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            2009 uRBAN fARM tOUR

Whatever lofty things you might accomplish today, you will do them only because you first ate something that grew out of dirt.          

- Barbara Kingsolver

 

demonstrating What is possible in small front and backyard lots of Moore county

Our grandparents called them "Victory Gardens." Today, the "Urban Farming" movement is quietly "growing"  across the nation.

Wielding trowels and seed packets, some of your neighbors in the Sandhills are taking a quiet stand for better nutrition and environmental stewardship -  standing apart from stale, limp produce, food miles, foreign oil, toxic chemicals,  the "living indoors" syndrome, industrial factory food and high produce prices. 

With the simple of act of growing or raising some of their own food in small backyard lots, some of your neighbors are securing a healthier and more sustainable future through the homegrown food phenomenon.

Offbeat and fun, this tour is a snapshot of area backyard food producers. It also contains the "seeds" of deeper issues. Meet local citizens who take the terms "a greener world" and "be the change" seriously. See how they weave elements of the rural seamlessly into town and suburban life - all without annoying their neighbors.

  

"URBAN" FARMING?

Okay, technically this is neither "urban" nor true "farming." ("Peri-Urban" is the correct term, but that's not as handy.)

"Urban Farming" is our catch phrase for folks growing or raising food in places not normally used for production - their town or suburban backyards. Though tiny, they are a vibrant thread in the tapestry that is our local foodshed.

 

WHAT WILL I SEE?

In these backyards - your next-door neighbor perhaps - folks are improving their sandy, acidic, nutrient-poor, drought-prone soil to the point that it will pump out the fresh, nutrition-packed produce.

Learn how to get started and how to turn your SAND into BLACK GOLD with a short "Getting Started" workshop following the April 11 tour!

Come pick the practioners' brains, and network with like-minded folks.

  • You'll see how these folks are tilling in cover crops, compost or building raised beds.
  • How they are growing nutritious greens, herbs, tomatoes, lettuce, peas, squash, butter beans and eggplant organically.

Learn to do a few SIMPLE and DELICIOUS things with nutritious, fresh produce at the workshop after the tour!

 

ANYTHING ELSE?

See--

  • How local enthusiasts may push the seasons and grow greens almost until Christmas, then resume again in February. (The Sandhills can be a four-season climate, with a few clever tricks and plant selections.) When it's so bitterly cold outside that even the collards shrivel, some grow food inside by sprouting beans and seeds.
  • How some keep honeybees for fun, garden pollination and profit, reaping raw, chemical-free honey and encouraging the health of this fascinating, vital, yet endangered partner in the world's food chain.
  • How some plant a gorgeous edible landscape, and you wouldn't even know it's there - until they arrive at your doorstep with a basket of pears, a plate of antioxidant-laden muscadine grapes, a jar of fig preserves  or a blueberry-peach cobbler.   Edible landscapes that do well around here include such items as as aromatic herbs, blueberries, grapes, figs, asparagus, blackberries, and tree fruit such as pears, apples and persimmons.
  • How some even keep chickens and collect fresh organic eggs each morning, all within the city limits, and just outside. See a variety of coops and care-taking practices, and chat with the owners about how goofy and entertaining chickens really are.

 

ANY OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE RURAL ON DISPLAY?

  • Some folks use water-sipping drip irrigation to grow fresh produce throughout blast-furnace summers.  
  • Others experiment with hydroponics.
  • Just over the edge of town, they may grow turkeys, pheasant or ducks.
  • They may tuck a small germinating greenhouse in the backyard, and raise their own vegetables from seed. Or deploy cold frames.
  • They may keep a peach orchard, right in Pinehurst.
  • They mulch, they hoard leaves instead of sending them to the landfill, they convert household wastes into rich fertility via neat  compost piles or worm bins.
  • They often  prefer to go organic, because they are concerned about the environment and quality of their food. They often freeze, can or dry the excess fruits of their labors.
  • They may have innovative vole, rabbit and deer-defeating methods.
  • They take exceeding excellent care of the top six inches of the earth's very fragile skin, and they care about  toxic chemicals entering the food chain and the erosion of the earth's natural fertility.

 

SO, HOW MUCH CAN I GROW?

Surprising amounts of food can be raised in the back yard. In the book, Food Not Lawns (2006), Heather C. Flores argues that the average yard can easily yield several hundred pounds of fruits and vegetables per year. 

The Dervaes family of Pasadena, CA, blows that out of the water. This family of four regularly produces 6,000 pounds of produce for their family and customers on only 1/5 of an acre! (This year they are shooting for 10,000 lbs.) That's a lot of backyard production! Here's a video trailer offering a glimpse of what's possible--only a few blocks from the Rose Bowl.

 

GETTING STARTED

Lawns in the U.S. cover an area roughly the size of New York State. Each year, $40 billion dollars is spent on their upkeep, many lawn chemicals are toxic and lawns are water-intensive. We love our lawns - and what are some alternatives?

Frankly, few people are ready for the sort of commitment portrayed in the new book Edible Estates (2008).  And, that's just fine. Fritz Haeg, an architect and artist, rips up conventional front yards and replaces them with visually striking "edible plantings." Haeg calls his approach "Full-Frontal gardening." The projects do demonstrate the growing interest in home food production.

YOU don't have to grow food in the front yard to work in a little homegrown sustainability.  You can still respect the covenants and sensibilities of your township, suburb and neighbors and produce fresh items from an attractive edible landscape.

 

BUT WHY?

It might seem silly to some. Why grow food in one's backyard when the grocery stores are stocked to the max? A survey of the tour's town and suburban "farmers" offered some insight into why they grew and/or raised food in their backyards. Here are some of their comments:

 

1. Economy

    • "Good, cheap food for 50 cents worth of seed."
    • "The trees keep on bearing. I have more pears than I know what to do with. So I give them away."
    • "It's something I can do for myself, even if out of work."
    • "Dirt cheap."

 

2. Trust

    • "In an era of contaminated factory food - tainted spinach, tomatoes, milk powder, yogurt, fish, toothpaste, dog food, even chocolate - I wanted a food source I had confidence in."
    • "I have control over the inputs, that is to say, I grow organically."
    • "I know it isn't sprayed with something that will cause me to twitch."
    • "Because I know what is in my soil. I test it, and I know what I put into it." 
    • "I'm particular."

 

3. Stronger Communities

    • ALL OF US will need to be fed."
    • "Food independence makes a community stronger in the face of economic down-turns."

 

4. Youth involvement

    • "Something to do together with my kiddos."
    • One family of suburban beekeepers began as a father-son project when the son got interested in social insects: "Keeping the bees also gave Kevin experience with establishing and maintaining a small business. "
    • "It's good for kids to understand where food comes from. Otherwise they grow up thinking it comes shrink-wrapped on a tray."

 

5. Quality

    • "It doesn't get any fresher than from the garden."
    • "We're picky about what we eat."
    • "The ultimate in fresh goodness, from the back yard to the cook pot."

 

6. Nutrition/ /Slow Food

    • "Fresh-picked food has all its vitamins, and no added preservatives."
    • "I prefer cooking from scratch over processed foods, when I can. You are what you eat."
    • "I've made sure my soil is rich in the trace minerals, which are often lacking in industrial food grown on depleted soil."
    • "If they grow it, they will eat it." Even if it's a vegetable!

 

7. Personal Empowerment

    • "I like cultivating a certain degree of self-reliance that my grandparents knew."
    • "I'm striking my own small blow against dependence on foreign oil. I'm also interested in lowering my carbon footprint."
    • "It was the only thing I knew to do when I felt no one in a leadership position  was listening to the environmental concerns of citizens. So I took one small step outside the consumer economy."

 

8.  Food Security

    • "I know I will always eat." ...Hmmm, you got a point there. Food is fundamental to community stability - so fundamental, in fact, its role is unseen and rarely examined. As noted earlier, homegrown food is a thread in the tapestry of the community foodshed. During WW2, backyard Victory Gardens provided some 40-50 percent of the nation's produce, not an insignificant number.
    • "The US Department of Agriculture estimates that more than 20 million victory gardens were planted. Fruit and vegetables harvested in these home and community plots were estimated to be 9-10 million tons, an amount equal to all commercial production of fresh vegetables."


9. Environmental Stewardship

    • "I like  recycling household vegetable and paper waste on-site and turning that into food. "
    • "We love birds, and enjoy promoting a healthy, bird-friendly environment."
    • "Worms eat my garbage."
    • "I respect the community's need for biodiversity and inter-living with living plants and animals."


10. Income

    • Some sell surplus to friends and neighbors, or through the local Farmers Markets.
 

11. Conservation Alternative

    • "Lawns consume too many resources, so I thought I'd turn part of ours into something productive."
    • "We avoid poisons and chemicals, which tend to end up in the water."


12. Outdoor and Recreational Value

    • Gardening is relaxing to me, and gets me outside and reconnected to the natural world."
    • "It's easy to stay in front of the computer all day, and I don't think that's a good thing for a number of reasons."
    • "My garden gives me a workout. And no gym fees! It pays ME."


13. Amusement

    • "I just enjoy getting my hands in the dirt. I would really miss it, if I couldn't"
    • "Chickens are very, very funny!"


14. TASTE!

    • "Vegetables taste like they did when I was a child."                          

 

O.K. - I'm Psyched! What are my options?

If you'd like a piece of the homegrown action, here are some possible Actions To Take, ranging from the simplest to more involved. Pick and choose at will!

Come on the self-guided Sandhills Urban Farms Tour! Bring a friend! Spread the word and your enthusiasm. Come see what is possible.

  • Buy local as often as possible.
    • Attend Farmers Markets.
    • Buying local puts money back into our communities, instead of sending it far, far away. It supports open land, and it supports local farmers making a living on that open land.
    • Look for produce in season, rather than large quantities of out-of-season items grown halfway across the world.

  • Stock up when fresh, local produce is in season.
    • Learn to freeze or can, or make simple jams.
    • Read store labels. The average grocery produce item  has traveled more that 1500 miles to reach your table. "Country of origin" labels are soon to be in your local grocery store. 
    • A "9" on the PLU Code indicates organic origin.
    • Educate yourself on food issues. We all need to eat. There are wise choices, for a variety of health, environmental and economic reasons, and there are poor choices. 
    • Check out Barbara Kingsolver's  best-selling Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, or Michal Pollan's Ominvore's Dilemma.  Real Food, by Nina Planck is another.

  • Join in and plant a few things yourself! Even a few herbs or tomatoes in pots are the start of a fresh-food adventure.


Attend the "Getting Started" seminar at 3:30 PM on April 11. 

  • Check out the Square Foot Gardening books by Mel Bartholomew.
    • You don't want to start out too large and overwhelm yourself. A simple 4x8 raised bed can add a variety of fresh greens, herbs and vegetables to your diet.

  • Plant some edible landscaping!
    • Rabbiteye blueberries make a fine hedge, thrive with little care or pesticides, and are gorgeous in the fall.
    • There are spring-flowering trees that produce fruit, like pears, apples, plums and peaches.
    • Pecan trees provide shade, nuts and wildlife feed for several generations.
    • Figs can make either an exotic tree or a tropical-looking bush.
    • Grapes can cover a trellis or arbor in no time flat.
    • Herbs can tuck anywhere into a landscape plan, provided there are no pesticides, roadside pollution or herbicides involved.

  • Finally, if you already know how to garden, teach a child or a neighbor. Offer to share your knowledge. Pay it forward to those who taught you.

This page was compiled from notes prepared by Jan Leitschuh, the Urban Farm Tour's Moore County "Champion" - THANK YOU, JAN!