it’ll be quite productive, although we need probably the same amount of twigs/branches to build it to 1.5m.

fuckyeahpermaculture

“In the summer of 2015, Eva Verbeeck asked me to join her on a trip throughout the Pacific Northwest to produce a short film on young farmers, that would accompany her photo story for a variety of publications. Having spent much time WWOOFing on organic farms, I knew the importance of providing a voice for this underrepresented population. So we loaded our iPods with old bluegrass music and set off in a 1990 Nissan truck, heading from Portland to British Columbia. We offered our labor in exchange for room and board at the farms that we made it to.” - Half Magic Farms

plantedcity

Grow Your Own: ‘Edible Yards Proliferate in Vancouver Neighbourhoods’

From The Vancouver Sun:

The landscaping installed by young entrepreneurs Katie Ralphs and Ruth Warren is a far cry from the patchy lawns and scruffy rhododendrons that are near ubiquitous in front yards across much of the city.

Lush caches of rainbow chard, peas, beans and lettuce dot Vancouver’s Riley Park neighbourhood between 18th and 29th avenues, in some places as many as two, three and even four yards on a block and a half dozen yards adjacent to a city bike lane.

Ralphs and Warren — the twentysomething proprietors of City Beet Farm — maintain 17 yard gardens all within ten blocks of each other, essential because they move themselves and their produce by bicycle.

…

Similar businesses — Inner City Farms, Frisch Farms, Barefoot Farms and Yummy Yards to name a few — are converting dozens of Vancouver yards into micro-farms, paying the owners vegetables as rent.

…

Yard farming is hitting the mainstream, at least in Vancouver, according to Jennifer van den Brink, who specializes in vegetable garden installations and garden maintenance for Yummy Yards.

“It started out that we were just doing conversions in yards that we were then going to farm, but a lot of people just wanted help starting their own vegetable garden,” she said. “So, most of what I do now is installations for people who want to grow their own food.”

Check out the rest of the article here.

‘This Californian urban farm is a glimpse into the future of agriculture’ (FastCoExist)

‘How to eat your lawn: transform your wasteful grassy space into a food forest garden’ (Inhabitat)

‘Detroit urban farming prompts career hopes’ (Detroit Free Press)

‘African urban farmers supply growing cities’ (Deutshe Welle)

‘Climate change caused droughts take toll on global crops’ (Vancouver Observer)

(Photo: Steven Godfrey)

plantedcity

Grow Your Own: ‘Edible Yards Proliferate in Vancouver Neighbourhoods’

From The Vancouver Sun:

The landscaping installed by young entrepreneurs Katie Ralphs and Ruth Warren is a far cry from the patchy lawns and scruffy rhododendrons that are near ubiquitous in front yards across much of the city.

Lush caches of rainbow chard, peas, beans and lettuce dot Vancouver’s Riley Park neighbourhood between 18th and 29th avenues, in some places as many as two, three and even four yards on a block and a half dozen yards adjacent to a city bike lane.

Ralphs and Warren — the twentysomething proprietors of City Beet Farm — maintain 17 yard gardens all within ten blocks of each other, essential because they move themselves and their produce by bicycle.

…

Similar businesses — Inner City Farms, Frisch Farms, Barefoot Farms and Yummy Yards to name a few — are converting dozens of Vancouver yards into micro-farms, paying the owners vegetables as rent.

…

Yard farming is hitting the mainstream, at least in Vancouver, according to Jennifer van den Brink, who specializes in vegetable garden installations and garden maintenance for Yummy Yards.

“It started out that we were just doing conversions in yards that we were then going to farm, but a lot of people just wanted help starting their own vegetable garden,” she said. “So, most of what I do now is installations for people who want to grow their own food.”

Check out the rest of the article here.

‘This Californian urban farm is a glimpse into the future of agriculture’ (FastCoExist)

‘How to eat your lawn: transform your wasteful grassy space into a food forest garden’ (Inhabitat)

‘Detroit urban farming prompts career hopes’ (Detroit Free Press)

‘African urban farmers supply growing cities’ (Deutshe Welle)

‘Climate change caused droughts take toll on global crops’ (Vancouver Observer)

(Photo: Steven Godfrey)

intersectsational

Borage in the food forest.

beautifulpicturesofhealthyfood

Beautiful 7 Layer Rainbow Smoothie - Full of tons of fruit…RECIPE

folkandfemme-deactivated2026011

WHAT

Think again! Angi does what she feels comfortable with and that works for her.

#rural homesteads

inhabitude-deactivated20231116

We are stardust We are golden And we’ve got to get ourselves Back to the garden

Joni Mitchell, “Woodstock” (via inhabitude)

english-idylls

Rhododendrons in Sheringham Park, Norfolk by stravaigerjohn.

garden-of-vegan

Sweet Pumpkin Seed Protein Granola - http://www.ilovevegan.com/sweet-pumpkin-seed-protein-granola/

coraruthphotography

Calendula in the garden ~ 🌼✨

do not delete caption

jaxxbfox

Garden update. 08/03/14. Post 1/3.

jaxxbfox

Fall Garden. 09/09/14. My Butternut squash is going nuts. I have one fruit that’s the size of a softball and weighs at least three pounds so far. So far it’s the only one to survive to get to size, as SOMETHING is eating the baby squash shortly after they’re pollinated. I’ve come up with a plan to try to protect the fruits from whatever is causing the damage (some sort of mammalian pest for sure)… using nylon stockings and wire. We shall see how it works out by next week. In other news, my Red Beets are growing well. I’m thinking maybe I should have sowed the seeds a week or two sooner, but we’ll see how things go. The Fordhook Giant Swiss chard is doing really well now that the leaf miner problem is under control, as is the other Chard. The Dragon Tounge beans are about to flower, I had no idea the flowers would be purple! So pretty! I harvested THREE Bell peppers today, the smallest was turning bright red, the others are green but much bigger. I’m going to dehydrate them. Lastly, the Temptation strawberries are STILL flowering, but so far I’ve gotten no fruit as rodents/birds get to them before I get the chance to try any. That’s okay, eventually I’ll plant them somewhere where I can do something about the pest problem. I’m up to my ears in Cherry Tomatoes now. Three plants have given me eight pounds of fruit so far…. and they’re still going! More fruit has to ripen, and more flowers are blooming. It’s nuts! I had no idea they’d be so prolific! lol Things are winding down otherwise, it’s clear that Autumn is almost here. The bed in the back yard is looking pretty tired and ratty. The one up front isn’t as bad but soon it’ll be time to start pulling stuff out. But that won’t be for another few weeks at least. So until then I’m going to enjoy every minute of it. :)

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