The Urban Farming Guys

[Muzz]

Farming in the Hood


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyRMvXZIKaw&feature=player_embedded

more vids here (http://theurbanfarmingguys.com/)

[GK76]

I love what people are doing in this field (pun semi intended). Such creativity and efforts will be useful in time to come... the community aspect is priceless too.

[Marianne]

Muzz, this is really inspiring! Makes me want to do more with my land. Thanks for posting.
Junebug

[Robert J. Niewiadomski]

This is great! Thanks for bringing it on here :) Too pitty you have to have some land...

[Muzz]

This is great! Thanks for bringing it on here :) Too pitty you have to have some land...

Hi Robert. There are alternatives if you dont have your own land. There may be unused land near you that is available.

Heres one example from the uk.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE7VAmR-0jA&feature=player_embedded#!

link (http://www.rivercottage.net/about/projects/landshare/)

hope this helps. :)

[Marianne]

This is important -- more folks should have a chance to see it. So ... :bump:

[Marsila]

imagine if we could implement this soon all over. no more sad stories and images from Somalia and other places in just a few weeks. thanks Muzz!

[Marianne]

I was involved in a group that sent some people to Zimbabwe to re-build houses in an area devastated by a cyclone. We learned that a church group was starting an agricultural school to help young people learn how to raise food again... everything from rain catchments to soil testing, to selecting seeds that would grow well and produce abundantly in their climate. We were fortunate to be able to give them some assistance to buy a copier so they could provide instruction materials for the students. They literally had nothing to work with, except the will to do it.

This is the kind of information that makes a difference! Another bump up.

Junebug

[Muzz]

HI Junebug

Its a shame that the norm is an obsession with well kept lawns soaked in chemicals. What a waste of growing space.

[mahalall]

I must have been a fish in a previous life, for i've been dreaming of recipes with pond weed.

[Marianne]

HI Junebug

Its a shame that the norm is an obsession with well kept lawns soaked in chemicals. What a waste of growing space.

Yep, it's a shame ... chemicals right outside the door.

For those who don't care to garden and utilize their space, at least folks need education to learn the value of the 'weeds' in their yard. Putting weed killer on the yard kills the dandelions, red clover, violets, and docks. Plants that are nature's medicine chest. Rabbits come munch on the clover in the yard, and butterflies come around too. They wouldn't do that if there were poisons around.

Take heart, Muzz... we're getting there!

All love,
Marianne

[WhiteFeather]

Fantastic Muzz, Thanks for sharing. The urban farming guys are surely leading the way. WoW! A 5 Star Post Easily. My Gratitude.

[Marsila]

.... They literally had nothing to work with, except the will to do it.

This is the kind of information that makes a difference! Another bump up.

Junebug

Hi Junebug, i think having a will is what anyone who wants anything done, needs to start with, so those people were in a good place.

[markoid]

Great videos... I love this! Thanks Muzz.

[Ineffable Hitchhiker]

Another wonderful video Muzz!
What an inspiration these people are.
I watched a couple of their other videos. Really awe-inspiring.

Mammoth Sunflower POWER!

MROg0IFgnKc



Subscribed and will be sharing with others.
Thanks again. ♥

[Marianne]

Hi Junebug, i think having a will is what anyone who wants anything done, needs to start with, so those people were in a good place.

Hi Marsila,

Thanks for your post.

It's so true -- the will to make it happen is the most important thing to have in a new endeavor.

These were people with years of famine so they had lost the knowledge of how to grow things from the earth. I moved away from the group, so lost touch with how things were going with our sister-church in Zimbabwe, but I think of them from time to time. Since learning about the fifth mode of prayer / lost mode of prayer (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?28811-Avalonians-Global-Healing-Initiative&p=294025&highlight=mode+prayer#post294025), I have begun to envision them with green fields of healthy produce, feeding their families.

[Marianne]

This thread needs another bump. Great videos of people making a huge difference in the world!

[Dawn]

Ok... well I am inspired to share some of my life. I have always managed to find a bit of dirt everywhere I've been in order to begin a garden. At age 60 my entire life fell apart and I found myself homeless and living out of my car. I stayed anywhere I was invited, which turned out to be a lot of fun. And... everywhere I stayed I began a garden if I could.

After a while I was offered sanctuary in a little old camping trailer. This is where I still live a year later, a far cry from the days when I was a self-made millionaire with a husband and daughter. I share the little 180 sq ft trailer with a wonderful partner, and a workshop. That's right... we actually have a full workshop in this tiny home, and we ship home made products all over the world. From this tiny home in a little beach town I can handle all the legal entanglements still left from my old life. When these wind down it will be time to move again. Meanwhile, I am really enjoying my time here.

