It’s hard to start an urban farm when… it won’t stop snowing!
What the heck is an Urban Farm? Glad you asked! Basically, an urban farm is, well, kind of like it sounds, a farm in an urban setting. In other words, food production for personal or business use right here in the city. Chances are if you haven’t already heard the term, you will in the near future. The term is popping up almost as fast as the farms themselves. Right now, in our area, they are limited to crops and chickens, however some areas have goats too. From what I hear other small livestock are in line to be a part of this program too! But just so everyone is clear… what you will see in my front yard is purely plant related. The chickens are in back yard. And I’m not sold on having goats yet… although, I might be interested in the Rent-A-Goat program down the road!
I have to be honest, when I started in the Urban Farming Certification Program, I didn’t really have a definite plan for my “farm” and the plan that I have now is still evolving, but one piece of what I want to do in my yard is plant the seed, so to speak, to get people thinking, realizing, that they too can grow at least some of their food in their yard too. It doesn’t have to be the back. It can be the front or the side. You need to do what works for you.
Here is a picture of what my yard looks like today. Essentially a blank slate. The space where I will be growing food has, quite honestly, been simply ignored pretty much since we moved in. Over the past few years we lost two large, old elm trees, which took that space from mostly shaded, to full sun and the lawn from lush and green to simply fried. It could use some TLC and since there is an abundance of sun and space, why not grow food?
Regarding the space, for a point of reference, this space is about 60 feet wide by 60 feet long. I won’t be farming the whole thing, at least not this year, but I will be farming a good portion of it, but any piece of what I’m going to be doing could be put into a smaller or larger scale yard.
Here are some of the challenges I face with this project, not necessarily in an order:
- Fencing: Find inexpensive, attractive, yet effective fencing or fencing alternatives to keep the deer and other wildlife that will do heavy damage out (we have a Nature Center behind us and a small lake a block to the North) while at the same time keeping it open enough to welcome people in. This may include shrubs to provide food for both the wildlife and people as well as a barrier.
- Grading: The grade change is not drastic, but it is currently sloping toward the driveway, the residential street in the front as well as the main street on the side. This means I’m losing water to run-off (not good!). I’m working on possible ways to alter the grade slightly to slow the water down and store it where it is most effective: in the ground.
- Curb Appeal: Since this garden will be in the front yard, I want to maintain, or in this case, add, curb appeal. Granted, not everyone is going to love seeing a garden in the front yard, but part of my challenge is to make sure it’s not offensive to most (and hopefully if they get a tomato or two out of the deal it won’t bother them as much)!
- Maintain set-backs/easements: You’ll notice we don’t have a public sidewalk in the front like many urban communities do. At first this seems like a bonus, and while it is regarding additional space, there are still limitations as to what I can do in the “boulevard” space. In fact, if I decide to alter the boulevard, I need to submit plans to the city, pay a one-time fee and apply for a permit. They would need to approve the plan prior to starting the project.
Maintain sight-lines: Corner lots come with restrictions. The most important restriction is to maintain a maximum height of 30 inches in a triangle going from the corner, fifty feet back on both sides of the corner and a line connecting those two points in order to not block the vision of vehicles turning into or out of our street onto the intersecting street.- Water: One goal I have is to capture and store the water that is on site, meaning, when it rains, I want to make sure I store as much of that water in the ground as possible. I want to limit the amount of municipal water that is applied to this site by redirecting water from the downspout that is currently getting wasted or turning into run-off. At the same time I hope to eliminate current water puddling/ice nuisances.
- Community Space: As I mentioned before I want this space to be welcoming. I want it to be welcoming for our neighbors who live here, welcoming for visitors and passersby. I want to “plant the seed” for others to consider doing even a small piece of this. I want it to be welcoming to the community and I may be holding classes and/or events in this space, so I want it to be a space people want to come to and hang out in.
- Art/Music: I’ve had thoughts of including art and music. I’m not sure what that will look like yet. My son and I like the “READ” sign at the local library, I suggested we put “EAT” in our yard. He suggested it be “EAT WELL”. I like his idea better. 🙂
- Compost space: I will need to have a place to store compost. I believe this may need to be on the other side of the fence, because if I recall correctly, compost cannot be in the front yard in our community according to city code.
- Permaculture: And finally, all of this needs to happen within the context of Permaculture, because my Urban Farming Certification is designed within the Permaculture framework.
So that’s where things stand today. I’ve given a lot of thought over the past few months as to how best to go about this. I’m trying to accomplish this without spending a ton of money, because I want people to see that gardening doesn’t have to take a ton of time, labor or resources. I’m also trying to figure out how to “work smarter, not harder”. In other words, are there ways of doing this project that will be less detrimental to people, the environment and the soil and yet, still achieve the ultimate goal, which is an abundant urban farm?
I have some ideas, and the final plan will be posted soon. Until then, I’ll give you all of those things to chew on, because even though “easy” can be nice sometimes, challenges encourage us to get creative!
All my best,
Kate
Walnuts n Pears 