Friday, March 2, 2012

Urban Farm Handbook- February Challenge

My creative process is closely tied up with my life here on our property. It's as if moving to the country, to this little wild space we've preserved, has freed up something in me. I don't mean to only discuss feltmaking. Nor do I mean to only discuss farming. Forgive me if I seem all over the place. Really I'm not that crazy... well, usually. Maybe I am.




I'm taking this year to really invest in my understanding of my gardens. I want to learn as much as I can, and hope that in doing so, I can increase their production. I want to produce more of what we eat here. I don't believe everything needs to come from a grocery store! And, since I have the property to grow it, and the summers off work, I need to start taking action.

So, I'm taking today to focus on the February Challenge from the Urban Farm Handbook. You can read more here. We were given the opportunity to read and view some excellent material regarding soil health. I learned a lot. Annette and Josh were very gracious. I focused on composting. We learned about active and passive composting. I admit that I already have a compost, but it's full and I haven't been using it much. It's passive. With the recent mild weather, I decided to see what going on in there, to give it a turn if I could, and get active in it's utilization. We built it out of reclaimed lumber and pallets. By "we," I mean my husband!




I was surprised that it was mostly thawed, and when I got in there, it was the richest, darkest, stuff we have around here. We've been using the outputs from the chickens (read "poop" and "shavings") and ducks, as well as kitchen scraps. It looks pretty good. But, I'm going to do as Josh suggests and turn it and water it. It's time to get this thing heated up! We also have a pile of wood ash I plan on using. So, it's compost time! I'm pretty geeked.

3 comments:

  1. This is making me excited!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Me too :)
    Can't wait to get going. Have you looked at the Sustainable Eats page? There's a different challenge each month. Awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dropping by from the UFHC to say hi and check out your February challenge. I cant wait till my compost pile becomes as healthy sounding as yours.

    ReplyDelete