Not long after moving in, I looked at the tiny, weedy, gopher infested trailer space and realized I really missed having a garden..... So I inspired my partner to help me and we have a wonderful 180 sq ft of raised bed garden with gopher wire protection below. We used every available inch of space and even built some of the garden on top of the concrete trailer pad. This has so inspired our tiny poverty stricken trailer park residents that we are a constant topic of conversation and a few of them have started gardens of their own. Even the garbage collection employees stop to talk to us and admire our abundant patch of heaven.

Think you can't do much with 180 sq ft? Think again. We eat 50% of our food from this little garden, and it isn't even a year old yet. Here is our website with photos of our garden as it was being built, planted and when we began our first harvest: http://photoman.bizland.com/garden/

[Marsila]

That's an absolutely wonderful thing you did for yourself and for bringing this to your little community "The abundant Traveler"

i don't have pictures now, but such am stuck between two cities now, one a desert city and another very urban with no land, i've decided to experiment with aqua-ponic planting. It really helps when there is no land around you to plant.

again those are really nice pictures

[Ria]

Great thread
I currently have out door space anyone wont to do some thing in N.W. London
PM me if interested.

[anklebiter]

Abundant Traveler hit the nail on the head. Raised-Bed Gardening is the way to go. Easier to take care of and maintain, greater growing density vs. row gardening, and with a clear plastic cover you can extend growing seasons. It's amazing how much I can get out of a single 4' x 8' raised bed. Now I have 3 of them and have almost given up on the traditional row garden - but I still use it for some crops...

For instance, just one of my raised beds is devoted to Onions, Garlic, and Bell Peppers. These 3 crops are staples in my kitchen. I freeze the bell peppers, dry & store the onions and garlic for later use, and never have to buy these items from the store.

[Muzz]

Ok... well I am inspired to share some of my life. I have always managed to find a bit of dirt everywhere I've been in order to begin a garden. At age 60 my entire life fell apart and I found myself homeless and living out of my car. I stayed anywhere I was invited, which turned out to be a lot of fun. And... everywhere I stayed I began a garden if I could.

After a while I was offered sanctuary in a little old camping trailer. This is where I still live a year later, a far cry from the days when I was a self-made millionaire with a husband and daughter. I share the little 180 sq ft trailer with a wonderful partner, and a workshop. That's right... we actually have a full workshop in this tiny home, and we ship home made products all over the world. From this tiny home in a little beach town I can handle all the legal entanglements still left from my old life. When these wind down it will be time to move again. Meanwhile, I am really enjoying my time here.

Not long after moving in, I looked at the tiny, weedy, gopher infested trailer space and realized I really missed having a garden..... So I inspired my partner to help me and we have a wonderful 180 sq ft of raised bed garden with gopher wire protection below. We used every available inch of space and even built some of the garden on top of the concrete trailer pad. This has so inspired our tiny poverty stricken trailer park residents that we are a constant topic of conversation and a few of them have started gardens of their own. Even the garbage collection employees stop to talk to us and admire our abundant patch of heaven.

Think you can't do much with 180 sq ft? Think again. We eat 50% of our food from this little garden, and it isn't even a year old yet. Here is our website with photos of our garden as it was being built, planted and when we began our first harvest: http://photoman.bizland.com/garden/

Thankyou so much for sharing The Abundant Traveler. Inspiring post :)

[Ineffable Hitchhiker]

Geoff Lawton on Soil Creation. How nature creates soil. Shallow lakes and ponds to a gutter in the city, soil creation is all around us.

YmDGKJPSdG0



Sneak peak into Geoff Lawton's "Urban Permaculture" DVD where Geoff looks at Permaculture in the City. In this clip he visits a beautiful urban Mandala Garden.

o1IzCZRfRSo

[Ineffable Hitchhiker]

Something from my birthland. :)
It does the soul good to see that amongst all the turmoil, there are "pods" of organic growth. :yes4:


Perma Kultcha - Permaculture and Organic Farming in South Africa

This 30-minute documentary focuses on Permaculture and Organic Farming in South Africa and what it can do to transform society at a grass roots level, to create sustainable lives for individuals, communities and South Africa as a whole.

The documentary aims to educate the youth of SA on the importance of food security and introduces a holistic approach to utilize our countries abundant, yet often neglected and ignored, natural resources and natural wealth. Our hope is to reawaken a culture of working the land that has been lost, and present common sense alternatives to complement the current development paradigm and mobilize the youth to create a new world.

The aim is to make self-sufficiency accessible to all, and motivate South Africans to take charge of our collective future.


4qmlXImZjGg

NTRWSLAKz5s

puUJ5sV2GB0


edit to add link.

Permaculture Media Blog (http://permaculture-media-download.blogspot.com/2011/03/perma-kultcha-permaculture-and-organic.html)

[Ineffable Hitchhiker]

5ph-xibSdw8

f_dTdRxFpkc

[Samsara]

Vigilante gardener... I love it! Thank you so much for this thread! I am currently gleaning all the info I can get on different community gardening/feeding projects out there. Any food for thought is welcomed.

:thumb: